Question about Easter weekend in the park

[abja09]

We will be arriving at BWV late Thursday, March 24th. We have 2 park days before leaving on our DCL cruise. I was not aware of a possible 7am park opening so I'm rethinking my plans. We want to do AK and MK and will park hop to Epcot for dinner both nights. I was originally thinking AK on Friday and MK on Saturday. But know Im wondering if I should switch days. What are your thoughts on MK the Saturday of Easter weekend? Is it going to be too crowded? We would be better off at MK Friday and AK Saturday? Will MK open 7am both days even if no EMH now for Saturday? As of now AK has EMH Saturday and MK Friday. We usually don't do EMH so not a big deal in factoring in my plans. Thanks for your input!

 

[Robo]

Those are likely to be two of the busiest days of the year in 2016.

 

[My2Qtz0205]

We did Easter weekend last year. We had Park Hoppers, and we went to AK/MK Friday, then MK/HS Saturday, and Epcot Sunday. It was crowded, but not close-the-park crowded. We did FP selections for our second park. On Saturday we got to MK at Rope Drop. We rode Space Mountain twice in a row with no wait. We could have kept riding it but I needed coffee! We also rode Dumbo, Buzz Lightyear, Aladdin, Jungle Cruise, and Haunted Mansion with minimal wait. I never wait longer than 30 minutes for a ride. . We watched Festival of Fantasy, ate lunch at CHH, and then took a break at our resort and hopped to DHS afterwards.

 

[abja09]

We did Easter weekend last year. We had Park Hoppers, and we went to AK/MK Friday, then MK/HS Saturday, and Epcot Sunday. It was crowded, but not close-the-park crowded. We did FP selections for our second park. On Saturday we got to MK at Rope Drop. We rode Space Mountain twice in a row with no wait. We could have kept riding it but I needed coffee! We also rode Dumbo, Buzz Lightyear, Aladdin, Jungle Cruise, and Haunted Mansion with minimal wait. I never wait longer than 30 minutes for a ride. . We watched Festival of Fantasy, ate lunch at CHH, and then took a break at our resort and hopped to DHS afterwards.

That's great news! We usually get to the parks early and leave after lunch so hopefully we will be as lucky with wait times. Thanks!

 

[doctorintheTARDIS]

I went Easter weekend to Disney/Magic Kingdom last year and regretted it ever since. The amount of times I got bumped in the back of the legs with the stroller was ridiculous. Strollers are to be expected and I've been to Disney almost every time of year except Christmas and this was THE WORST. I had bruises on the back of my legs because there was simply so many people, the stroller drivers couldn't handle it.

I waited ages to get on every ride, and also to get to and from anywhere via transportation was a huge pain in the butt too because every bus was packed solid (standing wise, not just seats) with people and the rides were so incredibly long...after waiting a long time.

I'd do the extra magic hours for MK each day (because even the EMH were beyond busy during Easter when I was there!) and then figure out everything else at MK not doing that really busy saturday, if possible.

 

[skuttle]

We were at WDW Easter week 2015 and had a great trip. It was very crowded, but not unmanageable. If found the parks to be much more crowded during our trip right before Christmas 2015. 7am morning EMH are must-do's, IMO. We were able to get SO much done during those early morning hours before the crowds arrived, and that allowed us to save our FPs for other things during more crowded times. I think right before our trip they added 7am EMH every morning for MK.

 

[TJA]

Add us to the list of going to disney every easter. Details are vague but I'm sure if I made a search I could find my posts about the crowds last easter. I do remember the crowds were fine in all parks with MK getting really crowded by mid afternoon, but that was usually the time we were leaving. I think since spring break now runs from February through April it has evened the crowds out so everyone is not piled in disney just easter week. Easter week is no longer blacked out for deals either, at least for the past 2 years. Hopefully the trend continues!

 

[abja09]

Add us to the list of going to disney every easter. Details are vague but I'm sure if I made a search I could find my posts about the crowds last easter. I do remember the crowds were fine in all parks with MK getting really crowded by mid afternoon, but that was usually the time we were leaving. I think since spring break now runs from February through April it has evened the crowds out so everyone is not piled in disney just easter week. Easter week is no longer blacked out for deals either, at least for the past 2 years. Hopefully the trend continues!

