Share Positive Experiences with Current Crowd Levels

[Animal]

Hopped from AK to MK last night. In the final 1.5 hours we used a fastpass for Pooh we got at 715 pm (which was walkon anyway), a makeup fastpass for Peter Pan from the night before, a fastpass for IASW which was walkon, and a fastpass for buzz which was also walkon.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Ok peeps.... a reminder of DISBoard posting guideline #4: https://www.wdwinfo.com/guidelines.htm

4. NO FIGHTING/SARCASM​

While we'd like to think that a Disney fan site is always lighthearted, there are times when there are disagreements. Let's face it, there are certain topics that can transform any of us into a raging "Donald Duck." When you sense this is happening, we ask that you step away from the discussion before it escalates into a fight. Just like Mom always said about fighting, we don't care who started the argument and we don't want it on the DIS. (Okay, she didn't say the part about the DIS, but you know what we mean.) No attacking others and no sarcasm please. Either will result in an infraction

Thank you.

 

[Remy is Up]

Ok peeps.... a reminder of DISBoard posting guideline #4: https://www.wdwinfo.com/guidelines.htm

4. NO FIGHTING/SARCASM​

While we'd like to think that a Disney fan site is always lighthearted, there are times when there are disagreements. Let's face it, there are certain topics that can transform any of us into a raging "Donald Duck." When you sense this is happening, we ask that you step away from the discussion before it escalates into a fight. Just like Mom always said about fighting, we don't care who started the argument and we don't want it on the DIS. (Okay, she didn't say the part about the DIS, but you know what we mean.) No attacking others and no sarcasm please. Either will result in an infraction

Thank you.

Will do

 

[wilkydelts]

Thank you to everyone for sharing your positive experiences please continue to provide advice to those looking for it. The advice really does help people during very crowded times. As stated at the beginning of the thread please provide as much detail as you can about the group/family you visited with so people can see how that compares to their own group/family setup in order to best use the advice from your experience.

Spring Break season is upon us, I hope everyone has the trip of their dreams.

 

[M SH]

We got back from our trip last week.
We had 7 park days (2 @MK, 2 @HS, 2 @AK, 1 @EP). We had mixed experiences with crowds on different parks / days.
HS was always busy in the morning, and borderline unpleasant walking around. Our plan was get a BG (we were successful in getting a low one on each of our days), use 3 FPs, catch a show, and take a break before coming back in the late afternoon. the second part of the day was much more pleasant.
MK on Saturday was pretty slammed. Otherwise all parks seemed quite OK.

Our strategy was to not rope drop a headliner, but get as much done during the morning instead. for example:
AK: NRJ, Dino, EEx2 all standby and walkons if you arrive 15 mins before park opening.
MK: Speedway, Buzz, Pirates

FP Refresh wise:
- for AK, refresh worked great. We got everything day of, multiple times. We even got day of FOP FPs twice, so ended up doing FOP 6 times (3 each day with original FP + 2 day off FPs).
- for HS: besides MMRR and MFSR, FPs day of kept popping up. at night SDD, MFSR had short waits. other rides were walkons
- for Epcot: everything was attainable day of. we saw TT, Soarin many times, FEA a few times.
- for MK: this was more challenging. But during our last day there, MDE was super slow. 4-5 seconds between each refresh and errors sometimes in between. got Space a few times. BTMR once or twice. But i never saw day of SDMT and PP. this was unlike my previous trip where everything at MK was easy to get besides SDMT. other rides like WTP, IASW, Pirates, were usually available.

I think it was a pretty good week last week crowd wise in general. This might change with Spring break crowds coming in full force now though.

 

[Julia Ann]

Is spring break finished by Easter? Asking as a brit we don't do spring break and we arrive the day before Easter for 14 magical nights!

