Is spring break really THAT crowded?

[disneycat321]

I'm a teacher, so we are stuck going on school breaks for our trips. They just released my school calendar for 2015, and I have two weeks for spring break - unfortunately, they are the weeks surrounding Easter. We are considering planning a trip for the week after Easter. (yes, I know it's more than a year away - humor me! )

We have been in the middle of June before - how do the crowds compare to that time of year? (We are trying to avoid summer again...the humidity is too much for us!)

 

[GrumpyDad1974]

Next year Easter is April 5th so with that being said it's probably a lot busier than the middle of June. If Easter is early it is more crowded, this year will be the first year we have gone on spring break when Easter is late. I am hoping this year it will be less busy. There are always polls for when is your spring break? You can kind of judge how busy it is. Here in NC there is only one vacation after Christmas and it's always the week before Easter. But up north some places get two vacations and if Easter falls early or late has an effect on crowds... 2013 it was on 3/31 and 2012 it was on 4/8 they were both busier than the middle of June in my opinoin. But that being said we still go back because of the school schedule... we battle crowds and no discounts... lol. Rope drop has always been our friend, we will see how this year works with magic bands. I would check back in a month to see how they work with spring break crowds... I am very hopeful.

 

[2Tiggies]

If I had to pick one of those two weeks, I'd go for the week after Easter. The crowds do start to taper off once the Easter weekend is out of the way. The week leading up to it is pretty crazy. One of our Easter/Spring Break trips was in 2009 when Easter fell on around April 11th IIRC so I'd be expecting similar for next year.

We think the weather in April is beautiful. It's a major plus of visiting at that time of the year and you will get to see the Flower and Garden stuff at Epcot which is lovely too

 

[Pembo]

I've been in June and at spring break. Last year we left for home on Good Friday. Definitely the crowds were worse before Easter but if you plan for it, it is okay. We were there 8 days and noticed an increase in people every day. Also the weather wasn't wonderful. We had sunshine every day but it was 50 one day. I know that isn't normal weather for FL at the end of March but it can happen.


June it is hot but honestly I prefer it. A little less crowds and we were able to relax more.

 

[willowsnn3]

What has worked for us at spring break was taking advantage of EMH (MK opened at 7am every morning we were there), booking a late breakfast or early lunch, then heading back to the resort for swim & nap time.
That way we rode most everything and were leaving the parks just as the droves of people started coming in.
Then at night we would go to the park with late EMH but wouldn't get there til about the time the park closed for non resort people.
Worked for us.

 

[pepe of ohio]

Personally, I wouldn't bother....spring break...huge crowds...reservations at a premium....peak rates... Where's the fun in that..?

I'd take the heat over crowds and peak rates... Maneuvering easily in the parks is tops on our list... And besides, it's always going to be hot in Florida..my 2 cents..

 

[kapoof]

What has worked for us at spring break was taking advantage of EMH (MK opened at 7am every morning we were there), booking a late breakfast or early lunch, then heading back to the resort for swim & nap time.
That way we rode most everything and were leaving the parks just as the droves of people started coming in.
Then at night we would go to the park with late EMH but wouldn't get there til about the time the park closed for non resort people.
Worked for us.

That's what we did.. We were there for,Palm Sunday and I would never ever ever go again this time of year. I am talking about walking around frontier land like this not a good thing. Don't even get me started on the ak. We walked in saw the sea of unwashed masses and left. We now go in September. I would rather battle heat then crowds.

 

[Tagstime]

We have done Easter at Disney 7 times and doing it again this year. We never had issues doing what we wanted ..always a great time. Lines, Yes but to be expected. What we found is the key is park hoppers play a huge roll to us. We have watched like others see RED for example in certain days and head to AK which was GREEN. To get there and see AK was packed..But do able. Then went directly to MK which was RED and was a easy day no as crowded as AK. Sometime I do just the reverse of those apps as I think many see RED and head to green making that Green park more crowded as the apps suggest you go there ..Our last trip we always went to Red days and 8-10 times was best days..LOL

If your eating at park I would get all your ADR in early as those will book out the best times and walk ups will be slim to none at the popular places.

 

[puffkin]

Our Sprink Break is always the week leading up to Easter. We were there in 2013, and honestly except for it being a little cool a few days during our trip, it was one of the best we ever had. And we usually go 2x a year. We hit the parks early, took long afternoon breaks and went back in for ADR's and night time stuff. We really didn't have any major issues. If it was a once in a blue moon trip, I would say no because it was crowded, but it was fine for us since we could skip some stuff if it was really bad knowing we come back fairly often.

We noticed that even though it was crowded, a lot more stuff was open...ie more lines at counter service, all lines at an attraction, more registers in the stores, more carts in the park, etc. We took advantage of some of the picnic meal deals they have during high capacity days (like the Fantasmic! one, it was awesome). There were more CM's out on the walkways keeping things moving. More trams/busses going, etc. So even with the crowds, it really wasn't that bad.

I booked everything as early as I could (flights, hotel, adrs, etc). We did plan 2 days with offsite activities to get a break from the crowds. We went in not expecting to do much and to be flexible. We mentally prepared ourselves for super early mornings. We were pleasantly surprised at how awesome the trip turned out, all things considered. Oh, and we had an 8 month old and 7 year old at the time, plus my mother who sometimes is my third child I'd do it again if we had to!

