resorts full 1st week of April!!!

[babus]

does this mean we should change the time we go? I could stay offsite, but if the parks are full to capacity I would be driving 22 hours to see nothing!

 

[5mins2disney]

I would if you could.... my "crowd index" website (I can't post the link here but it's a very reliable site) has the crowds that week all week long at 10 out of a possible 10...meaning it's going to be a crowded nightmare!

Offsite housing is jam packed too....honestly, if you can pick some different dates, do it. Go later in April (MUCH less crowded, May is GREAT!)... why drive 22 hours to stand in even longer lines if your vacation schedule allows for some flexibility?

Our best trip ever so far was in September... we walked into every single attraction, no lines at all!

 

[mareed]

That's the week before Easter, and my understanding is that the week before & after Easter is one of the busiest times of the year (along with July 4th and XMAS week). If you're not limited by a school holiday and can switch, then I definitely would. Late April would be so much better as far as crowds go!

 

[tinaluis]

I agree with the others -- if you're not tied to the week by school vacation or something like that, definitely choose another time to go.

 

[5mins2disney]

That's the week before Easter, and my understanding is that the week before & after Easter is one of the busiest times of the year (along with July 4th and XMAS week). If you're not limited by a school holiday and can switch, then I definitely would. Late April would be so much better as far as crowds go!

Busiest times are Easter, Thanksgiving, Xmas and New Years! I hadn't heard July 4th was that bad.. summer is high season and pretty busy in general though. At the holiday periods our MC told us it's so crowded and so much traffic in the area it can take you 20 minutes to drive 2 blocks. My comment? "Thanks for the warning I'll be sure never to visit on those dates!" LOL Everything costs more, hotel or offsite rentals, airfare, rental cars, etc, so you can show up...wait in huge lines for any of the parks...if they don't close the gates on you...dinner reservations...good luck getting them!

I understand how some people have no choice as that's their only vacation time, but I hate crowded vacations like that personally! If I was there then I'd be at our resort pool most every day. We're going 4/14-4/21 when it will hopefully be slightly less crowded...even then we plan on taking 2-3 days off from the parks this time.

 

[Piecey]

I was there on July 3rd this year and while Epcot wasn't bad, MK was a nightmare!

 

[Funwith4kids]

Stay away. Dont go! Tell all your friends and anyone you know who is going.

More of the beautiful weather for us. We will be there enjoying the great weather and the world of disney. With some planning the crowds are not as bad as you may hear/think unless you are used to going during the school year when it is cold/wet. Just come prepared in the right frame of mind. If you don't like crowds, then yes, this is not the right time to visit.

 

[FLParadisevilla]

I hear May is a great month to go we are going memorial day weekend for 10 days. Is that a bad time with the crowds? I like to try to go when its not the busy times! We were there last year for Easter and we did not go to the parks but the traffic was a nightmare all over!

 

[sammielynn]

The past three years we have been there Memorial Day week and not had any problems. May is a great time to go.

 

[FLParadisevilla]

Oh that is great news! I also like going in October! Although we were there the end of Nov begining of Dec this year and it was nice! Oh who am I fooling is there really a bad time to be at Disney!

 

[mbb]

We MUCH prefer traveling to WDW in September - hot, hot, hot, and HUMID though - or January, February...walk on everything, and Jan'Feb, while much cooler, makes for great theme parking!

Problem is, as the kids get older, we're taking more and more homework with us every time..our teachers are always happy for us to go, but those math sheets aren't any fun at all when there's a fabulous pool in the backyard just waiting for us to hop in

Christmas was a pleasant surprise this year...we stayed onsite the week before, and took full advantage of fastpass use and EMH Busy, yes, but manageable with good planning!!

And Christmas week, checked into Pongo's Paradise on Christmas Eve, and had a wonderful relaxing 2 more weeks.

And skipped the crowds entirely

 

[5mins2disney]

We've been the past 2 Mays in a row and found the crowd levels to be "moderate".... you still needed to use Fastpasses but it wasn't a total nightmare either...and the weather was just great! We went Memorial Day weekend too actually...the week after MD was perfect actually...MD weekend itself was fairly crowded but not too bad.

