Crowds in Late April 2007

[dmanwi]

Anyone have a clue about crowds the last few weeks in April? I see that there are Grad Nights to avoid. Is any week better?

I am waiting for a fare sale from Midwest Airlines before we book.

April 20-27
April 27-May 4
May 4-May x

Thanks
Dan

 

[nalabell]

Well if I had to choose from your list based just on crowds it would be the week of April 27-May4. The crowds are very low during this period, some of the lowest of the year. If Christmas time is a 10 on the crowd level and summer is about 8-9 this time frame is around a 5-6. Mostly becasue it's after spring break and before the summer rush.

 

[DavidHobart]

Agree. You've missed Easter, the grad nights aren't really an issue (you won't be in the parks when the GRADS are); the weather is near-perfect; the crowds are not as low as they can be at other times but are not bad.

 

[LaraK]

We're going the week of the 20th. We have little kids, so we don't stay up late anyway and will not be effected by grad nights....we would have gone the week after that but I have to teach on the 30th. The only thing I've heard is that a few northeastern school districts have spring break the week I'm going (New Hampshire I think).

 

[disfamily2]

Actually most of New England Schools have spring break from April 16-20.

Jo Ann

 

[wings91]

My wife and I are going 4/21-29. I found Midwest airfare for $245 per person about a month ago.

We were down the first week of May last year during the Grad Nites. Other than not being able to do MK Friday or Saturday night, the parks were very managable.

 

[LisaBi]

I was there April 26-30 this year (2006). It was much MORE crowded than I expected. Definitely not as crowded as summer, but was noticeably more crowded than September, early Nov, or early Feb. I expected it to be comparable to November (we were there Jersey week in 2004).

I think the biggest issue was all of the school groups. The grad nights weren't an issue. But there seemed to be hundreds of elementary and middle school aged groups in MK and Epcot. Local schools end of year field trips? We were there primarily on a Thur/Fri/Sat - so maybe Fri/Sat are prime days for those field trips that time of year?

 

[chessclubmom]

As long as you're more than one week past Easter, crowds should be okay. Grad nights are not a big deal, just keep in mind that MK will close early on those nights. Any of those dates will put you there for the Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot (our favorite excuse for visiting WDW). This won't affect crowds too much either but is wonderful to see.

 

[disneyfan61]

Keep in mind NH has the last week of April off every year for Spring vacation.
That is why we go to Disney that last week of April every year. With fastpass
& getting there before the parks open we have no problems.

 

[jakie29]

 

[marvel]

well I hope it's good cause we are going 29th April. On another site the projections for the end of april are really good crowd wise.

 

[n2mm]

We go this time every year (late April into early May). This year it's April 29 to May 11. This will be our 13th year in a row for us. The crowds during this timeframe are moderate. Not crazy like summer or holidays, but not slow like parts of January and September (before free dining). Weekends will be very heavy and crowded and expect some school groups (usually a good time for Music Days, the kids usually stay at the value resorts, but never a problem). There will be a convention or too. I think the reason that last spring was completely out of control was because Easter was so late in April (20th), which kept most of us who like to avoid the week before and week after from booking. This caused most of us to try to squeeze our trips in from April 28th and try to avoid Memorial Day weekend--yikes--. This year Easter is earlier, April 8th, so the week after should be the end to some of the crowds and then regular rate season should begin on the 15th, giving us an extra couple of weeks to get our trips in. This is a popular time for the locals too, especially before AP seasonal passes get blacked out for the summer. No one should go during this timeframe and think it will be slow, because it will not....actually there is hardly any slow time to go to WDW anymore. There are days where the parks might be less crowded, then the next day they will be unmanageable.

 

[dmanwi]

We just booked for the April 20th-27th. Thanks for the advice. We found airfare from Milwaukee on Midwest and it was $208+tax. We decided to try off-site this time and are using a relatives time-share. It is the Hilton Grand Vacations on International drive.

Has anyone used Tour-Guide-Mike for this time of year? Does it add value or is it necessary for this time of year?

Next up is getting a van and booking our PS's.

Thanks everyone. Dan

 

[marvel]

hey, n2mm, we are going exactly the same time. Doing a split stay POR an WL.
See you there

 

[n2mm]

hey, n2mm, we are going exactly the same time. Doing a split stay POR an WL.
See you there

Great minds think alike. We are either at the BW or BC. I'm waitlisted for one day out of 12 for the BW, but have a backup ressie at the BC for the whole 12 nights. I can't wait because spring is my favorite time to go. I do, however, have a short 6 night stay early February at the WL just to make it through the winter.

 

[U2_rocks!]

We just booked for the April 20th-27th. Thanks for the advice. We found airfare from Milwaukee on Midwest and it was $208+tax. We decided to try off-site this time and are using a relatives time-share. It is the Hilton Grand Vacations on International drive.

Has anyone used Tour-Guide-Mike for this time of year? Does it add value or is it necessary for this time of year?

Next up is getting a van and booking our PS's.

Thanks everyone. Dan

I'm going April 20 - May 4 and using TGM. I think it will help, because with Grad nights closing MK early on Fridays and Saturdays, and given that it won't be "quiet" by any means, there will be a need to do the opposite of what the crowds are doing, and TGM is good at predicting the crowds! I've never really put TGM to the test before though, so I can't give you any first hand experience. The one time I used him before, we ended up having to schedule our days around certain other things and couldn't follow his advice exactly. But I learned so much about his planning tactics that it still helped us, and gave me a jump on this year's plans (I didn't have as much to learn for this trip).