Crowds in May?

[GrannaB]

Can anyone tell me what the crowds are like the week before Memorial Day? May 21 - 27. I've done a lot of researching but so much so that my head is spinning and I can't keep up! Would sooooo much rather hear from real people instead of stats. Thanks much!!!!

 

[DG25]

Well the first few days will be good, maybe 5 or 6 out of 10, but I'm not sure the closer you get to Memorial Day, I would assume start Friday it will pick up, Saturday, Sunday and Monday will be crowded. I have never done a holiday so I'm not sure, but I would assume it would be at least 8's.

 

[GrannaB]

Well the first few days will be good, maybe 5 or 6 out of 10, but I'm not sure the closer you get to Memorial Day, I would assume start Friday it will pick up, Saturday, Sunday and Monday will be crowded. I have never done a holiday so I'm not sure, but I would assume it would be at least 8's.

Thank you so much! Our last day in the parks is the Friday before and we leave Saturday so I'm really hoping only Friday will be a challenge. And how do you feel about 6 out of 10 crowds? Manageable? I'll have two 5 year olds. Thanks a ton again for your help!

 

[DG25]

I looked up on one of the crowd calanders I use, you start out at a 5, the day I leave by the way, we are there from May 6 to 21. Most of the week are 6 and then you end with 7's. I have been to the parks with every number.

There are a few things to think about when you think of crowds, Disney has a way to slow lines, so a 4 and a 7 on some rides can feel the same. They add more boats so more go on when it is a 7, and when it's a 4 they take boats out so the line as you can see will be the same 30 minute wait.

So to me the lines and waits are all controlled by Disney.

The crowds to me is can I walk and actually see things. So when you think of a one, you will be able to walk in and see all the way down to the castle with very few people in front of you. A 10 you walk in and there is no way to see through the crowd to the castle, you are bumping into each other and stepping on toes as you walk. A 5 to 7 is middle of the row. Personally I like between 4 and 6, you get the feel, the excitement of the crowd but you can walk, look, see.

Don't know if that helps you.

Do you have a good touring plan, with 2 5 year olds you will need one. My suggestion to make your days go better, is hit rope drop in am, don't be late, have your FP+, get as many rides in during the first few hours when the crowds are lowest. Then around lunch 12 to 1, maybe head back to hotel and grab a qs meal at the pool, swim for an hour and eat, then take a nap. By 4 ot 5 head back to parks, if you can maybe you can grab a FP for one or two rides, and have dinner, get ready to hit the night time show. This way your 5 year olds can make it to 9:30/10, when you will be getting back to the resort. Even if they usually don't nap, 7 to 9 is to long for 5 year olds, so don't call it a nap, but a rest. Even our DGD at 11 and us still do this to tour, because it is hot, long days.

Hope that helps and good luck.

 

[GrannaB]

I looked up on one of the crowd calanders I use, you start out at a 5, the day I leave by the way, we are there from May 6 to 21. Most of the week are 6 and then you end with 7's. I have been to the parks with every number.

There are a few things to think about when you think of crowds, Disney has a way to slow lines, so a 4 and a 7 on some rides can feel the same. They add more boats so more go on when it is a 7, and when it's a 4 they take boats out so the line as you can see will be the same 30 minute wait.

So to me the lines and waits are all controlled by Disney.

The crowds to me is can I walk and actually see things. So when you think of a one, you will be able to walk in and see all the way down to the castle with very few people in front of you. A 10 you walk in and there is no way to see through the crowd to the castle, you are bumping into each other and stepping on toes as you walk. A 5 to 7 is middle of the row. Personally I like between 4 and 6, you get the feel, the excitement of the crowd but you can walk, look, see.

Don't know if that helps you.

Do you have a good touring plan, with 2 5 year olds you will need one. My suggestion to make your days go better, is hit rope drop in am, don't be late, have your FP+, get as many rides in during the first few hours when the crowds are lowest. Then around lunch 12 to 1, maybe head back to hotel and grab a qs meal at the pool, swim for an hour and eat, then take a nap. By 4 ot 5 head back to parks, if you can maybe you can grab a FP for one or two rides, and have dinner, get ready to hit the night time show. This way your 5 year olds can make it to 9:30/10, when you will be getting back to the resort. Even if they usually don't nap, 7 to 9 is to long for 5 year olds, so don't call it a nap, but a rest. Even our DGD at 11 and us still do this to tour, because it is hot, long days.

Hope that helps and good luck.

