Biketober Fest in Daytona is much better than Bike Week, in case you have never been. Biketober Fest was Bike Week 20 years ago as far as not being overly crowded, however this is changing rapidly.
Remember that during Bike Week the Daytona 200 is running as well as several other big races which causes more attendance. The absence of the races is the difference, there is still about 400,000 people in a 7 Block radius versus 750,000.