 

[buzzrelly]

We went last April, in 2013 and we had a great time! It was crowded but we got to the parks early and did everything we wanted to. Plus we had great weather for swimming, water parks, etc. We are planning on going next April also. Our Spring Break isn't until the week of April 20th so I am hoping the Easter crowds will be gone by then!

This year we are going in June as a group with my daughter's dance school. I've just been planning like crazy, and we will just make the best of it. I'd say just go when you can…it's still Disney and awesome!

 

[iheartpeterpan]

I was there Easter week last year, make sure you have a good plan. It was crazy busy, like Christmas week busy. MK closed for capacity several times that week. We arrived early, used FP and were able to tour successfully. However, we left early for long breaks when you couldn't walk between Peter Pan and IASW without being smashed by the people on either side. Just too crowded for me and I wouldn't go back that week. But if you have a plan and make good use of rope drop/EMH you will be able to do what you want to do.

 

[conniehar90]

We have been to WDW many times. We always go at the busy times of year - we have been in the summer, spring break and Xmas/NY. Last year we went the week before Easter. We all agreed - NEVER again. It was unbelievable. 200 minute waits were not uncommon. We know how to tour, had a plan and got to do everything we wanted with minimals waits but.... we were utterly exhausted. They open the parks an hour early every day and just having to get up that extra hour really hits you. We did stay until 1am one night at MK and it was absolutely dead. It was awesome! But, we all agreed that it was too tiring to go during Easter week.

 

[BenKling]

My first trip was during spring break. There were people there, sure, but I thought it was quite manageable. We got there early, and ended up doing everything we wanted.

Of course, that was worth the old fast pass, and we got more than 3 every day of the trip. I think the real question will be whether or not fp+ makes the crowds harder to deal with...

 

[ktlm]

I haven't done it, but my good friend did it last year. MK closed to capacity 3 days of their trip. So, those days were pretty much as crowded as it gets. It was their first WDW trip and they said they want to go again, but never again during Spring Break. I've been in June and we've never had a park close to capacity. I've been the week between Christmas and New Years several years ago, and that year on New Years Eve MK, EPCOT and DHS all closed to capacity and people were filtered to AK, so I'm thinking that is about as crowded as the whole place ever gets, and we still had a great time. I wouldn't have wanted to be in those crowds when DD was 5 or under though. It takes some planning to go in the high crowd times, but you can still have fun. I'm not sure what impact FP+ is going to have on those high crowd times. For us, I think it would really be a detriment (we hated it when we used it on our last trip in non peak time). It will be interesting to see how this season of Spring Break goes. Guess we are getting ready to find out, because for most of our state, Spring Break starts today. If I were you, I would keep an eye on the boards for the next few weeks and see what reports are coming in.

 

[puffkin]

I do think that this year will be a bit different with Easter being so late. Because a lot of schools don't necessarily tie their spring breaks to Easter. So I think the crowds will be high but not absolutely crazy because they will be spread out over more of a 6 week period. Here in my area of the Northeast most schools correspond their Spring Breaks to whenever Easter is.

Spring of 2013 Easter was really early so it was a much shorter period of time with the normal March spring breaks on top of all the Easter spring breaks. April was much more manageable last year. This year though it will be completely different =. SO you really have to look at that as well to get a better feel of crowds.

 

[JennyDrake]

In a word, YES.

 

[MrsDuck]

Short answer: yes.

 

[seenellie81]

We have gone over spring break only and once during February break. This year trying end of August for lower crowds. That being said it was crowded but we took advantage of EMH and took beaks in the middle of the day. It wasn't really all that bad. Now February break was the same week as mardi gras. That was the worst! Never again!

 

[disneycat321]

Personally, I wouldn't bother....spring break...huge crowds...reservations at a premium....peak rates... Where's the fun in that..?

I'd take the heat over crowds and peak rates... Maneuvering easily in the parks is tops on our list... And besides, it's always going to be hot in Florida..my 2 cents..

Well, I'm a teacher, so we'll never be able to go during the off season prices, unfortunately. Actually, I noticed that this year the week after Easter has the room rate discount, but not the week before Easter. Maybe I read that wrong...?

Thanks for the input everyone! I agree that it's Disney, so it will still be good. But now we are thinking of maybe my fall break (the week of Columbus Day) or Thanksgiving week...although that week would be a lot more expensive and more crowded, I'm sure. We would love to see the Christmas decorations though, especially Osborne lights. I'm thinking my fall break might be a good option. I'm sure people have that week off, but probably not as many people. And we could do MNSSHP! Again, this is all 2015 so we have plenty of time to think about it...

It's just frustrating that we can NEVER go during an uncrowded time because I'm a teacher. When we went in June it was unseasonably warm even for Orlando (97-99 most days), so even though the crowds were manageable and we had an amazing time, we said we would NEVER do that heat again. We aren't used to the tropical climate at ALL. CA has very dry heat.

A lot of you mentioned "Easter week" crowds - Does that mean the week OF Easter, meaning the week immediately following Easter? Or can we just assume that both the week before and the week after are equally miserable? lol.

We did think of Flower and Garden - LOVED that in May last year! But I was teaching on a year round calendar and I'll never have that off season break again. It was nice while it lasted!

 

[LeahA]

Spring Break is crowded, Easter was more crowded, New Year's was the worse!

The way I look at it is that if you can only go at that time of year, go and make the best of it. If you want to sleep in and have a lazy day of it, this time of year might not work for you. If you are o.k. with getting up early and doing an emh or staying late and are o.k. with waiting in some lines.

Do it, we've done Spring Break so many times and we make it work.