April Visit

[Pacesetters]

We have been Disney several times but this will be our first trip in April (15th - 24th). It will also be our first trip in about 7 years. We always had to go in mid-July in the past. So we are looking forward to hopefully a cooler and less crowded visit. Can any who has been on a visit mid April give me some insights on what to expect?

 

[loves to dive]

I've been early April, it was warm after the sun got going cool at nights and I don't remember much rain. I wore a sweater in the morning, took it off around 11 or 12 and put it back on as soon as the sun set. I'm from Georgia so I don't get warm unless it's at least 80.

 

[karly05]

Looks like you're there for Massachusetts Spring Break Week. I was there that week last year and was concerned about the crowds going in but it was really quite manageable. (You're well away from Easter, which is the important thing.)

I got caught in a deluge one afternoon at AK, and had an Epcot day with off and on rain, but the weather was mostly nice.

You are there for Epcot Flower & Garden Fest so be sure to check that out!

Last year was my first April trip and I enjoyed it so much, I'm going back in April this year (a week earlier since Easter is so early). Have fun!

 

[princessekrus]

We will be going the same time! We are going for the Star Wars Darkside Half-Marathon, and for MA spring break. I haven't done Disney in April since I was a kid, but am really looking forward to it this year. In the past years we've done January, February, November and August. I was super excited our spring break fell this week because it is far enough away from Easter, but the weather should be nice, although anything can happen I suppose. I am also excited to see the Flower and Garden festival, since I haven't done that before.

As for crowds, I am planning for the first weekend to be somewhat crowded (still nothing like the holidays, I can't compare with July, since I haven't been, but I assume that is summer crowd level which I consider high) with the runDisney events and the start of MA (and maybe NH?) spring break. The weekdays look moderate (5-6's) for crowds.

I have a feeling that it could be one of those trips where which park you are in on a particular day matters... for example, MK may be crazy on a particular day, and HS is dead. I think it's a great week! Have a great trip!

 

[momandRN2B]

Our first trip was in June and last year we went in April, we decided June was way too hot for us. It was from the middle of the week after Easter into a couple days the following week. Weather was "unseasonably warm" we were told, temps were in the upper 80's so it was hot during the day but we were able to take advantage of the pool which was nice and night time cooled down really nicely as opposed to nighttime in June which was still hot and humid.

Crowds were bad when we first got there the "live" levels said 8-9, I would compare them to summer crowds, but the longer into our trip, crowds thinned out and it wasn't bad. We were used to summer crowds any way so it's not like it was a shock to us. This year our break is a couple weeks after Easter as opposed to the week after Easter so were hoping it won't be as crowded but I think Disney is always crowded now lol

We just took advantage of EMH and went at rope drop and were able to ride all of our favorites right away.

Oh and they called for rain/storms every day and it only really rained one night and it was a quick shower.

Have a great trip!

 

[Travis B]

We were there the last week of April 2015. The weather was absolutely fabulous and crowds were moderate.

 

[mzsarah10]

Our very first trip was in April. It was wonderful. It did rain one day but otherwise warm enough to be comfortable yet cool enough to enjoy the parks. We were there during Massachusetts spring break and the crowds very ver manageable. The last few years we've had to go in June, it is night and day different.

 

[gorjus121]

This will be our third trip going the end of April. The past two prior trips during that time were in 2012 & 2013. We have perfect weather the first year sunny and in the 80's! ... the following year it rained a lot. It was fun to go to MK in ponchos. It didn't take away from anything. Hoping this year we get lucky again.

 

[karly05]

I have a feeling that it could be one of those trips where which park you are in on a particular day matters... for example, MK may be crazy on a particular day, and HS is dead. I think it's a great week! Have a great trip!

I don't have enough experience to back this up, but I am a BIG believer in following "recommended park days" at any time of the year. I like reading the crowd calendars and detailed explanations for the recommendations on EasyWDW and keeping those in mind as much as possible when planning which park/which day. Again, not enough real world experience to back this up, but I am convinced that MK is a year-round MADHOUSE for crowds, and the first thing I did when planning my park days for this year was look at EasyWDW to see which days were "green" (best) for MK and working everything else around that.

I still have memories of my first trip in early Dec '99 (back in the "good old days"), when the only real crowd we saw was Saturday night at MK, and it was nuts! From that point on I have refused to set foot in MK on a Saturday. (That night, we bailed on MK and hopped to Epcot, which was a magical oasis of tranquility - seriously.)

 

[princessekrus]

I don't have enough experience to back this up, but I am a BIG believer in following "recommended park days" at any time of the year. I like reading the crowd calendars and detailed explanations for the recommendations on EasyWDW and keeping those in mind as much as possible when planning which park/which day. Again, not enough real world experience to back this up, but I am convinced that MK is a year-round MADHOUSE for crowds, and the first thing I did when planning my park days for this year was look at EasyWDW to see which days were "green" (best) for MK and working everything else around that.

I still have memories of my first trip in early Dec '99 (back in the "good old days"), when the only real crowd we saw was Saturday night at MK, and it was nuts! From that point on I have refused to set foot in MK on a Saturday. (That night, we bailed on MK and hopped to Epcot, which was a magical oasis of tranquility - seriously.)

Exactly! I have been going multiple times a year for the past 9 nine years, and I used to not pay much attention to the crowd calendars, we just always did rope drop. I still don't worry obsessively about Epcot or AK, but I avoid MK on weekends if at all possible, and I'm careful about HS, because I find it miserable when it's really crowded. We always have hoppers, so if I (or my kids) are dying to do MK on a crowded day, we make sure we do rope drop, and are out of there by 1pm, if not earlier. More times than I can remember, I've been on my way out of MK with just hordes of people that were just arriving.

All of that being said, we go at some of the busiest times (Thanksgiving, Columbus Day Weekend, August), and we still find days at certain parks that aren't bad. Rope drop makes a huge difference, but I have early risers, so it's not a fight to get them out the door.

I have also noticed that weather seems to affect the crowds more than I noticed before. Yes, crowds tend to thin out when the weather is either unseasonably cold (has happened to us in Nov. and January), or rainy - but then if you get a nice day following a bad day, it's packed everywhere, regardless of park hours/events/crowd calendar. If you can tough out the weather (last January we were wearing puffy winter coats under ponchos on a rainy 45 degree day in a nearly empty MK), then you may find better crowds too. Heat/humidity doesn't seem to have the same effect as cold/rain though. I guess the moral is, try not to do what everyone else is doing. So as long as you can figure out what everyone else is doing (and the disboards are awesome for that since that's why we're here), you'll have a great trip.