October 2020 at Walt Disney World
By Dave Shute
WHAT IS OCTOBER LIKE AT DISNEY WORLD?
Late October has some of the best times of the year to visit Disney World, with nice weather, low-ish crowds, low-ish prices, and fun special events.
The rest of the month is not so good, as
- The first two weeks are still in the peak of the hurricane season
- The second through fourth weeks see extra crowds from fall breaks, and
- The weekend beginning 10/9 sees both higher crowds and higher prices from Columbus Day.
Note also that picking the right park to visit each day is critical at this time of the year. See this, and use the comment form below to ask me about your specific dates!
OCTOBER 2020 CROWDS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD
On a crowd scale of 1-11, the first week of October (the week beginning 9/26) has a crowd rating 4/low-plus, the week of 10/5 5/moderate-minus, the week of 10/10 8/high-minus, the week of 10/17 5/moderate-minus and the week of 10/24 4/low-plus.
See this for more on 2020 crowds at Disney World.
OCTOBER 2020 RESORT HOTEL PRICES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD
October resort hotel prices begin the month 20-30% higher than the lowest of the year at the values, 20-25% higher at the moderates, and 15-25% higher at the deluxes.
- At the values, they increase to 40-55% higher than the lowest of the year on for the long Columbus Day weekend on October 9. On October 12 they return to 20-30% higher than the lowest of the year. On October 25, they drop to 10-15% higher than the lowest of the year
- At the moderates, they increase to 30-40% higher than the lowest of the year on for the long Columbus Day weekend on October 9. On October 12 they return to 20-25% higher than the lowest of the year. On October 25, they drop to 10-20% higher than the lowest of the year
- At the deluxes, they increase to 25-35% higher than the lowest of the year on for the long Columbus Day weekend on October 9. On October 12 they go to 10-20% higher than the lowest of the year. On October 30, they increase to 20-25% higher than the lowest of the year
See this for more on 2020 resort hotel prices at Walt Disney World.
OCTOBER 2020 TICKET PRICES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD
October 2020 Disney World ticket prices are generally average, with some higher days at the shorter ticket lengths. At the end of the month prices increase in shorter and medium length tickets.
See the image–where green is good, and lots of green particularly good, and red is bad, and lots of red is particularly bad.
For more, see my Disney World 2020 ticket price calendar.
OCTOBER 2020 DEALS AND DISCOUNTS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD
As I write this, deals for the general public are not available for October 2020. As they emerge, you’ll be able to find them here.
OCTOBER 2020 WEATHER AT WALT DISNEY WORLD
Early October sees the end of the peak of the hurricane season. The second half of the month sees weather about as good as Orlando gets.
Click the image, or go to Weather and When to Go to Disney World, for more.
DISNEY WORLD SPECIAL EVENTS IN OCTOBER 2020
Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party will continue many nights in October. See this for more.
The 2020 Epcot International Food and Wine Festival will continue daily into November.
OCTOBER 2020 OPERATING HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD
Park operating hours vary by the day, and sometimes change without notice. It is rare for hours to be shorter than Disney has publicized, but Disney may lengthen them in response to unanticipated crowds.
The best way to keep up with operating hours is to check Disney’s official calendars, usually available about six months in advance. Major hours updates–often with later closes or earlier opens–can happen the middle of the month before.
These calendars can be found by clicking this link.
WEEK BY WEEK COMMENTS FOR OCTOBER 2020 AT WALT DISNEY WORLD BY ARRIVAL DATE
The week rankings that follow below are from my 2020 weeks to visit, ranked in order, and are designed for first-time visitors who do not know whether or not they will return.
9/26/2020 Moderate to low prices. Low + crowds. Crowd ranking=4. Week ranking=29. Use the Higher Crowd Itinerary
10/3/2020 Moderate prices. Moderate – crowds. Crowd ranking=5. Week ranking=31. Use the Higher Crowd Itinerary
10/10/2020 Moderate prices. High – crowds. Crowd ranking=8. Week ranking=33. Use the Higher Crowd Itinerary
10/17/2020 Low to moderate prices. Moderate – crowds. Crowd ranking=5. Week ranking=12. Use the Higher Crowd Itinerary
10/24/2020 Low prices. Low + crowds. Crowd ranking=4. Week ranking=5. Recommended Week. Use the Higher Crowd Itinerary but note that Disney has posted no hours for after October 31, so Sunday November 1 is a bit up in the air.
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2 comments
Hi Dave! I know things are up in the air right now, but I’d love to know your thoughts about an October trip. My younger child attends a year-round school and tracks out Sep. 18- Oct.12. With my older daughter going remote, we figured it might be a good time to squeeze in a trip. We are not first-timers; we love Disney and have visited many times. I’m tentatively thinking of a week starting Sep. 29, 30, or Oct. 1 and staying 6 or 7 nights from that point.
Our only other option would be to go the week of Thanksgiving (Nov.22-29). This is a week we’d normally avoid because of crowds. But I’m wondering if the ticket reservation system will keep crowds low, even though it’s a holiday week…? The weather would be cooler, which would be a plus. My other concern is that they will increase the number of visitors in the park by then, thereby increasing the crowd level (probably unlikely, but we can’t plan much of anything these days!). We’d have fewer days that week, as we are committed the weekend prior (21st/22nd) and youngest has to be back at school Monday the 30th.
So…if it were your own family, which week would you pick? Keeping in mind we’d rather tolerate heart than crowds.
Thanks so much for any thoughts or input you might have. Even though we’re far from first timers, we’ve followed your advice on many past trips and have found it to be spot-on!
Kristen
Kristen, as you already know it’s really hard to say. For my family I would avoid Thanksgiving–there’s just too much chance of awkward wait times…
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