Parks during busy times.

[WishingMom]

Travelling to WDW the first week of April which has crowds predicted at a 7. Besides having ADRs and FP+ arranged, does anyone have suggestions for the parks on busy days. Of course my daily plans coincide with the dreaded "avoid the park" warning

Thanks!

 

[ErinsMommy]

the popular opinion seems to be rope drop, get in as many rides as you can, go back to resort to relax, come back at night but we're not morning people and we did a slow casual breakfast, got to the park before noon and brought lots of patience.

 

[loves to dive]

The crowd levels are just guesses, in some cases good guesses but guesses none the less. It really depends on your travel style and what you want to get done. We are not rope drop people, but getting there at rope drop will allow you to knock out 2 or 3 or even 4 rides then you can book your FPs for a little later, say 11 or so on the more popular hard to get rides. We tend to be late afternoon evening people, so we get to the park when we get to the park, walk around and ride the rides we want to ride and book FPs while we are in line for other rides. Again, it depends on you style and what you want to get done, are you planning on going back at any time, do you have park hoppers are you rope drop to close, etc. We go often so are wing it type of people, we were there the week before Christmas and booked no FPs or ADRs in advance, we booked ADRs either the morning of or while walking around. We booked a few FPs while standing in lines but otherwise we just decided if a line was too long or not and moved on but we go with the attitude that there is no way we are going to see and do everything there is to see and do so we just make the best of what we can do.

 

[Klayfish]

Yep, don't pay attention to the crowd calendar's, they're just guesses and aren't very accurate. That said, in general, the parks are almost always fairly busy. As a general rule, it's least crowded right at park open and at park close, but it's crowded most of the day. You'd have to decide if rope drop is worth it to you.

Beyond that, the best advice I can give is ignore the "avoid this park" warning on a crowd calendar. Go where your family wants to go. Take full advantage of the FP+ program. Be efficient in your touring of the parks...i.e. don't ride BTMRR then walk all the way to the other side of the park, then back to SM. Have patience, it's going to be crowded. Most importantly, have fun!!!!

 

[skuttle]

We never pay attention to crowd calendars or the suggested "best" or "worst" parks. We've been for Thanksgiving, Easter, 4th of July, week before Christmas, etc. and never had a bad trip. We even went to MK on Thanksgiving day this past year despite all of the warnings not to do so! We had a blast! You do have to plan where you want to go, and I do recommend early EMH. We have gotten so much done in those first morning hours that it frees up FPs for later in the day. For example, when we do MK early EMH, we focus on one land (like Tomorrowland) and try to knock everything out (which can be done!). Then we make our FPs for early/mid afternoon, unless we plan on leaving the park midday. Our kids are too young to do the really late EMH, which I know can be less crowded. WE tend to avoid the evening EMHs that aren't' super late because they tend to be crowded. Now, we do go to WDW once a year, so doing and seeing everything isn't a priority. We do what we can and don't stress too much over what we can't because we've done it before and know we'll be back. I think that makes a difference as well.

 

[glassslippergirl]

Get there early and stay late. That's really the best way to minimize long lines. How you accomplish this depends on your group. If there's young ones involved, I'd go back to the room in the afternoon for a break. If the group is all adults or close to it, you could schedule a late, leisurely lunch and use that as an opportunity to rest.

 

[housetomouse]

I've mostly only gone to WDW on crowd level 10 days. Do make your FP and dining reservations, but if you want to ride a lot, get there when the park opens. Even on crowd level 10 days, the first two hours the parks are open are the best in terms of short lines for rides. This has been true before and after the FP reservation system.
This is probably true for the late hours too, but we never make it very late at the parks so I don't have experience with that to share.

 

[NashvilleMama]

Yep, the last two visits were 10/10 crowd levels (spring break and Veteran's day weekend) and getting there at park opening and being really smart with our FP selections was key. We loosely followed touringplans.com customized plans and then used the app in park to decide what to do next nearby based on wait times. It really was enjoyable still and we have very few wait times because we'd planned it so well.

 

[TandLMommy28]

Get there early and do as much as you can in the first two hours. We are NOT morning people in real life but we do not sleep in at WDW. IF you are not planning to take a resort break midday, once the crowds start to build, use your fast passes and hit the shows and minor attractions. Then later at night things will start to calm down again and you can ride more rides. Careful planning is really the key. We typically go during low crowd times but the one time we went on a holiday weekend, we didn't even feel it because we had a good plan in place.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Stay late. Even on the busiest days, the crowd will tire and die down as the evening progresses.