Easter week

[arazamataz]

How crowded is the parks Easter weekend and the following week? It's the first time we are going on a holiday. We are staying at BC . Is SB going to be packed? What's the best time to
go to parks AM or PM? Thanks.

 

[cindyfan]

Easter Weekend is one of the BUSIEST times of year......may even be THE busiest.
The week after......things start to quiet down by like Wednesday.

We went the Wednesday after Easter last year. That Wed. was still NUTS. But then Thurs. started to ease up. And by Sat...it wasn't too bad.

I would try to go early....for park opening. Take a break in the afternoon. And head back for the evening.
At this time of year.....I would suggest AVOID the Early Entry days, go to another park that day.
Or even try to hit that park the day AFTER an early entry day.

Have fun.

 

[His_Lordship]

It will be busy, but the weather is near perfect that time of year. Fastpass helps as does following the above poster's advice about avoiding afternoons. Make a list of your not to miss attractions and hit them first.

Have a great time!

 

[capegirl]

We were there last Easter, parks were busy, but we managed quite well using the fastpasses. The least crowded park was AK...we were actually able to stay on rides 2 or 3 times in a row because there were no lines in the AM. The park to aviod on Easter Sunday is MK. We also found the waterparks to be VERY crowded every day. Arrive at TL or BB when they open and grab your chairs fast. We discovered that the strategy of visiting the waterparks later in the day does not work during these 2 weeks. We showed up at TL 3:00 one day thinking that many of the early morning people would have cleared out....NOT!!!! There were no chairs to be found, and the lazy river was so packed you could barley see the water.
There is an upside of being at WDW during these 2 weeks....the weather is FABULOUS!!!!

 

[rigman64]

Is the week before Easter Sunday any better than the week after Easter Sunday? And what day the week before Easter Sunday does it start to get crazy? Going the week of April 3-9, how bad do you think it will be?

 

[disneydiz]

A cm once told me that the week before Easter Sunday is busier than the week after. We always arrive on the Friday before and leave the following weekend. It is BUSY! If you look at the park hours for April, you will see when the MK is open late -- meaning they expect crowds!

 

[luvmarypoppins]

I see they have 2 showing of fantasmic too during that time. Does anyone know if the later show is very crowded too? I hate Long, long lines.

 

[disneyjunkie]

Originally posted by rigman64
Is the week before Easter Sunday any better than the week after Easter Sunday? And what day the week before Easter Sunday does it start to get crazy? Going the week of April 3-9, how bad do you think it will be?

My son and I will be there during that time. I'm expecting huge crowds. I plan to get to the park early, use FP and TRY not worry about get everything done. Maybe we'll spend time enjoying the shows or the extra things the parks have to offer.

 

[sarahsmom73]

We're there too! Can't wait! They way I look at it is this: What ever we miss is one more piece of ammo to convince DH we need to come back soon!

 

[zurgswife]

We are going Easter 2005 and I plan to use the same plan I did for this past year for my Christmas/New Years trip....Up early and out of the Parks before lunch....The afternoon time was horrendous but early mornign was managable...

 

[Pinnie]

We have been there the past 2 Easter weeks and it is very crowded. Think GRIDLOCK in Fantasyland on Sunday and Monday! With that in mind, go early, plan on heading to another park on those days or just take in a nice breakfast, hang out at DD or at your resort pool for the day. Later in the day head over to Beaches and Cream at the BC for ice cream.

I will be there again over Easter this year at the BCVs. The weather is always awesome!!!


pin

 

[MaryKatesMom]

One of my worst memories was our very first trip with kids, going to MK the afternoon of our arrival, the Wednesday after Easter. Standing in Fantasyland at 2pm I was practically in tears. I had left the DD's with my husband and went to every ride a 2 and 4 yrold could ride that had FP's. Every single FP was gone except Pooh which had a return time of 8:30pm. The only ride we rode was IASW before we went to our 5:30 PS. There was a CM standing on a stool in the middle of the walkway between IASW and Peter Pan trying to direct the stroller traffice. It was quite comical. It was a complete traffic jam you couldn't move.

