How were the crowds this past week

[cottontail]

Hi: This is for anyone who visited wdw last week, (the week with easter monday in it). How were the crowds in the parks? I have read that the week before easter and the week after are very busy, so I am just checking with those who were there.

Thanks,

Deb.

 

[Pinnie]

I was there from Good Friday until Thursday and we found that while it was crowded, it was very managable! In all the years we have been going at Easter, for some reason, this year crowds seemed smaller. For instance, we got up late on Tuesday, headed out to breakfast and then to the MK at about 9:30. We walked on Pirates, HM, Buzz, TTA and then had lunch at Cosmic Rays. Afterewards we jumped on the train at Mickey's ToonTown and headed to the front of the park. We left at 1:00 and that is when it started getting crowded. We did Wishes on Saturday and lingered for a few minutes afterwards, and were able to navigage quickly out of the park. On Wednesday night, it was gridlock on Mainstreet after the first Specto parade and Wishes.

We walked on WWTBAM and got into the new auto stunt show at MGM without a fast pass.

EPCOT was totally managable. We didn't have any desire to do DAK

DTD was busy, but we lucked out and found a parking spot quickly every time we were there!

pinnie

 

[RickNWendy]

Crowds were there but, with the exception of 30th of March (the busiest day in 8 years with all parks at capacity) it was not too bad. Wife had no problem getting a good spot for the easter parade on easter. Here is some wait times that I saw every day during the busy afternoon hours:

Space Mtn - 70-110 minutes
Thunder Mtn - 60-90 minutes
Splash Mtn - 70-100 minutes
Pirates - 10 minutes (about 25-35 after the parade)
Jungle Cruise - 40 minutes
Dumbo - 50-60 minutes
Peter Pan - 50 minutes
Haunted Mansion - 15-25 minutes
snow white - 10 - 15 minutes
Pooh - 30-50 minutes
Indy speedway - 30-40 minutes
Astro Orbiter- forgot the time, but standard wait time with a full line
Peoplemover (TTA) - walk on (actually a 5 minute wait once)
BUZZ Lightyear - 45 minutes

EPCOT
Test Track - 60-90 minutes
Mission Space - 45-60 minutes
Body Wars - Walk on
Living seas - 20-30 minutes (yes, a line again)
Soarin - all day (meaning they are doing random previews and you just gotta be there at the right time)
Imagination - 15 minutes
Shrunk the audience - dunno
Land - closed (whole pavilion) to prep for the soarin opening
Rio del Tiempo - 10 minutes
Maelstrom - avg of 20-25 minutes

MGM
Tower of Terror - 90 minutes
Rock N Roller Coaster - 80-110 minutes
Muppets - 30 minutes
Star Tours - 35 minutes
Great Movie Ride - can't find my notes... sorry. Line was packed though.

AK
a whole week and we did not even go once... sorry for no updates here

 

[buckeye]

We were there Monday-Thursday and found it very do-able. We are "early to rise" people, though, and that makes a difference. By being among the first in the park and using FASTPASS, you can do everything with no more than a few minutes wait. The longest wait we had was about 20 minutes and that was for Maelstrom---we always have the longest wait on that ride because it's sort of an afterthought!

MK opened at 7 am everyday. If you get there by 6:45, you can be among the first in the park.

We did Splash, Space, Big THunder, and Buzz multiple times. You just need to get there early and plan well.

PS. For an enjoyable meal, go to AK around 6:00. We went to Tusker House and were among about THREE families there. We ate outside on what felt like our own private patio. The place gets deserted at that time.

 

[cottontail]

Hi: Thanks everyone for your input, good tip buckeye.

Deb.