March 2024 Disneyland Crowd Calendar

Our guide to March 2024 at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure offers a free crowd calendar, days to visit & avoid, weather, seasonal events, and new attraction openings & closures. We’ll discuss the impact of ‘sold out’ Magic Key and park reservations, and make a recommendation as to whether you should visit.

March is usually the month that Disneyland emerges from its winter slumber. Usually, January and February are the slowest months of the year, with chilly weather, rain, an emphasis on refurbishments, and fewer guests because it’s Southern California’s off-season for tourism.

Spring Breaks begin in March, normally to not as great of an extent as April. The month typically starts slow, gradually picking up crowds as the weather gets nicer, fewer refurbishments are on the schedule, and more non-local vacationers arrive for their Spring Break. As with January and February, park reservation availability could throw a monkey wrench into what happens in March 2024, but we’re expecting demand to be back to normal and reservations to be a non-issue (if they’re even still around for anyone but APs).

This biggest wild card is the conclusion of the 100 Years of Wonder Celebration. After that ends, Disneyland Resort is likely to roll out a new promotional event to entice locals and tourists to visit the parks. At this point, when or what that could be is completely unknown. It could start as early as the winter off-season in an attempt to lure visitors during a slow timeframe or as late as Memorial Day weekend.

As for the ‘what’ of it, our expectation is something revolving around evening entertainment, with an enhanced version of Fantasmic and possibility Paint the Night Parade. Of course, those are just guesses at this point, as actual specifics are unknown. This would end up having zero impact on March 2024 crowds if it doesn’t start until Memorial Day, but our guess is that Disneyland does something before Easter in an attempt to draw greater crowds. Stay tuned for the “when” and “what” of that, and how it could potentially impact attendance and crowds.

With that backdrop set, here’s what you can expect in March 2024 at Disneyland & Disney California Adventure in terms of the crowd calendar, weather, refurbishment, special events, closures and new attractions…

March Weather at Disneyland

Southern California’s weather is typically excellent in March. During the middle of the day, temperatures are usually in the mid-60s to low 70s, with the average high being 71°F and the average low being 52°F. Daily highs rarely fall below 60°F or exceed 82°F and daily lows are seldom below 44°F or above 57°F

The evenings are still chilly, but that’s true pretty much year round in Southern California. The crisp air makes it feel even colder at night, and we also recommend packing jeans plus a light jacket for March trips, at the very least (more warm clothing is always better than less–it’s deceptively cold).

March marks the end of Southern California’s rainy season–to the extent that it has one. Rain is far more possible early in the month (15-18% daily chance of precipitation towards the beginning of the month) than it is later. By the final week of March, there’s only a 10% daily chance of rain.

March is generally a pretty sunny month, and over the course of the month, the length of the daytime dramatically increases (and by extension, typical hours of sunlight). The marine layer is also less of a problem during March, which can’t be said for the months that follow. All in all, March is a great time to visit California (and by extension, Disneyland) in terms of weather. It’s not always warm, but it’s not hot either!

Special Events & What’s New or Closed

The main special event during March at Disneyland Resort is the Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival. Dates for the 2024 event have yet to be announced, but this typically runs from the first week of March until late April. It’s a celebration packed with entertainment, cooking demos, celeb chef sightings, and food booths to taste your way around the Golden State.

We’re big fans of DCA’s Food & Wine Festival. Sure, the portions are sometimes meager and the prices sky-high, but we’ve also found that the quality is generally superior to its counterpart at Epcot. There are also some really tasty and interesting dishes, and the Sip & Savor Pass is a good way to bring costs down and try higher-priced items without there being so much sticker shock.

In terms of March attraction closures, we have what’s possibly a partial list on the Disneyland Refurbishment Calendar. That should be pretty close to final for March, but don’t be surprised if another ride or two is added as the month draws nearer.

March 2024 Disneyland Crowd Calendar

Disneyland crowd calendars for specific dates are no longer highly reliable due to changes in attendance trends, the new Magic Key Passes, ticket promotions, and other factors. General trends are easier, but it’s difficult to say a particular day will have low, moderate, or heavy crowds–which is why we’ve eliminated our color-coded Disneyland crowd calendars.

As such, our crowd calendar exists of some best & worst date ranges that should be used as an approximation for patterns—not something you rely heavily upon when booking a trip to Disneyland. While other sites offer numerical crowd calendars for specific dates months or more in advance, we’d be weary of putting too much weight on those. There are simply too many inconsistent variables for Disneyland crowd calendars to be reliable so far in advance.

With that said, our methodology is based upon historic wait time information, anecdotal observations, special events, school schedules, dynamic ticket prices, and more. Second, expect Disney California Adventure crowds to almost always track Disneyland crowds—with a few exceptions—albeit with a proportionately lower number of guests.

In a normal year, March starts out slowly. The first two weeks are still part of the winter off-season, and there are low crowds during the weekdays. The month gets progressively busier towards the end, and the last two weeks start seeing spring break crowds as non-local markets and some schools in surrounding states (namely Utah and Nevada) start having their spring breaks.