I was a complete newbie to Disney, and it was before discovering the The Unofficial Guide, Passporters and all of the good people on these boards. All I knew was what I had read from Birnbaum's which I still love to read but isn't helpful with touring plans. It was a complete shock to me that the line for Dumbo was all the way around the Carousel.

We still go that week (except this year) but planning makes all of the difference and having more realistic expectations.

 

[mom_rules]

We'll be there same time too!! Sounds like there will be a few disers ! First time we will be there around a holiday.

 

[travellady]

Our plan is to take it easy and not spend lots of time at the parks. In fact, I think we'll skip MK this time around - we're going Dec 19- 23 as well so will do the MK thing when it's decorated for Xmas.

We'll probably only visit parks 3 days- probably AKL, Epcot, and MGM. How crowded are those parks around Easter? I have a PS at Akerhus (I'm Norwegian and looking forward to it on Easter Sunday. Do you think Epcot will be crowded that day?

We also plan on heading to one of the Water Parks during that week - is any one day better than another? We're staying at CSR so have plans to hang out and relax - more than we normally do.

The last time we were at WDW was Thanksgiving week 2001. It was crowded - in fact we spent Thanskgiving Day at MK - but we enjoyed it nevertheless. We just set our expectations accordingly and make sure we have a PS on those days.

 

[laurabelle]

I'm a closet "commando" tourer, but have to change my ways for the sanity of the family, esp. for Easter Week At Disney. Now my sister and nephew have decided to join us for part of the week, they don't like to plan, so they can just ride on our coatails! I plan on hitting the favorites during emh, long breaks at the pool, then the evenings will be about dinner and fireworks and if we get to ride something at night, I'm looking at it as a bonus!

See ya at the House of Mouse!

 

[tassie42]

does anyone think it will be as crowded April1 -5. I was hoping to avoid some of the Easter crowd. what do you think?

 

[soos]

well, I am glad to see you are all going the week of Easter, since I am going the week AFTER that! Not that I wouldn't love to see you all, but MAYBE the crowds will be less, although I doubt it. I am trying not to freak out about getting a chance to do everything we want to do. I have only been there once so I am still trying to figure out a plan of attack.......

 

[MaryKatesMom]

Go to the later show of Fantasmic! if you can manage to stay up that late. My DD's are sleeping by then.

We stayed at BC Easter of 2003 and although, SAB is wonderful and I wouldn't say the pool is crowded. What is pretty unpleasant are the people that "save" so many chairs that there isn't a single available one. People sitting in them wouldn't be bad, but walking around carrying a 40lb sleeping toddler looking at empty but saved chairs drove me so nuts!

I hope they did something about it.

 

[Disfreek]

EASTER WEEK!!!! its going to be crazy.. but I am so excited im going to jump out of my chair right now!!!

Crowds are great.. bunch of sweaty people bumping into you and stroolers running over your heels!!! Kids swinging chains at you in line!!
I WOULDNT PICK A DIFFERNT WEEK.. because I cant..lol

DW is a teacher.. so either crazy crowds at Easter, and great weather. Or crazy crowds and rain in August..
We do both..lol

The funny thing is that we are taking my BIL this trip..his family has never been to DW.. should be interesting seeing his face when he sees the crowds.. or when he gets "rehitched" ..lol he has know idea about that one.. thanks to me..

Well hope BUMP into all you guys at Easter..

 

[myboysmom]

I have a question. I know it is going to be busy. We would be willing to go back to our resort in the afternoon to recharge if we knew we could get back into the park.

When the close the parks because of crowds, do on property guests get back in?

Our last trip was at Christmas time and we were in MK on Christmas Eve day. We did everything we wanted, and would have made it until closing except the sky opened up and we were ankle deep in water. That was enough and we bailed. Interesting as we rode away on the monorail we could see the fireworks

We are planning to take it easy and do the fast passes where possible.