With a lot of Central Florida and different faculty districts being off final week, it’s now formally Spring Break 2023 at Walt Disney World. This crowd report shares wait instances knowledge, our on-the-ground anecdotal experiences, ideas on what’s more likely to occur subsequent with attendance ranges, and extra.
As coated in our crowd report for early March at Walt Disney World, this month has traditionally been a ‘tale of two seasons’ at Walt Disney World, with peaks and valleys–excessive highs and low lows. The first half of the month began out surprisingly sluggish, reinforcing that as one in all our favourite instances to go to in our Best & Worst Months to Visit Walt Disney World.
That dynamic will probably be much more evident as we distinction wait instances from final week with these from the primary week-plus of the month. With Osceola and Orange County each out of session for his or her spring breaks, wait instances had been unsurprisingly excessive final week. That’s to not say crowds didn’t throw us any curveballs–they did. Let’s have a look…
As all the time, what’s coated in these “crowd” studies is definitely posted wait time knowledge that’s pulled from My Disney Experience and compiled into graphs for monitoring and evaluating varied days, weeks, months, and years. Lots will be gleaned from posted wait instances, nevertheless it’s not essentially conclusive of in-park congestion or crowds.
There are a number of different variables that impression “feels like” crowds, from the EPCOT festivals to climate to visitor demographics to experience breakdowns to operational effectivity to time of day or day of the week. That’s only a partial listing, and all of those had been main elements in first week of the 2023 spring break season.
In quick, wait instances are an imperfect measure of Walt Disney World’s uncooked attendance or crowds–which have elevated by a number of million individuals over the course of the final decade-plus. With that out of the way in which, let’s dig into the info and have a look at Walt Disney World wait instances. As all the time, all graphs and stats are courtesy of Thrill-Data.com:
We’ll begin with the weekly numbers for Walt Disney World as a complete.
The peak in early January was not New Year’s, however somewhat winter break and Marathon weekend. Following that, crowds largely moderated till Presidents’ Day, earlier than falling to their lowest ranges of the 12 months so far in late February by the primary 12 days or so of March 2023. Then spring break season arrived.
From one week to the subsequent, crowd ranges jumped from 3/10 to 9/10, with the typical wait time rising from 35 minutes to 48 minutes. With that mentioned, this chart truly doesn’t inform the total story, as lots of these weeks embody busy and sluggish dates. So let’s have a look at the dailies…
This is a little more helpful, and it exhibits that wait instances truly began falling within the second half of Central Florida’s spring break week and into the weekend. By Sunday (March 19, 2023), wait instances had bottomed out at 31 minutes on common, for a 2/10 crowd stage. That’s fairly the distinction to the center of the week, when crowd ranges had been 10/10 and 54-60 minutes on common.
What it’s not fairly the distinction to is Presidents’ Day and Mardi Gras, when (actually) this very same dynamic performed out. At the time, we speculated that the Princess Half Marathon would possibly’ve been taking part in a component, with runners much less more likely to go to the parks on the times of the large race. Now, we’re beginning to surprise if a brand new pattern is rising. More on that within the commentary in the direction of the tip…
It’s largely the identical story at Magic Kingdom, which went from 9/10 or 10/10 crowd ranges earlier within the week to 2/10 on Sunday. Worth noting that Tomorrowland closed early on 3/14, doubtless explaining the majority of the one-day drop in the midst of the week.
I’d add that “feels like” crowds had been totally on par with these excessive numbers all through the week. As with the wait instances knowledge, Saturday evening into Sunday was the large exception, and that’s no less than partly as a result of “feels like” (and precise) temperatures plummeted. That alone can’t clarify all of it, although.
The day by day knowledge for EPCOT is especially fascinating, with common wait instances doubling after which being lower in half all within the span of a single week.
As all the time, EPCOT is the one park the place what you see isn’t what you get. I used to be within the park for parts of a 9/10 and 10/10 day final week, additionally doing each Extended Evening Hours and Early Entry at EPCOT. My greatest takeaway? This isn’t so dangerous!
However, that was my impression based mostly on crowds and congestion, and never wait instances. While clearly busy, EPCOT didn’t “feel” 9/10 or 10/10 ranges of busy. That’s as a result of EPCOT is the “local’s park” at Walt Disney World, with Floridians and Annual Passholders tending to do the park in a different way than vacationers. (Meaning extra wandering, and fewer points of interest.) Many of the “wanderers” had been blocked out final week, leading to quite a bit much less congestion–however larger wait instances.
As is usually the case throughout peak vacationer instances, Disney’s Hollywood Studios was the worst park final week. It averaged 9/10 or 10/10 crowd ranges for five straight days, with common wait instances at or above 59 minutes every of these days. As with the opposite parks, DHS plummeted over the weekend.
My primary takeaway with Disney’s Hollywood Studios was additionally this isn’t so dangerous! However, that was for a really totally different motive than EPCOT. Middle of the day, congestion and wait instances had been each terrible at DHS. Despite that, crowds had been nonetheless completely manageable in each the morning throughout Early Entry and after 6 pm. I hold anticipating the latter to vary, however this appears to be the brand new regular for DHS, even now that Fantasmic has returned. I’ll take it!
It’s an identical story at Animal Kingdom, with crowd ranges surging in the midst of final week solely to drop sharply over the weekend. With the fewest points of interest that put up wait instances, Animal Kingdom is susceptible to essentially the most pronounced swings in crowd ranges. Colder climate over the weekend would’ve exaggerated this, as Kali River Rapids would’ve been posting a low wait time.
