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[lomillerin]

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[risy]

I just planned a trip from Tues. Mar. 29th to April. 3rd-this is the week after Easter.

PLAN PLAN PLAN

Decide what rides in which parks on which day. Grab Fastpassess early and ride a couple of others until the passes come up. End the day early and come back at night.

That is one of THE busiest weeks of the entire year. Park gates might close by midday, too. Do your research and go to the park that traditionally has lowest attendance on that day of the week. Get there very early.

There is a wealth of knowledge at this board . . . I'm sure you'll get some good advice.

 

[pnelson384]

We will be there the same time. We're planning on avoiding the Magic Kingdom on Easter Sunday, and hoping that crowds will be less as the week goes on. Mostly I plan on being organized, but flexible and if it gets too much, just head back to the hotel and enjoy the pool!

 

[arazamataz]

We are going the same time. We go to MK after Easter Sunday. We hit the other parks on the off days. If you have little kids go early and grab FP. We go after 5 to MK. We love the park at night.

 

[Traveliz]

We got at this time all the time...yes there can be lines - will I be in any that are 180 minutes - no - and neither should you.

Fast pass for some attractions may be gone by early afternoon -- you just never know....we have gotten them late in the day for BRMR but long gone for Splash.

My advice it go early do the big things...come back later and do the smaller things that are less likely to have waits.

Liz

 

[Disney On A Dime!]

Our family has been the week after Easter for the past three years. We love the weather and the timing if perfect if you have children in school. It's a great spring break! Be prepared for a wall of people to enter the park around 10:30-11:00. With this in mind get to the parks early. Our family skips the picture taking and such on Main Street and heads directly to the rides and attractions that we want to accomplish for the day. With a good plan you can do most everything that you want to do by mid-morning. Also plan out your FPs. If you are planning on doing test track or mission space at Epcot - get there early and grab a FP. These were always sold out by 10:30am. During this week we loved walking around the World Showcase at Epcot. We really got the kids involved in the Kidcot stations and such. In short...if you plan to do rides - think ahead and plan accordingly. Do the more leisurely activities in the afternoon like Kidcot stations and swimming at the resorts. We always went back to the parks in the evening. Again, if you want to do Fantasmic - be there extremely early or book a PS for the show. Planning is everything during this busy time. Have a fun trip!

 

[ssdeverell]

Disney on a Dime - do you know about the FP for the Jungle Cruise and Buzz. We will be there that week, but DH and DS8 do not like thrill rides/rollercoasters, etc. That helps, I guess, because all of the big ones will not be important to us. I plan to do Fantasyland and Toontown first and then head to Tomorrowland. My concern was getting a FP for Buzz and Jungle Cruise say after 11:30.

Thanks,

Stephanie

 

[Disney On A Dime!]

Okay - here goes...I would plan to go to Buzz Lightyear first. If possible ride the ride and if possible pull a FP for later. (Our family loves Buzz Lightyear and we like to do it more than once if possible.) If for some reason the return time for Buzz is too soon for your family wait until after you ride the first time to check for the times. Go and do Fantasyland and then head back for your return time to Buzz. Keep in mind that Toontown opens slightly later than Tomorrowland and Fantasyland - so you will have time to get in the major attractions at these two locations and then head over to Toontown. After completing Toontown - I would walk diagonally across the entire park and check the Stand-by line for Jungle Cruise. If the line is too long - pull a FP. In the meantime - I would check out the Magic Carpet Ride or take a snack break. As the morning progresses you will find that things are getting extremely busy. Pull FP for the rides that are must-dos and wait a few minutes in line for a different attraction until the FP comes to time.

A little side note - our family decided to go this year during "non-peak" times (the first week in December). We accomplished the exact same amount of attractions and rides as we did during the "peak" times! I attribute this to early morning arrivals and having a plan. Just wait until you see the enormous amount of people coming in at 11:00am - staring up at the castle and wondering why the Winnie-the-Pooh ride has a 120 minute wait! We love to people watch!

By the way - the characters at the main gate and the early morning picture taking are to distrack the guests and slow the movement of people around the park. We always bypass the initial Main Street show and accomplish that fun stuff on the way out around noon.

I hope this helps!
Crystal

 

[Disney On A Dime!]

Okay I totally did not see the wanting to do Buzz and the Jungle Cruise after 11:30! I will have to think about this for a while because it is relatively easy to predict how the park will be before say - 11am, but very hard to predict after that. We are usually winging it by then and heading for the front gate!

 

[Okiemom]

Disney on a Dime:

When you say go get the FP you want for the main attractions, how could you get more than one if they are gone by 10:30? I thought you could not get a FP till the other one's time is up? I guess I am not understanding what you are saying?
How can you get several FP at once?