That helps TREMENDOUSLY! Thank you! But you really think 5 year olds need that rest time, huh? I was wondering about that. Me personally I hate the thought of leaving the park. Hehehe. But I guess it's probably good for the little ones. I have a great plan laid out but it didn't include leaving the parks. Think I better revisit those plans!!!!

 

[DG25]

I would revisit those plans. For several reasons. First to get to parks by 9, 8 if you do early entry, you are getting up around 6 am to get ready, get someplace to eat and make the first bus, that takes at least 2 hours. Then your in the crowds, hot parks, standing in lines, walking miles. Yes I think you need to rethink a rest, other wise you will have to very misbehaved 5 year olds because they are hot, tired and testy. Even you will need a rest. We always take a nap, 1 1/2 hours or more, and a swim to cool off. We get more dune when we take this rest. If we don't, we are at the park at the busiest part of the day, 2 to 6, at the hottest part of the day, 2 to 6, when the lines are at there longest 2 to 6. We found this out one year she our girls were teens, they beg to stay so we took the grandbaby back to the room, we took a swim and a nap and met them back for dinner. We said we'll how much did you get done in three hours or more, they said mom we should have gone back, we got one ride done and ate an ice cream. That's all we did, and now we are tired and very hot.

 

[GrannaB]

I would revisit those plans. For several reasons. First to get to parks by 9, 8 if you do early entry, you are getting up around 6 am to get ready, get someplace to eat and make the first bus, that takes at least 2 hours. Then your in the crowds, hot parks, standing in lines, walking miles. Yes I think you need to rethink a rest, other wise you will have to very misbehaved 5 year olds because they are hot, tired and testy. Even you will need a rest. We always take a nap, 1 1/2 hours or more, and a swim to cool off. We get more dune when we take this rest. If we don't, we are at the park at the busiest part of the day, 2 to 6, at the hottest part of the day, 2 to 6, when the lines are at there longest 2 to 6. We found this out one year she our girls were teens, they beg to stay so we took the grandbaby back to the room, we took a swim and a nap and met them back for dinner. We said we'll how much did you get done in three hours or more, they said mom we should have gone back, we got one ride done and ate an ice cream. That's all we did, and now we are tired and very hot.

Thank you so much for that wonderful and insightful info! I will definitely change plans to incorporate down time. Do you think they'll be ok with AK that closes at 6 without leaving the park? I am so appreciative of your help

 

[DG25]

AK no longer closes at 6 I don't think. RoL is at 8:30 and I think it's every night, pandora opens on May 27 so they are getting ready for it. But I, we as a family have never stayed all day at AK, we find it a half day park. Unless you don't have park hoppers, we have always left took out nap and when to another park. But if you don't have park hoppers I guess just stay. A few things I know about AK, if feels like the hottest park, which is weird since there is shade there, but it feels so hot there. I would get there, do safari first, then go around to Asia, do river raft, Everett, and Dino for your fast passes, in between do Nemo and boneyard, then you basically done, you do bugs life and lion king show and your done. You will be out of there by 2, unless you wish to stop at every shop. Or visit ever character.

Before you ask, I think the same is true, if not even more so with HS, since so much is closed now for Star Wars and toy story land. Do RnR first, get FP for ToT, toy story and Indy or Elsa show. Fill in with a few other things and you will be done by 2 and can go to another park at night.

This may just be us, but we never do the same park at night as we do during the day. But we always have hoppers. If we do Epcot during day, we would go to RoL at night at AK. If we do HS during day we do MK at night. This way if lines are short at night after fireworks or whatever we get on a favorite ride without a fastpass that we have not done earlier in the day. That is our stradigy and it works for us. We also may do EME but never do extra hours at night, the night time park is way to crowded, so we go to a park that did not have early or late extra hours. We also don't do early morning at AK or HS, or even EP, because not enough rides and to crowded to justify. We always go to the park that had early entrance the day before, that is the park with the least crowd usually. MK is worth the extra hour, because it is big enough and enough rides open to justify.

 

[MMR76]

That helps TREMENDOUSLY! Thank you! But you really think 5 year olds need that rest time, huh? I was wondering about that. Me personally I hate the thought of leaving the park. Hehehe. But I guess it's probably good for the little ones. I have a great plan laid out but it didn't include leaving the parks. Think I better revisit those plans!!!!

We have been to WDW 3 times and each time has been the week leading up to Memorial Day and/or over the Holiday. (We will be back for a pre/post cruise stay beginning May 20 this year.). We love this time of year. The weather is warm but not unbearable and the crowds before Memorial Day will be good. Things will get pretty busy on Friday but since that is your last day you will be good.

