This is what we’re looking at for October 2016. Click to enlarge or view as a prettier PDF. And if you don’t know what the numbers/letters mean, read the top of this post. The full operating schedule is available here.
October is dominated by Mickey’s Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom on 18 dates and the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot every day throughout the month. At Magic Kingdom, that means days when Magic Kingdom is not hosting a Party will be significantly more crowded as casual vacationers flock to the Park when it closes later than 7pm and offers the nighttime spectaculars. Note that on the original release of the hours, Wishes and the Electrical Parade are not scheduled at all on any date throughout the month. Disney did the same thing for half of September and ended up adding the nighttime entertainment throughout the month late last week. I expect Disney to add both the nighttime parade and fireworks to the schedule, but have added question marks next to each as Disney has not confirmed times. Even if the nighttime entertainment is not scheduled, dates with later closes would continue to see higher attendance.
Note that the overall crowd levels are not indicative of Magic Kingdom crowd levels on days without a Halloween Party. Magic Kingdom will be significantly more crowded. Also note that as we saw last year, Magic Kingdom will remain congested on Party nights with higher wait times than we’ve historically seen. This is due to a number of factors, but the biggest is FastPass+. Fewer hours means far fewer experiences available and most attractions will see maximum FastPass+ distribution all day. With so much capacity given to FastPass+, more FP+ returners means longer standby lines as those with FP+ arrive at attractions immediately after open and continue throughout the day.
October is also the heart of Food and Wine season with Epcot seeing significantly heavier crowds particularly on Friday nights and Saturdays and to a lesser extent Sundays. But the Park sees higher attendance than it would otherwise see every other day as well. Add the Frozen stuff and 11am in Arendelle could get interesting.
Otherwise, October is not 2s and 3s, but it’s largely slightly-below-average to slightly-above-average crowds. Weekends head higher at Epcot.
A lot of things remain up in the air at the moment as we wait to see what Frozen Ever After does to Epcot, in addition to changes at Soarin’. A lot of things at Animal remain unknown with Rivers of Light and the nighttime enhancements coming online. It will be interesting to see what that all does to traffic flow and movement throughout the week.
Thank you Josh! 🙂
So happy to have this info. We’re staying from the 23rd until the 1st, so we still need the info for the 30th and 31st.
Thanks
Yes I meant to mention…it’s in the upper left hand corner of the calendar on the same line as October 1st.
Thanks
Been waiting for this! Thanks for your hard work, Josh.
Thanks Josh!
Really appreciate this! We rely on your great recommendations and they’ve always served us well!
Thank you so much for all your hard work for this site. The information you share has really made our trips fantastic. These October numbers were less than I was expecting. I am currently stuck deciding between a trip with Oct 6-10 park days and a trip with Nov 3-7. We will have 4 day passes so can skip a day in those time frames but I expected the days around Columbus Day to be busier. Any thoughts?
I did a family trip and a work conference last year at nearly those same times. I’d go with the November week if nothing else for the off chance of getting a few degrees of break on the temps! (Didn’t happen for me last year, but the crowds were indeed easier, at least.)
Thank you for putting this together. We are going from the 23-29th and appreciate knowing this far in advance how to plan 🙂
Do you think both water parks will actually be closed on 30 and 31st?
Hi Josh,
Thank you for everything….Now, step out on a limb and tell me which night would be the best to attend MNSSHP between 10/22 and 10/28!
Oh yeah…If you are available for lunch or dinner that week, we would love to treat you and a guest….Just let me know in time to make ADR’s!
As always, love all the information and wit. My family has a trip planned for the last week in October and my husband and I are hoping for a date night for once. My ideal would be dinner at California Grill timed to see the fireworks at MK and then time to enjoy the park late at night. Working around the halloween party nights and not knowing when nighttime shows will happen for sure, is making this planning a headache. Any advice? Time to make reservations is looming.
Josh, curious what you think about which day is best for MNSSHP? Common sense says stay away from weekends….but we are going to be therected the 9th – 15th. Didn’t know if one day during the week was better than others….thanks for all you do!
When is the daily breakdown of why which park on what day coming out?
Hi Josh,
I have no idea if you will see this but I need some expert advice! Just wondering if you think we will have better luck visiting the parks on Oct 6-11 or Oct 8-13. I have heard some conflicting things from other websites, but I trust you the most!
Just wondering when the October daily breakdown will be coming out? We are getting so close to the 6 month mark.
I just want to say thank for doing these amazing calendars. I have been using them for several years now and we have had success each time we go! I recommend this website to everyone that I know when they are planning a Disney trip.