I have confirmed reservations for a Scavi tour at 9:15 on a Saturday in March. The information I have says the tour is approximately 1 1/2 hours. Does anyone know if it would be possible to take the Garden tour at 11am? Then the Museum at 2pm?
Has anyone taken the Vatican garden tour?
I have not taken the Vatican Garden tour, but in the last year or two on this Board I remember this question being asked and 2 people reported taking the Vatican Garden tour and both said they were somewhat disappointed with it, given the other ways they could have used their time at the Vatican.
My wife and I just returned from Italy and began in Rome. My only regret was not booking the Scavi tour (kudos to you on booking it so early), but we did take a Vatican Museum tour given by Angel Tours and a very lively guide named Jimmy (he's Irish). It was fun, we hit all the big stuff and he gave a great detailed presentation on the Sistine Chapel since you can't talk inside the Sistine or take pictures. So you may want to give them a shot. Here's the website.
My answer doesn't exactly answer your original question, but I have taken the Scavi tour (which was wonderful). Just as an FYI, the Scavi tour ends directly in St. Peter's Basilica. In other words, you bypass the sometimes lengthy line to get into St. Peter's. I highly suggest that you take this opportunity to explore the basilica.
What worked for me and my husband was to take the 9:15 Scavi tour, then we toured the basilica until about 12:30. When we left the basilica, we discovered the line for the museum was vastly shorter than in the morning (other RS posters have also noticed this). We only had a 20 minute wait to get in, then had the rest of the afternoon to tour the museum.
Our trip was in October of last year, as a frame of reference. I don't know if lines/timing/museum hours would be different for March. In any case, I hope you have a fabulous time.
