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Disney questions

TerriJ

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I have two quick questions. How do we find out about doing princess stuff at Disney? And how busy will the parks be on Thursday March 28 and Friday March 29?

Thanks!
 

Weimaraner

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We booked a visit to the Bippity Boppity Bootique for our daughter to have a princess makeover and lunch with prinesses at Royal Table. But we booked it a few months ago for late April. i called their tollfree number and their customer service was amazing. She advised me to get a birthday button for our daughter so staff is aware of this occasion. There is a website where you can search for character dining including princess. Don't know offhand what it is but you can Google. I think people book way in advance since I did a search for Chef Mickeys the other day and almost everything was gone. You never know...you might find something that works. Good luck!:hi:
 
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stanleyu

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As for the parks being busy: Last year we went to FL for the two weeks prior to Easter. The week prior to Palm Sunday (which is where your two days in question are) the parks were very slow. The only lines were at Midway Mania, and then only real bad in the afternoon. The following week, in between Palm Sunday and Easter, it was an absolute zoo! For example, by mid-day thew parking lot at MK was totally filled.

But for your two days, it should be fine.
 

thebreards

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Princess Stuff:
At the Magic Kingdom you can visit Belle's Magical Garden where she will read a story (check guide times), have breakfast, lunch, or dinner, in the castle (probably fully booked), and you can meet a princess at the character meet and greet at Town Square Theater.
At Epcot you can eat with the princesses at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall in Norway and can sometimes meet them in different countries- Mulan in China, Belle in France.
If not at one of those parks, I would suggest making an early breakfast reservation or a late dinner reseravation at the Grand Floridian. We are doing dinner there on the 30th with Cinderella after a day in the Magic Kingdom. It's easy enough to take the monorail to.
We have never done the bibbity bobbity boutique- it's expensive and I don't know what they really get- their hair in a french twist with some glitter sprayed in.
 

Jay_G

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From Touringplans.com (I'm a premium member)

Thursday, March 29, 2012
The Walt Disney World crowd level is in the top 20% of all days. All parks are going to be crowded. We are recommending Hollywood Studios because it has the lowest per park crowd level. We are recommending Epcot and The Animal Kingdom today because of the 7-Day Rule. The best way to beat crowds is a touring plan. Touring plans are 5 times more effective at saving time than picking the right day. Today we recommend avoiding the Magic Kingdom as it has the highest per park level and it has morning Extra Magic Hours (EMH). Off-site guests are not eligible and we know from past research that more than 75% of Disney resort guests don't arrive in time to take advantage of EMH. The Studios' crowd level is below its weekly average. Today Animal Kingdom has its lowest crowd level of the week. Predictions are accurate within 1 point 90% of the time. So if we predict a 9 we're confident that the crowd levels will be between an 8 and a 10.

Overall Crowds
•Crowd Level: 9 out of 10
Magic Kingdom
•Crowd Level: 9.5 out of 10
•This is a Park to Avoid
•Park Hours: 9:00am - 11:00pm

Epcot
•Crowd Level: 8.3 out of 10
•This is a Best Park (due to the 7-Day Rule)
•Park Hours: 9:00am - 9:00pm

Disney's Hollywood Studios
•Crowd Level: 7.2 out of 10
•This is a Best Park
•Park Hours: 9:00am - 10:00pm

Animal Kingdom
•Crowd Level: 8.1 out of 10
•This is a Neutral Park
•Park Hours: 9:00am - 7:00pm

Friday, March 30, 2012
The Walt Disney World crowd level is in the top 10% of all days. All parks are going to be crowded. We are recommending Hollywood Studios because it has the lowest per park crowd level. We are recommending The Animal Kingdom today because of the 7-Day Rule. The best way to beat crowds is a touring plan. Touring plans are 5 times more effective at saving time than picking the right day. Today we recommend avoiding the Magic Kingdom as it has the highest per park level. Today Epcot has its highest crowd level of the week. The Studios' crowd level is below its weekly average. Today Animal Kingdom has its lowest crowd level of the week.

