The week following spring break..crowds?

[DisneyBliss7]

We just got back last week from a trip to WDW. Planning our next before our oldest graduates HS. We always go during lower crowds times. I want to stay 10 days to fit in Universal along with Disney. If we go the second half of spring break and the whole following week, how bad do you think crowds will be?

 

[ggdvc]

Unfortunately "spring break" isn't a common week for US schools. We learned that the hard way a couple of years ago, when we went the week after our spring break in IL - crowds were insane and we discovered a lot of other states had their spring breaks after ours. A better strategy may be to see where Easter falls, and then avoid the weeks before and maybe a week after. We did that this year - arrived on April 22. Aside from that being the Star Wars marathon weekend, crowds weren't too bad after Sunday.

 

[sharonabe]

We just got back last week from a trip to WDW. Planning our next before our oldest graduates HS. We always go during lower crowds times. I want to stay 10 days to fit in Universal along with Disney. If we go the second half of spring break and the whole following week, how bad do you think crowds will be?

As PP says, there is no such thing as a spring break "week." There is spring break season.

IF you're talking about the last half of Easter week (after Easter Sunday) and the next week, then Easter week will be very crowded and the next week will be much more manageable.

 

[Tattylou]

Yes, I think you need to define what is your spring break. In Mass and most of New England, next year spring break is the week of April 16. I know a lot of states also take breaks the week before and after Easter, which is early April next year I believe.

 

[MissKIA]

Our spring break is always the last week of March. It's different everywhere.

 

[scrapquitler]

We just got back last week from a trip to WDW. Planning our next before our oldest graduates HS. We always go during lower crowds times. I want to stay 10 days to fit in Universal along with Disney. If we go the second half of spring break and the whole following week, how bad do you think crowds will be?

That depends on what you are calling 'the second half of spring break'. Parts of the country (here in New England) have spring break much later than other parts...in my area, everyone has the second and third week of April, regardless of when Easter falls. You can expect Spring Break crowds until almost the end of April.

 

[North of Mouse]

We just got back last week from a trip to WDW. Planning our next before our oldest graduates HS. We always go during lower crowds times. I want to stay 10 days to fit in Universal along with Disney. If we go the second half of spring break and the whole following week, how bad do you think crowds will be?

Easter is April 1 of 2018, so end of March, first of April will be a crowded time. The last part of April, first part of May is usually 'relatively' slow (no 'slow' times anymore). We went those dates this year (10 nights) and were pleasantly pleased.

Not sure about what dates you are referring to as the second half of Spring break times. They usually 'mostly' run from middle of March til end of April, with a few before and after those dates.

 

[Accident]

and when spring break season is finally ending, then the school competitions and performances ramp up until mid/end may when we say hello to locals getting out of school and summer season...

 

[icesk8abc]

We usually travel during "slower seasons", but were there April 25-May 2nd this year to meet up with a friend and say good-bye to Wishes. I would call the crowds busier, but manageable. We also move more slowly right now because we travel with a baby and a preschooler. It means our expectations of getting things done were lower than usual.

 

[DisneyBliss7]

The dates I'm thinking we would be arrive Wednesday after Easter and stay through the following next week.

 

[DisneyBliss7]

I want to stay about 10 days but don't want the kids to miss more than 5 days of school. So I'm trying to combine our trip partially over a school break. Does anyone have other suggestions for a different time of year we could go? End of June? Late August?

 

[sharonabe]

The dates I'm thinking we would be arrive Wednesday after Easter and stay through the following next week.

Since you're staying the following week, I'd choose this over anything in late June/early August. It will be really busy that week of Easter, but come Sunday, or Monday at the latest, you'll see and feel a huge difference. You may have a 7 am early EMH at MK that first week which can be golden if you can get up for it. You would have a very uncrowded MK for about 2 hours. If it were me, I'd do some early EMH that first week and then do the things I never seem to have time to do like Tom Sawyer Island, the shows at EP...the things that used to be A or B ticket rides. The things other people aren't going to be scrambling to do. Then plan the 2nd, full week for the E ticket rides. With FP+, you can still do some of those the first week too, but I wouldn't wait in any standby line longer than 20-30 min. I might also plan more down time that first week and enjoy the pool, do some of the night time activities at your resort, explore DS or the Boardwalk.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Agree with the PP. The first few days will be crowded, but things will be much better after that.

 

[DisneyBliss7]

Thank you all for the great info!

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

The dates I'm thinking we would be arrive Wednesday after Easter and stay through the following next week.

I have been twice right around Easter.

In 2015, our Spring Break was the week after Easter (Easter was April 5th). It was super crowded - 9s and 10s across all the parks. I checked the touringplans historical crowd calendar for the week before Easter 2015, and it was also super crowded (9s and 10s).

In 2017, Easter was later in April (April 16th). Because Easter was so late, all our schools had off the week before Easter. It was super crowded - 9s and 10s across all the parks. The crowds dropped of on Saturday and Easter Sunday, and the week after Easter had substantially lower crowds than the previous week.

So based on my own limited personal experience and on studying touringplans historical crowd calendar for the past several Easters, when Easter is really late, most schools have off the week before Easter and the crowds the week after Easter are lower. When Easter is in March or early April, both the weeks before and after Easter are super crowded.