Will Easter week (3rd week in April) likely be much busier than Presidents Day week?

[barefootMom]

Hi all,
I have a trip booked for Feb. during Presidents Day week and know it will be busy that week. For various reasons, we may need to delay our trip and would next chance to go would happen to fall on Easter week which I know is supposed to be super busy. My question is, do you think it will be THAT much busier? We've been during school vacation weeks before so know to plan adrs, fast passes, etc. in advance and we would be staying on property, but since it will also be a little more expensive that April week, I am wondering if the increase in crowds will make it TOO busy?? Thoughts?

 

[need2travel]

Hi, we've never gone for Presidents Day week (I won't fly in winter) but we do go for Easter most years & while busy it is totally doable. We don't have kids but DH is a teacher so we can only go during school vacations when the crowd levels are up. Easter Week is actually our favorite time to go, the weather is perfect & all the extra flowers & topiaries at Epcot because of the Flower & Garden Festival make everything so pretty. We're from NY so it's nice to be warm & see colorful flowers after freezing our butts of for months You'll be staying on property & you know to do FP's & ADRs, add in few EMH's & have a bit of plan for each day & you'll be fine. Just hit the parks in the morning & give yourself a swim/nap break back at your resort in the afternoon when the parks are at their most crowded. Hope this helps!

 

[Dis703]

Easter is supposedly the second busiest week of the year for Disney so I would expect it to be much busier than President's Day week. I had been looking at crowd calendars not long ago and other than the weekend I don't think that the week of President's day looked that bad at all.

 

[Robo]

Yup.

 

[bastraker]

We've done Easter week before and it's the one time that my husband refuses to repeat.

It's very busy and we go July 4th most years- so we're used to crowds.

 

[Klinger13]

I know it will be crazy busy but I'm wondering if because it's later in April and many schools have spring break in March if it won't be "as bad" as usual? We're going 4/15-4/19 and there are still many of the harder to get ADRs available which surprised me. Either way, we're planning for super crowded and have our plans.

 

[mjkacmom]

Lots of schools here in the northeast have that week off for spring break, regardless of when Easter falls (the same schools who have presidents week off).

 

[DVCcurious]

i have been President's day week in 2013.

I have been to Easter 2014, 2015, and 2016.

President's day week "feels" more like a late July/early August crowd. Sure it's busy, but it's not a beating.

For example:

Haunted Mansion/Pirates: 45 minutes
Splash/Thunder: 80 minutes
7 Dwarfs: 100 minutes
It's a Small World: 20 minutes
Great Goofini: 30 minutes

Now Easter is truly a beating. You can expect these waits.

Haunted Mansion/Pirates: 60 minutes
Splash/Thunder: 120 minutes
7 Dwarfs: 150 minutes
It's a Small World: 40 minutes
Great Goofini: 60 minutes

There is a lot more people Easter week than President's week. While President's week is "busy" it's probably ranked like #10 in busiest weeks of the year whereas Easter week is always a top 5 (Christmas, week before Easter, week after Easter, July 4th are almost always the top 4 busiest weeks)

 

[Maleficent's Dad]

We usually go both weeks due to our kids' school schedules. Often we travel with our good friends.

IMO, there is absolutely no comparison - President's week is crowded, but Easter week brings it to a whole new level. It has always been significantly busier for us around Easter time. Always. (In the past 20 years, we've probably done both weeks about 15 times.) Our friends won't even consider going during Easter any longer.

Alas, with planning and prior knowledge, there's nothing you won't be able to do either week. Good luck with your decision.

 

[barefootMom]

thank you all...I think we will continue with our original plan of going in February!!

 

[Tattylou]

Lots of schools here in the northeast have that week off for spring break, regardless of when Easter falls (the same schools who have presidents week off).

This ^^^^

I've gone on a late Easter week that fell during the northeast school vacation week in 2014. We generally go to DL or wdw on spring break but if it falls on Easter we have vowed to do something different because that crowd situation was more than we want to deal with again....it was doable and we had fun, but think your wdw money and time is better spent on a non-Easter and less crazy week.

 

[kandb]

We're in northern NJ, our break this year is the week before Easter but know many schools that it is the week after Easter. Those 2 weeks are extremely busy, would never pay a lot of money to go to parks that are mobbed. Not only is the rides crowded, the restaurants, transportation, restrooms etc. No thank you. Good decision to keep February

 

[jonsmom57]

I am going to add my 2 cents. The last time we went to Disney was Easter 2011. NEVER AGAIN during that time frame. We live in Massachusetts and we have our spring break during the 3rd week of April. That is why we went. It was unbearable. Rhode Island and Connecticut also share their spring break during the 3rd week of April. In addition, Europeans historically take two weeks at Easter regardless of when Easter falls. Families rent homes and spend two weeks at WDW. The reason they say - there is nothing like WDW in Europe.