Is anyone else completely freaked out about may now?

[princess-rn]

Yes, I am a little worried about the crowds..we usually go in October when the crowds aren't so bad. We are going the week before memorial day this year (for Star Wars Weekends) so I know the crowds are going to be much larger than what I'm use too. I just plan to take it in stride and just enjoy being there...with or without the big crowds.
Have a great trip!!

 

[jpeltier]

The site evryone is talking about with the 7s ,etc is: http://www.touringplans.com/BestDays.htm.
I think that most of the numbers are OK.However,the numbers are not always right. There were a couple of big goofs at Easter/Spring break.

 

[msim]

Pardon me if I missed this, but how can you find out what attendance predictions are supposed to be? I'm going June 5-9. I'd love to know. Thanks.

 

[fussnbother]

I think it just depends when in May you are going. For example, our wedding anniversary is May 15th. Originally, we were going to DW from May 13 - 17th to include our anniversary. However, I noticed that the only rooms available at the YC during that time were the expensive rooms like suites and concierge. That was almost two months ago. My travel agent even had problems coming up with standard view rooms at the resorts we were considering to stay at for those dates. Last week I ended up booking from May 18th to the 22nd, and everything was open, including standard rooms. The only resorts I noticed that were not offering rooms readily were the "home away from home" resorts.
I just looked again at the Disney site, and now the YC has everything open except lagoon view concierge. I checked GF, OKW, and POFQ and they all had availability for all level rooms.

When I booked our stay through my travel agent, she said she and the other agents were just discussing room availability. She said they were surprised to see all the availability for May 18 - 22nd because just a short time ago, she said nothing was available at the YC for those dates. She thought maybe they opened up blocks of rooms that were originally held over for some reason. I don't know what this means to all of us May DISers, but I'm guessing the less availability for the dates you are travelling, the larger the crowds. JMO!

 

[disneyworld!]

I think it just depends when in May you are going. For example, our wedding anniversary is May 15th. Originally, we were going to DW from May 13 - 17th to include our anniversary. However, I noticed that the only rooms available at the YC during that time were the expensive rooms like suites and concierge. That was almost two months ago. My travel agent even had problems coming up with standard view rooms at the resorts we were considering to stay at for those dates. Last week I ended up booking from May 18th to the 22nd, and everything was open, including standard rooms. The only resorts I noticed that were not offering rooms readily were the "home away from home" resorts.
I just looked again at the Disney site, and now the YC has everything open except lagoon view concierge. I checked GF, OKW, and POFQ and they all had availability for all level rooms.

When I booked our stay through my travel agent, she said she and the other agents were just discussing room availability. She said they were surprised to see all the availability for May 18 - 22nd because just a short time ago, she said nothing was available at the YC for those dates. She thought maybe they opened up blocks of rooms that were originally held over for some reason. I don't know what this means to all of us May DISers, but I'm guessing the less availability for the dates you are travelling, the larger the crowds. JMO!

yes, I am going May 20-25th and had ressies at the BC. BUT wanted the YC I got it the other day...waterview with AP rate!! It took about 3 weeks to get. but I have been calling on a daily basis to see what is avab. and I can still get almost anything I want for that time frame. my birthday is May 15th and I am usally there for then. but due to school I am a week later! I thing maybe the day of the opening witll be crowded but it sounds to me like a typical May!! weather is great...flower and garden show...and I guess the star wars!! same...every year!

 

[lentesta]

I checked availability of all WDW Resorts on Expedia for all of May last night, and it looks like the first half of the month is busier than the second half. The crowd blog on the Unofficial Guide's website has charts and graphs of this, in case anyone's interested.

I noticed, too, that the MK's hours of operation for May now fall somewhere in the range of 4-6 on the UG's scale.

May 1: Open 87 hours during the week
May 8: 88 hours
May 15: 87 hours
May 22: 91 hours

(I think in 2004, the most hours the MK was open was around 115, and the least 68.)

Len

 

[Violetx3]

I checked availability of all WDW Resorts on Expedia for all of May last night, and it looks like the first half of the month is busier than the second half. The crowd blog on the Unofficial Guide's website has charts and graphs of this, in case anyone's interested.

I noticed, too, that the MK's hours of operation for May now fall somewhere in the range of 4-6 on the UG's scale.

May 1: Open 87 hours during the week
May 8: 88 hours
May 15: 87 hours
May 22: 91 hours

(I think in 2004, the most hours the MK was open was around 115, and the least 68.)

Len

Thanks Len, for this information. I am going the 2nd week and have noticed that it has been quite booked up for a while. It is freaking me out unfortunately!! I heard some horror stories about Easter and really just don't want that kind of experience. (I know, I know ...WDW is always busy.. but I wish it could just be a bit more "moderately" busy.

Does anyone know why the park hours aren't longer for the 2nd week? Does that mean there is some hope that it won't be insane?

 

[kathy0513]

I looked at all the WDW hotels available on WDW website (excluding home away from homes) and scored the availability on the a Saturday night (it is based on 5 pts for sold-out and 0 pts for all/most type of rooms available and 1-3 pts for limited availability (e.g. king size bed or congiege only). I then weighted the score by the # of rooms (sell out of POP worth more than sell-out at BC). Thus, the higher the score the more limited availability. You would expect the scores for the weeks further out to go up as more people book so Memorial weekend could easily become as busy/busier than April 23rd. It looks like alot of people may have avoided the launch week and are going a week earlier or later!!

Apr-23 82.9
Apr-30 3.6
May-07 31.1
May-14 45.3
May-21 20.5
May-28 62.1