Crowds For May/june!!!

[CaseyJr]

DS & I just got back from a 10-day trip to WDW. This is the 3rd year in a row for us to go at this time, and in the past the crowds have been light to managable. I was not prepared for the crowds this year! Are the trends changing, or did we just happen to hit at a bad time, or what?

I miss E-ticket nights, too! We caught the PM EMH at MK & EPCOT, but again, the crowds were so bad that it wasn't much better than being there during the day (except that during the day you can get FASTPASSES!).

We still had a great time and got to do most of what we wanted to do & see, but fighting the crowds seemed to have zapped so much of our energy (and enthusiasm).

 

[TnKrBeLlA012]

We are leaving on Friday and I am getting nervous about the crowds too. I thought that May/June were the slow times in Disney but it seems like everyone is goin in June. But I'm sure the crowds are like this because of the 50th anniversary. I'm glad you had a great trip!

 

[All Aboard]

It really has been the trend all year. We've made 6 trips up to Orlando this year and on each, I would say the crowds were heavier than during comparable time periods the last two years (and certainly higher than 2002).

 

[SuzEm]

We just got back from a 2 week trip - first day in park was the 22nd - no crowds and low to no lines and it stayed that way until Friday 27th, which still wasn't too bad. Typhoon Lagoon had low crowds on Thursday - we literally did Crush-n-Gusher over and over without a wait in line from around 11:30 until 1:30 - a time that normally is fairly crowded. We stayed out of the park on Saturday and did AK on Sunday morning and MGM for part of the day on Monday - crowds still not real bad, but more than previous week. Tuesday after MemDay we did MK for part of the day (light rain) noticed an increase, but still not miserable. Wednesday the 1st at Epcot - very enjoyable with low crowds. By Thursday, even with rain the MK was a mad house and Friday the 3rd at MK the crowds seemed to have doubled. We only visited Epcot briefly on the 4th, but the stand-by line time was much higher earlier in the day than it had been, so crowds were definitely growing by the time we left. Granted, my choice of which park I chose on each day probably had an impact on perceived crowd-level, but I really didn't see bad crowds until June.

 

[CaseyJr]

I guess we just planned wrong for which days to go to each park. We arrived the 24th and went to EPCOT to pick up our PAP's and see a little of the park. The next day (25th) was DAK..... I don't recall when we went to TL, but it was crowded then, too. We waited to do Shark Reef until close to closing, but still had to stand in line about 45 min. I expected MGM to be crowded for SWW's, so we made several trips there and did stuff in stages.

 

[rileyroosmom]

SuzEm- we were there for some of your trip. Funny, I found MK to be empty on Thursday. We literally walked from one ride to another without any wait. We did Buzz 3x in a row. I kept saying that coming the day after an PM EMH was the way to go. Noticed an increase in crowds around 1:00, but nothing major. We planned to stay only a few hours that day but ended up staying the whole day.

 

[CaseyJr]

Well, darn! I didn't do very well this trip, did I? I usually always plan weeks ahead, looking at all the "special" dates (like EMH, etc.) and plan around that. This time I never looked at a schedule, but asked DS (9) each morning where he wanted to go that day, and we went from there. Sorry, DS, but from now on Mom's back in her "Dictator Disney" role!

 

[SuzEm]

Rileyroosmom: I think the reason it seemed crowded to us on Thursday is that we spent most of the day at the resort enjoying the pool and only went over to MK about 6:30pm. And we were really spoiled from the low crowd level the previous week. We really didn't count on doing much that night - my daughter is into pin trading - but it was so crowded, all the major fastpasses gone, so we stayed a couple of hours or less and went back to the Poly! We watched the Fireworks and the Electric Water Parade from the beach instead. I guess because of the rain, there were still fast passes left later in the day on Friday. Most of our "serious" park days we went at opening and avoided the crowds, but usually stayed most of the day and noticed a significant increase in crowds from the week of 5/22-28 to 5/29-6/4 - mostly the last 3 days of our trip. And you're right - the day after a late EMH for that park is definitely a good day to go early!

