I’m a little perplexed. So, I’ve checked 5 different, and no two of them seem to agree on crowds for May. I’m looking because we are planning to go in May 2027. We looked at the first full week of May, but one crowd calendar shows better crowds the third week of May. Slightly more points, but we can make it work. All about lighter crowds…but, as I consult the crowd calendars for THIS year as a reference, I just can’t find enough agreement to make an informed decision.
SO, for those who have had boots on the ground in May, have you found any particular week in May to be better than others?
I would look at the past two years in TP’s Crowd Calendar. Historical data is roughly comparable if you use the same source. TP bases theirs on average posted waits for a basket of attractions during peak hours.
Generally, in my experience early May is less rain and less crowds than late May. But I think around Memorial Day is the inflection point for both measures.
My wife noted that as well. I am not sure how much of an impact that would be, but definitely something we are keeping in mind. Since we will be staying at SSR, it probably wouldn’t matter, although not sure if the kids (my age is showing) go to DS.
We are also stalking the same weeks for a big family vacation. We picked May because (historically over my experience) it’s been lovely, although I prefer to go earlier in May, it looks like we’re getting pushed closer to Memorial Day for this trip. Nervous about the impact of the holiday, but the TP forums seem to say it’s a ‘lesser’ holiday impact on crowds than others.
We just returned from our trip May 1-6 and I noticed the Touring Plans crowd calendars didn’t match at all what it was really like. For instance on May 4th, HS is always busy (no park reservations available at the start of the day and the same with Epcot this year) but the crowd calendar said it was low (like a 4 or 5). There are also Dapper days and the cheer competitions. Some schools are still on spring break - so while the whole week was supposed to be decent, some of the days felt more like an 8 (literally shoulder to shoulder). The reason to be concerned about the cheer and dance competitions are the increased crowds and the parents can be pretty unruly.
There is a sweet spot which runs more like May 5th or 6th for about a week. The weather can be hot but not terrible and the rain can come but also tends to go away, it seemed a little less humid as well. Most schools aren’t out yet but Spring Breaks are over so crowds can be lower. Keep in mind, any visit over a weekend will be more busy with locals as well. Good luck - hopefully you can find the perfect time to visit!
I looked at those dates just now, and it appears TP’s estimates were pretty accurate. BUT, therein lies the problem with the method TP uses for judging crowds…it bases them on wait times, not on how busy it “feels”. Waits can be quite low but it FEELS super crowded, for various reasons. There HAVE been times I’ve been, however, when the TP estimate was way off due to some unexpected crowd differences.
Your point about the cheer and dance crowds is a concern…although, honestly, I’d love to be there for dapper days. (Now I’m wondering if those days are known well ahead of time!) My wife and I “lucked” into being in HS one year when it was dapper days, and we really enjoyed people watching.
We COULD choose May 8 through May 15, rather than May 1 to May 8 or May 15 to May 22.
May 4 at HS will have a lot of people there, but many of them are just there for the special events or merch (there was a virtual queue to get into stores for special merch), not riding rides. Touring Plans bases their crowd levels on how long you should expect to wait in lines for attractions, not the number of people there.
Back on October 1, 2021, Magic Kingdom was shoulder to shoulder, butt to crotch crowds all over the park for the 50th anniversary of MK’s opening. However, the crowd levels on wound up being a 1 because those that were there were mainly there buying one day only merch (darn you, eBay pirates!) so basically almost every ride was a walk on, but the problem was it was nearly impossible to move from one ride to the next!
Wait time for IASW: walk-on!
Time to walk from from PPF to IASW: 40 minutes.
You raise a good point about May 4. We can avoid that easily enough if we end up there that week by not doing HS that day. “True” fans know that May 25 is the ACTUAL “Star Wars day” anyhow.
I used to find Undercover Tourist was a better gauge of actual CROWDS (versus wait times) versus TP because they based on their calendar on relative ticket sales, not ride wait times. I just don’t know if that is the case any longer, but perhaps I just need to continue to trust them. They are putting the second and third weeks to be better than the first week…and if you count the weekend days that we would be there, that does mean the third week is best.
We went in May 2025 (around 3rd week) and just got back from a trip May 6-10 (last night!). I would say the crowd calendars seemed pretty accurate for this trip. Here are just a couple of thoughts on crowds for this May trip, and if you have specific questions, let me know.
The more days you can have during the week, the better. Noticably more crowded on weekends than midweek. It was unavoidable for us on this short trip, but in the future, I will absolutely try to include more weekdays if possible.
There was a smaller cheer competition this weekend compared to a bigger one the weekend prior, as I understand it. Frankly, some bad behavior by unsupervised preteen groups was noticeable. For example, a large group of preteens/early teens in front of us in line was stopping to film/stream and photograph themselves through the whole queue, refusing to move along everytime it was necessary. I finally had to ask them to please keep up. To their credit, they did! On the ride, we sat behind 2 of them who screamed inappropriate things to try to be funny and entertain their peers the whole ride. I get it, I have worked extensively with kids, but if I had to deal with it on every ride it would have been a real bummer. It definitely affected our enjoyment of this particular headliner. In short, this smaller cheer comp might not change crowds much, but if I did have the opportunity to avoid these type of group things as much as possible when planning a trip, I would. There also was a fair amount of large groups sprinting to rides, just something to be aware of.
Overall, we were happy with the crowds during our vacation, especially on the crowd level 3 days! Noticeably better than our MK level 5 day–but on that day, we had a fantastic morning by arriving early, took a break, and had no trouble doing a ton of stuff in the evening with lightning lanes. In other words, even at a 5 on a Saturday, and it feeling more crowded, we got everything out of the park we could have wanted.
We went to DS on Mother’s Day, our departure day, for a few hours. It was hot as blazes, and some restaurants had no more reservations (I checked out of curiosity) but we had a perfect early lunch at Polite Pig, got into Gideon’s in less than 30 min and got outstanding items there, and the shops were not uncomfortably crowded. I thought it might be a lot worse for Mother’s Day but we were fine during the day.
If I were going back in May I would be comfortable going any week, based on this visit and prior May visits. I would prioritize getting as many weekdays as possible and avoiding large groups if possible but it wouldn’t be a deal breaker. This trip confirmed once again that the key to a great park day focused on rides is getting there early before the heat and crowds, taking a break and returning in the evening if you like. We tried a late afternoon arrival and staying late at DHS one day, and everyone realized it was a mistake compared to the other strategy.
