This information to March 2023 at Walt Disney World gives a free crowd calendar, weeks to go to & keep away from, climate, journey refurbishments, and what’s new. All of this, plus information & ideas for Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios. (Updated February 24, 2023.)
March 2023 will possible be a “tale of two seasons.” The starting needs to be gradual, with crowds subsiding after Presidents’ Day and Mardi Gras in late February 2023. Then later in March, schools and lots of faculty techniques within the nation will take their spring break…and which means journeys to Walt Disney World! If you’re one way or the other in a position to get previous that (maybe you’re an avid queue fanatic, during which case 120-minute waits is likely to be proper up your alley), the month of March can in any other case be an excellent time to go to.
While it’s at all times above-average by way of crowds, components of March 2023 gained’t be as dangerous for a few causes. First, as a result of Easter isn’t till April 9, 2023. This means faculties that plan their Spring Breaks across the Easter vacation gained’t be off for Spring Break in March. That’s the excellent news…
The dangerous information is that many Ok-12 faculties and schools within the United States do have their Spring Breaks in March. That contains many districts in Florida, together with the 2 counties with the greatest influence on Walt Disney World crowds.
This is the place our Spring Break 2023 Crowd Calendar for Walt Disney World comes into play. If you’re solely involved with congestion, wait instances, and planning round dates to keep away from–that has you lined. It particulars which weeks of spring break will likely be finest and worst in each March and April 2023.
We’ll focus on the ramifications of Spring Break within the March 2023 crowd calendar part under. Here’s what else you must know concerning the month at Walt Disney World, organized into handy classes…
March Weather at Disney World
As far because the climate goes, March is the month when the climate begins to show round and heat up. Temperatures rise over the course of the month, and though they’re nonetheless on the cool facet of gentle, it’s often fairly snug. Sure, it may be abnormally chilly or scorching in March (positively test the long run forecast earlier than visiting because it actually might be both), however you’re usually in for climate that’s virtually excellent for touring the parks.
Lows at first of the month are within the mid-50s and creep up in the direction of the 60s by the top of the month. High temperatures vary from 75 to 80 levels. In taking a look at these numbers and the “comfortable” band on this web page, you would possibly assume that it skews in the direction of chilly. That might be true early within the morning and late at night time, however take into account that you’ll be most energetic through the center of the day when it’s warmest; personally, I desire barely cooler temperatures once I’m energetic, anyway.
The result’s that I discover March to be one of many higher months of the yr for climate in Florida, significantly in the direction of the top of the month. At the start of the month you’re extra prone to expertise unseasonably chilly climate, so I are likely to keep away from that. About the one draw back to this gentle climate is that it will probably make visiting water parks or spending a lot time in your resort resort’s pool much less interesting (or downright unappealing). This could be a bummer for these in search of a ‘tropical’ reprieve from winter within the North.
Being Michiganders, that’s precisely what my household wished from our journeys once I was rising up. I nonetheless keep in mind an early March trip throughout which my dad and mom determined to stubbornly keep on with our plans (I paint them as “stubborn” however the actuality was in all probability that I used to be a bratty child who insisted upon going) to go to Blizzard Beach. There was virtually nobody within the park, and all of us spent the higher park of the day wrapped in towels on our seaside chairs.
I recall crossing the icebergs in Ski Patrol Training Camp and envisioning them as precise chunks of ice, which wasn’t that a lot of a stretch of the creativeness on the time. I share all of this since you won’t need to make concrete plans for the water parks or put an excessive amount of weight in a resort’s swimming pool when selecting a resort or planning a March go to–you might not need to spend time at both.
March 2023 Disney World Special Events
Let’s begin out with the nonpublic occasions in March 2023 that influence attendance at Walt Disney World. While there is no such thing as a Beer Bong World Championship (not to mention extra unsavory occasions) held on the ESPN Wide World of Sports, there are youth occasions that can lead to simply as wild of crowds. There are two main cheerleading competitions, held March 10-12, 2023, that may increase attendance on the parks and occupancy on the resorts (often the All Stars and Coronado Springs).
The precise influence of youth sporting occasions on crowd ranges is debatable. If you find yourself on the identical resort as them or behind a big group of cheerleaders in line or in the identical Haunted Mansion stretching room as them, your notion of them will possible be very totally different than somebody who stays at a special resort and solely encounters small numbers of them in passing. We communicate from expertise (together with that very particular Haunted Mansion instance), and say that that is usually not one thing about which you have to be involved.
Speaking of athletic occasions, on a constructive observe, there is no such thing as a runDisney race in March 2023. The Princess Half Marathon is in late February, and the Springtime Surprise is in mid-April. Neither have any influence on crowds in March.
