Park Spotlight: Surviving Spring Break at Walt Disney World

Spring Break at Disney World is a great time to visit for parents with school age children. Children are out of school and that means more days to play, the weather is comfortable and the Flower and Garden Festival is going on. What more could you want?

With Spring Break comes crowds! With crowds comes longer waits at attractions, less dining reservation openings closer to travel, Fastpass options harder to snag late in the game. This is where a travel planner comes into play. You need a game plan so you can get the most bang for your buck.

A few tips you will need to know are arrive early and stay late. What I mean by arrive early is that you want to open the parks. If the park opens at 9 a.m., you will want to be at the park, standing in line at 8:45 a.m. at the latest and right after rope drop or park opening head straight to your number one attraction. Lower wait times for attractions will be right after opening and later in the evening. Parade and firework times are also great times to catch your must do rides if you are not concerned with the shows you will be missing out on.

When the crowds are higher, you will be waiting in long lines. I would rather wait in a 45 minute line than a 120 minute wait line. So pick your Fastpasses wisely and don’t waste them on low wait attractions, or you will be standing in line for 2 hours to ride some rides. There might be some days the wait times are through the roof and you will not want to wait in lines. This usually happens early afternoon and may be a great time to head back to your resort and get in some pool time. I know you came to Disney World for the parks, but the pool is great to unwind for a little bit and then head back to tackle the evening.

Before you get scared and scratch Spring Break off your list, don’t! It’s not terrible the whole week. Everyone travels different weeks so some weeks are good, other weeks are rough. There is no way of judging it in advance, but usually if your week begins or ends with Easter you will have higher crowds near that weekend. The great thing about Spring Break is the weather is comfortable, making the wait times bearable compared to summertime where it can be miserable. So plan a Spring Break trip and stop and enjoy the flowers.