I’d like to take the family on a trip to Disney World in mid to late October or possibly early November. The ideal week to go would be the week of 10/25 through 10/30, but I can’t find any reliable data to tell me how crowded the park will be that week.
Does anyone have experiences with WDW that week?
Thisshows that week to be nearly as crowded as during the summer. But this shows the crowds to be quite low that week.
October is absolutely the best month to go, both in weather (it’s beginning to cool down by then, but still pool weather) and park attendance terms. We do our annual drinking-around-the-world celebration at Epcot’s world showcase during October if we don’t go during the Food & Wine Festival.
-RNATB, former park employee and current annual passholder
Thanks RNATB. I guess I’m wondering how crowded that week of Halloween will be. Is there a spike in attendance the week before halloween or does it stay pretty empty that week?
Nah. There’s a spike in attendance at Universal Studios during Hallowe’en week and October in general because of Hallowe’en Horror Nights, but Disney attendance stays minimal from the Monday after Labor Day until about mid-November.
Incidentally, Thursday is nearly always the slowest day of the week for attendance.
I wouldn’t put too much credence in your first link, considering this:
The first link is also talking about Disneyland, not Disney World - you’re asking about Orlando, not Anaheim, right? (Disneyland is the one in California)
ETA: It (that website) is also a big whoosh. “Forced small world rides” month?
When I lived down there and had season passes to all the parks my favorite time to go was the first week of November (first week after Halloween).
The weather had just turned perfect (September and October can still be hot!!) and even though the parks closed earlier than peak seasons it didn’t matter since crowd levels were so low.
The week before Halloween can be busy since Universal has Halloween Horror Nights throughout October and lots of people are in town for that (go to Disney during the day, Universal at night).
We weren’t planning on visiting Universal during the trip, but were instead going to stick with WDW, Epcot, Hollywood studios and Animal Kingdom. Is Universal a must see?
IMHO, Universal’s Islands of Adventure is better than all the Disney parks combined, but it’s not great for young children. Universal Studios is something you ought to see if you haven’t, but it’s certainly not my favorite.
I used to work at Disneyland so I don’t know how our crowd levels compare to Disney World’s
In my experience, Tuesdays are the slowest days, followed by Wednesdays
Go during non-peak periods of the year. Jan, Feb, and the first half of Mar, Oct, and the first half of Nov are the slowest, but avoid holiday weekends during those months
Go early as possible, but call ahead to see when they’ll open to the public. 3 or 4 days a week, hotel guests get to go into the park an hour earlier. I believe it was Thursdays, Saturday, and some other days.
Call ahead to see if they are having any special events. Occasionally the park closes early for cast member (employee, ugh :dubious:) parties, and other events.
There are always some rides down for refurbishing. Make sure you know which rides will be down when you go. Those things could take months so dont think that the ride down today wont be down next month when you go
Many shows like Fantasmic, the fireworks, or the Aladdin show in the Hyperion Theater are only done on weekends during non-peak periods. If you want to see them, find out their schedule. By the way, try to talk to at least 2 people at the park about it. Some of the people working with me wouldnt know the schedule of something if it bit them in the ass. However I’ll give more credit to info center people whose jobs are to know this stuff though
October might be when they take the Haunted Mansion down to convert it into the Nightmare before Christmas monstrosity. If you want the classic look, go before October
Bring food in. Security’s not going to take your burger or something. I’ve never had problems bringing food in there nor has anyone else I’ve ever known but people seem to get this idea that we dont allow outside food. If you can bring enough snacks to skip a meal, that’ll save you at least $100 for a family of 4
Did you read the disclaimer at the bottom of the first link?
According to the Disney World website:
Lowest Attendance: January (except New Year’s Day) until just prior to Presidents’ week in February
The week following Labor Day until just prior to Thanksgiving week
The week following Thanksgiving until the week prior to Christmas
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/common/helpFAQ?id=HelpFAQOtherPage&bhcp=1
Get the book Unofficial Guide to Disney World, very much worth the money. They even have sections on the order to ride the rides to avoid most crowds.
Not for me personally so much, but your advice about being able to bring your own food into the park with you is golden for those headed down there…
I dont know why, but I always assumed that no outside food was allowed in. A family could save a huge amount of $$$ over a weekend at the park. Its certainly too bad that this is not more widely known, though I guess the Disney Corp. dosent see it that way.
Thanks, glad I could help and also stick it to the Disney Corp. 
In the many times we’ve been there as guests, we’ve brought lots of bottled liquids, snacks like cereal boxes full of stuff, jerky, etc. I should clarify that I’ve never actually brought stuff like a whole meal in there, but I’m sure the info desk could tell you for sure. I spent many years ripping off tourists with our $3 drinks and $10 burger combos (includes fries but no drink). Anything to stick it to Disney
My sister lives in Orange County, and when her daughter was small they used to go to Disneyland all the time. (In fact, they had an annual pass for a while.) They used leave the park in the middle of their stay, walk across the street to McDonald’s, get some burgers and bring them back in. Much cheaper, and often much faster.
Ed
You can’t do this in Disneyworld.
OP, you’re picking a great time to go.
We went to Disneyland about 2 years ago and we brought in lots of our own food; sandwiches, snacks and water. We bought drinks there on a few days and one of the days it was 99 so we got some ice cream. I’m hoping Disney World will be just as lenient and allow us to bring in lunch again. We are renting a house near the park so we’ll be able to do breakfast and dinner on the cheap.
So the consensus is that the week of Halloween is actually a pretty low attendance week?
I visited Disney World with my sister’s family this past November (2nd week), and the crowd levels were very reasonable and the weather was great.
Bringing some food and drinks in shouldn’t be a problem, just don’t carry in an entire cooler with a huge picnic lunch. Also, nothing in glass bottles; they check your bags before you go in.
Another thing to consider is which day of the week to visit which park, since different parks are more crowded on certain days. The aforementioned “Unofficial Guide” will tell you which parks to avoid on which days, although this is less of an issue at times of the year when attendance is lower. Generally, stay away from the park that opens early for Disney-owned hotel guests, as they tend to have higher crowds by mid-day.
Most people don’t like the idea of pre-planning a vacation in such detail, but with Disney World, a little research can make all the difference.
Sure you can, minus the “walking across the street” part.