Last week in May-how crowded?

[ksumn1]

Had to change our trip next year from Oct to the last week in May (Mon May 22 to Sun May 28) and I keep seeing that the 1st 2 weeks in May is good, but I haven't found anything about the last week. Can anybody speak from experience and say it not too crowded, its not crowded at all, or it's horrible? I think the weather issue will not be much of an issue, we live in GA so it won't be too horribly diffrent from what I'm used too. T shirts, jeans, light jacket and maybe a pair of shorts or 2. I'm more concerned with the crowd level so I can make a tenative schedule. So far I'm planning 1 full AK day, 1 1/2 Epcot, 2 MK and 1 MGM Studios. We'll have Park Hoppers so we can change parks if we want to or cut out if one park's too crowded. Can anybody give me some words of wisdom? Thanks in advance!

 

[Msslaydbug]

We went this year the third week in may and while it was busier than our normal trip to WDW in Aug/Sept we find it to not be too busy. If you didn't use FastPass the wait were from 10-15 minutes like Space Mountain. Soarin a couple times was 60 minutes. We ALWAYS used Fastpass for this one.

 

[luvdisney999]

We were there this last May over Memorial Day weekend. Arrived on Sunday, didn't go to the parks but "heard" they were crowded from people who were there. For whatever that's worth, it's not first-hand.

Went to EPCOT on Monday, Memorial Day. Rode Soarin' 1st and it reached 60+ min. wait within the first 2 hours. Also, rode Test Track, which was about 45 min. wait. Used FP for both and it wasn't a problem.

Tuesday was fairly busy at MK. But with some planning and FP, I've definately seen worse!

Wednesday and Thursday were less crowded for us. Went to MGM on Wed. and MK on Thurs.

Friday - went to Animal Kingdom and it wasn't crowded, then park-hopped to MGM, which was REALLY crowded! aw:

Saturday - went to Magic Kingdom and was REALLY REALLY crowded! Figured since it was the weekend. However, it was our last day in the parks and we wanted to see the castle one last time.

Overall, the middle of the week wasn't too bad, but the weekends were. Hope this helps! If you have any more questions, just ask!

 

[danny1649]

Week of May this year and only encountered large crowds at MK.While the crowds were above average at other parks.With fast pass and arriving early,we didn't have any long waits and had a great time.At Mk we did have a few waits of 30 minutes.Overall we had a great time and enjoyed our WDW experience.

 

[ksumn1]

I was really worried. I knew Oct was great but due to DD school and my DH work, I was scared we'd have to cancel at the last minute (He works on power lines and since Oct is hurricane season..)I decided to go in May. I work for an airline so it's hard to get time off between June and August, so May it is, as soon as DD gets out of school. It will be myself (28), DH (25), DD (7), and DD. My youngest will be 3 on May 23, so we're planning to celebrate her birthday while we're there. I'm in the middle of trying to compare packages with 6 nites ALSMO, 7 day PH (just take it easy 1 day) and MYW Dining plan vs resort, tix and food purchased seperately. I've crunched #'s until my head hurts, so maybe ya'll can give me some opinions. Here's a breakdown of all meals planned along with a tenative schedule.

Mon-Chk in day-arrive at 12 noon
Explore resort, swim
Snack
Dinner at Chef Mickey's

Tuesday-MGM
breakfast in room, pop tarts etc
snack Anaheim Produce
dinner-Backlot Express CS

Wed-Epcot
Breakfast-Princess Storybook Breakfast
Lunch-none (early Dinner)
Snack-Boulangerie Patesserie
Dinner-Morocco Tangerine Cafe CS

Thursday-MK
Breakfast-Main St Bakery (pastry etc)
Lunch-None (early Dinner)
Snack-Dole Whips, Ice cream etc
Dinner-Cosmic Rays CS (can you get the rotisserie chicken with MYWD?)

Friday-AK
Breakfast -In room, Pop Tarts, cereal
Lunch-Tusker House CS
Snack -fruit if anything
Dinner-Boma at AKL (Yum)

Sat-MK and Park hop
Breakfast- room
Lunch- Pecos Bill Cafe CS
Snack-none
Dinner-Beaches and Cream or Artist Point if DD and I go out alone
Kids can order in pizza from food court with baby sitter

Sun-check out day late flt or drive
either breakfast at Whispering Canyon Cafe at WL OR
Beaches and Cream for lunch

So, food alone is between $775 and $925 depending on what my DH orders when we're out, so I'm strongly leaning toward package with the MYW Dining and tix all together ($2,280), but I can't help but think I could be saving more. The meals that have to stay are PSB, Boma, and Chef Mickey's. Beaches n Cream, Whispering Canyon and Artist Point are all possibilities not must do's. This is our 1st trip in 3 years and we probably won't go again for at least 2 more years so I'm trying to balance the money and the trip to remember stuff at the same time. I nixed breakfast most days because we're not big breakfast eaters and tried to do either a late lunch early dinner to maximize $$. Any advice?

 

[Dina]

I would do my table service restaurant at lunch if trying to save mone (which we usually are)-- I've been told that unless free dining is offered, you're probably not saving alot of money (you may if you normally eat appetizer, main course and dessert-- but if you don't you probably won't save money-- does that make sense). We join AAA, just to get the AAA discount at our hotel-- have you priced it with a AAA discount on your room, I think the membership is around $75. But, I believe you save %20 off value hotel rates. Just a thought.

By the way, we were in Disney May 14th-22nd last year, and have very little wait times-- it was really nice. We just found that we needed to go back to the room in the afternoon, because it did get quite warm.