Hi, Angela! You will probably notice a bit of an increase in the crowd level at Walt Disney World over Columbus Day weekend. Anytime you have a long weekend, where moms and dads don't have to worry about the kids missing a day of school, things seem to pick up a little bit at Walt Disney World!
As for which parks are better, that is going to depend on a few things. If you have park hopper passes, you may want to take advantage of the morning Extra Magic Hours. This gets you a jump start on those not staying at a Walt Disney World resort, and allows you to visit some of the more popular attraction before the park is fully open. What I would then suggest is that you leave after the park opens and head to whichever park had extra magic hours the evening before. I find that the tendency is if the Magic Kingdom is open three hours late on Saturday night, it's a bit less crowded on Sunday morning. In my experience, this holds true for any of the theme parks.
Don't forget to utilize your Fast Pass system - and we try to always have one in hand. If you have a Fast Pass with a window from 10 - 11, at 10 o'clock, grab your next Fast Pass before heading to use the one you have.
Dine during off peak times, and if you can skip a parade or the fireworks, you may find lines a little bit shorter during these times.
Last suggestion - check out the crowd calendars at
www.touringplans.com . If you are not a subscriber, you can see a month's worth of anticipated crowd levels at each park.
Have a magical vacation!