 

[momsgoofy]

Just back today after spending 6/1 - 6/6 at WDW...thought the crowds were manageable. Now, we did NOT do any of the am EMH...did the EMH pm at MK on 6/1, Epcot 6/2 and were in the park for it at MGM 6/5. We walked onto Snow White, Pooh, Small World, Philharmagic in 5 - 10 minutes, Stich in 20 - 25 minutes. At Epcot, our longest wait during EMH was for Soarin which was 25 minutes. While we walked around the parks the crowds were not that bad...no wall of people heading toward us or elbow to elbow spots. At MGM, it was different...packed compared to the other two parks. We did head to MK on Saturday around 7:30pm...thought it would be packed on a weekend, but it wasn't. Again we walked onto Jungle Cruise, BTMR, Haunted Mansion with a 5 - 10 minute wait max. During the entire week we didn't arrive at any park before 11am...EMH am or not in the chosen park for the day...still not a problem for us except at MGM on Sunday 6/5....even on Friday there with a downpour that required ponchos the entire afternoon it was still more crowded there than the other parks. We didn't even go to AK, so I can't add my two cents about it.

 

[pavil]

We went this year May 14-28. Not one drop of rain during any day or evening at parks at all! The crowds were very minimal except at MGM on Sat for Star wars weekend. The 28th Saturday when we were leaving the Road (192) was jam packed with people going to the parks. This was the only day we ran into any type of traffic jam. This is the second time we have gone at this time of year (early May) and we just love it. Weather is Hot but bearable, not too much humidity and best of all NO CROWDS!!!!!.

 

[Qbanater]

lol lol lol

 

[Bracho]

I was there from the 10th to the 18 of May and I really didn't experience any larger crowds at all. I didn't wait for any ride longer then 5-10 minutes. It was a great vacation!

 

[golfgal]

We were there May 29-June4 and it rained every day. In the mornings it was a light rain but it kept people out of the parks. We walked on to every ride we wanted. The waits said 20 minutes, but every ride was basically a walk on. The "wait" was the time it took to walk through all the stuff before the ride (like the auto stuff at Test Track, which we did 4 times in a row with no wait!). We were in and out of the parks by 1:00 every day having done everything we wanted to do, some several times, by then. When we went back in the evenings and the rain had gone, the crouds were much larger and the waits were in the 50 minute area. We never saw a wait time over 1 hour for anything the entire time we were there. If you planned your fast passes right, you wouldn't have had to wait.

We were amazed at how rude people were in the parks, people cutting in line at the gift shops, pushing and shoving, yelling at their kids kind of stuff. One woman ran into DH, almost knocking him over, and she yelled "excuse me" to him. He just looked at her and said "you know, I don't think I can excuse you". He was standing off to the side by a flower pot thing waiting for us, it wasn't like he was in the middle of a walkway.

One man that was staying at AKL while we were there was incredibly rude to everyone! We unfortunatly saw him at the bus stop several times. One time we were waiting for a bus to MK and it was our longest wait of the whole trip, 25 minutes (found out later a bus broke down). The guy loaded the bus from the back doors and then proceded to reem the bus driver up and down for taking so long to get there. Poor guy, like it was his fault. This "guest" had something to complain about every time we saw him.

 

[SqueakyMouse]

We were in WDW from May 21 - 30. The crowds were much larger than I expected. The only times we experienced no lines was late in the evening early in the week. Perhaps my perception of the crowds was different from others because I had 2 little ones in strollers. It seemed as if we were just crawling along behind other parties all the time. Still, we were able to use Fast Pass; and we had plenty of time so we didn't feel the pressure of a time-crunch. I will say that Soarin' was the only attraction dh and I really wanted to visit, but the wait times were always really LONG; so we never got to do it.

 

[piglethappy]

We just got back from WDW yesterday and we thought the crowds were crazy in the middle of the day. You must, must, must get there for the opening so you can hit all the major rides and get your fastpasses. Make sure you leave by 1 otherwise it will be wall to wall. We went to the parks and all different days were all crazy with people. If you plan right you will be OK!

 

[G's mommy]

We were there May 26th - June 5th. If you want a Fastpass for Soarin, get there early! This is a great attraction.

 

[CaseyJr]

golfgal -- we were at AKL (also our first time) May 24 - June 4. I guess we were fortunate in that we didn't run into the rude guy.