Hey Howdy Hey James and welcome to planDisney!
I hope you are getting super excited for your Enchanting vacation to the Most Magical Place on Earth really soon! While I am a firm believer that there is never a bad to visit Walt Disney World, there are a lot of things to consider such as crowds that may impact your planning. Let's go over a few expectations and plans to manage your vacation with crowds.
What you have noticed James, is a bump in park attendance for that weekend due to a Holiday in the States and many schools having their fall breaks at that time. While you will see more activity in the parks, this does not compare to times such as around Christmas time when the parks are at their busiest. It would be nice to have a crystal ball so I can tell you for certain which parks may fill up and when you want to get to the parks, but for now let's go over some tips to navigate.
Currently, the
EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival is happening in EPCOT. Local Florida residents typically are drawn to EPCOT on weekend evenings to enjoy the offerings including Eat to the Beat Concert Series. If you want to avoid crowds in EPCOT, I would try to avoid Friday and Saturday evenings there!
In Magic Kingdom, this is typically the busiest park. It looks like Mickey's Not-So-Scarry Halloween Party will be happening on a few nights during your trip. One thing you can do if you are not attending the party is to hit the park anyway. Many people may elect to avoid the park on the day of the parties due to the park closing at 7:00 PM on those evenings. With
Early Theme Park Entry, you can get a lot done that day with potentially fewer Guests. Guests attending the party are allowed in the parks starting at 4:00 PM so attendance will spike significantly around that time.
Disney's Hollywood Studios and Disney's Animal Kingdom both are projected to be busy but do not have special things happening in the parks like the other two. These will be busy but hopefully nothing too crazy!
While it is possible for the parks to fill up and capacity limitations to be reached, this is less of a case this time of year. The parks typically reach their peak attendance late morning and early afternoon. If things do start filling up, check your
My Disney Experience app. Disney will inform Guests of any entry limitations. Typically they may start with limiting Park Hopping and then gradually phase up from restricting Guests into the parks. This will all be shared with announcements on the app. In my experience in the parks, when this does happen, Disney will lastly restrict Guests staying onsite at a Disney Resort hotel. If you are staying onsite and see these messages for a park you want to get to, I would get there sooner rather than later!
The final tip I have for you is to consider
Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Single Pass options. This can make your trip more enjoyable reserving access to certain attractions that are on your "must-do" list. If you have internet access on your plane ride over, you can book them starting 7 days before your arrival date if staying onsite at a Disney Resort hotel or 3 days if offsite. Either way, you need to be in the States for the process to work, so do this as soon as you can!
A lot of information there, but hopefully it is helpful to have an idea of how to best navigate the crowds. If you have any other questions let us know!
To Infinity and Beyond,
Nick