Our trips were when our kids were 5 1/2 & 4 months, 8 1/2 & 3 and 10 1/2 and 5. Only 1 day out of all 3 trips did any part of our family need to take a break. Last year our 5 year old and my husband went back to our hotel for a 2 1/2 hour break. We had a late arrival, 1 am by the time we got to bed, rope drop to close at Epcot the next day and rope drop at Magic Kingdom the next day. My son was exhausted and needed a short nap. Other than that, we do not take breaks. We are rope drop to close most days. It definitely depends on how well your kids handle staying up late. Have a great trip!!

 

[Christinecinti]

We almost always took breaks when my DD and her cousin (who went with us) were this age. If you get there bright and early the lines are at their lowest, then we would break around 2:00/3:00 and either nap or go swim at resort. Then we could either go back in evening or do dinner plans or whatever that day had in store! If we didn't break, we often found they would both be asleep in the "push jogging stroller thing" we rented from Disney in between activities, lol

 

[disneyvoice]

But you really think 5 year olds need that rest time, huh? I was wondering about that

I used to think it was necessary to go back to the hotel in the middle of the day when my son was very young. However my DH had a totally different theory about this and his plan worked much better for our family. My DH's theory sounds harsh but really wasn't, it worked wonders - he called it the "tired and hungry" philosophy of doing WDW. His goal was to make our son "tired and hungry" meaning that we didn't do any snacking in between meals so he would be hungry and actually want to eat a decent meal and so he didn't have sugar highs and crashes. He also thought it was better to have him walk instead of use a stroller (no stroller at about 3 years old) and we didn't go back to the resort for a nap. Instead we just allowed him to get tired naturally by the end of the day (and that typically ended up being around his normal bedtime) so he would sleep like the dead and wake up refreshed. I had my doubts but it worked WONDERS and we NEVER had any kind of melt down from our son - even during the hottest, most crowded visits.

I think the important thing is to do what works best for YOUR child. Some kids desperately need a break to recharge, others don't. We tried it both ways and "tired and hungry" worked a lot better for our son. He was never a "melt down" kid either with or without the mid day break, but he just seemed much happier and ate a whole lot better with "tired and hungry." He never once complained about not getting snacks, in fact he never asked for one. We did allow him a lemonade or two in addition to the water he was drinking. There were occasionally nights when we would get back to the resort a bit before his normal bedtime and he still had energy and wanted to swim in the resort pool. We did allow him to stay up a bit longer than usual to do that and he had just as much fun doing that as he would have staying in the park later.

I know it might sound kind of crazy. I had my doubts when my DH first suggested it too. I know it wouldn't work for everyone.

 

[amandaleigh2]

Just a little different perspective. We have gone when my kids were as little as 15 months, and we have never taken breaks and gone back to the room. We are park opening to park close kind of people, and our kids never needed a trip back to the hotel. If they were tired they would hang-out/sleep in the stroller for a bit or we would take a break and sit down for lunch/dinner/snack. However, my kids are, in general, really easy to travel with and don't tend to get too cranky when they're tired, especially at Disney World.

 

[GrannaB]

AK no longer closes at 6 I don't think. RoL is at 8:30 and I think it's every night, pandora opens on May 27 so they are getting ready for it. But I, we as a family have never stayed all day at AK, we find it a half day park. Unless you don't have park hoppers, we have always left took out nap and when to another park. But if you don't have park hoppers I guess just stay. A few things I know about AK, if feels like the hottest park, which is weird since there is shade there, but it feels so hot there. I would get there, do safari first, then go around to Asia, do river raft, Everett, and Dino for your fast passes, in between do Nemo and boneyard, then you basically done, you do bugs life and lion king show and your done. You will be out of there by 2, unless you wish to stop at every shop. Or visit ever character.

Before you ask, I think the same is true, if not even more so with HS, since so much is closed now for Star Wars and toy story land. Do RnR first, get FP for ToT, toy story and Indy or Elsa show. Fill in with a few other things and you will be done by 2 and can go to another park at night.

This may just be us, but we never do the same park at night as we do during the day. But we always have hoppers. If we do Epcot during day, we would go to RoL at night at AK. If we do HS during day we do MK at night. This way if lines are short at night after fireworks or whatever we get on a favorite ride without a fastpass that we have not done earlier in the day. That is our stradigy and it works for us. We also may do EME but never do extra hours at night, the night time park is way to crowded, so we go to a park that did not have early or late extra hours. We also don't do early morning at AK or HS, or even EP, because not enough rides and to crowded to justify. We always go to the park that had early entrance the day before, that is the park with the least crowd usually. MK is worth the extra hour, because it is big enough and enough rides open to justify.

