Easter week reviews wanted - how crowded was it?

[3mousehouse]

Thinking about going back to Disney Easter week 2007 but concerned about the crowds . If you just got back, here are a few questions:

1. How crowded were the parks? (scale of 1-10)
2. Did you use a touring plan? If yes, did it work?
3. How crowded was your resort? (scale of 1-10)
4. How crowded was your pool? (scale of 1-10)
5. Any restaurant issues?

Any other comments more than welcome. Thank you to all that answer. These boards are great for planning ahead !

 

[3mousehouse]

Oops - got bumped . Couldn't figure out where to post. Any help here? Thanks!

 

[jswalker1981]

I went this weekend, friday to sunday. I didn't stay on property, we have friends that live about 20 minutes away, so we stay with them. We went to parks W/O morning EMH, this way we had a fair shot at hitting the popular rides. Friday we went to AK first, grabbed a FP for EE, then stood in line for the ride. A cast member gave us FPs to Flights of Wonder (great show by the way). So after riding EE, we ran, got FP for Dinosaur, then hit FOW, then grabbed FPs for Safaris, with a return time of 12. I suggest that if you really want to see Safaris, maybe get a FP for EE then go to Safaris, as there weren't many animals out that late in the day. We left AK by about 2:30, headed over to MGM. There were no more FPs for RnRC (my GF doesn't like ToT) so we just hit muppets and great movie ride, and then left since we had dinner plans with our friends. Went to Epcot the next day, Got a FP for Soarin, hit TT, MS, and Spaceship Earth before heading back to Soarin. Got all those done within a couple of hours, then just walked around World Showcase. On Sunday, we went to MK, and literally walked right on to Splash Mtn, then had a five minute wait for Thunder Mtn. I would have to say that AK had about a rating of 8 crowd on friday, Epcot had a 9 on Saturday, and MK had a 9 on Sunday, but that was later in the day, and especially around Tomorrowland and Fantasyland. If you are staying on site, then use the EMH, and you will have a better advantage then I did. If you aren't staying on site, then make sure to get there early, hit all the rides you want to hit, then relax the rest of the day. We didn't stay longer then 5:00 on any of those days, and still had a blast.

 

[3mousehouse]

Thanks so much. Lots of good advice and info !

 

[karenloo]

We just got back. Hit Disney Sunday through Thursday right before Easter. Before going I was very worried about crowds... had read these boards and many members said they would never go back at Easter (the week before and the week after Easter are supposedly the two most crowded weeks of the year there). We had no choice due to school vacation schedules. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd say every park reached about an 8 or 9 but not until midday (HINT: go early)! MK was a 10 by mid-afternoon the day we went. Also, we found a lot of people cleared out later in the day, especially at MGM and AK, and crowds dropped to a 4 or 5 in the last couple of hours. We hit MGM around 8 p.m. our first night and skipped Fantasmic (we did that a few days later) and literally walked onto many rides including ToT and RocknRoller Coaster. We did have a touring plan for each park and they worked great. We stayed at the Dolphin and it was crowded but not nearly as much as I expected, and we felt like we almost had the pool to ourselves most of the time. We stayed at Universal's Hard Rock Hotel for the last four days of our trip and that was much more crowded, pool included, but we were always able to enjoy ourselves and find lounge chairs with a little searching. Never had a problem getting food, because we either ate at off-peak times, or had reservations. I would say my worrying was for nothing, thankfully! If you go with a good plan and hit the parks early, you'll have a great time.

 

[GoingtoSeeRella]

We were there Saturday, 4/8 thru Thursday 4/13, the week before Easter. It was crowded, but definitely managable. Like other posters above, you must go early to get things done. MK was opened at 7 a.m. every morning for onsite guests, and you had your pick of the park until about 10 a.m.

We did all of Fantasyland, and I mean every ride, in less than an hour....starting at 7 am. By 10 a.m. crowds were building in MK, and then we'd start using FastPass or do more obscure things like Tom Sawyer's Island, Carosel of Progress, Tomorrowland Transit Authority, the train, stuff like that.

We stayed at CR and didn't find the hotel to be crowded at all...although I'm pretty sure it was fully booked...it just didn't seem like it. The pool wasn't overly crowded and the Food and Fun Center was never crowded.

