Easter in Disney

[carrieshields]

We will be in Disney for Easter week in 2018. Staying at the Poly. We have always planned our Disney vacations around non-peak times, but our son is requesting Disney for his senior year spring break. Obviously crowds will be heavy. What can we expect? Is it so crowded that you can't do anything?

 

[Robo]

It's always tough to answer about "crowded."

If some say it is, others will say it's not.

I can say that, statistically, Easter is only eclipsed in crowd-density by Christmas Week and July 4th holiday time.
If many schools' Spring Breaks happen to coincide with Easter, that "perfect storm" can even rival the holidays that I mentioned.

 

[glassslippergirl]

My experience with these high crowd weeks is to expect the lowest crowds first thing in the morning, with crowds growing through the day. At peak times in the day, expect to look up and just see a sea of people. Lines will be long. You may be able to get a fourth FP but not much more. This seems dire, but I'm planning a trip now for Easter week this year. It's all in your attitude and how you plan. Rope drop; use FPs in the late morning to early afternoon. You could plan to rest at the hotel in the afternoons, then return at night. If that's more for families with young children, then plan a long, leisurely TS lunch. In short, it's totally doable.

You're so lucky. How many high school seniors, boys especially, ask to spend spring break at WDW with their parents? This is a gift!

 

[EpcotQueen]

What is considered Easter week? The week before Easter or the week after?

 

[Tattylou]

We did Easter in 2014. I have never done Christmas week or Thanksgiving, but Easter was def the most crowded I've ever seen it and I've gone to WDW many many times. To echo @glassslippergirl - It was crowded, especially the Magic Kingdom anytime after 12pm...like a sea of ppl wall to wall, esp in fantasyland, a "hold hands or you would lose your kids" kind of crowd. Epcot handles the crowds better bc it is bigger. Get there early, rope drop is your friend. That is the most important thing bc mornings were significantly less crowded...or stay for the late, late EMH. We went early then took midday break at hotel pool and went back for the evening. We still had fun, but we went expecting the crowds and with fast passes and ADR booked. We accepted there were things we weren't going to get to ride or see or do and just accepted it. We had fun, but have decided we probably won't do Easter again. (We were there Thursday before Easter to Thurs after Easter).

 

[carrieshields]

What is considered Easter week? The week before Easter or the week after?

The week before through the day after.

 

[carrieshields]

My experience with these high crowd weeks is to expect the lowest crowds first thing in the morning, with crowds growing through the day. At peak times in the day, expect to look up and just see a sea of people. Lines will be long. You may be able to get a fourth FP but not much more. This seems dire, but I'm planning a trip now for Easter week this year. It's all in your attitude and how you plan. Rope drop; use FPs in the late morning to early afternoon. You could plan to rest at the hotel in the afternoons, then return at night. If that's more for families with young children, then plan a long, leisurely TS lunch. In short, it's totally doable.

You're so lucky. How many high school seniors, boys especially, ask to spend spring break at WDW with their parents? This is a gift!

I agree! That's why we are willing to brave the crazy crowds. We are blessed with two great kids!

 

[chiisai]

If you Tour rope drop until 11:30ish it is ok, going from vacant to busy. After that it is sea of people and, IMO, crushing. I cannot handle it after 1; it is hard enough at noon.

I am out of there by 1. I will do fp for 10, 11, and noon, or 11, noon, and 1, depending on what Touringplans shows the day looking like and what is available.

Afternoons are for the pool or balcony or lounges or water sports. And warm epsom salt baths.

Evenings are either hotel ADRs, hotel CS, lounges, or room service. Territory lounge at WL was amazing and never crowded at dinner. Sometimes we go back to a park in the evening, but only once or twice for ADR or for that fp we couldn't get early in the day.

We also have a non-park day in the middle where we do a slow wake up, kids' morning pirate cruise, lunch, and whatever for the rest of the day.

 

[Eastern]

We've done spring break/Easter a few times. The key is to get there at rope drop. It sounds so easy, but after day 1, it does get harder to get yourself out of bed, but it's worth it. Most people will arrive 10-11am. Ride for a few hours until it gets packed. Then have lunch and leave. You can definitely get stuff done if you get there early every day.

 

[chartle]

What is considered Easter week? The week before Easter or the week after?

The week before through the day after.

It may depend on when Easter is. I think if its super early some schools take the week off after as Spring Break.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

I was at MK over Easter Week 2015 on a crowd level 10 day for DD's softball high school spring training at the ESPN fields. My roommate (another mom) and I hit rope drop for morning EMHs and used an adult standard touring plan from Touringplans.com. We got a ton done in a short time with very little wait. This is how our day went:

We rope dropped MK at 6:55 AM. We walked on Space Mt, Buzz, Peter Pan, Little Mermaid, Small World, Haunted Mansion. Then I used my FP+ for 7DMT at 9:00, waited 30 minutes for Jungle Cruise at 9:15. Next we used FP+ for Splash, had a snack, then FP+ for Big Thunder. While my roommate used her FP+ for 7DMT, I went to Heritage House FP+ kiosk and got a 4th FP+ for 8:00 PM for Pirates of Caribbean. By this time it was 12:00 noon. We had lunch at Columbia Harbor House, left the park at 1:00 PM, went back to resort. It was so crowded by this time we could barely move!

