PLEASE explain the October crowds.

[smooreo]

I read this thread while having Josh's calendar open beside me, and the posts where people say it was really busy in MK in the last week, Josh usually has MK as the park to avoid.

We're arriving next week for our first family trip. I did alot of research about what time of year to come. October came up over and over again. Crossing my fingers that most people have already visited! lol!

 

[SSR]

I read this thread while having Josh's calendar open beside me, and the posts where people say it was really busy in MK in the last week, Josh usually has MK as the park to avoid.

We're arriving next week for our first family trip. I did alot of research about what time of year to come. October came up over and over again. Crossing my fingers that most people have already visited! lol!

You'll be fine. One thing to keep in mind. We're traditional October-ers at Disney. What I think people are saying is NOT that Disney is "super crowded" (i.e. spring break, Christmas, etc.) but that it's "way more crowded than I thought it would be (or has been) in October."

Two completely different things.

October 2011 was more crowded than October 2010, which was more crowded than October 2009.

October 2011 was "empty" (in my mind) compared to many other times in 2011. It's all about remembering to make an apples-to-apples comparison.

Anyone who goes to Disney in October and thinks the parks will be "empty" or "very light" will be surprised. I would go in October with a plan (Rope Drop, Rope Drop, Rope Drop) and expecting large crowds (especially due to F&W/EPCOT), and then be more pleasantly surprised.

 

[CareHeartsDisney]

Our last two trips were during Thanksgiving week which of course is a busy week. However, I love the weather at that time of year and I could deal with the crowds. We were at WDW from 10/4-10/10. It was hot, humid and rained for at least a little while we were there on most days. A couple days it poured. It's not my type of weather. But I found the crowds to be much lighter than I'm used to. I think we picked the right days to go to each park. We used the crowed calendars. On Sunday, 10/7, we went on Star Tours six times in a row. We would get off the ride and then go get back in line. We did a lot of rides that we don't usually do since the lines weren't long. We still needed fast passes for TSM and Soarin' as those wait times are always 45-90 min. Despite the hot, humid weather, I would definitely consider going in Oct. again!

 

[RabFlmom]

It's funny how how different people perceive things so differently. I just return on Sunday from a Wednesday 10th - Sunday 14th stay. I thought the crowds were low!

Most ride lines ran 10 to 20 minutes each. This include the very popular ones of all the Mountains, Everest and Kali, Rockin' and TT. I did notice some times during the heavy crowd parts of mid-day, the lines may hit 60 minutes (including PP, WTP,). But I went on the other rides and attractions during those times and avoided the waits.

Even during F&W on Friday, I did not think the crowds were bad, and that was the "park to avoid". I only waited 2 - 3 minutes in the long lines for food, and the other attractions had lines again of 10 - 20 minutes (except for Soarin').

I never felt crowded or rushed anywhere in any of the parks. I never had an issue of getting service at food or merchandise establishments. Even during the fireworks, when the crowds gathered, I did not feel they were overwhelming.

I was last in the parks in November of last year, and that was a PACKED House time. Compared to that visit last week we a breeze!

I agree we were at F&W on Friday and thought the crowd Friday night was light. We watched Illuminations in the Handicap area near Germany and there were only 3 wheel chairs and their family/friends in the whole section so had the best view I have ever had to see it. Lines for food and wine were maybe 5-10 people in some. Rides all day had been 5-20 minute at most.
To all the people who talk about the drunks on weekends during F&W, didn't really see any except for maybe the short woman who was protesting over and over and over loudly that she was 5'2" instead of the 4'11" her friends were teasing her about .
For Soarin we got a Fast Pass about 2PM with a 6PM return time. When we were in the line, there was hardly any one in the stand by line even though the sign said 50 minute wait. When we came out of the ride the standby was probably almost 50 minutes though.
Even shopping after the fireworks on the way out was not a really crowded experience.

 

[2binak]

I agree with those who've said that picking the right (or wrong) park can determine how crowd levels seems. Although we're not WDW rookies by any means, last year we made the rookie mistake of going to MK on a Monday, a Monday that also had evening EMH The crowd was HUGE and wait times were sooo long. Pirates had a 50 minute wait at 1pm. We've never seen more than a 20 minute wait for Pirates, any time of the day. We ended up hopping to another park and visiting MK later in the week. We didn't run into crowds like that in any of the other parks that week.

From now on, we'll only visit MK on a party day.

 

[QueenElinor]

I don't get it.

In the same week:

Crowds are very low
No - they are WALL TO WALL - PEOPLE EVERYWHERE!
But we walked right onto rides
What? The line was out the door just for tables!

Either the park is seeing some extreme swings in attendance, or folks are calibrated differently, or a little of both.

Of course this doesn't help our anxiety as we'll be in the parks in a couple of days. We have a plan with rope drop, skipping the heat of the day, avoiding parades (no interest from kids), etc. and I think I have a good idea of what the crowds are going to be like, but at the same time I really detest crowds.

I think it's the wide swings. Looking back, the crowd calendars were anywhere from an 8 to a 2 on consecutive days during this time. The weekends were especially predicted to be horrible. I've learned my lesson about that- stick to the crowd calendars, esp. the ones which analyze the upcoming conditions on the ground, so to speak. Disney has done such a great job with their marketing, special events and discounts that I'm not sure there is a low season any more. Just low days.

