We own DVC and I’m planning to book for next fall, coming up at the 11 month mark. I originally planned to go the last week of October into the first weekend of November because it seems like lower crowd levels and the weather might be a bit better. My husband now wants to consider going Oct 5-11 (better for his work schedule). Columbus Day is Oct 14. Do you think there are any significant differences between those two weeks? I’d actually want to avoid the opening of Star Wars, but it sounds like it won’t be open in Oct anyway? It would just be the 2 of us.
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Following… I’m booking for that same time period and interested in everyone’s thoughts.
In 2016, we did the week of October 23. Aside for the Food and Wine Festival day (in World Showcase) we were there, crowds were really great.
I can’t speak to one week versus another in October…but it is a great time to go.
You might see when it is cheapest based on Disney’s new ticket pricing. It might clue you in on when they think crowds will be lowest.
Ticket prices are very similar the whole month of October with the weekends a bit higher.
Yourfirstvist.net does a nice job of breaking down individual weeks in terms of crowds, prices, weather, events, etc. He is Josh at easywdw’s counterpart.
You have to take it with a grain of salt because by definition they are ranking these for your “first and maybe only” visit. This is definitely not our first or anywhere near our last, so I’m willing to put up with a slight crowd increase in Hope’s of better weather. Also, as DVC owners, I’m not too worried about resort pricing. But I think the tool is really good to see the differences between a few different week choices.
We Just got back from a trip October 14th-20th and crowd wise all the parks were mobbed especially Magic Kingdom to the point where it was difficult maneuvering through the crowds . Temperature wise we had 95 degree weather everyday with the concrete radiating the heat upwards and the sun beating downwards (no rain all week- a blessing and a curse) 4th FP’s were hardly available by noon except for Dumbo and teacups. Toy Story Land was unbearable in terms of heat. There is no midday shade there. I peaked at the wait times for this week just out of curiosity and they still seemed terrible. Based on JUST my experience this year. I’d say stick to your last week of October.
We are doing last week of October into first week of November and we too are trying to avoid Star Wars GE opening (well I am, DH would love it). I know they say October is now one of the busiest months, but I would think early on wouldn’t be too bad (according to CLs from early Oct. this year). Our problem for first weekend in November is the wine and dine half marathon crowds
I saw that My First Visit ranked the last week of Oct as #3! Thats definitely tempting. Regarding the Wine and Dine Half, I really wonder if it may be Nov 7-10 as opppsed to Oct 31-Nov 3? @gcwallace8 Thanks for the input. That’s the kind of scenario I’m hoping to avoid. LOL.
Wine and Dine is Nov 1 through 4 this year, so I assumed it would be the same in 2019 - I would be quite happy if it’s not
We were there Oct 4-9. MK had light crowds on party day Oct 5th and we got a TON done with the extra morning hour. We went to HS that evening and were able to do Star Tours and TSM at close and then watch the star wars fireworks. Crowds didn’t seem too terrible, but all the good fpp were gone by 4. Saturday morning we RD HS for SDD and then did some other things, but crowds came in pretty fast by 10 and standby times for ToT and RnR got long quick. We had saved our fpp for Epcot in the PM. Outside of world showcase, Epcot seemed fine (5 or 6) but food and wine was jam packed and was not fun. Obviously it was a Saturday night and so probably normal…but just telling the story. Sunday at Animal Kingdom was pretty nice, again a 5 or 6. We did the Halloween party on Columbus day and crowds were fine! Just followed the strategy of waiting to do candy and parades and most ride waits were under 30 minutes the whole time! I was worried after TP said Columbus day was like the 3 most crowded party day, but I guess not true this year. Weather wasn’t too bad, 89-92F. Sounds like we lucked out compared to last week.
but I bet you are right the Wine and Dine might be the 2nd weekend in November since it starts on Thursday and Halloween is on Thursday in 2019