Overall Crowds
•Crowd Level: 10 out of 10
Magic Kingdom
•Crowd Level: 9.6 out of 10
•This is a Park to Avoid
•Park Hours: 9:00am - 12:00am

Epcot
•Crowd Level: 9.6 out of 10
•This is a Neutral Park
•Park Hours: 9:00am - 9:00pm

Disney's Hollywood Studios
•Crowd Level: 7.4 out of 10
•This is a Best Park

Animal Kingdom
•Crowd Level: 8.0 out of 10
•This is a Neutral Park
•Park Hours: 9:00am - 7:00pm

FAQ from TouringPlans.com Croud Calander

A park is recommended as the Best Park because of the "7-Day Rule" -- what is this?
Occasionally there will be a seven-day period in which we don't recommend a specific park at least once. When this happens, we look at the seven day period, and recommend the day with the lowest crowd level for this park. If you're looking at specific day (like this one at the Magic Kingdom), we'll explicitly tell you when we're applying this rule.

What If I Want to Visit a Park on an "Avoid" Day?
Remember, these are just recommendations. You can go to Epcot on a day its listed as a "Park To Avoid" and still have a fabulous time! Doubly so if you're armed with Lines and a good Touring Plan.

Reverse Psychology - Should I Avoid the "Best" Park Because Everyone Will Go There?
"If you tell everyone to head to Animal Kingdom," you ask, "won't that quickly become the most crowded park?" Unfortunately, no! While we'd love to dictate the ebbs and flows of crowds at Walt Disney World, we just ain't that big (yet!). We estimate that less than 1% of people in any park have seen our Crowd Calendar. We monitor wait times every day at every park, so if we do start to influence crowds, we'll be the first to notice.

Should I care about the Park Recommendations during slow times of the year?
The recommendations are equally valuable no matter the crowd level. Whether the crowd is listed as a ‘9’ or a ‘2’ the recommendations will always identify the best choices for that day. Use them as a planning guide to meet the needs of your group.

Shouldn't Magic Kingdom always be more crowded than Epcot, Epcot more crowded than the Studios, etc?
Our reader surveys tell us that people judge the size of the crowds not by how many people are in the park but by how long they have to wait in line. For this reason we base our crowd calendar on wait time data in each park, and compare it to other days at the same park. Thus, we could say that a below average day at the Magic Kingdom with 30,000 people is less crowded than an above average day at Epcot with 25,000 people.
 

stanleyu

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Interesting that Touringplans should rate that week - the week before Palm Sunday - as so busy. As I said above. last year it was relatively dead that week. Now granted, Easter came later last year. It would be interesting to know what the forecast was for the pre-Palm Sunday week in 2011.
 

chunkygal

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three years ago we went Easter week and I vowed NEVER AGAIN...but then last year the military had a deal and I was able to book a room and DEAD. We had done AK in 8 hours with many ride repeats. So I am going back this year,armed with reservations for dining and looking for a good time.

I never heard of the crowd service and will definitely look into it.
 

TerriJ

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We are planning to do Islands of Adventure on the first day, then Magic Kingdom on the next day. Thanks for the princess info!
 

MichaelColey

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easyWDW, my favorite Disney resource, rates those days as 8/10, which is fairly busy but manageable. They also agree on the best park for each of those days, although their choices for second best are quite a bit different.
 

Twinkstarr

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easyWDW, my favorite Disney resource, rates those days as 8/10, which is fairly busy but manageable. They also agree on the best park for each of those days, although their choices for second best are quite a bit different.

It's become our favorite too, and the daily blog entries are funny.
 

sdbrier

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three years ago we went Easter week and I vowed NEVER AGAIN...but then last year the military had a deal and I was able to book a room and DEAD. We had done AK in 8 hours with many ride repeats. So I am going back this year,armed with reservations for dining and looking for a good time.

I never heard of the crowd service and will definitely look into it.

Since Easter is a floating holiday, I imagine at times it is far enough away from spring break times to be quite, while a March easter would beg for a larger crowd. Just thinking out loud.:ponder:
 

Twinkstarr

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Since Easter is a floating holiday, I imagine at times it is far enough away from spring break times to be quite, while a March easter would beg for a larger crowd. Just thinking out loud.:ponder:

I think either week of Easter is busy, on a par with Xmas/NYE week. We usually go to DVC Vero Beach and have break around Easter. I know in the past few years MK has approached at least the 1st level of park closing on multiple days those weeks.

I remember one trip a family decided to drive to WDW for the day. Went to DHS and the parking lot was full and they had to park at Epcot and Disney bussed them over to DHS. And this was mid week. It was the talk around the pool.

