Disneyland in April?

[sarahsar]

We are thinking about a first trip to Disneyland. We are old hats with Disney World, but know nothing about Disneyland. The week we are thinking of is the first week of April (our Spring Break). I imagine Spring Break can be just as nuts at Disneyland as at Disney World. For those who have experience with it, is it a crazy time to go? Will the crowds be like Disney World crowds?

 

[Raindown]

Never been to the World but, it does get busy at Disneyland during spring break. If its the only time you can go well, its the only time you can go. However, the weeks before and after spring break are quite pleasant. If you have been ok with the busier times at the World, I'd imagine that you'd be able to handle Disneyland.

 

[sarahsar]

Never been to the World but, it does get busy at Disneyland during spring break. If its the only time you can go well, its the only time you can go. However, the weeks before and after spring break are quite pleasant. If you have been ok with the busier times at the World, I'd imagine that you'd be able to handle Disneyland.

We're kind of stuck with spring break, unfortunately. I wouldn't say we're ok exactly with the busy times at WDW. We were just there and we were able to manage the crowds by being organized, but January and September are definitely easier times to go! At least it's not Easter Week, which is typically absolutely insane at WDW. I'm not sure when California spring breaks are, so I'm not sure if the first week of April is technically spring break there also?

I also don't have much of a sense for how Disney land and world crowds compare? I was just checking out some wait times apps today, which would presumably be a very busy day at both places, and wait times at the World were much longer than at Disneyland, but I'm not sure how accurate that is.

 

[Casey's Mommie]

I've never been to WDW, but I have heard from people that because WDW is more expansive than Disneyland that it handles crowds better. Disneyland is quite compact so when there are a lot of people around it does get tricky navigating the crowds.

But Disney CA typically isn't as crowded as Disneyland. We always walk over there when Disneyland crowds get out of hand.

 

[sarahsar]

I've never been to WDW, but I have heard from people that because WDW is more expansive than Disneyland that it handles crowds better. Disneyland is quite compact so when there are a lot of people around it does get tricky navigating the crowds.

But Disney CA typically isn't as crowded as Disneyland. We always walk over there when Disneyland crowds get out of hand.

That helps to know. It's nice that you can walk between the parks!

 

[Raindown]

I don't keep track of spring break anymore as it doesn't apply to me. However, you can usually see it on the Disneyland schedule. For about two weeks the parks will increase their hours. At least this year it was pretty spot on with increased attendance.

 

[GrandBob]

Take a look at the poll in this thread. It looks like there are more respondents saying their Spring Break is in late March than in April. You may be OK. In any case, it may help you to pick a week, if you have any flexibility.

HTH,
Bob

 

[andytaro]

It was not that bad when I visited the park during Spring break 2 years ago compared to new year's eve I've been to.
I think wait is a longer (60-90min) for popular rides, but after I've experienced new year's eve and new year in the park, I can tolerate anything less than that.

 

[luvdmouse]

We are also visiting during the same time. Anyone know what to expect the weather to be like. We are traveling from Chicago and don't know whether to pack shorts or pants. Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

The two weeks around Easter are usually the busiest. Even though Easter is late this year, I'm guessing that Disney is still planning for the heaviest spring break weeks to be then. There are still plenty of schools that tie their spring break calendar to Easter even when it falls late. Leading up to Easter for at least 3 or 4 weeks, Disney has extended hours as well, although not usually 8 AM - midnight everyday of the week. These times are still busy since spring break is really more of a rolling thing anyway with all the variation between schools. I'm thinking M-Th, Disneyland will probably open at 9 AM and close at 10 PM or 11 PM with longer hours on the weekend. Our spring break is the first week of April this year, and we live in northern California. I have heard that the Anaheim schools have the first week of April as well, so that will probably increase the local crowds a bit. So what I'm figuring is that the parks will be busy, but not peak, peak crowds busy.

Another poster asked about weather...it is usually warm enough for my kids to swim or play in the water at least once during spring break. We have definitely worn shorts at this time of year but tend to pack a mix of shorts and pants since some days are warmer than others and it still cools down at night. We have rarely run into rain at this time of year, and what we did experience wasn't significant, but with the crazy weather patterns we've had for the last few months, it's hard to predict what this spring might be like.

 

[luvdmouse]

Thank you for the advice about weather and dressing. I just found some cheap zip off boy's pants that convert to shorts. I think I will pick up some to make packing easier.