As long as you aren't looking to sleep in, I'd say go for it next Easter!!

 

[DisneyDadof3]

we were at MK on the 9th, 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th and MGM on the 11th

The crowds at MK were less than expected on the 9th, 13th, 14th, and 15th in my opinion - very crowded on the 12th. MGM was great until around 1:00ish when it definitely filled in.

 

[NolaRN]

Thinking about going back to Disney Easter week 2007 but concerned about the crowds . If you just got back, here are a few questions:

1. How crowded were the parks? (scale of 1-10)
2. Did you use a touring plan? If yes, did it work?
3. How crowded was your resort? (scale of 1-10)
4. How crowded was your pool? (scale of 1-10)
5. Any restaurant issues?

Any other comments more than welcome. Thank you to all that answer. These boards are great for planning ahead !

Hi,
We just got back from 7 days at Disney and I can honestly tell you we will NEVER again go during Spring Break. The crowds were horrible, that is, unless you got there at opening you may have about 2 hours of peace. We loved the EMH in MK, 12-3 am 2 nights we were there. I think we got more done in this time than we did all week. To answer you questions,

1. The parks were a 10, every park, every day after 10 am until closing, or until about 11:30 p.m. at MK on the EMH days.

2. K, not really sure what a touring plan is but we did make a plan before we left, we took advantage of the EMH, and things worked out ok.

3. We stayed at the POR Riverside and although I know the hotel was sold out because friends of ours tried to book a room there for the same time and were unable to, this hotel is so fabulously laid out and serene that we never felt crowded at the hotel at all.

4. My kids swam everyday and loved it. The pools were pretty crowded until about dinner time and then they thinned out. They swam alot at night and were usually alone, they loved it. The pool was open 24 hours.

5. We didn't have any restaurant issues but we made reservations in advance. I'm going to post a restaurant review as soon as I can.

I had friends that went just 3 weeks ago and they said that it wasn't crowded at all. Next time we will take the kids out of school and go during off season. Any more questions, just ask!

 

[LilyStar]

We chose to go to Blizzard Beach on Easter Sunday. Apparently so did every other person in Orlando. LOL! Of course they were predicting 88 degrees and sunny which could be a big reason. But it was MOBBED!

 

[Jules76126]

I just got back from being in Disney both the weekend before Easter and Easter weekend. I felt that it was very very crowded. The weekend before Easter the lines were managable and the the hotel wasnt too bad. However Easter weekend was awful. We waited in long lines at most of the parks (except when we did EMH at MK) and at our resort you had to line up in the morning to get a chair at the pool at 8:30 and it didnt even open till 9. I wouldnt go back during this time but thats just my opinion

 

[taeja71]

 

[DVCindy]

We were at MK the 12th, Epcot the 13th and MGM the 15th.

I would definately agree that the parks were crowded ... but I was very surprised at how manageable it was using EMH (AM at MK) and fastpasses.


We were at the MK gate at 6:50 AM on the 12th and finished everything we wanted to see and do by 11:30 AM. Walked on just about everything except for Space Mountain ... used fastpass here. Crowds were pouring in as we were leaving after having lunch at Casey's.


Epcot was very crowded on the 13th. Used fastpass for Soarin' ... the standby line was incredible at 10:30 am .... I think it was 110 minutes ! All fastpasses had been distributed for the day by about 11 am or so. I think some of the huge crowd at Soarin' was due to the fact that the MissionSpace death scared people away ... I think it only had a 20 minute wait that morning.
Rode Test Track standby after picking up Soarin' fastpasses and only waited 20 min ... got fastpasses to use in the evening, but when we returned the fastpass line was enormous due to the fact that it had apparently broken down at some point during the day (what a shock ) and many, many people were trying to get on using their fastpasses. We were happy we went standby early in the morning and decided to skip our second ride using our fastpasses.
Turtle Talk with Crush was the only thing we missed seeing ... 100 minute wait !!!
I will add this was a day that Epcot had EMH that evening. Several of the CM's said that they felt this increased the size of the crowd all day ... apparently many people are going with the non-hopping option on their tickets and spending the entire day and evening at the EMH evening park.


MGM was really great on the 15th. Very surprised at how manageable it was. Didn't use fastpass at all (but we don't ride TOT of RNR). I did see the wait time at RNR was 40 minutes at around 2:30 when we made a pitstop at the restroom after seeing Beauty and the Beast.

