Crowds this week - Memorial Day week

[Stasieki]

How are crowds this week? Considering it for next year. Our kids get out of school right before Memorial weekend.

 

[wgeo]

I have no real numbers or anything, but it didn't FEEL to bad to me. For reference I've taken day trips over Saturdays in Jan/Feb/March, and this week felt less crowded then those days - but those were Saturdays and this was a weekday. Monday we did Epcot in the morning, rode everysingle ride except the Frozen one, and then walked around the world showcase so my kid could do the duffy thing. Left the park around 2:00 and it was starting to feel tighter in the showcase area. Checked into the hotel and then headed over to DHS for the evening, used another 7 or so FP for all of the headliners, did ToT 4 times, RNR once, TSMM once and walked into Fantasmic at 8:40 - although it was pretty full at that point. The waits were long but since we kept rolling FP we didn't notice a problem with crowds. Never had to wait in line for a bathroom, or too much of a line for food.

Tuesday we did MK. It opened at 8 and things were very quiet until around 9:30 then the crowds showed up. It was crowded but not horrible, by lunchtime we started grabbing extra FP and managed to get another 10 or so by the time we left after fireworks. HEA was of course a madhouse but I think that's probably the case every night.

Wed we went to AK and it poured rain all day, so it didn't seem crowded by I'm thinking the rain throws everything off there.

Overall we would go this week again for sure.

 

[Stasieki]

I have no real numbers or anything, but it didn't FEEL to bad to me. For reference I've taken day trips over Saturdays in Jan/Feb/March, and this week felt less crowded then those days - but those were Saturdays and this was a weekday. Monday we did Epcot in the morning, rode everysingle ride except the Frozen one, and then walked around the world showcase so my kid could do the duffy thing. Left the park around 2:00 and it was starting to feel tighter in the showcase area. Checked into the hotel and then headed over to DHS for the evening, used another 7 or so FP for all of the headliners, did ToT 4 times, RNR once, TSMM once and walked into Fantasmic at 8:40 - although it was pretty full at that point. The waits were long but since we kept rolling FP we didn't notice a problem with crowds. Never had to wait in line for a bathroom, or too much of a line for food.

Tuesday we did MK. It opened at 8 and things were very quiet until around 9:30 then the crowds showed up. It was crowded but not horrible, by lunchtime we started grabbing extra FP and managed to get another 10 or so by the time we left after fireworks. HEA was of course a madhouse but I think that's probably the case every night.

Wed we went to AK and it poured rain all day, so it didn't seem crowded by I'm thinking the rain throws everything off there.

Overall we would go this week again for sure.

Thank you for the report!

 

[anniemae]

I am not there now, but from what I have seen it does not seem bad. I saw some pictures on fb and it did not look busy. I think there was some rain earlier in the week that could have kept the crowds down.

 

[AngiTN]

This is my 4th Memorial day trip in a row. Crowds may be up ever so slightly this year but all in all it's still my favorite of all summer dates. If you are lucky enough for your school to be out I'd pick it over most any other break date, and we've done all other breaks

 

[PrincessP]

Crowds have been very manageable. Memorial Day at MK seemed much like our standard September trips before our kids were in school. WE were able to get several fast passes after our original three.... even BTMRR. DHS was manageable on Wed. As PP mentioned....very rainy day so that skews things a bit.....but I was able to get decent time on TSMM as a 4th FP for 4.

We have visited SeaWorld and water park as well. Manageable. School Groups at SeaWorld....but otherwise good.

 

[Stasieki]

This is my 4th Memorial day trip in a row. Crowds may be up ever so slightly this year but all in all it's still my favorite of all summer dates. If you are lucky enough for your school to be out I'd pick it over most any other break date, and we've done all other breaks

We have done Fall Break (used to be good, now not so much), taken out of school 4 days over Labor Day week (love but hot), and went over Presidents week for a gymnastics comp. I think our days of taking out of school need to end so now that our school moved to being done by Memorial day, will most likely push for this week. But, we will probably have to go again next February due to another competition. Now to talk DH to also going next May.

 

[ErinsMommy]

we were there Friday through Tuesday and it was all pretty good until Tuesday - I noticed a substantial increase in crowds and weather.

 

[Stasieki]

we were there Friday through Tuesday and it was all pretty good until Tuesday - I noticed a substantial increase in crowds and weather.

We got out this year the Wednesday before Memorial weekend so I would say we would do Thrs-Thrs.

 

[Darklord77]

Keep in mind that the threat from the tropical storm this past weekend probably kept a lot of locals away and some people with flexible plans. We went to AK and BB on Sat, MK on Sun, and AK/Epcot on Monday. None of those parks felt really busy. We stayed at the Beach Club Monday-Thursday and went to Epcot every night. The World Showcase felt deserted compared to other times we have went.

