In this post, we discuss visiting Disney World in March. We cover weather, crowds, holidays, events, refurbishments, and anything else you’d like to know if you were planning a visit to Walt Disney World Resort in the heart of spring break season. Read on to learn all about visiting Walt Disney World in March!
Related Posts
If you’re considering a visit in the next two years, our Disney World Two-Year Outlook focuses on when to time your visit in light of major changes around the resort. That post is less focused on details like prices, crowds, and weather and more about the can’t-miss things like new attractions. Our Disney World Planning Guide and 80+ Tips for Planning Your Walt Disney World vacation discuss all aspects of planning your Disney World vacation.
If you’re primarily interested in starting your analysis with price, you’ll want read our post on the cheapest times to visit Disney World, though that topic gets a lot of discussion here, too.
Here are the other month-by-month posts:
Disney World in March (you are here)
If you’ve read our other month-by-month posts, you might notice similarities between this post and some of those. For example, the weather in July and August is basically the same, so our weather sections in those posts are basically the same.
QUICK THOUGHTS ON March 2024
We’ll start with quick thoughts on March 2024 before we dive into details like pricing, holidays, events, weather, and so on.
Above average prices and crowds. Spring Break / Easter season is the second busiest time of year, beaten only by Christmas / New Year’s season. Spring Break / Easter is also less predictable because the exact timing of spring breaks varies so much (Easter, for the record, is March 31, 2024).
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure won’t be open. The new ride, taking the place of old Splash Mountain at Magic Kingdom, won’t be open until summer 2024. While this is an advance from the original “late 2024” timeline, March is too early to be considered “summer”.
Disney World Crowds In March
Our position on Walt Disney World crowd calendars is that people often put too much weight into them, but that’s it’s still good to know general trends as well as specific events that impact crowds.
In general, March is the busiest month at Walt Disney World. It’s the heart of spring break in the United States, and the weather makes March visits more appealing than visits during either summer or winter breaks. Honestly—all you’re going to hear in this post is “spring break spring break SPRING. BREAK.” because that’s what the month is.
That’s it. Expect high crowds. Expect high crowds all month. There will be occasional low days—crowd trends have some randomness—but they’re hard to predict (fine…the first few days of the month might be quieter than the rest of the month).
If you must see a crowd calendar, the one we trust most is over at WDW Prep School.
Disney World Events In March
ESPN Wide World of Sports hosts a few athletic events in March (primarily March 8-10, 2024), but it’s for the same reason that crowds are high anyways—spring break. These events don’t make the crowds any worse, they’re just part of the same trend. Generally, these events bring increased crowds to the value resorts, particularly All Star Sports.
Spring break season is all month. Schools in the United States typically give students a week off in either March or April, with March begin the peak of spring break. This causes crowds to be high at Walt Disney World all month.
At Epcot, March marks the start of the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival. In 2024 the festival begins February 28 and continues until May 27, 2024. You can view the Epcot Festival Calendar here.
Easter at Disney World 2024
Note: This section is in both the March and April posts for 2024.
Easter—March 31, 2024—is not a major holiday at Disney World in the same way that Christmas and Halloween are. While you can expect high crowds and maybe some seasonal merchandise items, it’s mostly business as usual at Walt Disney World.
The Disney parks blog discusses the major highlights, including special snacks and elaborate eggs displays at some hotels—Contemporary, Grand Floridian, Yacht & Beach Club in 2024.
Mr. and Mrs. Easter Bunny have returned to Magic Kingdom for the week leading up to Easter.
Disney World Prices In March
Disney World’s hotel and ticket prices vary throughout the year. For a more comprehensive look for pricing throughout the year, check out our post on the cheapest time of the calendar year to visit Walt Disney World. You can also visit the 2024 hotel rate table at MouseSavers. Here’s a table showing how hotel prices at All Star Movies, Port Orleans Riverside, Wilderness Lodge, and Yacht Club fluctuate throughout the year:
March marks the start of Spring Break and the first peak season of the year at Walt Disney World. Prices are above average the entire month. With Easter in late March in 2024, the end of March is particularly expensive.
Within the month, prices see a big jump in the second half of the month, marking the start of Spring Break and Easter seasons. Here’s a graph of pricing within the month at All Star Movies, Port Orleans Riverside, Wilderness Lodge, and Yacht Club:
Disney World March Deals and Discounts
Sometime around the end of the year, a discount for spring of the following year is usually announced that includes March. It’s a bit surprising to see March included, and you’ll find availability for the discounted rooms is quite low.
Discounts will vary by hotel, room type, and availability. You can see current Disney World offers here. If nothing is available yet, you might also want to check out historical Disney World discount information here.
Refurbishments & New Constructions
While March might start the month with a few refurbishment holdovers from winter, it is peak season and thus rarely sees substantial refurbishments. In any case, you will want to check our Walt Disney World construction / refurbishment calendar for the latest.
Splash Mountain (Magic Kingdom) closed permanently beginning January 23, 2023. The ride is slated to reopen as Tiana’s Bayou Adventure in summer 2024, which could reasonably be anytime between late May and late September.
