Please help me decide when to go--jan-may 06!!! Tell me more about MAY!

[harleyquinn]

Hi everyone!

I did a search and found a few threads, but not a lot. i was wondering if you'd tell me about WDW in May. I think that month might be our best bet, but I'm not sure.

DH are going for our first non-summer trip! (June honeymoon last year, August the year before that). Is the weather really better? It seems like its a fickle month. We don't mind rain. Do the parks close early?

We want to go somewhere between jan-may, and since we'll be driving from Cleveland I think jan-feb is out, and since crowds should be huge in March-April...is there a week in there anywhere that would be doable?

What i want is low crowds, nice weather, and not super-early park closings.

I'd also prefer to go during regular or value season, which pretty much kills march and april, but if you have a good argument for those months with the extra $$ over May, please let me know!! We want to stay on-site.

TIA!!

 

[Honeybehr1]

We went on year for Valentines and it was really nice. The park was decorated with lots of red and pink with hearts. The weather was too cold for us but we are from the North, so 60 to us is hot when your coming from 15 degrees. So warmth is all relative.

We have been to FL in April and it was too humid for us. We usually go in Jan and have never had a problem. This year we are breaking all the norms and going in October

 

[harleyquinn]

I wonder if I can find cheap airfare... With the price of gas, it might be worth it...I think 60s would be fine, but I don't want to sport my winter coat Do the parks close really early then?

 

[mjh8955]

We have been the very end of May and it was hotter than we expected it to be. We are heading down the first week of November and are hoping that the weather and crowds will be perfect. We tried both early August and mid-July and thought the crowds and heat were unbearable.

 

[Bellefan66]

I agree,May is hot ,which is why my FAVORITE time is Nov.However,we've done April and yes,there were crowds,but it was do-able and the weather was great!

 

[WaltD4Me]

Hey! Cleveland person here too!
(I wouldn't ever thinking of driving though! )

Just FYI, I found great airfare through Southwest.
$143 total roundtrip this year, first week of May.
We flew out of Hopkins, had a 1/2 stop in Nashville and then on to Disney.

I was there the first week of May this year and I LOVED it! It is my new favorite time to go. In fact I'm planning to go back the same week in May 2006.

I thought the weather was great...it was hot, in the mid 80's to lower 90's, but not at all HUMID (and if you are from Cleveland, you know about humid after this summer!) I was afraid it would be too hot, but it was very manageable and not at all sticky.

The crowds were not as low as you probably see in Feburary, but very manageable. Longest we waited for anything was 20 minutes for Kali River rapids. With a little planning, we walked onto alot of rides or had waits of 5-10 minutes.

Also, it is the Epcot Flower & Garden Festival and I really loved seeing that. The topiaries were amazing!

We also went in early December of 2004 and while it was nice and lower crowds, the parks did close quite a bit earlier. I liked May better when it was a little more crowded, but with later park hours.

 

[harleyquinn]

Wow that is great airfare!

I'm actually in NE Ohio too. We had a blast driving down, but I liked flying too.

If I go in Feb I can totally justify flying, but you guys have me thinking about may too, esp. for that price for flying!! I really want to go when it's cooler, and it'd be awesome to get out of NE Ohio in February...

My head is spinning! Man I love planning a WDW trip!!!

Southwest isn't up yet for February...man I love the idea of flying again. Now if I can just convince DH!

So any other comments?

We're going with a couple friend of ours, so I think the early hours won't be too big of a deal, we'll proably spend a lot of evenings at PI.

 

[laughinplace199]

I vote for May. We went in May '04 and loved it. The weather is hot, but not very humid. And the crowds were low. It was perfect!

Have fun deciding!

 

[harleyquinn]

I see now that the dance teams and cheerleaders will be down there during the time I was interested in in february...we're planning on Pop, so maybe that's a bad idea....

 

[Aliki]

Be careful of mid-March. I hear Spring Break = big crowds.

 

[kilee]

I too am in the same boat as you. I have to book and complete travel by May 1st (I have enough airfare credit for my family to fly free). Really can't afford to do it before the holidays though (they're getting too close to try and save for both in full).

I like the low crowd idea of January, but I don't want to have layers of clothing on. We've done the second week of February (President's Week was the the 3rd week that year) and the weather was lukewarm (great for the parks not great for swimming), and the crowds were super, super low.

We've done mid March (in 2004) it was a nightmare. Very, very crowded. So I've pretty much ruled out from Mid-March through Mid-April. So, I'm looking at mid January through 1st week of February. Last week of February or first week of March- or last week of April. Ugh-- decisions, decisions.

