March crowds?

[jscharf]

How are the crowds in march? Hoping not to bad.....TIA

 

[Mainebound]

We go to WDW the first 1-2 weeks of March every year. The weather is perfect IMHO. Generally, the crowds in early March are moderate, increasing as you get further into the month. Crowd level depends on many factors in March, such as college spring breaks (especially Fla. colleges) and Easter.

Last year WDW added a ton of shows and hours to the last two weeks of March, so I'm guessing they expected fairly large crowds. In the Unofficial Guide 2005 they have a prediction of crowd levels for each DAY in 2005 and they predict a level 4 out of 10 for March 1-4 2005, level 5 for 3/5, level 6 for 3/6-10, level 7 for 3/11-20, level 6 for 3/21-24, level 8 to 10 for 3/25-3/28, then lower rest of month.

 

[Luckymommyx2]

There is a big, big difference in crowds throughout March. When are you planning on going? We went from March 1-8 earlier this year and it was the best trip we ever had. There was absolutely no rain, never too hot and crowds--wow! I don't know if we were just lucky or what but we rode Thunder Mountain RR three times in a row! The longest wait was probably 20mins for PotC. I would go at that time again in a heartbeat!!

 

[jscharf]

Were going march 5 thru 10... Thanks for the help

 

[Mamu]

Depending on when Easter is, which may be in March this year.

Easter is one of Disney's busiest times. Both the week before and the week after the parks will be very crowded.

 

[Luckymommyx2]

Easter is March 27th next year so you should be fine! Have a great trip....Happy Planning!!!!

 

[Luckymommyx2]

Sorry, double post!!

 

[YourMajesty]

Originally posted by Mainebound
Last year WDW added a ton of shows and hours to the last two weeks of March, so I'm guessing they expected fairly large crowds. In the Unofficial Guide 2005 they have a prediction of crowd levels for each DAY in 2005 and they predict a level 4 out of 10 for March 1-4 2005, level 5 for 3/5, level 6 for 3/6-10, level 7 for 3/11-20, level 6 for 3/21-24, level 8 to 10 for 3/25-3/28, then lower rest of month.

Great infromation. I do not have the 2005 guide. That's something new for them to actually predict crowd levels on a certain day. I will have to get the new one and then I can compare crowd levels to other times. What would be really cool is to have a historical number for past trips so you could compare similar times. When we went the frist week of December last year we thought some of the days were busy but we didn't have anything to compare with since it was our first december trip!

 

[Mainebound]

Originally posted by YourMajesty
What would be really cool is to have a historical number for past trips so you could compare similar times.

I could be off here, but I believe that WDW does not publish attendance levels, but there are websites (themeparkinsider.com may be one) which have ways of estimating it based on hotel occupancy, and several other factors.

 

[QuickGold]

For historical crowd levels, try http://www.mgmstudios.org/wait.html

 

[ptrbryant]

I'm very interested in this because I have airline credits on SW that expire in March 2005, but I figured it would be packed for the whole month...I would love it if this wasn't the case and we could have that chunk of our budget removed! After reading this thread, I checked the Mousesavers website about the 2005 Season breakdown for the resorts and it said that from Feb. 17 until mid-April, it's PEAK SEASON!!! So, basically, if not big crowds, probably no low rates for on-site rooms?
Any more opinions??
Thanks!
Karla B.

 

[Mainebound]

Originally posted by ptrbryant
I checked the Mousesavers website about the 2005 Season breakdown for the resorts and it said that from Feb. 17 until mid-April, it's PEAK SEASON!!! So, basically, if not big crowds, probably no low rates for on-site rooms?
Any more opinions??
Thanks!
Karla B.

Yes, it is peak season, so the rack rates are at their highest. However, the last three years we have snagged very good avalable-to-anyone discounts of about 40% off onsite resorts. You could also look into the Swan or Dolphin which has great rates for teachers, nurses, and govt. employees and is a Starwood resort so you can stay on points.