***Official May 2023 Thread***

[kylenne]

I have the Fantasmic dinner package for Sunday May 28. According to TP it is a 10/10 RED day. I am worried! But I don't see a second show added for that day. That seems odd given the predicted crowds.

Anyway my question is should I drop the dinner package and go to the 2nd show if it is offered?

Please don't freak out. I'll avoid ranting about this again but Touring Plans crowd calendars are basically Miss Cleo at this point and will not tell you anything about what it's actually like in the parks ever since Disney started staffing up and down on the fly based on their own internal data. The best thing to do, as always, is just assume it will be crowded whenever you go and plan accordingly. If it's not, you'll be pleasantly surprised and can pivot accordingly. If it is, you have a plan.

Park hours were extended through the 22nd recently so I would hold off on touching anything unless/until they are extended through the Memorial Day period. We arrive on the 28th so are monitoring it. Personally if they do add a second show I would drop the dining package and just go to the second show, you can walk up pretty much whenever and get a good seat. Use the first showtime to get on rides, wait times will plummet.

 

[Disneycrazymom]

Thank-you! I am freaking out a bit! But this is the best time we could go so it will be awesome! Our last trip was 2018 and a lot has changed. Hopefully they will add some hours/shows if it is really going to be that crowded and maybe, fingers crossed, they won't need to and TP is way off!

 

[kylenne]

Thank-you! I am freaking out a bit! But this is the best time we could go so it will be awesome! Our last trip was 2018 and a lot has changed. Hopefully they will add some hours/shows if it is really going to be that crowded and maybe, fingers crossed, they won't need to and TP is way off!

If it helps at all, Memorial Day weekend really isn't terrible compared to other holidays, I go during this week a lot because my birthday falls on 5/30 and while it's more crowded than the beginning of the month it's nothing like July 4th. In 2021 the parks were dead that week! I think how easy it was with ADRs this time is a good sign too. I managed to get 'Ohana at 60+3 at a prime dinner hour!

 

[Pyxie]

I'm wondering if the lower crowds will continue as a result of a lot of postponed trips from 2020/2021 having been completed by now. Between inflation and ever-increasing Disney prices, maybe fewer people will be going on trips to WDW this year. We can hope, right?

I could also see people waiting until next year now with the announcements like dining plan coming back. Your average Disney guests have been waiting and asking for that for a while.

 

[AUDramaQueen]

Thank-you! I am freaking out a bit! But this is the best time we could go so it will be awesome! Our last trip was 2018 and a lot has changed. Hopefully they will add some hours/shows if it is really going to be that crowded and maybe, fingers crossed, they won't need to and TP is way off!

As @kylenne said, Memorial Day isn't that bad. Lots of schools are still in. A good plan is more important than avoiding certain days based on an arbitrary crowd calendar.

 

[bluedolphin32]

I could also see people waiting until next year now with the announcements like dining plan coming back. Your average Disney guests have been waiting and asking for that for a while.

Very good point, especially with those new announcements from Disney. I know people have been waiting for the dining plan to come back and for park reservations to go away. Now I wonder if people will even postpone later 2023 trips to 2024 just for those reasons...

 

[bluedolphin32]

The general rule with these things is always go to the second show if they have one but especially for Fantasmic. Everyone goes to the first show so wait times plummet then. Ride stuff and then go to the second one. The other benefit to that is at the second show you can basically roll up whenever to get a great seat.

This was what I was hoping to do. We don't go often so I don't want to skip nighttime shows, but I see how low wait times get during the fireworks and I wish we could take advantage! It does keep us up pretty late if we go to the 10:30 show though, as I am planning to rope drop as much as possible and bedtime at a decent hour. The only day I'm considering sleeping in is day 4 for Epcot. The kids will likely be pretty tired by then, and if we have G+ I'm not worried about fitting everything in at Epcot. I'd prefer to RD it, but I'm trying to be prepared to be flexible.

 

[kylenne]

ICYMI: Park hours got extended again for late May through 6/3, most notably for my purposes Fantasmic is getting 2 shows for 5/28! Weirdly I didn't get a Touring Plans update about it.

https://blogmickey.com/2023/05/disney-world-extends-theme-park-hours-in-late-may-early-june/

 

[CanuckGirl78]

ICYMI: Park hours got extended again for late May through 6/3, most notably for my purposes Fantasmic is getting 2 shows for 5/28! Weirdly I didn't get a Touring Plans update about it.

https://blogmickey.com/2023/05/disney-world-extends-theme-park-hours-in-late-may-early-june/

We also didn't get alerts from Touring Plans when our hours were extended recently - very strange! But we're leaving the day after tomorrow, I'm happy and excited, so I'm not going to stress about it!

 

[T.G.I.Friday]

We are here now, and it’s amazing! The weather is gorgeous and the crowds are super manageable.

If I may share one piece of advice, night touring at Hollywood Studios is the way to go. The lines are nonexistent and the heat is the day is over. For example, at 7:45, TSMM was posted at 45, but we were on in 16 minutes. Swirling Saucers was posted at 15, but was less than 5. By 8, Smugglers Run was less than 15 minutes.

