***Can't keep us down...OFFICIAL MAY 2021 THREAD...come heck or high water we're going to WDW!!!***

[Kitty & Covs Covs]

Jumping in this thread! We (DH and DD (7)) are going Friday with my brother and his family for a rescheduled trip from 2020, BUT a friend just asked if DD and I would go with her and her daughter 4/30-3/3. So we moved some things around in our budget and made it happen. She’s paying for the hotel since “she would anyway” which is SUPER nice and makes it doable. I’m excited to see everyone’s plans and I’ll let you know if learn anything this weekend that informs what we do in May!

 

[babydoll65]

Hello everyone, just came back last month from a split stay between Gran Destino Tower and the Riviera which was fantastic. Was already booked for this coming Dec 4-11 but convinced my sister that we needed a quick trip in May. Wanted to add my dates to the list and follow along (May 14-18)
Staying at Caribbean Beach resort but will most likely switch to Gran Destino Tower which is my favorite. My sister wants the skyliner access where I don't really care since I prefer using Lyft to get everywhere.

*Edit* Looks like we're keeping with Cbr. It's only for four nights and we'll be spending a lot of time in Epcot.

Decided to switch our resort this morning and upgraded us to Yacht Club
Farro could you add me to the group? Going 5/14-5/18

 

[hulagirl87]

DH isn't able to travel due to his job, so he said it was ok for me to take the kids without him! I've never done this before and we will be driving! Staying at Art of Animation, Little Mermaid rooms from 5/1-5/7. I'm a little bummed about having to pay for the magic bands now, but I know that DD would love a Stitch one, so they got me there!

 

[tzeitel]

I really thought Ratatouille would open in April, but should have known better since I'm always wrong. Seriously always wrong

 

[Rach73]

Joining in! We are at CSR May 9-14. Made our dining reservations this morning and pretty much got everything we wanted.

 

[mickey916]

Today would have been our day to get ADRs for our cancelled trip. Happy to see everyone getting the ones they want and hope you all have wonderful trips!

 

[Katie1174]

Made our ADR’s this morning and got every single day and exact time we wanted. Of course, if they change the park hours, I will probably want to change this around a bit, which may be a lot more difficult.....
Anyway, for any newbies out there, do not just use the “lunch or dinner” drop down and hit times available, your list will be limited. Actually hit the times box and get the full hours from open to close and select the actual time you want, then see what pops up, because you will get a lot more of what you want if you select a specific time, not just lunch or dinner.

 

[Tess]

Anyone in the first week of May able to report on getting their ADR’s? I’m booking mine tomorrow morning and curious on how others a fairing.

While I had some glitchiness in the booking process, I was finally able to make all of the ADRs I wanted BUT Via Napoli date. VN was not available for our traditional Pizza Friday meal, but I did get it for Sunday. I flipped La Hacienda to Friday and VN to Sunday. Times were not as late as I had hoped for our dinners and one lunch was earlier than I preferred, but we got them.

BTW, our trip dates are May 6-14, 2021 at BWV. Hope you were successful!

 

[Penny McMouse]

I really thought Ratatouille would open in April, but should have known better since I'm always wrong. Seriously always wrong

Yeah. I was hoping we’d get to ride it. Nope.

 

[Kitty & Covs Covs]

DH isn't able to travel due to his job, so he said it was ok for me to take the kids without him! I've never done this before and we will be driving! Staying at Art of Animation, Little Mermaid rooms from 5/1-5/7. I'm a little bummed about having to pay for the magic bands now, but I know that DD would love a Stitch one, so they got me there!

How old are your children? I bet you’ll have a blast on a unique kind of trip with just them!
We never would have gotten the fancier Magic Bands when the solid colors were free, but when I went to pay the minimum $5 I was like eh, what’s $10 or $15 for the one she wants? And that’s how they get you! But we do have cute bands now!

