March 2026 at Disney World: Crowd Calendar & Info

This guide to March 2026 at Walt Disney World offers a free crowd calendar, weeks to visit & avoid, weather, ride refurbishments, and what’s new. All of this, plus info & tips for Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios.

March is a “tale of two seasons.” The beginning should be slow, with crowds subsiding after Mardi Gras and Presidents’ Day in late February. Then later in March, colleges and many school systems in the country will take their spring break…and that means trips to Walt Disney World!

If you’re somehow able to get past that (perhaps you’re an avid queue enthusiast, in which case 120-minute waits might be right up your alley), the month of March can otherwise be a good time to visit Walt Disney World. Let’s take a look at the highs and lows of the month…

While it’s always above-average in terms of crowds, parts of March 2026 won’t be as bad for a couple of reasons. First, because Easter isn’t until April 5, 2026. This is 2 weeks earlier than the previous year, but it still does mean that schools that plan their Spring Breaks around the Easter holiday will be off for Spring Break in the final days of March.

Even outside of Easter, many K-12 schools and colleges in the United States have their Spring Breaks earlier in March. That includes many districts in Florida, including the two counties with the biggest impact on Walt Disney World crowds. We’ll discuss the ramifications of Spring Break in the March 2026 crowd calendar section below. Here’s what else you need to know about the month at Walt Disney World, organized into convenient categories…

March Weather at Disney World

As far as the weather goes, March is the month when the weather starts to turn around and warm up. Temperatures rise over the course of the month, and although they are still on the cool side of mild, it’s usually quite comfortable. Sure, it can be abnormally cold or hot in March (definitely check the long term forecast before visiting as it really could be either), but you’re generally in for weather that’s almost ideal for touring the parks.

Lows at the beginning of the month are in the mid-50s and creep up towards the 60s by the end of the month. High temperatures range from 75 to 80 degrees. In looking at those numbers and the “comfortable” band on this page, you might think that it skews towards chilly. That can be true early in the morning and late at night, but keep in mind that you’ll be most active during the middle of the day when it’s warmest; personally, I prefer slightly cooler temperatures when I’m active, anyway.

The result is that March is one of the better months of the year for weather in Florida, particularly towards the end of the month. At the beginning of the month you’re more likely to experience unseasonably cold weather, so I tend to avoid that. About the only downside to this mild weather is that it can make visiting water parks or spending much time in your resort hotel’s pool less appealing (or downright unappealing). This can be a bummer for those seeking a ‘tropical’ reprieve from winter in the North.

Being Michiganders, that’s exactly what my family wanted from our trips when I was growing up. I still remember an early March vacation during which my parents decided to stubbornly stick to our plans (I paint them as “stubborn” but the reality was probably that I was a bratty kid who insisted upon going) to visit Blizzard Beach. There was almost no one in the park, and we all spent the better park of the day wrapped in towels on our beach chairs.

I recall crossing the icebergs in Ski Patrol Training Camp and envisioning them as actual chunks of ice, which wasn’t that much of a stretch of the imagination at the time. I share all of this because you might not want to make concrete plans for the water parks or put too much weight in a hotel’s swimming pool when choosing a hotel or planning a March visit–you may not want to spend time at either.

March 2026 Disney World Special Events

Let’s start out with the nonpublic events in March 2026 that impact attendance at Walt Disney World. While there is no Beer Bong World Championship (let alone more unsavory events) held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports, there are youth events that can result in just as wild of crowds.

There are usually major dance and cheerleading competitions held in March that boost attendance at the parks and occupancy at the hotels, usually the All Stars and Coronado Springs. Here’s what was on the calendar at the ESPN Wide World of Sports for the previous year (2026 dates have yet to be published, but these events are usually on the same weekends, or +/- one week):

• Youth Flag Football World Championships: February 28 to March 2
• The Quest Recreational Championship: March 7-8
• UCA/UDA All Star National Championship: March 8-9
• Disney Spring Training: March 10 to April 20

All of these are large events. In particular, the Youth Flag Football Championship describes itself as “one of the largest youth flag football tournaments in history with over 700 teams and 8,000 athletes.” That’s a lot of participants, and keep in mind that very few of these athletes (who are children) will travel alone. Most come with families, so there’s a multiplier on that 8,000 that probably increases the overall attendees to somewhere around 20,000 (give or take).

