***Official March 2021 Thread***

[skeettafic]

I'm trying to stay strong and not get freaked out! I'm from NY and it's still pretty much "locked down" to a certain degree. People are out and about but definitely not at the level I see when I watch Disney vlogs. Schools are still partially open, etc. So, it's probably just a matter of "culture shock" for me.

I think that's part of my hesitation as well. My husband has worked out of the home the entire time while I've been at home. Kids are hybrid with very few people actually in the building so some of my hesitation is truly the fact that for the last year the name of the game has been isolation.

 

[MomOTwins]

I'm trying to stay strong and not get freaked out! I'm from NY and it's still pretty much "locked down" to a certain degree. People are out and about but definitely not at the level I see when I watch Disney vlogs. Schools are still partially open, etc. So, it's probably just a matter of "culture shock" for me.

I hear you. The culture about this is so radically different depending on where you live. We are pretty careful but we live in a state that is very “free” (no statewide mask mandates, closures, or capacity restrictions) and went to a funeral in a small town a little ways away from us for a very close family member (who died from Covid) and many of the guests in the indoor church service were not wearing masks or had them down below chins/noses. One family there had maskless kids who were sick, sneezing and coughing, and their mom was openly talking about how glad she is that her kids go to a preschool that was “understanding” and didn’t make her keep her kids home for having a fever. I love my family, but it was hard to watch knowing how high the infections are in that community. There were a lot of freshly dug graves at the cemetery for such a small town.

But even though I am used to that, and Disney is soooo much better in terms of safety measures than anything here, it is still not foolproof. All it takes is one infected person, and there are so many people at WDW, many of whom come from places where where masks are viewed an annoyance that can and should be pulled down or taken off whenever you can get away with it. I would not go to Disney unless you have immunity or a pretty high risk tolerance.

 

[Naomeri]

Yay!! After trying multiple times a day for about 2 weeks, I got a reservation for my birthday dinner! Beaches and Cream, here I come!! It was my 2nd choice, after Sci-Fi, since I already had a B&C reservation for the Saturday of my trip. But this works much better since the park hours on the 13th have been extended so much, I didn’t really want to go to a 7:30 dinner anymore.

 

[Orion Nebula]

The closer we get the hotter the forecast for the first week of March. It seems like there will now be near record temperatures. With Sat - Tue being in the upper 80s, with the possibility of hitting 90.

As someone who looked at March's "cooler" temperatures being a huge perk (due to masks) I am fairly annoyed.

 

[Wood Nymph]

The closer we get the hotter the forecast for the first week of March. It seems like there will now be near record temperatures. With Sat - Tue being in the upper 80s, with the possibility of hitting 90.

As someone who looked at March's "cooler" temperatures being a huge perk (due to masks) I am fairly annoyed.

We will be there the first week of March this year and we were also in WDW the first week of March last year. It was near record breaking temps when we were last year, too. This means lots of time at the pool.

 

[Bama Mom]

I'm added! I impulse purchased a trip for Celery (5) spring break! I'm so excited. I love to come to WDW and swim and relax. We're going to stay at Coronado (never stayed before) and I'm planning one day at MK and one at Epcot. Hope I don't regret that. Anyway....

C and Celery 3/23-3/26 at Coronado Springs

Got you added to the list.

 

[Orion Nebula]

We will be there the first week of March this year and we were also in WDW the first week of March last year. It was near record breaking temps when we were last year, too. This means lots of time at the pool.

Do the temps drop fairly quick? I was hoping that this time of year the peak temperatures don't stick around as long as in the summer. And ya the pool time is a bonus, but I still would rather take a bit cooler weather while in the parks. It doesn't help that its cooler this week and probably will be just after we leave.

 

[Bama Mom]

Well...I just checked park reservations for my week and March 22-23 are yellow. HS is full. It’s not exactly a surprise, but I was hoping for an all green week. We weren’t going to be at HS either of those days. However, I figure the other days will turn yellow before we actually come anyway.

