First time in April: how crowded is crowded?

[frenchy]

Our first trip will be in April, which I understand is the busiest time.
Parkhopper passes come with the "on-call" feature...they tell you what time to come back. Do they really work? More info on that requested.
The park is open one hour early to Disney property renters? Is this one hour really less crowded?
Is there any time of the day when Magic Kingdom experiences a lull? Dinnertime?
How crowded can it be? Consequences? Advise? Particularly want to see Epcot's fireworks at night. How early will we need to get to events we really want?

 

[Micca]

Hello Frenchy and WELCOME to the Dis By on-call, if what you are referring to is "fast pass", yes it really does work. There should be more info here on the Dis, or try wdwig.com

The "Extra Magic Hour" is for guests who are staying on property at a WDW hotel. Yes, that first hour makes a big difference during crowded times.

There isn't much of a lull at any time at MK. Some people find that parades cause attraction lines to decrease, but at busy times, there will still be lines. On nights when the park is open late, if there are two parades, you'll find people(many with younger children) will leave after the first parade. You might get an honest to goodness lull about an hour before the park closes.

On rare occasions, the parks reach capacity and are closed to all who are not staying on site. That's pretty unusual and would be most likely to happen on a big holiday like 4th of July or New Years Eve.

How early you want to arrive for events depends on how good of a viewing position you want. For Illuminations you'll want to have your spot staked out 20-30 minutes early even on a light attendance day. During busy time, for prime viewing I would guess you'd want to be there as much as a couple of hours early.