which week in April? and other q's

[thrupaytonseyes]

We are planning a surprise trip for our son for his birthday. He will be 5 on April 22. We will be going from Wednesday until either Sunday or Monday. In terms of crowd and all, which week do you think would be best? April 9, 16, or 23?

We plan on just packing the bags and car while he is at preschool then picking him up from school, driving to the airport, and surprising him somehow at the airport or something...any ideas on a great way to surprise him? Either at departure airport or MCO.

We plan on getting the birthday pin and letting them know everywhere that it is his birthday. May even do the fireworks cruise. Any other ideas?

This will be his 6th time to WDW, his FAVORITE place on earth. I am not sure if he thinks airplanes only bring people to Disney or what. We are going to be staying at the Wilderness Lodge.

TIA!

Carrie

 

[devoy1701]

Last week in April. By then the spring breakers will (for the most part) have departed from the World.

 

[devoy1701]

sry to post again...the fireworks cruise is REALLY overpriced....

it's very nice if you happen to be on the MK ferry while Wishes is going off....usually you're one of the only people on at that time and it's so peaceful.


and ask about being the Flag Family at the WL since it is your sons bday...unless you've already done that.

 

[KingStefan]

18-19 Apr and 25-26 Apr are Grad Nights. And there are rowdy packs of teens around. Not too bad, though. Plus the MK closes early for the special event.

Also, 20-26 Apr is Passover week, and a lot of NYC area schools will be out. That bumps up the levels as well.

[edited out, because touringplans.com crowd levels have been updated, and invalidates what I said earlier! sigh!]

 

[KingStefan]

Oops! Crowd levels have been revised, and the story looks a bit different now. I'll have to look at the situation and post again after I've had some time to review the numbers.

 

[KingStefan]

touringplans.com web site has revised their crowd levels, and now arriving on the 23rd appears to be the favorable choice for levels, in spite of grad nights and passover week.

And although the park will still close early to the general public on grad nights, the crowd levels are expected to be LOWER than normal on those days. So that could possibly work to your advantage.

I was there during passover week in 2005, which was another year where passover and easter did not coincide, and crowd levels were higher than Disney expected. They changed their park hours the last minute (two weeks before) and messed up my planning!

I've been trying to convince Len Testa that the same might happen this year, but he says that he's taken the school calendars from the NYC area into consideration, and his model's pretty good, so we'll see.

And by the way, that April 2005 trip I was there during grad nights (both weekends!) and aside from packs of teens cropping up here and there, we hardly noticed. I didn't like the shortened park hours, though.

Whatever you decide, have a magical trip!

 

[thrupaytonseyes]

Thanks! Disney is having one of their magical weeks of disney 4/6-4/12 so I figured that it was a slow week but I also know a lot of the schools in CT and MA have off the third week in April which would mean the 12th is the 1st day of their vacations. And we would be at WDW until 4/13 or 14. Then when I look at the airlines, the prices are up much higher to return home on 4/27 & 28 than they are 4/13 & 14.

 

[Nemo14]

Thanks! Disney is having one of their magical weeks of disney 4/6-4/12 so I figured that it was a slow week but I also know a lot of the schools in CT and MA have off the third week in April which would mean the 12th is the 1st day of their vacations. And we would be at WDW until 4/13 or 14. Then when I look at the airlines, the prices are up much higher to return home on 4/27 & 28 than they are 4/13 & 14.

I'm in RI and most of our schools have the third week of April off (beginning the 12th). It'a a big week for a lot of families around here to go to WDW.

 

[ThinkTink721]

We are planning a surprise trip for our son for his birthday. He will be 5 on April 22. We will be going from Wednesday until either Sunday or Monday. In terms of crowd and all, which week do you think would be best? April 9, 16, or 23?

We plan on just packing the bags and car while he is at preschool then picking him up from school, driving to the airport, and surprising him somehow at the airport or something...any ideas on a great way to surprise him? Either at departure airport or MCO.

We plan on getting the birthday pin and letting them know everywhere that it is his birthday. May even do the fireworks cruise. Any other ideas?

This will be his 6th time to WDW, his FAVORITE place on earth. I am not sure if he thinks airplanes only bring people to Disney or what. We are going to be staying at the Wilderness Lodge.

TIA!

Carrie

Try to go where you will be there on his b-day.
When you get to the airport, tell him that you are going on a "magical trip" to his favorite place.
You could give him a Mickey plush toy when he gets on the plane.
Order him a cake from WDW for his b-day. Let them know where you will be eating & they will deliver it to the restaurant for you.
We did this for our oldest DS for his 8th b-day.
We ate at The Crystal Palace & they decorated the table for us & everything.
If he is 4, he can do the Pirate Cruise from the Grand Floridian Resort.
My 2 DS's did this & they loved it!

Hope this helps!

:wave: