Easter Weekend

[AdamsMum]

A younger friend of mine at work just announced that her family and two other families are going to WDW. Arriving on April 14 (yes this year) for a week, and since I'm the WDW expert could I help her plan? I froze in my tracks. They are staying offsite and have 5 day park tickets. Trying not to be too negative I did give her the lowdown on the crowds she should expect. Suggested that they add park hopping for relief from crowds. Get to the parks for rope drop. Take a day off to rest. Gave her my most recent Unofficial Guide.

How can I help them to enjoy this trip, I've never been in the world at a peak time like that.

Come on all you fantastic Disboards people, give me suggestions to help my young friend!

 

[carlymcqueen]

I went to Disney during Easter weekend last year. Much to our surprise, if you pick the right parks on the right day, you'll be good to go. Stress to them that they should NOT go to MK on Easter Sunday. We instead went to HS on that day and crowds weren't even that bad. We went to MK the next day and we were perfectly fine crowd-wise. It can be a busy weekend, but everything will work out as long as you pick the right parks for the right dates

 

[alliebelle3]

I went a couple of years ago on Easter and am heading down this year as well. While busier than other times of the year, it's definitely doable if you pick the right parks on the right days. And rope drop is key!

 

[hakepb]

April 9-20 is the 2nd highest WDW room rack rates of the year (so they expect those days to be 2nd busiest)

This is probably a better year than average for post-Easter crowds since Easter is so late (and combines with fewer spring breaks)

 

[kniquy]

Tell them if they want dining reservation to grab what they can now and stalk the reservations as they get closer for ones they really want. Cancellations always happen.

Tell them to prepare for crowds because not only is it Easter week then by thursday the crowds for Marathon weekend will be coming in.

Keep MK days to earlier in the week Monday-Wednesday (plan for 2 days). Flower and Garden is going on at Epcot so it will be a beautiful place to visit.

Make sure they jump on right at the opening of their 30 day fast pass to get something. Down load the app to help with watching wait times -aside from the WDW app i thought that touring plans had another ride wait time app, but i'm not positive.

Tell her to get on these boards so that she can get input from other.

I hope that this isn't her first trip to WDW, if so she might be in for a bit of a shock with crowds,wait times and how much planning actually goes into a (well thought out, flawless)WDW trip -- it is unlike any other vacation.

 

[NegaDuck]

I agree. We are going down this week as well. MA school vacation. it will be busy but they can do rope drop go to Epcot or DS. They can enjoy sitting by the pool and relaxing. They just need to be smart about planning things in advance.

 

[BebopBaloo]

Have them each pick a must do ride, fast pass it, and then the rest is icing on the cake, as long as they can go into it with that kind of attitude.

 

[travelstar01]

We are going that week too. Does anyone know if there any special going on for Easter?

 

[teachmedis]

I've only been once, so I'm no expert, but our first trip was Easter week, we had a blast and didn't wait more than 20 minutes for anything. That said, I did do a year of research beforehand and stayed on property. They'll have to rope drop, and if it's possible, as far as travel is concerned, I'd recommend an afternoon break. I agree they should each pick a couple of must do's for each day. Also they should probably pick their days to avoid emh. On a very positive note they'll be able to do Flower and Garden and likely have gorgeous weather. I'm headed back next Easter and I can't wait!

 

[housetomouse]

I can't say it enough: Rope drop! One year we went Easter week and didn't do rope drop and after the trip I felt like we didn't get to do that much at the parks. I have heard the week following Easter is better for crowds than the week leading up to Easter, but they'll be arriving at the height of the madness since they'll be there Easter weekend, and if marathon is coming up that might affect crowds too. We have gone Easter week a bunch of times. Here's how I like to structure a day this time of year:

Quick breakfast on the way out the door
Rope drop, ride as much as possible stand-by
Fast Passes starting around 10:00/10:30am
Have lunch ADR set up to get relief from crowds/heat
Stay in park until crowds get bad
Go back to hotel to swim for a few hours (we stay on property so I don't know how that is logistically for them off-site)
Have dinner ADR set up at a park (or resort) for the evening.
Back to a park if anyone wants to, with low expectations for riding things (unless able to get more FP). Soak up the atmosphere, watch fireworks/evening shows.

But mainly: Rope drop!

 

[mnmhouston]

We are traveling down to visit family easter week (week prior) and surprising the kids on the ay home for a night at Pop. We have non-expiring tix with waterpark credits so plan to go to TL on easter sunday. Hoping the waterparks won't be too bad.

