Spring Break is coming up soon!  With kids out of school, Spring Break means big crowds at Disney World.  While the crowds are usually big, they usually aren't quite as huge as the infamous Christmas-to-New-Year's crowds.

This year, however, is going to be a bigger challenge than usual.  Easter falls on March 31st.  This is a problem, because the two most common weeks for spring break are the last week in March, and the week before Easter.  In 2013, those are the same week!  That means that a much larger portion of school spring breaks will be condensed into the March 23-March 31 time frame.

What does this mean for you, if you're traveling Spring Break?  It depends on when you're going:

If you're going any week other than March 23-March 31: This is good news!  You will have lighter crowds any other week in March or April than most years, with so many Spring Breakers stuck in one week. Don't get me wrong - you still need to plan to avoid the infamous lines - the big attractions will still have 45-75 minute waits without the right strategies, but at least there will be some breathing room.

If you're going the week of March 23-March 31: This is not so good news.  As you probably already noticed, hotel availability is low and prices are high.  And you may be having difficulty getting dining reservations.

With so many people having the same spring break, I anticipate March 23-March 31 to be, at the very least, the second-busiest week of the year at Disney World.  And it may even be worse - I would not be surprised to see crowds rivaling the busiest days of the year!

What can be done about it?

I have written several blog posts in the past about holiday crowds at Walt Disney World, and how to handle these large crowds. (See here and here for examples.)  My focus on these posts has been on the Christmas-to-New-Year's timeframe.  However, the tips are generally equally valid for Spring Break 2013.   Please review those posts for full thoughts, but the general ideas are:

• Get to the parks early.  The Magic Kingdom opens at 8am, with Extra Magic Hours at 7am, during this week.  If you are staying on Disney property and can rally to be at the park before the 7am opening, you'll have a great time before the crowds build up!  If you want to sleep in, you'll be waiting in lines.
• Avoid the parks mid-day.  The crowds will be huge from about noon to 8pm.  It's good to get away for that portion of the day.  One great thing about March is the weather is terrific - use it to your advantage and go enjoy the pool at your hotel! Come back in the evening when the crowds die down.
• Use Fastpass as best as possible. Fastpass times will start going through the roof later in the day.  So try to get your Fastpass-enabled attractions visited earlier in the day.  One other tip - if you're going to leave the park for a break mid-day (a good idea), get a Fastpass for something like Space Mountain just before leaving.  The return time will be far out (3-5 hours, or more), but no big deal.  When you return, you'll have an attraction all lined up to enjoy without a wait!
• Planning is absolutely necessary.  This is not the time to "wing it" - if you decide to arrive at the Magic Kingdom at 10am, you're going to be in hour-plus waits for nearly everything (possibly even the monorail to get to the park).  If that sounds fun, please go ahead - I and my customers will enjoy 10 or more attractions while you're waiting in line!

Conclusion
If you're heading to Disney World the last week of March 2013, I wish you luck!  You can avoid the worst of the lines and do everything you would like, but it takes even more planning than usual.

As always, please don't hesitate to contact me if you'd like help in planning your Disney vacation!

One of the somewhat unfortunate aspects of planning a Disney vacation revolves around making dining reservations.  Unlike 99.9% of all restaurants in the rest of the world, it can be a challenge to make reservations at popular Disney restaurants.  At some locations, reservations can fill up months in advance!

The good news, however, is there is almost always a great place to eat.  I've worked with families that are heading to Disney in just two days time, and we've always been able to find good reservation times at nice restaurants for each day of their trip. While the most popular restaurants may not be available at that point, there are still very nice options.

But what if you want to dine at one of the most popular restaurants?  You need to plan in advance. How far in advance? Read on for suggestions:

Is it two, three, or even six months until your Disney trip?  If so, great!  You can get into most Disney dining locations. Here are some tips if you're this far in advance:

Tip 1: Get to know Disney's online reservation system
It's helpful to become familiar with Disney's online dining reservation system.  They have dramatically improved their online system - it is easy now to check specific dates, times, and restaurants for availability.  Go on and head to https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/ and check it out!

Tip 2: Know when you can call or go online to make reservations
At Disney World, you can make reservations up to 180 days in advance.  At some restaurants (for example, Cinderella's Royal Table for breakfast), the closer to 180 days, the better.  The most absurd example is if you want an 8am reservation at Cinderella's Royal Table - if so, you need to go online at EXACTLY 6am Eastern 180 days in advance to get it (and you may still not succeed).

How far out is 180 days?  You can count manually, but there are several sites on the web that give you the exact date.  Here is one.


