Easter 2014 phase closing watch

[wdwmagic]

We are now heading into the max attendance period for Spring and Easter 2014, so time to fire up the phase closing watch thread.

Here is the guide to phase closings:
http://www.wdwmagic.com/park-closing-phases.htm

 

[TheRabbit]

Entertainment is trying something new this week at the Magic Kingdom. Fireworks will go FIRST at 9pm, then parade at 10pm and again at Midnight. Very interesting to see how that works out with crowd control.

 

[Bolt]

Entertainment is trying something new this week at the Magic Kingdom. Fireworks will go FIRST at 9pm, then parade at 10pm and again at Midnight. Very interesting to see how that works out with crowd control.

Yeah - I wonder about this. I feel like more people stay for the Fireworks than the Parade. Flush them out and have more room for parade guests who actually want to see it.

 

[mikeymouse]

I wonder how it will be 2nd week of May. Insiders say low to moderate, but this thread is making me worried.

 

[TimeTrip]

Epcot was seriously uncrowded for this time of year. Arriving at 130 the main parking lot sections still had many empty rows at the back (at least 6 or so) and the east lots were unused (except for the usual AAA stuff). The world showcase was also light around 5ish. The usual bottleneck by mexico didn't exist. I've seen far worse on F+W festival days. The place was so uncrowded that the fish and chips outdoor line had one person on it ay around 6. Weird.

 

[Goofnut1980]

I wonder how it will be 2nd week of May. Insiders say low to moderate, but this thread is making me worried.

I know.. we are going the 9th of May to the 16th!

 

[cw1982]

I wonder how it will be 2nd week of May. Insiders say low to moderate, but this thread is making me worried.

My hunch is that this has little indication for the 2nd week of May; Easter crowds will be long gone by then

 

[mikeymouse]

Unless Mine Train brings more in. We'll deal with it. Might have to use FP+ after all.

 

[Zummi Gummi]

The Magic Kingdom was not nearly as hellish as I was expecting this past Saturday. Space and Splash had between 60-75 minute waits all day, which isn't great, but not horrendous. Plenty of parade spots available at 2:30 in Frontierland.

I suspect the heavy crowds are just now arriving, though. This week (and especially the weekend) should be quite busy.

 

[cw1982]

Unless Mine Train brings more in. We'll deal with it. Might have to use FP+ after all.

Yes, but this thread is about the Easter crowds and phase closings. 7DMT isn't expected to be officially open for a few more weeks, so that has very little to do with Easter crowds.

All I'm saying is that watching this thread to get an idea of what things will look like a month from now is probably not going to be very helpful.

 

[TheRabbit]

Yeah - I wonder about this. I feel like more people stay for the Fireworks than the Parade. Flush them out and have more room for parade guests who actually want to see it.

Was in there the past 2 nights and (my opinion) is that it's better the old way (parade/fireworks/parade). Crowd control is noticably worse with fireworks first.

 

[Jakester]

Does anybody find it strange that these are operating hours Easter Sunday
MK - 9:00am - 11:00pm (EMH 8:00a - 9:00a, 11:00p - 1:00a)
Epcot - 9:00am- 9:00pm
DHS - 9:00am -8:00pm
DAK - 9:00am - 8:00pm

 

[cheezbat]

Idk about the theme parks, but Blizzard Beach was packed yesterday! It took me an hour to find ONE freaking lawn chair to sit out on!

And the waits for the slides...don't even get me started on that!

 

[Newlife276]

Does anybody find it strange that these are operating hours Easter Sunday
MK - 9:00am - 11:00pm (EMH 8:00a - 9:00a, 11:00p - 1:00a)
Epcot - 9:00am- 9:00pm
DHS - 9:00am -8:00pm
DAK - 9:00am - 8:00pm

I'll be there starting this Thursday & I was really hoping for some non-MK Evening EMH hours at any of the other parks. Maybe they'll surprise us while were there.

 

[Jakester]

I'll be there starting this Thursday & I was really hoping for some non-MK Evening EMH hours at any of the other parks. Maybe they'll surprise us while were there.

I just feel Disney is under expecting attendance. I don't really recall recent years where MK isnt atleast at 8:00am - 1:00am with EMH both AM and PM.

 

[BryceM]

I'll be at DHS on Easter Sunday, and I'm expecting it to be decently crowded, but hopefully not too bad... *fingers crossed*

 

[rct247]

With Easter being so late this year, crowd projections have dropped and then so far this week even with lowered projections, there are a couple days where it hasn't been as crowded as expected.

Rain helped keep people away today. Other than the storms today is has been beautiful weather and a great time in the parks. It's busy, but still manageable.

 

[pheneix]

Six week Spring Break peak attendance period due to Easter falling so late on 4/20. A front loaded Spring Break attendance period at that, with the bulk of the high attendance occurring in March.

I know I've been around the block a few times on this beat, but really, am I the only person that anticipated this? Surely the attendance forecasting teams at Disney and Universal aren't this sloppy....

That being said, tomorrow should be a sufficiently insane busy day for most Orlando parks because the weather sucked today.

 

[Jakester]

Six week Spring Break peak attendance period due to Easter falling so late on 4/20. A front loaded Spring Break attendance period at that, with the bulk of the high attendance occurring in March.

I know I've been around the block a few times on this beat, but really, am I the only person that anticipated this? Surely the attendance forecasting teams at Disney and Universal aren't this sloppy....

That being said, tomorrow should be a sufficiently insane busy day for most Orlando parks because the weather sucked today.

I
I will be at the Fastpass Kiosks at DHS today until roughly 5:00pm. IMO in-park demand for kiosks hasn't been like it used to be. The busiest the kiosks ever got was during the peak of spring break. But yesterday wasn't anything unbearable.

 

[wdwmagic]

MK parking lot hit capacity earlier today, park remained open to all guests.