How bad are crowds Easter week? Am I crazy?

[stinkpickle]

How bad are crowds Easter week? Pretty crowded.

Am I crazy? Not enough information to judge.

 

[kkayluvsdis]

One side note to keep in mind...

That week following Easter is school vacation week in New England states and many families/teachers choose that week for a Disney trip. So our last day is Thursday and then the vacation begins with Good Friday.

Will 6 states impact the crowds that much? Probably not with a destination as large as Disney. But just a note to keep in mind.

I was also going to mention this to the OP. The fact that the New England school break overlaps with Easter this year would give me pause about braving the World during that time frame!

Best of luck with what ever you decide. Where there's a will there's a way!

 

[HopperFan]

Once and done for us. Go with flexibility and patience.

 

[momtwoboys]

been doing Spring vacation week for many years and we keep going back. We have always had great weather, and never found the whole single file line and crowds wall to wall like I read on here. We hit each park at rope drop leave after an early lunch and spend time at our resort. Avoid the parks in mid day and you will be fine. We hit all the major rides at opening and used FPS's later on in day. We have never waited in any line over 20-25 min. And we avoid MK on actual Easter sunday. Warm enough to swim, but not melt due to humidity beautiful flowers especially after our NE winters. This has just been our experience and we have been to WDW yearly since 1997. started April vacation week back in 2009.

 

[jenmsmith]

We were at WDW for 10 days this past Easter (the week before Easter until mid-week after). Was it busy? Yes. Would I do it again? Yes. I'm not sure I'd recommend it for a first-timer, but you know the parks and you know how to navigate and what attractions you do and don't want to do. My advice - go early or go late. The midday is very hard to get around, and the one day we stayed at MK until after 2 p.m., I regretted it. But it was a wonderful trip - and we were two families of five with kids ranging from 14 years old to 20 months old. And we stayed off site for part of it. Staying at Beach Club and spending your late mornings or afternoons at the pool, you'll have a fabulous time. And Flower and Garden is my favorite EPCOT experience.

 

[angryduck71]

So, this post reminds me... a bunch of us are going to Orlando that week. A few of us (including me) are going for Star Wars Celebration. My other friends want to go to the parks. They asked me for help planning. I said sure. I told the MONTHS ago they needed to decide WHICH parks they were interested in (they were also thinking Universal). I can also get cheaper tickets for them through the military. They STILL haven't decided. One friend really wanted to eat at Be Our Guest. I told them 6 months out they need to decide which parks they're going to so I can help them with dinner reservations. NOTHING. I also said they really should plan on getting the parks early. Oh, no, they said, they couldn't possibly get up early. Anyway, I just gave up trying to help. They're going to go unprepared and maybe without tickets. One of the friends once told me that people go all the time without planning as much as I do when it's crowded and they have fun... she's going to learn really quickly (the only other time she's been is twice with me when I planned everything and we never waited in lines).

 

[Tattylou]

One side note to keep in mind...

That week following Easter is school vacation week in New England states and many families/teachers choose that week for a Disney trip. So our last day is Thursday and then the vacation begins with Good Friday.

Will 6 states impact the crowds that much? Probably not with a destination as large as Disney. But just a note to keep in mind.

We went over Easter break 2014 when it fell mid-April just like 2017 does. It was definitely crowded. We usually do disney over April break bc DH is a teacher so our options are limited. However, we both agreed that the years spring break falls on Easter week tht we would rather take a different trip and skip WDW bc of the crowds. The MK is especially crowded. That little strip between small world qnd peter pan was barely passable, no exaggeration!! Epcot def handles crowds better. However, if you decide to go and have the right plan and mindset I'm sure it'll still be fun. I'm a little sad we aren't going this April, but we opted to do a St Petersburg beach trip that week instead bc of Easter crowds.

 

[heazer]

We love going during our son's birthday week....which is March 25th. Some years are worse than others. It's busy, but honestly we find parts of February just as busy now.....and it used to be our favorite time of year for low crowds. Disney is just busy, and there are tons of variables that can throw a wrench into the best plan.

So March 25th of 2013 we were in Magic Kingdom, walking in a line shuffling our feet and miserable. We were on line to actually walk through the park. lol We said never again! After looking at things though, we hadn't connected all the dots. It was a period of spring break, Easter was March 31st that year, and parts of the New Fantasyland had only been open for a short time. It was chaos.

We've since been other years that have not been anywhere as bad as that year....but it's busy. It's not going to look like the pristine photos and videos you see on YouTube. A lot of those are shot by bloggers and web folks with APs that spend a lot of time getting quiet and low crowd views.

It's doable. It's just not for everyone. And only you know your touring style and schedule/crowd tolerance.

 

[scrappingbuckeye]

Do you know if MK opened earlier than normal at 7am? We were there the week before Easter in 2015 and we enjoyed several 7am openings. I heard that these early openings didn't happen last year. I can't seem to find this information anywhere. Our dates this year are 4/7-4/14 (the week before Easter).

