What Is The Big Deal About October?

[Madi100]

We are going to take our daughter to WDW for her 10th birthday. Why is October more expensive than September, January, February, etc? We just decided last night, and I've done no research, but any pointers would be great.

 

[lake queen]

We have been in Oct. 3 times. It has not ever been value season. It is getting busier every year, however it is still a GREAT time to go. The crowds are there, but not as many as a summer day. The weather is beautiful, not as much rain and the heat is not oppressive, although this las Oct. we had record breaking heat!! Other years the weather was perfect!! GO October!!

 

[Madi100]

We have been in Oct. 3 times. It has not ever been value season. It is getting busier every year, however it is still a GREAT time to go. The crowds are there, but not as many as a summer day. The weather is beautiful, not as much rain and the heat is not oppressive, although this las Oct. we had record breaking heat!! Other years the weather was perfect!! GO October!!

Why is it higher attendance, though? What makes it higher season than December?

 

[Tissa]

Food and Wine festival, Mickeys Not so Scarry Halloween Party and a lot of schools have started having fall break in October. We were there last October and it was pretty busy and HOT!

 

[NC State]

I rather go the end of October than September, because of the weather!

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

Food and Wine Festival in EPCOT combined with Mickey's Not So Scarey Halloween Party. Both of these are very popular events. Airfares aren't too bad and as mentioned before the weather is outstanding even with a hurricane risk factored in. There are probably other reasons as well.

As for the times of year you've cited otherwise.

September -- school is at most a month along or has just begun and many people do not want to pull their children out of school before they've settled in. September is still summer as well as being in hurricane season. WDW is pretty dead this month.

January -- formerly a very slow time of the year the weather is kind of dicey in its variation from warm to cold. However with the marathon this month has moved up from dead to slow.

Early December has the same problem as January but also the fact that people have the holidays to prepare for at home as well as vacation time off coming up for the kids over Christmas makes this a much less viable time to go to Disney world.

 

[KingdomHeartsFan]

Basically, Disney prices their resorts by what they call "seasons". The price for a room fluctuates thoughout the year depending on Disney's expected attendance. In short, when Disney expects it to be the busiest, they charge the most for a room because they know that people will pay whatever it takes. But when attendance is down during parts of the year you will pay less because Disney wants to get more people to come.

Here are the 2007 pricing "seasons" for most Disney resorts.

Value Season (The cheapest time to go): January 1 - February 14, August 5 - October 3, November 25 - December 19

Regular Season: April 15 - May 23, October 4 - November 24

Summer Season: May 24 - August 4

Peak Season: February 15 - April 14

Holiday Season (Most expensive): December 20 - 31

No matter when you decide to go, have a wonderful trip to the World!

 

[drakester]

We went a couple of years ago in October and it was packed. Here is the deal. All of the UK is on Holiday during the month of October and they all go to WDW. I asked a few why they just don't go across the channel to DLP and they said it is not the same. This is why you can not find any great deals and this is why it is crowded (well it's always crowded it's just a matter of degrees). Good luck.

 

[AshleyMWC]

I am planning on going the first week in October- October 1-7, any idea how that week may look crowd-wise?

 

[Hadjii]

We go in October almost every year. We love it!! The Food and Wine Festival is fantastic for adults and MNSSHP is great for the kids (and us grown up kids too). We always found the ride lines to be much shorter but as a previous poster mentioned, it does seem to get busier each year. Definitely lots of people from the UK. We always wondered if there was some mass discount for them in October but I didn't know that October was their school holiday. Makes sense now lol.
You will have a great time . If you time it toward the end of the month (Halloween) you might even catch them starting to put up some of the Christmas decorations like we did. Have fun!

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

October has that perfect crowd level. Sure its great when its empty and you can get on every ride but some shows really need a few more people in the audience to get the right feel. A totally empty EPCOT feels like one of those creepy sci fi movies or the episode of Star Trek where Kirk finds his brother's family has been killed by giant one celled creatures. At the same time there aren't so many people that ride wait times are ridiculous.

 

[jwfla422]

I am planning on going the first week in October- October 1-7, any idea how that week may look crowd-wise?

We were there from the 3rd until the 7th of Oct. this year. It wasn't bad crowd-wise except for Epcot at night time and on the weekend. F&W can be REALLY busy during this time. We were at the other parks as well and they were quite bearable. The longest wait at MK for the rides/attractions we waited on was about 10-15 min. tops. I would go back again during this time. (and we don't like the crowds )

 

[byoung]

Yes the Food and Wine Festival in EPCOT combined with Mickey's Not So Scarey Halloween Party. Great time to go.