? about CDN March break

[fitmom3]

Hi

I need some help.

We will be planning a trip to Disney next year on March Break.

We have no problems flying out of Buffalo, Detroit or even Pittsburg. Can someone pls tell me how much flights are for march break? ALSO how are the crowds - it is less busy then Easter and summer holidays?

thanks in advance

 

[strawberrygirl]

I know others will be able to answer this better than me, but I would contact Florida tourism and ask them to see what they think. March is known for their breaks as I saw on the weather network last night with people flying out of Ontario on their break. That being said, Sask has theirs in Feb and the wk from Good Friday onward (I already contacted our school division about it and they had better not change it) and I think Alberta is the same. It varies.

As for flights...I have no clue. All I know is that I refuse to fly into or out of Calgary in the spring (terrible terrible turbulents) and I want to transfer through a "not so big" airport such as Minneapolis.

I know I wasn't much help. Sorry.

 

[abdmom]

Tickets for ON March break this year, yyz to mco were about $500 for one stop flights and $700-900 for direct flights several months out. Tickets were $1000-1200 a couple of months out.

I got tickets for BUF- MCO for about $210. These were onestop with a crummy itinerary. If I'd waited until Jet Blue released their itineraries, I could have got tickets for $250-300 direct from BUF to MCO. Flights from Detroit tend to be even less than out of BUF.

i use touringplans to check crowds. Crowds for March break are less than during Easter. Easter is one of the seasons, next to Christmas, which has the largest crowds.

 

[CdnCarrie]

Check out www.mousesavers.com.

It will list the most crowded and least crowded times to go. March is one of the peak seaons.




The best times to go to Walt Disney World are:

Mid-November through mid-December (except the week of Thanksgiving). The weather is usually cool but pleasant, the Christmas decorations are up, special events are running, and the attendance is usually moderate. Expect crowds on Saturdays, especially at the Magic Kingdom. Disney's resorts typically fill up early for all of December, but this doesn't necessary translate into huge crowds during early December.

Second week of January through mid-February. It's cool (sometimes even a bit cold) at this time of year. This is one of the least busy times of year and hotel prices are lower. However, some rides will be closed for refurbishment at this time of year. The first week of January can be busy due to extended holiday vacations and the Walt Disney World Marathon. Avoid any holiday weekends.

First three weeks of May. The weather is warm in May, but usually not unbearably so. Crowds and hotel prices are moderate. Avoid Memorial Day weekend, which will be crowded.

Late August and entire month of September (even Labor Day weekend). It will be extremely hot, and this is peak hurricane season. Plan on taking afternoons off and visiting water parks. Crowds are low. Off-site hotels usually have their rock-bottom deals during this period, and Disney has offered "free dining" packages in this time frame each year since 2005.

During special events that interest you. Bear in mind that events held on major holidays usually attract significant crowds, however.

The worst times to visit Walt Disney World are:

December 26-31. This is the most crowded and most expensive time of year. Crowds get increasingly worse starting about December 20 and running through the New Year.

Mid-February through mid-April (or later, depending on the date of Easter), especially holiday weekends including President's Day and Easter. Expect huge crowds, high resort prices and expensive airfares, but usually very nice weather.

Midsummer (June through early August). Expect it to be very busy and extremely hot. To maximize your experience, plan on hitting the parks first thing in the morning. After lunch, take an afternoon break, then return to the park in the late afternoon/early evening. 11:00 am to 4:00 pm is the hottest part of the day and ironically the most crowded, too.

Other holidays. Among the other busy time periods are Thanksgiving week and any national holiday with a 3-day weekend (except Labor Day weekend).
During special events. Some don't create a lot of crowds, but some do.

Click here to see a detailed list of the most expensive and most crowded periods for 2008 and 2009.

Some less-known events that may affect crowds, park hours and/or traffic at Walt Disney World:

Cheerleeding/Twirl/Dance Competitions - Various dates each year, especially January-March. These usually don't have a lot of impact on the in-park crowds. The issue is that the Value resorts (All-Stars and Pop Century) play host to hordes of girls who can be extremely loud -- so you may want to avoid those resorts during competitions. Some events take place at Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular in Disney's Hollywood Studios, so that attraction might be closed. Some of the competitions and events include College Cheerleading & Dance Team National Championships (January 15-18, 2010), National Dance Team Championship (February 5-7, 2010), National High School Cheerleading Championship (February 12-16, 2010), Twirlmania (February 19-22, 2010), Contest of Champions Nationals (February 27 and March 5-7, 2010), National All Star Cheerleading Championship (March 12-16, 2010), All Star Cheerleading and Dance Worlds (April 24-26, 2010).

Mardi Gras Week. February or March (varies annually - 2010 date: February 16). Many New Orleans schools have all or part of this week off, so families leave town the weekend before the holiday and head to Disney World in droves.

Grad Nites - Usually the last two weekends of April. (2010 dates: April 23, 24, 30 and May 1) Private parties for graduating high school seniors are held from 10:00 pm through 4:00 am at Magic Kingdom. On Grad Nites, the park will probably close to the public at about 6:00 pm. From 8:00 pm on, avoid driving in the area around the park as busloads of kids will be arriving, which may affect traffic.
Gay Days. First week of June (2010 in-park dates: June 3-6). Visit GayDays.com and OneMightyWeekend.com for more info about the two organized events. At most, only one park per day will be more crowded than normal; often there is no discernable effect on crowds.

