Our information to April 2024 at Walt Disney World provides a free crowd calendar, weeks to go to & keep away from, climate, experience refurbishments, and suggestions for navigating the chaos of Easter and Spring Break. Plus, data for Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios. (Up to date April 1, 2024.)
If you happen to’re contemplating a spring go to, April crowds fluctuate relying upon whether or not Easter happens in April. Throughout most years, that’s the case–Easter hasn’t occurred in March since 2016. The excellent news is that Easter occurred on March 31, 2024. That alone ought to shift crowds away from April 2024.
Nevertheless, it’s not all excellent news. You possibly can nonetheless count on the times earlier than and week after that to be among the many busiest occasions of the 12 months at Walt Disney World. Spring Break crowds will descend upon Walt Disney World all through each months. April nonetheless isn’t out of the woods, however it’s not almost as dangerous as a standard 12 months.
The down facet of Easter in March is that you’ll NOT get it as a particular occasion, with a couple of choices for the vacation. This implies no Easter Bunny (and Mrs. Bunny) meet and greet in Magic Kingdom or adorned eggs on the resorts. As pleasing as these issues are, we’ll gladly take the decrease crowds!
Right here’s what else you possibly can count on throughout April at Walt Disney World, organized by class…
April Climate at Disney World
Exterior of the primary week, April is phenomenal in terms of climate. Lows originally of the month are within the low-60s and creep up into the mid-60s by the top of the month. Excessive temperatures vary from 80 to 85 levels. Check out the “snug” band on this web page–these are the sort of averages we prefer to see!
Clearly, anomalies are potential in each the “too cool” and “too scorching” instructions, however largely, April is likely one of the extra snug months weather-wise in Orlando. April is extra predictable than March and Could, each of which usually tend to have unseasonable chilly snaps (within the case of March) or early humidity (within the case of Could). Whereas all 3 months are nice for climate, April is the “most secure.”
April Particular Occasions at Disney World
If you happen to’re visiting on Easter or the weeks instantly earlier than it, it’s additionally value noting that there are particular festivities for the vacation. Check out our Information to Easter at Walt Disney World for extra on the beautifully-decorated eggs, seasonal meals, Magic Kingdom meet & greet, pre-parade, and all the things else you possibly can count on from Easter within the parks and lodges.
Way more important than that’s the EPCOT Worldwide Flower & Backyard Pageant, which continues in April and brings a vibrant ambiance to Epcot, however there’s not a lot else. The phrases “vibrant ambiance” don’t precisely get the youngsters overrated like “trick or treating” or “THIS IS NOT A DRILL. SANTA WILL BE THERE.” The annual occasion will run for your complete month of April, seemingly persevering with till early July.
There’s additionally the runDisney Springtime Shock occasion from April 18 to 21, 2024. Registration closed way back for this, so you possibly can’t register. Talking of sports activities, right here’s what’s at the moment on the ESPN Broad World of Sports activities calendar for April 2024:
- 2024 ICU Junior World & World Cheerleading Championships
- The Cheerleading Worlds
- The Dance Worlds
These are main dance and cheerleading competitions that increase attendance on the parks and occupancy on the lodges, often the All Stars and Coronado Springs. The affect on crowd ranges within the parks isn’t important as an entire–and tends to be overblown based mostly on anecdotal experiences, which might be fairly dangerous. (That means that you may assume they’re a big unfavourable when you’re caught in line for Haunted Mansion behind a bunch of 100 cheerleaders…otherwise you would possibly by no means see a single participant throughout a weeklong journey.)
Lastly, there’s After Hours at Magic Kingdom, After Hours at EPCOT and After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. These happen sporadically and, because the names counsel, are held after park closing. They’ve minimal affect on daytime crowd ranges, however lead to a slight bump in crowds in the course of the night ‘mix-in’ time.
We don’t suggest altering your plans due to After Hours at Magic Kingdom or EPCOT, however you would possibly need to do DHS on a distinct night. Usually, that park is nice for decrease wait occasions on the finish of the evening, albeit to a lesser diploma on After Hours dates. It’s additionally potential to have two showings of Fantasmic (a method game-changer) on nights when After Hours isn’t occurring.
Apart from the primary two weeks, count on common park hours in April 2024. It’s value noting that park hours are a good proxy for projected attendance ranges, so the later a specific park is open, the upper Disney expects the crowds to be. Plan accordingly. For extra recommendations on what occasions of 12 months may be good for visiting, take a look at our Walt Disney World Crowd Calendars submit for the most effective and worst months of the 12 months.