I just realized AK closes at 7. We don't have park hoppers because I just didn't see justifying the expense of dragging along 5 year olds to different parks when each one has more than enough to keep them busy! (I know each one has more than enough to keep me busy!! So we do plan on staying at one park each day. And while there are not as many ride attractions at AK or HS, I really want the kids to take it all in and know that Disney is not just rides but also spending fun time with each other and exploring. I'm hoping that since we are staying at 1 park each day, that'll leave kind of a no-rush attitude that we can all just leisurely enjoy Disney. Thanks so much for your post. It was very very helpful!!!

 

[GrannaB]

We have been to WDW 3 times and each time has been the week leading up to Memorial Day and/or over the Holiday. (We will be back for a pre/post cruise stay beginning May 20 this year.). We love this time of year. The weather is warm but not unbearable and the crowds before Memorial Day will be good. Things will get pretty busy on Friday but since that is your last day you will be good.

Our trips were when our kids were 5 1/2 & 4 months, 8 1/2 & 3 and 10 1/2 and 5. Only 1 day out of all 3 trips did any part of our family need to take a break. Last year our 5 year old and my husband went back to our hotel for a 2 1/2 hour break. We had a late arrival, 1 am by the time we got to bed, rope drop to close at Epcot the next day and rope drop at Magic Kingdom the next day. My son was exhausted and needed a short nap. Other than that, we do not take breaks. We are rope drop to close most days. It definitely depends on how well your kids handle staying up late. Have a great trip!!

Thank you - I love love love hearing that the crowds will be good. I expect Friday to be more packed but that's why we chose AK for that day. Hopefully the least crowded of the 3.... My grandson will have 2 pins (celebrating 5 years old on the 23rd and celebrating graduating from Pre-K school) and my granddaughter will have 1 graduating from Pre-K school. They are cousins but are in the same class!!

I spoke with their other grandmother who is coming with us and she said when they went last year in September the kids cried because they didn't want to go back & rest. They agreed to stay and she said the kids can definitely hang!!! And now they'll be almost a year older. I think we'll plan on not taking the break unless they get cranky then we'll just go ahead and go back to rest.

(We're from New Orleans so heat and humidity is nothing for us!)

 

[MMR76]

Thank you - I love love love hearing that the crowds will be good. I expect Friday to be more packed but that's why we chose AK for that day. Hopefully the least crowded of the 3.... My grandson will have 2 pins (celebrating 5 years old on the 23rd and celebrating graduating from Pre-K school) and my granddaughter will have 1 graduating from Pre-K school. They are cousins but are in the same class!!

I spoke with their other grandmother who is coming with us and she said when they went last year in September the kids cried because they didn't want to go back & rest. They agreed to stay and she said the kids can definitely hang!!! And now they'll be almost a year older. I think we'll plan on not taking the break unless they get cranky then we'll just go ahead and go back to rest.

(We're from New Orleans so heat and humidity is nothing for us!)

It sounds like they should be fine without a hotel break. Enjoy!!

 

[GrannaB]

I used to think it was necessary to go back to the hotel in the middle of the day when my son was very young. However my DH had a totally different theory about this and his plan worked much better for our family. My DH's theory sounds harsh but really wasn't, it worked wonders - he called it the "tired and hungry" philosophy of doing WDW. His goal was to make our son "tired and hungry" meaning that we didn't do any snacking in between meals so he would be hungry and actually want to eat a decent meal and so he didn't have sugar highs and crashes. He also thought it was better to have him walk instead of use a stroller (no stroller at about 3 years old) and we didn't go back to the resort for a nap. Instead we just allowed him to get tired naturally by the end of the day (and that typically ended up being around his normal bedtime) so he would sleep like the dead and wake up refreshed. I had my doubts but it worked WONDERS and we NEVER had any kind of melt down from our son - even during the hottest, most crowded visits.

I think the important thing is to do what works best for YOUR child. Some kids desperately need a break to recharge, others don't. We tried it both ways and "tired and hungry" worked a lot better for our son. He was never a "melt down" kid either with or without the mid day break, but he just seemed much happier and ate a whole lot better with "tired and hungry." He never once complained about not getting snacks, in fact he never asked for one. We did allow him a lemonade or two in addition to the water he was drinking. There were occasionally nights when we would get back to the resort a bit before his normal bedtime and he still had energy and wanted to swim in the resort pool. We did allow him to stay up a bit longer than usual to do that and he had just as much fun doing that as he would have staying in the park later.

