We just got back from an excellent week in Orlando (5 nights at Disney, 3 at Universal).
The last week in May was great! It was hot, but the parks just didn't seem too crowded at all. A CM told us that a lot of schools were still in session which was keeping crowds down. We saw a couple of tour groups but they seemed to be mostly at Universal and not Disney. We didn't have any problems doing everything we wanted to do (which, granted, did not involve Frozen or the new mine train). At AK, we actually walked the animal trails after lunch and they were fairly empty! (They are usually packed by then!)
And... As much as I hated the idea originally, I actually found FP+ relaxing. It was nice to have the Fastpasses "in hand" without having to send a runner across the park at opening. This was the first year in forever that we were actually able to ride Test Track and Soarin both before 10:30 because we didn't have to crisscross Future World for Fastpasses.
I found it less stressful, more leisurely, and I didn't experience long FP queues anywhere or longer-than-normal standby waits. The app worked great, too.
Maybe we were just extremely lucky or it was an unusually slow week crowd wise, but overall it was a great trip!
Edited to add Magic Band thoughts: they worked well but I found it hot and uncomfy in the heat. My husband's kept getting snagged on his backpack strap as he took it off and on and the band fell off twice. The second time it was gone for good, but we went to Guest Services, and it took them all of 2 minutes to cancel the old one, transfer all info to a new (gray) one and reissue it. For free! So that was nice, too!
The last week in May was great! It was hot, but the parks just didn't seem too crowded at all. A CM told us that a lot of schools were still in session which was keeping crowds down. We saw a couple of tour groups but they seemed to be mostly at Universal and not Disney. We didn't have any problems doing everything we wanted to do (which, granted, did not involve Frozen or the new mine train). At AK, we actually walked the animal trails after lunch and they were fairly empty! (They are usually packed by then!)
And... As much as I hated the idea originally, I actually found FP+ relaxing. It was nice to have the Fastpasses "in hand" without having to send a runner across the park at opening. This was the first year in forever that we were actually able to ride Test Track and Soarin both before 10:30 because we didn't have to crisscross Future World for Fastpasses.
I found it less stressful, more leisurely, and I didn't experience long FP queues anywhere or longer-than-normal standby waits. The app worked great, too.
Maybe we were just extremely lucky or it was an unusually slow week crowd wise, but overall it was a great trip!
Edited to add Magic Band thoughts: they worked well but I found it hot and uncomfy in the heat. My husband's kept getting snagged on his backpack strap as he took it off and on and the band fell off twice. The second time it was gone for good, but we went to Guest Services, and it took them all of 2 minutes to cancel the old one, transfer all info to a new (gray) one and reissue it. For free! So that was nice, too!
