Spring Break - What to expect

[mikeyg1479]

Its tough because Spring break happens at different times for different schools, so it isn't a uniform period of time. As someone said above, stay far far away from Easter as you can, as that will have the highest amount of visitors.

Outside of higher crowd levels, also expect large congregations of teen groups hanging about- particularly at value resorts, where most of these large school groups will book and it might not be very quiet about the room. If this sounds horrific to you, pick a different time to visit, or stay away from the value resorts.

 

[Selket]

We often go for Spring break (and around the 4th of July) - weather is usually very nice in the spring which is one good point for it - lol! I thought the spring break crowds this year were somewhat lower. We were there the Weds after Easter through the weekend. We were also there in July near the 4th and those crowds seemed lower to me too. With some good planning you'll have a great time - especially if you don't feel like you have to hit every ride and attraction.

 

[danc18]

So with Easter being well into April this year, mid march may not be terrible? Prob still a lot of spring breaks then?

 

[tlmadden73]

This is a great thread, thanks for all the advice. We're doing the tues-sun after Easter and I'm stressed about the crowds. In FL for a wedding so seems a shame not to sneak in a quick trip.

Not to stress you out, but the week after Easter this year could be even more crowded ---
The weekend after Easter is the Star Wars marathon. So I would expect the parks to be even more crowded a few days before and after that weekend.

 

[guinness408]

Not to stress you out, but the week after Easter this year could be even more crowded ---
The weekend after Easter is the Star Wars marathon. So I would expect the parks to be even more crowded a few days before and after that weekend.

Thank you. I was going with the mindset that the marathon weekend would bring crowds to the resorts, but maybe not the parks as much. Might be wrong it sounds like!

 

[Koz]

 

[cindyfan]

One year we went the latter part of Easter week (arrived the Wednesday after Easter) and by that Friday it was bearable. Last year we went the week before Easter and it was horrible! We will NEVER go at that time again! It simply wasn't enjoyable fighting the crowds and masses of obnoxious and rude people. We are lucky enough to have other times we can go. But if you have a plan it's do-able, just be prepared that you may not be able to do everything you want!! Make a "must do" list and go from there.

 

[Julylady]

We went last year the week after Easter. We had toured other years during Spring Break, but last year seemed much worse. We did rope drop most days and took resort breaks either in the afternoon, or returned to the hotel around 6pm for the night. We did a split stay between Beach Club and Art of Animation. It was the Art of Animation experience that did us in. The parks were so crowded, the buses were so crowded, the food court was so crowded, the walkways to get to our building were so crowded. It felt like we were fighting crowds all day, every day. We heard both outside noise and inside noise in our room so no one slept well.

It was so bad that at the end of the trip we talked about doing a different vacation for Spring Break 2017. (We have reservations for a nice beach vacation!). Kids are 100% on board with not doing Disney. Upon reflection, I believe had we not switched hotels to A of A we would have been okay. We realized that we need a tranquil hotel experience to balance the overstimulation of the parks during a crowded week.

 

[MermaidMommy]

So with Easter being well into April this year, mid march may not be terrible? Prob still a lot of spring breaks then?

March will still be crowded starting the second full week. It won't be as crowded as it would be if Easter was in March, but you should expect at least summer-level crowds.

 

[Jake&IzzyLand]

I'll be there the last week of March. I'm nervous! Just for one day though then it's off to the beach. We have a PPO at BOG and a dinner ADR at CRT. Hoping that during the two we can squeeze in our favorites.

 

[higdonk]

We are thinking of going the Monday after Easter (4/17) until the following Tuesday (4/25). My thought is we will avoid some of the crowds from the week leading up to Easter, and if the week is really bad we will have a couple of days at the end of the trip where maybe the crowds will have died down a bit. Thoughts? The kids are actually off school from 4/13-4/23, but I don't see much advantage to coming for the Easter weekend when I know it will be crazy.

