President's Day Week or ...

[mommykds]

Easter week..what is better / worse in terms of crowds & overall?

Yep I am doing 2006 planning..want to get my use out of that AP! Thanks all!!

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Last year we did easter and another year we did the presidents week, which coincided with the ds mid winter break from school. Easter is too crowded, but you can still enjoy your self if you plan well, I dont dare to think how easter week would be without staying onsite. The only thing that made it manageable was the onsite transp, knowing we could go back to our room when it was really busy, etc. Fastpasses at easter had like a 6 hour return time. All sit down meal places for good places accepted no walk ups all week, example, crystal palace lunch and dinner, chef mickey dinner, hollywood and vine, so glad we made our ps well before we left. For the presidents week trip, I must admit , it was not so crowded and a welcome break from all our snow but germs were everywhere, our ds got sick a day or two, the couple we were meeting blew a whole day out of the parks going to centra care for their dd ear infection and our ds also got sick from going to the pool at night, just too cold with walk back to room. If you plan well, you will have a good time, but easter is definetely much, much more crowded.

 

[dizneefreak29]

I've never been during Easter but we did go over Presidents Week a couple of years ago. It was horrible! Worse than any time I've seen going in the summer. It was wall to wall people and we could hardly even walk through the park. We would get in line for a fast pass and by the time we got to the machines, the return time was more than an hour later than when we originally got in line. There were no wait times less than an hour. Epoct seemed a little more manageable than the other parks...but still very crowded.

 

[mommykds]

Any more opinions on which is the better of the 2 weeks? Thanks!

 

[auntsue]

I think President's week is doable. Easter week is always insane, and next week Easter is on April 16 which I am sure is going to coincide with a whole lot more Spring breaks than usual, so I am sure it is going to be jam packed, every park every day. Because of when it falls, I told DH that there is no way we can go that week. I just don't feel it will be enjoyable.

This year our Spring break is not for another two weeks, so I am hoping the crowds are bearable, but I can't imagine going next year at Easter. We have been there several times for President's week and with PS's in hand it's not a problem. Like luvmarypoppins, we have been there several times when restaurants would not take walk-ins and I'm not talking the obvious ones. We were at Mama Melrose, Chefs de France, etc. and they simply stated to everyone that walked up, "Sorry no walk-ins." We felt so bad for everyone. We thought it would have beeen helpful if they had posted signs outside because while we were waiting to be seated (and we had to wait even with a PS) group after group would come in, wait to get to the podium and then be told there was nothing. So, if you go either of those times, you must have PS's.

Obviously the weather is warmer Easter week, so you can use your resort pool more, but last year at the Boardwalk, it was sometimes hard to find chairs. They went around checking ID's and asking people to leave.

What's the most crowded time you've ever gone? We've been there President's week, Easter week, Spring break week, and Christmas week. Christmas week was by far the worst but Easter was a close second. It really depends upon how much you need to see and do while you are there. Between the DVC and the AP, we now have a whole different attitude when we go. What we don't get to on this trip, we'll get to on the next. But, even with that in mind, I can't bring myself to go next year during Easter, and I love, love, love Disney! It kills me to give it up, but people couldn't even get on site this year, there was NO availability whatsoever, so you know it was crazy, and many schools did not even have off the week of March 27,(we didn't) so I just can't put myself through that. Especially since I feel that next year everyone will be off at the same time. I may be wrong, but I am not going to take that chance.

Good luck with your decision. If you do decide to go at that time, just make sure you have all of your plans in place, and build in a lot of relaxation time. Remember, there's no such thing as a bad time to be at Disney.