Looking at the last Saturday in April 2022, is DS a place to avoid on a weekend?
Are people in the parks?
Are locals filling the restaurants?
What’s the Sitch?
No, no! Don’t do it! 
Ahem. Yes, I would avoid DS on weekends and Friday evenings. I also would try to avoid evenings in general if you can…but if you can’t, make sure it is a weekday.
In August, I was there on a Friday night (just to activate my AP) and it quickly became mayhem! We went later in our trip as well, but not on the weekend. It was noticeably better.
In December, we did DS when it first opened on a Monday. By noon, the crowds were really picking up a lot.
Having said that, it really kind of depends on what your goal is. If you have an ADR and that’s all you intend to do, it might be okay, since the restaurant won’t change their capacity/seating just because the rest of DS is crowded. But if you want to shop and/or look around, the crowds can get tedious!
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We as locals we will NOT go to DS anymore due to the crowding and lack of mask enforcement. We have been 5 times on various days/hours since July and in Sept swore off ever going back. The live reports have supported our decision.
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I mean, it will depend on what things are like in 2022, which is a ways off, but based on the way things are now, yes avoid. It’s a place for locals to go when so much is still closed or operating on reduced hours.
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3 years ago, our arrival day was a Saturday. Not enough time for a park, so we had a dinner ADR at DS. It was crowded getting to and from but I don’t see what the big deal is. We even purchased our magic bands there at the Disney store and it did not take that long. April '22…sounds doable if that works best for your schedule!
We were thinking of DS as a non-park day. Shop around, ADR supper.
But we didn’t want so crowded we’d think we’re still in a park.
Our experience in 2020 (August and December) was orders of magnitude different from when we went in 2018 and 2016. But if by 2022 things are back to normal, maybe so will DS crowds.
I see, since it’s April it may be ok. But of course a weekday is always better for DS, especially if you are spending most of the day there. Can’t you do a park that day? It will be interesting to see if Disney is still doing park reservations then.
What’s the reason for the crowds during covid at DS? Are they locals who would have normally gone to a park, but were not able to, so DS was the only option??
Or, with all local restaurants being at reduced capacity led to less supply and same demand in Orlando as a whole?
Shrug
Good question! I’m sure restaurant availability is part of it.
Restaurants in Disney Springs have the same requirement as restaurants outside of Disney property. So locals going to Disney Springs is just for entertainment purposes, dining, there’s lots of teenagers there that are socializing etc.