Then there are the general public occasions held through the month at Walt Disney World. The 2023 Epcot Flower & Garden Festival kicks off at first of the month, working from March 1, 2023 till July 5, 2023. This will spike ‘feels like’ crowds at Epcot, because it’s an enormous draw for locals who present up particularly for the occasion–to see the floral shows, eat meals, and purchase merchandise. One factor they sometimes don’t do, or do disproportionately lower than vacationers, is rides. As a outcome, congestion is increased however wait instances typically are usually not.
Regardless of whether or not you’re into gardening (I’m not) that is occasion has the park wanting pretty. The flower tapestry by the Imagination pavilion, between Future World and World Showcase is extremely picturesque, as are the numerous topiaries across the park. There’s far more than that, all of which you’ll be able to examine in our Guide to Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival.
March 2023 can be the top of Walt Disney World’s fiftieth Anniversary “celebration.” Those are air quotes round celebration because it’s been a completely underwhelming occasion. Regardless, this month is your final likelihood to see the 2 nighttime spectaculars that debuted for the festivities: Harmonious at EPCOT and the Disney Enchantment fireworks at Magic Kingdom.
We don’t count on there to be any spike in crowds in any respect of followers attempting to see these nighttime spectaculars one final time. There additionally gained’t be a rush of individuals taking ‘homecoming’ journeys for Walt Disney World’s fiftieth. If something, there will likely be a spike in early April 2023 for the triumphant return of Happily Ever After at Magic Kingdom. (EPCOT Forever will largely be met with indifference.)
Finally, there’s After Hours at Magic Kingdom and After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. These happen sporadically and, because the names recommend, are held after park closing. They have minimal influence on daytime crowd ranges, however lead to a slight bump in crowds through the night ‘mix-in’ time. We don’t suggest altering your plans due to After Hours at Magic Kingdom, however you would possibly need to do DHS on a special night. Normally, that park is nice for decrease wait instances on the finish of the night time, albeit to a lesser diploma on After Hours dates.
Park Hours for March 2023 are fairly good. Walt Disney World has quietly been extending these, with Magic Kingdom now closing later and the opposite 3 parks opening earlier in consequence. Of course, there’s a motive for this: spring break attendance forecasts!
March REFURBISHMENTS & NEW ATTRACTIONS
In phrases of sights that will likely be closed throughout March 2023, test the Walt Disney World Refurbishment Schedule. Major rides have downtime scheduled, together with each Splash Mountain (which is being reimagined into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure) and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster (which is down for a number of months).
Beyond journey closures, the development mission that may have probably the most noticeable influence on the visitor expertise is the huge reimagining on the entrance of Epcot. Several years after this began, the entrance of the park continues to be a sea of building partitions with an enormous filth pit within the center. On the plus facet, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Space 220 Restaurant, Creations Shop, Club Cool, and Connections Cafe are all open.
EPCOT can be residence to Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, which is Walt Disney World’s greatest addition in the previous few years. Experiencing the brand new journey is a bit difficult, so make sure you try our How to Ride Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind & Virtual Queue Speed Strategy to enhance your probabilities of success for becoming a member of the free digital queue. (Note: this would possibly finish someday in March 2023.)
Another various for Cosmic Rewind is shopping for line-skipping entry by way of the Individual Lightning Lanes. Those posts clarify the free and paid choices, their execs & cons, and the whole lot else you must know. Suffice to say, don’t simply present as much as EPCOT anticipating to affix the standby line–as there isn’t one.
Then there’s the following huge addition to Walt Disney World: TRON Lightcycle Run, which may have previews all through March 2023. Although the brand new curler coaster gained’t formally open till April 4, these previews may have a minor influence on Magic Kingdom crowds through the first half of March 2023.
Beyond that, there are a number of sights that haven’t but opened and certain gained’t till later in 2023. This contains Moana’s Journey of Water at Epcot, which is able to open within the second half of the yr based on Disney. Other smaller scale additions are possible later in 2023.
Although not an attraction, Toy Story Roundup BBQ Restaurant will open in late March 2023. For an outline of what else is on the horizon this yr, see What’s New & Next at Walt Disney World in 2023 & Beyond.
March 2023 DISNEY WORLD CROWD CALENDAR
We’ll begin this free crowd calendar part with the identical preface as different months—skip forward a number of paragraphs should you’ve already learn it. Wondering why you don’t see a color-coded crowd calendar right here? It’s as a result of we don’t actually belief them anymore and don’t assume it’s best to, both. If we simply had a visible crowd calendar graphic right here, a lot of you’ll solely have a look at that and never learn the accompanying clarification that covers what you would possibly really count on. That’d be doing you a disservice.
While 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 much less dependable due to the best way Disney manipulates attendance patterns, staffing, closures, and journey capability.
Walt Disney World doesn’t launch official attendance numbers, so crowd calendars make the most of information like faculty schedules, airport site visitors statistics, resort 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.