My other main question is how well does the Easter week rope drop plan work if you are staying offsite? I am planning on staying at WBC. There are 5 of us, dh and I and dd(13 & 11) and ds (6), no way we are all squeezing into a standard deluxe room at BC/YC etc. Also holiday pricing for 2 rooms or a suite are way way crazy high for us. Can we still manage a couple of good days at MK?? I may book a throwaway room so I can book my FP+, not sure on that yet. I am also open to suggestions on that.

BAsically any help or advice is welcome, we haven't been since 2010 and while I used to be pretty good with the planning a ton has changed and so I am starting from scratch.

 

[Kay2397]

The week before or after Easter can only be described as "a beating".

The two weeks surrounding Easter, Christmas to New Year's, and 4th of July are the 4 worst weeks of the year.

We go every Easter and here is our game plan:

1) If there are 7AM EMH we go to MK from 7AM-12PM.

2) If there are not 7AM EMH we go to MK from 7PM-12AM

Now, we're DVC members so we go to WDW at least annually and we're willing to spend time at the pool, at nice dinners, etc rather than sitting in humongous lines. But if this is your main trip and you want to be at the parks all day, well, good luck to you.

Two years ago I went back to MK in the afternoon while the kids were napping (we were at Wilderness Lodge, so not a long trip). It was 3PM. First tier attractions like the mountains/7 dwarfs/Anna and Elsa were 120+; second tier attractions like Pirates, Haunted Mansion and Tomorrowland Speedway were 60 minutes; third tier attractions (magic carpets, dumbo, Under the Sea, teacups) were 40 minutes.

I strongly advise being there at rope drop or close. I strongly advise avoiding the middle of the day. I strongly advise not attempting to do Rope Drop, break/nap, close each day as that will kill you. So I suggest you do what we did: choose evenings or mornings and just spend 5 hours a day at the park. It keeps the stress level down, you have at least 2 hours of short lines (7-9AM or 10PM-12AM), and it keeps things fun.

Were you there last Easter? I was wondering if there were 7am opening times at MK. Another poster said they stopped those early opening times last year. We will be there the week before Easter this year and I really hope that we can rely on those early rope drop times. It saved us in 2015.

 

[bwang123]

We love going during spring break which is usually the 2nd week of March. We have had great weather and Flower & Garden is going on at Epcot. We did stay a few days at one of the All-Star resorts and there were tons of young cheerleaders running around.

 

[DVCcurious]

Were you there last Easter? I was wondering if there were 7am opening times at MK. Another poster said they stopped those early opening times last year. We will be there the week before Easter this year and I really hope that we can rely on those early rope drop times. It saved us in 2015.

I'm there every Easter, and yes, Easter 2016 did not have 7AM openings. So we did the 6PM-12AM plan and slept in/swam during the day. Had FP+ scheduled 6-7, 7-8, 8-9, and then rode whatever after 9. It works out pretty well because at 9 lots of people are out of ride lines for Fireworks/Parades.

 

[Kay2397]

I'm there every Easter, and yes, Easter 2016 did not have 7AM openings. So we did the 6PM-12AM plan and slept in/swam during the day. Had FP+ scheduled 6-7, 7-8, 8-9, and then rode whatever after 9. It works out pretty well because at 9 lots of people are out of ride lines for Fireworks/Parades.

Thank you for letting me know. I'm so disappointed to hear this. My kids will be almost 7 and 9. They are starting to stay up later at night but I don't want to push my luck with too many late nights. Our plan last time we were there (Easter 2015) was rope drop and then we left after lunch and enjoyed our resort. We got so much done in those early morning hours.

 

[senadler]

Our school has a fixed spring break the last week of March. We did go once over this week when it matched up with Easter, and will never do that again. MK was wall to wall people before noon. We are now only do spring break trips when Easter is late, which is our plan this year.

We really do not do any rides with lines over 15 minutes without a FP, so crowded times do not work at all for us. We are also DVC and go yearly, so are able to plan the best half days at the parks without the big crowds. Unfortunately this is usually not possible during the most crowded times.