crowds mid June vs. week before and after Easter??

[momof2chipmunks]

We just got back from our first Disney trip 2 weeks ago. Of course, I'm addicted and planning our next trip for 2011. We want to stay at least 10 days and I feel this would be too long to pull the kids out of school. In your opinions and experiences, which is better- mid June or the weeks before and after Easter?? TIA

 

[Hootch]

crowded. So many areas have school vacations around Easter. Over the summer people will spread out their vacations. Here is a link of actual and estimated attendance levels for 2009. The estimates are based on past crowd levels.

http://**************.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/crowd-may-v2.jpg

We have gone in June the last couple of trips. While it has been crowded we generally do not wait too long in lines for attractions. Part of that is planning what rides you most want to do and knowing when rides get crowded. For example we were at the MK for rope drop, headed directly to Splash Mountain for fastpasses and then straight to Peter Pan which was just opening. Later in the trip my daughter wanted to ride Peter Pan for the umpteenth time. We take breaks in the afternoon so I watched the fastpass return times. When the return time came close to when we expected to be back in the parks that evening, I snapped up the fastpasses.

Touringplans.com has a crowd calendar forecast. You used to be able to access the calendar if you owned a recent copy. They appear to have eliminated that option.

 

[bradisgoofy]

You have picked some of the busiest times to go. June is when the Florida people start attending because school is out and Easter is the second most busy time after Christmas. For many years we went during Spring Break which sometimes fell at Easter. The true advantage to Spring Break, the weather is much more comfortable then June. Mid 70s to upper 80s can happen at Spring Break time, whereas summer is, well, summer in Florida. Since you will be dealing with about the same size crowds you just need to decide if you want to be warm or get cooked. Two suggestions for Spring Break, do rope drop as much as possible and right after the 3:00 parades when the morning people are heading back to the pool or a nap for tired kids.