Kali River Rapids (Animal Kingdom) will close for refurbishment beginning January 8, 2024. It’s expected to reopen March 15, 2024.
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster (Hollywood Studios) will close for refurbishment beginning January 8, 2024. It’s expected to be closed until “summer” 2024.
Country Bear Jamboree (Magic Kingdom) will close for refurbishment beginning January 27, 2024. It’s expected to be closed until “summer” 2024.
Water Park Operations
Disney World has two water parks, Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach, neither of which is open the entire year. After some years of uncertainty, the schedule has seemingly settled down so that each year we have:
Typhoon Lagoon opens / Blizzard Beach closes mid-March
Blizzard Beach opens / Typhoon Lagoon closes early November
This schedule is subject to change (and Disney only announces specific dates about a month in advance, in any case). Most recently, Disney confirmed that Typhoon Lagoon will reopen on March 17, 2024. Blizzard Beach will begin its annual refurbishment closure on that same day.
If temperatures are cool enough, water parks can close, even in March. If you’re planning to visit a water park, you should at least have a backup plan (read about things to do at Disney World outside the parks).
Disney World Weather In March
March is probably one of the best months for weather at Walt Disney World. The average March high is 79F (26C) and the average low is 56F (13C)—not too hot, not too cold.
Rain is relatively rare in this season, with only around nine days of rain in the month (comparable to the rest of the year, outside summer). Hurricane season has not yet started. We have a post that talks more broadly about weather at Walt Disney World.
Cold, Heat, and Rain
March can see cold days, hot days, or great days in between. Rather than spend too much time repeating the content of other posts, I’m going to send you back to February if you want to read about cold, and forward to May if you want to read about heat.
Rain is always worth talking about, though. We don’t let rain forecasts bother us at Disney World anymore. We prepare for rain—bringing the right shoes and maybe a poncho—but we don’t plan trips around it. Even in months with less rain, you’ll see short spurts of it, and the occasional downpour.
We were at Fort Wilderness during a severe thunderstorm that kept us inside all day (though people who braved the parks got tremendously short waits). This was the relatively dry month of February. And in November 2019 and 2023, we also were on hand for very rainy editions of Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, with almost every show rained out.
February / March / April
As a closing note, let’s compare March to its neighboring months.
Should I Visit Walt Disney World in February or March?
March has high crowds, but it also has a lot going for it. Flower & Garden Festival typically starts early March, and the weather is more temperate and less cold in March compared to February.
And while March crowds are bad…February hasn’t been great recently, either. This is sort of “devil you know…” territory. If you (and Disney) go into March expecting high crowds, rather than dealing with the unpredictable nature of February, it might make for an overall better experience.
Should I Visit Walt Disney World in March or April?
In 2024, Easter will fall on Sunday, March 31. This means the last week of March and the first week of April will probably see a surge in Spring Break crowds. Generally, you’ll want to visit either the first two weeks of March or the last two weeks of April to avoid as much of these crowds as possible. If you’re visiting near Easter, it doesn’t matter which month you pick. I’d take late April over early March. The weather will be better and there’s more of a chance you’ll miss spring break crowds.
Should I visit Walt Disney World In March?
March has two things going for it—weather and Epcot’s Flower & Garden Festival. Well, also probably your kid’s spring break, which is how you wound up here in the first place.
Against it—crowds. If you can avoid the March crowds in favor of late April, then sure, avoid March. But if you’re on an academic vacation calendar, then you’re comparing March to other peak dates (like December and June) or the painful heat of summer.
One thing to note is that March’s high crowds typically aren’t disastrously high. This isn’t Christmas week. Your planning will be tougher, but I’d still expect to have a great time if I put the work in.
Have you visiting Walt Disney World in March? What did you think?
All Your Other Disney World Planning Questions Answered
Don't be overwhelmed by Disney World planning! Take a second to check out our most important content and you'll not only be an expert, but you'll save big $$$ along the way.
Just starting out? Check out our Walt Disney World planning guide! If you're still picking dates, we've got everything you need to know about Disney World crowd calendars. For picking your hotel, check out our Walt Disney World hotels guide.
When it comes time to book we’ll help you find discount Disney World tickets. Decide whether you need a dining plan in our Complete Guide to Disney World Dining Plans! And don't forget to book those Disney World Advance Dining Reservations!
Don't forget to master your Disney World Genie+ and Lightning Lane strategy a few months in advance. We'll keep you out of long lines so you can maximize the magical time in the parks! We've got park-specific guides as well: Magic Kingdom Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, Epcot Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, Animal Kingdom Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, and Hollywood Studios Genie+ and Lightning Lanes.
Know what to ride with our guides to: Magic Kingdom rides, Hollywood Studios rides, Epcot rides, and Animal Kingdom rides! Plus learn about the water parks with our guide to Blizzard Beach and our guide to Typhoon Lagoon! And for some some fun prep, check out our Ranking of Every Ride at Walt Disney World.
Finally, before you head out, be sure to check out our to-the-point packing list, 10 essentials you forget to pack for every Disney trip. And if you're interested in saving, there's no better list than our 53 Ways to Save on your Disney trip from start to finish.