Was anyone in Disney first week of October?

[ELG13]

Random question but just wondering if anyone was there the first week of October. That's where we were originally booked to go but when o went to add a day to the trip there was zero availability ANYWHERE except for the $1500 a night suites etc... literally nothing else. I'm just wondering if it was busy or if anything was going on.
We ended up switching to September which was fine but not quite the same as our usual October trip. It was a little hotter (which was fine for us since we live in Florida) but it seemed to make the lines for attractions that we can usually just hop on (Ariel) longer than normal (I should say with Ariel there was actually a line this time lol) because people were trying to escape the heat. It was no big deal, just curious. I'm wanting to get back to our normal October trip so next time I'll plan accordingly.

 

[Chef Mickey]

I know some people that were there in October and they reported it was more crowded the week in October than any recent time they've visited (annual pass holders).

October is becoming a really popular month, for whatever reason.

 

[LUVofDIS]

We were there the first couple days of October, so this may not answer your question. We were there from September 26th to October 2nd
and we were pleasantly surprised by the low waits. The year before we went in the middle of September and it was much busier. We try to stay away from October as it seems the closer we get to Halloween the more crowded the park seems. But this year was the lowest crowds we have experienced in years.

 

[DuckTalesWooHoo1987]

October 8-13 was destroyed. Columbus Day, Halloween parties, hurricane Michael, F&W Festival, Fall Breaks for tons of southern schools, etc, etc. We always go in May and October and I can tell you it was insane this year for October. According to our DVC points chart we get every year October is considered the second best time of the year to go but honestly in the last few years the crowds have just gotten out of control in general no matter when you're there. I'm glad that we get to go a lot because if we didn't there would be TONS of things we wouldn't get to do on our trips without making some sacrifices. I was just looking at the My Disney Experience app today (because I just generally like to see how wait times are even when I'm NOT there much to my wife's annoyance) and the wait times were bad today and I was counting how long you'd have to wait and it seemed like there would be rides you just couldn't do all in one day anymore. I'm a huge Haunted Mansion fan but on this past trip it was like the 4th day out of 8 before I even got on it because the waits were just so ridiculous. For those of us that have been going for years we were honestly really spoiled by all the "down time" the parks used to have. 10 years ago we'd ride everything in the MK all in one day and have plenty of time to spare and even go back to the room and chill and come back and do more stuff again. Those days seem to be over though. Sigh...... Seems like now we just get up early and walk over to the MK and once the crowds pick up just walk back over to BLT and let the kids swim and then go back in the evenings. The crowds just seem really overwhelming now compared to what they used to be.

 

[DuckTalesWooHoo1987]

I know some people that were there in October and they reported it was more crowded the week in October than any recent time they've visited (annual pass holders).

October is becoming a really popular month, for whatever reason.

My wife was over at Senses getting a massage the second week in October and met some fellow DVC members from TN and they said they actually were on vacation in Panama City but it got evacuated so they just decided to come on over to VGF and stayed on cash and I was like "Disney can even monetize hurricanes and STILL keep upping the crowd"! LOL! I asked a CM about people coming over from the coast that had been evacuated and they told me they do try and accommodate people that are in that condition. Also more people are getting fall breaks now and that makes October more popular than it used to be. Our kids go to private school and so they get 2 weeks and our flight prices were insane for this trip and as it turns out the reason for the high prices is that we picked the week when all the public schools were off at the same time as our kids. I was banging my head against the wall. LOL! We book 11 months out though so there was no way I could have known. Still dang annoying but we did meet a million people from TN and the surrounding states though and we were all able to identify each other by our accents on the monorail, buses, and in line at rides. That's how I finally pieced together that we picked the wrong week.

 

[ELG13]

I live in the south and my kids only get Thanksgiving week off...so I was confused by the fall break stuff for southern schools.
It's seems like the word has finally gotten out and October is just too popular now....maybe summers will drop and then I won't have to pull the kids out and we can go then . Or for us that are lucky enough to have been spoiled in the past by low crowds it may be time to consider a new vacation destination. I can't imagine where though. We love it there but if crowds are so bad we only are able to do our fast passes and that's it, thats not worth it financially.

 

[graphite1326]

We were there the first couple days of October, so this may not answer your question. We were there from September 26th to October 2nd
and we were pleasantly surprised by the low waits. The year before we went in the middle of September and it was much busier. We try to stay away from October as it seems the closer we get to Halloween the more crowded the park seems. But this year was the lowest crowds we have experienced in years.