April Refurbishments & New Rides
On the subject of sights that shall be closed throughout April 2024, verify the Walt Disney World Refurbishment Schedule. Spoiler alert: there’s not a lot closed for routine upkeep. That’s regular–Walt Disney World’s refurbishment ‘season’ is usually winter, with extra tasks occurring in late summer season and early fall.
The development undertaking that has had probably the most noticeable affect on the visitor expertise is the large reimagining on the entrance of EPCOT, however even that’s largely completed at this level–solely CommuniCore Corridor stays behind partitions. The largest building undertaking in April 2024 is Tiana’s Bayou Journey, which is the reimagining of Splash Mountain. It’ll open in Summer time 2024–most likely June.
EPCOT can be residence to Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, which is now a pair years outdated however nonetheless extremely common. Different much more current additions to EPCOT embrace Moana’s Journey of Water (water exploration path) and Luminous: The Symphony of Us (nighttime spectacular). Each are value trying out.
Then there’s the largest addition to Magic Kingdom: TRON Lightcycle Run. That is nonetheless the most recent main attraction at Walt Disney World, and is now one 12 months outdated. See our Digital Queue Technique Information for TRON Lightcycle Run for particulars, suggestions & tips for fulfillment, and extra (Cosmic Rewind additionally makes use of a VQ–apply the identical recommendation to each rides).
One other different for Cosmic Rewind or TRON Lightcycle Run is shopping for line-skipping entry through the Particular person Lightning Lanes. These posts clarify every choice, their professionals & cons, and all the things else you could know. Suffice to say, don’t simply present up anticipating to hitch the standby line–as there isn’t one for both experience.
For an outline of what’s on the horizon, see What’s New & Subsequent at Walt Disney World in 2024 & Past. Sorry, however nothing new is opening this month. The subsequent spherical of additives all open in June 2024.
April 2024 Crowd Calendar for Disney World
We’ll begin this free crowd calendar part with the identical preface as different months—skip forward a couple of paragraphs when you’ve already learn it. We don’t have a color-coded crowd calendar right here as a result of we don’t put a lot reliance on them anymore. You shouldn’t, both. If we simply had a visible crowd calendar graphic right here, a lot of you’d solely take a look at that and never learn the accompanying rationalization that covers what you would possibly truly count on. That’d be doing you a disservice.
Whereas they are often helpful instruments, crowd calendars are one small piece of a a lot bigger puzzle. We not select our personal Disney journey dates based mostly solely upon crowd calendars and we’d likewise discourage you from doing so. Crowd calendars are more and more unreliable due to the way in which Disney manipulates attendance patterns, staffing, closures, and experience capability.
Walt Disney World doesn’t launch official attendance numbers, so crowd calendars make the most of data like faculty schedules, airport site visitors statistics, lodge pricing & occupancy, and different indicators as proxies for crowds. For years, this strategy labored and made crowd calendars dependable. Walt Disney World attendance adopted an identifiable sample that tracked with the aforementioned proxies.
Extra lately, wait occasions don’t all the time replicate precise crowds as a result of Disney has change into adept and extra subtle at manipulating each attendance and crowd circulation. Consider this because the distinction between the precise temperature and the “looks like” temperature, however with crowds. We will nonetheless precise crowd and attendance patterns, however not wait occasions. The latter are what most of you seemingly care about (the “looks like” crowds), however it’s harder to precisely forecast wait occasions through WDW crowd calendars.
Whereas April isn’t the Spring Break month for many faculties and colleges with static Spring Break schedules, many faculties in america schedule their Spring Breaks round Easter. Because of this the couple of weeks round Easter (significantly the week earlier than) shall be two of the busiest of the 12 months.
The week after Easter will nonetheless seemingly be busy, as many faculty districts–significantly these within the Northeast and Midwest–have their Spring Breaks that week or the week after that. We’ve spot-checked a number of of the biggest faculty districts, and that is the case with a number of of them. That is truly extra pronounced in 2024, as Easter is falling “too early” for a lot of districts that additionally do Mid-Winter Break on the finish of February. Moreover, April 18-21, 2024 can be the runDisney Springtime Shock Weekend, in order that’ll be busy.
Consequently, count on 8/10 or 9/10 crowd ranges for April 1-6, 2024. After that, an inexpensive drop-off is probably going the next week. With fewer Spring Breaks scheduled throughout every subsequent week in April, crowds ought to peak the primary week and step by step development downwards–most likely to 7/10 to eight/10 for April 7-14, after which even decrease the next week.
