Starting to plan for Spring Break and SO EXCITED!! Any tips welcome!

[marcar12]

What a year, am I right?? We had been planning our first ever trip Disneyland this year, and that plan got destroyed. So then we decided to push that trip to summer 2021. But you know what? I am really tired of waiting for CA to allow amusement parks to start opening in a meaningful way. I don't want to wait anymore to make plans, and I don't want to go to Disneyland for the very first time if things aren't going to be functioning in a normal way.... and at this point I have little hope of that being the case anytime in 2021.

SO. A few days ago my husband and I decided to switch gears and start focusing on a WDW trip... since they are open and have been open for several months (maybe some kinks have been ironed out?) And we have decided to plan the trip for our kids' spring break, which is March 20-27, because we want to avoid being in Florida in the summer heat. We have been there twice (2012 and 2018.) We know it will be different this time in many ways, but we are still so excited to go and enjoy what is available.

I am nervous for 2 reasons though.
#1-- The trip is only 4 months away! When we went in 2018 I planned and planned for a good solid 10 months!
#2-- (this one is more major) IT IS SPRING BREAK. I never thought we would go to WDW during spring break. But it's a crazy year so we are doing crazy things.

If anyone has any tips for me, especially on how to make the most of a Spring Break trip, I would so appreciate it! My fingers are crossed that capacity will still be capped, but that the pandemic will be less worrisome at that point. One can dream, right???

 

[finest14]

Following! We hope to move to Orlando this summer and had a WDW trip planned for June 2020 to look at neighborhoods...which obviously got cancelled. Now were going for Spring Break 2021 as well to visit the parks and look at neighborhoods.

 

[NashvilleMama]

The (only?) upside to all the craziness is that it's actually WAY easier now to go relatively last minute. I'm with you on always planning way in advance, but with the shorter ADR window and no FP+, you're not losing much if anything at this point. Assume you've checked the park availability calendar for those days and it looks ok so far? I think all of March is still solid green but haven't looked this week.

I don't think spring break is going to be much worse than what you'll see for the upcoming holiday weeks, so I'd just pay close attention to the just back / here now threads for people's tips and experiences. We've gone during spring break before - in "normal times" - and I don't mind it at all if you plan for early park days and set expectations correctly with what you will and won't be able to do.

I really think that's the trick and will be awhile - 100% realistic expectations and doing what you can.

 

[DSLRuser]

Spring break is not bad at all. We go frequently in mid march because it aligns with our schools spring break. the week before and after easter are the only ones to worry about.

As far as tips....be prepared for cooler weather or hot weather....or both.....early to mid march has pretty big temp swings. But we still get a lot of pool time in.

Hope for "social distancing" and "no Fast Pass+" to still be a thing. We went over Labor Day weekend, and because of "social distancing" and "no Fast Pass+" wait times were very low. Even when a que was bursting at the seems like 7 dwarfs, it only took 45 mins.

 

[marcar12]

The (only?) upside to all the craziness is that it's actually WAY easier now to go relatively last minute. I'm with you on always planning way in advance, but with the shorter ADR window and no FP+, you're not losing much if anything at this point. Assume you've checked the park availability calendar for those days and it looks ok so far? I think all of March is still solid green but haven't looked this week.

I don't think spring break is going to be much worse than what you'll see for the upcoming holiday weeks, so I'd just pay close attention to the just back / here now threads for people's tips and experiences. We've gone during spring break before - in "normal times" - and I don't mind it at all if you plan for early park days and set expectations correctly with what you will and won't be able to do.

I really think that's the trick and will be awhile - 100% realistic expectations and doing what you can.

I really appreciate the comments so far. Thank you!
That's a good idea to pay close attention to the threads over the next month or so to see what people's experiences are with there during the holiday weeks. And yes, you are correct that right now the park availability in March is still solid green. I better get tickets soon and get the days reserved that I want, huh? We booked our airline tickets today so I feel like this is really official! Eeek!

 

[nkereina]

I would not expect it to be Spring Break as we all know it, plus I've found that Spring Break weeks vary so much across the country that there's not one week that's worse than others. Schools here don't have Spring Break until the third week in April. But I would still plan to book park reservations as soon as possible, and dining reservations at the 60 day mark. Park reservations (DHS mostly) booked up over the Christmas holiday a while ago. If you think about all the people that typically visit these times of year, they're capped at 35% of that (I believe its 35% now). So there's a lot of people jockeying for park reservations especially as it gets closer. And with TS, capacity is limited due to the social distancing of tables. We found it more difficult to obtain TS times than usual. I also think there are some opting for TS in lieu of QS, since QS menus are so limited right now.

 

[MickeyMouse3!]

Working for a Michigan school district, we can only travel at certain times of the year. We have been to WDW many times in March/April. In fact, we will be arriving March 27th. The crowds have been large, but manageable in previous trips. 2021 will be completely different than 2020, due to C19 and its restrictions. Weather is still pretty nice, mid to upper 70's/low 80's for the most part during the day, but can get cool enough for a jacket at night. I recommend carrying a small backpack with a light jacket or rain coat and other small necessities. Comfortable shoes are a must. WDW is much larger than Disneyland and CA and you will definitely add miles to your step counter. I don't think you will have any issues planning 4 months out. Just keep in mind that many restaurants and other amenities are not up and running as yet. We are hoping that changes by the time we are able to make reservations or arrival.

 

[Wild4Walt]

As others have said, I think Spring Break 2021 will look different than it has in the past. If I was planning on going in March, the 1st thing I would check is the park availability calendar to make sure the parks are not full the dates I was looking at.

From there it's just hotel and dining ( and dining is 60 days out ). Enjoy!