Sept was VERY hot and humid..I agree..and Hurricane Ernesto this last Sept forced us to delay our trip by 3 days as it hit Orlando the very day we were scheduled to arrive. Although it was no big deal by the time it got there, it was still rainy, high winds, etc, and I wasn't really looking forward to landing on an airplane in the midst of it if we could avoid it. Fortunately the airlines let us delay a bit and we were able to stay in our home still...but this is why trip insurance isn't such a bad idea.

Next time I think we'll go over October though, Sept was just too hot and humid for my liking...and it rained a lot of afternoons, brief, yes, but it was very "steamy"!

There's another website that lists crowd indexes for Disney over the course of the year but you need to buy a certain guidebook now to see the full calendar year of how crowded it will be when you arrive, we've found it's VERY reliable. It also suggests which parks to visit and which to avoid on every day of the year, very helpful. Early April though is a 10 out of a possible 10 for crowd index!!

End of May is like 6-8 on a scale of 1-10.

 

[Funwith4kids]

I believe the crowd calendar for the next 30 days is available for free on the website. If you are planning out past 30 days, you will need to pay.

 

[dennise]

How Do You Find This Crowd Calendar?

 

[jel0511]

I'm not suprised, we went last year and it was MORE crowded than the summer but less crowded than XMas, but the wonderful weather keeps us coming back. You just have to be at the parks early to get on rides before the lines get too long and use fast pass a lot! You won't get to see everything during that week, we don't care since we go every year.

 

[5mins2disney]

How Do You Find This Crowd Calendar?

I cannot post the link on the DIS...it's a blocked URL or something....BUT...if you visit my website at:

http://www.5mins2disney.com then click on "Fun Things to Do" and scroll down just a little...you will see the link posted there under the "Crowd Indexes" link! hehe... to "see" past 30 days out you need to buy their book though (which isn't a bad idea anyways) ... you used to be able to see all dates for free then they got "smart" and make you buy the book now to see it online.

 

[runwad]

I cannot post the link on the DIS...it's a blocked URL or something....BUT...if you visit my website at:

http://www.5mins2disney.com then click on "Fun Things to Do" and scroll down just a little...you will see the link posted there under the "Crowd Indexes" link! hehe... to "see" past 30 days out you need to buy their book though (which isn't a bad idea anyways) ... you used to be able to see all dates for free then they got "smart" and make you buy the book now to see it online.

Or you can say go to touring plans dot com and click on the crowd calendar in the left hand margin

 

[5mins2disney]

Or you can say go to touring plans dot com and click on the crowd calendar in the left hand margin

Yes that works too! Hehe the DIS won't let you post that "other" sites name is all..LOL

 

[robynv]

I hate this dilema.. to go in summer or not. We are going July6-16. 6-12 staying at Bonnet Creek our first non onsite trip. 13-16 staying at the Beach Club well.. because I want to experience it. ( that was the original plan until my parents offered their timeshare).

We have school age kids. My husband will NOT in any way take them out of school. We stayed at the Contemporay 12/19--12/27 2004 and found while it was busy it was never at an unmanageable rate and by using fastpass and leaving mid day for a break we had a blast! but we were on site guests so....we could have still gone if they closed the parks.

I guess I'm asking how busy will it be realisticly in July? Worse or better than christmas week for comparison??

 

[5mins2disney]

I hate this dilema.. to go in summer or not. We are going July6-16. 6-12 staying at Bonnet Creek our first non onsite trip. 13-16 staying at the Beach Club well.. because I want to experience it. ( that was the original plan until my parents offered their timeshare).

We have school age kids. My husband will NOT in any way take them out of school. We stayed at the Contemporay 12/19--12/27 2004 and found while it was busy it was never at an unmanageable rate and by using fastpass and leaving mid day for a break we had a blast! but we were on site guests so....we could have still gone if they closed the parks.

I guess I'm asking how busy will it be realisticly in July? Worse or better than christmas week for comparison??

From looking at the crowd index site it's 8s and 9s in July...and much of the summer months...Xmas week is all 10s. (out of a possible 10). It's all manageable, it just takes a bit more planning, with proper park planning you can still have a great time! Like you mentioned, getting there first thing in the morning, getting fastpasses, then leaving mid-day for a break helps a lot, same strategy applies in the summer months if you want to avoid the worst of the afternoon heat and crowds, take a break and come back in the evening.

Everyone on the DIS swears by tourguidemike.com as well, where you can have a "pro" give you a tour plan to help optimize your park visits and avoid all the lines....well worth the small fee you'll spend to avoid most of the lines.