How crowded is it?

[beautybelle]

We are gonna have to change our dates and were thinking of the last week in April. So how are the crowds about right now and the weather? I am hoping to get some good news because I truly didnt wanna have to change my dates.

 

[RoeMc1992]

I was just at WDW 4-23-04 to 4-27-04 and I have to say that up until 4-26-04, the crowds were the worst I've seen for this time of year. There were many high school bands and choirs and high school senior trips. My sister was with me and said while she was there during the third week of June 2001 for her honeymoon it was not as crowded as this past week. I had heard there was also some big Mc Donald's event going on at this time, so that probably had something to do with the crowds as well. Once the weekend was over, the crowds thinned out and it was much more enjoyable.

 

[sif]

Hi. Just got back from WDW yesterday. On Sun 4/25 at MGM studios, the place seemed empty to me. We strolled around, never waiting for anything, even to meet characters. Great weather too. Mid-80's and sunny.

Mon 4/26 at MK, crowds were definitely bigger than at MGM, but not too bad at all. Since our kids are 5, 3 and 5 mos., we were not trying to do Space Mtn or other big kid/adult rides. But our longest wait of the whole day was 10 minutes, for Dumbo. We followed the "Touring Plan for Small Children" that is linked on the DIS and it was awesome. We walked on to most rides and used fastpass wisely. I felt a bit guilty about walking by all of those standby folks on Winnie the Pooh, Buzz, etc. but they could have used FP too, I suppose. I don't understand why more people don't use it. We got to see every one of our must-sees by mid-day, and the rest was just gravy. Weather there on 4/26 was hot and humid. 87 degrees and 90% humidity. Hey, what're ya gonna do?

Tuesday morning at AK, I was surprised at the number of people hightailing it over to KS. Still the wait was onlly about 10 minutes, if not less. Then Lion King Show: we had to wait until the showtime, but that is to be expected. Weather Tuesday was a bit cooler and there was a lunchtime rain. We managed to get into the Rainforest Cafe before the skies opened. By the time we finished lunch, the rain had stopped and it had definitely cooled off nicely. Went back to MK in afternoon and found crowds to be moderate and manageable. Of course, we left just before the 8:30pm parade (to get the kids to bed) so I can't tell you what the crowds were like leaving the park at closing.

Don't worry about crowds this week. Figure out what you don't want to miss, make sure to use Fastpass whenever possible, and you'll have a great time!

 

[AuroraluvsPhillip]

Hi,
We were there from 4/19 to 4/26 with the rest of New England. We always did EMH parks, got there at opening, and went to the thrill rides my DD wanted to ride. We grabbed FP's all the time as soon as we were eligible. My DD and I also got a lot done in the 8-9:30pm time slot at MK on the days it didn't close early for grad nights or McD's.
We pretty much followed the UG one day adult touring plans, skipping the stuff we weren't interested in. You have to get there early...for instance, on our AK day we were there shortly after 8, hiked it over to the KS with everyone else who wasn't standing in the middle of the road staring at the map (Hint: Study the park layout before you go). Wait at KS was about 10-15 minutes. By the time we got off, it was about 9 so I knew the rest of the park was open. My DD really wanted to ride Dinosaur so back through Discovery Island to Dinoland. Standby wait 10 minutes so we rode it twice back to back! My DD then rode Primeval Hurl by herself. Now on to the KRR. I think the wait was maybe 20 minutes or so, but I know it moved quicker than that. DH grabbed FP's before we got on so we could ride again later...it was getting hot out!
After KRR we had lunch at Flame Tree and sat in the nice shaded areas down by the river. We then did the Maharajah Jungle Trek,
KRR with our FP's, Pangini Trail (gorillas were great!), Lion King Festival (the mob getting out of there was brutal-plenty of skin to skin!!). Last thing we did was ITTBAB, nice cool break. Then we got out of that hothouse...I thought we got a good amount accomplished. I felt bad for all the people in those long lines for the safari at midday-too hot for me! Sorry this is long...I think everyone needs to tour in the best way for their family group. We had one teenager interested in thrill rides so an early start and a little commando worked well. I couldn't have done that when my kids were little or if grandparents came. Yes, I would have liked to browse through more of Africa and Asia but this was our first time to AK and the priorities were different. Each trip is magical in its own way, right folks??

 

[beautybelle]

Oh Im so glad to hear some good news. I was worried. Thanks you all for your reviews.