Dissappointing March Break in Orlando

[Cdn Gal]

HIIIIIIIII I USE ALL CAPITALS BECAUSE I TYPE WITH ONE FINGER AND LOOK AT KEYBOARD. ITS FASTER FORE ME SOMEONE TOLD ME ONCE I WAS SHOUTING
/QUOTE]

YOU ARE HILARIOUS!!!!!

Thanks for the pics- they were lovely!

 

[Cdn Gal]

HIIIIIIIII I USE ALL CAPITALS BECAUSE I TYPE WITH ONE FINGER AND LOOK AT KEYBOARD. ITS FASTER FORE ME SOMEONE TOLD ME ONCE I WAS SHOUTING
/QUOTE]

YOU ARE HILARIOUS!!!!!

Thanks for the pics- they were lovely!

 

[CanadianGuy]

That tornado touched down at a buddy's apartment complex. His place was ok - but the building right next to his .. not so much.

On the plus side, I could see the inside of what his apartment *might* look like on the news.

On the bad side, his neighbours living room furniture was mostly on the lawn.

 

[dvcdisney]

We were there from March 6th -20th. The crowds were manageable for the first week up until the Sat March 13th. It was literally day and night. Everyone seemed to arrived on Saturday and went straight to the parks. It remained very busy in all the parks until we left on the 20th.

And I agree the weather was a lot cooler than previous years.

 

[gemini2727]

We were there from the 7th to the 14th - Same thing as last year, on our last Saturday the CHEERLEADERS arrived! The chanting and clapping started in Space Mountain and sequined costumes were everywhere...not to mention larger crowds... they were having a good time, bless them, but it was time to go home

 

[mollyseven]

Hey,,,, we were there the 11-21st also.
I found early mornings a bit chilly but I was the only one up so I just grabbed my light fleece and coffee and sat outside. The first friday (12th) it rained all day but we went to epcot and rode everything no problem and between the showers went outside, it was great.
We used our GAD fast passes and they were fabulous!!!!! we ended up with so many fastpasses we gave some away each day to families that were looking dissappointed! By the 19th it was really hot out and on the 20th we did Typhoon Lagoon and all got sunburned even with sunscreen on. We stayed from 11-5 it was fabulous.
When we would go back at dinner we all took a hoodie but it was great.
Crowds were nothing like Christmas so I was happy.
Every day was between 21-24 so for me that's great.........I managed a tan even with the chillier than normal temps.

 

[suzyqsam]

We were there the 7th - 14th. Had a mix bag of weather. The first evening we went to MK and it was in the 40's (felt colder to me though). During the week we wore everything from shorts to sweatshirts and pants. We did manage to go swimming (or should I say the kids did ) about 4 of the days in the afternoon. TH & F were tough with the heavy rain but we made the best of it. I have never been down there in March before, so not sure what the crowds are usually like but we must have hit the parks the same day as everyone else. Wed. we went to AK and it was really busy. Other days and other parks were mixed. Sometimes we walked right on the ride, other times there was a wait. We used Fastpass for the popular attactions. Although, I wish the weather was a little better, I am not complaining. I just love Disney and no matter the weather, I am happy to be there

 

[Tiger926]

Hey,,,, we were there the 11-21st also.
I found early mornings a bit chilly but I was the only one up so I just grabbed my light fleece and coffee and sat outside. The first friday (12th) it rained all day but we went to epcot and rode everything no problem and between the showers went outside, it was great.
We used our GAD fast passes and they were fabulous!!!!! we ended up with so many fastpasses we gave some away each day to families that were looking dissappointed! By the 19th it was really hot out and on the 20th we did Typhoon Lagoon and all got sunburned even with sunscreen on. We stayed from 11-5 it was fabulous.
When we would go back at dinner we all took a hoodie but it was great.
Crowds were nothing like Christmas so I was happy.
Every day was between 21-24 so for me that's great.........I managed a tan even with the chillier than normal temps.

Wow! It's like some of us were in a different place... I keep reading that the week before was much less crowded, but if you are talking about March 13-19, it was a madhouse!!!

As many of us seasoned travellers have said, it was worst than Christmas! I have never seen crowds like that. The weather was chilly and downright cold at night - I'm Canadian, so we can handle our cold, and came prepared (unlike many other families). The last day, Friday March 19th was the warmest of the whole week, as it got up to 80, but for the rest of the week, most days were only between 67-71 with cool wind chills.

Tiger

 

[SplashMom]

We arrived late on March 12 so we missed all the rain. We left on Monday, March 22, so we had some rain on Sunday but other than that, the sun was shining the entire time. It wasn't hot, but we swam each day. The sun was warm so as long as you were a bit sheltered, it was lovely. It was great weather for doing the parks--we just took sweatshirts at night. We did, however, find it very busy. We had a plan for each day so we were fine but we did see lots of overwhelmed families! We were at the park opening at Hollywood Studios one day and we rushed to Toy Story Mania--waited in the fastpass line for 15-20 minutes and by that time, the fastpasses were for 12:30-1:30. All fastpasses were gone by 9:45. Other than that, we were able to ride everything we wanted with no waits by using fastpasses and riding later at night. We had a great time, even with the crowds!

