How do you...

[TheyCallMeStacey]

get a picture of how busy WDW will be before you go.

I know some people swear by crowd calendars and others completely disregard them. I was just curious to see if there are tips/tricks to better gain a handle on it in order to best prepare my kids for our upcoming early May trip. I've been watching the wait times, but it's hard to gauge because it's my suspicion that spring break crowds are still very much impacting that.

 

[sponica]

Early may is still a sweet spot (I think). I don't remember it being overwhelmingly crowded (except Animal Kingdom, I've never been there when it felt like seas of people). (Also I was with a toddler so I was slowed down by her more than the people around me)

It was hot but not super humid.

 

[Klayfish]

You really don't. Just know it's WDW, the most popular theme park on the planet. It's typically busy. There are busier times than others, such as Thanksgiving, Xmas, Spring Break. Otherwise you're not really going to have a solid handle on it except "it's busy". It's pretty subjective anyway.

 

[DisDreaming4116]

Early May is still a great time to go! Watch videos on Youtube of what the parks, restaurants, shops, queues look like during spring break and go into each day with that expectation. Then when you get there and it's not that bad, you will have a better outlook on the crowds that do exist.

 

[sharonabe]

You could search for trip reports from that week from last year and see if those reports give a feeling of how crowded. You could also message the ones who created the report and ask directly.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

get a picture of how busy WDW will be before you go.

I know some people swear by crowd calendars and others completely disregard them. I was just curious to see if there are tips/tricks to better gain a handle on it in order to best prepare my kids for our upcoming early May trip. I've been watching the wait times, but it's hard to gauge because it's my suspicion that spring break crowds are still very much impacting that.

The wait times right now are not applicable to early May. We've been the first week of May 3 times. To give you an example, I've been seeing FEA getting to 45 min in the first 30 mins after park open. In May I would expect waits of 20-25 ish minutes the first half hour. In the mid afternoon in May I would expect 7DMT to be maybe 60-75 mins not the 2 hrs + right now. The kids will be waiting in lines but not like what you're seeing now.

On the weekends it's more crowded and you may run into bottle necks in places but generally you'll be able to move around without issue. Lots of people but not stopped anywhere. It's similar to what we see at Great America on a Fri if that helps at all.

 

[monkyby87]

Honestly, what I do is I think about all of the holiday times throughout the year and assume those will be pretty busy. Then, I think about when a good time for people with families is to go (usually when they're out of school). Finally, I then assume all other times of the year will be busy, just not as much.

So yeah, I don't really plan lol.

 

[sponica]

Honestly, what I do is I think about all of the holiday times throughout the year and assume those will be pretty busy. Then, I think about when a good time for people with families is to go (usually when they're out of school). Finally, I then assume all other times of the year will be busy, just not as much.

So yeah, I don't really plan lol.

I just go when I can get decent airfare and/or time off. Except next year when I'm traveling with the teachers and I'm stuck with mid July.......

 

[TheyCallMeStacey]

Thanks to you all for your thoughts!!

 

[KenHutch]

ADR availability. I just pick the best time for the girls to go and go from there. Only once did I change it because when booking restaurants almost nothing was available at 180 days. I changed everything by 2 weeks and everything was open. That gave me a clue.

 

[SaintsManiac]

You can get a feel for it by checking the ticket prices on WDW site. The higher the price the busier it is.

 

[BobbyMoon]

I think you can research to get a general idea but no crowd calendar is going to be 100 percent accurate all the time. Prepare for the worst and be pleasantly surprised when it's not total chaos

 

[Dallas_Lady]

Ticket prices and park hours at MK are a good indicator of overall crowds. Higher prices & longer hours are when they're predicting more people will be in the parks.

 

[4doorj]

When are you going in may?
Supposedly there are cheer competitions happening. Not sure how much it effects everything.

 

[Mom2Stitch]

We have been early May the last 2 years, for Mother's Day to be specific (I'm really sad that I won't be having CG Brunch this Mother's Day-but hey I get to see SWGE in August )
Just make a plan-and a back up plan just in case. Crowds were not terrible, IMHO. I do recall there being some cheerleaders, but depending on where you are staying, you may not even notice them.
Weather-1st year was gorgeous and perfect, last year it rained every.single.day. and sometimes all day. Still it was one of the most fun and best trips we've had in a very long time. So just be prepared for the weather.

 

[gap2368]

You can get a feel for it by checking the ticket prices on WDW site. The higher the price the busier it is.

or hotel prices the lower the price normally the slower the parks will be

 

[TheyCallMeStacey]

All great things! I tried to see about making dining reservations and there was quite a bit of availability, so I'm hopeful. We're going the 4-11 of May. I'm not sure if there's going to be cheer competitions or not. Really loving all these ideas.

 

[sponica]

All great things! I tried to see about making dining reservations and there was quite a bit of availability, so I'm hopeful. We're going the 4-11 of May. I'm not sure if there's going to be cheer competitions or not. Really loving all these ideas.

I was there that week last year (more or less), it's still a sweet spot in terms of crowd levels. Had we been an adult only crowd we would have accomplished a lot. We were on toddler time though...

 

[wdw&sonny]

If you are trying to prepare your kids, start by explaining it will be crowded, hot and expensive. It will be a "hurry up and wait vacation". They will spend time fighting through mobs of people and waiting in lines, for food, attractions etc.

But, you are on these boards, so hopefully you know the three main rules: make ADRs, make FPs, go to RD. And exit the parks mid-day for a break at the resort, to rest, relax, regroup, recharge.

 

[bdiddy]

I feel like unless you are going on some random week in off season to expect heavy crowds. We just finished our 7th trip in 10 years and every trip but 3 was in the summer. Which summer is crazy busy. Our lowest crowds were the 2nd week in December. I think we were there the 7th-14th or something like that. It was the least crowded but also the coolest weather we’ve had.

We also went the 3rd week of Sept and it was still hot and busy then but not quite as bad as summer. We also just got back last week which was our first time going this time of years and it was insane - like summer busy! I thought maybe it wouldn’t be that bad because everyone’s spring breaks are different and they crowds might be spread out a little bit over the month but they weren’t at all. So I would rate thistime of year right on par with summer. The only thing that puts it above summer is the weather was amazing!

So I think unless you are going some random week during the off season while school is in session - than expect pretty high crowds.