Crowds early in May this year????

[disneymania]

Hi, We are planning on heading back to WDW in next 12 months. Had talked about early May. I have just been reading trip reports from ppl just back & how super busy it was. We have been 2 x at end of May before & found it somewhat busy but you could still move on Main STreet. Thought maybe beginning of May would be better. For anyone who was at WDW this May, let me know how crowds were.
Thanks!!!:

 

[bhillier]

We went 5/10 - 18 th and I thought the parks were packed. I was told by CM's that this was just a moderate crowd. The weather was great. I'm thinking about a trip back in may/05.

 

[travelin' tigger]

I thought it was a perfect time to go. Even over Mother's Day weekend I didn't think it was crowded. And I usually only go during value season!!!

Also the weather was great - temps in the upper 80s and low-no humidity!! I'm definitely planning a trip at the same time for next year!!!

 

[scotthart]

We just got back and thought the crowds were busy but manageable. It was hot though! If you can swing earlier in May I would recomend it.

 

[DCSingle]

We went the first week in May this year and the second week of May in 2002. I don't really think it was the difference of one week (more likely the general tourism pick up as we've moved away from 9/11) but it was much more crowded this year during the first week of May than it was the second week of May in 2004.

I would agree that crowds the first week in May were moderate. Not the 90 minute waits you see in the summer, but not the walk on rides of low season either. We were still able to see everything we wanted and never waited more than 20 minutes for everything, but we did need to have a plan and use fast passes wisely whereas in second week of May in 2004 we could basically just wander around and ride whatever we wanted.

My advise would be to go as early in May as possible as crowds seem to build each week as you get closer to Memorial Day and weather just gets more hot and humid as each week goes by.

 

[DonnaSue]

We just got back last night for a 7 day trip, and thought that the crowds were small, We went in Feruary - the week AFTER President's weekend - and they were small then - very short waits - but they seemed even smaller this time. We really did a lot of planning - from this board, the Unofficial Guide, and Your Guide Mike - and I think that definitely helped. We visited one park in the morning, back to the hotel for relaxation during the hottest (and busiest) time of the day, then back to a different park for the afternoon. We only used one e-ride night while we were there, and that was plenty for us. We had a FANTASTIC, relaxing vacation!!!!! We have been plenty of times when there were so many people you couldn't stir them with a stick!!! That is definitely not very much fun!!!

Donna

 

[sanapunk]

I just came to this section of the board to ask the same question. i'm going next year from April 25th to May 2nd and was wondering how busy it gets at the end of April.

 

[Tnkrbl2199]

We were there May 9-May 14. We usually go in June and found everything to be wonderful! Crowds were very manageable-most of the time we didn't even use fast pass for our favorite rides b/c you could walk right on. In MK we rode the Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain a few times in one evening-not a E-night or anything. In MGM we went on Tower of Terror 4 times in a row-walk on! It was so great-we are planning to visit again in May for our next trip. We felt like even though the parks aren't open quite as late as busier times of the year, we still got to see the nighttime shows and fireworks. The parks were all open until atleast 9pm.
During our trip they not only had the early magic hour-which we never used-but they were testing out the new Extra magic hours in the evenings!!! We were given brochures when we checked in about how during a few weeks in May they would be testing keeping different parks open 2 hours later on selected days. Same concept as early entry. We did it when they stayed open in MK and MGM and it was great. We filled out a few questionnaires saying how much we hoped they would make it a permanent thing during slower times of the year.
I rambled on but in my opinion-early May was perfect!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[meganbear]

We were there from May 9-14 as well and it was GREAT! We were there about 15 minutes prior to opening for every park. We went to DS on Monday the longest we had to wait was for TOT and that was only a 10 minute walk--everything else was less. We got in line at 7:50 for Fantasmic and got GREAT seats! The show started at 9:00

Did Epcot on Tuesday and that was the best day, we walked onto almost all the rides---waited maybe 10 minutes once for Test Tract, but we rode it three times, the other times were all walk ons.

The two most crowded days (but they still weren't bad) was MK on Thursday, but we only needed one fast pass for splash mountain (the other line was a 50 minute wait!!!). The other was AK on Friday, we didn't do fast pass and waited until later in the afternoon to do Kali river rapids, so we ended up in line for about 30 minutes, but that was our fault we should have done FP! For just about every other ride we pretty much walked right onto them.

May was a GREAT time to go, but shhhh, don't tell too many people this secret!