 

[limace]

We decided to tell the kids last night at my middle daughter’s birthday dinner-15!!! I didn’t want to tell the younger two earlier in case we had to cancel. I bought them each a Disney t shirt at Target yesterday and handed them out at the restaurant. They are super excited-my 15 year old actually asked me to come in the hot tub with her last night and chattered about the trip the whole time we were there (her coming out of the room and speaking to us is rare).

Of course then in the middle of the night I started thinking are we crazy to do this in the pandemic? Ugh. DH will be fully vaccinated at the end of this week and I’m hoping I will be. My state-Oregon-has had one of the best Covid rates in the nation all along and our numbers are really low right now (I’m knocking on wood as I type this) and Florida’s are a lot better than they were but I’d sure love to get a vaccine.

 

[Kitty & Covs Covs]

We decided to tell the kids last night at my middle daughter’s birthday dinner-15!!! I didn’t want to tell the younger two earlier in case we had to cancel. I bought them each a Disney t shirt at Target yesterday and handed them out at the restaurant. They are super excited-my 15 year old actually asked me to come in the hot tub with her last night and chattered about the trip the whole time we were there (her coming out of the room and speaking to us is rare).

Of course then in the middle of the night I started thinking are we crazy to do this in the pandemic? Ugh. DH will be fully vaccinated at the end of this week and I’m hoping I will be. My state-Oregon-has had one of the best Covid rates in the nation all along and our numbers are really low right now (I’m knocking on wood as I type this) and Florida’s are a lot better than they were but I’d sure love to get a vaccine.

You aren’t crazy! There are many ways to continue to be safe and reduce the chances of anything happening. With one if you vaccinated it reduces the chances even further. The reports from Disney are that it’s crowded but manageable, so you should be fine!

 

[EpcotPhoenician]

May 7th - 15th @ OKW!

 

[limace]

May 7th - 15th @ OKW!

Awesome! I love that resort.

 

[Connor540]

My fiancée and I will be visiting 5/3 - 5/6 for the first half of our honeymoon getaway! We get married on the first and will be flying down to Orlando on Sunday with a day for each park. We’ll fly out Friday for a week of relaxing and recovery in Cozumel at one of our favorite resorts. My future bride has been to WDW a few times growing up but this will be my first trip. I vividly remember wanting to go every time I saw the brothers packing their suitcases when I’d pop in a VHS tape! My parents always opted for a beach vacation so this is a long time coming even if things might look a little different. My future in-laws were generous enough to let us use their timeshare so we’ll be staying off-property at one of the Hilton Grand Vacations locations with plans to Uber/Lyft to the parks each day. Here’s our current plans:

5/2 - Arrive and dinner at Raglan Road
5/3 - Animal Kingdom (potentially hopping somewhere for the evening depending on park hours)
5/4 - Epcot - This was originally our DHS day (so I could really celebrate May the 4th) but we switched it after getting an evening reservation for Savi’s on Thursday. Blindly hoping that it will also increase our odds for a Rise boarding group and something opening at Oga’s. Originally had a Biergarten reservation but decided to eat around the festival instead.
5/5 - Magic Kingdom - dinner at Skipper Canteen
5/6 - Hollywood Studios - We have a late lunch reservation at 50’s Prime Time but I’m hoping to flip that for Oga’s or Sci-Fi. Ending the trip with a late night lightsaber build!

We both work in healthcare and have been fortunate to get vaccinated early. The pandemic wedding planning has been pretty stressful so I’m beyond ready for the fun stuff!

 

[Farro]

Hi all! I'll update list again sometime Friday!

 

[tzeitel]

How has adding a park reservation last minute been working out? I know this month is crazy since it's Spring Break all month long but what are the chances in May?

We have 8 day ph that I bought for our 2020 trip from a 3rd party (Visit FL) and we would like to add a day. SW had super low prices last month for some times ( super early or sorta late) and now we are leaving at almost 7pm - so you know that means one last Dole Whip must be had!

