How does 27th April - 11th May sound to you?

[BethEJo]

Hi everyone!

My friends and I are looking to book a Disney package for our holiday next year. We know some CMs who could get us a hotel discount, but the free dining and park tickets and hotel package is working out much better

So we've preliminarily set our dates as Saturday 27 April - Saturday 11 May. I've never been that time of year before, so was just wondering if during that time, does anyone know of any public holidays/events (because obviously we'd like to avoid these as much as possible).

We are a little constricted with our dates, but generally speaking, is this an OK time to go?

Thanks in advance

 

[flortlebap]

Looks good to me. There's Cinco de Mayo on May 5, which is like 4th of July, so the days around it are crowded (8 and 9). But apart from that, great!

 

[laura_<3]

We've been at the start of May (2nd-16th) and it was great. Lovely and warm (record highs for May) and not too crowded

 

[Elise79]

We love that time of year. Nice weather and manageable crowds

Flower & Garden is on at Epcot too

 

[NatalieMT]

Cheerleading Worlds are held at Disney usually April 25th through April 30th, although next years dates are not 100% confirmed it's around the same time. Most of the athletes stay at value resorts (All Star Sports is the main one but really most of the All Star resorts will sell out) but a few were at moderates this year, Coronado Springs seemed popular from what I saw and CBR. The athletes will use the guest buses to get around etc so it can be more crowded, not overly so in the parks, more at the resorts.

The event itself has been at the ESPN Wide World of Sports (Josten's Center and Milk House) and the World Showcase Pavilion at Epcot, there is talk of it moving to another location within Disney but nothing is confirmed right now. You might want to push your trip back a few days if you want to avoid such an event, it's the biggest thing on the cheer calendar. You might not be bothered by it but then again you might. We are flying over specifically for this event but we are staying offsite in a villa because it's easier with a larger group of us and I can't see anyone appreciating us stunting here, there and everywhere and in the pool - which will happen!

 

[Disneymad]

Just back so pretty much seen it at the same time as the dates you're looking at.

It's a good time of year to visit weather wise - hot but (usually) without all the humidity, flower and garden is nice too.

We were there for the Cheerleading thing this year. Was at Boardwalk so was unaffected by them at the resort so can't comment on that aspect - Epcot on the Saturday (daytime) was absolutely rammed though. It's easy to plan your park days around something like that however so I'd not let that put you off.

Personally we quite enjoyed the atmosphere even though busy, was kinda fun seeing all the teams around world showcase still in their costumes and makeup - was a different kind of buzz than normal. We hit up Epcot a lot during our trips and so weren't particularly bothered about attractions and were just having a drink and nibbles around the World Showcase and soaking up the atmosphere in general. We may have felt a bit different if we were actively 'touring' the park.

 

[~Piglet~]

May is a lovely time of year to go

I love the Flower Festival in May! I'll be sad not to see it next trip but looking forward to food & wine festival as compensation

 

[BethEJo]

Well, you've all sold it to me
Will be looking forward to seeing Flower & Garden too I've never been at WDW whilst anything like that was going on before!

Just have to wait for these bleeding' exams to be over next Friday (), and then we can get on with the booking! Let the planning commence!

Thanks for your help

 

[DjdBrit]

Looks good to me. There's Cinco de Mayo on May 5, which is like 4th of July, so the days around it are crowded (8 and 9). But apart from that, great!

Cinco de Mayo is nothing like 4th July, so I wouldn't worry about that

 

[CAROLINE4]

Hi we just got back this Saturday our dates were 20th april to 4th may it was fab! The weather was great and the waits were 20 mins max for rides! The parks did have many groups but nothing major! go for it I say!

 

[smileyk8]

We were there 22nd April to 30th and found it pretty busy. Lovely weather as the others said, it was warm but didn't really get humid as there had been some stormy weather just before we got there.

With the cheerleading groups, another dance competition and a load of school trips (one guy we spoke to said 500 senior students from a school in New York had come down as it was senior trip time!) it felt crowded and they said to avoid All Star hotels too. We found waits to be quite long and some people left MK as they felt it was too crowded. I imagine this was only an issue as in the past April-May has been really quiet so it was a surprise for some people.

Still enjoyable and I'd love to see the cheerleading!!!

 

[NatalieMT]

Still enjoyable and I'd love to see the cheerleading!!!

It's the best, I spend a lot of weekends at UK competitions but the standard of all the athletes at Worlds is phenomenal in comparison. It's amazing what you can train to do, my team is on a relatively small scale, mid level but the majority have come to us with absolutely no experience and a few months later are completely defying gravity. People have a lot of misconceptions in the UK but competitive cheerleading is extremely skillful and also relatively dangerous. Obviously you do get pom dancers but it's about so much more!