Wow - looks packed at MK today! (ride wait times) - April 2nd

I have good friends there right now, it's their first trip. They are there with their kids, and both sets of grandparents. Their oldest is in Kindy and school break is the only time they can go (schools are uber strict on absences here, even in Kindy) so they are there for Spring Break. I talked to her about lunchtime today and they were at AK, their first park day. She said they had a good day this morning. Thing is, like most first timers, they don't know any better. They don't know that they aren't getting as much done. They don't know that it's not always this crowded or that lines aren't always this long. They think this is the norm. So to them, they are having a grand ole time and getting done exactly what they planned.
I helped friends plan a first-time trip for last week. I was worried for them, but she had the same reply. Maybe I beat the "It's Going To Be Extremely Busy" drum too hard and they were just relieved to accomplish anything at all. :laughing:
 
Oh, there's plenty of Spring breaks left in parts of the country. In the NE, many schools go through mid-late June and have spring break during the next 2 weeks. We're in upstate NY and go through the end of June, 2 years ago our Spring break was the very last week of April, leading into May. Haven't had our spring break this year yet either. Having said that, I'd expect next week to be much better (crowd wise) than this week. This week is probably the worst for Spring break, with a close 2nd of last week. After those 2 weeks, the rest (early March - the very end of April) are still Spring break crowds, but nothing like the 2 weeks around Easter (especially when Easters on the earlier side.)

I hope you are right! We fly down on the 14th and I am praying the crowds die down before then. I honestly don't think I could handle the crowds I'm seeing in pictures this week...
 


Got to Studios about hour ago. For midday security was long. Guy searching my bag was “too happy” and he says “this is all ok, smile! Wait until TSL opens” then a slight evil laugh.

Glad we left Epcot, MDE FP+ is all gone! You can’t even click it open. Might as well say “No FP+ for you and you and you!”

But there is no problem getting one for ROL! :rotfl2:

View attachment 313659

I have only seen that when the parks are closed :eek:
 
Yahoo! Bad weather in NE causing us one more day in Disney!! What’s another $800 in the big picture!! Good thing BC had a room for us. No FP but we’ll deal with it.

Here now.
Booked no FP+ until each morning.
Had no issues and have barely entered a SB line.
Refresh is your friend.

OR perfect time to relax and enjoy.
Just shopped in Morocco,
Now sitting in shade,
With a Casa Beer,
And listening to great music.
 


Here now.
Booked no FP+ until each morning.
Had no issues and have barely entered a SB line.
Refresh is your friend.

OR perfect time to relax and enjoy.
Just shopped in Morocco,
Now sitting in shade,
With a Casa Beer,
And listening to great music.
Hi, Hopper Fan! We are also enjoying Epcot today- in spite of the crowds. Grounds are beautiful. We just got our 6th fastpass for Test Track and are going to enjoy the playground and food stalls until it’s time for TT at 5.
 
I’m here too! At Soarin’ now and then heading to the World Showcase.
Hello! An hour and forty five minutes for standby at Soarin’ a little while ago. I assume you have a fastpass.

I’ve seen both Frozen and TT pop up today when I was looking for 4th, 5th, and 6th fastpasses. So it’s crazy crowded but not impossible to enjoy.
 
Of all of the times of year to go, spring break -- and Easter week in particular -- would be my last choice.

Setting aside the sheer attendance numbers, spring is also a logistics challenge. During the summer, the parks can be staffed up as much as Disney wants (up to a certain capacity). There's a full roster of local college CMs who are available to work. Spring break is surrounded by much quieter periods, so you can't recruit as many seasonal CMs, and local college students have varying spring breaks. This puts an enormous pressure/strain on existing CMs who must put in longer hours with less flexibility.

Not saying you can't have a good time... and happy that many people report that they are... but if people are asking me whether they should go during spring, summer, or winter school breaks, I'd pick spring last.
 
I hope you are right! We fly down on the 14th and I am praying the crowds die down before then. I honestly don't think I could handle the crowds I'm seeing in pictures this week...
FWIW Mass. and Maine public school vacation week starts April 15. New Zealand 14th-29th (I always seem to run into many people from NZ on our April vacation week trips).
 
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I’m here too! At Soarin’ now and then heading to the World Showcase.


Hello! An hour and forty five minutes for standby at Soarin’ a little while ago. I assume you have a fastpass.

I’ve seen both Frozen and TT pop up today when I was looking for 4th, 5th, and 6th fastpasses. So it’s crazy crowded but not impossible to enjoy.

Well DS1 took a left turn so had to leave. Sitting a Freddy’s with ice cream sundaes! You all enjoy!!
 
Well DS1 took a left turn so had to leave. Sitting a Freddy’s with ice cream sundaes! You all enjoy!!
Thanks! Sorry your plans were altered. Enjoy your evening! We just got in line for our TT fastpass and got another TT fastpass for 6 pm. We will be hanging around here for a while.
 
is this THE big week for spring break?

Like I said we were here the exact same week and days last year .... it was NO where near this crowded. Normally I avoid mid March through mid April so I can't say for sure which weeks are the worst. I think the this week ended up a double whammy .... a traditional spring break week for kids ... and the Easter break which is often a different set of school breaks. The few CMs I talked to about the crowds all said the same ... when you add Easter to a spring break week this is what you get.
 
Yep, we're in central CT and our spring break is next week. My colleague's kids have the week after.

I'm sure hoping that next week's crowds are much lower than these reports...fingers crossed!

Yep, ours is next week as well (Northern KY). We will be there April 8-15, hoping for only mildly crazy crowds.
 
The blog post on EasyWDW today made me happy to be at work and that’s saying something.

Wow, I just read the post, that was one of the most intense Disney Line articles I have ever seen. That looked like absolute madness. What hit me most was a line just to get into the waiting area of Hall of Presidents. Wow! I have never seen such a thing, normally you can at least get in the door.

Also, on a side note, that person needs to keep their camera straight! I know it's the hip thing to do, but does every other picture need to be tilted?
 
Of all of the times of year to go, spring break -- and Easter week in particular -- would be my last choice.

Setting aside the sheer attendance numbers, spring is also a logistics challenge. During the summer, the parks can be staffed up as much as Disney wants (up to a certain capacity). There's a full roster of local college CMs who are available to work. Spring break is surrounded by much quieter periods, so you can't recruit as many seasonal CMs, and local college students have varying spring breaks. This puts an enormous pressure/strain on existing CMs who must put in longer hours with less flexibility.

Not saying you can't have a good time... and happy that many people report that they are... but if people are asking me whether they should go during spring, summer, or winter school breaks, I'd pick spring last.

You make some good points. I always assume Disney can just staff to whatever level they want, but that is an unfair assumption.

As to the extra strain on the CMs, I would just like to say how amazing every CM I have encountered has been. I’ve been in the parks three full days and haven’t seen a single CM not doing everything he or she could to be friendly and helpful and competent and to move lines along as quickly and efficiently as possible. They have such hard jobs having to deal with grumpy crowds and they have been outstanding.
 

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