One of those days is our first HS day but I'm holding out hope we get a boarding group for RotR on that day. We do have a second HS day specifically for a second chance of grabbing another boarding group in case we miss out the first day.

 

[Bama Mom]

I'm hopping on here to ask a few questions. Let me know if that is ok - I have had so many trips cancelled with Covid that I'm nervous to pull the trigger but we are feeling pretty good about March 20-27. I see 2 of the days are yellow for HS. Is this considered a busy spring break week for the country? Where I am in NY it's always Easter week. I thought things might be a little less crazy if it's the week before.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!!! It would be our first time traveling since covid started and I want to have a good understanding of what to expect.

That is the week I will be there. We worked around my youngest niece's spring break for this trip. I'm in North Alabama and that is the week our county has their spring break and my niece is 2 hours south of me and hers falls that week as well. They don't always coincide with each other though. The county an hour east of us has theirs the following week. When I checked the Alabama school district lists, it seems Alabama's school districts spring breaks as either the same week our is or the week following it.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Do the temps drop fairly quick? I was hoping that this time of year the peak temperatures don't stick around as long as in the summer. And ya the pool time is a bonus, but I still would rather take a bit cooler weather while in the parks. It doesn't help that its cooler this week and probably will be just after we leave.

The sun is not as hot as it is in the summer, and it is a lot less humid. It does cool off at night faster than it does in the summer, though, because the sun sets earlier and the air is dryer.

We have more than two feet of snow on the ground right know, so the hot weather sounds good to me.

 

[Orion Nebula]

The sun is not as hot as it is in the summer, and it is a lot less humid. It does cool off at night faster than it does in the summer, though, because the sun sets earlier and the air is dryer.

We have more than two feet of snow on the ground right know, so the hot weather sounds good to me. :

Oh OK so walking around the pavement doesn't feel AS scorching. I did not know the humidity ever dropped in Florida. I know the last summer trip it was mid 90s and humid and it was miserable. We only have / had (it's melting) about 9 inches of snow in my area but I do not like being hot lol. But it's good to hear that it's not as humid at least. It also doesn't normally rain as much either this time of year right?

 

[Wood Nymph]

It also doesn't normally rain as much either this time of year right?

Right

February is the driest month of the year in Florida. It definitely rains less than in the summer.

 

[Orion Nebula]

Right

February is the driest month of the year in Florida. It definitely rains less than in the summer.

Scanning through the forecasts it looks like 15-22mph wind gusts... is that "normal"? I think the Mickey ears will need glued on.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Scanning through the forecasts it looks like 15-22mph wind gusts... is that "normal"? I think the Mickey ears will need glued on.

Forecasts aren't very accurate this far out. We usually wait until two days before the trip starts before we start to believe that the forecasts will be accurate.

 

[Jessrobian]

Two questions – looking for opinions I’m going to post them separately since they’re rather different.

1) THOSE WITH LITTLES: This will be our 2 y/o daughter’s first trip to “Mickey’s House” and we’re only doing one park day in MK 3/8. The hours were extended to 8:00 so we’re debating nap time. Here are our options:

1. Head back to the resort (AKL) midday for her nap – it’s just such a far hike to and from AKL! But we will have our car.
2. Bring nap supplies (sound machine, small blanket) and lay her down in the stroller – she rarely naps anywhere but a bed
3. Power through and hope for no meltdowns (she never has meltdowns….but we’ve also only ever gone without a nap twice).

 

[Jessrobian]

2) PARK OPENING: Is it still beneficial to arrive at security an hour before opening (i.e. 8:00a if park opens at 9:00a) since there’s no official rope drop? I’ve read this multiple places and am trying to convince my sleep-loving, vacation-is-for-relaxing husband it will make a HUGE difference if he will race through the parks with me for those first 2 hours so we can get ahead of the crowds and not wait in as many lines with a little 2 y/o girl. Thoughts?

 

[Castlequeen5]

Two questions – looking for opinions I’m going to post them separately since they’re rather different.