I don't believe it opened until 9 am last year according to my Excel spreadsheet lol. I always put the hours of each park down. It was open later - MK until midnight every night and extended hours at HS if I remember correctly. They extended the hours at the other parks sort of on the fly ie. you didn't know until you were on the tram in the morning.

I can honestly say I've never been to the park at 7 am, we're more of a late night family.

In looking back at my 2015 spreadsheet, it was open until 1 am every night so they did cut back last year. Back in 2014 it was 8 am to 1 am on most days, so yea 2016 was cut back a little bit.

 

[Matty_Disfan]

Do you know if MK opened earlier than normal at 7am? We were there the week before Easter in 2015 and we enjoyed several 7am openings. I heard that these early openings didn't happen last year. I can't seem to find this information anywhere. Our dates this year are 4/7-4/14 (the week before Easter).

They are not opening early for ANYTHING these days, only staying open later. The open times for 2016 Easter (falling in the middle of spring break) were all 9:00am, and even at Christmas and NYE they opened at 9am this year.

Of course there will be some EMH early opening at 8am for some onsite guests. But the gates aren't early any more.

 

[walkaboutcelery]

We did Easter week in 2015, got there before the sun came up, used fastpass, took afternoon breaks to go swimming and had a great time.

 

[bcinohio]

That was us in 2015 too. Loved being at MK before the sun came up. They opened at 7am while we were there.

 

[My2CrazyGirls]

I don't believe it opened until 9 am last year according to my Excel spreadsheet lol. I always put the hours of each park down. It was open later - MK until midnight every night and extended hours at HS if I remember correctly. They extended the hours at the other parks sort of on the fly ie. you didn't know until you were on the tram in the morning.

I can honestly say I've never been to the park at 7 am, we're more of a late night family.

In looking back at my 2015 spreadsheet, it was open until 1 am every night so they did cut back last year. Back in 2014 it was 8 am to 1 am on most days, so yea 2016 was cut back a little bit.

According to Easywdw MK opened at 8am and that was not updated/posted by Disney until just 2 weeks before.

 

[2MOdisneyfans]

In 2015, I went the Tuesday after Easter through that Saturday. This was my experience I had on that Wednesday: It pays off to get here that early. (I arrived at MK around 6:30 a.m. for a 7:00 a.m. opening). I rode Pooh, Peter Pan, Small World, (saw) Philharmagic, Buzz, People Mover, picture with Stitch, Jungle Cruise, and Pirates by 9:45. I have since rode Haunted Mansion and Big Thunder (both fastpass), train over to Storybook Circus and now waiting in line for Minnie and Daisy. Which has been the longest line for me. It is 11:11 right now. It is very crowded though. I also ate Be Our Guest for lunch (they had just started taking reservations right before my trip). I was out of the park by 1:30 that day. The next day, my son's High School Marching band got to march at the Magic Kingdom. So again I was there from opening until around 11:00 pm. I did practically the exact same things, in about the same time frame. I had stayed onsite, but my son's band stayed off site. I was not able to connect their tickets to mine until Tuesday night, but I was able to get them all the same fastpasses that I had with the exception of 7 dwarfs. (not exact same times but in the same time window). At HS on Friday, we were able to ride RNR and TOT with little wait. On Saturday we went to AK, the boys rode Mt. Everest I think 5 times in a row with no wait. I think if you plan your fastpasses right and get there at rope drop, you do good. The only time I found it super crowded was that Thurs. at MK. When I ate supper that night, I went at the wrong time. I picked up Casey's food and ended up going all the way over to Tomorrowland launching pad before I was able to find a seat. Would I go again, absolutely. My daughter is supposed to get to march next year. I actually had a better trip that week than I did when we went this past Aug./Sept.

 

[phinz]

I went once for Easter weekend 14 years ago. It was *hell* on Earth. I'll never, ever set foot in a Disney park over a holiday again.

 

[phinz]

I was also going to mention this to the OP. The fact that the New England school break overlaps with Easter this year would give me pause about braving the World during that time frame!

A lot of Southern schools overlap Easter and Spring Break as well.

 

[Kaitlyn Gullickson]

We went last Easter! It was crowded but still lots of fun!! As long as you get Fast Passes for the big rides, you will be fine.

 

[linzbear]

A lot of Southern schools overlap Easter and Spring Break as well.

Right, but MA is always the 3rd week in April, it just happens to be Easter this year, usually it's not, so there will be more kids on vacation than usual.

 

[phinz]

Right, but MA is always the 3rd week in April, it just happens to be Easter this year, usually it's not, so there will be more kids on vacation than usual.

Yup. It's going to be awful.

Keep in mind that Easter weekend is also the big Star Wars Celebration event, so you'll have that overflow as people leave the convention to go to the parks, as well as their families going to the parks while the Star Wars nerds in the family go to Celebration.

 

[Kuzcotopia1]

I have only been to Disney in low season (week of Labor Day) and have pictures of myself alone in Frontierland on a drizzly day. I will be going the last week of March this year and know I'll experience a huge difference in crowds. I have a few reasons for changing up my typical schedule - 1) my daughter will be free to fly 2) my daughter will be free to get in 3) I want my birthday button, dammit!