Nevertheless, the actual impact of youth sporting events on crowd levels is debatable. If you end up at the same hotel as them or behind a large group of cheerleaders in line or in the same Haunted Mansion stretching room as them, your perception of them will likely be very different than someone who stays at a different hotel and only encounters small numbers of them in passing. We speak from experience (including that very specific Haunted Mansion example), and say that this is generally not something about which you should be concerned.

Speaking of athletic events, there’s also the Princess Half Marathon from February 26 to March 2, 2026. That won’t really impact crowds in March, as the runners usually arrive early and there’s seldom a crowds spike on the Saturday and Sunday of the main races. The runDisney Springtime Surprise isn’t until April 2026, so that also won’t impact March.

Then there are the public events held during the month at Walt Disney World. The EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival will kick off in early March and run for the duration of the month, likely wrapping up just after Memorial Day. This will spike ‘feels like’ crowds at EPCOT, as it’s a big draw for locals who show up specifically for the event–to see the floral displays, eat food, and buy merchandise.

One thing locals typically do not do–or do disproportionately less than tourists–is rides. As a result, congestion at EPCOT is higher but wait times often are not. Locals also visit EPCOT disproportionately at the start of events, on weekends and after work. Meaning that some dates in early March identified below as great times to visit won’t be so great for EPCOT congestion or feels like crowds. Just something to keep in mind as you plan your days (or times of day) in each park!

Regardless of whether you’re into gardening (I’m not) this is event has the park looking lovely. The flower tapestry by the Imagination pavilion, between Future World and World Showcase is incredibly picturesque, as are the many topiaries around the park. There’s much more than that, all of which you can read about in our Guide to EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival.

Finally, there’s After Hours at Magic Kingdom and After Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. These occur sporadically and, as the names suggest, are held after park closing. They have minimal impact on daytime crowd levels, but result in a slight bump in crowds during the evening ‘mix-in’ time.

We do not recommend changing your plans because of After Hours at Magic Kingdom, but you might want to do DHS on a different evening. Normally, that park is great for lower wait times at the end of the night, albeit to a lesser degree on After Hours dates.

Park Hours for March are usually pretty good. Walt Disney World has quietly been extending these, with Magic Kingdom now closing later and the other 3 parks opening earlier as a result. Of course, there’s a reason for this: spring break attendance forecasts!

March REFURBISHMENTS & NEW ATTRACTIONS

In terms of attractions that will be closed during March 2026, check the Walt Disney World Refurbishment Schedule. That schedule won’t be completely accurate until winter, but it’s likely that the major closures will be winding down by March. There’s a good chance Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, for example, returns from its year-plus closure in the first half of March 2026!

As a fair warning, that refurbishment calendar doesn’t reflect the full scope and scale of construction at Walt Disney World. The parks are just now ramping up their next development cycle, and that will be very evident by early 2026 in Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Although it’s not on the calendar yet, this will more likely than not also include the closure of the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island by March 2026.

While the guest impact won’t be nearly as bad as the last development cycle, there will be visible construction walls, closures, and more. See Walt Disney World’s 5-Year Plan: Construction, Closing & Opening Dates for New Lands & Rides for everything you need to know.

In the here and now, the biggest new additions at Walt Disney World are all in Magic Kingdom. Ride-wise, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and TRON Lightcycle Run are both still new-ish, even though they’re over a year old. Both attractions now offer a standby line, as does Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. These attractions also have Lightning Lane line-skipping–as do almost all popular attractions at Walt Disney World. We highly recommend consulting our Guide to Lightning Lane Single & MultiPass at Walt Disney World & FAQ for everything you need to know.

The newest additions at that time will all be shows: Zootopia Better Zoogether, Villains Unfairly Ever After, and Little Mermaid: A Musical Adventure. There’s also Disney Starlight Night Parade, which should be performed nightly during March 2026. This is probably the biggest new-ish addition at Walt Disney World, and it’s also at Magic Kingdom. Otherwise, the major new additions for 2026 probably won’t come online until Memorial Day, but there’s a chance some will debut for Spring Break. We’ll update accordingly once more is announced.