Though there are some straggler faculty districts, count on April 15 (Tax Day!) to be the unofficial finish of the Spring Break season. That shall be partially–however not totally–offset by early arrivals for the runDisney weekend and ticket offers, however crowd ranges ought to nonetheless be trending downward April 15-21. We’d count on under common (4/10) crowd ranges that week, even with the runDisney Springtime Shock.
That development ought to proceed for the rest of the month and into Could 2024. Our expectation for all of these weeks is common crowds within the 3/10 to 4/10 vary. That’s about what occurred final 12 months, and the top consequence was Slowest Six Week Stretch at Walt Disney World in 2 Years from late April by way of Could. We aren’t predicting crowd ranges which are that low, however it’s potential that 1/10 to 2/10 crowd ranges are extra frequent than 4/10.
Lastly, concentrate on the above-referenced cheer and dance occasions at ESPN Broad World of Sports activities. All three of those occasions roughly coincide from April 24 to 29, 2024. Within the days previous to the occasions and through them, you possibly can count on elevated crowd ranges to various levels within the totally different parks.
As famous above, these don’t have a lot affect on total crowd ranges for Walt Disney World as an entire. There merely aren’t sufficient contributors with park tickets to maneuver the needle. Nevertheless, they’ll contribute in a serious option to localized congestion and crowd ranges, spiking wait occasions at numerous sights. when you go to the identical park as their whole (or giant parts of) their group attends your notion of their affect may be very totally different.
That means that when you have the misfortune of getting in line for Haunted Mansion behind an enormous group of cheerleaders, dancers, flag soccer gamers, and so on., it will possibly spike each the wait time for that individual attraction and really feel disagreeable for numerous causes. (Ask us how we all know!!!)
These teams can have a serious affect on resort room availability, as there are tons of attendees they usually take up big blocks on the All Stars, Coronado Springs, and some different lodges. That, in flip, reduces stock there and pushes different folks to totally different lodges.
Lengthy story quick, a variety of lodges can promote out fully, inflicting planners to freak out that the parks are going to be chaotic and crowded. Which might be true…typically. However there are two issues to bear in mind. The primary is that almost all of visitors within the parks at any given second all the time come from off-site.
The second is that the youth teams are primarily taking part in sporting occasions on the ESPN Broad World of Sports activities, not going to the parks. So to some extent, they’re occupying rooms and displacing visitors who would in any other case go to the parks. (See Why Are Walt Disney World Resorts Bought Out in 2024? for a extra thorough rationalization.)
All issues thought-about, the primary week of April 2024 shall be busy at Walt Disney World, however not almost as dangerous as March 2024. The remainder of the month shall be under common. If you happen to go to in April, you have to be in actually good condition after that first week!
April Pricing & Reductions
When it comes to promotions, don’t count on a lot. It’s means too early for the Free Disney Eating Plan promo (the holy grail of Walt Disney World reductions) provided within the fall, and barely too early for the scaled again Free Summer time Meal Plan promo. As a substitute, you’re sometimes wanting on the tried and true room-only low cost supply for the entire month exterior of the Easter vacation window.
When it comes to pricing, April is once more regular exterior of the primary week. For 1-day park tickets, most of April is “common” season; for lodges, pricing can be on the “Common Season” charge. You would possibly have the ability to do higher scoring offers off-site, as a result of April is a reasonably aggressive month for Orlando tourism.
In the end, we usually warn of April being one of many worst months–no less than the primary half–to go to Walt Disney World. Nevertheless, that has been as a result of Easter has fallen throughout April for the final 7 years. That isn’t the case for April 2024, making it a extra fascinating month to go to exterior that first week.
Past crowds, April is definitely interesting for different causes. The climate is nice, refurbishments are uncommon, and Epcot is wanting nice with Flower & Backyard Pageant. If final 12 months was any indication, the three+ weeks of April after Spring Break season have ended ought to be completely implausible–the intersection of nice climate (knock on wooden–it’s Florida, so warmth and humidity are all the time prospects!), low crowds, and Walt Disney World in bloom.
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Study lodges on our Walt Disney World Accommodations Opinions web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Opinions. To save cash on tickets or decide which sort to purchase, learn our Suggestions for Saving Cash on Walt Disney World Tickets submit. Our What to Pack for Disney Journeys submit takes a singular take a look at intelligent objects to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Trip Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, the most effective place to start out is our Walt Disney World Journey Planning Information for all the things you could know!
Your Ideas
Do you agree or disagree with our ideas on April? Do you assume it’s common, distinctive, or someplace in between? Get pleasure from visiting for Easter? Any questions we might help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even if you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!
