Spring break with small kids

[DocMcs]

Planning ahead spring break 2019 (last week of March) in SoCal with our 3 and 5 year olds. We did a February midweek day in Disneyland last year and the crowds were more intense than I had expected (40-60 minutes waits for everything, starting right at rope drop). We were only interested in preschool rides (Dumbo, Small World, Toon Town etc) so Fast Pass was not an option. We left before dinner, but people were saving spots three hours ahead of time to see the parade.

Would it be reasonable to expect similar midweek crowds the last week of March at Disneyland? Are the fast passes still only available for the “big kid” rides, is Max Pass something different? We’d still only be interested in the preschool type rides and attractions on this trip.

Thanks!

 

[Geemo]

Planning ahead spring break 2019 (last week of March) in SoCal with our 3 and 5 year olds. We did a February midweek day in Disneyland last year and the crowds were more intense than I had expected (40-60 minutes waits for everything, starting right at rope drop). We were only interested in preschool rides (Dumbo, Small World, Toon Town etc) so Fast Pass was not an option. We left before dinner, but people were saving spots three hours ahead of time to see the parade.

Would it be reasonable to expect similar midweek crowds the last week of March at Disneyland? Are the fast passes still only available for the “big kid” rides, is Max Pass something different? We’d still only be interested in the preschool type rides and attractions on this trip.

Thanks!

I'd expect the Spring Break last week of March to be worse than midweek in February!

Since you're interested in attractions for younger children, keep in mind DCA's Bug's Land is closing late 2018.

 

[Becca1007]

The upside to Disneyland for Spring Break is that So Cal spring breaks are more spread out, so it will be busy but not summer crowded busy.

 

[Angrose]

Yep, it will be bad. That's when we have our spring break too! Getting to the parks early is your best secret weapon. If you will have Magic Morning on your tickets or EMH for hotel guests, use those perks! You can do almost all the Fantasyland attractions in your first few hours, then take a mid-morning break for a character breakfast at the Plaza Inn...but book early since that's a popular place.

The "tame" rides with FP are: Small World, Buzz, Haunted Mansion and Pirates (FP will go online for this any day now). The only one with FP in DCA that I think you all could do is Toy Story Midway Mania. Your 5 y.o. might be interested in Radiator Springs Racers though...I would not miss this if you think they would like it...if so, then grab a FP for it first thing in the morning.

MaxPass enables you to book fastpasses using the Disneyland app, instead of having to walk over to the physical FP machines. It also comes with PhotoPass.

 

[flyingjay]

We were there the first week of April this year (over Easter) with our 7, 5, and 3 year old. I found the crowds pretty manageable. The big thing for us was maximizing our mornings. We'd do Alice/Small World/Teacups/Casey Jr/Carousel first thing. The we made sure to get into toontown when they opened the gate. My 3 year old would go on the go-coaster multiple times in a row. It was his absolute favourite. One day, he went 8 times in a row...the CM's started letting us just stay on the ride because there was no lineup.

We would do all the kiddie rides right away and then the older two got to do some of their preferred rides with FP's in the afternoon. We'd usually get to WOC or Fantasmic around 45 mins before and get decent view's. There were certainly decent sized crowds, but maximizing the mornings was the biggest key for us.

 

[OneThree]

We went the last week of March this year and I wouldn't say the crowds were bad, at least not until early afternoon most days. With your kids being younger in age I assume you won't be hitting the rides that did have really long waits in the afternoon.

Our kids are older (10 and 7) but they still like many of the Fantasyland rides and the only one I recall having a long wait was PP but that is just the norm and not spring break related.

 

[Gretchen1973]

We went the first week of April as well and found the crowds to be quite heavy. That being said we managed quite well using MaxPass. I understand you aren't really going on rides that will utilize that so I wouldn't recommend that as an option for you. We did wait probably 20-30 minutes for Toad and probably 20 for Snow White and Pinocchio. We didn't do PP because our family doesn't care enough to wait 45 minutes. Little kid rides at California Adventure were more manageable than that. We also love the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail area in CA as a place to get away from the crowds.

 

[DizneyMommy]

For reference, Easter is April 21st next year, it was April 1st this year. While a lot of schools are not tied to Easter, a lot of local schools are and take it either the week before or after. Given how late Easter is, I would expect a lot of local schools out the week prior, so April 13-21st. Spring break is tricky because you have to consider when Easter actually is. I would take my kids the last week of March next year without hesitation. It won't likely be totally insane, but it will be crowded.

ETA - you may have hit "ski week" or a week break some schools locally take around President's day when you had those Feb crowds. Other than that week, February is generally pretty easy going.