1st or 2nd Week of June?

[onceuponadream]

Hi! We are changing our trip from May to June. I have read that Gay Days are June 3-9 this year. Would this affect crowds at parks other than the "park of the day"? It makes sense to me that the earlier in June the better as less schools are out. We are interested in going when the parks are the least crowded. Are the hours the first and second week of June usually the same? Thanks for any advice!

 

[puffkin]

onceuponadream-

We have gone in June the past two years. In 2001 we went the second week of June. It was hot and crowded, but very manageable. We went the first week of June in 2002 hoping for less crowds. It was much more crowded this year. However, we were still able to accomplish everything we wanted with a little bit of planning and some park hopping. I wouldn't hesitate to go during either week. I have a link to my trip reports from the past two Junes below which will give you extensive info on crowds, weather, and wait times during both of our trips.

Finally, as for gay days, don't be too concerned about them. Just stay away from the MK on their Saturday there. Again, I cannot emphasize enough, AVOID THE MK LIKE THE PLAQUE ON THAT SATURDAY. Other than that, it shouldn't pose a problem. You will have a great trip whichever week you choose!

 

[firecracker]

I was wondering this exact thing! I'm a high school spanish teacher, so when I'm off work so is the rest of the world! So much for going during the "least busy" time!

We were going to go during the first week of June, but after reading some posts last week, we've decided to postpone to the 2nd week.

This was not totally motivated by the Gay Day thing, but I will admit that it did play a part. A couple of posts I saw last week had people saying that the 2nd week is actually less crowded than the 1st week. So we're going with the 2nd week.

I'd be interested to know park hours/fireworks and parade schedules from previous years.

 

[mitros]

I would recommend changing your trip back to May if at all possible, simply because of what you yourself mentioned, that there would be less schools out in May,and you should encounter less crowds. Yes, very warm in June. I won't even get into gay days as there still seems to be a lot of political correctness around.

 

[onceuponadream]

Thanks for all the replies! We are really trying to avoid pulling our kids out of school. Also May is the end of baseball season and playoffs as well as swimteam etc...it's just busier for us. I didn't want to try and "cram" a Disney vacation in that we would hardly remember because we had to come back and get right back into the swing of things with school and sports etc. June is much more a "down time" for us. Do you know how June compares to March as we love going 2nd week in March (can't this year as MIL and FIL going on a cruise the same week and they are joining us)?

I have also read in a couple of posts that 2nd week in June is better than the firs but it just doesn't make any sense to me???

 

[drogerstn]

Check out Rita Aero's Crowds & Weather Chart
You can click on the description at the bottom of the page to get some text on the various season.

We have visited WDW several times at the beginning of June. It seemed to me that the parks and resorts became more crowded as we entered into the 2nd week of June. We visited last year (2002) from 26-MAY to 5-JUN and WDW (& IOA/USF) seemed much more crowded than during our previous visits around this time period. I kept up with posts on this board after our return and it appeared to me that the crowds only got larger after we left. I haven't heard of the crowds dipping down during the 2nd week of June.

I suspect that many people postponed travel and vacations for a few months after 9/11/01 which led to an increase in vacationers in May, June, and afterwards. Maybe a year's worth of vacations got bunched up into only a few months when they would normally have been spread out. (That's just my theory; I haven't seen in travel industry data to back it up.) It will be interesting to see if this year's crowd will follow along the old pattern.

 

[GSLand]

We went second week of June (as soon as school was out for us) in 2000. It was a great time to visit. It was warm but not unbearable. All the parks had longer hours, and we did the special late night thing at MK, and of course EE each day.
We stayed on-site (Beach Club - highly recommended) so we went back to the room for afternoon naps (mom and dad) and pool-time (teens).
Go for June. Avoid Spring Break and Christmas week.

 

[bweagle]

I teach and for the past two years we have gone in Mid-June just after school is out. We have found the crowds to be quite manageable, although they have grown as our trip goes on as we near July.

 

[PoohFanKC]

We (DH, DW, DD-11, DS-9, DS-7) have been to WDW twice - May 29 - June 3, 2000, and June 1-8, 2002. Aside from the LARGE crowd at MK on GayDay Saturday, the crowds were pretty manageable both years.

