Guide to Easter 2023 at Disney World

Walt Disney World celebrates Easter with foods & desserts, entertainment, and decorations in the parks & resorts. In this guide to Easter 2023, we’ll share tips for enjoying the special festivities plus the big return of something eggs-travagant! (Updated March 25, 2023.)

First, we don’t want to oversell Easter as a holiday or special event at Walt Disney World. It’s not even remotely on par with Christmas or Halloween. While there are some decorations in a few of the resort hotels and special offerings at Magic Kingdom and Epcot, other hotels and parks ignore the holiday completely. Aside from a random cupcake or dessert, you might never know it’s Easter at Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom. Well, aside from the spring break crowds.

The crowds are reason-enough to avoid Easter at Walt Disney World. They more than outweigh the holiday offerings, so if you’re debating whether an Easter trip to Walt Disney World would be ‘fun’, that’s your answer. In reality, most people reading this are probably visiting at Easter for lack of better options, as it coincides with school spring break and weather makes it a more desirable time to visit Florida than summer…

First, crowds. Contrary to some misconceptions, Easter itself is not a ghost town at Walt Disney World because everyone is at home spending time with their families. (This is a persistent myth about every holiday and the Super Bowl, and we’re not sure why.)

To the contrary, as we discuss in our April 2023 at Walt Disney World and Spring Break 2023 Crowd Calendars for Walt Disney World, the weeks around Easter are pretty busy. However, it’s even worse in years when Easter is in March, as Spring Break and Easter school break schedules are more likely to align. In any case, don’t expect crowds to let up really in April 2023. Things might get a bit better starting around Tax Day, but we’re still expecting that week to remain elevated.

Next, the Easter Egg Displays in the lobbies of select Deluxe Resorts at Walt Disney World. Like the Gingerbread Houses at Christmas, these are incredible and ornate displays showcasing dozens of hand-crafted eggs created by the talented pastry teams featuring favorite Disney characters, stories, and locations.

Here’s where you can find the Easter Egg Displays, along with 2023 dates:

• Disney’s Beach Club Resort Lobby (Available now through April 9, 2023)
• Disney’s Contemporary Resort 4th Floor Atrium (Available now through April 9, 2023)
• Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa Lobby (Available now through April 9, 2023) 

These Easter egg displays are a delightful “little touch” and the cumulative effect of such little touches is the essence of Walt Disney World. We absolutely love these edible displays, and have already spent a lot of time checking them out in the weeks leading up to Easter 2023.

To that point, here are photos of some of our favorites at the Grand Floridian (always the best resort for the display, we think) for Easter 2023:

The 2023 Edible Easter Egg displays are epic. Sincerely. The Walt Disney World pastry teams have truly outdone themselves, both with the ambitiousness of the designs (photos do not do them justice, but several are very elaborate and ornate) and also the characters represented.

It’ll be no surprise to regular readers, but our favorites are Figment and Orange Bird–two characters seeing resurgences in their popularity–but those are more obvious ones. The attention to detail in the Country Bear Jamboree egg exceeds both of those, as do the eggs for Encanto, Raya and the Last Dragon, Winnie the Pooh, and a few others. We also love the Main Street Electrical Parade, and the My Neighbor Totoro egg is a sleeper pick that’s unbelievably adorable. (I do wonder how that one got made; Disney used to have the distribution rights to Studio Ghibli, but doesn’t anymore…)

Anyway, huge kudos to the culinary chefs and artists behind these eggs. These seem to get better and more ambitious with each passing year, as if the teams at each resort are “competing” with one another or trying to outdo what they did the previous year. It’s getting to the point where these are almost on par with the Gingerbread Houses at Christmas, which generate way more fanfare and draw bigger crowds. Suffice to say, do not miss these egg displays if you’re visiting around Easter!

If you’re looking for some more tasty Easter or spring-themed desserts, there are several cakes and cupcakes around Walt Disney World. Your best bet for finding foods themed to Easter will be at the aforementioned resorts with the Edible Easter Egg Displays, as those each have kiosks serving seasonal treats. Beyond that, several Walt Disney World restaurants will be offering Easter brunch.

In addition, the resort food courts often have options, but those are typically only the week or weekend of Easter itself. Our favorite in recent years has become Le Petit Café at Disney’s Riviera Resort, which will have beautiful and delicious desserts the week of Easter (April 1-9, 2023).

You can see all of the options in Walt Disney World’s Easter 2023 Foodie Guide. In any case, be sure to check out the Contemporary and Grand Floridian, which are an easy monorail ride from Magic Kingdom. Likewise, Beach Club is an easy walk from World Showcase in EPCOT. All of these are absolutely fantastic and well worth your time!

What follows is Easter entertainment and activities, you can find in an normal year. While Walt Disney World hasn’t confirmed one way or the other whether this stuff will return for Easter 2023, we assume it will.

Accordingly, here’s what you can probably expect if you’re visiting in the first week of April 2023. Just keep in mind that none of this happened last year and has not yet been confirmed for this year…

At Magic Kingdom, you can meet Mr. and Mrs. Easter Bunny in the “Bunny Lane Garden” in Town Square Courtyard on Main Street, U.S.A., which is tucked away by City Hall just inside the front entrance to Magic Kingdom. (It’s the same spot where Santa meets.)

This meet and greet is beautifully-decorated with pastel-colored birdhouses and pots full of vibrant spring flowers. It typically runs for a couple of weeks leading up to Easter, from 9:00 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. daily. A PhotoPass photographer and character attendant are present to capture images.

In our experience, the wait times for this meet and greet aren’t too long. That’s probably because these characters aren’t recognizable to the average guest as “Disney” and because the location is not visible as you enter the park. We noticed a handful of parents with children in spring dresses and outfits, so we assume it’s a popular spot for that.

We ended up waiting about 10 minutes to have our photo taken with Mr. and Mrs. Easter Bunny, and this was midday on what was otherwise a busy day in Magic Kingdom. We’d hazard a guess that wait times for this spike on Easter Sunday, but otherwise it’s something of a hidden gem meet & greet!

Also at Magic Kingdom, but only for Easter weekend, there’s usually a special pre-parade for Disney’s Festival of Fantasy Parade. The highlight of this is the Azalea Trail Maids, a group of 50 high school seniors chosen annually to serve as “Official Ambassadors” for Mobile, Alabama.

The Azalea Trail Maids, wear extravagant dresses meant to look like flowers, and have been marching in Walt Disney World’s parades on Easter for over 40 years. It’s a fun little tradition, and their costumes are gorgeous.

If you’re looking for a religious service on Easter Sunday, that’s offered in the Fantasia Ballroom at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. We don’t have official times for this year, but Catholic Mass is typically held at 8:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., with Protestant Service at 9:15 a.m. Inquire with the resort directly to confirm times.

Note that parking restrictions have been in effect for weeks at Disney’s Contemporary Resort, meaning you will not be allowed to park here for the religious services. Instead, take monorail or boat service to the Contemporary, or take a bus to Magic Kingdom and walk to the Contemporary.

Again, words don’t do these Easter egg displays justice, so here are even more photos of the eggs from past years:

Overall, unlike Christmas or Halloween at Walt Disney World, Easter is not a time to visit that we actively recommend. To the contrary, we’d recommend avoiding it if you can. However, that won’t be an option for many of you reading this, and it’s possible to make the most of the experience with efficient strategy and by enjoying the limited assortment of special seasonal offerings.

Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!

Your Thoughts

Have you visited Walt Disney World at Easter? Do you agree or disagree with our advice? Anything else you’d recommend? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!