It's been years since I've planned a trip and now planning Easter!

[LovePug]

Now I'm suddenly planning for Spring Break this year! We will be staying offsite so I will be avoiding EMH completely. We will arrive 3/27 and leave 4/1.

Our itinerary is based around doing each park the day AFTER their respective scheduled EMH. This has worked very well for me in the past...

3/28-DHS, 3/29-AK, 3/30-Epcot, 3/31-MK. I just made all my ADRs with no problem whatsoever, which was a bit of a surprise for me since it's so close.

Does anyone have any advice for this time of year? We are the type that are pretty laid back while doing the parks, so we don't have to do everything. We've never been during Easter week-not even when we lived by the parks-and I'm a little apprehensive about it, but also very excited!

 

[DisDad4Life]

I'm also very interested to hear from people who have been to WDW over Easter week. We're contemplating a visit that week due to spring breaks and I see the crowd calendar predictions are 9-10 each day. Should we expect the crowds to be anything like the Christmas/New Years ones, which sounded absolutely insane? Any possibility of gate closures due to crowd levels?

 

[BLLB]

We go every spring break. Sometimes attached to Easter. We get to the parks at rope drop, stay until a little after lunch then go back to the resort. We go back after dinner. We get a lot done before 10.

 

[GPC0321]

We're going this Easter too! First time to WDW in 17 years and first time ever during Easter holiday. Our plan is much like BLLB's...early to the first park (AM EMH or RD), stay through about noon then head back to resort, go to a second park after dinner (or FOR dinner...we're doing all Quick Service) for fireworks, etc. and maybe FP some attractions.

Cool thing is that Epcot has the Flower and Garden Festival going on as well. That may not be a huge draw for families with kids, but for our group of three adults, we're really looking forward to seeing all of the pretty flowers and gardens in Epcot and trying some of the things at the food kiosks around the World Showcase.

I'm sure it will be crowded, but I think it's still going to be amazing.

 

[larryz]

Pack some extra patience.

 

[BLLB]

I re-read my post, meant to say we get a lot done before 10am. In case that didn't make sense.

 

[FirstDown]

Crowds are nothing like Christmas... Way better! We are going Easter week again 2017. It's not bad at all. Off site again too.

 

[skuttle]

We were there for Easter this year and had a great time. It was our first Easter trip and we were very nervous about the crowds. It took a lot of planning, but I wouldn't hesitate to go back during Easter week again. We stayed on site so we took advantage of the 7am morning EMH a few times and got so much done those early morning hours, but that won't help you. With the EMH hours, FP planning, and knowing that we wouldn't get everything done, we had a really great trip.

We went swimming almost every day. It got up to the 90s. I know the weather that time of year can be hit or miss,but it was perfect for us, if not a little on the warmer side.

Usually we'd leave the parks mid-afternoon when the crowds became really thick. Sometimes we went back later in the evening, sometimes we just hung out at our resort. Easter sunday we didn't go to a park at all in the morning. We did the Easter activities at the WL, had lunch, went swimming, then headed to DHS just to catch Fantasmic and use our 3 FPs.

We spent more time at Epcot than normal due to Flower and Garden. Our kids (and us) loved looking at the displays, the playgrounds, and the easter egg hunt. DH and I enjoyed the food booths (like a mini Food and Wine w/o the lines!). We did half of the booths one day and the other half a second day. We tried food/drink from each and loved that.

We were just at WDW Dec 19-23 for a short trip to see Osborne lights. The parks were much more crowded than what we experienced Easter week. Maybe it was because our December trip was so short and we didn't leave the parks midday, but it sure seemed much more crowded, even at 7am EMH it seemed like there were more people. We really didn't find Easter week that bad. I think we were expecting it to be SO bad based on what we had read, that it didn't seem as bad when we were actually there. Also, we go to WDW often, so we don't have to catch everything every trip. And we never wait in lines longer than 30 minutes...we'll just catch it later, another day, or another trip!

 

[T00dles]

We go every spring break. Sometimes attached to Easter. We get to the parks at rope drop, stay until a little after lunch then go back to the resort. We go back after dinner. We get a lot done before 10.

We are also frequent Easter travelers and this is exactly what we do. We also love evening EMH. But it is amazing what you can get done early and with a good plan! Have fun

 

[DVCcurious]

To the OP: if your plan is to go to a park the day after EMH but never on an EMH day then you will never go to MK. Extra Magic Hours listed right now are not what they actually will be. During the time you are going MK will have 7AM EMH and an 8AM open every single day. The other parks will probably see added EMH as well. Those extended EMH won't be announced until late February but they will be announced, you can bet on it. They are announced every single year. The close hours will be extended to 12AM at MK probably every night with 2 Main Street Electrical Parades nightly, one at 9 and one at 11, or one at 10 and one at 12.