 

[LittleMissMagic]

We were there Oct 12-16 for the main draws - MNSSHP and F&W. While the crowds weren't as empty as they were 10 years ago in October, it wasn't nearly as bad as Christmas or Spring Break crowds we've endured. We made great use of EMH. The F&W crowds on Sunday in Epcot actually didn't seem that bad. There were a lot of people, but we didn't have to wait more than five minutes in line for a drink.

 

[Soccer and Swim Mom]

We were there 9/20-9/27. It was more crowded than I expected it to be. There were lines for most rides and we had to utilize the fast passes.

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

For our trip next week I plan to follow the trusted advice of a couple different crowd prediction websites, plus plug in my own instinct about touring. Given that, I expect to experience very low crowds for a couple of my park days and moderate crowds on the other two. Still, it's October so nothing is going to be that bad.

 

[smooreo]

You'll be fine. One thing to keep in mind. We're traditional October-ers at Disney. What I think people are saying is NOT that Disney is "super crowded" (i.e. spring break, Christmas, etc.) but that it's "way more crowded than I thought it would be (or has been) in October."

Two completely different things.

October 2011 was more crowded than October 2010, which was more crowded than October 2009.

October 2011 was "empty" (in my mind) compared to many other times in 2011. It's all about remembering to make an apples-to-apples comparison.

Anyone who goes to Disney in October and thinks the parks will be "empty" or "very light" will be surprised. I would go in October with a plan (Rope Drop, Rope Drop, Rope Drop) and expecting large crowds (especially due to F&W/EPCOT), and then be more pleasantly surprised.

Very good points. We're expecting crowds and hoping for the best.

I agree that it also depends on which park which day. We're following Josh's advice on parks. Here is our itinerary:

24th: MK (green)
25th: EP (green)
26: MK (and a party day)
27: HS (red park, but the most recommended of the non-recommended parks!).

No idea about Touring Plans predictions since I haven't subscribed, but I find their book very useful. We're staying away from EMH (expect for HS) and will be hitting RD every day and taking breaks in the afternoons.

 

[appleorchard]

We just got here, went to Epcot tonight because it was supposed to be a good day on all the websites, and it was mobbed. We're Disney vets, and this was no 1.4 day as TouringPlans had it. Hoping for better tomorrow at HS.

 

[Mickeynutty]

We were there Oct. 8 - 13. The crowds were not the worst we have ever seen (we have been there Christmas week and peak summer), and the weather was wonderful! However, the crowds were definitely more than touringplans and easywdw said. MK was NOT a 1.1. It was at least a 5 or 6. I regret that I read all the low numbers forecast, because the crowd level was a shock. We did have a great trip, but I think we will not go back that week. Disney is doing a great job of keeping the parks full!

 

[ConvenientTruth]

We were just at WDW from Friday through Monday (10/12 - 10/15) and we have gone on many October trips. I have never seen the size of the crowds at any time EVER on any of our previous trips. We have FL Seasonal passes, so we purposely avoid "crowded times" like Christmas, Easter and Summer. I had a good friend who went the weekend before us, and she said her weekend was also so crowded she barely went on any rides.

Any ideas? Do you think this is a trend, that October is now crazy busy, or was it just our couple of weeks?

Several Reasons...

Food and Wine....while that mostly effects Epcot people do visit the other parks while there.

MNSSHP....becoming more and more popular.

Deals....I want to say there was free dining or pretty decent Hotel discounts.

I went this same weekend for daughter's b-day and had very little issue with the crowds...sometimes it comes down to the days you pick to go to a park. I did noticed the TS dining area at our hotel seemed empty most days...

 

[TJDisneymama]

Just looking at the TP Historical Estimated v. Actual crowd estimates, it looks like a lot of day MK was actually 1-2 points higher than estimated. Not so with the other parks. It's gotta be because of the FLE.

 

[dixonsontour]

Another Brit coming next two weeks for half term break

We've been October twice before and noticed Brit's seemed to be a much bigger portion of the crowd that usual at this time of year.

Word is definitely out that October is a great time to go if you are trying to fit in with UK school holidays plus less crowded times at disney.

 

[Ephany]

The schools in my area are now having Fall Breaks. This has only started in the last couple of years. The public schools in my town are off this entire week for the first time. May have something to do with increased crowds.

And next week...?

Next weekend is our Fall Break. My friends in north Florida said theirs was this week though.

 

[cboudre1]

I realized after reading this that crowds are perceived differently. We were just there October 12-17 and thought it was uncrowded. It was the smallest crowds we have ever seen. We rode all the big rides multiple times, even toy story we did 3x. We never stood once on a bus or had to wait for the next one because it was full. We decided to try to go again this time of the year.

 

[BJSforVols]

We were there 10/7 - 10/15, and we thought the crowds were great for the first part of our trip and still good for the end. We hit MK on 10/8 and never had to wait in line even on the higher traffic rides. My DS who is 5 loved Splash Mountain, and I think we rode it 5 times in a row without a wait. 10/9 was HS, and we again had no waits. We hit Toy Story first, and it would have been a wait later in the morning. We also fast passed Rocking Roller but the stand by was only 15 minutes when we returned for our fast pass. 10/10 was AK, and the safari was the only thing which had a significant wait. Epcot was on 10/11, and this was the first day we were glad they had the fast pass system. We hit MK, HS, and Epcot again on 10/13 & 10/14, and the waits for the bog attraction rides were in the 30 to 40 minute range after the parks had been open a couple of hours or three. It was our first trip, but we assumed the locals must have hit the parks on the week-end which is why the waits were worse on Saturday and Sunday. My 3 DS are not very patient with long lines, and they all loved the waits to the point we plan to schedule another trip next year around the same time.