 

[mtmbyck]

Mollyseven.....what is a GAD Fastpass?? First I have heard of this.

 

[hcmomma]

We were at Magic Kingdom Wednesday March 17th and Animal Kingdom March 18th. We had no idea there was a tornado or that it rained!?! It was overcast but we certainly didn't get wet from rain - the Rapid ride at AK was another story though . It was cool but we still had on shorts and tshirts. The kids swam every night.

As for crowds - All Star Music was completely sold out and I heard Port Orleans was as well. People who could walk on rides the week before were standing in lines for 2 hours. The fast pass line (already had fast pass and were ready to ride) was 1 1/2 hours long at one point for Mount Everest! And we never did do the Haunted Mansion because of the line up. I had a Fromners guide book with 'how to do Magic Kingdom in a day' and we followed that. Saw what we wanted and were done by supper. We had no problems with crowded shuttle buses either.

This was our first trip so I am sure there are some must dos that we missed - like standing in line for 3 hrs to meet the princesses. But we saw a lot of the parks and did almost everything we thought we needed to do. Next time I would choose not to go on March Break because I don't like it that crazy - even the hotels on the ride down were booked up and crazy.

 

[maryliz]

We were there from the 13th to the 20th. Yep, it was busy, but I think last August (week of the 9th) was way worse. By going early, and staying late, we managed to do almost everything, in only 4 park days. Unheard of for us to be there for 7 days and only in the parks 4 of them ... but we accomplished a lot, and didn't feel the need to be part of those crowds any longer.

I think the worst day was the Sunday ... we were at MGM and it was nuts with cheerleaders. Fastpasses were for 6 hours away, if you were lucky enough to even get one. But TSM was only a 45 min wait, ToT said 70 min both times we went on and was 45 min. We had dinner ressies at EPCOT so went over there ... but still were even able to do Soarin' standby at 8PM and it was only 50 min.

The other days we got more than everything done ... we were at the parks for ropedrop and it was great.

We managed two "pool days", and while the wind was very chilly (we had wanted to do Typhoon Lagoon but no way I'd want to be walking around in a wet bathing suit in that wind), it was still very pleasant. Shorts during the day, with sweatshirts only at night ... other than Thursday which was COLD. It was warmer here at home that day.

All in all, I knew it would be busy, we had a plan, and we accomplished it. DH says he won't go back March break again, but DD will be in grade 8 next year, and while we're taking kids out in Feb for DCL, it will probably be the last time we do that. So yes, we'll do March break again (shhh, don't tell DH)

Would have liked to have a bit warmer weather, but it was still great!

 

[sammi]

We also were down there the first 2 weeks of last Dec and it was the worst weather we had seen in over 15 years of going to Florida! Ughh......cold rainy and windy.....blame El Nino on it!

 

[Diamondintheruff]

Mollyseven.....what is a GAD Fastpass?? First I have heard of this.

GAD is short for Give A Day pass. It means Mollyseven's family did volunteer work with an organization that registered with Disney and can than give out a free day to the parks. If you already have tickets you can redeem the GAD ticket for a certain fastpasses to the park instead.

The bad news is that the program is over.

 

[mollyseven]

Yeah Diamond..... we did the volunteer work and all got GAD vouchers.
We used all 4 of our family vouchers for fast pass days at the parks....and they were worth every bit. It gave us so many fast passes for all the great rides it was wonderful. I can't believe that in less than 3 months they already had their 1million volunteers......not what for the rest of the year???

 

[Yzma and Kronk]

We were at MK on 3/16 and it was crazy busy! IASW was 120 minute wait!!!

This was taken at about 1:30pm

The next day at Epcot 3/17, we arrived at 10am and SB at Soarin' was already 90 minutes. The line to get FP's was about 300 deep! I've never seen it like that. The single rider line at TT was no less that 45 minutes throughout the day. It was crazy busy!

Luckily for us we used our GAD FP's too!

 

[greenclan67]

We were at Epcot as well that week, we were there the Monday the 15th. At one point Soarin' was at 155 mins, and the lowest we saw it was 80 mins. The fastpasses were gone by about 11 am, and we never did get on it!
It was very busy, and very crowded!
Not to mention the weather wasn't great for the 2 weeks were there. We had the Thurs & Friday rain, and a few very cool days. One day it was nicer in Northern Ontario then it was in Fl. Can't control the weather but we made the best of it!

 

[minnie56]

Amazing the difference a week can make..we went to Epcot on March 7 and did Soarin' 3x! Epcot was not full let alone crowded...

 

[Cdn Gal]

We were at MK on 3/16 and it was crazy busy! IASW was 120 minute wait!!!

This was taken at about 1:30pm

The next day at Epcot 3/17, we arrived at 10am and SB at Soarin' was already 90 minutes. The line to get FP's was about 300 deep! I've never seen it like that. The single rider line at TT was no less that 45 minutes throughout the day. It was crazy busy!

Luckily for us we used our GAD FP's too!

This is so busy that I don't even recognize where this picture is!

 

[Tiger926]

This is so busy that I don't even recognize where this picture is!

It's Frontierland - people were everywhere and BTMRN had huge waits!!!

Tiger