Im thinking of calling Disney to ask if it's possible to add it now but I am betting that is a no for 3rd party tickets. I'm fine adding it once we get there but worried about the park reservations.

 

[mickey916]

I would definitely call them. I had third party tickets from my May 2020 cancelled trip and I called and was able to change them to dates in May 2022 (for a fee) so I'm guessing you could probably also add a day for a fee.

 

[JEng711]

Hi everyone! I just discovered this thread and am happy to join. We (me, DH, DD6 and DS20mo) will be staying at Bonnet Creek from May 1-8. This is our (save the baby) 3rd time going so while we're not that new at all of it, Covid planning is a different beast lol and I'm finding I'm not as on top of things as I have been in the past.

This is a do-over from our May 2020 trip. My husband and I will be fully vaxxed by the time we leave and the 6yo, while of course not vaxxed, is a pro at wearing a mask and distancing because kids are so resilient. This year we are celebrating our DD's 7th birthday on May 6! In the past we have done sit down lunches and dinners because that's how we roll but I know that's not really going to be possible this year due to Covid and the baby (he's barely been in society for the last year so we're working on making him un-feral). So if anything I just tried to get dinner ressies (and we eat early-ish, 5:30/6 with the baby) and lunches will be mobile order.

So far we have the following:

May 1 - Saturday - arrival: nothing. Flying from NY and it's the babe's first flight so we are taking the first day/night easy as who knows how things will be going lol
May 2 - Sunday - AK: no dining ressies this day because it closes early. Of course that may change but I was unable to get Tiffins or Y&Y so I guess we'll play it by ear. I'll check the park hours constantly and maybe they'll extend and I can snag a Y&Y one.
May 3 - Monday - EP: Wanted GG or San Angel (which we always enjoyed in the past) but no dice. Have ressie finder on it.
May 4 - Tuesday - HS: Doesn't matter if we wanted a ressie, literally nowhere in the park had any availability lol. Have ressie finder looking for 50's.
May 5 - Wednesday - Day Off: Looked for Topolino's breakfast for the 6yo but was unlucky so have a finder going, managed to score Sanaa for dinner (yummmmmmmmmm)
May 6 - Thursday - MK: The Big Day! My baby girl is 7! Have a Plaza ressie at like 4:30 but the Ultimate would be CRT so I have a finder going for that.
May 7 - Friday - MK again: Skipper Canteen at 4:45. A little early but I'll take it and keep checking if anything later pops up.

I thought we ate early but I guess we aren't the only ones! Haha.

Also I wanted to ask opinions - Just noticed tonight that we will be at HS on May 4th. I know it's Covid planning and crowd calendars can only be so on point with their predictions, but every place I could find a calendar at had that day being one of the best for it. Will we regret this? We are SW fans but have resolved to not be all commando this trip since it's the baby's first and it's Covid Times. I just want to make sure I get a BG and while I've had luck every day that I've been trying from home (got past selecting my party), I worry that if HS gets full with park reservations, a BG might become an even HARDER ticket to get.

So, all that being said, does anyone see any need to change around our first three days? The only days we could switch around are the 2-4 as we always break on Wednesday and have MK be our last days. I was confident with my planning until I realized May 4th was our HS day. And tbh I really really want to keep the current schedule but we used to go in February so May (and May 4th) is a whole new experience for us.

 

[kylenne]

Hi everyone! I just discovered this thread and am happy to join. We (me, DH, DD6 and DS20mo) will be staying at Bonnet Creek from May 1-8. This is our (save the baby) 3rd time going so while we're not that new at all of it, Covid planning is a different beast lol and I'm finding I'm not as on top of things as I have been in the past.

This is a do-over from our May 2020 trip. My husband and I will be fully vaxxed by the time we leave and the 6yo, while of course not vaxxed, is a pro at wearing a mask and distancing because kids are so resilient. This year we are celebrating our DD's 7th birthday on May 6! In the past we have done sit down lunches and dinners because that's how we roll but I know that's not really going to be possible this year due to Covid and the baby (he's barely been in society for the last year so we're working on making him un-feral). So if anything I just tried to get dinner ressies (and we eat early-ish, 5:30/6 with the baby) and lunches will be mobile order.