I know it might sound kind of crazy. I had my doubts when my DH first suggested it too. I know it wouldn't work for everyone.

Neither of these kids are melt down types and they are very very active in dance, soccer, etc... However I think I would have a melt down without snacks (and it probably wouldn't be cool for Granna to have a snack and leave the kiddos out! Hehehe). But I do like your suggestion and since we'll be there 6 days, I may find a chance to give it a try if they get craziness eyes at one of the parks one day. Lol.

Thanks so much!!!

 

[GrannaB]

Just a little different perspective. We have gone when my kids were as little as 15 months, and we have never taken breaks and gone back to the room. We are park opening to park close kind of people, and our kids never needed a trip back to the hotel. If they were tired they would hang-out/sleep in the stroller for a bit or we would take a break and sit down for lunch/dinner/snack. However, my kids are, in general, really easy to travel with and don't tend to get too cranky when they're tired, especially at Disney World.

That's exactly what I was thinking. These kiddos are so active and so used to "go go go" in their everyday lives that I was hoping just a nice, long sit down break time in the shade or an extended lunch would work if they started getting tired. And we don't plan on running from one end of the park to the other (mainly in MK). I have it scheduled out to visit certain lands on certain days to keep us from going from Fantasyland to "DumboLand" to Tomorrowland to AdventureLand, back to FantasyLand, etc.... We'll be like FantasyLand, AdventureLand & Frontierland one day, Main Street, TomorrowLand & DumboLand another day and back to the 1st 3 (their favorites) the last day. Hopefully that will hold down a little of the walking.

Thanks for making me not feel like a selfish Granna by wanting to keep the kiddos at the parks because I hate to leave! Hehehe!!!

 

[CanadianAli]

We always go in May, and did it with 2 yr old twins last year and are heading back from May 15-22 with our boys, turning 3 the week after we get home.

We love this time of year, as others have said...weather is hot to be enjoyable, but not crazy summer heat. Yes, some rain happens, but means a bit of a cool down and slow-down time while touring.

We took last year's trip to better understand how our guys might respond and played it a bit by ear. We did the park hopping thing some days and some days only one park. However, as was our plans before kids and now after...we ALWAYS went back to the hotel for a swim break mid-day. We did not even attempt naps in the room, and instead went with in the stroller wherever and whenever they needed. We found that worked well, plus they slept in our arms on the bus rides almost all the time. We would swim leisurely and then head back to a park for dinner and evening (sometimes where we were before, sometimes different...just went with the flow on that and what they seemed to enjoy doing). We would come back to the room a little later than their bedtime at home, and they slept like logs every night (except the first when they were just getting used to their surroundings).

We did have a few meltdowns in restaurants, but that is par for the course with toddlers anyways, so we just went with it. We have found eating breakfast in the room helps us get out at a decent time and helps the kids start their day by actually eating something instead of being over-excited right off the bat.

As for strollers, we brought a double umbrella, but one of our guys decided that he was a big boy and walked almost the entire trip, only getting in the stroller every now and then for a short nap. The other one realized what a good gig he had with mom and dad pushing him and went in much more willingly and more often. However, we anticipate neither being big fans of the stroller this year, and it being pushed mostly empty, but still on hand and parked at different attractions for the "what if" factor.

The best I can say is try to take the kids leads and ask them what they want to do, and incorporate it. If they seem completely disengaged with one park...move on either to a different ride area or take a break and head somewhere else.

 

[DG25]

You may want to rethink your AK day, that day will be one of the worst for AK, ask others but that is the day Pandora opens at AK, it will be a mad house with lines very long, I will assume on everything but definately on pandora. That park will be more like a 10.

I would say your kids can do two or three no break days, especially at AK and HS. Mine never could still can't and they are in there 20's but we are usually up before 6, and walking 12 miles a day, in hot humid ( we are not use to humid) crowded places and standing in line 5 or 6 hours, if we don't take a break we are done by 4 pm and can't ever do the night stuff. But I know other kids who can, as a single mom I once went with a friend, I was up and out of room with 5 and 7 year old by 6, her kids slept in until 10 or 11, we took a nap, her kids went all day, we were back in the room by 9, her kids cam in around midnight, they were 4,6 and 10. So each persons kids are different. Good luck. Change that AK day, unless you have to see pandora.

 

[DebbieB]

I went that week 2 years ago, it wasn't bad.