May Crowds posted by a spoiled Sept traveler

[Msslaydbug]

We have only gone to WDW in late Sept/Oct and LOVED it both times. We walked right on ALL of the rides and became very spoiled. In fact the last Saturday we were there we went to Magic Kingdom and were bummed to wait 15-20 minutes for some of the rides. This year it looks like we have to schedule our trip from 05/18 - 05/28. How are the crowds/lines/dining going to be ? Thanks

 

[tjkraz]

If you use FastPass, you will rarely wait more than 10-15 minutes for anything. Whether there are short lines or no lines will vary by day of the week, time of day and other cyclical issues. May does have higher crowds than September / October, but not by too much.

In particular, I'd recommend spending time at EPCOT earlier in your trip. The closer you get to Memorial Day, the larger the crowds will be. Between the Flower and Garden festival going on at Epcot, and many schools taking field trips, we found that park to have some of the larger crowds we saw during our stay last May. By far, the longest standby line we saw during our May trip was 65 minutes for Test Track. The Mountains at MK were usually 10-20 minutes, while ToT and RnR were 10-15.

Also, keep your eyes open for info on Star Wars Weekends at MGM. The schedule should be annouced in Feb or May, but the time you are visiting normally encompasses the event. Typically, during the latter part of May and into June MGM will fill the weekends with special Star Wars fan events. The "weekends" run from Friday to Sunday, and will definitely cause crowds to peak when held. If SWW sounds like your thing, make sure to include it in your touring plans. If not, avoid MGM on Fri - Sun.

 

[estherhead]

I haven't been at the end of May but I have been at marginal spring break. We found that getting there early and using Fastpasses the extra crowds didn't bother us at all. 5 minute wait times in the early afternoon at minor attractions (Peter Pan), 10-15 at longer (Buzz Lightyear). You will HAVE to Fastpass Splash Mountain. Ditto for the other parks. Also, watch out for Fastpasses running out around 1 pm. Spoiled folk that we are, we were surprised to go to MGM one day around 2 and the Fastpasses were gone and the wait was 30 minutes. It really isn't bad because there were neat things I had missed when I ran through the lines that the slower line time allowed me to enjoy. But you definately need a calmer mindset. It took me a day to get used to it. Also, watch out for I-4 if you will be doing any driving. Stay away from peak times. I-4 annoyed me WAY more than Disney as evidently the Florida highway system doesn't care to entertain me while I'm in a stop and go line!

Esther