First Sat in May--how crowded? Will the park fill up?

[mbc35]

We're an American family going to France for two weeks at the end of April, and we wanted to stay two nights at Disney before we fly home. We won't have time to visit the parks on Monday, but we're hoping to do a partial day on Saturday and a full day on Sunday.

We'll be driving up from Burgundy on Saturday morning and staying Saturday and Sunday night. How bad will the crowds be on the first Saturday in May? Is it reasonable to expect the park will not have reached capacity?

Also, how bad will the crowds be on Sunday morning if we stay off-site and can't enter the park until the EMH are over?

We've been to WDW several times, but only in the off-season, and I've never not started a WDW day at rope drop.

I keep telling myself this is not a Disney trip, it's a trip to France that includes some Disney time, but I find myself stressing a bit about being at Disney on the weekend only. Normally I'm the sort who avoids the EMH parks, and plans our park schedule based on the lowest-crowd days in each park. :eek:

[stevelamb121]

We've always been in May, and it seems the weekends are a LOT more crowded than the weekdays. I'm led to believe that this is because the locals come out to play :)

If it has to be the weekend I would definately want to take advantage of the EMH 8-10.

[MaleDisneyBeliever]

Steve... what about in the week? Im doing my first May trip this may. Going on the first Weds, Thurs, Fri of the month.

[suw33]

We're DLP virgins so can't comment on crowds/queues at the park but the first Monday in May is a bank holiday in the UK so it's quite likely there will be lots of British making the most of the longer weekend.

[jillrobinson]

Having done several weekend trips at different times of the year, I can concur that they are very very busy, even when it isn't a Bank Holiday weekend.
However, you should also get longer opening hours on the Saturday and Sunday, we found that after the afternoon parade, 5 ish, many people leave the park especially those with little ones, this is the best time to do Fantasyland, it's surprising how much you can get done between 6.00 and 10.00 pm.
Watch the parade from it's start point around by IASW and then leg it around the park whilst everyone else is still watching. Make use of the Fast Pass system, if by any chance you know someone with used park tickets or Wild West show tickets, borrow them you can use them to get additional FP's, Ebay possibly ?
Concentrate on the attractions/shows that you don't find at WDW and I'm inclined to say forgo the Studios park and spend all your time in the main park.
Obviously EMH would be a big help, but if you're offsite you can still get into the parks before the offical opening time just not into the EMH lands, so spend that time checking out Main Street shops, the 2 arcades and soaking up the atmosphere and be ready for rope drop.

Hope that helps. :)

[MaleDisneyBeliever]

Is that the same for during the week in May??

[DLPdaft]

If there are no major school holidays in the UK, France, Spain etc the week you are going, then midweek May should be nice and quiet. We were there at that time last year, midweek, no school holidays at all (I checked before I booked, as I don't do queues), and it was fine, minimal queues etc. There were a few school groups about, but we never seemed to be in the ride lines with them.

[inda2681]

i am now looking t go earlier than planned (may instead of june). i am planning to go from 6/5-9/5 i e thursday to sunday. is it gonna be busy during this time? is this coincide with any school holidays?

[Kittina]

I'm sure the first week of May coincides with some French school holidays, which is why I booked the week after but you may have just missed it.

[http://about-france.com/school-holidays.htm looks like that's fine

UK is much earlier

of course there may be other nationalities too, but I would assume these are the majority.

[inda2681]

Tq Kittina!:goodvibes

I will hopefully book our trip by the end of tonight. Wish me luck!

[Zebette]

Thanks for the website with the dates, I *think* we have managed to avoid all the French and UK half terms as we are going May 17 - 22. Can't wait!