Eeeeeeeeek - looks like being May 2011, not September 2011

[glara]

Don't know if I am excited we're planning on going sooner, or terrified that it's only a year away - got to work on saving those pennies!

I am an inbound travel consultant and September next year was always going to be a hard sell for my bosses, as it's when the Rugby World Cup hits our shores.

Anyone been in May and can tell me what it's like crowd wise...? Guessing earlier that month would be better!

 

[PrincessInOz]

glara - I've just come back from the World and was there from 4 - 14 May. There is also at least one other Aussie, who was there at the time and into the latter part of May, that is active on the Dis and she should be back (or will be back shortly). I expect that she may well provide her insight as well.

Early May is traditionally a good time to go; as it is after the US Spring break and the Flower and Garden Show is on. It is also a time where the weather is "in-between" the dry and wet season.

The touring guides indicates that early May should have crowd levels betwen 4 - 6; which means that ride queues are meant to be 10 - 20 minutes; with the more popular rides around 30 - 40 minutes.

For the 2 weeks that I was there in May 2010 it was HOT (all 10 days were 87 - 94 F), HUMID and CROWDED (by mid afternoon, if you didn't have a fastpass for the popular rides, the stand-by times were out to 55 - 90 minutes). The crowd levels certainly weren't what the tourguides were predicting!

Our strategy was to hit the parks early in the morning (we got to the parks before 9.30 am most days) and we found the ride wait times to be 10 minutes. In the mornings, we could do a popular ride 2 or 3 times in a row and pick up fast passes for the other popular rides for later on.

We would then depart the parks at about 2 pm (at least I did; and sometimes hubby and son would stay back) and go back to the hotel. We would collect more fast passes before we left.
We stayed on-site; so we could take the Disney transport back separately (if we didn't use our hired car to get to the parks). We would then enjoy the pool before heading back to the parks around 5 - 6 pm in the evening.
As the evenings weren't as hot or humid, they were great to spend more time in the park. Sunset was around 8 pm; so we still had plenty of sunshine to enjoy. We would use the fast passes that we collected earlier for the evening.

Because we stayed on site, we also took advantage (twice) of the pm EMH. We found that the pm EMH gave us extra time in the evenings for the parks and the crowds were significantly less. In fact, the wait times for the popular rides were pretty much walk on. I know my son enjoyed both evenings as he could go on the rollercoaster rides as many times as he wanted without have to queue.

I really enjoyed my time in May - I think it doesn't matter when you go as long as you make the most of the opportunity whilst you are there and find strategies that work for you.

Good luck with your earlier than expected planning!

 

[aussietravellers]

We went for three weeks in April/May in 2008. It was fantastic!!!!

We are going in September and I am worried I may not like it as much as late April/ Early May!

The crowds were just fantastic, the restaurants were great, not too crowded and we got last minute ADR's and walk ups to may popular restaurants. The flower and garden festival is fantastic, some of those gardens are just amazing, we were constantly snapping photos. They had a butterfly house at Epcot too to walk through, I am not sure if that's there all the time or if that was for the festival.

The weather was hit and miss and we were not expecting it to be cold, we were expecting warm. Probably two weeks of the three weeks the weather was beautiful, not to hot, not too cold, warm enough to swim but not stinking hot! But we had one week that we were FREEZING, like 4 degrees to 10 degrees freezing! We had only taken shorts as we were not expecting it to be cold and we had to buy jumpers. But then it was hot again, hot, then freezing , then hot

But we absolutely loved that time of year and I really would have loved to have gone again at that time for our upcoming trip, but as this is a birthday trip, it had to be later in the year for the birthday. So if I were you I would be excited about May as it is a great time to go

 

[lovintheland]

We arrived May 15 last year and thought that time of year was perfect as opposed to June/July 2007.
Was busy but not super crowded like June was. Do you know I've decided Disney is always busy, especially compared with our theme parks here.
Weather was nice. Kids dids lots of swimming at Hojo's pool. Even had comments while at Disneyland "can we go back for a swim". "Hello!!!!! we have a pool at home, didn't spend $10,000 to get here to have a swim.

Can't wait to try September crowds

 

[glara]

Thanks for the replies, I kind of figured May would be 'okay' as far as crowds go so it's nice to have that validated!

Am very much looking forward to it as my best friend has been living in Irvine (15 minutes from DLR no less!) for the last 5 years and whilst she's been back home every couple of years, it will be great to see her on her turf.

Any further info greatly appreciated!

 

[PrincessInOz]

OOooo...me bad. I just realised that your trip was to DisneyLAND; not Disneyworld.

Sorry!

 

[Travel Mum]

Yes Glara, our last visit was in May and it was great! The weather was warm , compared to N.Z. but not too hot to make it uncomfortable. It was perfect swimming weather for the children. We made sure we did most of our park visiting mid week but, due to the early closing Mon-Thurs, we did have to save a day to go back in on a Saturday to see the Electrical light parade (had seen the Fireworks and Fantasmic on the Friday night). Crowds were certainly heaps busier on the weekend so just make sure you plan your trip for mainly weekdays. How exciting for you!!

 

[aussietravellers]

OOooo...me bad. I just realised that your trip was to DisneyLAND; not Disneyworld.

Sorry!

Oh, Derr! I was talking about Disney World too not Disneyland.

But here is my experience in May at Disneyland as I have been then too, but it was later in May.

Again is was great, crowds were good as far as Disneyland is concerned. We were there this last December and the crowds in May were much like they were in earlier December which was really nice. We had absolutely no problems getting bookings at restaurants we wanted to eat at and the weather was great. Although we did need a jacket in the mornings and evenings as it wasn't as warm as we had expected. But it wasn't cold, just a little nippy walking to breakfast.

Still a great time to go

 

[glara]

Thanks for the further info - I must admit I did read back on my post to see if I'd somehow set you in the wrong direction!

I can't even begin to think about how much planning would have to go into a WDW visit...just getting my head round DLR is enough!

 

[Travel Mum]

I know Glara, I'm finding it a bit overwhelming! For our last Disneyland trip, with the children (and also our extended family), I spent ages resarching and planning (loved doing that) each park visit using the Unofficial Guide and multiple websites. I feel that's there no way you should spend the fortune it takes to get us from N.Z. to Disneyland, only to wing it! That was only for two parks so, the prospect of doing that amount of work for four Disney theme parks, Universal, IOA, Sea World and the two Disney water parks is quite daunting! Just as well I've still got a long time to do it