Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Tip Tuesday: Easter at Walt Disney World

Welcome to another Tip Tuesday.

With the start of the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival and spring break on the horizon, that means Easter is almost upon us. What better place to spend Easter than Walt Disney World! That may sound like a strange thing to say given that Easter traditionally is one of the busiest times of the year (aside from New Years, Christmas and Independence Day). According to the crowd calendar at TouringPlans.com, Easter is a big fat 10 on the crowd scale, meaning that peak waits of 95-150 minutes for major attractions are possible.

With those kinds of crowds, you might think it's better to skip WDW all together.

I wouldn't and didn't. I was fortunate to spend last Easter at Walt Disney World and had a fantastic time.

So here are the tips for making the most of Easter at WDW.

1. Get to the Magic Kingdom for Park opening. On Easter Sunday, dozens (if not nearly a hundred) female cast members don frilly Southern belle-style dresses and linger outside the entrance and in Town Square. Later, these belles join the Easter Bunny for a special Easter parade.

2. Once you enter the park, go to the second level of the train station and take a wide shot of Town Square with Cinderella Castle in the far background. Be sure to stand in the dead center. It's quite a sight, and I wish I had done this myself. Trust me, you'll appreciate the shot, especially if it's a sunny day.

3. Go ahead and grab some quick FastPasses and then hit a few attractions. The park wasn't all that crowded up until about noon - that's when the crowds started to swell creating those massive wait times.

4. Once you notice the crowds getting bigger, it's time to park hop. I would suggest going to either Epcot or Animal Kingdom.

At Epcot, try enjoy some the exhibits at the Flower and Garden Festival. It wouldn't hurt to take a peek at the tip board located by the main pin shop to see if it's worth getting a FastPass for one of the main attractions here. Also this is a great time to wander the World Showcase Pavilions and really take some time to experience everything each pavilion has to offer. The different films at the pavilions get overlooked, so give them a try. Don't be surprised if Malestrom has a huge wait time, but the American Adventure might be worth a shot. As the evening approaches, try something different to eat at one of the pavilions (maybe the Tangerine Cafe or Yakitori House?) and find a good spot to watch Illuminations.

If you go to AK, see if you can get a FastPass for one of the late safaris. It's likely that the FastPasses are gone, but it wouldn't hurt to see what the standby line is like. Expedition Everest will be nuts, so I wouldn't even try. The benefit of Animal Kingdom is that there are a lot of walking trails and things to see. With the cooler weather, I would walk some of the animal trails and find a good spot to watch the Jammin' Jungle Parade. You might luck into a late showing of the Festival of the Lion King. As the park comes to a close, I'd suggest hopping either back to the MK or to Epcot to catch Wishes or Illuminations to round out a great Easter at Walt Disney World.

Wherever you happen to be, I hope you and your family have a great Easter!
"Here comes Peter Cottontail, hopin' down the bunny trail..."

3 comments:

x said...

Awesome blog! I love Disney too :D

sea_bass said...

thanks for the tips, chuck!

APlace said...

The fifty girls in the frilly dresses are actually high school seniors from Mobile, AL. They are called Azalea Trail Maids and serve as diplomats for Mobile. They must have high GPA's, be involved in the community, and go through a rigorous selection process.

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