My Easter Week Touring Plan Recommendations: Intro and DHS

[ratfam]

Hello everyone, we just returned today from an Easter-week trip to WDW (arrived on Good Friday), and we did the same thing three years ago. While I know that most people would do anything to avoid visiting WDW around Easter, we have had very good experiences. The parks all have longer hours than usual (in some cases, much longer hours), there are additional times for shows and parades, and the weather is generally great. So, for those who, like us, are stuck traveling at spring break, which often links to Easter, I wanted to share some of the touring strategies we have found to work well.

For DHS: We have visited twice on Easter Sunday and have found it to be a great park, and actually less crowded than when we go back later in the week. Our plan has worked really well both years: arrive 15-20 minutes before park opening (non-EMH day, both times the park has opened either right before or right after we arrived); proceed to RnR and ride standby (very short wait if any); proceed to ToT and ride standby (very short wait); proceed to TSM to get Fastpasses; proceed to Great Movie Ride (very short wait if any); this year we then proceeded to the Legend of Jack Sparrow attraction, where we had a very short wait (this attraction was not fabulous but it is nice to try something new, although I wouldn't have wanted to wait long). Then we have an early lunch at Starring Rolls (sandwiches are good, but we really go for the cupcakes), followed by the first showing of Lights, Motor Action at 11:50 (both years CM's were handling out Fastpasses for this show when we entered the park, maybe they try to steer people to it to help with lunchtime congestion?). Then it is pretty much time for our TSM fastpasses, but before riding we were able to pull another set of TSM fastpasses for after dinner. This year we went back for a nap after TSM I, and saved Muppetvision and Beauty and the Beast for our second day, but last time we stayed through and did those attractions then. To avoid time waiting for Fantasmic we do the Fantasmic dinner package (have had fabulous dinners this year and last time at Mama Melrose), so we returned to the park for our 5pm reservation, then saw the final Indiana Jones stunt show for the day, then used our second set of TSM fastpasses, then did some shopping until it was time to go see Fantasmic. After the show ToT and RnR were crowded, so we went to Star Tours and rode with no wait. At that time TSM said 60 minutes, I am guessing it was probably shorter and they just wanted to discourage people from getting back in line, so we went back to ToT and rode with a very minimal wait, after which we called it a night.

 

[ratfam]

Same strategy has also worked well for us at AK both trips. This year we had to shift our AK day due to a work call, and we ended up needing to go on an am EMH day, which meant 7am opening. That was earlier than we were open to, so both years we arrived around 7:40. On the non-EMH year people were already being admitted, and on the EMH year it put us ahead of the non-resort guests. Both years we proceeded to the safari and rode standby, we were one of the very first out the non-EMH year, this year we had to wait about 20 minutes because the ride didn't open until 8 and it took a while to work through the buildup. Then we went to EE, this year we pulled fastpasses, last time without EMH we were still able to ride standby with only 10-15 minute wait and pull the fastpasses. Then we go to Dinoland and ride Primeveal Whirl and Dinosaur standby (no wait for either). Then last visit we used the EE fastpasses, saw the first show of Finding Nemo and had lunch at Flame Tree. This year we went from Dinoland to Its Tough to be a Bug (just missed a show so had a short wait for the next), then had a quick snack break, used our EE fastpasses and pulled another set, then saw the first Finding Nemo. From there I can't actually remember what we did last time, but we fit in Festival of the Lion King, Flights of Wonder, another fastpass ride on EE, and Kali River Rapids before leaving around 3. This year we walked the Maharajah Jungle Trail, then had lunch at Yak & Yeti, after which we saw Flights of Wonder and used our second EE fastpasses before heading out around 3. Both years anything that we did not see it was because we chose not to, not because we couldn't, and we could have gotten another set of fastpasses if we chose to.

 

[ratfam]

I have to preface this by saying that we are DVC members and we always stay at BCV, so we enter Epcot through the international gateway which means that the only headliner we are anywhere close to is Soarin'. So, our plan is to arrive about 20 minutes prior to scheduled opening and head straight to Soarin' and ride standby (usually about a 20 minute wait by the time we are able to get there), then get Test Track fastpasses, then ride Mission Space (we do the wimpy version) standby, maybe 5 minute wait, then the Nemo ride (5-10 minute wait) and explore the rest of the Seas pavilion. Last year we did a counter service lunch, followed by using the Test Track fastpasses, riding Spaceship Earth, and hitting the rides in Mexico and Norway. This year we had made an ADR for the German buffet and ended up staying longer than expected so that we could see the band's show, after which we did Test Track, the place with the free sodas from other countries, and Spaceship Earth, and a little time in Illuminations, after which we headed out rather than heading into the world showcase. Since we decided not to return we did not try to get another set of fastpasses.

 

[ratfam]

Doing the early morning touring at MK is tough with teenagers at Easter, since MK opens at 7am for EMH every single day. Last visit we tried arriving at a more palatable time of around 9, with mixed success (we were able to ride things with shorter waits for maybe 2-3 hours but definitely had to depend on fastpasses for the headliners and it was really crowded by early afternoon). This year we tried two different strategies. For our first vist, we arrived for a 6:30pm dinner ADR at BOG, pulling fastpasses for the new Little Mermaid ride on the way to dinner. After dinner we focused on attractions we knew would be easier to get on, like Philharmagic and Small World, and used our Little Mermaid fastpasses, then decided to skip the 9pm parade and fireworks and were pretty much able to walk onto Haunted Mansion and Pirates and Winnie the Pooh, had a snack, pulled fastpasses for Splash Mountain, watched the 11pm parade (literally got a curbside seat in Frontierland at 11pm, parade made it back around 11:20). After that, we used the Splash Mountain fastpasses and roder Big Thunder Mountain standby wth virtually no wait, then headed to Peter Pam and had virtually no wait, then headed out (park closed at 1am, we were out slightly before).

For our second visit we arrived around 11:30, watched a parade, did some shopping, pulled Space Mountain fastpasses, then focused on things that we knew wouldn't be too hard to get into: Hall of Presidents, more shopping, lunch, tom sawyer island, got splash mountain fastpasses, snack, did space mountain and splash mountain with the fastpasses. We had a 6:30 ADR at Crystal Palace, after which again things had really emptied out and we did Philharmagic, Haunted Mansion and Pirates again, as well as Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse and Buzz Lightyear, then watched some of the fireworks on our way out to the bus.

 

[ratfam]

So, whether you go in early or for the later-opening parks try for a later arrival (although I haven't described we also did that successfully for DHS and Epcot), you can have a great time at WDW during Easter, and you won't leave feeling that you missed anything if you take a little extra time in advance to plan and to have everyone on the same page before arriving at the park. This year was our DD's senior trip (high school graduation) and she had a friend with us most of the trip. We had expected that they would sleep in every day and go in the evening only and that we would just be with our DS except for at night, but after the first day they started joining us because, as my DD put it, "we don't like waiting in lines, and when we are with you we don't wait in lines".

Happy to answer any questions but just mainly want people to know that they don't have to worry about only being able to visit at Easter.

 

[erinsmom]

Sounds like you had very successfull and fun trip.