All in all, a very enjoyable trip. I would definately do a Spring Break trip again. The weather was simply AMAZING ! Even though it's alot more crowded than when we usually go (late August), it's just so much more comfortable. It's alot easier to wait in a line in the beautiful April weather than it is to sweat your guts out waiting in a line in August ! The extended hours also give you alot more options on how you can visit the parks. Early birds can get a very early start ... and night owls can enjoy the parks until the wee hours of the AM ... MK was open until 3 AM last week !


Park crowds - I'd say 7 (MGM) to 10 (MK and Epcot).

I used my own touring plan based on previous trips.

BWV was crowded ... but we loved the busy atmosphere. It was actually nicer and more festive. The evening performers at the BW were terrific !

No issues with pools or restaurants.

Just my 2 cents ... hope it helps !

 

[MECH8T7]

We were there week before Easter last year and non-Easter (mid-March) this year. Although I found the parks much much busier during our trip last year, we probably toured MK more efficiently last year than this year. This is because during the Easter period the parks open earlier and MK had EMH every morning too....this meant that the MK was open at 7:00 am every day. I am assuming that most people don't like to get up 6:00 am every morning when they're on vacation. We didn't mind. We went back to the Poly with the kids for midday naps. I found that getting to the MK for an 8:00 am EMH this year (non-Easter) wasn't as big an advantage, probably because it was only one day in the week and more on-site guests seemed to be taking advantage of it.

 

[joemo]

We were there 2nd to the 16th April.

Yes it was busy, but the first week was much quieter.

The Easter week was very crowded but with a bit of planning (and some early starts!) we managed to get on EVERY ride we wanted. Over the two weeks we managed four times on Buzz, three on EE, twice on Splash Mountain, BTMR, Soarin, Test track, Dinosaur, Primeval Whirl, Rock & Roller coaster and once on Splash Mountain - but only because it closed down the first time we tried! Did all the ‘smaller’ rides and shows that we wanted too.

In my opinion you just need to get there early and go with the flow - if a ride is quiet then leap on, if not grab a fast pass.

Realistically Easter is the only time we can go for two weeks without DS being off school, and we have all loved every minute of it both times we went. Needed a holiday when I got back though!

 

[alimomof3]

Just returned from WDW -

12th - 1/2 day at MK
13th - early morning at MK, rest, afternoon at AK and EMH at Epcot
14th - morning at AK, Epcot, then Downtown Disney

Stayed at the GF.

I must say that being the first in the gate and the 4th family down Main Street towards Dumbo at 7am was amazing - all Fantasyland was complete by 7:45am. Not one wait in line. Did Indy, Space, Stitch, Cinderellabration, breakfast and shopped all before 11am. Plus had FP to BTMR.

Lunch was another story - we had 11:30 ADRs for Crystal Palace. We got in at 11:40 and ate saw Tigger, Piglet, and Eyeore right away - we didn't see Pooh until almost 1pm. We waited almost 45minutes after finishing eating just to see Pooh. What a waste of time but the kiddos would have been so upset to leave without seeing him.

That afternoon after a short rest at the hotel - we went to Animal Kingdom and used some fastpasses my sister got us for EE - waited about 2 minutes. Awesome. We also got to see Bugs life and play in the boneyard. Against my plans we decided to meet my sister at Epcot for the 10pm-1am EMHs. Big mistake. I really just wanted to ride Soarin. Yep wasn't going to happen the line was 70 minutes long at 10:45pm. We basically rode Test Track and then hung out in the World Showcase for the rest of the night. Oh well.

Got up the next morning and went to Animal Kingdom to do the Safari and walk some trails and get the kids face painted. Then back to Epcot where Soarins line was 110 minutes and fast passes were gone before noon.

I must say I would do it again during a busy season without a question but only if that was my only option. I plan to get a trip in in the fall of 07 before my oldest starts 1st grade.

Key is to get up early and not expect much in the afternoon. The streets of MK were very hard to get down after like 11am and forget it if a parade is going on which the afternoon parade was twice during the peak season.

The hotel did not seem busy at all - and at the pool the chairs seemed pretty full but there didn't seem to be a ton of people there so all we had to do was wait a few minutes for a chair to open up.