March Madness - Final Thoughts - REPORT COMPLETE - Updated May 24. About This Page:

[Joy J]

Before this trip, I found myself questioning my sanity in planning a trip to Walt Disney World during our March break (March 9-16/08). Wouldn’t the crowds be overwhelming and the line-ups horrendous? But we did have some leftover DVC points to use for this year so it was either bank them or take a holiday before our use year ended at the beginning of August. Having already experienced the heat and humidity of WDW in the summer, I wasn’t anxious to do that again and since my son Kirk was accompanying me on this trip and he’s a teacher, that left me with limited options. So March break it was.
We booked a week at the Boardwalk Villas in a studio (I requested a room that was close to the elevators and lobby area and overlooked the main swimming pool). I ordered our tickets for the Princess and Pirates party for the Tuesday night of our stay, hoping that it might be the least crowded of the party night options during our visit. I also booked the meal plan, even though I had some serious doubts about its value now that it has been so radically changed.
Well, it turned out that my worries about crowd conditions were unfounded for the majority of our trip - that is for the first six days. But on the seventh day, the crowds hit with a passion and it actually made us glad that we were going to be leaving the next day and that’s an unheard of situation for my son and myself. I hazard a guess that not all Americans have their March break during the same week as we Canadians do and that would explain both why the crowd conditions weren’t bad at all and also why we kept running into so many fellow Canadians while down there.
As for this new version of the meal plan, I didn’t care for it at all. In fact, I didn’t find it to be much of a money saver, not by the time you factored in the cost of gratuities. What I particularly hated was the format in which the bill and tips were presented. At the bottom of each bill was listed what the recommended 17 per cent and 20 per cent tip were in dollars and cents and then your server would collect it from you. That leaves guests in the untenable position, if they happen to run into really bad service of having to face their server and be right there while they would realize they were not getting a good tip. Thank goodness we had wonderful service at every restaurant where we dined as I would have felt very awkward otherwise. Needless to say, I’ve decided not to use the dining plan on future trips as I just don’t think it is cost effective for us any longer.
My luck with the Year of a Million Dreams promotion held for this trip once again as we received dreams from the Dream Squad on two separate occasions (albeit not jumbo prizes but still wonderful to receive) plus innumerable magic moments. I’ll get into the details of all that later on in the trip report as each one arises.
All in all it was a Dream trip from start to finish and now I’m counting the days already until our next trip in December.

Joy

[bgdiznee]

Great start Joy, looking forward to more! Isn't it funny how the March crowds change so much from year to year. We were in WDW March 2007, thinking with Easter in April we would be less crowded. How wrong we were!
Can't wait for your next installment.

[DoraDoug]

I'm glad to hear the crowds were not too bad for your trip. I can't wait to hear about your dream prizes either!

[mom to 3 princesses and 1 prince]

Great start; glad to hear that you didn't have a problem with crowds!

[scrapbookmomma3]

Great start! Looking forward to reading your trip report. This year Spring Breaks for schools are all over the calendar. Thank goodness my children attend the same school I teach in or our Spring Breaks would not have been the same. More Please!

[disneydani]

We arrived on the 13th for Andrew's Bar Mitzvah and definitely saw the crowds swell as the days went on....
Looking forward to hearing about all your adventures.

danielle

[Luvsun]

A great start! I am glad the crowds didn't arrive until it was time for you to go home!
I am also glad to see your opinion on the DDP. That makes me feel better that I didn't pick it for our upcoming trip.
Looking forward to more!

[KandJluvdisney]

great start joy
glad you did not hit huge crowds
sorry the dining plan was a dissapointment
hurry back with more please

[Colexis Mom]

Great start Joy Can't wait to hear the details

[tammyd_rn]

Great start. Glad the crowds were minimal for you and your family.

[DyanKJ130]

Great start and I'm glad to hear that the crowds were manageable! Can't wait to hear more

[RobDVC]

Great overview!

[Jillybean]

Mary Devall just has her Spring Break this week, so you probably were confronted with the people who had theirs the week before Easter instead of the week afterwards. Glad that they waited until your last day!

I found the entire bill situation with the Deluxe Dining Plan to be quite confusing and a bit much. Sorry that it didn't work well for you.

And I am not surprised that you had such luck with the Dream Squad again - - you are one lucky lady, Joy! Can't wait to read more!

Jill

[Starla4436]

Sounds like a great trip...hope to hear more about it!

[BelmontBelle]

Great start! I'm looking forward to all the details!