Sat-Wed VS. Mon-Fri in mid-May.

[momto2nenas]

We are hoping to book tonight/tomorrow so any quick responses are greatly appreciated!

First off we are going for 5 days, 5 nights, traveling home the 6th day.

Our first day in California WILL be a Park day for us. Sooo, should we aim for
Saturday - Wednesday (we won't arrive our hotel till around 1:30pm) or Monday-Friday.

We are traveling with 3 little ones so the midnight hours aren't a Pro for the weekends, the Fireworks however would be. Also Splash goes down for refurb. on that Monday, 17th. And DH hates crowds...

What do you think?

 

[lozzypop]

IMHO, even though your husband hates crowds I would pick the Saturday to Wednesday itinerary. Sure Monday to Friday will be better crowd-wise but you will not get to experience the fireworks and Splash Mountain. If it is your first time or you haven't been for a while you will not want to miss them.

You do have five days which is ample time to do everything at a leisurely pace. So be selective about what you do Saturday/Sunday and save the most crowded parts of the park, like Toontown or Adventureland, for the weekdays. Use the planning calendar to see what does not run during the week (for instance, Aladdin is sometimes dark Mon-Wed) and make sure to hit those things on Saturday/Sunday.

We have visited a couple of times in May and if you have those longer, crowded days at the beginning of the vacation you are better equipped to handle them because you are fresh.

 

[nunzia]

I would change it up a bit and stay Mon through Friday, leaving Sat AM. I wouldn't want to be there Fri, Sat & Sun. We are going mid May also and the big bummer is that WOC isn't happening (unless we get lucky and see a soft opening) Fantasmic is still down, so the only night time thing will be the fireworks and I'm expecting that to be HORRIBLY crowded. I'd still stay during the week instead of the weekend just for less crowds, hopefully. Saturdays are blocked out for all but PAP, so that may have an impact on slower Saturdays, but it's also Food and Wine, so maybe not. Tough choice...we always go Wed-Sat. We like having our lower corwd days at the beginning of the trip so we can make sure and do everything we want to do before the crowds come..then on heavy crowd days we can just go to smaller lines or just hang out more at the hotel.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

Your only opportunity to see fireworks would be Friday, saturday and sunday nights.

 

[ktlm]

Check the park schedules at Disneyland. In addition to missing the Fireworks, the Aladdin show also usually only runs on the weekends. I found that out in planning our trip. I'm not used to that as I'm a WDW person and most shows run during weekdays too there, so it wasn't something I would have thought of and it really surprised me.

 

[momto2nenas]

Thanks for the replies! We just booked for Saturday-Wednesday! We'll have 2 chances to see the fireworks (they seem to always get canceled at least 1 night during our trips..grrr.) and see the Aladdin show AND the earlier opening times. I may even stick around the park alone Sunday night taking advantage of the midnight hour, letting DH take the babies back to the hotel...

 

[yupikgal]

We kind of have the same dilemma, but it's not because of my husband hating crowds (although I know he does) it's more for my kids love of Splash Mountain that I think we are using most of the days towards the memorial day weekend instead of the beginning of our trip, even if we will be there Friday the 21st of May. I'm going to talk to them after school today and see if they want to do one day the first day we get there and then maybe come back memorial day weekend for the rest of it...we have some flexibility because we will be in Southern California for 13 days! For us the other important thing is the parks being open later, because our kids love that since they are teens!