"Jersey Week" - Usually the first or second week of November. The New Jersey schools have a teachers' convention (2009 dates: November 5-6), which is often close to Veterans Day. Lots of people take advantage of this time off to pull their kids out of school for the whole week and add on the weekend before and/or after, taking this opportunity to go to Disney World in the "off season." New Jersey is the single biggest market for Walt Disney World -- you do the math!

ABC's Very Merry Christmas Day Parade footage is taped in advance in Magic Kingdom, usually shortly after Thanksgiving (2009 dates: December 3-5). The exact dates aren't usually released until sometime in the fall. Unless you want to watch the production process, you may want to avoid Magic Kingdom, because it creates crowd problems. Also, some shows or parades may be cancelled or rescheduled. The Christmas Day Parade is broadcast on ABC on December 25 each year.

Pop Warner Week - The Pop Warner Superbowl and National Cheer & Dance Championships are held at Disney World in early December (2009 dates: December 5-12). The Value resorts and some of the Moderate resorts will be FULL of kids (both football players and cheerleaders). Expect a lot of noise if you stay there. This event can cause crowds at the parks in the evenings (not during the day, since they are busy competing) and there have been some unfortunate incidents, including violent fights between teams.

 

[CdnCarrie]

Also from mousesavers.com

Example of resort pricing for the values standard room - March is listed as peak - Sorry it didn't format well but it gives you an idea.


New Year Jan 1-2
$145.00


Value Jan 3-14
Weekday $82.00
Weekend $97.00


Martin Luther King Jr. Jan 15-17
$97.00
$112.00

Value Jan 18 - Feb 11
Weekday
Weekend



$82.00
$97.00

$92.00
$107.00

President's Day Feb 12-14
$145.00
$160.00

Peak Feb 15 - March 27
Weekday
Weekend



$125.00
$140.00

$140.00
$155.00
Easter March 28 - April 10
$145.00
$160.00

Regular April 11 - June 3
Weekday
Weekend



$105.00
$120.00

$120.00
$135.00

 

[alamode]

Another way is to look at DVC charts. There are 5 groupings of dates.

 

[Debbie]

Or... check park hours. The later they are, the busier it is.

My DSis is there right now, so I checked. Last night, tonight, tomorrow, MK closes at MIDNIGHT. Methinks it is going to be busy. The rest of the week, it is 11:00 pm, with Disney Studios closing at 10:00 a couple of nights this week. Those are better(ie later) hours than I get when I go in mid/late August, so I know that it is going to be busy this week. Planning makes the trip worthwhile, though and there are moments when I wish I were there, too. Oh, and I don't think anything compares to Christmas and Easter!

 

[CdnCarrie]

Or... check park hours. The later they are, the busier it is.

I think there are 2 factors to consider - crowds and room rates. Room rates will be among the highest of the year in March.

 

[fitmom3]

Hi
Thanks for the replies. We have decided to start planning for next March break ( march 14-18)...my oldest daughter (aged 7) has missed 16 days of school this year due to illness. It was the same last year. She catches a virus and it takes her a good week to recover. We don't feel comfortable pulling her out of school since she misses too much ....I checked out condo prices at Windsor Hills and the rates for Feb/March are the same. My mom is coming with us and will help with the cost of the condo. The biggest expense will be the flights and park tickets. We are willing to drive to the States for our flight to save $... It is going to be expensive for a family of 5. I read about super cheap flights out of Pittsburgh on another site. We would drive 5 hours to save $500. so when should I start looking at flights?

ALSO - I have spoke to some teacher friends that go down for march break - they say the crowds are not too bad.

 

[TreesyB]

In terms of flights if you're sure of your dates and you're sure you're going to fly from the States I would keep an eye on the transport board here on Dis where people talk about when flights ate released for Jetblue or SWA. I would buy them when they are released or shortly after. You could probably get $200-300 round trip per ticket if you do that and with SWA there is no change fee if you want to change the date. And if the fares decrease you can get the difference in credit.

 

[abdmom]

We're here in WDW now. It's ON March break. The crowds are not that bad at all. Now, we've only been in Hollywood Studios (yesterday) and Epcot (today), but seriously, we haven't had a problem with crowds at all. Star Tours had a 40 minute wait time midday yesterday. We got fastpasses for Toy Story Mania at noon for 6 hours later. Last year at this time, you had to get fastpasses by about 10:30 to get them at all. Maybe it's the cool weather.

 

[strawberrygirl]

abdmom....that dedication to be writing us from Florida!!!! Thanks for the report. Have fun and bring back lots of info for us!!!

 

[KerriMc]

I am in Florida too right now! I am a teacher so we can only travel on the March Break. Now we only do one day of WDW - the MK - and the rest is swimming at the pool at our house we rent. We do a long day and have a great time doing it. It can be busy, but not horrendous. You just do what you can and plan accordingly - for example we run and get a fastpass for Jungle Cruise while we are waiting for the parade and then we get on as soon as the parade is over. Those kinds of things ... we don't go commando or I'd be totally stressed. We do what we can and know we will be back the next year!

As for costs of flights - we paid $300 round trip for each person in our group (7 with my parents, brother, dh and my daughters). We flew SW out of Buffalo. So that is a great deal ... when I purchased the tickets - right on the day they went on sale I also checked West Jet and it would have been over $7000 for the 7 of us!!! So I gladly spend three hours to drive to Buffalo!!!

Anyways ... I have two monkeys right now that won't go to sleep and we are going to MK tomorrow ... they aren't doing a very good job of getting to sleep (AAHHHHH!!!) ... time to separate them.

Good luck ...
Kerri

p.s. We are coming back down at the end of July for six days and it will be interesting to compare the busy factor!!