Columbus day, how bad?

[DisneyDoug85]

Planning a trip for later this year with 10 people. 3 seperate families, 3 separate sets of issues in relation to scheduling. The one week that works is the week surrounding columbus day. We're thinking oct 8th-14th or 15th. Columbus day is the 10th. What can we expect? i know there aren't any real "slow" times at WDW anymore. But, will columbus day be ridiculously packed or just a little more than usual for that time of year? thanks for your help!!!

 

[imperius]

You'll be fine. October is slow and people don't take vacations around Columbus Day. It might see a boost on the 10th of local schools are out but besides that it will be slower.

 

[Disneyfreak Jen]

I can't speak for that whole week, but since a lot of people are going to have a 3 day weekend due to being off that Monday, those 3 days might be a little busier.

 

[DisneyDoug85]

You'll be fine. October is slow and people don't take vacations around Columbus Day. It might see a boost on the 10th of local schools are out but besides that it will be slower.

I can't speak for that whole week, but since a lot of people are going to have a 3 day weekend due to being off that Monday, those 3 days might be a little busier.

Thanks both of you for your help! So you both seem to think what i was kind of expecting. Busier then usual but not outrageous. Mostly for that weekend but after Columbus day it should slow back down. Is that a fair assumption?

 

[PhotoDave219]

I'm gonna have to pull some charts out again, arent i?

So Its an older chart (I'm not making a new one) but this tracks the crowd levels for the entire year as reported by Touring Plans for 2013-2015.

Please note the giant uptick in crowd level in Mid-October.

 

[DisneyDoug85]

I'm gonna have to pull some charts out again, arent i?

haha, you mean like crowd calenders? I know this has been talked about before, and i have searched and gone through multiple threads. Just figured getting a more "up to date" opinion on it would be beneficial.

 

[Clamman73]

I can't speak for that whole week, but since a lot of people are going to have a 3 day weekend due to being off that Monday, those 3 days might be a little busier.

The week before is Rosh Hashanah and Columbus day week Yom Kippur is the 12th this year, here in the NY/LI area schools will be off for those holidays, but I don't think it should impact crowds all that much, but you do get some schools around the rest of the country that have some fall break time sometime in October.

 

[Dasnowz]

oct is busy and add in halloween parties with early close days.

 

[DisneyDoug85]

oct is busy and add in halloween parties with early close days.

when i was younger my family would go in late july as to avoid missing school. It was pretty packed as expected. Would you expect similar crowds to that? Guess thats my thing, i can deal with pretty high (like summer) crowds. I just am hoping that its not worse then that. We will have small kids with us, so long waits for the major rides like space mountain, tower of terror etc won't bother us because most likely we won't be doing those anyway.

 

[DisneyDoug85]

The week before is Rosh Hashanah and Columbus day week Yom Kippur is the 12th this year, here in the NY/LI area schools will be off for those holidays, but I don't think it should impact crowds all that much, but you do get some schools around the rest of the country that have some fall break time sometime in October.

Thanks Clamman, that seems to be the majority opinion that it may be a little more crowded then usual, but not too bad. hope you're right.

 

[DisneyDoug85]

I'm gonna have to pull some charts out again, arent i?

So Its an older chart (I'm not making a new one) but this tracks the crowd levels for the entire year as reported by Touring Plans for 2013-2015.

Please note the giant uptick in crowd level in Mid-October.

View attachment 143044

yikes. if thats the case i wish we could figure on different dates. thanks.

 

[PhotoDave219]

yikes. if thats the case i wish we could figure on different dates. thanks.

There just isnt a dead season anymore..... You have dead weeks.

If you can somehow convince people to go the week after labor day, thats the time to go.....

 

[DisneyDoug85]

There just isnt a dead season anymore..... You have dead weeks.

If you can somehow convince people to go the week after labor day, thats the time to go.....

i was hoping for an early November visit. Problem is we have multiple people in the retail business that cannot take off in November or December because of the holiday rush. Cant do September because my daughter (5) will just be starting kindergarten. Id like to wait at least a few weeks before pulling her out for a week. Also we'll have two 2 year olds so going earlier in the year would mean hotter temps and they wouldn't be able to handle it I'm sure. i think we're stuck with that week in October or if that fails maybe we hold off till February or something.

 

[PhotoDave219]

i was hoping for an early November visit. Problem is we have multiple people in the retail business that cannot take off in November or December because of the holiday rush. Cant do September because my daughter (5) will just be starting kindergarten. Id like to wait at least a few weeks before pulling her out for a week. Also we'll have two 2 year olds so going earlier in the year would mean hotter temps and they wouldn't be able to handle it I'm sure. i think we're stuck with that week in October or if that fails maybe we hold off till February or something.

Early November is much better than Mid October/Columbus Day. Plus you get the Christmas Decor....

 

[Matt_Black]

Only in America do we celebrate a guy who ended up in the wrong place, and the only reason he thought he'd get to the right place to begin with is because he screwed up the math.

 

[DisneyDoug85]

Early November is much better than Mid October/Columbus Day. Plus you get the Christmas Decor....

yeah that was my first choice, but as i said thats not doable for some of my group. going with a big group is a pain haha. We'll see what happens

 

[PhotoDave219]

yeah that was my first choice, but as i said thats not doable for some of my group. going with a big group is a pain haha. We'll see what happens

Hope I gave you some ammunition as to what you want to do.... I'll see if I have anything that covers more just september-december....

 

[PhotoDave219]

Looking specifically at the crowd levels for the past three years.....

in 2015 you have that Spike at the beginning of September, thats the late labor day. Otherwise, you have distinct periods of increased crowd levels around holidays. You can easily see Columbus Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

This is for the entire resort as a whole, MK's crowds are higher.

 

[DisneyDoug85]

Looking specifically at the crowd levels for the past three years.....

View attachment 143080

in 2015 you have that Spike at the beginning of September, thats the late labor day. Otherwise, you have distinct periods of increased crowd levels around holidays. You can easily see Columbus Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

This is for the entire resort as a whole, MK's crowds are higher.

oh geez, now I'm worried haha. thank you for the info!

 

[Clamman73]

Yeah...I was looking at that touring plans historical data from 2015 Columbus day weekend, and it was 10's at MK...brutal...and Big Thunder will be closed this fall.