Am I missing something that is going on Oct 10-17

[LuckyDogg]

Hello everyone! I hope you all can help me out. My wife and I are planning a trip for the family to Disney World Oct 10-17th. This is not our first trip but we are not experts.

The reason I am posting is when I went in to make dining reservations (we are right at the 180 day mark) everything I chose was either already booked or almost at capacity. I was looking at Ohana, Be Our Guest, Chef Mickey and ?? Is there some big event that week that I am missing or maybe something else I am missing? Our last trip to Disney was a few years ago and the week before this one, the crowds were a little elevated due to a large influx of people from KY that were flooded out and schools were canceled (at least this is what we heard). One of our concerns is with my one daughter, she handled that crowd fine but I know she would never be able to handle a peak season crowd.

We are starting to second guess our decision and I was just looking for some insight. Thanks in advance for any information.

 

[WDW74]

The Food and Wine Festival at World Showcase !

 

[NYwdwfan]

Hello everyone! I hope you all can help me out. My wife and I are planning a trip for the family to Disney World Oct 10-17th. This is not our first trip but we are not experts.

The reason I am posting is when I went in to make dining reservations (we are right at the 180 day mark) everything I chose was either already booked or almost at capacity. I was looking at Ohana, Be Our Guest, Chef Mickey and ?? Is there some big event that week that I am missing or maybe something else I am missing? Our last trip to Disney was a few years ago and the week before this one, the crowds were a little elevated due to a large influx of people from KY that were flooded out and schools were canceled (at least this is what we heard). One of our concerns is with my one daughter, she handled that crowd fine but I know she would never be able to handle a peak season crowd.

We are starting to second guess our decision and I was just looking for some insight. Thanks in advance for any information.

Those are 3 of the most popular restaurants to get reservations for - your best bet is trying to get those reservations at the end of your trip because the people arriving up to 10 days before you have already had access to book them.

 

[sxeensweet]

Yes those are very popular and your 180 day mark was last Monday if I calculated right because my trip starts 10/13 and I made those last Thursday.
Also free dining happens at that time as well as Food &Wine fest at Epcot.
The parks are not really crowded (not like peak times at all) as it is a somewhat slower period of year but with free dining for some of that and those being very popular restaurants it is hard to get your ideal time unless you book at exactly 180 days. Don't give up though and keep trying up until and during your trip. People have to cancel by 11:59pm the day prior to avoid tbe $10 cancelation fee.

 

[boilerpicc]

It's probably due to the free dining plan. That drives more people to go to the restaurants, and you picked the most popular ones. We had the same problem with a trip in Sept. The parks were not full by any means (<20 minutes for most rides), but the popular restaurants were. We had problems with Be Our Guest, Chef Mickey's, Ohana (the hardest one), Sci-fi Dine in Theater, and Yak and Yeti's. I was only able to get Be Our Guest and Ohana very late at night towards the end of our trip (around the 189 day mark). I ended up having to call rather than use the app, because I couldn't find anything online. I had better luck with Chef Mickey's at dinner than at breakfast. If you are willing to be flexible on your restaurant choices, you will be able to find reservations at other places. There were lunchtime reservations at most of the Epcot restaurants as late as the day before.

Slightly related, you will run into the same kind of problems booking FP+. The 7 Dwarf's Mine Train, Frozen meet and greet, parade/fireworks viewing, and Toy Story Mania all filled up really quickly. Make sure to get those close to the earliest date you can if you want them.

 

[LuckyDogg]

Ok great information, thank you all very much. Can I ask... Free Dining, is this for sure going to be offered at this time or is it still up in the air? We have been looking at our lodging options and I have a really nice opportunity off property but this might sway me to considering staying on property.

 

[sxeensweet]

Ok great information, thank you all very much. Can I ask... Free Dining, is this for sure going to be offered at this time or is it still up in the air? We have been looking at our lodging options and I have a really nice opportunity off property but this might sway me to considering staying on property.

Your very welcome!! Pretty much every year from Sept -Mid December they end up offering free dining offers for some dates (excluding a few weeks in there like Thanksgiving etc). They usually are released early -mid summer if they do any discounts for the fall. Also they usually offer a room only (you can make it a package though if you want) discount offer as well and depending where you stay sometimes the room discount is better. Free dining you pay full rack rate for the room though, and if you stay at Values you get the free quick service plan, and if you stay at Mods and Deluxe you get the free regular plan etc.
We do not have either discount as we are DVC members and just love going anytime from Oct - Mid December due to the wonderful weather and lower crowds. We always use the dining plan though as we do love to eat at many restaurants while there.
Whatever you decide I hope you have a wonderful trip!!

