Spring Break when not with Easter

[esquire]

Hello! I am just starting to think about our next trip. We have been twice, once in mid June and once in late May. Our preference is to avoid taking our kids out of school, especially as our oldest is moving into the older grades.

I am thinking about a Spring Break, probably for 2020. We are fortunate that our school district publicizes calendars well in advance, so we already have the 2018-2019 calendar as well as the 2019-2020 calendar. Both in 2019 and 2020 Easter is later in April and Spring Break will be in late March. So I am wondering how that affects crowds. I know that other schools will have Spring Break the same week as us, but others will have it around Easter. When Easter is at a "normal" time, like this year, it seems most schools around the country have Spring Break around then.

Anyway, in 2020 Easter falls on April 12 and our break will be the week of March 23. We'd be looking to fly down Friday March 20 (a teacher work day) or Saturday March 21 and return the following weekend, still two weeks before Easter. Just curious if people have done a trip like this when Easter is late?

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I can only speak for the area I live in (lower CT), but schools have their breaks, basically, the same weeks every year regardless of when Easter falls and, depending on what district you are in or if your child is in public or private school, the weeks are all over the map. My DS is in private school and always has the last two weeks of March off regardless of Easter. The school district we live in always has the second week of April off. The district next to us has the first week of April off. Again, around here, it has nothing to do with Easter.

 

[richmo]

You're certainly correct in avoiding the week leading into and the week after Easter. But, it seems the entire month of March and most of April, someone is on break. Colleges tend to have their breaks somewhere in the first three weeks of March, then K-12 schools later in March and early April. Some go by when Easter hits, some don't and some make adjustments depending upon how much snow they've had that winter. As @DisneyWishes14 above me posted, the breaks are all over the map. Unless you stay away from March and April entirely, I don't think you can avoid them.

 

[goofygal531]

You also have to consider many colleges begin spring break in March.

Here in NYC, we have off the same week as Easter/Passover every year.

If your school ends early like May or early June, I'd go then. We don't end until very late June. However, we go back in September which is why we go to WDW mid-late August.

 

[AngiTN]

Thing is, Spring Break is always spread out over about a 6 week span. That never changes. Some schools get out early, some late. Some around Easter, some don't. Some the week before, some the week after. It simply has no predictable pattern. You can't tell what another school district will do based on when Easter falls. Too many other variables in there. All you can do is work with when your breaks are.

 

[MorpethMiss]

We have done 3 Spring Break trips, but always a couple of weeks before Easter. The parks can get crowded, but never too bad. If you plan carefully -- follow a good crowd calendar, use EMH, get to the parks an hour before open, have a strategy, etc. etc. -- you will do fine. We have had plenty of times on our last 2 trips when we are amazed at how few people are around. During our first spring break trip, our last 2 days were the first 2 days of Easter week (Good Friday was at the end of that week), and let me tell you, there was a noticeable jump in crowd levels. Magic Kingdom was insane to the point that it was not enjoyable. If your Break does not coincide with Easter, you will be fine.

 

[acwsmom]

We have done 3 Spring Break trips, but always a couple of weeks before Easter. The parks can get crowded, but never too bad. If you plan carefully -- follow a good crowd calendar, use EMH, get to the parks an hour before open, have a strategy, etc. etc. -- you will do fine. We have had plenty of times on our last 2 trips when we are amazed at how few people are around. During our first spring break trip, our last 2 days were the first 2 days of Easter week (Good Friday was at the end of that week), and let me tell you, there was a noticeable jump in crowd levels. Magic Kingdom was insane to the point that it was not enjoyable. If your Break does not coincide with Easter, you will be fine.

I second this. We've done Spring Break before and found it to be pretty manageable. It was definitely busy, but with a good plan and willingness to get there early and stay late, we still enjoyed ourselves. But we went this past week due to Spring Break, not even thinking about the impact Easter may have, and it was horrible. I think I can honesty say it was our worst trip ever. We really couldn't do anything other than the rides we have FPs for and spent the rest of the time shopping and finding ways to kill time. (Although, it was nice to wander around the animal trails of AK since we rarely do that.) We ended up spending a good chunk of our time in our condo and doing things off-site. So I would definitely suggest avoiding Spring Break if it's at the same time as Easter!

 

[esquire]

If your school ends early like May or early June, I'd go then. We don't end until very late June. However, we go back in September which is why we go to WDW mid-late August.

We found last year that late May was more crowded than we expected, but it also coincided with Memorial Day. And given that it was also pretty hot, we thought maybe trying for March might help with that. I am ok with crowds but I am just hopeful to avoid Christmas or Thanksgiving type crowds. And less heat, all the better.

Funnily enough, when we went in mid June in 2013 it was less crowded and didn't feel as hot. So you never know.

Thanks for the replies - validating what I was thinking!

Editing to say that I feel like late August or early September would be a great time to go if school schedules allow for it. So many schools start so early now. Our school starts August 14 this year so that's out of the question for us.

 

[JennyDrake]

You're certainly correct in avoiding the week leading into and the week after Easter. But, it seems the entire month of March and most of April, someone is on break. Colleges tend to have their breaks somewhere in the first three weeks of March, then K-12 schools later in March and early April. Some go by when Easter hits, some don't and some make adjustments depending upon how much snow they've had that winter. As @DisneyWishes14 above me posted, the breaks are all over the map. Unless you stay away from March and April entirely, I don't think you can avoid them.

DITTO. BUT the weather is great and if you utilize rope drop, you can still get a lot done!

