[ressieb]

Hello,

How are the crowds the Monday following Easter?? How do you convince a group of people to stay on-site when they have only stayed of-site at timeshares??

[tinkermommy]

I don't really know about going after Easter part, but as far as staying onsite goes, I had todo the same with my DH. You just have to do a bit of research. Find all you can on the internet and of course here! Ask lots of questions about the pros and cons of staying on site. The biggest for us is the transportation. That is the most important and I hear that it is very good ( haven't stayed onsite either and are planning to in May of 05. Still trying to sell it to DH). Or you could use the, lets try something different routine. Some people don't care about the whole embiance thing so that doesn't really work. If all else fails, just say look, lets just try it once and if we don't like it, we won't have to do it again. Or you might be able to sell it to your family like, "just do it for me because I'd really like to" I know it's a little manipulative, but hey, it's for the cause Good luck, I hope I have helped you and I hope it works for me

[geeman]

This year, my Parkhopping Pals and I arrived to WDW on Easter Sunday. One of them was a teacher, and that was the only time they could get off. We were there for that entire week after Easter - and if you've read my trip report elsewhere in this forum, you'll see that we had a great time despite the crowds. We did just about everything we set out to do, and left little behind undone. It was the first time my friends had gone park hopping like this, so we wanted to make sure we saw it all.
Sure, there were long waits. Average was about an hour or so for the ones that are always bad. But then there were many surprises. When we got to the park earlier, we covered more ground. When we got there later (since the parks were open very late), we covered the rest of it. Sufficed to say we had a super time despite the crowds. The weather was PERFECT. Not too hot, not too cold. Actually -- it was actually a LITTLE COOLER than usual - and that made the waits comfortable, not unbearable. The worst wait I can recall at WDW was for Test Track, which was over 80 minutes in the Single Rider Lane. We had longer waits at Universal, which we hit the day after Easter.
The resorts were comfy. We stayed at the Contemporary --- never felt any kind of crush of crowds there at all.
Now, since I had actually met my friends for that week in advance of a week in which I had to do family stuff in Florida, I got to stay for another week, sort of. The second week after Easter was much emptier at the parks AND at the resorts.
I think a lot has to do with setting a plan for what you want to see - look at the map and make your gameplan ahead of time. You'll probably be able to do everything.
My first answer to you would have been, "Ah, the crowds were fine." BUT, since I got to go again a month later (thanks to my AP), I saw a MAJOR difference in the crowds. BIG empty spaces where in April there'd been lots and lots of people.

[KarenT]

We were at WDW Good Friday to the Monday after Easter. We did everything we set out to do. Yes it was crowded. But if you have a plan, use Fastpasses and take advantage of the Early Entry, you shoud be fine. We went to the Magic Kingdom on Saturday. We took advantage of EE. By noon it was starting to get crowded. However we had gone on everything we wanted to. SO we went back to the Poly for a dip in the pool.
Later that night we went to MGM. We waited about 45 min for Rock and Rollercoaster , fastpasses were gone for the night.
Plan , stay on site and you should be OK
Have a good trip!

[ressieb]

Thank you for the responses - I figured it would be crowded which I am used to because we would vacation at WDW in August as a kid. But I was more so worried about the people in my party who would complain about how much money they spent to stand in line - we all know some of those people.

Anyway, I'm traveling with some WDW vets and newbies so I'll suggest purchasing guidebooks so we can set up a game plan for the week. Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated - thanks.