WDW week of Memorial Day

Was wondering how the crowds are the week of Memorial Day! I've seen a couple of website that say crowded but not too bad but I just wanted anyone who had been there that week to let me know how the crowds are.

Thanks,

timmyk *** Edited 3/10/2008 12:38:40 AM UTC by timmyk***

Disney operates on different rules, since people make vacations months in advance. Since Memorial Day is a three day holiday, I assume that there may be more people there that week then say the week before, however every week at that time schools are letting out so every week is more crowded then the next.

Disney does a really good job handling their crowds though, so as long as you get there at opening I wouldn't sweat it. Believe it or not two of the best days Ive ever spent at Disney were holidays, Easter at Epcot and July 3rd at the Magic Kingdom (they did the 4th show that night.) Just use your fastpasses and you'll be fine.

I can't speak for the week of Memorial Day but I did visit Magic Kingdom during the week between Christmas and New Years a few years back. We went to Universal on Saturday and Magic Kingdom on Sunday. We were told by our cab driver on Saturday that Magic Kingdom had hit max capacity the previous few days so we made sure to get to the park early. I'm sure it was at capacity that day and waits were a little crazy.

1.5 hours for log ride
1.5 hours for haunted mansion
2 hours for space mountain
1 hour for pirates

That should give a decent picture, it was pretty busy, although it never was annoying, crowds didn't seem all that out of control and waiting in lines at Disney is not as big of a bore since there is lots to look at. So that could be a worse case scenario. Just make good use of the flashpass! (I don't know the current rules but back then you could only hold one attraction pass at a time)

^Unless your resort screws up on closing your account a day too early while you are in a park. Since your hotel key is also your admission key and your defacto flashpass access. Turns out that inactivating the account does nothing to flashpass accessibility. Combine that with being stuck on Space Mountain (and evaced off of) the night before and by the end of that day we had too many flashpasses to use before the park closed :).

Best day at the Magic Kingdom ever, after 2 pm we never waited in a normal line the rest of the night and the longest we waited was 30 mins for the big 4th of July fireworks. Over 30 rides in one day, at the Magic Kingdom, when the park nearly reached capacity, not too bad if I do say so myself.

Can't speak for Memorial Day, but we went over Labor Day weekend the past two years and both times the crowds were at best "moderate". There were busy times at some of the parks but I don't think we ever waited an hour for anything.

The longest wait was for Soarin' at 50 minutes, but we were waiting on a second fast pass window to come through (got the first passes before eating lunch at Garden Grill). Ended up riding three times in a row. :)

Walt Disney World Resort on Memorial day week. AVOID! Come the week before or two weeks later.

I think Memorial Day is a bit busier than Labor Day. A lot of southern schools are out in mid-May, but go back in early- to mid-August. What's more late August is hurricane season; many folks try to avoid the southeast entirely then.

Well typically my family goes at Christmas time which is NUTS! So is Memorial Day week anything close to that?

timmyk

Not Christmas nuts, no. Probably not even peak summer nuts, but not too far from it.

I live here in Lake Buena Vista, right off Walt Disney World Resort property and I am in the parks a lot, almost weekly. I have learned that Memororial Day week is crazy it is when most people start their vacation and it is also Gay week. To us locals MDW is the time of the year we lose the parks to all the tourist. Of course we also say that about Thanksgiving Weekend and Christmas/New Years weeks (when it is at it's worse) and Spring Break Months. The week before MDW isn't too bad and it still calm and nice. But come the Friday of MDW, all hell breaks looks and the traffic everywhere in horrible and all I want to do is stay home. Here is a list of a few of the busiest times of the year.

Christmas/New Years 12.22-01.05

Thanksgiving Weekend

Independence Day Week

Memorial Day Week

Spring Break Months (Daytona 500 Week to the second or third week in April)

Labor Day Weekend

All remaining Three Day Weekends (like Colombus Day)

Gay Days are typically the week after Memorial Day week, they usually don't overlap. This year is no exception.

Memorial Day weekend is a very busy weeekend in all Orlando parks. The schools in Florida let out around Memorial Day and that is their unofficial start to summer. Most families take the short trip to Orlando to kick off that summer vacation.

I used to live in Florida and visited the park every year durring Memorial Day weekend. It was always busy and almost always very warm. Don't get me wrong, it's no busier than a normal summer day when all of the families from up north are down there, but still busier than almost any time in the early spring or fall.

I don't know about the rest of the state but South Florida schools -- that make up a large chunk of the summer traffic at WDW -- are actually getting out in early June this year instead of late May.

In other words, you may be catching a break. Regardless, plan on healthy crowds on Saturday, Sunday and Memorial Day itself with much thinner crowds during the week.

Thank you all for your help. Usually when you goto reserve a room at WDW this close to time to go, you can't find anything, and I had NO trouble finding a room at most if not all resorts. Just was curious on the crowds since I had no trouble finding a room.

timmyk