1) THOSE WITH LITTLES: This will be our 2 y/o daughter’s first trip to “Mickey’s House” and we’re only doing one park day in MK 3/8. The hours were extended to 8:00 so we’re debating nap time. Here are our options:

1. Head back to the resort (AKL) midday for her nap – it’s just such a far hike to and from AKL! But we will have our car.
2. Bring nap supplies (sound machine, small blanket) and lay her down in the stroller – she rarely naps anywhere but a bed
3. Power through and hope for no meltdowns (she never has meltdowns….but we’ve also only ever gone without a nap twice).

I’m gonna answer these backwards...
2. Get there early. All recent reports I’ve read and from my own experience, you get so much more done before the rest of the crowds get there.
1. Go back to the resort for a nap. Again from my own experience, my children did better following a regular routine as close as possible, especially when that young. No doubt she’ll sleep better in a bed, and your husband can get some downtime as well. Then y’all can go back with a happy baby for the extended hours!

 

[Jessrobian]

I’m gonna answer these backwards...
2. Get there early. All recent reports I’ve read and from my own experience, you get so much more done before the rest of the crowds get there.
1. Go back to the resort for a nap. Again from my own experience, my children did better following a regular routine as close as possible, especially when that young. No doubt she’ll sleep better in a bed, and your husband can get some downtime as well. Then y’all can go back with a happy baby for the extended hours!

Thank you, thank you! For the encouragement to go back to the resort for a nap especially. That said, would you recommend driving our car to the park or taking buses?

 

[MomOTwins]

I’m gonna answer these backwards...
2. Get there early. All recent reports I’ve read and from my own experience, you get so much more done before the rest of the crowds get there.
1. Go back to the resort for a nap. Again from my own experience, my children did better following a regular routine as close as possible, especially when that young. No doubt she’ll sleep better in a bed, and your husband can get some downtime as well. Then y’all can go back with a happy baby for the extended hours!

I was going to post almost word for word the exact same thing! You definitely want to take advantage of the early arrival with no fast pass these days. And I always found when my kids were little it is so important to keep them on their usual sleep schedule. You see so many truly epic meltdowns of small kids at Disney World and you can just tell at first glance that is a sleepy kid who missed their nap or didn't nap well in their stroller. One kind of related comment is that it is is also critical to keep a normal meal schedule. It's really easy to lose track of time when you're at the parks or (these days) not mobile order early enough before it gets backed up, and hungry kids or kids who are sugar crazy from too many mickey bars and popsickles are not happy kids.

Thank you, thank you! For the encouragement to go back to the resort for a nap especially. That said, would you recommend driving our car to the park or taking buses?

I normally would say with the stroller (which you need to fold up on buses) it is easier to take your own car, but for MK, it would be easier to take the Disney buses, because the Disney buses pick up and drop off right at the park entrance, whereas if you park, you have to park all the way at the TTC and take a monorail or ferry to/from MK. Every other park, though, driving yourself will probably be easier.

Forecasts aren't very accurate this far out. We usually wait until two days before the trip starts before we start to believe that the forecasts will be accurate.

This is definitely true. Weather is so topsy turvy this time of year there's really not much point in checking until right before you leave. We had one trip when the start of the week was close to 90 degrees and the last day was in the 50s which we didn't find out until a couple of days before and we all had to buy mickey sweaters! It's always good to pack for multiple weather contingencies.

 

[Castlequeen5]

Thank you, thank you! For the encouragement to go back to the resort for a nap especially. That said, would you recommend driving our car to the park or taking buses?

I normally would say with the stroller (which you need to fold up on buses) it is easier to take your own car, but for MK, it would be easier to take the Disney buses, because the Disney buses pick up and drop off right at the park entrance, whereas if you park, you have to park all the way at the TTC and take a monorail or ferry to/from MK. Every other park, though, driving yourself will probably be easier.

Totally agree. MK is so much trouble to get to, so I’d definitely take the bus too!