Hey everyone it is Spring Break!!!

[nicki.momof3]

I just had to post it. I can not believe the number of posts about how crowded the parks are this week.

NO KIDDING - IT IS SPRING BREAK!

I know many counties / cities/ states are off this week. We live in Michigan and are off all this week.

I can not imagine spending $$$$ to go to WDW and not researching the expected crowds and such.

TIP - Anything your kids are out of school - so are other kids. That means it is a school break. Expect HUGE crowds.

We only travel spring break and Christmas / New Years week and we do fine. Everyone take a deep breath, relax, and have fun.

OK I will get off my soap box now. Don't do it often but this time I had to.

 

[surferdave]

I agree with your premise, but Disney has pretty much backed up the fact that they are cramming more people into the Magic Kingdom prior to closing off access because Fastpass+ is "allowing" them to do so. That and the long FP lines trailing off into the parks outside the first Mickey orb is no doubt making the parks feel even more crowded.

 

[NicholeB630]

I wondered too why people are so shocked but why would all the touring sites predict 4/5 days if spring break is going on? Everywhere is so different I'd think they would predict the whole month pretty high crowd levels?

 

[disneyfantotheend]

See to me, it all stems around whether these people always go during spring break and are complaining or if they are used to slow time and are saying it is more crowded.

Obviously if they always go during this time of year and are saying it, then we can assume they are comparing apples to apples and it is more crowded or the system is slowing things down to make it feel more crowded.

If they usually go during Sept or Oct and are saying it then the point is mute, because obviously it is more crowded.

Those who like FP+ will insist it has nothing to do with FP+. Those who hate FP+ will insist it is 100% the fault of FP+. Those of us in the middle are just trying to get more facts to see exactly what is going on.

 

[Wendybird55]

This is just a guess on my part..but being up in NYC where we had one of the worst winters in a long time I can see many northerners heading south as soon as they can for warmth and sunshine...these past few days have been the first time I can remember we actually had more than one nice day of weather in a row....
So maybe Spring break this year is a that much more crowded because us winter-weary folks up north can't wait for summer vacation and need some Florida weather now! I know I was wishing many times this winter I was heading to Disney...but alas our trip isn't until August. I know of many folks up here heading to Disney this weekend for Easter break next week.

 

[Planogirl]

Our area Spring Breaks were a few weeks ago.

 

[buzzgirls&dad]

Just my 2 cents, but Easter is really late this year. So when Easter is closer to the middle or end of March the first few weeks of April I'm sure are less crowded. I think with the Holiday so late the crowds have been more spread out over the 6-8 weeks of Vacation time with every week being a little more crowded than usual. Then factor in any FP+ issues. I just think it's busy from Presidents week until Tax day. Be prepared.

 

[staceyrhood]

Is it ever! And it is busy! busiest spring break time I have seen in years! I don't just mean the parks. We live in Celebration right by Disney, everything has been packed the past few weeks...grocery, gas stations, target, restaurants.... I guess you can't blame all that on FP+

 

[gonnago]

We will be there next week but I know it is going to be a mad house for sure so I am expecting the worse.Unfortunately due to the fact DDIL is a teacher and I cannot handle the heat and humidity of summer due to health reasons this was our only time to be able to go together and they wanted me to go with them for their 1st trip.I have tried to convey the fact that it is gonna be insanely busy and they need to take that into account and not hold it as a negative for future trips.I am hoping they will still get an understanding of why I love Disney and why it's my happy place and hope they can experience it in the future when it's not quite as crowded.

 

[gonnago]

Is it ever! And it is busy! busiest spring break time I have seen in years! I don't just mean the parks. We live in Celebration right by Disney, everything has been packed the past few weeks...grocery, gas stations, target, restaurants.... I guess you can't blame all that on FP+

 

[KariLynnL]

We had our Spring Break and were at the parks March 24 to April 1st and the parks were packed that week as well. I think everyone wanted to escape the cold winters where they live, I know we did. The craziest thing was when we were at Walmart at 11:30pm to get groceries and the place was packed, that blew my mind that at that time of night it would be like the day before Christmas.

 

[cvjw]

We were in the parks last week and it was the lowest crowds we have seen in many trips. I guess we just visited on the perfect spring break week - wonderful weather and low crowds - probably will never happen again!

 

[jenninaustin]

Is it ever! And it is busy! busiest spring break time I have seen in years! I don't just mean the parks. We live in Celebration right by Disney, everything has been packed the past few weeks...grocery, gas stations, target, restaurants.... I guess you can't blame all that on FP+

May I just go on record as stating that there are PLENTY of weekends when I would give ANYTHING for a FastPass to my local grocery store! I know that's sort of but still...it's what popped into my head when I read this!

 

[Tagstime]

Makes me laugh also, It is Spring Break it's to be expected. I know we have gone 10 times during Easter and always seen crowds, Just need to plan ahead and take advantage of park hoppers when needed. I always say if they come here to whine they should have came here to plan first. I think the only time we have seen parks at a HIGH full capacity were in I think 2009 when MK was not letting anybody in from about 2pm till 5pm. Only reason we knew as we were leaving to take our mid day rest and heading to the pool they told us at the gate we might not be able to return till the park gets to there normal capacity.

