April 14 to 17 crowds

[JodyLynC]

I've been checking the crowd calendars on multiple websites. They are all over the place. One site is reporting 8 and 9 crowds. Another is showing 6 and 7. One site is actually stating that our HS and AK days will be a 3 or 4. At this point I have no idea what to expect.

Anyone want to share any personal experiences? We are going the week after Easter so I expect there will be crowds since for many this is spring break. But to have such vast differences is not helpful at all.

 

[westie55]

Expect it to be busy. Very busy. I have been many times over spring break and will be there again on those dates this year! Use fp to your advantage, rope drop, and make ADRs and it will be fine. Honestly I've gone in summer, December, November, and spring break and it always felt the same level of crowded. The only times I noticed a difference in crowds were early January and right after Labor Day.

 

[gharter]

By mid April, most of the Spring Breaks are over and you are past the Easter crowd.
March during Spring Break is extremely busy. We haven't found late April to be as bad.

 

[westie55]

By mid April, most of the Spring Breaks are over and you are past the Easter crowd.
March during Spring Break is extremely busy. We haven't found late April to be as bad.

Many school districts have spring breaks in the weeks immediately before or immediately after Easter. We are going the same week as OP because it is our spring break.

 

[Remy is Up]

Expect it to be busy. At this point always plan a trip to WDW expecting crowds and you wont be surprised

 

[patyoung]

We will be going then as well, and had the same surprise that the different crowd calendars seem to have wildly different estimates for that week. I'd guess it will be more crowded than those lower estimates but hopefully not as bad as president's week seemed to be.

 

[mjkacmom]

Schools in our area have that week off. Much of the northeast gets off presidents week, so spring break is in April, lots before or after easter.

 

[Alesia]

The 2 weeks surrounding Easteris the second busiest time of the year. Expect it to be busy

 

[osufeth24]

Be busy. There's a reason why local AP's are blacked out til the 18th

 

[Searc]

By mid April, most of the Spring Breaks are over and you are past the Easter crowd.
March during Spring Break is extremely busy. We haven't found late April to be as bad.

Easter is April 12th. The week before and after will be very crowded.

 

[Jen81NYC]

I'm so curious too. That's the week we're going--NYC spring break. I am hoping that for a lot of the country, spring break is over but it's definitely break week for part of it. Of course who knows with coronavirus in the mix though, ugh.

 

[Micca]

. At this point always plan a trip to WDW expecting crowds and you wont be surprised

Nor will you be wrong!

 

[scard192]

Schools in our area have that week off. Much of the northeast gets off presidents week, so spring break is in April, lots before or after easter.

We are in MA; our vacation week is April 20-24th.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

A good time to check the unscientific 2020 Spring Break Poll: https://www.disboards.com/threads/official-spring-break-2020-poll.3740812/

 

[jjtrinva]

And there is a marathon or half marathon that weekend.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

And there is a marathon or half marathon that weekend.

Star Wars runD....

5k is Friday 4/17
10k is Saturday 4/18
Half Marathon is Sunday 4/19

 

[rpb718]

I saw the title of this thread and momentarily thought that crowd calendars had suddenly moved to a 20 point system to estimate crowds.

 

[Heather07438]

Our school is off that week. Surprisingly though, WDW prepares well for the highest weeks so it's not as bad as it seems. There are some experience posts on Easywdw showing how much more was accomplished early in the day during Easter week than in January last year. Park hours, CMs and operations make a huge difference to park flow and WDW provides those generously around Easter, not so much at other times of the year.

With longer hours and being fully staffed, things go much smoother and ride lines don't build so quickly for the first several hours. It's manageable. And this year with the virus upset, I'd expect crowds to thin down a bit due to cancellations.