Re-booked for Oct. 15-23 & so many questions..Maybe switch to June??

[Thomasboys]

Our last trip was in March 2019 and we were scheduled to leave 3/19 for this year's spring break trip. We've rescheduled for October 15-23, 2020 and I'm waffling a little bit and would love some feedback!

1.) How do the mid-late October crowds compare to the mid-late March crowds?
2.) The fact this will be in hurricane season makes me nervous. After going through all of the planning, ADRs, FP, fine-tuning, etc. for March and having to re-do it again for October, it would be awful to get canceled a second time.
3.) Is MNSSHP worth it? We love the early morning fantasyland event because you get to do so many rides with very little wait time. Is that the case for MNSSHP or are the waits still long?
4.) Finally, if not October, what month would you suggest? I don't like the idea of re-booking for April, we have a super quick mini -trip with two other moms/kids the end of May, we like June but we've already missed the ADR window but that might be better than hurricane season. July, August, and September are out for us as I just don't want to deal with that kind of heat. We have miserable summers where we live and running around parks in 95+ degree temps doesn't appeal to us...

 

[WIll C]

I don't think you need to worry about the hurricanes. The last few that got near didn't do much to the parks other than thin out the crowds.
Weather in Oct is still hot and humid. I've been at the start and it was too much for us but we like the cooler weather. The later you go, the cooler it will be. Our next trip is mid November when we hope it will be cooler. December last year was great other than the rain and we've been in Feb/March which wasn't bad either.

MNSSHP is a great event. My favorite so far. Depending on the night, the crowds are manageable and the rides fairly easy to get on. Not like an after or before hours event though. Still lots of people there and the parade can be really packed but then the rides are less so. Personally, I'd avoid the dessert parties unless you want a set plaza viewing for the fireworks (the terrace view is not worth it) and the food isn't fantastic for the price.

 

[Alice121078]

Hurricane season ends at the end of September (I’m pretty sure). We live in NE Florida, and September is bad, but October hasn’t seen the hurricanes.

 

[jina]

We went last October (10/25-11/2 I think) and it was crazy hot and humid up until Nov 1 when we finally started to feel human again. Having said that, crowds were ok (we took advantage of the 6am early entry at hollywood studios though) and we are hoppers w/ rope drop, midday break, hop in evening tourers. Having the halloween party what seemed like almost every night was a pain so we had to carefully plan when we would go to MK (on party days- fewer crowds from rope drop to early afternoon) and did go to one of the parties which was fun - we did a mix of rides, trick or treating and party only events. If I had to pick June vs Oct I'd probably try June since weather-wise I can't imagine it being worse than what we experienced in Oct. But then again, if I'd never gone to the Halloween party, I'd probably say October as it's something fun to do once. We were also there for the MK holiday changeover- Nov 2 we went to MK and there were Christmas decorations on main street- that was pretty cool. Also, there is a huge IT conference in mid/late October which closes MK for one evening and makes it hard to get Epcot resort area rooms.

 

[rpb718]

Given what I've seen on these boards so far about folks rescheduling, WDW is going to be slammed this year in October.

 

[Haley R]

Hurricane season ends at the end of September (I’m pretty sure). We live in NE Florida, and September is bad, but October hasn’t seen the hurricanes.

Hurricane season actually ends on November 30.

 

[Thomasboys]

Well folks, I received my two hour call back from American Airlines this afternoon (btw they were so wonderful) and I learned we have to rebook flights by August 29th. Given that we are NOT going to go in July or August, looks like my decision was made for me. June it is! I just finished booking all my dining and the only things i didn't get were O'hanna dinner and Beaches of Cream. I even got an 8:10a Garden Grill.

 

[JennyDrake]

June crowds will be better than October

 

[heidijanesmith]

We have a vacation scheduled in June and I am pretty sure we will have to cancel.

I am hoping that we will be able to keep it.

There are a lot of rooms available for the dates we originally booked.

 

[mickeymom629]

I can not imagine parks opening in June. But I hope they do.

Our next trip was going to be December or January (nothing booked yet) and I have no idea what to think.

 

[soniam]

Just take what you can get. If the parks are still not open, which I hope is absolutely not true, then you will most likely get another refund. Hope you have a great trip!

 

[hereforthechurros]

Given what I've seen on these boards so far about folks rescheduling, WDW is going to be slammed this year in October.

Yeah it’s anecdotal for sure but every person I’ve seen talk about rescheduling has rescheduled for October.

 

[Timothy02359]

I would stick to Oct. I don`t see parks being open in June.

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

Given what I've seen on these boards so far about folks rescheduling, WDW is going to be slammed this year in October.

Agreed. Assuming, of course, that the virus doesn't dwindle away in the summer only to resurface in the fall...

 

[Gentry2004]

Whenever the parks do reopen, I think they will be slammed for at least 6 months due to pent up demand. I would not choose my next trip based on any prior crowd assumption. Its going to be screwy for a while.

 

[gatechfan99]

In regards to hurricane, I've had to postpone trips twice in the past 4 years because of them. Once with Matthew in early October 2016 and then with Dorian last year over Labor Day.
Yes, in retrospect, neither did any real damage to Orlando and had you been there, the worst would've just been having the parks closed for a day or so. But the problem is that you don't know that when you're making the decision. Both wound up on a path that was safer than predicted for Orlando when the decision to go or not was made. Much like now, you're having to make these decisions not really knowing how things are going to go in a tight 2-3 day window. There's worries about flights cancelled, major infrastructure damage, gas shortages, etc. Not saying it's not a reason to go in October, but you do have to recognize the possibility of disruption during that time, especially based on what kind of travel you have to do to get there and back.

 

[avado]

We had to postpone a trip because of Irma.. We were scheduled to land the day it hit Orlando.. On the plus side, disney took very good care of us for moving. I mean, we had a fast pass question and we asked service. The guy looked at our fp schedule and said "how did you get this? Its better than what we could get". It was nice.. So don't worry about rescheduling if you have to. If you are nice with them they tend to respond in kind.

 

[Retro Magic]

I think going forward crowds will now be very unpredictable. From virus concerns to the state of the parks to construction to affordability. So many people have lost their jobs and careers. Even schooling could see some changes. There are so many different ways this can go once we begin to get back to some normalcy.

 

[Brian Noble]

Agreed. I don't think it is as simple as "pent up demand." Some folks who lose jobs will have trouble finding new ones. Some folks may be spooked for a while about travel or being in crowded places. Other folks will need (and be able to take) a break that hadn't planned to. Right now, things are changing so fast on a day-to-day basis that I can hardly tell what next week will look like let alone this summer or fall.