Our schools are out earlier than many parts of the country, so we tried going our first free week in 2000. We were in MK on GayDay Saturday in 2000. It was crowded and hot and otherwise not our best day of the trip. Of course, I think that the crowds on any Saturday at MK are pretty large. I think that while GayDays increases the crowds at MK on Saturday, it also displaces other guests who, for political or practical reasons, head to the other parks. We had no problems with crowds the rest of the week. We used Early Entry daily and then when the crowds built up, parked hopped to a less crowded park.

In 2002, we decided to arrive at mid-day on GayDay Saturday and just have an out-of-park experience. When we checked in, our porter pulled me aside and asked if we were planning on going to MK that day. I told him that I was aware GayDays and we were spending the evening outside of the parks. The crowds the rest of the week were VERY manageable. We went to MK on Sunday, figuring that it might have fewer people in it, and were able to experience the entire left side of the park (Frontierland, Adventureland, some of Fantasyland - including Splash, BTMRR, POC, and HM twice each) before lunch. FastPass is a wonderful thing! We went during the Character Caravan era, so had no early entry perk. Even so, we were able to arrive at or before rope drop every day and still enjoy the parks before they got too crowded or too hot.

With many schools not out until mid June, I thiink it makes sense to get to WDW before 6/15. According to the GayDays site, this year's activities are from June 5 - 7, 2003, with the BIG day being June 7 at MK. I would suggest the second week in June this year, after the crowds of GayDay and before the full ramp up of Summer season.

 

[onceuponadream]

Thanks for the suggestions! We are still debating between first and second week in June and leaning towards the second because of the crowd increase with Gay Days...so we may travel June 8-16....now where to stay...

 

[mommystieg]

Our first trip to WDW was June 7-15, 2002 and we also found the crowds and the heat to be very manageable. We never waited in line for any attraction longer than 20 minutes and we only used FP a couple of times. It did rain a lot but even that did not ruin our trip. We did learn 2 things--never go inside and leave everything in the stroller, uncovered and AK is not a good park in the rain. We will back in 2003 on June 7(not visiting any parks that day)until the 16th. Hope to see ya' there!!

 

[raidermatt]

Gay Week doesn't have much of an impact on crowds with the very significant exception of MK on the first Saturday in June, and to a lesser extent Epcot on Sunday. So you can easily avoid that problem by avoiding those parks on those days.

The problem, however, is that Spectro was still a once a week thing for the first week of June, and surprise, its one day was Saturday. Sometime during the second week it went to daily.

Now, this year they did add a Spectro to Friday night 5/31, but there's no guarantee they will do it again, and you might not know about it until a few days before.

The reason the 2nd week is busier overall is just that as more kids get out of school, it gets busier. So there is more nightime entertainment and longer hours.

When you go really depends on what is most important to you. If you want to avoid big crowds at all costs, go during the first week and avoid MK on Sat and Epcot on Sun.

If you don't mind crowds that are a bit larger in exchange for more Spectros and later closing times, go for the 2nd week.

Either way, HAVE FUN!

 

[disrailfan]

DW, DD *2 and I go the first week of June every year. We are not really bothered by the GayDays festivities because most of them do not happen at the parks. They do have a day in MK on Saturday and a day at Epcot usually on the Sunday. This year our trip will put us coming home that Saturday and we will more than likely do another park that day before heading to the airport. The rest of the week theor parties are at places like the hotel, City Walk and Parts of PI. It really will have no bearing on our trip as typically they do not act up in the parks in a way that would effect our trip.

The other thing is that you should count on it raining at some point everyday. Our trip this past year it rained for at least 5 - 10 minutes everyday. We just head for a line queue wait on the ride and by the time we are back out of the ride it is typically overwith.

Hope this helps.

 

[Meagansmom]

disrailfan - We usually go in May but are thinking about the first of June also. My question is - like May there are days that it will rain for a few minutes like you said and that is it. Are there many washout days the first couple of weeks in June? Where it just rains all day long? Thank you for any info.

 

[drogerstn]

Meagansmom--June is considered the beginning of the rainy season for Orlando. Average rainfall in May is 4 inches while the average in June is 7 inches. Most of the rain occurs as scattered showers similar to what you mentioned for May. When it rains, it usually will rain really heavy for 10 minutes or so in the afternoon and quit. One park may get rain on a day when another park gets none. I don't know what the probability is for having a complete washout day during the 1st couple of weeks of June; I don't expect it to be high for any given day, but you might get one during that time period.

 

[Meagansmom]

Thank you drogerstn!!!