 

[ssdeverell]

That's ok. I do hope to be through Fantasyland and Toontown and into Tomorrowland by 11:30 to get a FP for Buzz before we eat. I am most concerned about the Jungle Cruise, although I plan to go there during the afternoon parade. I was just afraid the FP would be gone by then.

 

[Disney On A Dime!]

Okiemom - with the FPs I was implying that if there is an extensive lapse time in between your FP return time - then go and do other attractions in the meantime - some of these attractions may have a longer wait time (than normal due to Spring Break), but you need something to go in the place of the wait time for the FP. Also - check out your FPs when you get them - they will let you know when you can get another FP - sometimes this time is sooner than you think! I hope that this helps clarify???

 

[Disney On A Dime!]

Again I didn't read all of Oiemom's post - the FPs for like Test Track and Mission Space will probable be sold out for the day by 10:30-11:00am. You need to get those FPs in the morning or stand in the stand-by lines. FPs for attractions like Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain will last slightly longer, however; the return times will go into the later evening times. You can have more than one FP at a time - I am not an expert on this, but on our FPs there was a time written for when you can get your next FP. The real trick with Disney, crowds and FPs is the timing. The unpredictable part is when you actually get to the parks and see what's happening and what the lines are looking like.

 

[CanadaPT]

Crystal has some excellent suggestions. We generally follow the same rules: get to the park early (just before opening) and get to Buzz first, grab a FP and return later. You'll be amazed at how much you can get done prior to 11am and then you can leisurely walk around and laugh (sorry... pity...) the people waiting for 80 minutes. We never wait more than 20-25 minutes for any ride at any time of the year (and we've been in June and Spring Break).

Good luck!

 

[bengalbelle]

I just planned a trip from Tues. Mar. 29th to April. 3rd-this is the week after Easter. I plan on it being crowded and using our hotel-AKL more, but I just read the FP will gone by noon and waits will be 180 minutes. I love WDW but I never ever wait 3 hours for one attraction- ever. My DD6 loves rides, but hates waits, she would have a meltdown. How do other young kids handle waiting for 2-3 hours to ride peter pan etc... Now, I am worried this will be a completely wasted trip. We have been there in summer and around Christmas, it was very croweded, but we still managed to do most of what we wanted.
Any advice

If you've been in the summer months you should be fine. I will second what everyone else is saying. Planning and arriving early are essential. We went the week after Easter last year and were expecting the worst. We were pleasantly surprised. Even when they left MK open until midnight due to unusually high numbers of people in the park, we were still enjoying ourselves. That's because we went with a plan, arrived early, and had done every "must" ride before lunch. We were free to leave the park in the afternoon or experience things we hadn't done before. When we left the park for the afternoon, we often didn't return until 6pm or later. Sometimes we went to another park, sometimes back to the resort to rest, sometimes stayed and looked for characters. With the EMH evening hours this year you should have even more options. We also saved Jungle Cruise until twilight and it was really cool. You could save that ride for later if you want.
If you're looking for a good touring plan, I would recommend the Unofficial Guide's Dumbo or Die in a Day or MK One Day Touring Plan for Parents with Young Children. We used Dumbo or Die and although we didn't go commando and rush from one ride to the other, we used it as a guideline on an early entry day. It hits all of the rides that young children typically want to ride, and it really worked for us. We made a few modifications, but that's because we had extra time to do other things. We didn't miss out on anything and I don't remember standing in line longer than 20 minutes.

 

[Disney On A Dime!]

To CanadaPT: Have a great trip!

I will also second the MK Touring Plan for Parents with Young Children found on this website. Great resource!

 

[Okiemom]

That is amazing that you never wait more than 20 minutes in peak season. I hope I can pull that off. When we went several years ago, we did get to each park early. It does make a difference. We had rode 4 main attractions in MK in 1 1/2 hours, including walking time to each ride. Then the people really started coming in, then we did have longer waits.

 

[ssdeverell]

If we get a FP for Buzz right when the park opens, what is generally the return time? I wanted to do Fantasyland and Toontown first, but I certainly do not want to miss Buzz.

 

[Traveliz]

If you get a fast pass right when the park opens the return time will be an hour later.

Liz

 

[DisDarling]

I just planned a trip from Tues. Mar. 29th to April. 3rd-this is the week after Easter. I plan on it being crowded and using our hotel-AKL more, but I just read the FP will gone by noon and waits will be 180 minutes. I love WDW but I never ever wait 3 hours for one attraction- ever. My DD6 loves rides, but hates waits, she would have a meltdown. How do other young kids handle waiting for 2-3 hours to ride peter pan etc... Now, I am worried this will be a completely wasted trip. We have been there in summer and around Christmas, it was very croweded, but we still managed to do most of what we wanted.
Any advice

Seriously
If you are worried, reschedule for later in April or May. I wouldnt go near Spring Break, but some do really well with it, all depends on how prepared you are I guess!
D.D.