First Week of May Crowds

[foldmama]

I am leaving for WDW this Saturday April 30th and staying until May 7th. I have never been this time of year. Usually go down in November or December. Has anyone ever been there the first week of May and have any idea how the crowds are. We are staying at the Port Orleans - FQ. This is my first adult trip without kids. Can't wait until Saturday - 7 days in the WDW

 

[alanindy]

Most of my Disney trips have been the first week of May or during October. Actually, the first week of May is my favorite time to visit WDW or Disneyland. I've found the parks at WDW during the first week of May to be active with some crowds, but it's always manageable. Wait times for attractions can be a walk on or up to 20 to 30 min waits for the major ones during the early afternoon. Of course you should plan to avoid attractions near the front of the park early in the morning as others are lining up for them like sheep (Spaceship Earth at Epcot for example) right as they walk in. With all that being said, the media events surrounding the 50th Anniversary/Happiest Celebration on Earth kick off that week could greatly increase crowd issues and wait times or at the very least cause some park specific issues during certain times of the day when and where the current media event is going on. We will just have to wait and see. I'm going to be there May 2 - 6 myself. As a possible indicator, I did find a couple of priority seating arrangements for dinner tougher to get than normal when I called on April 6th, but that was only for the California Grill and Ohana.

 

[DisneyPhD]

Me too, me too. Except we will be there Friday April 29th, to May 3rd at PORS and then May 3rd to 6th at Vero Beach.

I can't wait. Last year we just did Vero Beach since I was 7 months pregnant and we had just been to WDW in Jan. (but this time we will have just been to WDW in March, but we don't mind. ) The weather was great. I hear the crowds are low too (better then March) but it might be a bit more because of the the May 5 th celebration. However we are not expecting it to be TOO busy or anything.

I can't wait! Doing the less then a week dance! :sohappy:

 

[foldmama]

Yes, I found the same problem with the Priority Seating. I had trouble getting a seating for Canada. Finally was able to get one for Wednesday May 4th at 4 PM. I'm actually planning to go to Universal (never been there) on Thursday to avoid the big events on Thursday. I have noticed that the Disney hotels are not completed booked that week so hopefully it will not be bad crowd wise. I was down at WDW the second week of November and by mid-day the wait for most big rides was about 45 to 60 minutes. 5 days to go! :sohappy:

 

[fjm777]

Crowds would normally be light but this year with all the stuff going on and the parks closing early for media events I think you will find it crowded.

We had booked the exact same time but after we found out MGM was closing early on May 4 we bailed out and are going May 15. I have been wanting to go to Star Wars Weekends anyway.

Good Luck. Hope I am wrong.

 

[DisneyPhD]

Crowds would normally be light but this year with all the stuff going on and the parks closing early for media events I think you will find it crowded.

We had booked the exact same time but after we found out MGM was closing early on May 4 we bailed out and are going May 15. I have been wanting to go to Star Wars Weekends anyway.

Good Luck. Hope I am wrong.

I actually think it will be more crowded the father in May you go. The 1st week shouldn't be too bad. We will know soon enough! (We won't be at WDW over the 4, 5 of May, but over at Vero Beach for that!) We should be on May 3rd and 6th even though we will be traveling those days, got to love AP's!