October 2018 at Disney World
October used to be a “best kept secret” when it came to the best months to visit Walt Disney World. Temperate weather, low crowds, value season pricing, and seasonal events all made it a good time to visit. If you ask Disney Vacation Club members, it’s often their favorite month of the year for the reasons above plus Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and Epcot’s International Food & Wine Festival.
Unfortunately, the reality for what you can expect in October 2018 is way different than the perception. In the last few years, October crowds have ballooned at Walt Disney World, thanks to a combination of the secret getting out, people postponing summer vacations for better pricing, and more schools having longer fall breaks, among other things.
If someone is still advising you that October is a “quiet” month at Walt Disney World, ignore their advice, as they are offering outdated information. Now, October is consistently one of the year’s busiest months. We’re talking an entire month of crowds that rival Spring Break. On top of that, due to the month’s newfound popularity, discounts are much more difficult to find, making it more expensive than it used to be, as well.
As for crowds, they drop off after Labor Day and remain light for most of September before really ramping up towards the beginning of October. Throughout October, these high crowd levels remain. It should be noted that this is not as bad as Thanksgiving week, Christmas, or New Year’s. Those are all brief spikes surrounded by weeks that are less busy.
Rather, October is a sustained month-long time of heavy to very crowds. Worse than even what summer used to have. On top of that, weekends at Epcot will be packed for the Food & Wine Festival and the Magic Kingdom’s Halloween Parties will get busier closer to Halloween. Still, with a little planning, you can beat the crowds during October in Walt Disney World. Just consult our 1-Day Disney Park Itineraries for step-by-step touring plans.
If you can get past the crowds, October is still a moderately good month to visit. The weather is improving, and the seasonal events are in full swing. Because of that, October still does reasonably well on our Best and Worst Months at Walt Disney World post. Keep in mind that lower crowds also means park hours are short in October, which compounds the impact of those larger crowds. .
Weather at Walt Disney World continues to improve in October, with temperatures cooling even further from September, humidity dropping, and the tail end of hurricane and storm season concluding. Afternoon showers and torrential downpours are still possible, as is really hot and really cool weather, so remember to pack for a wide range of weather conditions. You can view day-by-day temperature and weather forecasts plus historical averages for Walt Disney World weather in October here. As you can see, average highs are still in the 80s every day of the month, so it’s not that much cooler…although those 60 degree lows can make a big difference.
That’s the crowd and weather forecast in Walt Disney World’s neck of the woods, now let’s take a look at the events going on around the Resort!
Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party is offered many nights in October, which can be a good or bad thing depending upon how you look at it. In the “good” camp, this means more opportunities to get in the Halloween spirit and attend. In the “bad” camp, this means more 7 pm closings, which have to be carefully planned around on the days of your vacation that you aren’t attending the Halloween Party.
As for when to attend, we highly recommend attending as early in the month as possible, on a school night. If you’re unfamiliar with the event, read our Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party Guide to learn more. It’s a fun hard-ticket event (that means it costs extra) with a special Halloween parade, Halloween fireworks, special character meet & greets, trick or treating, and more.
In terms of attractions, the Walt Disney World Refurbishment Schedule is pretty light for October, but that might be a bit deceptive. There is a lot of ongoing construction throughout Walt Disney World, and will be for the next several years. While Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is the big project right now, and it finishes in 2019, other projects at Magic Kingdom and Epcot won’t be finished until early 2021. Some of this won’t be visually noticeable (such as the work on Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway), but other projects (such as those at hotels) will have a much greater impact.
On the plus side, by the time October 2018 rolls around, Toy Story Land will be open at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and should have (hopefully) subsided a bit in popularity after the busy summer season. You can still expect long waits at these attractions, particularly Slinky Dog Dash.
Pandora – World of Avatar at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and its crowds will have died down a bit since last year. You should still expect long waits in October as the parks will be busier (overall) than in the summer, but 2-3 hour waits for Flight of Passage are unlikely. Read our Ultimate Guide to Pandora – World of Avatar for tips and tricks on doing this new section of Walt Disney World!
Epcot’s International Food & Wine Festival is also in high gear during the month of October. This event has expanded significantly in recent years, both in terms of popularity and what’s offered. There’s no two ways about it: Food & Wine Festival is expensive. Yes, there are some free and low cost events, but just about everything at the event is costly, and at an elevated price even by Disney standards. Most people stick to the kiosks around World Showcase offering small snacks that are about $4-7 each, on average. That doesn’t seem like much, but costs add up quickly. Read our Epcot’s International Food & Wine Festival Guide for what’s offered this year at the event, plus tips and tricks, and what we recommend doing (and not doing).
October is actually one of the bigger months of the year for special events at Walt Disney World. After the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror 10-Miler race was cancelled a couple of years ago, runDisney no longer does October events. Uhh…an “alternative” is the Disney Cross Country Classic, but if you don’t know what this is…it’s probably actually an alternative, since it’s a cross country event for student athletes. There are actually a few other events on the ESPN Wide World of Sports October Calendar, but again, these are only going to appeal to those with kids participating in them.
At the very end of the month, you’ve also got the Swan and Dolphin Food & Wine Classic, which is their own weekend food and wine festival that compliments the one in Epcot (but is a standalone event). Back in the parks, naturally, there are some refurbishments, too. Instead of following the prevailing sentiment that “my vacation is ruined!” when you read of a favorite attraction being down during your vacation, think optimistically, and be happy that it’s getting some TLC. Walt Disney World’s refurbishments for October are listed here.
