Worried about attendance level first week in October

[ShellyLynn3630]

Our family planned our first disney trip for the 2nd-8th of October of this year at the beginning of this year because of the possiblity of lower attendance averages and for the fact that this is also our child's fall break from school. I am very concerned though that the crowds may be quite a bit more than what we were expecting due to the free dining plan. Don't get me wrong I am very excited about getting all of this food for free, but I hope that we won't be surrounded by the number of people that tour in June or July. Am I crazy or am I hitting the nail on the head???

 

[DiscussDisney]

Hi, I wouldn't worry about it. If you search around these boards, there are several posts about this. The free dining plan offer was very limited. If you check the Disney Website, every hotel on property has availability for that week at rack or ap rates. I really think the free dining plan simply shifted people from off-site to on-site.

 

[Bob P]

I agree completely, and let me emphasize, WDW will NEVER be as crowded during school times as it is during school breaks. Free dining, free park passes, free hotel rooms, whatever...there are some situations where kids can not be taken out of school, whether for academic reasons or after school activity reasons. This is paticularly true of older kids, say from 6th grade and up, who have sports, drama, dance, etc as well as tons of schoolwork.

Bob

 

[rcraw45425]

We were there the 1st week of Oct. last year and already have WL reservations for Oct 6-9 at rack rate for this year. Hoping for an AP discount. The crowds are very manageable and the temperatures are great. It was actually a little warm the night we went to the Halloween Party.

 

[mrFDNY]

i'm thinking there might be a slight increase in crowds.but nothing bad.not like july or aug times. go have fun,and don't worry. see you there! i've taken many trips in sept time and once i remember c.m.'s saying how surprised they were to how busy it was.the funny thing was we thought it was dead there everything was a walk on.

 

[Miniefan]

I have learned that no matter what you will never really be able to judge the crowd levels until you get there and see for yourself. Honestly you can never be too sure. In 2004 my family went twice, In March during spring break, and although there were crowds, they were manageable. When we returned we wanted to go back and did lots of research and decided that Oct would be a less busy but still warm month to go in plus the not so scary halloween party. Well, we went 10/16-10/23 and much to our surprise, it was very crowded probably more crowded than in March. I believe all the hurricanes and people rescheduling their trips last fall led to the extreme rise in the crowd levels while we were there. We have a family member who works for wdw and at the time was working at the poly and he told us that particular weekend that all the hotels were booked to capacity. Having told you all this we also will be in wdw 9/30-10/7. Our kids have fall break the same week, and besides we just like the fall weather down there. I too am worried that the free dining will have an impact on the crowd levels, but we will still be there. My own theory on the free dining is that wdw is trying to get more people there in hurricane season since bookings were probably down during that time due to last year's busy season. Even thoug it was crowded last Oct, we still had an excellent trip and MNSSHP was awesome, no crowds, no waiting in line and the trick or treating.The parade was totally cool with all those villains and scary guys and the fireworks were the best I saw on that trip. Have an excellent time no matter what. These are just my thoughts.
Kim

 

[ShellyLynn3630]

Ya, that what it did with us. We had a condo booked, but then when I ran up on this I booked at All Star Music.

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

If you look at the UG attendance guides, October is historically one of the slower months to visit. Probably why they added the MNSSHP and the F&W festival, up the numbers a bit. Like others, I doubt the free dining enticed extra people to visit WDW. There weren't too many offered, and if you didn't frequent a board like this, you were pretty much out of the loop. Even if someone changed a ressie for free dining visit dates, there had to have been a room avilable in the first place at a WDW resort. I think (hope!) the first week of October will be lovely and crowd-free!

 

[owtrbnks]

Why ShellyLynn y'all are actin crazy![/B] You're going at one of the best times of the year and you'll have a great time! If you don't like crowds, Sept. and Oct. are the best times to go!
P.S. Once your a veteran though, you'll (sorry . . . read Y'ALL) will have to go for the holidays - it's a whole different experience!

 

[PookaJean]

ok..I noticed 2 people said their kids had fall break that week...how many people have kids out on fall break?

 

[madge]

ok..I noticed 2 people said their kids had fall break that week...how many people have kids out on fall break?

::raises hand:::

We've been going in October for years. The one year we missed was the least crowded October of all (2001). Other than that, we feel like the crowds are very manageable. Things get busier over Columbus Day, but I wouldn't classify it as crowded. But, everyone has their own idea of what crowded is...

 

[ncbyrne]

I never even heard of fall break! My DGDs go back to school this year on Sept 7 and their first day off Veteran's Day in Nov. followed by two days for Thanksgiving.

 

[eeyore45]

I agree! It will be "crowded", but manageable!! I went end of July, beg of August, never again!! I wont have anything but that summer crowd and heat to compare - and I think we'll be ok!! I know CRT will be sold out, F&W Party for the Senses will be a sell out - so crowds will be concentrated at times!! I plan on following the UG tour plans, and use FP - and we'll be at DISNEY - it just doesnt get any better !!

(PS our school gets out for 2 days in Oct for Columbus Day, and a teacher Institute day!)

 

[bcarson]

We are going the same week for Fall Break I think it will be perfectly manageable.

 

[bamagirl@hrt]

We went the first week of Oct last year. It was WONDERFUL! It was better, in our opinion, than when we went the first week of December, which is supposedly about the least crowded time to go. Our fall break was that week also.

Don't worry about the dining plan adding too much to the crowd level. We did the "pay for 5 nights, get 7" package that was available last fall. Everyone said that, plus people rescheduling from the hurricanes would drastically increase crowds. It didn't. Most things were walk on or 10-15 minute waits. We didn't even need fast pass most of the week. We felt the crowds did start picking up some on the Thursday before Columbus Day. But even then, it was far from unmanageable. Just get to the parks early & use fast pass.

It's a great time of year to go. It was still pretty hot & humid, but not suffocatingly so. It was great to be able to use the pool and water parks, it had been too cold when we'd gone before in December. We are planning to go back in October next year on fall break.

Have fun!
Christy

 

[disneyjunkie]

My son and I are going down that week because NYC public schools are closed 2 days for Rosh Hashanah.

By going Oct.1-5, we'll get value rates, free dining, MNSSHP, and my son will only miss one day of school.

I don't think the crowds will be to bad. Maybe not a slow as in the past, but still not bad.

Our Schools are also closed 2 days the following week(Columbus Day and Yom Kippur). However, there isn't any free dining that week, and we'd have to pay regular season rates.

 

[WDWlover]

Just another fact....We booked in for the first week of October on July 2nd (the day before the free dining plan ended) and had NO issues at all getting into the value resorts - we had our choice and we have a group of 12 going with 6 rooms. I'm guessing it's not bad considering that they weren't sold out for this GREAT deal!

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

ok..I noticed 2 people said their kids had fall break that week...how many people have kids out on fall break?

My kids are in year-round school. In fact, they just started their school year yesterday! They have three 3-week breaks during the year; fall (mid-sept to early oct), Christmas, and spring. Our summers are 6 weeks. We are too busy with camps and activities to visit WDW in the summer, but I figured fall would be perfect! Nice way to see as much as we can for our first (and hopefully not last) trip to WDW.