Crowd levels right now

[bapcap]

We arrive on 4/11 for 8 days...how are the crowd levels right now? I have our FPs for each day we are visiting the parks, but my anxiety is really high worrying about the crowds!
Please help calm me down...thanks

 

[stoudty]

We’ve been here since Sunday, and the crowds are the worst we’ve seen in years. Long lines for all rides, and very little room to walk. Not as bad as Christmas week, but it’s definitely not good.

 

[Brandilla]

We got home last night. Crowds are high. Several of our days were 10/10. It can be really overwhelming, but just be patient and you will be just fine. Remember that there is no one better at handling crowds than Disney. They are expecting high crowds right now and I felt like they were managed well. But be prepared to wait. The most frustrating was when you couldn't even shop in a store because they were so packed. We bought a lot less souvenirs this trip mostly because we couldn't browse. Magic Kingdom was the kindest to us, even on crowd levels of 10 days because they have so many more fast pass attractions available than the other park. When crowds were too high and we couldn't get a FP we wanted, we would get in line for a show, and it worked out well for us.

I should also add we had 2 days per park, plus DAH at MK. So we didn't feel pressured any one day to fit everything in.

 

[thirtypack]

We arrive on 4/11 for 8 days...how are the crowd levels right now? I have our FPs for each day we are visiting the parks, but my anxiety is really high worrying about the crowds!
Please help calm me down...thanks

we arrive on the 11th as well, MK DAH thursday, and then everything else the 12-13th. its high now, but i fully expect it to slim down by the time we get there. am i crazy for thinking this?


btw, long time listener, first time caller. howdy!

 

[wddub2015]

Here now. It is for sure crowded, but I’ve been checking wait times leading up to our trip and knew to expect long waits for attractions. Tempering my expectations about what we can accomplish has helped me not get too frustrated. We tried the Play Disney app for the first time and found it to be really fun and it helped pass the time for my family while waiting in line (including 2 elementary school aged kids). I was hoping for 4th FPs, but have found DHS and AK to be “sold out” of anything other than shows as early as 11 or 12. I tried the refresh method and no dice.

Just know walkways will be crowded and lines will be long, but you can still have a great trip!

 

[Rick195275]

we arrive on the 11th as well, MK DAH thursday, and then everything else the 12-13th. its high now, but i fully expect it to slim down by the time we get there. am i crazy for thinking this?


btw, long time listener, first time caller. howdy!

Hi! I’m not going to call you crazy but I don’t expect things to get better with Easter being the next week. Getting in the 10th, also doing MK DAH see you there! I’m preparing for the parks to be packed but hopefully I’m wrong.

 

[bdiddy]

We were there from the 22nd-27th and with the exception of our Epcot day the crowds were awful. It felt like peak summer to me. I know it’s technically spring break season but I thought the crowds would be pretty spread out over a month because everyone’s breaks are different.

In our 7 trips this was honestly the first time I felt like we left MK without riding everything I wanted to ride. The waits were so long even for rides that usually aren’t too bad even in busy times. And I was so bummed because I usually ride Haunted Mansion a min of 2-3 times. It’s my absolute favorite and I only road it once. The line was consistently at 80 or more all day - it was crazy!

All I can suggest is besides your FP rides, be there at rope drop and try to ride the highest wait rides first thing. We were able to get Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain and Pirates in pretty quick before he lines got ridiculous. After that besides our FP for Peter Pan, Mine Train and Space Mountain we were stuck on horrible lines all day. Even Small World was over an hour - which is really rare!

I will say the weather was AMAZING though! A thousand times better than summer. It was so gorgeous and no awful humidity!

 

[Princess_Nikki]

Yeah it’s “Spring Break” season from mid March until mid April. And you have Stars Wars Half Marathon weekend coming up, too. From the crowd calendars I’ve seen, it’s around a 8/10-10/10 level.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

I'm here now and I agree with the others - crowd levels are quite high but the weather is nice.

I've spent a lot of time enjoying the topiaries and flowers in Epcot and the animal trails in Animal Kingdom. I've also used mobile ordering to save some time and sanity. I have taken some breaks and gone back to enjoy the peace and quiet of the resort. Trying to get a high ride count in was just leading to frustration for me; lines have been long and getting extra Fastpasses has been slim pickings.

 

[scottandtisha]

We were there the last half of March and also felt it was the worst we've seen (although we'd never been at spring break). That being said, we were still able to get quite a bit done by refreshing the app for fastpasses. For example, we were at MK on 3/28 and entered the park around noon (took over an hour from TTC to MK). We still did the following, plus lots of pin trading and dinner. All except People Mover were FP. We left the park at around 8p.

People Mover
Big Thunder
Splash
Peter Pan
Laugh Floor
Tea Party
Winnie
Haunted Mansion
Peter Pan again
Magic Carpets of Aladdin
Pirates
Big Thunder again

 

[momtwoboys]

we also come in on the 11th and can't wait! Yipeeeeee! Have some fastpasses ready, but will just go with the flow.

 

[msmith1026]

We arrive on the 11th as well. We are doing After Hours at both Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios during this trip. I know even those will be more crowded than usual but hoping that helps us do some of our “must do” rides. We are prepared for the crowds the best we can, and I’m planning on lots of mid day breaks to (hopefully) avoid some of them!

 

[Kwdsue]

What is DAH? Sorry, I'm not familiar with that acronym.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

What is DAH? Sorry, I'm not familiar with that acronym.

Disney After Hours

It's a hard ticket event for 3 hours after the park closes. It's offered at MK, AK, and DHS.

 

[NeuroCindy]

What is DAH? Sorry, I'm not familiar with that acronym.

Disney After Hours

 

[DisDreaming4116]

DAH stands for Disneyguests Avoiding Hourslongwaits.
I went to the May 9 2016 DAH event and people were complaining all over Twitter and the Disboards regarding the crazy idea of paying $100+ for 3 quiet hours in MK. Now, these events are insanely popular.
Disney knows what they are doing!

 

[SarahC97]

I would expect it to remain busy while you're there. But hey, expectations are all part of it. As long as you go in expecting crazy crowds, you'll be better able to plan for it. We went last year during Thanksgiving. It was 10/10 every day, but we had a great time. Rope drop is your friend as are extra magic hours.

 

[emsstacey]

We just got home. It was crazy crowded but we were able to get lots of fast passes, we rode FOP 3 times with no more than a 20 min wait. Yesterday, magic kingdom was the worst I’ve ever seen it but we rode space twice, btmrr, pp, haunted mansion. People mover, dumbo, 7dmt, ariel, laugh floor, poc, and carousel of progress, and iasw all before 3pm.

 

[LILJAN59]

My daughter and her two sons are down there now, parks are very crowded
She was at Animal Kingdom at 8:59 am and the line for Avatar Flight of Passage was already two hours long!
A cast member told here there were so many people from off site in line at 7 am they opened at 7 am to avoid s big BKSCK FRIDAY LIKE STAMPEDE!!! The cast member mentioned that he/ she was not happy with what Disney is doing either!!!
But...what time do the parking lots open????

 

[Brandilla]

My daughter and her two sons are down there now, parks are very crowded
She was at Animal Kingdom at 8:59 am and the line for Avatar Flight of Passage was already two hours long!
A cast member told here there were so many people from off site in line at 7 am they opened at 7 am to avoid s big BKSCK FRIDAY LIKE STAMPEDE!!! The cast member mentioned that he/ she was not happy with what Disney is doing either!!!
But...what time do the parking lots open????

How could Disney know they were off-site guests waiting in line?