Early March this year?

[boxer]

After our excellent vacation this past April/May, I'm not sure I can wait an EXACT year to do it again, so I'm tossing around maybe going early March this year.........

What would be the good time to go to miss the spring-break crowd, but still be relatively safe with weather (we NEED warm temps on vacation!!). Looking at the calander March 1st to the 11th looks good, but I need some first-hand experiences with crowds and weather this time of year.

I also want HONEST opinions if I should just act like an adult and actually wait the extra month to go in late April, or if early March will meet our expectations, lol................

 

[tigger1972]

Try this link

http://www.wunderground.com/history...ty=Orlando&req_state=FL&req_statename=Florida

On this site, you can pull up all weather info for 2003 to present - you will find that weather for orlando is most variable (and least predictable!) for all of February and the first half of March. Some years it will be in the 80's but it can also be quite cool as well. Also, nighttime lows are pretty low - I wouldn't count on a morning at a waterpark unless you can tolerate cool temps better than me!

 

[tigger1972]

Oops -- I put in early February instead of March in the link... just change the dates to fit your needs better!

Also, you can click on any weather station in Orlando and pull up a chart of high/low temps etc for an entire year to see how temps change in Orlando.

Hope that helps!

 

[boxer]

thank you........that is a cool link. Anyone have any idea's on spring break dates?

 

[dixiedizfan]

Weather in early March can be dicey. We went March 6 thru 12 one year, and most days it was overcast and cool ... not pool weather at all. But by the end of the week it was upper 80's. You can be sure April will be nice and warm, but more crowded as well.

 

[Bill From PA]

We use this link to check historical weather data:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mlb/mlbclimat.html

We've been to WDW for the first 10 days in March in 6 of the last 8 years, staying from 7 to 10 'park days'. In all that time we had one full day of rain and another half day, the rest of the time being basically sunny, I don't think we had one day in which the high temp didn't top 70 with low 70s to low 80s being the norm. If we didn't always hit the pool it was due to lack of interest, not the weather. Never had a day when I couldn't wear shorts but sometimes I wear a long sleeve shirt and cargos to PI at night. The crowds aren't bad, but get to your park early and use FP. We do that until the standby lines top 30 mins, then we hop to Epcot which never seems crowded to us. This is by far our favorite time to go. BTW, there is no 'Spring Break' as such. Different schools break at different times, my college doing so the first week in March. The breaks cluster around Easter so as a rule, the farther from that date you go, the less crowded it will be.

Bill From PA

 

[boxer]

thanks, that is what I was looking for. Since you are PA-people too, then you know in March 70 degrees is DEFINATELY swimming weather to us!!


Do you know when the spring break crowds start getting heavy? With Easter being in early April, I'm thinking we MAY be able to get away with a mid-March vacation and not hit too many crowds???

 

[boxer]

any more opinions from March-vacationers?

 

[Disney Crazy Family]

We found March to be one of the best times to go.

 

[UP Disney]

Try this link

http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KORL/1972/2/10/PlannerHistory.html?dayend=14&monthend=3&yearend=1972&req_city=Orlando&req_state=FL&req_statename=Florida

On this site, you can pull up all weather info for 2003 to present - you will find that weather for orlando is most variable (and least predictable!) for all of February and the first half of March. Some years it will be in the 80's but it can also be quite cool as well. Also, nighttime lows are pretty low - I wouldn't count on a morning at a waterpark unless you can tolerate cool temps better than me!

My family & I have went the 1st week of March for the last 3 years. We are planning our 4th trip at the same time now. It starts to get busy the 2nd week-end that we are there. The 1st week-end and during the week is fabulous. My husband likes the water parks. One of the years, it was too cold to really enjoy it. This year, we went two mornings - one to BB & one to TL. We are from Michigan so our definition of warm is different than someone from Florida or Texas. The year that it was too cold to really enjoy the water parks was also the year that it rained most of one of the days and was quite chilly. Otherwise, the weather has been fantastic in our eyes. We love that time of year at WDW.

 

[UP Disney]

I just heard from one of my DIS friends that some of the schools in Texas are out the 1st week of March. Another DIS friend that lives about 30 minutes from WDW said that the vacation for her county was the 2nd week of March if I remember correctly. I'll go look for her info and update this if it was the third week instead.

Here's the info my friend posted:

Here is the Seminole County School schedule.
No school dates.
11/22-23-24 Thanksgiving Break
12/18-19-20-21-22 Winter Break
12/25-26-27-28-29 Winter Break
1/1-2
1/15
2/19-20
3/12-13-14-15-16 Spring Break
4/6
5/4
5/22 last day of school
This is Seminole County only not sure as to Orange County.

 

[Hound 109]

For what it's worth, here in Texas, virtually all Public Schools & Colleges appear to be taking "Spring Break" either the week of 3/12 or the week of 3/19. Other parts of the country could be different & often are.

hound

 

[spiceycat]

looks like Disney is expecting lots of people every weekend in March

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wd...alendarParkHoursMonthlyViewPage&date=20070301

but March 4 - 9 doesn't look so bad - however I would avoid the MK on that nights that it is open until 11 pm or later.

oh here is Florida - table II
http://www.firn.edu/doe/eias/eiaspubs/pdf/calendar.pdf

anytime the MK is open after 8 pm - expect crowds.

the park hours for March can be changed - so kept watching it.

 

[Bill From PA]

I was surprised to see reports here of cold March weather as that didn't match our experience, so I went to the link I posted above of historical data and found that in 2005 the first week to 10 days in March were unusually cool with several days of highs in the 60s and one day when it didn't top 55. As chance would have it, that year we went the first 10 days in Jan as our daughter was due to deliver in March (and did), and our Jan. visit continued our streak of good weather with daily highs in the 70s and 80s. A look back at other early March data shows mostly 70s and some 80s. Check the link in my previous post. I guess the lesson is, if you want good weather in WDW, go the week we do!

Bill From PA

 

[UP Disney]

FYI. I don't know if it makes a difference to you but I was just checking the times for the different parks for the 1st week of March for our trip, and Typhoon Lagoon is closed for refurbishment from Jan. 7 to March 18.

 

[UP Disney]

I was surprised to see reports here of cold March weather as that didn't match our experience, so I went to the link I posted above of historical data and found that in 2005 the first week to 10 days in March were unusually cool with several days of highs in the 60s and one day when it didn't top 55. As chance would have it, that year we went the first 10 days in Jan as our daughter was due to deliver in March (and did), and our Jan. visit continued our streak of good weather with daily highs in the 70s and 80s. A look back at other early March data shows mostly 70s and some 80s. Check the link in my previous post. I guess the lesson is, if you want good weather in WDW, go the week we do!

Bill From PA

Yep, that was the year we had the cool weather. I absolutely love this time of year and will continue to go then as long as I can. The crowds are relatively low that 1st week and the weather is nice.

 

[LisaMayTX]

For what it's worth, I'm in North Texas and we'll be visiting Mickey on our Spring Break which is March 5 - 9. Our previous two trips were also in March during Spring Break and we found the weather to be perfect and the crowds manageable.

 

[codygirl5150]

I've never been before, but we are going March 17-25. I was a little nervous about the crowds but from what I've heard the beautiful weather makes it worth it. We have to go during that week because we're all on spring break then (university and public schools). Seminole and Orange County is on spring break the week before, Easter will be later, so I'm thinking this might be the perfect week to go! (Even if you don't agree let me bask in my ignorance!)