What is late spring like?

[abinormal]

I'm in the process of planning our first trip, which keeps getting pushed back further and further. I had hoped to do a fall trip for our first one, but the finances aren't going to work out until next year.

It's looking like next spring will be the earliest we could go. What is that like, crowd-wise? Say, after Easter but before SWW. We'd be two parents with a five year old and a 2.5 year old. Will it be unbearably crowded?

 

[branv]

We've always found it to be fair. You could count on it being busy but not usually insane. We haven't been since FP+, but I can say that before that we found it pretty important during that time to utilize best park recommendations, fast pass and rope drop. It was almost always too crowded for us after 1 pm, so we always leave the park in the afternoon that time of year and later hop to a another park that evening. I'd say that mornings with FP and rope drop we easily hit all the headliners by noon. By afternoon, for instance, the mountains would usually be at a 50-60 minute stand by on average.

Definitely true that parade nights at MK can be insane that time of year though. Always feels like wall to wall people to me, but if you don't want to see the parade, can be a good time to hit those rides. Just be prepared to wait forever for transport home or close down the park and let the bus lines clear.

 

[abinormal]

Good tips, thanks! I'm not afraid to use TP, EWDW, and hopping. Just want to make sure it's even reasonable to expect to stay ahead.

 

[Ava]

My last several trips have been in the spring, and I think it's a nice time to go as long as you can avoid the big Easter/Spring Break crowds. Our last trip, in 2011, was in early May and it was nice; not too crowded, and you get the Flower & Garden Festival in Epcot which is neat and offers some additional activities beyond the regular park attractions. It can get hot in the afternoons, but I think that's true of almost any time of year in Florida.

 

[trewin]

I went in late April 13' - with kids almost the same age. We went to park at drop and left by dinner. I thought it was great crowd-wise, we got to do everything we wanted (with a bit of planning). My only suggestion is to take a poncho we did get rained out one day.

 

[SqueakyMouse]

The weeks on either side of Easter generally are very busy. Other than that, it depends on when Easter falls. The year before last, we made a last minute trip to WDW for Easter and the week after. It was very, very busy...with many resorts at or very near to capacity. Still, the weather was good; and we had a great time!

 

[abinormal]

I only just realized the Easy WDW has monthly predictions into next year. He's got the week after Easter as pretty slow. I hope he's right!

 

[mm1971]

Keep in mind that the crowd calendars change as we go along. Typically, the date of Easter is what is important. When it is earlier the crowds seem to be reported as higher for some reason. We went the week before Easter maybe 5 years ago and it was really slow, but it seems that is not the case anymore.

I would say if you can avoid the two week period with Easter in the middle, crowds should be low to manageable. Avoid pushing into Memorial Day week. We have been twice and it was REALLY busy.

 

[lucyem]

We go yearly the third week of April. It is a set vacation week by our schools. Normally we love it. Great weather and low crowds.

The wild card is Easter. March is a big spring break month. Easter is another target for vacation for a lot of schools making the weeks before and after Easter crowded. When Easter is in March you get a more perfect storm of March spring breakers plus Easter vacationers. When Easter is late, the March people still go in March but the Easter people obviously go later during the Easter weeks. Making the Easter weeks crowded in April but not as crowded as when they are in March. Following

Stay away from Easter and Memorial Day and you will be fine

We are moving this summer to a new school system that has a spring break on Easter week every year. We are totally bummed because now the crowds and prices will be high for us every year