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 & suggestions for Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios. (Updated February 24, 2023.)
March 2023 will probably 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 plenty of college techniques within the nation will take their spring break…and meaning journeys to Walt Disney World! If you’re in some way capable of get previous that (maybe you’re an avid queue fanatic, by which case 120-minute waits may 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 when it comes to crowds, components of March 2023 gained’t be as unhealthy for a few causes. First, as a result of Easter isn’t till April 9, 2023. This means colleges that plan their Spring Breaks across the Easter vacation gained’t be off for Spring Break in March. That’s the excellent news…
The unhealthy information is that many Okay-12 colleges and schools within the United States do have their Spring Breaks in March. That consists of many districts in Florida, together with the 2 counties with the largest impression 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 coated. It particulars which weeks of spring break can 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 beneath. Here’s what else you want to know in regards to 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 aspect of gentle, it’s normally fairly comfy. Sure, it may be abnormally chilly or sizzling in March (undoubtedly test the long run forecast earlier than visiting because it actually might be both), however you’re usually in for climate that’s nearly splendid for touring the parks.
Lows originally of the month are within the mid-50s and creep up in 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 may assume that it skews in direction of chilly. That will be true early within the morning and late at night time, however understand that you’ll be most lively in the course of the center of the day when it’s warmest; personally, I favor barely cooler temperatures once I’m lively, anyway.
The result’s that I discover March to be one of many higher months of the yr for climate in Florida, notably in direction of the top of the month. At the start of the month you’re extra more likely to expertise unseasonably chilly climate, so I are inclined 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 generally is 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 bear in mind an early March trip throughout which my mother and father determined to stubbornly stick 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 nearly 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 may not wish 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–it’s possible you’ll not wish to spend time at both.
March 2023 Disney World Special Events
Let’s begin out with the nonpublic occasions in March 2023 that impression attendance at Walt Disney World. While there isn’t any Beer Bong World Championship (not to mention extra unsavory occasions) held on the ESPN Wide World of Sports, there are youth occasions that may end up in simply as wild of crowds. There are two main cheerleading competitions, held March 10-12, 2023, that can increase attendance on the parks and occupancy on the motels (normally the All Stars and Coronado Springs).
The precise impression of youth sporting occasions on crowd ranges is debatable. If you find yourself on the similar 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 probably be very totally different than somebody who stays at a special resort and solely encounters small numbers of them in passing. We converse from expertise (together with that very particular Haunted Mansion instance), and say that that is usually not one thing about which you ought to be involved.
Speaking of athletic occasions, on a constructive word, there isn’t any runDisney race in March 2023. The Princess Half Marathon is in late February, and the Springtime Surprise is in mid-April. Neither have any impression on crowds in March.
Then there are the general public occasions held in the course of the month at Walt Disney World. The 2023 Epcot Flower & Garden Festival kicks off originally of the month, operating from March 1, 2023 till July 5, 2023. This will spike ‘feels like’ crowds at Epcot, because it’s a giant 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 end result, congestion is larger however wait instances usually usually are not.
Regardless of whether or not you’re into gardening (I’m not) that is occasion has the park wanting beautiful. 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 wholly underwhelming occasion. Regardless, this month is your final probability 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 way 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 can 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 counsel, are held after park closing. They have minimal impression on daytime crowd ranges, however lead to a slight bump in crowds in the course of the night ‘mix-in’ time. We don’t suggest altering your plans due to After Hours at Magic Kingdom, however you may wish 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 purpose for this: spring break attendance forecasts!
March REFURBISHMENTS & NEW ATTRACTIONS
In phrases of points of interest that can 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 challenge that can have probably the most noticeable impression 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 development partitions with an enormous grime pit within the center. On the plus aspect, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Space 220 Restaurant, Creations Shop, Club Cool, and Connections Cafe are all open.
EPCOT can be dwelling to Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, which is Walt Disney World’s largest addition in the previous couple of years. Experiencing the brand new journey is a bit sophisticated, so you’ll want to take a look at our How to Ride Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind & Virtual Queue Speed Strategy to enhance your possibilities of success for becoming a member of the free digital queue. (Note: this may finish someday in March 2023.)
Another various for Cosmic Rewind is shopping for line-skipping entry through the Individual Lightning Lanes. Those posts clarify the free and paid choices, their execs & cons, and the whole lot else you want to 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 might have a minor impression on Magic Kingdom crowds in the course of the first half of March 2023.
Beyond that, there are a number of points of interest that haven’t but opened and sure gained’t till later in 2023. This consists of Moana’s Journey of Water at Epcot, which is able to open within the second half of the yr in keeping with Disney. Other smaller scale additions are probably later in 2023.
Although not an attraction, Toy Story Roundup BBQ Restaurant will open in late March 2023. For an summary 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 if you happen to’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, lots of you’d solely take a look at that and never learn the accompanying rationalization that covers what you may 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 now 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 way in which 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 college schedules, airport visitors statistics, resort pricing & occupancy, and different indicators as proxies for crowds. For years, this method labored and made crowd calendars dependable. Walt Disney World attendance adopted an identifiable sample that tracked with the aforementioned proxies.
More just lately, wait instances don’t at all times replicate precise crowds as a result of Disney has change into adept and extra subtle at manipulating each attendance and crowd stream. 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 probably care about (the “feels like” crowds), however it’s tougher to precisely forecast wait instances through 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 originally 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 probably that crowd ranges vary from round 5/10 to eight/10, with the typical 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 may sound excessive or not nice, however 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 big 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 can be busier, particularly when the climate is sweet.
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 all the 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 notably excessive wait instances (not all 10/10 days are equally busy–that’s simply the utmost crowd stage).
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 remaining two weeks of the month.
However, it seems that extra giant college districts have spring breaks in the midst 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 once you’re visiting in March 2023, we’d advise leveraging Genie+ and Lightning Lanes to beat the crowds. Everything you want to 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 widespread in March, you sometimes gained’t discover a lot in the way in which of outstanding promotions. With that mentioned, there are at present a stunning 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 when it comes to rack charges and ticket costs. Even a higher-than-normal share off an astronomical value continues to be a excessive value! For motels, a lot of the month is peak season, which is precisely as costly because it sounds. Only vacation pricing is worse. For tickets, the pricing is just not as unhealthy, however it’s nonetheless removed from the low season when it comes to 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 without doubt one of the yr’s “sweet spots” for planning a trip. In truth, we adore it a lot that it’s one of many high 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 purpose 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 a protracted option to compensate for crowds.
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Learn about motels 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 publish. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips publish takes a novel take 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 very best place to begin is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for the whole lot you want to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Do you agree or disagree with our ideas on March at Walt Disney World? Have you achieved Walt Disney World throughout Spring Break earlier than? Do you assume it’s an excellent or unhealthy 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 beneath within the feedback!