We had never done a trip during one of the big "school vacation" weeks and/or one of the major holidays before; then in 2014, we had planned a long weekend around Memorial Day but we got so much snow here in the Northeast that my wife's school opened up for all but Memorial Day itself and they did not allow teachers to take those days as personal days (they were doled out by request only, on a seniority basis, and my wife got blocked). Since we already had paid for airfare, tickets, etc, and vowed NEVER to do the summer again after experiences in 2010 and 2011 where we simply sweated all day with cranky kids in tow, we decided to take the plunge and go Easter Week despite all the horrible stories. We booked for Tuesday before through Easter Sunday. Crowd Calendars had the week at 8's, 9's and 10's in every park.
At this point we were within 60 days of Easter - we had trouble getting "hard to get" ADRS of course but we planned our meals at weird times and still got spots at places we wanted (dinners that week were at Biergarten, Resort QS, TRex, Via Napoli, and WCC and Sanaa plus a BOG lunch) and got all the FP+ we wanted - which made me think maybe things were overblown.
We made sure we took advantage of all early morning openings (7 AM EMH at MK!! Everybody hated me when I was waking people up at 5:30 but SOOOOO worth it to have the entire park to yourself!), we went back everyday by 11 or 12 to resort for swimming (although it was actually kind of chilly all week that year) and overall had a WONDERFUL 5 night trip. So much so that we went back last Easter Break again - this time arriving on Holy Saturday and staying through the next Saturday. Got all of the ADRs we wanted again and all the FP+ and we stayed offsite (Swan) so we didn't have the +10 advantage or anything. Once again, amazing trip.
This year our Spring Break happens to be about a month after Easter - last week in April. We're going again and the crowd calendars have the numbers in the 4-7 range. That said, I can't imagine we're going to notice much of a difference. Through planning, early mornings and some late nights, and plenty of mid-day rests, we have literally never waited on more than a 20-30 minute line on either trip. I think the longest line we waited on was my wife and I at Epcot evening EMH (MIL stayed back with kids) for Soarin' - we got on line at around 10:40 and waited about a half hour in standby. That's it.
We think its a great time to go. I hear from people who go during "off weeks" and therefore parks are open more limited, they think they don't have to rush to parks, and they complain WAY more about crowds than we ever have. I think if you go during Easter and have the mindset of needing to plan, you'll do great, and enjoy the wonderful weather and great extended hours/extras they have for the holiday.
