Can we agree that smushing up against a bunch of strangers in a crowd is the WORST?! Over the years, we’ve shared a lot of tips and tricks on how to avoid the crowds in Disney World, but there are some instances where you just cannot avoid people! One of the biggest (and most relevant) examples of inevitable crowds is Spring Break — a time when school’s out, the weather is warming up, and families are ready for a vacation. In theory, Spring Break sounds like the perfect time to visit Disney World, but it turns out that EVERYONE thinks the same thing.
Yeah, don’t expect to see any empty sidewalks like this during Spring Break!
We’re in Disney World every. single. day., so we know a thing or two about what it looks like in the parks during peak times. Really, though, it’s one thing to say, “it’s busy,” and it’s another thing to SHOW you just how crowded Disney World gets during Spring Break. Let’s take a look (and a deep breath!).
Monday, March 15th
Most of the time, you’re going to find some of the biggest crowds right around park opening. That huge group of people is just waiting for Disney to (metaphorically) open the floodgates to let everyone inside, so crowds really tend to build up first thing in the morning. It’s a LOT!
Yikes!
Okay, so once you get inside, the crowd disperses, right?! Well, sort of. Main Street, U.S.A., is another common place for crowds to accumulate. It was very people-y, so if you don’t feel comfortable in large groups of people, you might want to hang back for a little while to let the morning rush do their thing. Otherwise, you’re undoubtedly going to get stuck in a sea of people. Not fun.
That’s a lot of bodies in one place!
Unsurprisingly, the line for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train got SUPER long, super quickly. The standby line for this attraction wrapped all around Fantasyland — people were waiting all the way back by Storybook Circus!
We saw some HIGH wait times!
Long lines also continued for food spots. Aloha Isle was pretty popular — it was definitely a Dole Whip kinda’ day. Pro tip: Mobile order snacks early!
Aloha Isle is hoppin’
Now, let’s shift gears and hop over to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Unfortunately, we found more high wait times and dense crowds here. We DEFINITELY weren’t the only ones saying, “I’m going to Hollywood!” that morning.
It was pretty busy here, too!
Several of the most popular attractions in Disney’s Hollywood Studios had some seriously long lines — just look at the standby line for Slinky Dog Dash!
Take a (sped up) journey with us past the Slinky Dog 🐶 queue 👀 pic.twitter.com/wUtEBY202r
— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) March 15, 2022
Over in Disney’s Animal Kingdom, we found more of the same. The line for Flight of Passage was about 125 minutes at around 10AM. For reference, the line was so long that it extended all the way out to the bridge in Africa! That’s a whole other LAND!
The line for Flight of Passage reached 125 minutes by 10AM!
Tuesday, March 16th
Main Street, U.S.A. looked similar on Tuesday — lots of crowds. Things were VERY busy at Magic Kingdom again.
Main Street, U.S.A. 🇺🇸 is very…busy 👀 pic.twitter.com/6yD1hTdMlw
— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) March 16, 2022
Long lines continued at most rides, including at Splash Mountain. The wait time was at 60 minutes when we took this photo, although it certainly looks a lot longer!
Splash Mountain Line
Over at EPCOT, we saw some pretty heavy crowds, too, especially around World Showcase.
EPCOT Crowds
Lines for the EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival food booths intermingled with pedestrian traffic made some areas feel overly crowded.
Epcot looking a little cramped
If you’re needing a coffee fix and think you can get a quick pick-me-up at Starbucks, you might find a wait time as long as any of those of the rides! Quick tip: Go to Joffrey’s instead!
Starbucks line
Peter Pan’s Flight had a posted wait time of 85 minutes. This ride is notorious for long standby wait times, but that’s still much higher than in previous weeks.
Peter Pan’s Flight
Clearly, the parks were busy, but just HOW busy? Well, according to the Disney World Park Pass Reservation System, all four parks are completely full for almost the entire week of Spring Break. That means unless you have a park pass reservation, you can’t get into ANY of the four Disney parks.
©Disney
Recently, Disney CEO Bob Chapek and Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy stated that the Disney parks are not back to full capacity yet. This means that what you’re seeing actually isn’t Disney World’s FULL capacity, but rather a self-imposed limit. Either way, it’s a LOT of people!
That’s a lot of people no matter how you slice it!
We’ll continue to keep our eyes on the crowds in Disney World throughout the week, so stay tuned for more!
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Have you ever visited the parks during a peak time of year? Let us know in the comments!
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Question….my family is going the week of April 18. We have 5 days of park hoppers. Full disclosure, I have no problem paying for Genie+ / LL / IAS. Is “rope drop” really necessary for us? Or if we hold off for an hour or so and avoid the early AM bottleneck at the main entrance, knowing we will have to pay for some rides and/or wait on standby for longer than we’d like, is that our best bet?
Hi Anne! Your best bet is probably going to be seeing what you can get at 7am and go from there. A lot of the IAS rides sell out early so while rope drop isn’t necessary, especially if it’s not something your family is keen on, I’d just plan my day around what my selection options are. Let’s say for example that you want to ride Rise of the Resistance, but wait until after 9am to make that reservation, it might not be available and that would be one you’d wait in a standby line for.
Oh gosh I wanna cry we go next week for our first time this looks shocking
Allowing the Parks to become so overcrowded is disheartening How can anyone enjoy a day in the park when your packed in like sardines ?
OMG, I don’t want to see or experience full capacity.
We just left. We were at WDW 3/14-3/18. The crowds were crazy but we rope dropped and used the genie. we stayed at Port Orleans FQ and got to the parks for the early entry which was great. That helped! It was my youngest child’s first time. We honestly decided to get in at least 2 rides a day and really enjoy the other experiences. We had one nice sit down meal a day and two of those were character meals. Overall, yes the crowds were big but Disney is still making sure the magic is happening. I think everyone needs to realize they aren’t back at full capacity and I’m not sure they are back to being fully staffed. We really enjoyed the MK Main Street parade and the sing-a-longs at all of the parks. I encourage people to see the other experiences when it’s so crowded!
Its time Disney cough up something, build at least 2 more parks and make the rides enjoyable . Put way more shade areas to. Disney will never be for me lines to do EVERYTHING glad I had my time there I could never stand in line heck 20 minutes is long. Now it hours no way
So much for “crowd control”. I thought the purpose of making reservations was to avoid overcrowding? But Bob and his Minions institued reservations to schedule minimal staffing just to save a penny or two, rather than crowd control.