How Crowded is Memorial Day weekend?

[kimbamickey]

Hello everyone! I am pondering taking a family trip to WDW Friday, May 26 - Saturday, June 3 in 2006. The first weekend will be Memorial Day Weekend. How crowded do you expect it to be for the entire week? Also, how is the weather? I've been in August before -- is it that hot the end of May/beginning of June as well? Also (lots of questions here) if I do decide to go that week, what parks would you suggest for each day? I am looking to go to all 4 theme parks as well as Universal's IOA. I doubt we will do a water park this time around, but I would like to go parasailing at Sammy Duval's at the Contemporary.

Thanks!

 

[Bob P]

Hi,

It's very hot, but not quite as intensely hot and humid as August. Memorial Day weekend will be very crowded, then it will lighten up during the week, and Gay Day crowds will make the following weekend more crowded again, but usually only in one park at a time.

Bob

 

[dvcgirl]

Memorial Day Weekend is fairly crowded. Saturday, Sunday and Monday of the weekend will be very crowded. Not Christmas Day or Easter Sunday crowded, but still very crowded.

It's very warm by the end of May, early June...you can expect mid 80s to low 90s with high humidity.

If you have any flexibility, I would try and choose another week where your vacation doesn't fall over a holiday weekend.

 

[missypie]

We were there...no problem. We did MK on Saturday until about 3, then went back to YC, then saw Illuminations that night. We did Epcot on Sunday and MGM on Monday. Epcot on Sunday was the only place where I noticed the crowds...the FP return times were later than I expected and the Land pavillion was packed. We had a great touring plan every day and never waited in long lines.

 

[snappy]

We were there that weekend this year too. We stopped in EPCOT Sunday evening, wait time for Soaring was 150 minutes! naturally there were no fastpasses. Also, the movie DD9 wanted to see in the Land closed at 7 pm so after checking the wait time at Test Track we left.


We did better Monday at MGM and Tuesday at MK, especially Tuesday. It was raining a bit in the morning on Tuesday, and I think some folks must have opted to stay at their resort because we had a great day. It actually cleared up in the afternoon but was cooler and drier so we had a great time.

We do go as early as I can get everyone together (not easy with two teens).

We also avoided the park where Gay Days was scheduled to hopefully experience lower crowds.

There were many Europeans in the park, they must have been on holiday but I think the Florida youngsters were still in school due to hurricane days.
Also, I think most schools in the north and north east were still in session.

This is the second time we were in WDW for Memorial Day. I would do it again every chance possible.

 

[dizagain]

Hi! We just visited WDW over Memorial Day a few weeks ago too. We started touring the Thursday before and left the Thursday after. I thought the crowds were not so bad. We have been in early May before with very low crowds and while there were definitely many more people there this time, we didn't wait too long for rides at all. We did always arrive at opening, took mid-day breaks, and returned to different parks in the evenings. MK always felt the most crowded to me except for one rainy morning (probably the same mentioned above!). Epcot and MGM never felt overly bogged down to me. The heat wasn't too bad (I do live in Texas, though) and we only got sweaty-hot two days of our trip...not bad at all.

We would absolutely return at this time of year or the week after whenever possible!!!

 

[missypie]

We were there that weekend this year too. We stopped in EPCOT Sunday evening, wait time for Soaring was 150 minutes! naturally there were no fastpasses. Also, the movie DD9 wanted to see in the Land closed at 7 pm so after checking the wait time at Test Track we left.


We did better Monday at MGM and Tuesday at MK, especially Tuesday. It was raining a bit in the morning on Tuesday, and I think some folks must have opted to stay at their resort because we had a great day. It actually cleared up in the afternoon but was cooler and drier so we had a great time.

We do go as early as I can get everyone together (not easy with two teens).

We also avoided the park where Gay Days was scheduled to hopefully experience lower crowds.

There were many Europeans in the park, they must have been on holiday but I think the Florida youngsters were still in school due to hurricane days.
Also, I think most schools in the north and north east were still in session.

This is the second time we were in WDW for Memorial Day. I would do it again every chance possible.

We were on the same schedule! That Tuesday morning, at about 7:30 am it was POURING...we were switching resorts from YC to CR and missed the CR the first time because we couldn't see a thing. By park opening it was a light rain...we were in the first group to ride Dumbo, without even trying. Because of the rain, we were able to ride stuff like Dumbo and the Merry Go Round, that we usually skip!

About the only regret of the trip is that we were only able to ride TT and Soarin once each...the fast pass return times got quite late pretty quickly on that Sunday.

And yes, I think the Brits were on school holiday. There were LOTS of them there.

 

[Marilyn216]

we were there this year at that time and back in 2003. The crowds weren't too bad, other than the gay days . Don't think we'll do that again


Dec 1997 - Corondo Springs
May 2003 - All Star Movies
May 2005 - Pop Century

 

[kimbamickey]

Thank you all! Just two more questions. Are gay days just the weekend after Memorial Day or the entire week, and how do you find out which parks will be more crowded due to gay days?

Thanks!

 

[Bob P]

Gay Days usually start a day or two after Memorial Day and continue through the weekend. There are two websites: gayday.com and gaydays.com where you can probably find the schedule from a few weeks ago if you want some details.

Bob

 

[elf]

WE were in MK on Tuesay also! We did MK on Mem. day wkend Sunday and We got on lots of rides first thing in the am Pooh two times no line, all the rides in between Pooh and PPan, and were able to do PP 2 times no line 1st time small line after. Then we went on over to Splash Mountain which dh had run to get FP's, no wait while others waited on long line.
While it got more and more crowded we were able to avoid long lines with FP's. We'd alternate FP, then nonFP ride. We never waited more than 20-30 the whole week.
Of course I had my wonderful DH willing to jog to the other side of the park to collect the FP's.