The past two times we took the kids to WDW, we went in September because the kids weren't in school yet. This time we went as soon as our daughther (now 5) was done with Kindergarten. Since she was done on May 22, I was hopeful that things wouldn't be too crowded yet, since lots of schools don't get out until early May. And while crowds were noticeably higher than in September, with one exception, they were manageable.
May 26 (MK): CROWDED CROWDED CROWDED. In fact, MK was very crowded every time we went. On this day we focused on Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. We got to ride everything we wanted but the waits were very long. I was shocked to see a 20+ minute wait for IASW. Fastpass made it manageable but the crowd levels made us miserable at times. Had a great dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table.
May 27 (Epcot): Not very crowded at all. Long waits for Soarin and Test Track but only 5-10 minute waits for everything else. Pretty disappointed with the new SSE. I think we did everything in future world in about 6-7 hours.
May 28 (AK): Not very crowded. Walked right into the Nemo musical. Was able to ride EE twice on fastpass. I forgot how fun the Dinosaur ride was! I hadn't ridden since 2002 and was very impressed. My kids loved the "dino dig" play area. Saw more animals on the safari than we ever had.
May 29 (MK): Again, VERY CROWDED. And we were there at opening. On this day we focused on Adventureland and Frontierland. Here is an indication of how crowded it was: I was waiting for my family by Jungle Cruise, where there was no wait at 9 (this was not an EMH morning). By 9:30 the wait was up to 30 minutes, and this wasn't an EMH morning! It really baffled me. For some reason, Pirates didn't open until later in the morning, and then the lines were VERY long. But we still had a blast. Spent an hour on Tom Sawyer island with my 3 year old son, and we both had a blast! That is a very underrated part of the park, IMHO. My 5 year old daughter rode Splash Mt for the first time and loved it! Liked the plussing of HM. Jungle Cruise needs to go....the CMs don't even treat it seriously and you can now see real animals just up the road at AK.
May 30 (DHS): Despite a Star Wars weekend, not as crowded as I was expecting. Had character breakfast at the Hollywood and Vine, then I grabbed fast passes for TSMM (which we could't use until 11). So before 11, we saw Playhouse Disney live on Stage, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, The Magic of Animation, and met Mickey and the Up characters. All in 2 hours! Then we rode TSMM for the first time and absolutely loved it. In fact, we really really had a great time at DHS. Lots to do there, probably an all day park for most people. We took the afternoon off and then came back at 6, and nearly had the park to ourselves from 6-closing. It was great!
May 31 (Epcot): just did a quick 2 hours in EPCOT before we had to leave.
All in all a fun trip, but the MK crowd levels were at times miserable. Lunch at Pecos Bill on Friday May 29 was like a combat zone. NOT fun for us when the crowds are like that (and really tough to understand when you are there on a non EMH morning).
In the future we will probably pull our kids out of school and go in the non-peak times. But we still had a GREAT time!
May 26 (MK): CROWDED CROWDED CROWDED. In fact, MK was very crowded every time we went. On this day we focused on Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. We got to ride everything we wanted but the waits were very long. I was shocked to see a 20+ minute wait for IASW. Fastpass made it manageable but the crowd levels made us miserable at times. Had a great dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table.
May 27 (Epcot): Not very crowded at all. Long waits for Soarin and Test Track but only 5-10 minute waits for everything else. Pretty disappointed with the new SSE. I think we did everything in future world in about 6-7 hours.
May 28 (AK): Not very crowded. Walked right into the Nemo musical. Was able to ride EE twice on fastpass. I forgot how fun the Dinosaur ride was! I hadn't ridden since 2002 and was very impressed. My kids loved the "dino dig" play area. Saw more animals on the safari than we ever had.
May 29 (MK): Again, VERY CROWDED. And we were there at opening. On this day we focused on Adventureland and Frontierland. Here is an indication of how crowded it was: I was waiting for my family by Jungle Cruise, where there was no wait at 9 (this was not an EMH morning). By 9:30 the wait was up to 30 minutes, and this wasn't an EMH morning! It really baffled me. For some reason, Pirates didn't open until later in the morning, and then the lines were VERY long. But we still had a blast. Spent an hour on Tom Sawyer island with my 3 year old son, and we both had a blast! That is a very underrated part of the park, IMHO. My 5 year old daughter rode Splash Mt for the first time and loved it! Liked the plussing of HM. Jungle Cruise needs to go....the CMs don't even treat it seriously and you can now see real animals just up the road at AK.
May 30 (DHS): Despite a Star Wars weekend, not as crowded as I was expecting. Had character breakfast at the Hollywood and Vine, then I grabbed fast passes for TSMM (which we could't use until 11). So before 11, we saw Playhouse Disney live on Stage, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, The Magic of Animation, and met Mickey and the Up characters. All in 2 hours! Then we rode TSMM for the first time and absolutely loved it. In fact, we really really had a great time at DHS. Lots to do there, probably an all day park for most people. We took the afternoon off and then came back at 6, and nearly had the park to ourselves from 6-closing. It was great!
May 31 (Epcot): just did a quick 2 hours in EPCOT before we had to leave.
All in all a fun trip, but the MK crowd levels were at times miserable. Lunch at Pecos Bill on Friday May 29 was like a combat zone. NOT fun for us when the crowds are like that (and really tough to understand when you are there on a non EMH morning).
In the future we will probably pull our kids out of school and go in the non-peak times. But we still had a GREAT time!