Additionally, some schools in Orange County–where Disneyland is located–will have their spring breaks the last week of the month. That means crowd levels will be elevated from March 22-31, 2024. Typically, local spring breaks cause crowds to spike, meaning this could be one of the worst weeks of the year.

That will be doubly true this year, as Easter falls on March 31, 2024. This is the first time in 7 years that the holiday will happen in the month of March, and this means colossal crowds. The lead-up to Easter is always one of the busiest of the year, with 10/10 crowd levels starting about 8-10 days before the holiday (one week before Good Friday–so March 22, 2024).

Heavy crowds at the end of the month are due to the Los Angeles and Orange County School Districts (among other schools) having their Spring Breaks the week before Easter. Consequently, this stretch will likely be one of the 5 busiest weeks of 2024, with 10/10 crowd levels pretty much every day for the first third of the month.

In addition to locals flocking to the parks, there will be a lot of tourists visiting due to the Easter holiday and other school districts in the Western U.S. having spring break this week. It should prove busy despite the lower tiers of Magic Key Passes and SoCal resident ticket deals being blocked out during most of that window.

In terms of specific dates we recommend for visiting, March 4-7, 2024 will be the ideal range. These are followed closely by March 11-14, 2024. Both set of weekdays should see low crowds, especially from rope drop to 5 pm.

Beginning March 15, you should expect above average crowds, but it should still be better than the following week. The final week of the month will see the heaviest crowds of March 2024. Aside from that last week, our expectation is that March 2024 crowds are significantly higher across the board than April. Again, this is almost entirely due to Easter, and is a different dynamic than normal. (So if you’re already looking ahead to 2025 and relying on this guidance…don’t.)

Finally, we want to reiterate that this is all subject to change depending on park reservation calendars. If reservations run out for every single day—including weekdays, there won’t be much variance in crowds at all. If every day is fully booked, they’re all equally busy.

These March 2024 Disneyland crowd calendar predictions assume that Disney will be able to increase capacity and/or pent-up demand will start to fizzle-out in the new year. If either or both of those things don’t occur, all bets are off. Even if they do occur, it really depends upon the degree to which it happens. If reservations are still filling up to ~90% most days, there potentially won’t be an appreciable difference in crowd levels throughout the month. Our expectation is that demand will decrease and capacity will increase, thus providing some relief to crowds, but that’s not a sure thing.

Nevertheless, one of the greatest difficulties with forecasting Disneyland crowd calendars is that so much of the audience lives in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, meaning they are not planning their trips to Disneyland months in advance. Many people are visiting on a whim, and can make last-minute trips if enticed by marketing, deals, or special entertainment.

March Pricing & Discounts

Disney has released the Southern California Resident Disneyland Ticket Deals (plus other hotel & kids discounts) and there are no blockout dates for Easter, Spring Break, or any other days/weeks that are typically busy. The entirety of March is included in the ticket offer, as are select dates for the hotel discount.

In general, the first half of March is an inexpensive time of visit in terms of off-site hotel prices. We rank our favorite (and least favorite) hotels in the area in our Disneyland Area Hotel Rankings & Reviews post. Check out discounted hotel + ticket vacation packages on Get Away Today to save money on off-site hotels.

Irrespective of whether our moderate and higher crowd predictions for March turn out to be accurate, we still recommend an efficient itinerary for Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. While a ton of emphasis is placed on the Disneyland crowd calendar above, rope dropping the parks and using an efficient touring plan matters far more than choosing the “right” day to visit.

Overall, the first half of March 2024 will be below average, whereas the second half will be far, far above average on our Best and Worst Months to Visit Disneyland, so the entire month is not a bad or good time to visit. To the contrary, if you aim for the beginning of March, you should find temperate weather, fewer refurbishments, and relatively low crowds–especially on weekdays.

Once again, a potential new celebration ahead of spring break season will be the biggest wildcard in terms of crowds, especially if that includes the return of Paint the Night Parade or a reimagined Fantasmic. These two new offerings could upend our predictions, but we suspect their impact will disproportionately impact weekends, leaving weekdays the first two weeks of the month as a great time to visit Disneyland. Disney California Adventure should be even less crowded!

Planning a Southern California vacation? For park admission deals, read Tips for Saving Money on Disneyland Tickets. Learn about on-site and off-site hotels in our Anaheim Hotel Reviews & Rankings. For where to eat, check out our Disneyland Restaurant Reviews. For unique ideas of things that’ll improve your trip, check out What to Pack for Disney. For comprehensive advice, consult our Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide. Finally, for guides beyond Disney, check out our Southern California Itineraries for day trips to Los Angeles, Laguna Beach, and many other SoCal cities!

Your Thoughts

Have you visited Disneyland in March? If you’re a local, do you agree that the beginning of the month is a better time to visit than late March? Any predictions of your own to offer in terms of crowds at Disneyland? Any questions? Hearing 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!