I spent the least time (by far) in Animal Kingdom final week. In half as a result of it’s not open after darkish (thanks quite a bit, DST!) and partly as a result of it’s the least fascinating or tough from a crowds and technique perspective. I used to be in a position to do each single experience within the park even on a busy day by 10 am, which truly isn’t that spectacular of a feat.
Now let’s flip to the typical attraction wait instances for the month of March 2023 so far:
Nothing all that stunning when it comes to attraction wait instances.
Slinky Dog dashed previous Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, however that’s occurred earlier than. Space Mountain additionally rocketed up the rankings, however that may very well be propelled by its downtime woes, resulting in Lightning Lane logjams. Meet & greets in Magic Kingdom continued to fall into common territory, which is definitely considerably of a shock for a busy vacationer week–nevertheless it reinforces our strategy to giving these decrease precedence in our Magic Kingdom Lightning Lane Rankings.
For these questioning how Walt Disney World’s wait instances examine to Universal Orlando, the pattern is about the identical for mid-March 2023.
With that mentioned, Orange County’s spring break outperformed different peak weeks this 12 months at Universal Orlando, which might be attributable to Universal Orlando’s Florida resident ticket deal not having blockout dates, that means that extra locals may select Universal as a staycation choice. That was our expectation getting in, and is exactly how issues performed out.
Looking backwards, we’re truly barely stunned that final week wasn’t even busier. The week as a complete was about on par with Orange County’s spring break final 12 months, however I nonetheless anticipated one other 10/10 day or two.
The greater story is the way in which crowds fell off on Saturday and Sunday. Perhaps even this shouldn’t be a shock, because it’s the third straight time this has occurred in 2023 following a busy week. The distinction is that that is the primary time it’s occurred outdoors of a runDisney occasion. With these, it was simpler to elucidate away or attribute the pattern to the races themselves, or runners not having Annual Passes.
Three instances is a pattern, however even now, there are different externalities that would account for the drop. There had been youth sporting occasions over the weekend, and it’s potential these contributors did their park days disproportionately through the week somewhat than weekend.
It’s additionally potential that colder climate is a trigger, as temperatures dropped sharply late Saturday and in a single day into Sunday. Still, that may not clarify the decrease wait instances through the day on Saturday, when the climate was heat and comparatively delicate. More frigid climate additionally sometimes doesn’t dissuade vacationers, solely locals. The many scantily-clothed company ready alongside me for the bus from A.S.S. to MK yesterday morning are a testomony to this.
Another large clarification is pricing. Airfare is up considerably, and people prices plus larger lodge charges for the weekend may’ve pushed vacationers visiting for spring break to reach on Sunday and go away on Friday or Saturday.
Obviously, Walt Disney World costs are up throughout the board, too, and it’s potential individuals are buying shorter-duration tickets in consequence. (This is one thing we’ve been “investigating” for the previous few weeks, and I’ve motive to imagine this could be a rising issue.)
In all chance, all of those variables doubtless performed elements in crowd ranges being decrease over the weekend. There’s doubtless much more that I’m failing to bear in mind, too. Sunday slowdowns following holidays usually are not unusual, however the identical hasn’t been the case for Saturdays up to now–nor are the drops often this pronounced.
It’ll be fascinating to see whether or not this continues to occur throughout upcoming vacation weeks and busier journey instances. We would possibly want to begin updating our crowd calendars if this turns into the ‘new normal’ of attendance dynamics at Walt Disney World.
Looking ahead, park reservations are inexperienced for the rest of March 2023. This reinforces our prediction that the subsequent two weeks could be a little bit of a ‘sweet spot’ within the season in between the height weeks of Orange County’s spring break and Easter.
Following that, each Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios are totally booked for lead as much as Easter. Reservations are reserving up quicker (and to a larger diploma) than final week, so it’s fully potential that Easter will find yourself being busier than Orange County’s spring break. That wasn’t our expectation going into this season, and it nonetheless might not be the case (park reservations are hardly conclusive), nevertheless it’s wanting more and more doubtless–particularly after final week wasn’t fairly as dangerous as anticipated.
Ultimately, it was a busy week within the parks, however not fairly as dangerous as we anticipated–or no less than, not for the total period of the week. Our Spring Break 2023 Crowd Calendar for Walt Disney World predicted that this previous week could be the worst of spring break, and I’m now keen to guess that our prediction will find yourself being fallacious. The week main as much as Easter ought to surpass final week, however who is aware of–possibly there will probably be an identical decline in weekend crowds.
The subsequent couple of weeks between every now and then shouldn’t be too horrible, no less than, not by spring break requirements. It’ll nonetheless be nothing like early March, all of May, or September, nevertheless it received’t be peak season dangerous, both. Our expectation is wait time ranges within the 7/10 to eight/10 vary most days, which could sound (and look!) dangerous, however these are very a lot “beatable” crowds for those who’re up early, out late, and make the most of savvy technique.
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Learn about accommodations 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 sort to purchase, learn our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets put up. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips put up takes a singular have a look at intelligent objects to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, the very best place to begin is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for every thing it’s essential know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Have you visited Walt Disney World in March 2023? What did you consider the crowds? Any parks, instances of day, or days of the week noticeably worse than the others? Did you discover the previous few days to be noticeably busier than the primary half of the week or earlier weekend? If you’ve visited in previous weeks earlier than spring break, did you discover an enormous distinction in crowd ranges? Do you agree or disagree with something in our crowd report? Any questions we can assist you reply? Hearing your suggestions–even if you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!