OK if one was to plan a trip to WDW in October… say, 9th to 24th would the parks be filled with holiday-goers?
Does the state of North Dakota hold Autumnapalooza and send everyone to Florida or some other obscure and arcane American ritual that would make crowd levels insane?
For that matter would October 2021 be crazy simply because some glorious Kingdom of Magic is turning 50?
The only thing I can think of in October is the Mickey’s Not so Scary Halloween Party. If it is running again that brings in a lot of extra bodies, but mainly in the late afternoon for early entrance b4 the party begins. BTW, we’re done doing the MNSSHP since they seem to be TOO crowded.
Yeah I generally avoid October because of the higher crowds from the Halloween party plus shortened hours on those party days.
Also Food & Wine
Oct 1 will be INSANE with the actual 50th celebration that day. Disney will keep the party going for a while, and I’m sure things will pick up, especially as the vaccine comes out. And then there is Indigenous Peoples’ Day (or Columbus Day if you hold to that mythology, or Canadian Thanksgiving) when more school systems are having fall break…
So yeah - combining the likelihood of vaccines, the 50th, MNSSHP (assuming it comes back) and Food & Wine, I’d expect next October to be pretty busy.
I wonder if MMSSHP will not come back in order to give the whole month to the 50th.
No clue. They may suspend it say during the week of the 50th - unless the vaccine doesn’t happen like we all think it will, I don’t know that they’d cancel it outright again, but who knows.
There is a long weekend in October. It will add to the crowds.
Man, October doesn’t sound very promising.
I looked at the travel guides and it seemed to be a low month.
But then my impression from the forum is that crowds shot up after Labour Day and remained that way throughout October.
The 50th will probably last 12-18 months. Tron will be delayed and the 50th is likely to be more of a whimper than the full scale celebration planned. I think Disney will promote it as running from Sept 2021 to the end of 2022, and have it run into Epcot’s 40th for a further 6 months, with hopefully Guardians open by then too.
I’m not sure there is a slow time anymore, unless a hurricane is in the way or something. And I think once more and more people want to travel… I think it will be busy. I’d just pick whatever is easiest fir schedule avd weather you like.
October is my favorite month at Disney - hands down! We have gone 5 different times in October. This year was Covid-weird with the crowds increasing after Labor day so I wouldn’t use that as a template. I also think that next year will be a little wacky in general with the rescheduled trips and nobody really knows when Disney will open some of the headliners.
I think in general if you avoid Columbus/Indigenous People’s Day which is Monday the 11th, you will be fine! The very beginning of the month is HOT but has lower crowds. I personally think the sweet spot is the very end of October into the beginning of November (avoiding the marathon the first weekend in Nov). 2019 had a crazy heat wave but 2020 the weather was (IMHO) perfect.
Well, that American holiday does coincide with Canadian Thanksgiving which my extended family would like me around for (if we’re not locked down etc.).
I was thinking of avoiding that last week of October but if MMSSHP is on, I guess there’s little difference in attendance closer to Halloween.
Also, “They” say that last half of next year will be crazy busy at every vacation destination. People going stir-crazy, and/or hitting their max saved PTO Balance.
I’d considered Sept 2021 for the postponed Jan 2021 trip, but ended up going with Jan 2022 for that reason.
But I wonder if things will die down by Spring 2022 or will it be cresting as the general populace green lights going on vacation?
My uneducated guess is that things will be back to normal by 2022.
Also, when I first started to plan our first and only Disney trip a little over a year ago, my parameters were 1) at least a year after Star Wars was completed and 2) as low of crowds as possible. As homeschoolers, we prefer to travel when school is in session.
So, I narrowed it down to Jan/Feb 2021 or Sept/Oct 2021. At first I leaned toward to Sept/Oct 2021, but then the 50th anniversary scared me off. The crowds were predicted to be bonkers for the celebration and ‘They’ were saying it would last for months while Disney milked it.
Trouble is that the celebration was supposed to take a lot of prep work and they’ll be getting a late start on that. So, maybe much of the hoopla has been shelved? With some of the hoopla shelved, how much of the crowds will not bother?
Of course, there is a problem with Jan/Feb comparable to your example of all of North Dakota going to Florida. Tour groups from South America coming on their summer vacation. Many groups of 15-year-old girls doing their Quice…(sp?) trip. But, then North Dakota is tiny.
I’ll be hitting my PTO Max in early March. I won’t be the only one.
Agreed, that last week of Oct into Nov is my all time favorite week!
Yes! We went nov 1-6 in 2018. Weather was great, a real mix but got some pool time in. Some cool days, some hot days. I’m looking at this sane time for next trip.