We were also there the last week of September and I was surprised at the short waits.

 

[MisterPenguin]

I go to WDW with a friend who can only get the first weeks of months off. The first weeks of October, December, and February always wind up fully booked months ahead of time. Popular time for the parties, conventioneers, and everyone grabbing discounts for the off-season. I've learned my lesson, I book a year ahead of time. Free cancellation up to to a month beforehand if I need to (and even if there was a fee, I'd still do it rather than get locked out). If a discount shows up and you act quick enough, you can switch to the discounted rated.

 

[Walt Disney1955]

We were there the last week of September and first week of October. Yeah I thought it was busy. I don't know if "busy" is really busy anymore, maybe October is still a slower time. But when we went last year right after Thanksgiving it was so much busier.

 

[worldfanatic]

I visited 9/25 -10/7 this year. It got progressively busier as our vacation went on. It was very crowded by the time we left for home.
I'm gonna try to stick with September-only visits from now on.

 

[LUVofDIS]

We were there the last week of September and first week of October. Yeah I thought it was busy. I don't know if "busy" is really busy anymore, maybe October is still a slower time. But when we went last year right after Thanksgiving it was so much busier.

This is a little scary (in a good way), we were in the World from September 26 to October 02 of this year, we were also there from November 24 through December 06 of 2017.

 

[mergatroid]

Was there 4th - 18th October and was hit and miss, some days busier than others but would say no different to the Octobers I've done before (which are many)

 

[Walt Disney1955]

This is a little scary (in a good way), we were in the World from September 26 to October 02 of this year, we were also there from November 24 through December 06 of 2017.

I am calling the police!

 

[thomas998]

Random question but just wondering if anyone was there the first week of October. That's where we were originally booked to go but when o went to add a day to the trip there was zero availability ANYWHERE except for the $1500 a night suites etc... literally nothing else. I'm just wondering if it was busy or if anything was going on.
We ended up switching to September which was fine but not quite the same as our usual October trip. It was a little hotter (which was fine for us since we live in Florida) but it seemed to make the lines for attractions that we can usually just hop on (Ariel) longer than normal (I should say with Ariel there was actually a line this time lol) because people were trying to escape the heat. It was no big deal, just curious. I'm wanting to get back to our normal October trip so next time I'll plan accordingly.

Our trips are usually in October, varies but normally the earlier weeks. And yes over the years that month has gotten busier, so it isn't out of the question that what you saw happen with room happened. I would suggest that you might still try for october but make different selections for where you are staying and the length of time, you might find that if you are willing to stay at two different hotels onsite that you can get the full length of stay you want but without having to resort to a uber pricey suite. When we have wanted onsite before and had specific time period that has been what we have done and it will sometimes work. If you were trying to extend your stay that originally was for a Saturday departure for a Sunday departure then odds are they really have spaces available but simply do not want to rent out a room on a Sunday for one night when they believe someone might want to stay there for the whole week but be pushed out if they can't check in on Sunday. I've found that sometimes just playing around with their reservation system that you can sometimes see that happen as a hotel will show lots of vacancies for a week but when you are looking for just one night it doesn't show any. You might also try some of the travel sites, I have also noticed that even when Disney will be booked up you can find a Disney hotel on a site like Travelocity for the sold out time at Disney.. I think some of those sites snag big chunks of rooms and then Disney can't sell them but the travel sites can, and the upside is sometimes the rates on the travel site will be lower than Disney's price and have better cancellation policy as well.

If you really have your heart set on the first week in October I wouldn't have given up so soon. Though last year for our fall trip we made arrangements later than usual and had to do 2 nights off-site that we wanted on-site simply because the only options were uber high concierge rooms in deluxe hotels that make little sense if your planning on being in parks all day...so it does happen that they sell out. Remember lots of schools have fall breaks in October and that will impact crowds.

 

[ppet]

My DW and I were there 9/29-10/4. We changed up our system and stayed away from most EMH and went to the least crowded part per touring plans calendar. It never really seemed crowded at all. I may be baized though my last few trips were around Christmas, New Years and the 4th of July. This trip reminded me more of January in the early 2000's.

 

[caseybrn]

Was there October 7-13 - at AK and Hollywd Monday, MK Wednesday and Epcot, Friday,

I've traveled visited DSW a few times in October...and this seemed the busiest so far - But I expected that