So far we have the following:

May 1 - Saturday - arrival: nothing. Flying from NY and it's the babe's first flight so we are taking the first day/night easy as who knows how things will be going lol
May 2 - Sunday - AK: no dining ressies this day because it closes early. Of course that may change but I was unable to get Tiffins or Y&Y so I guess we'll play it by ear. I'll check the park hours constantly and maybe they'll extend and I can snag a Y&Y one.
May 3 - Monday - EP: Wanted GG or San Angel (which we always enjoyed in the past) but no dice. Have ressie finder on it.
May 4 - Tuesday - HS: Doesn't matter if we wanted a ressie, literally nowhere in the park had any availability lol. Have ressie finder looking for 50's.
May 5 - Wednesday - Day Off: Looked for Topolino's breakfast for the 6yo but was unlucky so have a finder going, managed to score Sanaa for dinner (yummmmmmmmmm)
May 6 - Thursday - MK: The Big Day! My baby girl is 7! Have a Plaza ressie at like 4:30 but the Ultimate would be CRT so I have a finder going for that.
May 7 - Friday - MK again: Skipper Canteen at 4:45. A little early but I'll take it and keep checking if anything later pops up.

I thought we ate early but I guess we aren't the only ones! Haha.

Also I wanted to ask opinions - Just noticed tonight that we will be at HS on May 4th. I know it's Covid planning and crowd calendars can only be so on point with their predictions, but every place I could find a calendar at had that day being one of the best for it. Will we regret this? We are SW fans but have resolved to not be all commando this trip since it's the baby's first and it's Covid Times. I just want to make sure I get a BG and while I've had luck every day that I've been trying from home (got past selecting my party), I worry that if HS gets full with park reservations, a BG might become an even HARDER ticket to get.

So, all that being said, does anyone see any need to change around our first three days? The only days we could switch around are the 2-4 as we always break on Wednesday and have MK be our last days. I was confident with my planning until I realized May 4th was our HS day. And tbh I really really want to keep the current schedule but we used to go in February so May (and May 4th) is a whole new experience for us.

If RotR is a priority then regardless of what day you go, having more than one opportunity to get a BG is going to be better. But I have to rant lol please forgive me. Crowd calendars were trash even before the pandemic tbh. Years ago they were great tools. But the site I trust most for touring advice ditched them ages ago because the data is so useless now given unpredictable patterns and Disney’s staffing down practices. And it’s telling to me that the sites who still push them out are all subscription based. I have a TP sub, but the Lines app and room request service are why I have it. I ignore those emails. Tea leaf reading will give you similar results at this point, and that was before Covid.

Time and again I see people agonizing over the “perfect” day to go to whatever park based on these magic 8 balls spitting out arbitrary numbers (what is the fundamental difference between a “9” and a “10”??) and driving themselves crazy over it and my advice is always the same: assume the day you go will be the worst crowds ever and structure your touring around that assumption. I have literally never gone wrong doing this. In some ways Covid planning is easier because there’s no FP to worry about, and standby lines go faster. The old advice about rope drop is just as important. But some attractions which were walk on aren’t anymore (eg Philharmagic). Pay more attention to wait times imo.

With all that said, I would expect 5/4 to have a bump in HS crowds if anything, that’s just common sense...our own doomed May 2020 trip was booked around that and spending the day in SWGE. But it’s a Tuesday, which should limit locals. And early May tends to be quiet regardless, it’s after Spring Break & Easter but before Memorial Day. HS consistently books up out of the 4 parks just because of RotR. Keep an eye on the boarding groups thread in the Galaxy’s Edge board here, there is a lot of excellent crowd sourced info about uptime there and it will give you an idea of how many groups are called per day (also tips to maximize your chances).