More lately, wait instances don’t at all times replicate precise crowds as a result of Disney has turn into adept and extra subtle at manipulating each attendance and crowd movement. Think of this because the distinction between the precise temperature and the “feels like” temperature, however with crowds. We can nonetheless precise crowd and attendance patterns, however not wait instances. The latter are what most of you possible care about (the “feels like” crowds), nevertheless it’s tougher to precisely forecast wait instances by way of Walt Disney World crowd calendars.
Let’s begin with the excellent news: early March 2023 needs to be a nice time to go to as a result of it’s a lull in crowds. That wasn’t the case final yr. Mardi Gras at first of the month, resulted in an inflow of holiday makers from Louisiana and different areas of the South. Thankfully, that already occurred this yr and the Worst Week of Winter 2023 at Walt Disney World already occurred in February.
Instead of Presidents’ Day, Mardi Gras, and the early runDisney occasion being staggered, all of them coincided. Bad for many who visited in late February, however good for many who go for early March 2023! being s be one of many 5 worst weeks of 2023–proper up there with Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, and the height of spring break.
As such, our expectation is that the primary week-plus of March 2023 will see reasonable crowd ranges. It’s possible that crowd ranges vary from round 5/10 to eight/10, with the common being within the 7/10 vary. This means common wait instances throughout the whole thing of Walt Disney World of round 39 to 45 minutes.
Specifically, March 1-10, 2023 will see the bottom wait instances and attendance of the month. That would possibly sound excessive or not nice, nevertheless it’s a pointy distinction to the aforementioned worst week of winter. That stretch noticed 10/10 crowd ranges and common wait instances of 54 to 61 minutes. That’s a large distinction over the course of a complete day!
This is kind of regular, reflecting the lull between the favored Presidents’ Day and Mardi Gras holidays in late February and the beginning of Spring Break season in mid-March. Weekends will likely be busier, particularly when the climate is good.
Things will get considerably worse beginning March 11, 2023. Both Osceola and Orange County, Florida are scheduled to have their Spring Breaks March 13-17, 2023. That alone will make that week plus the weekends earlier than and after fairly busy.
In that, we forecast that March 11 by way of March 19, 2023 would be the busiest week of the quarter, and one of many worst 5 weeks of the whole yr at Walt Disney World. Expect day by day crowd ranges of 9/10 or 10/10 at each park throughout this date vary. Some of these 10/10 days may have significantly excessive wait instances (not all 10/10 days are equally busy–that’s simply the utmost crowd degree).
It wouldn’t shock us if that finally ends up being the height of Spring Break crowds and the next weeks get progressively higher. Normally, extra out of state vacationers would descend upon Florida and Walt Disney World within the ultimate two weeks of the month.
However, it seems that extra massive faculty districts have spring breaks in the course of the month. Nevertheless, count on 8/10 or 9/10 crowd days the final two two full weeks of March 2023, persevering with into April 2023.
No matter while you’re visiting in March 2023, we’d advise leveraging Genie+ and Lightning Lanes to beat the crowds. Everything you must know, together with journey priorities, technique for avoiding pitfalls, maximizing your time saved & journey depend, and far more is roofed in our Guide to Genie+ and Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World.
March PRICING & DISCOUNTS
As a results of Spring Breaks being pretty frequent in March, you sometimes gained’t discover a lot in the best way of outstanding promotions. With that stated, there are at present a shocking variety of offers out there for Annual Passholders, Florida residents, and even most people. See All Current Walt Disney World Discounts for specifics. Some of those are literally fairly good.
However, “good” is a relative time period when describing these reductions, as March is above common by way of rack charges and ticket costs. Even a higher-than-normal proportion off an astronomical value continues to be a excessive value! For resorts, a lot of the month is peak season, which is strictly as costly because it sounds. Only vacation pricing is worse. For tickets, the pricing just isn’t as dangerous, nevertheless it’s nonetheless removed from the low season by way of per-day pricing.
Overall, March is a story of two months–but additionally a month on the rise. Normally, the final week of February/first week of March is among the yr’s “sweet spots” for planning a trip. In truth, we adore it a lot that it’s one of many prime weeks of the yr on our rankings of Best & Worst Months to Visit Walt Disney World. Even with barely elevated wait instances, we as soon as once more count on that to be true in early March 2023!
There’s a motive that window ranks so extremely regardless of the wait instances not being tremendous low. March sometimes gives nice climate, longer hours, and the beginning of the spring bloom with Flower & Garden Festival starting. After that, March’s attractiveness deteriorates, however even later within the month, I nonetheless assume the climate goes an extended approach to compensate for crowds.
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Learn about resorts on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To lower your expenses on tickets or decide which kind to purchase, learn our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets publish. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips publish takes a novel have a look at intelligent gadgets to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, the perfect place to start out is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for the whole lot you must know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Do you agree or disagree with our ideas on March at Walt Disney World? Have you carried out Walt Disney World throughout Spring Break earlier than? Do you assume it’s an excellent or dangerous time to go to? Any questions? Hearing your suggestions about your experiences is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas or questions under within the feedback!