1st Week of May - Anyone else there this week? Question about the crowd size....

[Pooh99]

Can anyone tell me if the crowds last week (April 30-May7) were pretty typical of the first week of May?
It wasn't that I was expecting to have the whole place to myself, I guess I was just expecting it to be lighter than it was.

In retrospect, we never had to wait TOO long on the rides....but I have nothing to compare it to.

I loved planning this trip and even though it will be a couple of years before we can afford it, we have decided to make it a priority to get there at least 2 more times while my kids are young.

 

[DisneyDmbNut]

I was there too...It was busy, but not overly so..

I normally do my week trip in February...VERY slow time and much cooler!

 

[pumba]

was Test track and that was really easy too........most of the rides were walk ons.......we loved it

 

[Bim-muv-fab]

We were there last week as well. We stayed at GF. It was very crowded there, with more kids than we expected to see. One of the staff told us they were "at capacity" for the week. The parks were more crowded than I expected them to be, but I am not sure if the crowds were normal or not. In fact, we decided not to do the early entry option because it became apparent that that was the park that would be most crowded that day.

 

[CareBlair]

We were there May 2-7.

Itinerary:

Sunday May 2 Epcot 1-8 p.m. not crowded; got scared off from staying to see SpectroMagic by approaching thunderstorm

Monday May 3 Animal Kingdom EHM-close rainy and not too crowded

Tuesday May 4 MK 9 a.m. open thru SpectoMagic and Wishes; from 11 a.m. it was very crowded and 4-people deep for SpectroMagic

Wednesday May 5 MGM very nice and not crowded except for Fantasmic which was standing room only

Thursday May 6 Epcot not crowded but did not get back from DTD in time to stake out a good seat for IllumiNations, which was very crowded

Friday May 7 MK surprisingly big crowds but not as crowded as Tuesday

Like you, I didn't expect to get the place all to myself, but I was surprised by the MK crowds on Tuesday. Perhaps since so many know Monday is a crowded day for MK, they are postponing visiting that park until Tuesday, and now Tuesdays are crowded, too. Will try MK on Wednesday next time. The departure crowds after nighttime shows were crushing. MK after Wishes and Epcot after IllumiNations were the worse.

 

[DCSingle]

We were there the first week of May this year and found it more crowded than we expected as well, particularly at the Magic Kingdom. I think part of this was because we were at MK on Tuesday, the only day during our trip that they were doing both SpectroMagic and Wishes. I think when they only do Spectro once or twice a week it makes MK especially packed those days.

I think overall, though, we probably just had the wrong expectations since the last time we were there in May was in 2002 when tourism was very slow due to 9/11. Spoke with a cast member who told me that only in 2004 were they really going back to historic attendance levels and that May 2004 was a typically moderate attendance period.

Looks like if you really want to go during an uncrowded time these days you'll have to go October-February, avoiding all holidays and school breaks.

 

[PCWizard]

We were there that week, and it seemed crowded to me too.

We usually go during the first two weeks of December, the week after Labor Day, or during Jan-early Feb. This was our first visit to the Flower & Garden Festivel.

I like it less crowded and cooler, but it wasn't bad. Just keep in mind that they had a record setting cold snap that week - it's usually much warmer than it was this year.