Overall, the biggest new thing in Orlando isn’t at Walt Disney World at all, but rather, at Universal Orlando: Epic Universe. This brand-new theme park will be less than a year in early 2026, and this should be a sweet spot of lower crowds and smoother operations. When it’s firing on all cylinders and crowds are manageable, Epic Universe is something special. We highly recommend a visit.

For an overview of what else is on the horizon, see What’s New & Next at Walt Disney World in 2026.

March 2026 DISNEY WORLD CROWD CALENDAR

We’ll start this free crowd calendar section with the same preface as other months—skip ahead a few paragraphs if you’ve already read it. Wondering why you don’t see a color-coded crowd calendar here? It’s because we don’t really trust them anymore and don’t think you should, either. If we just had a visual crowd calendar graphic here, many of you would only look at that and not read the accompanying explanation that covers what you might actually expect. That’d be doing you a disservice.

While they can be useful tools, crowd calendars are one small piece of a much larger puzzle. We no longer choose our own Disney travel dates based exclusively upon crowd calendars and we’d likewise discourage you from doing so. While still useful, crowd calendars are less reliable because of the way Disney manipulates attendance patterns.

Walt Disney World doesn’t release official attendance numbers, so crowd calendars utilize info like school schedules, airport traffic statistics, hotel pricing & occupancy, and other indicators as proxies for crowds. As things once again return to normal and stabilize, Walt Disney World attendance is once again following a more identifiable pattern that tracks with the aforementioned proxies.

Let’s start with the good news: early March 2026 should once again be a great time to visit because it’s a lull in crowds. That isn’t always the case, as years when Mardi Gras is at the beginning of the month (or end of February) result in an influx of visitors from Louisiana and other areas of the South. Thankfully, the worst weeks of winter will occur in mid-to-late February 2026.

Bad for those who visit in February, but fantastic for those who opt for early March 2026! Actually, if you visit at the very end of February, you should be in good shape. The end of the month into the first weekend of March should be great (outside of EPCOT).

In fact, our expectation is that the first week-plus of March 2026 will see low-to-moderate crowd levels. This is especially noteworthy because just before that (Presidents’ Day/Mid-Winter Break/Mardi Gras) will have been very busy and shortly thereafter is the start of Spring Break season, which is also pretty bad.

But in the first week of March 2026, it’s likely that crowd levels range from around 2/10 to 5/10, with the average being below 4/10. This means average wait times across the entirety of Walt Disney World of around 30 to 35 minutes.

That might sound high or not great, but it’s a sharp contrast to the aforementioned worst week of winter. That stretch will likely see 9/10 to 10/10 crowd levels and average wait times of 54 to 61 minutes (that’s what happened the last time Presidents’ Day and Fat Tuesday occurred back to back). That’s a huge difference over the course of an entire day!

This is precisely why the first week of March 2026 makes our list of the 10 Best & Worst Weeks to Visit Walt Disney World in 2026 (on the best side, obviously). Specifically, March 1-8, 2026 will see the lowest wait times and attendance of the month.

Although some school districts start having Spring Breaks the following week, it’s still a statistically insignificant number in the grand scheme of things. Accordingly, we also expect March 9-13, 2026 to be a fairly pleasant time to visit Walt Disney World. Expect slightly below-average to moderate crowd levels.

Previous year: 4/10 to 6/10 most days, with Tuesday oddly spiking to 8/10. The week as a whole leveled out to 5/10, with an average wait time of 35 minutes. That’s almost identical to the first week of March 2025, but with the key difference being that Mardi Gras fell on March 4–in 2026, Mardi Gras is in February. This alone gives the decisive edge to the first week of March 2026 if you’re trying to choose between the two.

There is no reason to expect March 9-13, 2026 to be any busier or less busy than the prior year. All relevant variables–school breaks, runDisney races, ESPN WWoS events, etc–are all expected to be unchanged. It will almost certainly be a moderate week for crowds.

With that said, there are a couple of wildcards in the first half of March.