I'm interested to see what ideas people give you.

 

[kilee]

Just wanted to add-- as far as driving we've done the drive in February. We are from the Buffalo NY area. It was actually kind of fun seeing how far south we got before we seen green grass and tree's w/ leaves. Much less flowers in bloom. However, on the way home there was a Mid-Atlantic Blizzard. It took us a lot longer. We were about 5 miles from the Maryland/PA border when they banned travel.

Also, that same trip there were dance/cheer competitions. We only seen them in the parks twice and both times it was really near closing. I guess you'll only really notice them a lot if you are in the value resorts. May be worth the upgrade to a moderate at that time.

 

[harleyquinn]

So far the consensus seems to be to go in May. later hours, warmer...
That way I can drive or fly depending on airline and gas prices...but I don't know. I really want to wear pants in WDW! Bet you've never read THAT sentence before!

 

[harleyquinn]

Okay, tell me more about May! How hot does it get? Earlier in the month the better, right?

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

Since you are from Cleveland, late May is probably going to seem pretty hot. We have gone in May many times and I love it. It is warm enough to enjoy the pools and water parks, and the mornings and evenings are very nice. Middle of the day is pretty warm though, especially later in May and especially if you are from a cooler/less humid climate.

For commando-park-going, I like the cooler months, but for a relaxing trip with time for lounging around the pool and stuff, May is great!

 

[DisneyJen0504]

We enjoy May b/c though it is hot, it is not as hot as the summer gets in WDW.

 

[wld]

the first time we went in the middle of May it was really hot. I mean too hot to sit on your balcony they upgraded you to hot. Hot like all my clothes are sticking to me and my hair is frizzy cause its so hot and humid hot.....Hotter than June when at least it rained and cooled us off.

This year it was hot too, but not that hot and DH and I were expecting it. DDs 19 and 22 kept saying how hot it was........now we're from MI so it was a big temperature change all at once for us.

However the flower and garden festival is wonderful as are Star Wars weekends.

We have also been in January and it is much cooler. Some days I wore gloves but no winter coat or anything, just a sweatshirt. There is alot of green plywood around where they are working on things that kind of spoils the view sometimes but you can usually get great room rates. I understand your concern about driving this time of year. My Mom and Dad usually go to FL in Feb and have ran into some bad weather.

 

[WaltD4Me]

Yea, the earlier in May you go the better. When we were there this May (the first week) it was 85-90 all week. Once again, not hot & sticky though.
I think every day later in May, the stickier it gets!

A couple people said it was warmer than usual for early May though. I would have liked it just a bit cooler, but I wasn't uncomfortable at all.

As for wearing pants at WDW........I'm with you on that one!!! I planned a December trip for just that reason (well, partly!) and it was HOT! It was 90 and sunny every day and didn't even cool off at night! I couldn't believe it! There I was, worried the kids wouldn't be able to swim and then I wound up running out of summer stuff because I wasn't planning for 90's all week!

 

[mill4023]

We were also there in May this year. Actually, April 28th - May 7th.
First few days were hot (90's), then we had a couple days of 80's with a bit of light rain, a huge downpour one evening, and a couple days of 70's.
Crowds weren't bad at all with the one exception of Epcot on May 6th. That was most likely due to the start of the celebration and the official opening of Soarin.

Overall, I enjoyed it and I'm thinking of going again next May. I would actually prefer trying Jan/Feb because I like the cooler weather, but my wife and kids want to go when it's warm enough to use the pools and water parks and when the parks are open a bit longer. I think most parks were open until 9pm when we were there.

Correction: I just checked and the hottest day we had was April 30th when it was 89. It felt really hot that day. Avg humidity that day was 73%.
The coolest day we had was Friday, May 6th when the high was 73. That was a perfect day and we actually would have liked to have sweatshirts that night for illuminations.
The rest of the days were mostly upper 70's / lower 80's.

 

[mhingher]

This was very helpful for me-- I'm going to WDW 5/13-5/20 2006 and wasn't really sure what to expect. I was hoping it wouldn't be as hot as July 4th (we were there in 2004) and warmer than when we were there the 2nd week of March. It was nice then, but a little chilly in the am and pm and we couldn't really enjoy the pools. The parks closed early so we wanted to spend as much time as we can in the parks, but by the time we got back it was too chilly for a swim (although I did see a few brave souls in the pool!)

So I guess it will definitely be shorts and tank top weather when I'm there in May...That will be really nice, since here in NJ it's still only in the 60's, maybe 70's at that time...thanks for the info