Besides the events, October is a great month to visit in terms of what you’ll pay to visit. Right now there is a great 30% off room-only offer, and we typically prefer this discount to the uber-popular Free Disney Dining Plan promotion (which is no longer available for booking). You can see why in our Walt Disney World Discount Comparisons post. If you’re booking a room-only discount, you can decide for yourself which hotel might be best by reading our Walt Disney World Hotel Reviews.
If Free Dining is more your taste, and you are considering an October Walt Disney World trip, you should know that your options are typically limited in the Free Disney Dining Plan promotion. Basically, none at all. Walt Disney World uses promotions to entice guests to visit during certain low-season periods to redistribute crowd patterns, and October this year is strong on bookings.
Hopefully there will be more availability next year, but don’t get your hopes up. Unless travel patterns shift significantly next year, it’s likely Free Dining will be blocked out for the entirety of October 2018, once again. If you’re looking to save money on airfare, visit ITA Software to search for the best prices. We have more tips for traveling frugally that might be worth reading if you’re trying to do Disney on a Dime.
Overall, like we said at the beginning, October is often cited as the single-best month to visit Walt Disney World. There are great events, the weather is nice, crowds are low, and pricing is attractive. What more could you want?! As we shared in our September at Walt Disney World post, the last weekend in September into the beginning of October is one of our favorite weeks of the year for our personal trips to Walt Disney World, so we’re not just feeding you a line to try to convince you to visit in October for some nefarious motive. Heck, it would be in our own best interests if we encouraged you to visit some other month so the parks are less crowded for us. Actually…forget everything you read in this post…July is BY FAR THE BEST MONTH TO VISIT!!! 😉
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts…
Are you a fan of visiting Walt Disney World in October? Have you experienced the heavier October crowds the last couple of years? Which month do you like to visit WDW? Hearing your feedback about your experiences is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts or questions below in the comments!
Agreed, the October crowds are indeed staggering. I was there Oct 22-25 mostly for the food & wine festival and it was unreal compared to previous years.
How bad would you say compared to like December? I have only been to Disney World once and that was this last year, early December, crowds weren’t bad and Undercover Tourist gives most of the week in October a 4-6, My dad is disabled and in an electric scooter so trying to make sure I really think ahead and have everything planned out so it’s a great and easy day for him. We are going Oct 20- Oct 28th
I am leaving today and since last thursday (oct 5th) the parks are really crowded. We were able to enjoy everything because we arrived on Sept 27th. I believe Columbus Day is the reason why. Magic Kingdom was so full and hot (3 digits wait times in several attractions) that we left early and went back by the end of the day to catch Happily Ever After. In Animal Kingdom, wait times for Pandora’s attractions reached 220 minutes! We were lucky to get fastpass+! Even Hollywood Studios was crowded yesterday.
We just returned from DisneyWorld. The crowds were near summer like. Staggering. Since you have to plan your magic kingdom visit around the holloween trick or treat days (which are about 3 out of every 5) when the crowd is kicked out of the park at 7:00PM, you need to visit the park when it is actually open until 11:00PM. That makes days when it is open late have the highest attendance. The only time I have seem larger crowds than this past week was during spring break. When we were at animal kingdom, we arrived at Avatar Flight of Passage at 9:10AM (no fast passes available) and we waited for 2-1/2 hours to get on this attraction. Never again will I go in October.
Why can’t I book early morning magic the second week of October. i can book any other week. It just happens I’m going the second week of Octoberr
Will Disney be running a fall special soon? Looking to come in October put we were quoted over $6,000 to come for 5 nights!
Yes, they should be offering the FREE dining plan. Follow http://www.mousesavers.com for up to date promotions, including the free dining.
I’m looking to take my family to Disney the last week of October. We would like to take one day to visit Typhoon Lagoon, but I know it closes in the fall alternating with Blizzard Beach. Since typhoon lagoon closed this past dec-march for Miss Adventure Falls, will it be open this year in oct-nov? Is there a way to find out the closing schedule?
Typhoon Lagoon isn’t currently scheduled to close for maintenance in Oct/Nov. Blizzard Beach will be closed from 29th Oct to 1st Nov. https://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/closures
Blizzard Beach is closed from Oct 30th thru winter. Typhoon Lagoon will be open. I only know this because we will be visiting the last week of October as well, and we have the Water Park Fun & More tickets.
Our favourite time to visit is for the last 10 days or so of October along with the first 10 days or so if November so we not only get all that you mention above but we pack some Christmas cheer in as well and then we return home to the UK all Christmassy!!
Tom, we have been trying to book a moderate hotel the last several weeks. The dates were not even on the free dining plan. The only rooms available were the pirates room at Caribbean Beach for the month of October. How can this be that every room is sold out at every hotel. Any advice?
Typically, the rooms that show available are only associated with the deal selected. So if you opt for the free dining plan deal – there may be limited options in the moderate with specific room types. A way to test availability is to select a standard package with no discount and see if the rooms you desire are available. Then the choice will be yours: different room/hotel with dining plan free or the room/hotel you want with a paid for dining plan.
In your case, was there a different discount associated? Creating different blocks? Good luck!
Sucks to be you
I just booked a room at the Coronado Springs Resort (moderate) for the last week in October. I, too, was only given the option of the pirate rooms at the Caribbean. We go using the military discount which really limits room options, but I did get a preferred room at Coronado, so not sure why you were told the pirate rooms were the only available room. Were you trying to get the dining plan with your reservation?
October is our favorite month to visit heading down the 2nd for the week. We are blessed with a Fall Break so the kids only miss a single day of school. This is btw the best Disney Blog, great work.