Why did you pick the first week in Oct. to go to Disney?

[katebeth]

I was just curious with so much stuff going on...Food and Wine, MNNSHP, and of Course "A year of a Million Dreams"

Did anyone plan their trip around these events?

We are going the first week of Oct. but we planned our vacation back in Feb. So we did not think about F/W festival, and had no idea about Million Dreams celebration.

We are really excited that all of these different things will be going on when we will be there..

 

[schlepsnort]

We also planned our trip back in Feb and had no idea what was going on at this time (we hadn't found the DIS yet!). Now I am excited about going but also worried that we aren't going to have the low level crowds that we had expected to be at this time of year.

Either way we will have fun! I think next time we go we might make it for earlier in Sept.though.

 

[tacomaranch]

We did a split with last week Sept/first week Oct. so we could get free dining, and also go to MNSSHP and the food and wine! Also we were hoping for few crowds and cooler weather. Also, it is my birthday on the 28th.

 

[whogirl'smom]

Our fall break starts Oct. 7, so that dictated the trip schedule! I am excited that so much is going on at Epcot that week and that we get to see Loverboy (yeah, we're a "lost in the 80's" kind of family!) Hopefully it still won't be unreasonable crowded.

 

[hobbester]

We chose it because the kids were tracked out of school. We also thought it would be less crowds and cooler - but the temps still look to be in the high 80's on the 10 day forcast.

 

[p2oh]

Free dining, MNSSHP, F&W, and my b-day!

 

[MartDM]

We always visit Orlando Columbus Day weekend so we can attend HHN at Universal Orlando (allows us to take an extra long weekend without using up too many vacation days).

We alternate where we stay each year and this year we chose to stay at WDW so we could also attend the Food & Wine Fest.

 

[ms.ojo]

Wanted to do a trip over Columbus Day weekend so ds wouldn't miss much school....then learned of free dining and started trip on 9/30 up to the holiday weekend! MNSSHP is a bonus!!!

Funny thing though, "free" doesn't really save us money...by using the AAA rate, or discount code on the room and buying tickets in advance through a reputable ticket broker, and planning our meals carefully, we probably could have come in about the same price. But w/ free Dining, we were able to choose some fantastic places to eat w/out regards to watching our daily budget. We could choose more chars meals too!!! Usuallly we limit those on a trip. SO...while I don't think it's a huge savings over how we could have comfortably booked the trip...I think it's going to have us eating at some great places, and take away many budget worries. It's all paid for! And we leave in 9 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Eoywin]

We are planning on going to WDW next October - we will be there for a little of September, so we can spend our 1st wedding anniversary there

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

Free dining, MNSSHP, F&W, and my b-day!

Same for us...but DH's birthday.

 

[travelbug24]

Free dining, MNSSHP, F&W, and my b-day!

Free dining, MNSSHP, Food & Wine and my grandson's 7th birthday!

 

[tinknme]

Free dining, food & wine festival, & MNSSHP!

 

[QueenT]

Originally it was Fall Break, with the kids out of school for a week, plus value season, plus F&W festival. We also got in on the free dining. I agree with another poster, free dining doesn't "save" too much over what we would normally spend on food, but it does allow us to eat more table service & less weird food.

I leave next friday, 9/29, and I am so excited it is so close!

 

[weeks4vols]

My children are on a year round school year. The first week in Oct. is the first week of their fall break. We have taken our last few family vacations on this week - everything is less crowded. A family going with us found out about the free dining - so we all backed up a day (Sept. 30) to get the free dining. We didn't know about any of the other stuff until we started planning. Now my family is doing MNSSHP on Oct. 2. We are so excited.

 

[BamaBaloo]

We had planned to go in early December for DS' 5th birthday, but moved our trip up to get in at the tail end of free dining.

 

[melanie18]

We didn't even think of Year of a Million Dreams. We missed going in the Fall last year with our DD starting kindergarten. So this year we decided we would go only if we met our criteria.

1. School is closed on Oct 2, so DD6 will only miss 2 days -- hooray!
2. Wanted to be there for Food & Wine Festival; it starts 9/29!
3. Wanted to attend MNSSHP - we're going 9/29!
4. Needed to find cheap airfare - PHL to MCO $102RT; can't beat that!
5. Needed a cheap car rental - $100 from Alamo (wish I could do better)

Meeting our criteria + Saratoga Springs had availability = we're going to WDW from Sept 29 to Oct 3!

 

[dsneygirl]

We've gone several times in Oct. The weather is usually awesome, lower corwds, F&W and MNSSHP. All great events.

 

[flortlebap]

We planned for low crowds, and good weather.

For us, it's perfect - I don't think the Food and Wine festival impacts too greatly on crowds, not to the extent of it being ridiculously crowded, anyway. Most things were still a walk on, even if we had to FP the odd few attractions.

 

[katebeth]

We planned for low crowds, and good weather.

For us, it's perfect - I don't think the Food and Wine festival impacts too greatly on crowds, not to the extent of it being ridiculously crowded, anyway. Most things were still a walk on, even if we had to FP the odd few attractions.

That is so good to hear about the F/W festival not effecting the crowds that much...we have several days planned in epcot and I was hoping it would not be too crowded

 

[Red Wings Fan]

I chose these dates due to the F&W, Free DDP (big consideration) and I like the crowd levels during this time of year.