May experts! What are crowds normally like Memorial Day weekend and the next week?

[tc]

I am planning my daughter's honeymoon (her request for me to plan it). They are getting married 5/29 and flying to Orlando 5/30. Memorial Day is 5/31. They will stay till Friday, then a couple of nights at the beach and then back home.

I got historic park hours, and they are a little later than low crowd times, with MK open till 10:00 on some nights. We are trying to decide what kind of park tickets to buy. Sarah, my daughter, says if MK and MGM will be open late, she doubts they'll go to any water parks or Disney Quest, but maybe Pleasure Island, late. However, if the parks close early and the crowds are lower, they may have time to spend at water parks, etc.

What is it usually like Memorial Day and the first week of June?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Doc and Family]

tc,
Congrats on the upcoming wedding for you daughter.
The crowds start to pick up about that time. Our experience has been by the first week of June, the parks are in full summer mode.
We will be there May 23-30, or so. In addition to school ending and most families starting their family vacations, the first week in June is also Gay week.
They will probably enjoy PI. The water parks are a blast at that time, not TOO crowded and weather is usually great.
Also, if they are going for 7 days, I would look at an annual pass. It costs a little more upfront, but you can .usually get discounts on rooms, and they would have the flexibility to take additional trips during the year without any expense for park tickets. Otherwise a 6 day pass should suit them well.
Hope they have a WONDERFUL wedding, honeymoon, and life together.

 

[nataliesdaddy]

maybe this will help - I ran a poll this last week on when schools get out. 44% of respondents said they or their kids got out of school prior to may 31st. here is the link if you want to see the pattern of summer vacation starts. summer vacation starts

Also, from what I hear memorial day is slammed. We were there last year for a week from the 8th to the 15th. And while it was beginning to get crowded, it was not that bad. The crowds were getting larger and larger the closer to the 15th.

Orlando schools let out by the 22nd of may if I remember right - so there are a ton of people in the immediate vicinty available to go. As well as the rest of Florida seems to let out before June also. Large population centers like NY and NJ do not get dismissed for summer break until mid to late June.

I think that week you are planning will be just fine with the exception of memorial day weekend. That will be a zoo I bet.

 

[chirsty'smom]

Our family (4 of us) did WDW Memorial Weekend 2002 - it was busy but I really didn't think it was that bad. We were able to enjoy every ride in all 4 parks that we wanted to hit - which was all except a small handful. The average wait was 30 min. and if it was longer we left and came back later. Having the HP really helped - I wouldn't hesitate to go that weekend again.

 

[Mickey76]

First, congratss to your daughter!

It will be busy, but manageable. The newlyweds might not get to do everything that they want to do, but that's the great thing about WDW; there's so much to do. If they buy Mickey and Minnie Wedding ears, they just might get to go to the front of the line for some rides. I've seen this happen many times before. I hope they have a great time and a wonderful life together.

Mickey76

 

[tc]

Thanks so much for the congrats and info.

Annual passes would not pay because they are using our DVC points so we don't need room discounts, and they only be need park admission for 5 days. They are doing IOA on Friday and then Friday night and Saturday night staying at Vero Beach (more DVC points.)

I am going in March and plan on purchasing bride and groom ears for them. They will wear them, they're fun that way, so I'm sure they'll get a little extra pixie dust.

We are deciding between Ultimate Park Hoppers for their length of stay or 4-5 park hopper plusses. I am leaning toward the UPH because that will allow them to do anything they want w/o having to juggle days or plusses. I want this trip to be memorable.

I knew about Gay week, but there's no getting around that extra crowd. The wedding date is set. Sarah has been to WDW 5 times, so knows her way around. She understands Fastpass and getting there early. I think they can deal with the crowds. They are also both college graduates, so understand the concept of burning the candle at both ends if they want. Their itinerary will be pretty loose, so they can do what they want. Just a few PS's to make it special. I told the DVC rep it was their honeymoon, and plan on little surprises for them as the week progresses.

This is a lot of fun for me, since I love WDW and so does Sarah.

 

[photobob]

I have been this week three times. Memorial day Weekend itself is very busy, but the following week the crowds are manageable. I've found it a good time to go. Enjoy the trip.

 

[rykdad]

I'm a bit concerned with the crowds also. With Memorial Day so late in the month next year, a large number of schools will be on Summer Break before Memorial Day. I'm expecting near-record crowds. That being said, I still plan on arriving Memorial Weekend because it fits our schedule the best. What we don't see on the weekend we'll catch later in the week.