 

[glassslippergirl]

They are going for Easter weekend and the week after, so it won't be as bad as the week before. I would do the following:

1. Make sure she's got MDE on her phone, tickets linked to account.
2. Direct her to a crowd calendar to pick park days.
3. She's staying offsite, so starting later this week, she will need to schedule her FPs each day for her five park days. Remind her to do this each day as soon as the window opens. Help her prioritize which rides for which day and give her a window to aim for (not during that first RD hour, not too late in the afternoon to preclude other FPs).
4. Help her make ADRs if that's a priority. I would suggest she do so in a limited fashion-- one per day at most. Try not to leave the park to eat (even to go to a nearby resort). It just eats up time. If they do choose PH, this will necessitate knowing not just the morning park but the afternoon park if they plan ADRs for dinner.
5. Suggest she look at park maps and CS menus to familiarize herself with layout and options.
6. Everyone is different, but I like to plan for quick hotel breakfast, RD and ride, use FPs, QS lunch, sit-down dinner after afternoon break, ride more, evening show. Suggest that they have a simple plan like that for each day-- whatever works for them. Also, as they are staying off-site, eating off-site, at least a few times, is an option. We often call a restaurant when we leave the park, make an order, and pick it up on the way to the hotel either in lieu of CS lunch as we start afternoon break, or after the park if we skipped dinner or just had a really late park night. You didn't mention if they have kids, but for us, this works better than going to the restaurant with DS.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

A younger friend of mine at work just announced that her family and two other families are going to WDW. Arriving on April 14 (yes this year) for a week, and since I'm the WDW expert could I help her plan? I froze in my tracks. They are staying offsite and have 5 day park tickets. Trying not to be too negative I did give her the lowdown on the crowds she should expect. Suggested that they add park hopping for relief from crowds. Get to the parks for rope drop. Take a day off to rest. Gave her my most recent Unofficial Guide.

How can I help them to enjoy this trip, I've never been in the world at a peak time like that.

Come on all you fantastic Disboards people, give me suggestions to help my young friend!

I went the week after Easter in 2015 and had a blast. I hate waiting in long lines so I made rope drop, used EMHs, and used Touringplans.com (crowd calendar to pick my park days and actual touring plans for ride order). She should definitely give the Touringplans.com website a look. This year we are going the week before Easter and staying off site, so no EMHs for us this time. WDW has reduced the Easter EMHs so much that they won't make much difference in how we tour that week. We will just avoid the parks with morning EMHs and visit them on non AM EMH days.

I went to Disney during Easter weekend last year. Much to our surprise, if you pick the right parks on the right day, you'll be good to go. Stress to them that they should NOT go to MK on Easter Sunday. We instead went to HS on that day and crowds weren't even that bad. We went to MK the next day and we were perfectly fine crowd-wise. It can be a busy weekend, but everything will work out as long as you pick the right parks for the right dates

YES! Again, I use touringplans.com.

Tell them if they want dining reservation to grab what they can now and stalk the reservations as they get closer for ones they really want. Cancellations always happen.

Tell them to prepare for crowds because not only is it Easter week then by thursday the crowds for Marathon weekend will be coming in.

Keep MK days to earlier in the week Monday-Wednesday (plan for 2 days). Flower and Garden is going on at Epcot so it will be a beautiful place to visit.

Make sure they jump on right at the opening of their 30 day fast pass to get something. Down load the app to help with watching wait times -aside from the WDW app i thought that touring plans had another ride wait time app, but i'm not positive.

Tell her to get on these boards so that she can get input from other.

I hope that this isn't her first trip to WDW, if so she might be in for a bit of a shock with crowds,wait times and how much planning actually goes into a (well thought out, flawless)WDW trip -- it is unlike any other vacation.

Since this is a school trip, and we got the actual dates last minute, I only started making my dining reservations 2 weeks ago. I got everything I wanted by stalking the reservation website and setting up alerts on the touringplans.com reservation finder. I even scored an 8:00 AM (PPO) ROL/Tusker House breakfast package and lunch at BOG! I am making my FP selections today. I'll let you know how it goes.

ETA: I could only make my FP for April 11th today. I got everything I wanted at DHS for the times I wanted. I played around with MDE a little before I finally booked at DHS to check availability for FP in other parks. It looks like Frozen Ever After (Epcot) FP are gone. I even tried getting 1 and then getting a 2nd at an over lapping time - still gone. It also looks like 7 Dwarfs Mine Train may be difficult to get. I could get them but it was very late at night. I'm going to book my MK FPs at 7:00 AM as soon as the window opens for my MK date and hope for better availability.

 

[Tinknalli]

We are traveling down to visit family easter week (week prior) and surprising the kids on the ay home for a night at Pop. We have non-expiring tix with waterpark credits so plan to go to TL on easter sunday. Hoping the waterparks won't be too bad.

Our plan for Easter Sunday is TL followed by Disney Quest at night. I hope it won't be that bad either.

 

[mnmhouston]

Our plan for Easter Sunday is TL followed by Disney Quest at night. I hope it won't be that bad either.

DQ good idea! We're def going to DD at night too

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

I said I would report back after I made my FP+ selections for MK on 4/13. I got almost everything I wanted at times that work for me. Today my plan was to be on the computer right at 7:00 AM to make my MK FP+ picks. Aaaaaannnnnddddd....the power was out! A transformer blew in the storm early this morning. I got ready as fast as I could and went to work (where I'd left my fully charged laptop!). By the time I got online it was about 8:30 AM. I snagged SDMT first. I am bummed about the time (8:30 PM) and will keep looking for something earlier, but at least I got them. I also got good mid morning/lunch time FP for BTM and Splash (had to work these around riding rides at rope drop and my BOG lunch). Over all I did ok. I have unconnected magic bands from a previous school group trip that I can use for same day fast passes, so I guess the 8:30 PM SDMT won't be such a big deal.

OP, tell your friend to get on the computer at 7:00 AM when her FP window opens and get the most popular FPs first. That will give her the most flexibility. Good luck to her!