Hit me the good & the bad!

[DisneyGuess]

So my fiancé & stepson have never been to Disney World. But his mom doesn’t want him to miss school to go.
So my only options are school breaks. Most likely spring break. I can’t do the FL heat & I don’t want to wait for next Christmas even if I thought I could handle those crowds.
So how bad will spring break be? I’ve been many times. My son has been many times. I know the parks, but I almost always do lighter crowd times, this is new territory for me!

Editing to add: we would be traveling March 31 to April 7th.

Thanks so much in advance for answering, any help & any advice!

 

[mom2rtk]

When would spring break be? It can start heating up as early as March. Does he have any days off any other time that would work?

 

[PalmettoPath]

We do a Disney vacation every spring break as my wife is a teacher (in our case it's the 2nd or 3rd week in March). We go again in summer and again before Christmas.

Yes, Spring Break crowds are busier, but it's not like Christmas week (we go the 2nd or 2rd week of December when crowds are not bad compared to the week between Christmas and New Year's). Our strategy for Spring Break (like always) is get into the parks early and get out by lunch -- that's when it really starts to get bad with crowds. Then by after the dinner hour it starts to ease up again.

Like I said, we've been going every March since March 1972 right after WDW opened. It's definitely manageable. We just don't try to spend full days in parks (which I never like to do anyway, so much Disney magic to be explored and enjoyed outside the parks as well).

 

[soniam]

We often go in the 2nd or 3rd week of March for Texas Spring Break. Sometimes it’s warm, 80s-low 90s, and sometimes it’s cool, 60s-70s. It’s busy, probably 2nd busiest time frame, but not Xmas or Thanksgiving busy. It depends when others are doing Spring Break. In the US, a lot of places do it near Easter. That’s when it’s the busiest. When would you be going?

 

[MEC004]

I am a teacher and have a fifth grader this year. It’s the last year we will be taking off during the school year before he starts sixth grade. We will both miss six days at the end of the month.

With that being said we find the best times for not missing work and having the best crowd situation are the week before or after a holiday. Or take off one to two days prior to a holiday.

I would choose Spring Break, Thanksgiving or Christmas if I had to go when I was off due to weather. Or I would piggy back off a three day weekend and take a couple more days.

 

[Dameon2k]

Spring break is great because the parks are open at their latest. What we did when they had extra magic hours in play is we got off kilter with other guests regular schedules. What I mean is we slept in, ate late breakfast, late lunch and late dinner. This might not be an option if you have reservations to keep. With extra magic hours we could avoid the EMH morning park (back then a lot of people didn't use park hopper) and go to the EMH evening park. Then while people had lunch, dinner, and watched the parades we were riding attractions. EMH evenings were not overly crowded either. It was a great way to get rides in during the slower parts of the day. It did not always work for newer attractions but it made most of the trip a lot easier. That being said I do not know if that is viable in 2022 when they have removed EMH hours from what I have read. The first posters response of getting their at opening, taking a break midday, and returning after dinner sounds solid.

 

[sponica]

So how bad will spring break be?

Spring break occurs along a bell curve distribution with breaks starting President Days week and ending the last week in April and the peak is usually somewhere in mid March, so when YOUR spring break is will impact that answer.

 

[JodyK]

I am looking into a spring break trip with some of my nieces and it looks like their spring break falls later then most of the other spring breaks around the country do so it may work in our favor if we can pull it together. Maybe you are lucky and this is the same for you?

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

So when is your spring break? We've been during March and April breaks and the parks are busiest when the local school districts for orange/osceola counties, etc have break which for 2023 is March 13-17 and then it will of course get packed leading up to Easter on 4/9. We go when our kids are off school as well and we've been over Spring Break and yes it's crowded but it's not horrible. Do keep in mind that usually Spring is pretty mild weather wise but it can still be hot especially if your break is closer to April.

We were in the parks this past break from 4/18-23 and it was really enjoyable considering it was still fairly crowded. Weather was mid 80s with a little bit cooler mornings (for us, we live in the south so maybe not for others) but very low humidity. I do think we hit a sweet spot since the week prior and the week after it was up to almost 90. And another nice perk of spring visits is it's still not the rainy season.

Between leveraging G+, iLL$ and stacking for afternoon arrivals or taking midday breaks, I think there are a ton of ways you can manage large crowds. You definitely do need to have a park touring plan and when crowds are expected to be high, just be patient.

If you decide spring isn't right for you and crowds are your determining factor, not the seasons, then summer (early or later in the season), is usually the best time to go crowd wise compared to Spring Break, Christmas and Thanksgiving. We've been in late May/early June since our kids finish school pretty early and it's crowded but light compared to other holiday/break times. We've also gone in early August and again, crowds are negligibly higher than early June but still not unbearable. Just have to contend with the warmth.

 

[KristaZ]

I'm a teacher, so we always travel spring break, which for me is always the week following Easter - generally the final week of spring breaks unless Easter is early. It's crowded, but not xmas or thanksgiving crowded. Weather can get into the 90s (or drop to the 60s), but usually hovers in the low 80s and humidity hasn't gotten terrible yet. As long as you go in with a good plan, it's fine,

 

[DisneyGuess]

Our spring break would be March 31 to April 7th.
Sorry my son got sick & I hadn’t checked back yet!
Thank you all so much!

 

[justme0729]

Between Christmas, summer, or spring break, spring is the best option!

 

[stinkpickle]

....It depends when others are doing Spring Break. In the US, a lot of places do it near Easter. That’s when it’s the busiest...

100% this ^^^