The first is the aforementioned youth sporting events at the ESPN Wide World of Sports. Some of those attendees will arrive early and visit the parks in the week leading up to their weekend events. It’s our expectation that these events will be scheduled largely for March 7-8, with the crowd impact March 4-6, 2026. Still, we view this as relatively minor in the grand scheme of things.

The other wildcard is that the lowest tier of Walt Disney World Annual Passes will be blocked out March 14-22, 2026. It’s often the case that weeklong blockouts like this result in locals moving forward visits to “get their Disney fix” before the blockout starts. Note that the 2026 blockouts are almost identical to the prior year, and there was no impact then.

All of this is more or less normal, reflecting the lull between the popular Presidents’ Day and Mardi Gras holidays in late February and the start of Spring Break season in mid-March. Weekends will feel busier at EPCOT, especially if the weather is nice.

Following that, expect the Spring Break ‘season’ to unofficially kick off on March 14, 2026. This is because that’s when school districts in Central Florida (and beyond) will start their recesses. In the past, the start of Orange County’s Spring Break has been one of the worst weeks of the year.

That was not the case last year due to a mixture of the AP blockout, along with significantly higher prices for tickets and exclusions for various other discounts. Unsurprisingly, all of that had the effect of making Central Florida’s Spring Break fairly average. The week was a 6/10 for crowds, but it’s worth noting that every day from Monday through Friday was 7/10. (Weekends were the outlier that dragged down the average.) Our expectation is that those dates in 2026 are busier, as Central Florida’s Spring Break usually averages ~8/10 crowd levels.

Crowds won’t let up the next week, either. Although it’s a far less common break for Florida school districts, many Midwest and Northeast schools have the last week of the month off. On top of that, APs aren’t blocked out. Consequently, March 21-28, 2026 will be among the busiest of the season. Not Easter week bad, but another 7/10 to 8/10 week.

To that point, the next week is Easter week. Heavy crowds can be expected starting Palm Sunday, and won’t really let up until the following Monday, April 6, 2026. The only true 10/10 week of Spring Break is Easter, with Monday through Friday (March 30 to April 3, 2026) seeing the peak crowds.

Although this is not an April 2026 crowd calendar, the height of Spring Break crowds will end on the Tuesday after Easter. There will still be some straggler school districts with their recesses during the two weeks that follow, but the worst of the crowds will be over as of April 7, 2026.

March PRICING & DISCOUNTS

As a result of Spring Breaks being fairly common in March, you typically won’t find much in the way of exceptional promotions in a normal year. See All Current Walt Disney World Discounts for specifics.

However, “good” is a relative term when describing these discounts, as March is above average in terms of rack rates and ticket prices. Even a higher-than-normal percentage off an astronomical price is still a high price!

For hotels, much of the month is peak season, which is exactly as expensive as it sounds. Only holiday pricing is worse. For tickets, the pricing is not as bad, but it’s still far from the off-season in terms of per-day pricing.

Overall, March is a tale of two months–the last week of February/first week of March is one of the year’s “sweet spots” for planning a vacation. In fact, we love it so much that it’s one of the top weeks of the year on our aforementioned rankings. Thankfully, the timing of Mardi Gras means that will once again be the case in March 2026, and even those major youth events won’t be enough to move the needle all that much. It should be a great week to visit Walt Disney World.

The second week–at least, most of it–should also be pretty good, with slightly below average crowds. There’s a reason that window ranks so highly–and it’s not just that the wait times are low. March typically offers pleasant weather, longer hours, and the start of the spring bloom with Flower & Garden Festival beginning. After that, March’s attractiveness deteriorates, but even later in the month, I still think the weather goes a long way to compensate for crowds.

To that point, before you freak out about heavy crowds, remember that better weather and also the likelihood of extended hours. You can still beat the crowds if you arrive early, take a midday break, and stay late. Savvy strategy, strong use of Early Entry & rope drop, our step-by-step itineraries, and staying late can help overcome crowds. That’s even before buying Lightning Lanes, which is obviously advantageous during Spring Break season. You can always beat bad crowds–but the same isn’t true with miserable weather!

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

Do you agree or disagree with our thoughts on March at Walt Disney World? Have you done Walt Disney World during Spring Break before? Do you think it’s a good or bad time to visit? Any questions? Hearing your feedback about your experiences is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts or questions below in the comments!