Len -
Wanting to go to WDW (specifically Epcot Resort Area) Oct. 19-22.
Literally every resort sold out - Only ones left are the values.
Crowd Calendar says 5’s and 6’s…
Food and Wine and Halloween is close, but any thoughts as to why the disparity?
Crowd calendar is based on the how busy attractions are. Food and wine is not figured into the crowd calendar.
Parties often give a lower crowd calendar because less people want a half day in the park. The days when there is no party are often more crowded becausw people want to see the night time shows.
I really do think they open blocks of rooms at a time for different specials. There’s also an issue of if their system is being glitchy.
I’ve had times where rooms were sold out then all of the sudden some would open up. I’ve had a CM look for rooms and they couldn’t find any but then a few days later some would open up.
If you really want to go, I’d say book a room only where you can and where you can afford it, then change if something opens or change dates if you need to. If you book room only, the cancellation is more lenient than a package.
Often with groups hotels will have “room blocks” that effectively would show as booked for anyone not in the block. But eventually those blocks expire and any unsold rooms are then open to the general population. I’d presume DIS operates the same as the rest of the industry with their hotels. So it may be that all of the October available rooms are currently tied up in reserved rooms that may or may not become available at a later date.
The other thing to remember is that everyone staying at the resorts may not be going into the parks due to conventions or sporting events etc.
Another things to bear in mind is that WDW marketing works very had to ensure that all of the resorts are at or near capacity year-round. Therefore, the main driver for park Crowd Levels is offsite guests, and full resorts do not necessarily indicate packed parks.
HI
I think every year for the last 7 years end of October Swan and Dolphin have been rammed with a convention of some kind
Regards
Paul
I am going 10/18-25 and am finding availability still. Both the Swan and Dolphin have plenty of rooms for your dates. Coronado Springs, CBR, and Port Orleans French Quarter are available as well as 3 of the 5 value resorts. Food and Wine keeps the Epcot resorts busy in the fall. I don’t think the crowds will be too bad during that time, I expect more crowded than my late January trip this year, but less than my spring break trip. Enjoy!
I just checked as well. Also rooms at BLT and GV Villas…
Thought I would give an update with the trip this past weekend.
The crowds were CRAZY
Went to MK for EMH Friday morning and by 9-10am it was absolutely packed. Mansion was a long line outside the building. People Mover was around 45 minutes.
EPCOT later in the day was also crazy.
Basically, October has become VERY crowded. Every resort room was booked a month out for Thurs-Sun. Every. Room.
I think this is due to all the people rebooking because of Irma.
This is interesting to read, as we are here now and have not had this experience. We haven’t felt it was very crowded, except Saturday at Animal Kingdom which had EMH and then was pretty busy. Even then we got same day FPP for FOP at 4pm. Thursday at AK was not very busy, Friday at HS was not very busy- we arrived 15 minutes after rope drop and walked to TSMM, only waited 15 minutes to ride. We headed to MK about 3 pm and found it to be quite uncrowded, especially during the party that night. Sunday was back at MK where it wasn’t bad. Today at Epcot was great- we went to ride Soarin at 8:30pm and it was walk on. I have never seen that during our usual trip over spring break.
I am sorry your days felt so crazy, I hope you still had a good time!