 

[DisneyStarWisher]

I took my only Disney spring trip in 2016. Easter was on March 27 that year, and I went April 6-9. We had no issues with crowds. In fact, I was surprised how low the crowds were. We also had great weather.

 

[goofygal531]

We found last year that late May was more crowded than we expected, but it also coincided with Memorial Day. And given that it was also pretty hot, we thought maybe trying for March might help with that. I am ok with crowds but I am just hopeful to avoid Christmas or Thanksgiving type crowds. And less heat, all the better.

Any three-day holiday weekend will be crowded.

I'd try March since Easter is late that year.

 

[soniam]

You will basically have 8-10 crowd levels instead of 11 We have gone 3 times now during the 2nd or 3rd week in March, what I call Texas Spring Break. Basically, almost the entire state of Texas and definitely most of the Austin area have spring break at the same time. It's crowded, but not as crowded as the week between xmas and NYE. It's way more crowded than any of our summer trips have been, which have been early June, late July, and early August. The weather can be nice though. However, at 7am EST EMH it can also be in the 40s It was 2 weeks ago. Park hours usually start earlier and end later, so that's nice. I would do it again, but we don't mind crowds. Get there before park opening, not at park opening, and have a good plan.

 

[Shanti]

Hello! I am just starting to think about our next trip. We have been twice, once in mid June and once in late May. Our preference is to avoid taking our kids out of school, especially as our oldest is moving into the older grades.

I am thinking about a Spring Break, probably for 2020. We are fortunate that our school district publicizes calendars well in advance, so we already have the 2018-2019 calendar as well as the 2019-2020 calendar. Both in 2019 and 2020 Easter is later in April and Spring Break will be in late March. So I am wondering how that affects crowds. I know that other schools will have Spring Break the same week as us, but others will have it around Easter. When Easter is at a "normal" time, like this year, it seems most schools around the country have Spring Break around then.

Anyway, in 2020 Easter falls on April 12 and our break will be the week of March 23. We'd be looking to fly down Friday March 20 (a teacher work day) or Saturday March 21 and return the following weekend, still two weeks before Easter. Just curious if people have done a trip like this when Easter is late?

Crowds were reportedly very heavy during mid-to-late March last year, and that was a year with a mid-April Easter. We went on Easter weekend itself last year and it wasn't terrible, by contrast. Most Southern schools don't attach their spring breaks to Easter- we tend to break in March regardless of when Easter is.

 

[gracelrm]

I have been a time or two at Spring Break when it wasn't associated with Easter. Our Spring Break is typically the first week of April, regardless of when Easter is. The last time I went when Easter was earlier than Spring Break, it was a great trip. The crowds were not too bad, the weather was so pleasant. We usually go to WDW mid-June, so that is the crowd level we are accustomed to. We are frequent WDW travelers, so we don't get too upset to have to skip rides and we don't stay in the park all day, so our touring style may be different than yours.

 

[DizneyMommy]

We found last year that late May was more crowded than we expected, but it also coincided with Memorial Day. And given that it was also pretty hot, we thought maybe trying for March might help with that. I am ok with crowds but I am just hopeful to avoid Christmas or Thanksgiving type crowds. And less heat, all the better.

Funnily enough, when we went in mid June in 2013 it was less crowded and didn't feel as hot. So you never know.

Thanks for the replies - validating what I was thinking!

Editing to say that I feel like late August or early September would be a great time to go if school schedules allow for it. So many schools start so early now. Our school starts August 14 this year so that's out of the question for us.

We did that once... late August trip when a lot of kids were back in school. Our school was back after Labor Day.
Never. Again.

Never never ever never again. Late August weather is downright miserable. Especially if you are not used to the humidity. Oh man it was bad. It was a value season, and we got free dining, but you could not pay me to go in late August again.

 

[DisDaydreams]

We have done spring break (last week of March) 2x not associated with Easter. 2017 and 2014. There were crowds but we found them very manageable. And the weather was wonderful. By contrast, we felt it was much more crowded in October trips over Columbus Day. Especially if you have a week or so, you will have time to see and do more. I agree with others- most imlortantly, have a plan and start at least some of your days before park opening!! March was wonderful- hoping to go again same time 2019, since Easter is later.

 

[ameliahyde]

We went during Spring Break 2017 and found that while it was fairly busy it was still very manageable. It was much less busy that when we went during Easter week in 2011 and during New Year's this past year. Those crowds were horrible. In addition, the weather in late March was pretty fabulous, some of the very best! We are planning to go back during March 2019, so the crowds clearly didn't scare us off!

 

[senadler]

Our Spring Break is always the last week of March. We went once when it was during Easter and will never do that again. When we have gone that week with a late April Easter it was much more manageable. It is still busy, but nothing compared to Easter week. I think it is comparable to Columbus Day week, which is our other option. Busy, but one of the best options when trying to minimize the time our kids are out of school.

 

[TeacherDL]

We went spring break 2014, and it was not around Easter. The crowds were not bad at all, and the weather was beautiful. I do think crowds are much much worse when spring break is around Easter.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

We did the first week of April in 2016 and crowds were predicted to be a 4-6. Actual crowd levels were 10+.

It really is hard to predict.

I’d say count on heavy crowds and plan well. If crowds are lower, then that’s just a bonus. Attitude has a lot to with your enjoyment of the trip. I always feel much better if I get what is expected or if I am pleasantly surprised than if I am disappointed.

We are here now and crowds are terrible, but we are still having a wonderful time.

Plan for the worst. Hope for the best.