As for the mid-day crowds they are painful. My family goes every year the week from Easter Saturday-the next Friday. (3/26-4/1 this year) We are at the bus stop by 6:15 and get the first MK bus. We are at the park from 7AM EMH until 12:00. Then we leave at lunchtime and grab lunch back at our hotel's quick service. Then we do the pool in the afternoon. We use our FP+s from 10-11, 11-12, and 12-1 is a Meet Mickey Mouse FP+ that we use on our way out of the MK.

To give you an idea of the mid-day crowds I went back to MK last year at about 3:00 to check it out while my family was at the pool. The tier-2 rides like Haunted Mansion, Pirates, and Jungle Cruise all had 70 minute waits. The only things under an hour were stuff like It's a Small World and Ariel's ride. Tier 1 rides like the mountains, 7 dwarfs, and princess fairytale hall were around 100 minutes.

Frankly we don't believe it's worth our time to be at the parks with those wait times. We'd rather be at the pool. We split up our week and do mostly EMH mornings but we will do 2 late night MK to watch the parades/fireworks. For those days we don't arrive until 6:00PM and have FP+ from 6-7, 7-8, 8-9. The ride waits go down quite a bit after 9PM. Of course the headliners are still high waits but stuff like Haunted Mansion, Pirates, etc are down to 30 minute waits after 9PM.

Epcot will be a total beating this year because Soarin' is down. So that leaves everyone choosing Test Track with their FP+. I expect Test Track to see 150 minute waits almost all day. Things like Nemo and Spaceship Earth should see 40 minute waits at all times.

Hollywood Studios will be better than Epcot since it was 3 headliners but you'll see huge lines for Tower of Terror and Rock N Roller Coaster. If you have to ask about Toy Story then you won't want to ride it (probably 150+ minute waits all day).

Animal Kingdom is also a beating. If it's warm expect huge lines for Kali River Rapids (100+ minutes), Expedition Everest will be 90 minutes, Safari will be 60 minutes.

Easter week is packed. There's just no way around that reality.

 

[LovePug]

We really didn't find Easter week that bad. I think we were expecting it to be SO bad based on what we had read, that it didn't seem as bad when we were actually there. Also, we go to WDW often, so we don't have to catch everything every trip. And we never wait in lines longer than 30 minutes...we'll just catch it later, another day, or another trip!

This is what I was hoping to find when we get there. I'm very encouraged by how easy it was to get ADRs...

 

[LovePug]

To the OP: if your plan is to go to a park the day after EMH but never on an EMH day then you will never go to MK. Extra Magic Hours listed right now are not what they actually will be. During the time you are going MK will have 7AM EMH and an 8AM open every single day. The other parks will probably see added EMH as well. Those extended EMH won't be announced until late February but they will be announced, you can bet on it. They are announced every single year. The close hours will be extended to 12AM at MK probably every night with 2 Main Street Electrical Parades nightly, one at 9 and one at 11, or one at 10 and one at 12.

Thanks for the heads up on this!

 

[DVCcurious]

Your welcome for the heads up. The first year we did Easter I also posted on the DIS about EMH and someone told me they'd be changed as the date came closer and sure enough they were.

Expect MK to be 7AM EMH, 8AM-12AM hours every day with 1 or 2 nights of EMH from 12AM-2AM. Epcot and HS should each get 3 or 4 EMH that week and AK should get 2 or 3.

I think Disney waits to announce the hours until they see their hotel capacity numbers but once it's February and they verify they're (once again) 90% occupancy they go ahead and announce the expansion of hours. So unless we plummet into recession in the next two months I'd expect this year to be another massive attendance year during Easter Week.

 

[LovePug]

Expect MK to be 7AM EMH, 8AM-12AM hours every day with 1 or 2 nights of EMH from 12AM-2AM. Epcot and HS should each get 3 or 4 EMH that week and AK should get 2 or 3.

OK....my back-up plan will be to try to go the morning after an EVENING EMH. That's the best I'll be able to attempt, I guess. If not, then we'll just wing it and be glad that it's not the first time we're going.

 

[isosceles]

The Christmas crowds are worse than the Easter crowds but the parks are still packed. We usually end up leaving MK after lunch because it in to crowded to even walk around. I would also suggest watching the weather closely. We have done 4 Easter trips when Easter has fallen in late March. The first trip was great weather in the 90s everyone was saying it was a heat wave. A few years ago when we went it was in the 30/40s. We were bundled in our winter jackets and gloves. It was too cold for the pools. The parks were a empty after the sun went down because it was just too cold to walk around. The shops were pulling out all their cold weather merchandise. It was cold the entire week. The weather can effect how busy the parks are even in the high season.