Here now, yes, it's crowded!

[LENNON500]

No need for a rant, but I am gonna state the obvious..... We have all read the numerous threads about how October ain't what it used to be....what I will say is, they were all right. MK was absolutely mobbed yesterday, as was world showcase. We're going to MNSSHP tonite and of course we're looking forward to it, but, we know it's gonna be a nuthouse.
As my wife said "I'd rather be in a packed Magic Kingdom then sitting alone at my desk at work"...well said my love, well said

 

[epcotty]

Yesterday was a teacher work day around here anyway (north FL). I do think a lot of the recent crowdedness is Disney's fault for increasing the price so much and threatening to do tiered pricing; I think probably a lot of people aren't putting off going anymore and are going before they feel it'll be too pricey

 

[DebbieB]

No need for a rant, but I am gonna state the obvious..... We have all read the numerous threads about how October ain't what it used to be....what I will say is, they were all right. MK was absolutely mobbed yesterday, as was world showcase. We're going to MNSSHP tonite and of course we're looking forward to it, but, we know it's gonna be a nuthouse.
As my wife said "I'd rather be in a packed Magic Kingdom then sitting alone at my desk at work"...well said my love, well said

Yesterday was a non-party day. During Halloween & Christmas party seasons, non-party days are always crowded because of the late closing, MSEP & Wishes. I always plan my MK days for party days.

 

[raven69david]

We'll be there next week and we'll see how it goes. It's a last minute trip and we knew it was gonna be bad when there were nearly no rooms available for AP members. Also noticed that almost all of our preferred restaurants are unavailable, but thanks to persistence (and alot of years of doing this) I was able to get what we needed, but it was definitely a chore. We've got our FP's so no matter how crowded it is, we'll get to enjoy our favorite rides. Looking forward to next week when we go "home" to relax.

 

[stashbin]

I am realizing there is no longer a "non-crowded" time. We went last November as we always do, and we had one day at MK that could be considered a low crowd level...but after that it looked like someone kicked an ant hill!

 

[Jadyreen1282]

September early was empty. Best time to go. No FW no parties.

 

[RealBlast3]

Well according to the crowd calendar I use, on easywdw, Magic Kingdom was in the red on 10/19. Of course, everyone uses different crowd calendars, so I don't know what the other sites said, but there was magic hours at MK yesterday, so that's always a clue that you wanna avoid that park.

However, it had Epcot in the green and you said it was crowded. I mean, World Showcase always seems relatively crowded to me, though, no matter when you go.

 

[DrivenByDisney]

We went to EPCOT yesterday late afternoon/evening and did not think it was crowded at all honestly. We were able to move around and stop at seven kiosks (Scotland, Greece, Brazil, China, S. Korea, France & the Craft Beer pavilion) to try samples and waited no more than five minutes at any of them.

Also rode, Mission:Space, Test Track, The Land & watched The American Adventure ... All between 6:00 and 9:00. Not bad for three hours.

The crowd level did seem higher than a "normal" Monday afternoon/evening, but again ... Nothing I thought was crowded compared to near the weekend or on weekends by far. Weekends are when we (as locals) avoid the parks.

 

[Disneyalea]

I am realizing there is no longer a "non-crowded" time. We went last November as we always do, and we had one day at MK that could be considered a low crowd level...but after that it looked like someone kicked an ant hill!

And I'll bet it was cold! We were there in November 14 and people were not prepared for the cold. Even though it's Florida, we wore underarmor, coats and scarves...and we are from Pittsburgh, PA. My husband fought me on taking the underarmor, but even he wore it one or 2 days.
We were just at WDW this September and it was crowded, even though we were going to the parks that were supposed to be slow that day.

 

[LENNON500]

Well according to the crowd calendar I use, on easywdw, Magic Kingdom was in the red on 10/19. Of course, everyone uses different crowd calendars, so I don't know what the other sites said, but there was magic hours at MK yesterday, so that's always a clue that you wanna avoid that park.

However, it had Epcot in the green and you said it was crowded. I mean, World Showcase always seems relatively crowded to me, though, no matter when you go.

Future World was light in the early evening, but WS was really packed....Air Supply's concerts added to the madness for sure!
We knew MK would be crowded, non-party day and all, but it was almost unpleasant. Too many parades blocking things up!

