April crowds

Cjtigger

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jan 13, 2015
We are thinking about going for four nights in the middle of April. We went October 23-27 and then December 4, 2017 and the crowds were horrendous.

Is is going to be the same for April 15-21? It just isn't fun anymore and I hate to spend the $2000+ if we aren't going to have some fun.

Thanks for your advice.
 
It will be busy, but not holiday Easter/Christmas busy. The Thursday 4/19 is the start of the dark side marathon crowds, it is also New England school vacation week. If you could postpone by one week you will likely have lower crowds. We have to go that week because of school.
 
We are going at almost the same time - 4/11-4/18. We chose that timeframe specifically to avoid the crowds from easter and from the marathon.
 
Wait a second...so will April 20-24 be busy too? I chose that week based on dads crowd calendar saying low crowds.
 


Easter is 4/1. The Star Wars half marathon and related races are 4/20-22. Those will draw extra guests.
 
I chose the 14 - 21 to avoid Easter. Didn't know about the marathon til a few weeks ago. Also read New England schools have break that week too. Glad I booked a discounted room at YC months ago because both Y & B clubs are pretty booked up that week now. Seems like it will be busier than I had anticipated.
 


Wait a second...so will April 20-24 be busy too? I chose that week based on dads crowd calendar saying low crowds.
For whatever it's worth, "value" one-day tickets are being accepted 4/23 to 4/27. So Disney, at least, is not expecting your last two days to be especially busy.
 
Any advice for avoiding the crowds during that Star Wars marathon weekend? Are they at a particular park on a particular day?
 
Any advice for avoiding the crowds during that Star Wars marathon weekend? Are they at a particular park on a particular day?
Yes Please. I am getting ready to make dining reservations and would love to know what parks to avoid on Friday and Saturday.

Thanks,
 
Well from someone who has run half marathons and done a marathon I would think the day of the race is the time to hit the parks. I know most running plans have them running a shorter distance the next day so many might choose to walk instead of run the next day.
 
Of course, I book for the 21-25th and NOW I find out about the marathon.
Ugh.
What park do they run in?
 
We've booked as husband decided he wanted to do the star wars marathon this year, .
Our dates are 19th-26th onsite at Disney then over to Universal for 5 nights, with a day bk at mk for Dapper wk end which is the 28th/29th all resorts are incredibly booked up!
We was dissapointed that only club level theme park views was left or honeymoon suits at any of the deluxe we wanted! Also pop is completely booked up as it most moderates except carribean beach and coronado so I'm expecting it to be really busy,
We picked this time originally thinking it was low crowds after just having done 3wks at Xmas with horrific crowds
 
Ok can anyone confirm what exact days between April 19-24 they think will be busy at MK and Epcot. I know there are no guarantees but maybe someone with experience of marathons at Disney can make a good guess. I really don't want to reschedule our trip again bc May is going to be too hot. I'm kind of annoyed dads calendar was wrong. How could he not know about the marathon?
 
Ok can anyone confirm what exact days between April 19-24 they think will be busy at MK and Epcot. I know there are no guarantees but maybe someone with experience of marathons at Disney can make a good guess. I really don't want to reschedule our trip again bc May is going to be too hot. I'm kind of annoyed dads calendar was wrong. How could he not know about the marathon?

we are going that same week April 13th-23rd because of all my research this looked like one of the better weeks to go..... while I was a little bummed about seeing the marathon everything that I have read and researched points to this not being too much of an impact. I don't think you need to reschedule but if you go on the run Disney website it gives the itinerary of the events and times....all races are super early in the morning which should impact parks......

also a lot of Disney's marathons sell out rather quickly but this is still open for registration which again has me crossing my fingers its not a huge impact to the week
 
Based by how many of us are going that week, I'm thinking it will be busy. I can't wait til we're retired & don't have to plan around work issues!
 
We were there last year over the marathon weekend. I don't remember the parks being more crowded in terms of wait times. Property felt more crowded though. The only thing we plan around is road closures if we are trying to go to the parks in the morning.
 
Based by how many of us are going that week, I'm thinking it will be busy. I can't wait til we're retired & don't have to plan around work issues!

True but realistically when is Disney NOT busy .... also lot of people are doing research, reading books, and getting same info I am, you are, etc ..... so In reality if enough people take these sites advice and go the so called better weeks obviously it won’t be so much better lol ..... all I know is I was there Easter Week last year and I don’t know what can be worse then that .... I have never seen it that crowded before nor do I ever want to!!! Lol
 
Ok can anyone confirm what exact days between April 19-24 they think will be busy at MK and Epcot. I know there are no guarantees but maybe someone with experience of marathons at Disney can make a good guess. I really don't want to reschedule our trip again bc May is going to be too hot. I'm kind of annoyed dads calendar was wrong. How could he not know about the marathon?

April generally sees moderate crowd levels, as long as you avoid Easter week. As noted, the marathons don't impact crowd levels much. The races start super early, and there can be some traffic issues because of re-routing buses, but that generally isn't significant. I personally wouldn't reschedule anything because of a marathon, because they're easy to work around. As far as which parks would be better that weekend, a good rule of thumb is to avoid MK on any Saturday, marathon or not. Otherwise, just do some research with the various crowd level sites (I personally prefer touring plans because there is actual science behind their crowd calendars), and make a good plan. The touring plans site will tell you that having a solid plan is much more important than which day you go.
 

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