Credit: NOWY DZIENNIK / FlickrIf you were planning on visiting Walt Disney World today, think again because depending on the park you are looking to attend, you may be turned away.
At the moment, spring break crowds have officially taken over Walt Disney World Resort. Whenever there is a holiday or kids are out of school, it is usually a given that the theme parks will be busier than usual, which is exactly what is happening right now. Spring break happens during different weeks in America, typically within the month of March, meaning that Disney is set to be busy throughout the entire season.
The park pass reservation system was implemented after the pandemic in order to deal with crowd capacity in the parks, but it has stuck around for far longer. While it is being phased out as single-day ticket purchases no longer require a park pass reservation, other guests, such as Annual Passholders do still have to reserve their visit for a majority of the days each month if they plan on entertaining the park before 2:00 p.m.
Today, the park pass reservation system is not allowing for any new reservations to be made at EPCOT, Magic Kingdom, or Disney’s Hollywood Studios, as they are all sold out. The only park that is currently available for guests to book is Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Guests can, however, park hop from Animal Kingdom to another theme park if they have an applicable ticket, which it appears many are doing at the multi-park Disney Genie+ option has sold out again for today, marking three days of sell-outs.
These large crowds are only expected to increase as the month goes on.
As Orlando International Airport’s latest press release noted, “With Spring Break 2024 upon us, MCO is expecting a record 11 percent increase in passengers over the previous record set last year and is offering sage advice to follow the 3-2-1 rule.
“We expect to set a new Spring Break benchmark with more than 7.6 million passengers,” said Kevin J. Thibault, Chief Executive Officer of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority. “This growth is actually a continuation of what we saw in 2023. For the year, we shattered all passenger records with more than 57.7 million travelers.”
The 3-2-1 rule has a few simple steps: make sure to reach your airline ticket counter at least 3 hours before your flight. Proceed to security processing at least 2 hours before departure and arrive at your gate at least 1 hour before boarding. Additionally, it’s essential to pack your patience and refrain from carrying weapons through the security checkpoint.
This hefty amount of travel has marked a record-breaking year that is set to top 2023, which was record-breaking in itself, “This year’s Spring Break record comes on the heels of another record-setting year at Orlando International Airport. All the numbers are in and in 2023, MCO experienced a 15 percent increase in overall traffic, bringing the total number of passengers to an historic 57.7 million for the year.
International traffic completely rebounded to pre-pandemic levels with 26.7 percent growth and 7 million travelers, while domestic traffic continued to reach new highs, topping 50.7 million passengers, which is a 13.6 percent increase.”
In addition to the high crowd levels at Disney, we are also starting to see very high wait times. At the time of this article’s publishing, Flight of Passage is at 170 minutes, Slinky Dog Dash is at 130 minutes, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is at 125 minutes, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train has a 120 minute wait, and so on.
Would you visit Walt Disney World during spring break?