No less going to one of Americas prime entertainment parks, I would expect to wait 60 min for any top ride.

Doing it again in 24 hrs..........

 

[minmate]

This is just a guess on my part..but being up in NYC where we had one of the worst winters in a long time I can see many northerners heading south as soon as they can for warmth and sunshine...these past few days have been the first time I can remember we actually had more than one nice day of weather in a row....
So maybe Spring break this year is a that much more crowded because us winter-weary folks up north can't wait for summer vacation and need some Florida weather now! I know I was wishing many times this winter I was heading to Disney...but alas our trip isn't until August. I know of many folks up here heading to Disney this weekend for Easter break next week.

That is partly why we went last week, thanks to the subzero Minnesota winter! Plus, I got a new job last year and lost 100+ pounds, it was our anniversary, my son's 13th bday and a milestone bday for me next Friday (but hey, we weren't crazy enough to go over Easter!)... so we were due for CELEBRATING!

Needless to say, anyone consider that maybe the economy is more stable and Disney's marketing is working, drawing more crowds overall? I'm not an expert on the economy but I would venture that if people start feeling like they have more disposable income, things like vacations become more popular. I do believe we've had an upsurge in home sales and new homes being built in our area this past year. That's another indicator of economic stability/growth.

 

[bksomody]

This is just a guess on my part..but being up in NYC where we had one of the worst winters in a long time I can see many northerners heading south as soon as they can for warmth and sunshine...these past few days have been the first time I can remember we actually had more than one nice day of weather in a row....
So maybe Spring break this year is a that much more crowded because us winter-weary folks up north can't wait for summer vacation and need some Florida weather now! I know I was wishing many times this winter I was heading to Disney...but alas our trip isn't until August. I know of many folks up here heading to Disney this weekend for Easter break next week.

I agree that people want to find some sun ASAP after this horrible winter. I know I do. Can you imagine how crowds would be if Easter was earlier and breaks weren't so spread out. Our break isn't until the week after Easter but all schools are different this year. My kids break was last week and some are this week.

 

[tinkerpea]

How much worse is spring break then say end of June till middle July? That's when we are going and I'm terrified!
I thought we would be fine. However I'm not so sure anymore
I planned for rope drop and breaks midday but I'm hearing even that won't work now.

 

[gonnago]

How much worse is spring break then say end of June till middle July? That's when we are going and I'm terrified!
I thought we would be fine. However I'm not so sure anymore
I planned for rope drop and breaks midday but I'm hearing even that won't work now.

When are you going exactly? We are going to be there next week and I know it is going to be insanely busy especially MK but as long as you go in expecting it you should be fine just realize you may not get to do everything you normally would in the summer.Don't get me wrong I am still very terrified myself but just am going to go and have a great trip regardless of crowds but we are also planning on mid-day breaks for the kids to rest back at the resort and we are staying offsite and this is my first time ever offsite so that has me worried as well.I would rather be in a crowded Disney park then being at home wishing I was there

 

[Kristine316]

I can't speak for everyone who was posting about how ridiculous the crowds were but, for me the biggest issue was the fact the Crowd calendars were sooooo far off... it was almost a joke.

Its not that WDW is busy.. I think many of us who are really into WDW get that it is spring, spring break and Easter on the horizon and the parks are going to be busy. What I don't get is how a reputable Crowd Prediction site was predicting a 4 overall crowd level and MK at a 3 yesterday. The actual crowd level was a 9 according to this sites own data.. I mean how did they mess that up as badly as they did??

This same site wrote a couple weeks ago about how the next couple weeks would be slow leading up to Easter and then it would get crazy again.

Here is my question to you.. you are basically lecturing other forum members that we all should have known how busy it was going to be yet, a website that has tons of followers and makes their money on making WDW predictions didn't even know it was going to be anything close to as busy as it has been.. so here is the question... if Touring Plans and Easywdw doesn't know it , does the average WDW guest deserve to be chastised for not knowing it?

You said WDW guests should have done the research here is what I say to you about that....many guests probably did the research and they more than likely went to the sites that are recommended for WDW guests who plan and they probably trusted those sites and those sites were dead wrong... what else were they suppose to do? According to you they should have known better... really? Professional WDW planning websites didn't know better but, the average family who goes to WDW maybe once every couple years was suppose to have known better... sounds pretty unfair.

I don't blame a family who planned using Touring Plans and went to MK yesterday, if they were shocked that they walked into a massive wall of people.. they were told it would be well below average crowds and that WDW would be "quieter" during their vacation.

Btw... Touring Plans has been underestimating crowds for awhile now so, this isn't a total shock for me but, how badly they messed up this week's predictions is sort of surprising.

 

[johde]

Btw... Touring Plans has been underestimating crowds for awhile now so, this isn't a total shock for me but, how badly they messed up this week's predictions is sort of surprising.

Actually looking back over the early part of the week, Touring plans actually seemed to do fairly well with their predictions at the MK.

4/9 Predicted 4 Observed 9
4/8 Predicted 5 Observed 4
4/7 Predicted 5 Observed 6
4/6 Predicted 5 Observed 6
4/5 Predicted 5 Observed 5.

They blew yesterday, it seems Easter Crowds showed up early than they projected. With a Midnight closing yesterday, I would have guessed a 4 was an old prediction at best.