After we rested, we caught the bus from All Star Sports to ESPN complex for our daughters' 4:00 softball game. We had an hour long game delay due to rain. Once the game was over we booked it back to MK. The Hub was INSANE!!!! So many people! We rode Pirates, watched fireworks from the backside of the castle, had dinner at Pecos Bill's and staked out a planter box to sit on in Frontierland. We rested there and watched the Main Street Electrical Parade. Then we left. Didn't have to wait long for the bus and we got seats!

Day 2 we had a morning game then did Epcot (had FP+ for rides and did the Flower & garden food kiosks for lunch) and DHS for dinner & Fantasmic. Day 3 we did AK (at rope drop), DHS (where we used our FP+) and Illuminations at Epcot.

With a good touring plan, rope drop and FP+, you can have a great trip! We are going again for spring training this Easter Week. But this time DH and I are staying off site, so we won't have EMH. I'm kind of bummed about no EMH, but last year WDW really cut back on the EMH for Easter week. With the reduced EMH again this year, I don't think it will be that big a deal to just avoid the morning EMH park. We're staying off site because we have to start paying DD's college bills in a couple of months.

 

[My2Qtz0205]

We went from Maundy Thursday to Easter Sunday in 2015. We got Park Hoppers so we could go to a different park if the one we started at got too crowded. We utilized our FPs and ADRs. I can't say we were ever really bothered by the crowds, except for the mayhem that occurs during the nighttime parade, the projection show, and Wishes.

We did Epcot on Easter Sunday. There's no way I would attempt MK on that day. We also took mid-day breaks at the pool for a break from the crowds.

 

[jenmsmith]

We were at WDW last year for the week before Easter through three days after. It was one of those "perfect storm" years Robo mentioned as Easter was at the end of March so it fell right in peak Spring Break. Even then, we were very happy with our vacation. We toured as an extended family - two sets of parents with six total kids ranging in age from toddler to 14. We got to do all we wanted to. Was it crowded? Yes. Was rope drop important? Yes. But since you know the parks, you know how to be flexible, and you know what your "must dos" are and that no one can do it all in one trip, you're good to go. Plus, Easter is "late" this year, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's not as crazy busy as some Easter weeks can be. Enjoy! I hope our three sons still want to go to WDW with us when they are seniors.

 

[carlymcqueen]

We were in WDW during Easter 2016. the best, most important advice I can offer is to NOT go to MK on Easter sunday. We went to DHS on sunday and MK on monday, and it worked out perfectly. The crowds were perfect for the days we chose. We just assumed that MK would be an absolute madhouse and that it would be best to avoid it

 

[amcnj]

It has been a number of years since I was there around Easter, but what I recall most was the crowds, particularly at MK. I remember leaving MK by noon as it was getting super crowded, and then going back later. And that wasn't even on Easter day. Luckily park hours were longer due to the crowds. But it didn't leave me feeling I would never do it again or anything.

 

[frisbeego]

We'll be in MK on Easter Sunday. It's not ideal, but we'll make it work.

I see that the Dessert Party - Plaza Garden is not available for booking that day. Does that mean that the gardens will be open to everyone?

 

[housetomouse]

What is considered Easter week? The week before Easter or the week after?

Before. I have heard that the week after Easter is lighter for crowds.

 

[ratfam]

There was a thread last week I believe asking which park to visit on Easter Sunday, this will echo some of what I said there. First, don't worry, with the right attitude and a little patience you will have a great time. Since our kids hit elementary school we have only visited during school breaks which has meant a few visits the week before or after Easter and one at Christmas. Christmas is WAAAY more crowded than Easter--once was enough for us with that but we never left an Easter time vacation not wanting to return (and we have never left not having seen or done something that we wanted to see or do because we weren't able to). We never have used park hoppers, and while we have always stayed at a Disney resort we have never had a rental car and have always relied on Disney transportation. We have never been unable to enter a park due to capacity issues. The plusses to Easter versus quieter times of year are longer park hours (sometimes much longer, no 8pm closings for sure) and better weather than most times of year--great pool weather but not oppressive, no hurricanes, no risk of real cold weather,and likely flower and garden festival. As others have indicated you do need to do some planning--either rope drop or a plan that doesn't involve many major attractions for that day. Even with rope drop, standby lines for the major attractions will pick up fairly early in the day. We would rope drop, have fastpasses for later in the morning, return to resort or do shows in the afternoon, and plan for less popular attractions or to get more fastpasses for evening--things like shows, wandering the world showcase, stuff like carousel of progress. Definitely make dining reservations unless you are happy with quick service or taking what (and when) you can get for table service. Have at least a loose touring plan to be sure you will cover what you want to and have ideas for what you can do if things do get backed up--we only have a touring plan when traveling over the holidays and it has helped, as do the fastpass plusses. Buy your son some grad ears and enjoy!

 

[wilkeliza]

It is weird but we are going on Easter this year because of celebration and based on 60 fastpasses I would have thought it was a 10 crowd level. We were able to get 7DMT and FEA even though I woke up late (and I the mean like didn't book until almost noon) on our 60 day out day and that was the middle of what would be "Easter week" so not sure how we managed those two rides if it is suppose to be level 10.

 

[jenmsmith]

We'll be in MK on Easter Sunday. It's not ideal, but we'll make it work.

I see that the Dessert Party - Plaza Garden is not available for booking that day. Does that mean that the gardens will be open to everyone?

We went to MK on Easter last year. We arrived about 5 p.m. and had a wonderful evening. If it was crazy crowded earlier, the crowd had thinned by then.