Memorial Day Crowds

[iheartdisney]

Any experience out there with Memorial Day crowds? I'm interested in info about the actual day - Memorial Day, the Memorial Day weekend and the week after.

Since we stopped homeschooling and my daughter is in high school we've had to schedule our trips around the school calendar (I know, poor us!) and our daughter's last day of school is the 22nd. We've been spoiled visiting WDW during off-season and we'd like to know what we're getting ourselves into.

Planning tips? Schedule tips? Any help is appreciated!

[justice11]

i would like to know too, we are just like you, spoiled, since my youngest is a teacher we can only go in the summer. so as soon as school is out we are gone. i hate that we miss the $200.00 gift card tho, but maybe they will have something by then.

[taymaesmom]

We have visited 3 times during Memorial weekend. We have never experienced large crowds at any park other than the Magic Kingdom, we have been to MK on the Sun before Memorial day all 3 times and that is always the busiest day of the week. That said we have spent memorial day in DHS and seen almost NO crowds, walk ons or 20 min waits at most. We have found it to be a great time to visit, yes its hot but could be worse, yes its busy but could be way worse. We have always gotten to do everything we wanted with little waits or with fast passes. We are again going during that time, May 23-30 and can't wait.

[Tink#64]

We visited the week leading up to the MD weekend a few years ago & saw the biggest crowds we've ever experienced! Prior to that trip, we'd always visited the 2nd week of May & experienced wonderfully low crowd levels, as most schools aren't yet out! That trip we arrived on Saturday of the weekend prior to the holiday weekend, and we noticed much larger crowds from the minute we arrived! Both DH & myself commented on it right away! We heard many people say that there children were out of school or that they had pulled them out for the last week.The crowds built over the week, and by Friday of the Holiday weekend, we felt the difference! It was the 1st time that I've ever seen Pop resort crowded, so much so, that even the Hippy Dippy pool seemed packed & it's a large pool! The food court was a mad house! We stayed until Sunday, the day prior to the actual Holiday, with both DH & myself agreeing that in the future we'd try to avoid holiday times! Although, we'd both love to experience WDW during the Christmas holidays, but I know that's a long way off for us, because it would be understood that we wouldn't be able to do everything we're used to doing, with the extreme crowds! I don't remember where I read it, but I remember reading after the fact, that the MD holiday is one of the busier times to visit, but one of the bus drivers told us that week, that it wasn't busy at all! We were assuming that he meant in relation to the summer & Christmas crowds!

We still had a fantastic trip as always, and it definitely wouldn't keep me from my trip, but I think you have to plan wisely, arrive at park opening & utilize the FP's as much as possible! Luckily, that was a 9 day trip & we were able to do everything we wanted even with the larger crowds! This year we visited during Spring Break, ours was early April this year, and I don't think it was as crowded as that trip! I had planned for the crowds & warned the DS's that it would be a very busy time, but we managed just fine! We're not really the park commando type, but we're not really laid back either! We arrive at opening & go, go, go! :thumbsup:

[iheartdisney]

"Bump"

Would love some more input! I know there are some closet Memorial Day vacationers who haven't posted yet......you know who you are!:secret:

[iheartdisney]

WIth how few responses I've had to this thread is it safe to assume that Memorial weekend/week vacation at Disney isn't all that crowded?

[Beast_fanatic]

WIth how few responses I've had to this thread is it safe to assume that Memorial weekend/week vacation at Disney isn't all that crowded?

I wouldn't go that far. A lot of times people see that someone else has answered the same way that they would, and then they don't reply at all.

My only experience with Memorial Day was several years ago. We went the week before Memorial Day and left during the weekend. The crowds got steadily larger as our week went on and by Friday (before the holiday weekend), it was really starting to get crowded. We were at the Magic Kingdom for awhile on Saturday and found the crowds to be extremely heavy that day (to the point that we almost couldn't move in Frontierland).

[January-2007]

Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend we enjoyed the Magic Kingdom, especially EMH PM. On Wednesday morning we arrived at the gates and it looked so busy we just didn't end up going to the Magic Kingdom that day. I think a lot of it has to do with good planning and being there before the park opens. I think that the Star Wars weekends are starting in June now instead of May, those get really crowded. Epcot is beautiful with the Flower and Garden Festival, but we did notice it was busier in Future World than we were used to, huge lines for Ellen's Energy Adventure, not used to that. Also, it's hot. We only had full blown rain one day though so it was still super fun, and it gives you a great opportunity to take advantage of the resort pools! We were at the Beach Club and of course DH loved the slide and we had a lot of fun swimming. We were able to get same day ADRs several times and took our time strolling through Epcot. The Indiana Jones Show was packed but if you plan better you can get in early with the Fastpass. The PM EMH at Magic Kingdom and MGM were soooo fun, but at Epcot we thought it was just too busy. We're going again during this time in 2009 and are planning accordingly. Have a wonderful trip!