Goodbye Late April

[Hisgirl]

we come to wdw every year for our anniversary.

Never ever have I seen such insane crowds at MK. Most all fastpasses worth having were all gone by afternoon due to the new ability to multiple fp+.

And...the fast pass lines were much, much longer. Peter pan fp line was unbelievable today.

Epcot was low low crowds yesterday but MK Saturday and Monday, man oh man.

Plan plan plan and get there early!

I used touring plans and knew Saturday would be busy but wow, wasn't expecting this many folks this week.

 

[Allison]

I see on the crowd calendars I use that MK was the least recommended park for both Saturday and today while Epcot was recommended yesterday. Your observations certainly fall in line with that information.

Hope you had fun anyway.

 

[Love Tink]

Epcot was low low crowds yesterday but MK Saturday and Monday, man oh man.

Plan plan plan and get there early!

Sorry, but I think you should have taken your own advice.

My sister and her family were there last Tuesday and used 16 Fastpasses. Tuesdays are better.

 

[Alesia]

we come to wdw every year for our anniversary.

Never ever have I seen such insane crowds at MK. Most all fastpasses worth having were all gone by afternoon due to the new ability to multiple fp+.

And...the fast pass lines were much, much longer. Peter pan fp line was unbelievable today.

We observed and heard a LOT of first timers, and tons of single moms with young children. Wondering if value pricing has pulled in one day first timers and MK was the choice?

Epcot was low low crowds yesterday but MK Saturday and Monday, man oh man.

Plan plan plan and get there early!

That falls exactly in line with the crowd calendar at easywdw.com.

I don't think that it's more crowded than it has been in the past, but you picked the busiest days of the week to visit MK.

 

[AngiTN]

Epcot was low low crowds yesterday but MK Saturday and Monday, man oh man.

Plan plan plan and get there early!

Of course it was. Worse days of the week to go to MK under all but a few circumstances

 

[angierae]

My coworker was at Epcot on Friday and MK on Sunday and had a lovely time.

 

[AngiTN]

We were there from 4/12 till 4/20 and had a great time too. We only did recommended parks. Heck, we didn't even rope drop most days as we were also doing Run Disney stuff that took up our mornings. Those green parks are important

 

[Hisgirl]

The thing is, I did use a crowd calendar. And in comparing now, they are showing some differences. I knew Saturday would be but they all were showing as busy. Today was showing as a 5 and it felt more than that. TP said Epcot was a 7 yesterday but we were shocked at the low crowds. We couldn't recall ever seeing it so pleasant. How they call that a 7 I sure don't know.

Ah well...still having a good time!

 

[Alesia]

The thing is, I did use a crowd calendar. And in comparing now, they are showing some differences. I knew Saturday would be but they all were showing as busy. Today was showing as a 5 and it felt more than that. TP said Epcot was a 7 yesterday but we were shocked at the low crowds. We couldn't recall ever seeing it so pleasant. How they call that a 7 I sure don't know.

Ah well...still having a good time!

I haven't found touring plans to be accurate in years. Easywdw.com is always spot on for us.

 

[maxiesmom]

The thing is, I did use a crowd calendar. And in comparing now, they are showing some differences. I knew Saturday would be but they all were showing as busy. Today was showing as a 5 and it felt more than that. TP said Epcot was a 7 yesterday but we were shocked at the low crowds. We couldn't recall ever seeing it so pleasant. How they call that a 7 I sure don't know.

Ah well...still having a good time!

Next time use EasyWDW instead of Touring Plans. Josh had Epcot as recommended yesterday. He also takes the time to explain why to go to or to avoid each park for each day. You may have had better luck with the crowds if you had followed his suggestions. Glad you are still having a good time!

 

[AngiTN]

Yep, used wrong crowd calendar too. Touring Plans has some great aspects to it's site. Crowd Calendars is not one of them.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

I don't think that it's more crowded than it has been in the past, but you picked the busiest days of the week to visit MK.

I think it might be both...

 

[Amanda999]

OP: Thanks for posting your crowd observations (and thanks to PPs for pointing out Josh's vs. TP's recommendations). It helps to know that even during supposedly lower crowd days (yeah, I'm calling a 5 lower), it does help to be prepared. (Our kids had last week off, and we were going to go to WDW, but postponed to June - when I know it will be far busier. (Josh says 7s our week, but I suspect judging from crowd reports in late Jan. etc. it will be far busier than prior mid-June.) So I'm going to get to gettin' on the FP plan!)

 

[cmarsh31]

It's spring break for a lot of northern states (NY) - normally it's a week or two earlier, this is the latest I've ever seen it. I think this week would historically be quieter because most schools had already been on break in previous weeks.

 

[Chrelaine]

It's spring break for a lot of northern states (NY) - normally it's a week or two earlier, this is the latest I've ever seen it. I think this week would historically be quieter because most schools had already been on break in previous weeks.

Normally, spring break in upstate NY is the week after Easter. This year, most districts in our area moved their spring break because the Easter week would have affected mandatory state testing. I'm sure it affected the historical crowd calendars significantly, especially since half on my Facebook feed has people posting pics from the happiest place on Earth

 

[edk35]

We were at Disney Sunday April 10th for 3 days and we had NO issues with crowds or fast passes. We had low wait times for most rides. We got there at rope drop for each park day and had a great time. I also used easywdw.

 

[anniemae]

Many Northern schools are on Break right now. Like a pp said, I am getting inundated with pics of people at Disney right now. Also, I really believe people are avoiding Epcot due to Soarin being closed and the Frozen ride not being open. If you don't have hoppers, I think many skip it because there is not a ton to do for little ones. I think people are flocking to MK and skipping DHS too. Once things open up, hopefully the crowds will disperse better.

 

[anniemae]

It's spring break for a lot of northern states (NY) - normally it's a week or two earlier, this is the latest I've ever seen it. I think this week would historically be quieter because most schools had already been on break in previous weeks.

NH is also on break this week.

 

[DisneyDad2015]

I was at MK yesterday (April 24th) and had a great time. Yes it was crowded, but that's to be expected on a weekend when people are either ending or starting their vacation at MK.

As far as FP+ goes, we had a great experience. All the fastpass lines moved quickly. Once we had used our final FP+ at 3:20, I was immediately able to get a FP+ on my phone for Splash Mountain. There was many other options available as well. After Splash, I was able to get BTMRR as my 5th FP+. So yeah, I think the ability to make FP from the phone is great.

I also found all of the posted standby wait times to be 5-15 minutes higher than the actual wait time, which was really nice.

 

[Dayzy]

I know a ton of people visiting WDW right now because Passover break began on Friday. My district is off until Thursday and the district next door has the whole week off.
My family and I went this week last year and we had a great time with lower crowds, so I'm betting it's just the spring break people.