 

[pooh4evr]

We got home Sunday, and last week was crowded too. We used easywdw calendars, and it still felt crazy. Maybe Josh is becoming too popular! We got to do everything we wanted, and I knew it would be fairly crowded but WOW.

 

[LSUfan4444]

No need for a rant, but I am gonna state the obvious..... We have all read the numerous threads about how October ain't what it used to be....what I will say is, they were all right. MK was absolutely mobbed yesterday, as was world showcase. We're going to MNSSHP tonite and of course we're looking forward to it, but, we know it's gonna be a nuthouse.
As my wife said "I'd rather be in a packed Magic Kingdom then sitting alone at my desk at work"...well said my love, well said

It's days like this that I point to when I say that crowd calendars are probably more important with overall predicted crowd levels of 4/10 and 5/10 than 8/10 and 9/10.

Following the recommended park days on a day like yesterday could be the difference between being in MK on a a 7/10 day or being in Epcot on a 2/10 day.

 

[mickeymom629]

As one poster said, MK was not recommended as it was a non-party day and had EMH a.m. F&W festivities added to WS crowds, I'm sure.

Touring plans say they predicted 7/10 for MK, but that it was actually 10/10. They predicted 7/10 for E and that's what it was, but they don't factor the F&W festival.

 

[Tarheel girl 1975]

Most of us know that it will be busier on non-party days, but I don't think most of us expect level 10 crowds. And since most people will want to see Wishes and/or the MSEP, we'll have to visit on a non-party day at some point. It doesn't help that Disney decided to add morning EMH to Mondays (a non-party day) instead of keeping them on Thursdays which is a party day.

 

[MrInfinity]

2015: "October ain't what it used to be".

2007: "October ain't what it used to be".
http://www.disboards.com/threads/just-back-from-por-any-s.1615934/#post-21395560

2005: "October ain't what it used to be".
http://www.disboards.com/threads/grrr-the-frustation-october.1355839/#post-16973573

Hehe. When was October what it used to be?

 

[Praying Colonel]

DW and I had a glorious F&W trip in the last week of October 2010. 1s and 2s most of the week, and they were bona fide 1s and 2s. For example, we were in MK on a party day, and we did Space Mountain 3 times in a row on a walk-on basis in the afternoon. Having only previously visited WDW in busier times of the year (at that point, August and 1 Thanksgiving week trip), it was a MK with which we were totally unfamiliar. We ran out of things to do because we got it all in, and so we did Dumbo before we left, just because we'd never done it before.

We went back to F&W in October 2013 and saw the projected 1s, 2s and 3s and thought we were getting crowd levels like we had in 2010. Nope--very busy. Certainly no walk-ons.

So I guess a 1 now just doesn't equate with what used to be a 1. It may be a 1 compared to other days of the current calendar year, but it's not the same as a 1 was in previous years.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

2015: "October ain't what it used to be".

2007: "October ain't what it used to be".
http://www.disboards.com/threads/just-back-from-por-any-s.1615934/#post-21395560

2005: "October ain't what it used to be".
http://www.disboards.com/threads/grrr-the-frustation-october.1355839/#post-16973573

Hehe. When was October what it used to be?

My last great trip in early October was in 2004 or 2005, can't remember which. The following year it got more crowded, then more crowded, then we just stopped going in October.

 

[luvpooh]

We arrive tomorrow. I was planning on MK this coming Saturday because I really wanted to see MSEP, but I've come to the conclusion that the crowds aren't worth it.

Now my problem is, I have no idea of where to actually go Saturday since Epcot is to be avoided also. Is Disney Springs still super crowded on the weekends?

 

[SparklePixie]

Well according to the crowd calendar I use, on easywdw, Magic Kingdom was in the red on 10/19. Of course, everyone uses different crowd calendars, so I don't know what the other sites said, but there was magic hours at MK yesterday, so that's always a clue that you wanna avoid that park.

However, it had Epcot in the green and you said it was crowded. I mean, World Showcase always seems relatively crowded to me, though, no matter when you go.

In October, if you want to see the later parade and Wishes, your days are limited to non-party days. If you have a short trip, your options for a MK evening are few and far between.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

We arrive tomorrow. I was planning on MK this coming Saturday because I really wanted to see MSEP, but I've come to the conclusion that the crowds aren't worth it.

Now my problem is, I have no idea of where to actually go Saturday since Epcot is to be avoided also. Is Disney Springs still super crowded on the weekends?

Yes, it is.