Disney World & Universal Orlando Warn of Colossal Crowds

It’s the start of spring break at Walt Disney World, with peak season crowds forecast for the next 10 days. In this post, we’ll share an update on Park Pass availability, plus warnings that both Universal Orlando and Walt Disney World have sent out.

Hopefully, this is irrelevant to most of you. In last month’s Spring Break 2021 Crowd Forecast for Walt Disney World, we warned that wait times and crowds for the next couple of weeks would be among the highest of the year–even worse than Easter, which is notorious for heavy attendance.

In case you missed that article, March 12-21, 2021 being the worst stretch of spring break is driven by Osceola and Orange Counties both having their student recesses during this timeframe. For an idea of how other weeks stack up based upon school breaks at other major districts in Florida and the United States, refer to the aforementioned spring break crowd predictions post.

If you are visiting for spring break or Easter, we’d highly recommend using our Walt Disney World Park Itineraries to outsmart the masses (those are designed around moderate crowd level days, so expect to get a bit less done).

You should also arrive to the parks early and leave late–beat and outlast the crowds. To accomplish both, you might need a midday break at one of the resorts (or your own). The Skyliner is great for that from EPCOT or Hollywood Studios, while the monorail and boats provide ways to escape Magic Kingdom. We’d further recommend avoiding Disney buses during this time.

Disney Park Pass reservation availability corroborates our predictions of high crowd levels for the next 10 days. Above is a look at March availability for Walt Disney World on-site resort guests.

As you can see, there’s nothing at all until March 21, and then pretty much only EPCOT after that through early April.

On a tangentially related note while we’re on the topic, this week Walt Disney World clarified which third party hotels are eligible for this bucket of reservations. Here’s that list:

• Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel
• Walt Disney World Swan Hotel
• Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World
• B Resort & Spa Lake Buena Vista
• Doubletree Suites by Hilton Orlando
• Hilton Orlando Buena Vista Palace
• Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista
• Holiday Inn Orlando — Disney Springs Area
• Wyndham Garden Lake Buena Vista
• Wyndham Lake Buena Vista
• Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek
• Waldorf Astoria Orlando
• Shades of Green

We didn’t think this warranted a separate post, but it still might be worth knowing, especially since some of these hotels themselves haven’t actively advertised this perk. (Basically, it’s the same list as eligibility for Extra Magic Hours back when that was a thing.)

Here’s availability for theme park ticket holders.

As you can see, no visible difference between resort guests and regular day ticket guests. The difference is in number of simultaneous Park Pass reservations for resort guests, but that’s not typically an issue.

Here is a look at the calendar for Annual Passholders. It might come as something of a surprise that there are more options for APs.

Our guess is that this is not deliberate. More likely, it’s an unintentional byproduct of Walt Disney World changing the inventory allocation percentages last fall after Annual Passholders were regularly getting shut out and the other two buckets had totally green calendars. Now that tourists are starting to return to Walt Disney World, how Park Pass inventory is apportioned should probably be revisited again.

Regardless, the point here is that there’s absolutely nothing until March 21, 2021. That date will probably book up soon, too.

Below is a look at wait times this afternoon as of 3 pm. There are several attractions above 60 minutes, with several attractions hitting their max times under the current capacity caps:

In light of the anticipated attendance levels, Walt Disney World has sent out the following message to vacation planners:

With school Spring Break periods occurring throughout March and April, Disney Park Pass reservations are no longer available on select days for the Walt Disney World theme parks. In particular, reservation availability at Magic Kingdom Park and Disney’s Hollywood Studios is limited during this time.

For those who are looking to purchase 3-day (or longer) theme park tickets for March or April 2021, we ask that you review park reservation availability. As a reminder, capacity in our theme parks remains limited as part of our ongoing health and safety measures. Please remember to always check current Disney Park Pass availability calendar prior to securing theme park tickets.

Just to test things out, we tried to purchase 4-day tickets for a variety of dates in March and April 2021. Walt Disney World’s system blocked every single attempt that didn’t have Park Pass reservations available. That’s good, as it means people won’t be surprised and disappointed if they don’t heed the warning and check the availability calendar first.

To our surprise, we were also blocked for a number of other dates that should have been available. To our knowledge, Walt Disney World modified this policy during the holiday season to allow guests to purchase multi-day theme park tickets, even in circumstances where Disney Park Pass reservations may no longer be available for select days during the validity window. Perhaps they’re erring on the side of caution for spring break or reverted back to the old rules and we missed it.

Across town, Universal Orlando sent out the following message to Annual Passholders:

Dear Passholder,

We wanted to share some important information to help you make the most of your next visit. We expect our theme parks will be extremely busy during the next few weeks and we may reach capacity while continuing to limit attendance as part of our enhanced health and safety procedures. Once capacity is reached, additional guests will not be admitted.

We encourage you to check our social channels, park hours on UniversalOrlando.com or call the Universal Orlando Resort Capacity Hotline at 407-817-8317 for real-time updates about the park capacity before your next visit.

Thank you for being part of the UOAP Family and we look forward to seeing you on your next visit.

Ultimately, all of this is basically just a long-winded reminder that the next 10 days are going to extremely busy at Walt Disney World. Additionally, even though capacity is capped at 35% right now, that’s of normal operations. Literally nothing is operating as normal right now–every attraction, restaurant, and shop as at reduced capacity, and many aren’t open at all.

The end result is that “feels like” crowds will almost certainly be on par with a normal spring break. Pack your patience and arm yourself with savvy strategy if you’re visiting Walt Disney World this coming week or beyond. It is going to be very busy. We’ll have some more updated advice in the next few days, but no new park reports until April. Sorry, we don’t need to endure this chaos firsthand to tell you Walt Disney World is/was bonkers over spring break.

Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!

YOUR THOUGHTS

If you’re currently visiting Walt Disney World, what has been your experience with crowds and wait times? Have you visited Walt Disney World during spring break season in the past? Thoughts on the attendance levels? Are you visiting this year for Easter or spring break? Have you had any trouble purchasing tickets or making Disney Park Pass reservations? Do you agree or disagree with anything in our Spring Break 2021 Crowd Forecast for Walt Disney World? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!