Best day Magic Kingdom Easter week

[mspencer]

We are staying in a rental house and arriving Good Friday and staying 8 nights. I am trying to figure the best day to go to Magic Kingdom. I would like to book Pop Century (or may splurge for a moderate like Carribbean Beach so advice on that is fine too) to utilize the EMH at Magic Kingdom that week. I am thinking they will be having 7 am EMH as that is what has happened the last several year. In order to book the hotel, I need to decide what day to go into Magic Kingdom. I have looked at touring plans and I don't really care for the site. May ask for a refund as it doesn't tell me one day over another...just gives it a 10 every day. Looked on another site and looks as if Tuesday and Thursday are recommended. Another place says Easter Sunday (which I thought was the busiest day ever). Please give me your thoughts on both what day to go to Magic Kingdom and what resort to stay at. I have stayed at Pop before and liked it but with it being a one day stay, thought about maybe splurging. TYIA

 

[mspencer]

Forgot to mention that I have two teenage girls and a 7 year old girl and myself.

 

[wilkeliza]

That is rough. What are you going to do if you book now and Disney changes the EMH days? Nothing is guaranteed to change so I would never book a hotel just for the chance that EMH would be the next day.

 

[hakepb]

The Murphy bed might make the splurge worthwhile for your party. Otherwise, the resort isn't much closer to MK, and 1 day might not be enough to take advantage of the pool or table service dining at a moderate resort.

 

[mspencer]

The last several years there has been extra magic hours every day in the morning during the week surrounding Easter. I expect it to be that way again. If not then I either adjust my reservation or keep it. I'm just looking at what day people think will be best.

 

[baler31]

We usually travel to WDW every other Easter. Our last Easter was 2015. Due to park hours and entertainment being identical for the week there really is not an appreciable difference in crowds. If you have the park hopper that is the ideal situation. We alternated a few 7am mornings and staying for the evening EMH. I would go in the morning on the Tues or Thurs and go for the evening on Wed. provided you can stay until close at 2am (please note that the park close was adjusted to 1am last year and we were in the park until it closed for EMH at 3am) we got a ton done from after 12am until close.

The mornings are also very good from 7am until 10ish. We typically just book a 10:45 ADR, and then leave for resort/pool time and return to another park in the evening.

However, if you are only doing it for one night I am not sure it is really worth it. Either way you are essentially going to gain about 3 hours of less crowded park time. A few years ago I would have said one of the 7am's but in the last few years we have seen early morning crowds grow. It is still the best time to tour but more people are getting there earlier than in the past.

 

[disneyjunkie]

We have bern there several times during Easter week. Each time we're there, MK has AM EMHs all week

Last Easter Sunday we got on a bus at POP around 7:15-7:30. I can't remember what time we entered the MK, ( it had to be a little after 8)the train was pulling in so ran and hopped on. We got off in Frontier Land and walked onto Splash. The posted wait time was 5 minutes. After Splash, we walked onto Big Thunder. The posted wait time was 20 minutes. We then walked over to Fantasy land, took pictures with the White Rabbit, rode the Tea Cups and headed to BOG for breakfast. (I think that ADR was for 9:30) After breakfast we used our first FP of the day for Space Mountain. We didn't start to notice the crowds until noon.

 

[mspencer]

So does anyone have advice on which day would be BEST March 26 - April 1 for just one day at the Magic Kingdom or is every day pretty equal crowd-wise? Also, I though I saw on some sight that there are already 8 am EMH every morning that week but looking on Disney's hours, it does not show. Hmm???

 

[alliecat523]

I would pick the Tuesday or Thursday. It's hard to determine the crowds as not everyone has easter week off as a break. I would think that the Tuesday would work because folks are probably leaving after a long weekend. Thursday might see more arrivals for the following weekend, but would most likely result in lower crowds earlier in the day. As always, it's just a guess!

We've been on Easter and didn't feel like it was a 10 crowd day. Certainly busy, but definitely still manageable.

 

[baler31]

The hours are still listed with 9am openings. For at least the last 15 years those hours have always changed to 8am general opening with 7 am EMH every day for MK that week. They will not update the calendar until much closer to the actual date. They don't even have the MK EMH listed at all that week as they know it will change.

As mentioned in my previous post Tues or Thurs will most likely be best but there will be little appreciable difference. The biggest advantage will be the early hours.

Crowds for Easter vary every year based on where in the calendar Easter falls.

Easter will be very busy this year. When Easter falls late March early April it always creates a "perfect storm" and it is much busier those years.

The busiest I have personally seen MK was Easter 2009, it was a phase 4 closure and was very weird to see no buses or anyone being allowed in. Even the NYE's we have spent in MK pale in comparison to that day.