Just Returned (Memorial Day)

[Nole95]

Just got back from a 5 night trip during Memorial Day week (May 30 - June 4). Stayed at the Wilderness Lodge with wife, daughter (6) and son (3.5). Son is 41 inches so he was able to ride pretty much everything. He was only measured one time right before we loaded onto Splash.

While there was a large number of people there, the crowds were manageable as long as you had a plan. Having the GAD vouchers was a big help. As I said, we used a combination of Tour Guide Mike and GADs to plan our days, took breaks pretty much every day, and had no major issues.

We never waited more than 5 minutes to be seated for an ADR. We arrived right on time and even a few minutes late on a couple of occasions. All our ADRs were between 6 and 6:30pm.

I'll be happy to answer any other questions since I have received so much info from others on these boards.

 

[CocosMeme]

Yea! I have been waiting and looking for someone to post just this thing. We are planning a family trip (14 of us) next Memorial Day week. All of the kids have different spring break times and Mem. week is the best option for us. We usually go at less crowded times so this will be new to us. My sons and DIL's are not as Disney excited as DH and I are because they have only done short commando style trips and have some bad memories of tired and frustrated moments. We are planning to book a Grand Villa at AKL for a week and show them the right way to do it. Any tips you have for me are appreciated. Did you use a trip planning site ( like TGM or TP)?

 

[Nole95]

We used TGM as our planning site, and we also used his site back in 2007 when we went in October. I was quite pleased both times we have used his site. There are lots of good tips.

We did not need to be as commando on this trip as we were back in 2007 because we had GADs to use for three of the five days. I would say that the biggest tip is to always be there at least 30 minutes or more prior to rope drop. You can get so much done in that first hour if you do this and have a good plan. It really sets the tone for the rest of the day.

 

[danny1649]

Moved your post here where it is a better fit.

 

[annacali]

ITA! We were there May 29-June 5th and had so much fun. We spent most of our time at MK and Epcot (we had 3 girls, 7, 7, and 5) and did the rope drop, afternoon swim, and return in the evening routine too. The girls were able to do most of the rides they wanted to over and over and over---BTMRR they did 3-4 times in a row, Barnstormer they did over and over, yesterday morning they saw the fairies at around 10:30 with less than a 30 minute wait (we weren't even planning on it, it just worked out!) test track was a favorite. We had a blast!