 

[LuckyDogg]

Thank you very much.

 

[sxeensweet]

Thank you very much.

Your welcome and no problem that is what we are here for! Hope this was helpful!

 

[LuckyDogg]

It was very helpful and now I think I have a better understanding of what was happening with the reservations. We are going to chat some tonight but I feel comfortable in moving forward, now it is time to start planning. We might wait a few more days to book to see if the dining happens. I read in one of the other threads that it might be announced sooner than later. With a family of 5 the lodging options get pricey really quick on property but the dining might really offset that.
I'm sure I might have other questions and now I know where to get answers.
Thanks

 

[SweetPea]

The higher capacity might also have some correlation to school fall breaks. In the south, a good bit of us have October 15 and 16 off for fall break. I know a lot of families who go at that time, so as to only miss a couple days of school as opposed to a whole week.

 

[DisneyJoe]

Columbus Day is Monday October 12, many will take a long weekend trip, as well as locals having the day off and hitting the parks.

 

[LowesChevy]

The 10th is my birthday, but it is probably the reasons the OPs posted
Def. a popular time-we moved our annual trip up to the previous week the last couple of years to avoid

 

[JohnD]

I was looking at Ohana, Be Our Guest, Chef Mickey and ??

That's because you were looking at Ohana, BOG, and Chef Mickey, LOL! They're just about the top three most popular ADRs in all of WDW. Good luck!

 

[Clamman73]

Hello everyone! I hope you all can help me out. My wife and I are planning a trip for the family to Disney World Oct 10-17th. This is not our first trip but we are not experts.

The reason I am posting is when I went in to make dining reservations (we are right at the 180 day mark) everything I chose was either already booked or almost at capacity. I was looking at Ohana, Be Our Guest, Chef Mickey and ?? Is there some big event that week that I am missing or maybe something else I am missing? Our last trip to Disney was a few years ago and the week before this one, the crowds were a little elevated due to a large influx of people from KY that were flooded out and schools were canceled (at least this is what we heard). One of our concerns is with my one daughter, she handled that crowd fine but I know she would never be able to handle a peak season crowd.

We are starting to second guess our decision and I was just looking for some insight. Thanks in advance for any information.

I avoid the second and third week in October like the plague (learned lesson a few years ago) since a lot of schools/colleges/universities have a break in either of those two weeks. Also, Columbus day weekend sees a bump in attendance.

Also, looking at last year's free dining, checking in on the 10th would put you in a black out date for free dining (10/4 - 10/25, 2014) So I think it's not the free dining explaining troubles booking restaurants, it's pure volume of people already making plans to be there that week.

 

[LWB]

You're also looking at a week when MNSSHP is taking place. Be Our Guest doesn't stay open as long as usual on party nights, so that decreases availability significantly! Also, many people not attending the party will be leaving MK by 7pm and Chef Mickey's/Ohana are easy places to go for dinner when leaving MK so that will push up demand for those locations as well.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I avoid the second and third week in October like the plague (learned lesson a few years ago) since a lot of schools/colleges/universities have a break in either of those two weeks. Also, Columbus day weekend sees a bump in attendance.

Also, looking at last year's free dining, checking in on the 10th would put you in a black out date for free dining (10/4 - 10/25, 2014) So I think it's not the free dining explaining troubles booking restaurants, it's pure volume of people already making plans to be there that week.

Which is also why they don't offer free dining then.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

A lot of October was blacked out from free dining last year. Things also aren't 100% that free dining will be offered for this year. But either way...keep a close eye on those days because I'm sure people will start shifting around their plans to get that free dining should dates be released. i.e. they'll likely be canceling ADRs if free dining doesn't match up with their plans OR canceling and rebooking ADRs if they wind up rebooking their trip to match up with dates. So, you can likely capitalize if this happens.

 

[PinnySmart]

A lot of schools in the south will have Fall break the second and third week in October. Free dining will probably not be offered. The MNSSHP nights get much more crowded the later it gets in October. I think with all of this factored in you will be looking at a little above average crowding

I just noticed by the time I finished typing this message after multiple interruptions that most had already posted exactly what I just said. Sorry!

 

[PrincessNelly_NJ]

I dont think its free dining, I think it October is just more crowded now.

We went last year in October as opposed to our normal labor day week in September and it was crowded!
I prefer to go off season because I don't handle crowds well but man our first 3 days were not as enjoyable. We went 10/18-10/25.
Our first night, we sent almost 40 minutes trying to get from tomorrowland to adventureland w/ CM yelling at guest and children being run over by adults, kids crying and parents yelling, but hopefully now that construction is less, things should be better.