Tip 3: Know which are the most difficult reservations to obtain
There are certain reservations that are very difficult to get - you likely need to call three or more months in advance, especially if you are traveling during a busy time of year.  These popular restaurants include:

• Be Our Guest
• Cinderella's Royal Table (especially breakfast)
• Chef Mickey's (especially breakfast)
• California Grill
• Victoria and Albert's (especially the chef's table)

At each of these restaurants, as soon as you know your dates for your trip, try to make your reservations. Be Our Guest, in particular, has been a challenge (and please take my advice from this previous post, and make a reservation as early in the night as possible to avoid delays).

There's also a "next tier" of restaurants that, the earlier you make a reservation, the better.  You can probably get into these restaurants no problem if you're calling two months in advance. Some of these restaurants include

• Crystal Palace
• 1900 Park Fare
• Le Cellier
• Coral Reef
• Fantasmic Dining Package
• Hoop De Doo Revue

All of these restaurants will potentially have availability even just a month in advance of a trip, but the times may start to get odd (dinners at 4:00pm or 9:00pm, for example).

Tip 4: You can get reservations MORE than 180 days out - here's how!
If you're staying at a Disney resort hotel and have a confirmed reservation, you can make all your reservations for your trip 180 days before the start of your trip.  That means you can book the really tough-to-get reservations for a few days into your trip, and make those reservations a few days before everyone else!

At the one-week point, lots of people are making reservations, and spots are filling up.  However, you still can get some decent reservations.  Once again, use Disney's Disney's online dining reservation system and plug in each date/time you want to eat - you'll see what's available.  If you do so, you'll notice three things.

1) The most popular restaurants will likely have no times available

You're probably out of luck if you want to eat at Chef Mickey's or dinner at Be Our Guest, for example.  If your heart is set on these experiences, we'll have to find "next best alternatives" - for example, you can try Be Our Guest for lunch (when it is a quick service place) instead of dinner.  Or if you want to meet the classic Disney characters at a meal, you can try Tusker House at Animal Kingdom instead of Chef Mickey's. 

Note that some of these "next best alternatives" are actually as good (or better) experiences than the "popular" restaurant, so you're not giving up much.

2) The "next tier" of tough-to-get restaurants may have times available, but they will likely be for odd times of day

Unless it's a particularly busy time of year, you can likely get in to restaurants like the Crystal Palace even just a week or two in advance.  However, available reservation times may be odd.  For example, checking today (February 13) for one week out (February 20), I see availability at the Crystal Palace, but only at 3:25 and 8:40pm - strange times to eat!

Note that during busy times (like Christmas), these restaurants will likely be completely booked as well.  Hopefully if you're traveling during the super-busy times of year, you're planning ahead!

3) You should still have plenty of availability for other restaurants in all areas of Disney World

Even if you can't get into any of these top choices, you will be able to find a good place to eat no matter where you are at Disney. At one week out, there are usually many, many excellent choices still availabile.

Are you at Disney and you need a reservation for tonight? Either because you're a serial procrastinator, or because you've changed your mind on where you want to be? Most times of year, this is not a problem.

First, you are likely not going to be able to visit any of the restaurants listed above (and several others, as well).  However, there are some great "hidden gems" throughout Disney World where you can have a great meal on short notice.  Some of my favorites include:

• The Wave at the Contemporary Resort.  "Sustainable" American food.  At the Contemporary Resort - a great choice prior to heading to the Magic Kingdom for the Main Street Electrical Parade and fireworks.
• Grand Floridian Cafe. The "casual" sit-down restaurant at the Grand Floridian, but still a very nice setting.  Once again a great choice before the Magic Kingdom nighttime events.
• Most of the Epcot restaurants.  No, you won't get into Le Cellier or Coral Reef.  But there are several interesting restaurants all around World Showcase.  Try something different like Biergarten in Germany!

I've been known to call Disney dining reservations on my cell from inside the park (on a busy day, no less), making a reservation for three hours later, because we changed our mind on which park we were going to spend our evening.  And I've never had a problem finding something good!

If your heart is set on a particular restaurant, it's a good idea to make your reservations as soon as possible.  And I always work with Optimal Magic clients to get reservations squared away as soon as we have the day-by-day high-level plans set.

However, if your trip is coming up soon and you haven't made reservations yet, that doesn't mean you're resigned to burgers and fries for every meal!  You'll see that there are still good options available!

As always, if you're looking for more suggestions on best dining for your group (or anything else Disney-related), please don't hesitate to contact me!