Easter at Disneyland

[pennym]

I wonder if anyone can tell me (Darkbeer maybe?) what the crowds will be like next Easter - we will be there from a week and a half before Easter to a few days after. As Easter is late, is it going to coincide with Spring Break? If not, does that mean it will be less crowded? I notice that people say Easter Sunday is very light at Knotts - is that likely to be the case at Disneyland too?
Thanks

[Darkbeer]

Good question, and Easter/Spring Breaks are getting harder to predict. In 2010, Disney for the first time expanded "Peak EasterSpring Break" from 2 weeks which has been the week before and after Easter Sunday to 4 weeks, which was mid-March through mid-April. Disney adjust hours usually due to the expected attendence, but also occasionally for special events, private parties, etc.

More and more schools have switched from having a break directly related to Easter Sunday to a fixed break, such as the third week in March, the middle of the semester or some other fixed time.

Easter Sunday in 2011 is late, April 24th, but folks will start coming in starting the second week of March, based on what Disney has scheduled for in the past. This will cause Disney some issues, as they will have to add a couple more weeks of extended hours due to the scheduling.

And Disney doesn't usually release its schedule now until just a couple of months in advance, to allow them to make adjustments to try and control costs. We do know the annual Passholder blockout dates, which is an important consideration for Disney, and also other Southern California Parks, as they have all relied on pushing AP's (or for some parks, a Season Pass) to locals to help bring in regulars who will buy food, drink and merchandise.

The lowest level Disneyland AP has Fridays blocked out starting March 18th, and has the two week period from April 15th through May 1st blocked out for Easter Break.

http://disneyland.disney.go.com/disneyl ... lendarPage

So my guess, the crowds will spread out over a longer period in 2011, but still will be heavy in during the Easter period. As for Easter Sunday, since the parks in Southern California have a larger percentage of locals attend than Orlando, yes, the morning of Easter Sunday is usually a bit lighter. But both Disneyland and Knott's have large, very popular Easter Sunday Brunches, that help bring in a lot of folks. Disneyland uses its convention center facilities in its Hotels to serve the meal, and Knott's use a few locations both inside and outside its park and hotel to serve its meal. (Knott's also sells a "Banquet in a Box" option for To-Go offers, and sets up a special drive thru area to pick up those meals. Many of the folks dining at the parks will decide to vist the park, I know Knott's offers a special deal to those buying a meal to get into the parks for a reasonable price. But by the afternoon/evening you tend to have very busy parks. One other issue about Sundays in general for Holiday period, that is a travel day for many, since they have to go back to work/school on Monday. This helps lighten the crowds at the parks, since they are on the freeways instead.

Hope that helps.

[pennym]

That's really helpful thanks Darkbeer, we are trying to decide between coming mid to late July, or mid to late April and are leaning towards April. We presume July will be really crowded due to summer break - is it likely to be better or worse than April?