When you run into the 1st week of April, both the states of Georgia and Michigan have that week off for break.
 

stanleyu

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keep in mind that when people talk about "the weeks of Easter" we usually mean the week prior and the week after. this week in question is the week prior to Palm Sunday: two weeks prior to Easter, which is April 8 this year.
 

TerriJ

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I am planning to get everyone there as early as possible and the go back later in the day too. Thanks again for the info.
 

spencersmama

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I think the busy times are dependent on spring break, not Easter. The dates sometimes coincide, but not always.
 

chunkygal

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I love new resources! I am going to check out easyWDW..thanks.
I only knew about wdwinfo and the disboards.
 

Jay_G

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My Favorite unofficial Disney Web Sites.

http://allears.net/index.html They have menus from all the Restaurants and reviews for everything.

http://www.mousesavers.com/ Tips on saving money on all things Disney including rental cars.

http://www.wdwradio.com/ Best podcast ever, also trivia books, a magazine about the parks, forums, special events.

http://touringplans.com/ From the co-author of the unofficial guild to WDW they test everything. Also works with the "lines" application on smart phone but is about $12 a year without a coupon code.

http://intercot.com/ This was one of the first ones I started going to, but usually just go to All Ears.net

I also listen to WdwToday 3 times a week. http://wdwtoday.com/
 

TerriJ

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We are planning to do the bippity boppity thing at downtown Disney. The other one was full, as mentioned above. Thanks!
 

logan115

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My Favorite unofficial Disney Web Sites.

http://allears.net/index.html They have menus from all the Restaurants and reviews for everything.

http://www.mousesavers.com/ Tips on saving money on all things Disney including rental cars.

http://www.wdwradio.com/ Best podcast ever, also trivia books, a magazine about the parks, forums, special events.

http://touringplans.com/ From the co-author of the unofficial guild to WDW they test everything. Also works with the "lines" application on smart phone but is about $12 a year without a coupon code.

http://intercot.com/ This was one of the first ones I started going to, but usually just go to All Ears.net

I also listen to WdwToday 3 times a week. http://wdwtoday.com/

I'd add Mouseowners.com to that list. Tons of info on that forum and if you can't find the answer using the search function someone there can probably answer it for you.

Chris
 

ciscogizmo1

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We've done the bippity boppity thing and my girls loved it. They really do a good job with the hair and all of the role playing. My girls were a bit older when they did it 9 and 12 years old. So, they didn't wear princess dresses but they did wear some matching princess t-shirts. We went over to the princesses after the appointment and got pictures and then, had dinner in the castle. It is pretty popular so, you might not get your choosen time or location. Good luck!
 

TerriJ

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Were you ever right. The crowds at MK were crazy today. Too crowded really to do much. Can someone recommend the best Disney park for tomorrow?

We are home on a grandma rest time. I am taking a cab back and meeting the kids for the lighted parade and fireworks. Do they eve consider the park to be full?
 

brigechols

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Were you ever right. The crowds at MK were crazy today. Too crowded really to do much. Can someone recommend the best Disney park for tomorrow?
Epcot and Animal Kingdom for Saturday, 31 March 2012

Do they eve consider the park to be full?

Lol, yes! Disney will close the gates if the park is filled to capacity. I've heard of this happening around Christmas. Haven't heard of this happening for spring break.
 

Twinkstarr

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Epcot and Animal Kingdom for Saturday, 31 March 2012



Lol, yes! Disney will close the gates if the park is filled to capacity. I've heard of this happening around Christmas. Haven't heard of this happening for spring break.

Easter week 2009 they hit at least the first level of closing at MK a few days. We were at DVC Vero Beach and ran into a few people doing split stays and were glad to get away from the crowds.
 

dundey

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Epcot and Animal Kingdom for Saturday, 31 March 2012



Lol, yes! Disney will close the gates if the park is filled to capacity. I've heard of this happening around Christmas. Haven't heard of this happening for spring break.

We were staying at a Disney resort Christmas week 1999 - so on New Year's Eve (Millennium eve!) All the parks were full by around 10AM! They did open a couple of them again later in the day. We saw Cheap Trick that evening at the Studios. I'm not sure if that was the busiest day ever but it had to be close!
 
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