 

[kylenne]

We also didn't get alerts from Touring Plans when our hours were extended recently - very strange! But we're leaving the day after tomorrow, I'm happy and excited, so I'm not going to stress about it!

I ended up getting emailed the next day. Guess it is just a hiccup with their system

 

[Disneycrazymom]

Where do you see the extra ra show listed? Is Sunday the only day there are 2 our week? Thank you!

 

[Disneycrazymom]

Where do you see the extra fantastic listed? Is Sunday the only day there are 2 our week? Thank you!

 

[kylenne]

Search for Fantasmic on the website. It will show you the showtimes for whatever date you click on.

 

[bluedolphin32]

We are here now, and it’s amazing! The weather is gorgeous and the crowds are super manageable.

If I may share one piece of advice, night touring at Hollywood Studios is the way to go. The lines are nonexistent and the heat is the day is over. For example, at 7:45, TSMM was posted at 45, but we were on in 16 minutes. Swirling Saucers was posted at 15, but was less than 5. By 8, Smugglers Run was less than 15 minutes.

Nice! Glad you're having a great time. I think we may hop over to HS on the 26 and take advantage of the later hours there to ride more rides during the 2 F! shows and stick with watching the one on the 24 at 9.

I hit a wall last week with planning/researching. I think I've planned all I can and now it's just time to put the plan into action. I am glad I spent a lot of time planning and learning in advance though. I have enough knowledge to pivot when needed and I think it's going to be great no matter what.

 

[kylenne]

Nice! Glad you're having a great time. I think we may hop over to HS on the 26 and take advantage of the later hours there to ride more rides during the 2 F! shows and stick with watching the one on the 24 at 9.

I hit a wall last week with planning/researching. I think I've planned all I can and now it's just time to put the plan into action. I am glad I spent a lot of time planning and learning in advance though. I have enough knowledge to pivot when needed and I think it's going to be great no matter what.

For the evening of my birthday we will be at HS doing droids and Savi's, this is giving me hope that we'll be able to get a few rides in too. Kinda bummed there's only one F! show that night though.

 

[QueenofPrideRock]

FWIW I feel like HS has been TP's most over-predicted park this month. I was there last week and HS was predicted at 7s and 8s all week, actual crowds ended up all being like 4 or lower. Super curious how Memorial Day will play out.

 

[bluedolphin32]

FWIW I feel like HS has been TP's most over-predicted park this month. I was there last week and HS was predicted at 7s and 8s all week, actual crowds ended up all being like 4 or lower. Super curious how Memorial Day will play out.

Music to my ears! I don't think anyone saw such a sustained crowd slowdown coming. It's great news for us who are going this month! And with the new deals and discounts for summer, it seems like they are expecting a summer slump.

we will be at HS doing droids and Savi's

We're doing both at early afternoon times. I was starting to worry we wouldn't be able to fit in as many shows, but with the way things are looking, I think we may be able to do it after all. Depending on how annoying they are to carry around, we may run them over to YC. We are bringing our own backpacks to carry them around in.

I didn't make an Oga's ressie, and I'm hoping my kids don't walk by and ask about it. I know there's always a chance of a walkup, but I'm not really counting on that.

 

[AUDramaQueen]

We are here now, and it’s amazing! The weather is gorgeous and the crowds are super manageable.

If I may share one piece of advice, night touring at Hollywood Studios is the way to go. The lines are nonexistent and the heat is the day is over. For example, at 7:45, TSMM was posted at 45, but we were on in 16 minutes. Swirling Saucers was posted at 15, but was less than 5. By 8, Smugglers Run was less than 15 minutes.

Shhhh. Let's keep this between us! Last March during peak Spring break we hopped in line for SDD about 45 minutes before close with a posted wait time of 50 thinking we would end the night with that. We were off in 20 minutes and made it over to Rise where we waited 20 minutes. This was before Fantasmic was back though so I thought maybe more people left the park since there was nothing to do.

Glad to hear it still works!

 

[kylenne]

Music to my ears! I don't think anyone saw such a sustained crowd slowdown coming. It's great news for us who are going this month! And with the new deals and discounts for summer, it seems like they are expecting a summer slump.

We're doing both at early afternoon times. I was starting to worry we wouldn't be able to fit in as many shows, but with the way things are looking, I think we may be able to do it after all. Depending on how annoying they are to carry around, we may run them over to YC. We are bringing our own backpacks to carry them around in.

I didn't make an Oga's ressie, and I'm hoping my kids don't walk by and ask about it. I know there's always a chance of a walkup, but I'm not really counting on that.

We have our DD/Savi’s at 5:30 & 6 respectively so we’ll be able to get a fair bit of touring done that evening. We have Oga’s at 9:35 so will not be able to do F! that night.

Oga’s is still wide open for our dates fwiw and every time I check the app for science I see walkup availability. I think you’ll be fine tbh.