 

[sk_lou]

Solo trip to MK and AK yesterday. Started with 8:00 BOG reservation and rode SDMT twice before 9. Rope dropped PP. Fastpasses were HM, JC, Space Mountain and mixed in Splash and Pirates on standby with almost no wait. Took several breaks to grab some treats and found shady spots to relax and eat. Hopped over to AK around 1 and pulled FoP on the bus ride over. Had a dessert from Satuuli while waiting for my ride time. Refreshed and tweaked times while sitting and relaxing and was able to ride Kilimanjaro & Everest. I actually saw FoP pop up 2 other times while trying to tweak my Dinosaur times. Wish I’d grabbed it bc Dinosaur kept going down! Guest services transferred my anytime pass from Dinosaur downtime over to MK so I hopped back, rode Thunder Mountain, Tiki Room, and headed back to hotel by 8!
I’m headed back on Wednesday for Epcot, HS, and Villains After Hours.

 

[GovieMom]

Is spring break finished by Easter? Asking as a brit we don't do spring break and we arrive the day before Easter for 14 magical nights!

Since Easter is later this year, most spring breaks should finish up by then. Your busiest days will be the day before and day of Easter. Crowds should hopefully start to dwindle after that to a more moderate level, with your second week being even better. Best wishes for a great trip!

 

[TwinkleKS]

I have traveled for years with children during the busiest times of the year. We go for Christmas week every year. Yes, the fact we go often means we don't have to worry about this being our only trip and missing out on something - but my kids still have Must Do's on their list.

There are some things you can do to help that cost $$. Don't necessarily discount those options, especially if you have a smaller group. We travel with five people minimum so the extra cost items can be pretty expensive.

IMO the earlier you can ditch the stroller, the better. Not everyone agrees on this one, but to me it is one less element to worry about.

Set expectations. This is important for elementary on up ages. They need to know going in you might not get to ride everything OR that if you want to ride you may have to wait in a long line. When one of my DDs was around 8 or 9, she was determined to ride SDMT. I told her very clearly that I was willing to wait in line with her, but it was going to be over an hour and that was the only way it was happening that trip. The other kids went off with DH and she and I stood in what ended up being a two hour line due to a ride stoppage at one point.

As others have said, take advantage of the shows, etc. Your toddler doesn't think the Tikki Room stinks unless you act like it does. Teenagers hate everything ;-) challenge them to pick the corniest song in Country Bears. My family has grown up with these shows and loves them. My 9 year old thinks the COP is the best ride at WDW.

If you are a planner, don't forget to think about travel time. You may think you can get from MK to HS for a dinner reservation and Fantasmic in 45 minutes ... but add some cushion time. Or determine if that dinner and Fantasmic is really the best use of your time.

Same with all of these mid day break / nap ideas. Do what is best for you, but your kid will probably fall asleep on the bus and be wide awake when you get to the resort I was always a fan of a mid afternoon ADR for a break. When the kids were little they slept through the meal.

Anyway, we were all just there over Christmas and had a great time and will be back for Spring Break.

 

[alwayssmile]

IMO the earlier you can ditch the stroller, the better. Not everyone agrees on this one, but to me it is one less element to worry about.

100%. I attribute us being able to get around faster and do more than others with multiple young kids to us not using a stroller. We used a baby carrier for our 2yo when we didn't want her to walk. She was a bit resistant the first day of our trip, but by the end was asking to go "up up!" We were able to weave through crowds easily in a line - one parent leading and the second parent at the end behind the kids. We never had to go searching for a stroller or find the nearest stroller parking. We just went straight into line. I'd take the 2yo out of the carrier right before we'd get on.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Is spring break finished by Easter? Asking as a brit we don't do spring break and we arrive the day before Easter for 14 magical nights!

Spring Break is sort of an amorphous "season" over here. Some school systems have set spring break weeks, some time it around Easter, and every variation in between. While unscientific, the 2020 Spring Break poll here on the DIS gives some clues as to the general breakdown of Spring Break season: https://www.disboards.com/threads/official-spring-break-2020-poll.3740812/

 

[CalSea12]

You don’t understand how a party of mostly adults or older kids would be more able to adapt to larger crowds than a family with little kids/toddlers??? I feel like that should be pretty obvious.

