Best Time to Visit Disneyland in October

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Sorry to begin this post with bad news but generally speaking, October is a busy month at the Disneyland Resort. Driven largely by the park’s various Halloween-themed offerings, including Cars Land’s Haul-O-Ween, scattered decor, attraction overlays and principally, the hard-ticketed, Oogie Boogie Bash - A Disney Halloween Party.

Locals and tourists alike have a penchant for the spooky season at the Disneyland Resort, meaning crowd levels often flirt with or exceed those of the summer months. It used to be a sleeper-season of sorts, but that began to change even prior to the covid-closures, which they themselves caused predictable crowd patterns to experience an F-5 level of calamity.

October single-day ticket prices are, on average, either highest or in the top three highest months of the year. This won’t affect most guests, as multi-day ticket and Magic Key holders far outnumber those holding single-day passes. In any case, it’s an indication of what to expect in terms of crowds.

In this post, I’m going to discuss the best time to visit Disneyland in October, as well as the worst. I’m basing these semi-predictions on historical data from the prior two years, but I make no guarantees. As previously stated, crowd patterns have become somewhat unpredictable in recent years, though it is beginning to normalize again.

Let’s get into it!

Worst Time to Visit Disneyland in October

October 11 - 13 (worst)

The biggest contributor to crowds this particular weekend is simple…Indigenous Peoples Day. The holiday itself is on the 13th, which is a Monday, giving many families a three-day weekend to work with. Traditionally, crowds at Disneyland during this time are dense.

Another driver is Oogie Boogie Bash, which takes place on the 12th (a Sunday). The bash doesn’t directly drive higher crowds, but since Disney California Adventure closes early to regular park guests on event nights, many of those guests migrate across the esplanade to Disneyland, causing a swell in crowds over there.

Conversely, Sunday crowds haven’t been as high as they’ve traditionally been. My wife and I visited on Mother’s Day and many attractions were virtual walk-ons or had minimal waits. After discussing it with several cast members, they’ve confirmed that’s been the norm lately, albeit with few exceptions.

If you’re keen on visiting Disneyland in October, I’d avoid these days at all costs. If you’re reading this post a bit late and have already booked these dates, I suggest spending Sunday at Disneyland and not DCA. DCA closes early that day for OBB. There’s no sense in paying for a full day and only getting a partial day in return.

Crowd Level: 9/10

October 8 - 10 (second worst)

Many school breaks, particularly in Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and portions of California, have fall breaks around these days. Families typically use these breaks as an excuse to visit Disneyland. When you consider these days precede the aforementioned three-day holiday weekend, a spike in crowds is unavoidable.

Additionally, October 9 will host Oogie Boogie Bash. Despite it being a weekday, the same migration discussed above still occurs. If you’re in Disneyland when this happens you’ll definitely notice, especially around the typical choke-points like Main Street, Adventureland and New Orleans Square.

Crowd Levels: 7-8/10

October 1 - 7 (third worst)

While not quite as crowded as the two former sets of dates, the first full week of October commences the traditional beginning of the Halloween season, despite Disneyland christening mid-August as their official beginning.

There are three Oogie Boogie Bash dates throughout this timeframe. While you’ll likely be predominately safe from fall break crowds, the mild, comfortable weather will surely bring in Magic Key holders (locals), which make up a large chunk of Disneyland’s attendance levels.

Additionally, a non-U.S holiday to consider is Canada’s Thanksgiving. While it doesn’t take place until the second week of October, some Canadians take advantage of the impending holiday and start their vacations earlier. Many of which commonly choose Disneyland as their destination of choice.

Crowd Level: 7-8/10

Best Time to Visit Disneyland in October

October 14 - 16 (third best)

Full blown Halloween vibes accompanied by manageable queues. This three-day stretch of a Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday falls just after the holiday weekend crowds have returned home, offering a short, three-day window of relative calm.

This isn’t to say it’ll be a ghost town, as there will be some carry-over holiday crowd levels warranting the purchase of Lightning Lane. That said, it’ll certainly beat the alternative of fighting dense holiday-level crowds.

The only downfall to these dates are the two Oogie Boogie Bash events. One held on Tuesday and the other on Thursday. If you’re purchasing a three-day ticket, this is enough of a conundrum where adding the park hopper option would be advantageous. This way, DCA closing early wouldn’t impact you as much.

Crowd Level: 7/10

October 26 - 30 (second best)

This is a great time go just before the often bonkers Halloween day/night crowds appear. These are Sunday through Thursday dates, which means Monday will likely be the busiest of the bunch, followed by Sunday. However, they’ll be nothing compared to those earlier in the month.

Another reason why crowds tend to be lower during this time is many folks are preparing for Disneyland’s transition to the Christmas season, which officially commences on November 14 this year.

As such, the Halloween crowds have largely tapered off by this point (with the exception of Halloween day itself) and there’s still another couple weeks before the absurdly-dense holiday crowds begin to make their presence known.

Crowd Level: 6/10

October 21 - 23 (best)

These particular days are great for many of the same reasons as the previous dates, just with the added benefit of mid-week days providing some of the lowest crowds you’ll see all month. Again, you’ll still have Oogie Boogie Bash crowd migrations to deal with, but that can be mitigated by park hopping and a bit of planning.

While both OBB events during this timeframe are sold out, the frenzy shouldn’t be too bad, as park-savvy locals have largely already attended their OBB and mostly out-of-area tourists remain from here on out.

The Halloween season is in full swing, the fall break crowds have largely passed, there are no holidays to contend with and weather is ideal. It’s hardly an empty park and walk-on attractions will still amount to unicorns, but it’ll be manageable and enjoyable, at minimum.

Crowd Level: 5-6/10

What’s Closed in October?

Closed attractions, particularly those of the e-ticket variety, can have a profound effect on crowd levels. Each attraction has an hourly rider capacity number. If you don’t know, hourly rider capacity is the number of guests each attraction can move per hour.

When they’re operating, guests are contained within the attraction itself and its queue (those waiting to get on the ride). When attractions are closed, that same number of guests who would’ve been spread out between more attractions will now compound in the smaller number of attractions still operating, causing a swell.

That said, closed attractions don’t actually increase crowd levels, but they do make those same crowds feel higher than they actually are and they have a profound effect on attraction wait times. You can see planned closures, also known as refurbishments, on the Disneyland website.

In October, there will several attraction closures to deal with. There won’t be much going on at Disney California Adventure, with Goofy Sky School and Mickey’s PhilharMagic, respectively, going down for short refurbishments.

Across the esplanade at Disneyland, though, two Fantasyland attractions, Casey Jr. Circus Train and Storybook Land Canal Boats will remain closed throughout the entire month. Additionally, guest favorite Big Thunder Mountain, which will have the greatest effect, will also remain closed.

Lastly, it’s a small world goes down for the final two days of the month to prepare for its annual transformation into “it’s a small world holiday”. This refurbishment extends into November and usually only lasts a couple weeks.

If you’re planning to visit Disneyland in October, be sure to download the Disneyland app and read my post about its most useful features. If it’s your first time to Disneyland (or it’s been a while), see my twenty-one best planning tips here. Lastly, see my current top recommendation for a hotel close to Disneyland.