 

[redheadx3]

I am thinking of taking my niece next year and she gets out of school the Friday before Memorial weekend. I was debating to arrive at WDW on Sat or wait to arrive on Tues. after the holiday. From previous post it sounds like after the holiday crowds picked up and the weekend was fairly good despite rain.
Anyone with advice as to best day to arrive? (it will be just 2 of us, stay about 5-7 days, will get up early with nap break in afternoon, back to close parks)

 

[Upatnoon]

We were at MK on Memorial Day and the crowds were on the lighter side.

Of course, weather forecasters had been predicting all kinds of nasty weather for the weekend because of a subtropical storm in the Gulf, so that may have cut down a bit on local visitors.

Now, light crowds these days means it is more manageable walking around, it doesn't mean you're going to have short lines.

 

[missnic]

We went to AK around 5:00 on Friday evening (6/1), and it wasn't bad at all. Went specifically to meet Launchpad and Scrooge, and waited about 10 mins for them. Single rider EE was about 10 mins, and then had FP for Kilimanjaro and Navi (picked up a couple of weeks ago). We could actually move around Pandora, which I wasn't really expecting to do. FoP was about 65 min wait at dark, which seems reasonable. Went to Epcot around noon yesterday and it wasn't super crowded, but wait times seemed high. We had lunch ADR and a Living with the Land FP and didn't stick around after that because we were headed to Universal. lol

 

[AngiTN]

Keep in mind that the threat from the tropical storm this past weekend probably kept a lot of locals away and some people with flexible plans. We went to AK and BB on Sat, MK on Sun, and AK/Epcot on Monday. None of those parks felt really busy. We stayed at the Beach Club Monday-Thursday and went to Epcot every night. The World Showcase felt deserted compared to other times we have went.

Based on my personal observations of this year compared to post 4 years I don't think so. Not enough to count at least. Wait times have been consistent in our observations.

I'm sure some plans were altered but just not a lot

 

[cvjw]

We’ve visited Memorial Day week for about 10 years. This year felt much more crowded to us. Some of the week, we were in crowds that seemed almost Christmas like to us. A few years ago, we also visited in July. July was much less crowded! But it was hotter.

Also, the rain. This is the 4th Memorial Day week that we had a tropical storm. The combination of crowds and rain is just too much for us. We have decided to not visit this week anymore.

 

[lovin'fl]

I did last Memorial day(2017)...we went Sunday to Thur (Mem Day was the Monday we were there) and it did seem a little crowded. Not Xmas level or July 4th level but quite busier than our usual October trips. And we went early March this year and our Mem Day trip was also busier than that.

 

[Darklord77]

Based on my personal observations of this year compared to post 4 years I don't think so. Not enough to count at least. Wait times have been consistent in our observations.

I'm sure some plans were altered but just not a lot

Sorry, but I don't think wait times are an accurate gauge of park attendance anymore. Disney has obviously been manipulating wait times to keep them at certain point year-round. Reducing ride capacity to inflate wait times does not mean the park is busier.

 

[AngiTN]

Sorry, but I don't think wait times are an accurate gauge of park attendance anymore. Disney has obviously been manipulating wait times to keep them at certain point year-round. Reducing ride capacity to inflate wait times does not mean the park is busier.

Ok. Then ignore wait times if it makes you happy. Bodies in the parks are consistent with what we've seen the past 5 years (I was wrong before, this is our 5th year for Memorial day)

There were more people here on our trips the past 2 April over Dark Side weekend and March 11 for DGD birthday. Also Oct for fall break was more crowded.

 

[webcreatrix]

This is my 4th Memorial day trip in a row. Crowds may be up ever so slightly this year but all in all it's still my favorite of all summer dates. If you are lucky enough for your school to be out I'd pick it over most any other break date, and we've done all other breaks

Glad to hear this. I'm looking at a big birthday Memorial Day week of next year and really want to be in the parks then. We have done this week once berfore, but usually do 2nd or 3rd week of June. Given SWGE is opening in the fall, though, I just can't decide what to do!

 

[OneOftheB's]

We were at WDW from Sunday 5/27 through Saturday 6/2. This is the third year in a row we have gone during this period. Once we hit Tuesday, the crowds were really, really manageable. We felt MK was crowded on Monday (duh, Memorial Day at MK, to be expected), but I think that some of the people on FB who said they were cancelling their vaca actually didn't show up due to the weather. We were at EPCOT on Tuesday, and it was great, crowd wise. I expect we will go this week again next year.