I guess its just my little kids but we have absolutely no problems with my 5 and 7 year old. They actually out pace me, crowds do not bother them, waiting in lines do not bother them... so no I don't see it.

 

[LSUmiss]

I guess its just my little kids but we have absolutely no problems with my 5 and 7 year old. They actually out pace me, crowds do not bother them, waiting in lines do not bother them... so no I don't see it.

I was talking younger. I should have specified. OP even talked about leaving home the 1 yr old. I expect it to be much easier when DS is that age.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

I guess its just my little kids but we have absolutely no problems with my 5 and 7 year old. They actually out pace me, crowds do not bother them, waiting in lines do not bother them... so no I don't see it.

We started going when my DS was 2 and it became sooo much easier once he got older (7 now). All my kids can wait in line for a reasonable time. We don’t have emergency bathroom breaks. They can stay up later. No tantrums when a ride they want to go on has too long a wait. No diaper bag or stroller. No fear of characters. No naps. It’s really a lot easier with school age kids to zig when the crowds zag.

 

[wilkydelts]

I think it just depends the mix of your kids. You have to plan, be flexible, and realistic. I'm used to crowds and working with them cause our windows are summer and spring break, don't have options to plan other times.
When we had only 1 of our kids over 40inches we knew our ride types were limited did not even worry about certain rides. We stuck to MK and AK. Those were great trips and got everything we wanted to accomplish done and that was with no smartphone and did extra FP+ by staying in a land and running back and forth to the kiosk to book more FP+ (this was 2 years ago). We did not do larger rides cause using rider swap to ride alone did not appeal to us.
It is nice to do everything but we decided that both EPCOT and HS are hard and pointless with many kids under 40inches, there are not enough family rides so it didn't sound fun so we stuck to what was fun.
This time we are finally getting back to HS years later because all kids but one over 40inches and had a opportunity to have 1 year old stay with Grandparents. We can now do "big kid" things as my 4 year old says and have some focus on the older kids. If we didn't have that option we would be doing MK yet again and would have just as great of experience and would be child swapping larger rides and all 6 riding family rides.

All in all I go for my kids, and that is what makes the experience amazing and that will never be affected by crowd levels.

 

[kdfogliano]

Since Easter is later this year, most spring breaks should finish up by then. Your busiest days will be the day before and day of Easter. Crowds should hopefully start to dwindle after that to a more moderate level, with your second week being even better. Best wishes for a great trip!

easter week is a pretty popular school vacation week here in the northeast- and from experience pretty busy in the parks. But still doable!! Especially if you are there for 14 days! Rack up those fast passes and have fun!

 

[DisLiss]

I think every family dynamic is so different. We used to use the divide & conquer technique when our kids were younger because we have just two and there are several years between them, for instance. Clearly that doesn't work the same for a family with 5 kids or one with kids who are all very close in age. But for us it allowed us to keep the baby more or less on his regular schedule while not constantly disrupting the elementary school child's day.

I was nursing, so I would keep an eye on the time and bear in mind how long it would take me to push the stroller back to the baby center. (I could have fed him and changed him anywhere, but having a spot where I could cool off and relax while I cared for him made the day nicer for me, even if I did walk my tail off, LOL!) We went back there several times during the day and in between he would nap in his stroller because with his feedings happening on a schedule similar to his routine at home, it helped him to nap even in a very different situation. And when we'd rejoin DH & my older child they'd fill us in on what they did while we were gone, which helped my older child fill up a bit of line time every so often.

Of course, this is super important, too:

Set expectations. This is important for elementary on up ages. They need to know going in you might not get to ride everything OR that if you want to ride you may have to wait in a long line.

We found even younger kids can understand some expectations ahead of time if you repeat them often, keep them short & sweet, and dole them out just a few at a time. Realistic expectations are huge for everyone, really! Adults included!

One thing we try, now that our kids are older, is to have everyone pick 3 things per park that they are interested in and we say that we will try our very best to make at least one of those things happen. That's it---just one. Then anything beyond one of those three things is a bonus.