That shocks me that we were so high off the floor in the front row! We sure couldn't tell! It's a very beautiful and gentle ride. For the children they have these yellow loops that you run the seatbelt through before buckling them into their seats.
My guess about the crowd level would be about the same next year as this year pretty low as long as the Spring breaks are running near Easter again. The first part of our trip was much more crowded than the later half of our trip (Sun & Mon were still pretty crowded but not as bad as last June) and the headliner attractions had long waits those days. You will probably still need to have some type of touring stategy so you get to see Your families "must see" stuff.. I would anyway just in case it become more crowded while you are there.