Calling anyone who was at WDW over the school Easter hols.....

[Debs Hill]

OK, I know you guys will give me the truth! I would love to hear about your experiences of WDW over the Easter break.....
What was the weather like? How were the crowds? Average wait times? I normally travel Oct/Nov time, how does it compare? What are the park opening hours? And most importantly....would you do it again?!!!!

The good, the bad and the ugly please guys!!
Debsx

 

[nee]

I went for the two weeks over easter and it was fantastic.

weather was 82f most days, one thunder storm which lasted one hour. It did cool the weather down for the next couple of days though to upper 70s which made discovery cove seem a bit cold

The parks did not feel crowded at all in spite of what everyone says about easter, in fact epcot seemed empty some days. There was one day at magic kingdom that was very crowded surprisingly in the second week when the park hours had just been reduced from 11pm to 9.30pm. We went over easter last year too and it was not crowded then either.

Because the flower and garden show is on there are beautiful flowers growing in the shape of mickeys, funny toperies, a dogon maze to play in and the smell of these orange blossem flowers are out of this world

I think it is the best time of year to go mk is so magical at night and the pakk is open until very late

 

[Hilary]

We've just had two weeks in Florida, spending Easter from Good Friday to the following Wednesday in Orlando.

Good Friday and Easter Saturday in IOA and US were very busy, but Easter Monday to the Wednesday in WDW didn't seem quite as bad. Fast passes for MS and TT had all gone by mid morning on the days we were in Epcot.

Park hours are extended (e.g. MK was open from 8am to 11pm), but there were some long wait times - Shrek was showing 120 minutes - which makes the FOL access for on-site USF guests and EE for on-site WDW guests a real bonus at busy times.

Easter weather was good with a chilly spell at the end of the holiday w/end and heavy rain one night. We usually go to Florida in October, but have visited a couple of times previously in March/April. Generally, I prefer the weather in October as it's warm throughout the day and evening, whereas in the spring I find it gets coo in the evening and I need to take a jumper - but I'm sure it varies from year to year anyway.

Would we do it again? You bet

Given the choice between Easter and October, I'd opt for October, but I'd certainly be very happy to go again over Easter

 

[silverka2002]

I have to disagree. We were there from March 30th until April 13th. The first few days were fine not so crowded, not very long queues, but from April 3rd on the wait times for the big rides were rather long some as long as 120 minutes!! Fastpasses all gone by 10 am!!
I'd never go at Easter again. I just wish my holidays weren't governed by the school hols.

 

[***SandieUK***]

Hi Debs

We were there from 3 April to 17 April and this was our third time going at Easter (because I am tied to school hols). The weather was quite variable this time, ranging from 70 to 88 degrees, with the notable thunderstorm that the previous poster mentioned.

We only did two Disney parks this time - EPCOT which was busy (especially Test Track) and Typhoon Lagoon which was also busy but you could still see spare sunloungers around. We always expect crowds and queues (sorry 'lines'!) but we are used to that and I love the fact that the parks stay open late (midnight in some cases).

I haven't got anything to compare Easter with but it's not a bad time to go if you want the longer opening hours but with comfortable weather as opposed to July/Aug.

 

[SidB]

Originally posted by silverka2002
I have to disagree. We were there from March 30th until April 13th. The first few days were fine not so crowded, not very long queues, but from April 3rd on the wait times for the big rides were rather long some as long as 120 minutes!! Fastpasses all gone by 10 am!!

I have to say that I agree with these sentiments. The first week of our holiday was busy, but no more than I'd expect. We spent time at Univ/IOA and Discovery Cove. We even got to ride "The Mummy" !! However, our first week was the one before Easter. On the Monday the crowds at MK were awful. I've never seen crowds like it We'd planned on arriving slightly later (11-ish), as we had a table booked at the Crystal Palace. After that my daughter and I had a haircut, so I guess we really got into the park mid-afternoon. We ended up staying until midnight to get good value for the tickets. We ended up dead shattered and effectively lost the next day. We'd planned on going to other Disney parks that week but the kids asked if we could give it a miss !!! We had "pluses" left from a previous trip so took a day at Typhoon Lagoon, which wasn't too bad. The second week of the Easter holidays we spent on the Gulf Coast. Rain ? I've only ever seen rain like it in Thailand. I'm told that there were 3.5 inches of rain in 2 days. One day I even tried to buy a shirt with sleeves as it was too cold. Anyhow, long answer to a simple question.

Would I go to Florida at Easter ? Yes.
Would I do the parks at Easter ? No.

 

[Debs Hill]

Thanks for all your responses so far! From what I've read previously Easter has been made to sound much worse than this!! We would plan to go for 3 weeks, including the Easter week, and try and avoid the parks for that week, or go early morning and in the evening. For what period are the parks open until midnight? Where did you all stay? Did the resorts feel crowded? Did you need to make PS for everywhere ahead of time?

Finally, how was 'The Mummy Returns'?!!

Debsx

 

[Hilary]

It was only MK that stayed open until midnight. The longer opening hours were for about a week with the Easter weekend in the middle, I think. There were slightly longer hours for longer than that (if that makes sense!).

We did make a couple of PSs before we went, but ended up having to change them due to DH and I taking it in turns to be ill and we had no trouble getting what we wanted instead.