We are usually out of the parks mid afternoon too so that does help. I do have ADRs in both parks and will cancel when they finalize park hours. The only thing a 7am EMH messes up is our 8:15am ADR at Crystal Palace. It's a tradition for us and we love being in the park before it opens. Guess that won't be happening this trip!

 

[crafty91]

We went for Easter ONE time and won't do it again! MK was beyond madness. If you have your heart set on it, then make sure you FP and get there early or go VERY late. FWIW, some friends were there last week after Christmas and left because the wait times were just ridiculous. I will say that since you are doing the cruise afterwards you can relax then but there is noway I'd do it the other way round!

 

[TJA]

Honestly, the Easter crowds aren't that bad anymore now that the spring break is so spread out between February and April. Of course, MK will always be crowded during the afternoons, more so during holidays. Otherwise, we really enjoy Disney during Easter week. The weather is just right and crowds are manageable.

Plus with the ability to make FP's, you are guaranteed to get on those must-do rides without the long waits.

I found a post I made during last year's Easter break while we were in Disney:

We are here now going on our 7th night. Easter crowds used to close MK due to full capacity, but I don't think that has happened the last 2 Easters since spring breaks are so spread out now. Disney even offered a deal during the normal easter blackout, which we gladly jumped on. We did think MK felt crowded the days we were there, but not unbearable. We went on lots of standby rides without much wait time. Just the normal peak afternoon hours....Main Street always seems congested....sometimes we were shoulder to shoulder with people but then other times it seemed very slow. The other 3 parks were fine for us, not overly crowded

 

[TJA]

I went Easter weekend to Disney/Magic Kingdom last year and regretted it ever since. The amount of times I got bumped in the back of the legs with the stroller was ridiculous. Strollers are to be expected and I've been to Disney almost every time of year except Christmas and this was THE WORST. I had bruises on the back of my legs because there was simply so many people, the stroller drivers couldn't handle it.

I waited ages to get on every ride, and also to get to and from anywhere via transportation was a huge pain in the butt too because every bus was packed solid (standing wise, not just seats) with people and the rides were so incredibly long...after waiting a long time.

I'd do the extra magic hours for MK each day (because even the EMH were beyond busy during Easter when I was there!) and then figure out everything else at MK not doing that really busy saturday, if possible.

Yikes, sorry it was so bad for you last Easter! We were there at the same time and had the opposite experience...it's so weird how that happens. We didn't wait to get on rides at all -- we used our FP's and then just got more afterward or else left the park for some resort/pool time. We rarely took buses, but when we did they were crowded for us too. I only remember that because I found a post I made on here last Easter . We stayed at BC so we walked to both Epcot and HS, and most likely caught the monorail a few times over to MK as we began a few days inside Epcot and it was quicker to just take the monorail. So our bus time was limited but no matter where we stay and no matter what time of year we go to Disney, the buses are always so crowded and sparse it seems! We always seem to have horrible luck with the buses!

 

[abja09]

Honestly, the Easter crowds aren't that bad anymore now that the spring break is so spread out between February and April. Of course, MK will always be crowded during the afternoons, more so during holidays. Otherwise, we really enjoy Disney during Easter week. The weather is just right and crowds are manageable.

Plus with the ability to make FP's, you are guaranteed to get on those must-do rides without the long waits.

I found a post I made during last year's Easter break while we were in Disney:

We are here now going on our 7th night. Easter crowds used to close MK due to full capacity, but I don't think that has happened the last 2 Easters since spring breaks are so spread out now. Disney even offered a deal during the normal easter blackout, which we gladly jumped on. We did think MK felt crowded the days we were there, but not unbearable. We went on lots of standby rides without much wait time. Just the normal peak afternoon hours....Main Street always seems congested....sometimes we were shoulder to shoulder with people but then other times it seemed very slow. The other 3 parks were fine for us, not overly crowded

Thanks for your post from last Easter. I will definitely be doing both AK and MK and will decide which day for what park once they update EMH. We will get to the parks early and plan FP accordingly. We are staying at the Boardwalk so will definitely be taking advantage of the walking distance to Epcot each night.

 

[T00dles]

Does anybody remember when they added the extra hours? Closer than 60 days?