We stayed at HRH for one night, and were told it was fully booked - judging by the trouble I had getting the room at all (at full price ) I can believe that! The pool area was very crowded, but the rest of the resort didn't feel particularly busy. In WDW we stayed in OKW and didn't find it any more busy than when we've been at other times. Being a DVC resort, I think it's probably pretty near capacity most of the time.

DD and DH managed to ride The Mummy and both thought it was good, with DD enjoying it more than DH (this was before he was ill ).

Good luck with the planning!

 

[richard3330]

We went from Good Friday (April 9th) to April 23rd and had a fantastic time. We usually travel at Easter as it seems the most appropriate time to go after the long horrible winter in this country. The weather was average this year, it has usually been hotter other times we have been at Easter. The first Sunday (11th) there was a huge thunderstorm and very heavy rain but after that I don't remember seeing any rain at all. The main problem was the wind which seemed stronger than usual this year. However it was great touring the parks in cooler weather, just not so good at the water park or on DCL!

The crowds were as usual for Easter and to be honest I didn't really notice a significant drop in the crowd levels during the second week, like we usually do (when most US and UK schools were back). Queue's varied but typically at MK you could expect 100 minute or more queue times for Splash, Space and Big thunder during the peak times of the day.

We stayed on site at WDW but never actually made use of Early Entry, despite planning on using it. If going at Easter I cannot stress how much I would recommend staying in a Universal Studios Resort Hotel for Express line access. I remember the queue for Shrek 4-D being 160 minutes at one time - almost 3 hours! With your room key you just whip straight up the express line whenever you like. I would recommend Easter for the ideal weather but be prepared for some crowds. Definitely make PS's before you go - most restaurants, particularly in MK wouldn't even talk to people without PS's - We had a PS for Crystal Palace for 1.10pm but never actually got in until about 1.30/1.40 because of the crowds.

Edited to add:
We managed to ride Mummy Returns as part of the technical rehersal and it was great, although not as intense as I had imagined. The ride wasn’t fully completed – not all the special effects were in place, but the fire and rats are still in my mind!

Richard.

 

[UKANGEL]

we went for 2 weeks, coming home on Good Friday and the last week was awful for crowds in the parks.
As others have said we saw q's of over 2 hours for ToT, and that was only 90 mins after opening!!!
We were only getting 2 or 3 rides done a day some days. If we went at that time again I'd go the 2 weeks after easter.

 

[BONZO]

Debs,

I'll answer this very briefly but I'll get Alison to add comprehensive notes later.

We were there for 3 weeks this year, the week before, during and after Easter.

Weather - was perfect park weather - mid to high 80's with a bit of a breeze.

Crowds High, manic and Low

Park hours Great up to Easter i.e. MK open at 7am for on-site guests and closed at Midnight. After easter it opened late and closed VERY early i.e. 6:30

Parades etc 2 x Spectro and Fantasmic on some days - after Easter fewer or no shows

Queues hellish if you arrive late!


would you do it again - yes


In a nutshell: -

High Season - High crowds but extended hours and shows and additional events

Low season - Summer High temps and high humidity, reduced hours and shows

You pay your money you take your choice but you should have a strategy to avoid crowds and heat for both periods.

In a nutshell - for both get there as early as you can and take full advantage of Fast Pass and on-site hotel perks (Early Entry)including US and IOA on site hotels.

Just typing up trip reports and posting here on UK Trip Reports Board if interested in seeing how we planned our days.

 

[TracyK]

I have been three times at Easter and after going Easter 2002 I vowed never to do Easter again. We always arrive at the parks early and work the FP system well but even we couldn't manage to do more than a few attractions as it was sooooo busy. MK and AK closed due to capacity on some days, that's how bad it was. We now go in August. I don't like the humidity but the crowds are only about half what they are at Easter. I'm just not going to take the risk again.
Tracy

 

[Ware Bears]

We were there 31st March to 14th April. As it was our first time we had nothing to compare it with, only advice from everyone to "concentrate" on the parks before Easter weekend.
We got early to the Disney parks every day, used our fastpasses usually getting a timeslot only one hour away and never queued for anything for longer than half an hour including the Tower of Terror.
We never found the Disney parks too crowded, but we did find Sea World and Busch Gardens very busy but then that was our fault because we visited them at the weekend when its their busy days.
Even Easter Sunday at MK was OK, probably because we had seen all the parades, fireworks etc earlier on in our holiday and already done the most popular rides. We did wait for 2 hours to get the best viewing for the afternoon parade because my DD wanted to see Mr and Mrs Easter Bunny ride in the parade (LOL!) but so long as I had an icecream to keep me going I didn't care!!!
Like I said, this was our first time so we had nothing to compare it to but I was expecting the crowds/queues to be FAR FAR worse and coming from Bournemouth we are used to tourists and crowds!!!LOL
I would definitely go at Easter again, it suited us because my DD's could just miss the last couple of days of school so we could get cheaper flights but not miss any important lessons, and we found the weather lovely and hot but not unbearable.

Elaine

 

[Mike Jones]

..we've done easter 2002, 2003 and booked again for easter 2005. Busy, yes, but weather brilliant, and, with early starts and a good plan, very enjoyable.