Tell me about April/May

[CapeCodTenor]

So, momof4kids posted a thread about wanting information on September. In this thread, Only Hope had mentioned how it was still too early in the school year to be thinking of pulling kids out of school for vacation. Well, this got me thinking about April/May, specifically after Easter and before schools get out for the year. What's it like during this time period? I'm sure it starts getting hot and humid, something I can deal with. But what I was thinking about are the crowds? While Disney World has gotten busy year round, I'm looking at not being there during the stupid crowded time and I'm thinking this is a good time to go. It's after most spring breaks and just before school lets out, so most parents aren't thinking of pulling their kids out at this time, or at least that's what I'm thinking. Am I correct? In the ballpark? Thanks

ETA: I should probably mention it'll be me, my DW and DD, who will be 8 at the time of the trip.

 

[PhDisney]

I work at a university, and we get out pretty early, so we usually do our trip end of April. It's warm, starting to get hot, but not often - I'd say usually 85, with some hotter days. Way less humidity than other times of year. Late April and early May also have much lower crowds. It's one of my favorite times, because you don't have to fight for reservations for most things if you're even a little flexible, even normally competitive things. I've had really good experiences that time of year.

 

[CapeCodTenor]

I work at a university, and we get out pretty early, so we usually do our trip end of April. It's warm, starting to get hot, but not often - I'd say usually 85, with some hotter days. Way less humidity than other times of year. Late April and early May also have much lower crowds. It's one of my favorite times, because you don't have to fight for reservations for most things if you're even a little flexible, even normally competitive things. I've had really good experiences that time of year.

Thanks for your response, PHDisney. In my original post I had explained in more detail what my thinking was (I felt I was rambling, so I went with a shorter version), and this was one of the reasons: Colleges and universities getting out early to mid-May (though, mid-May, I think, would be late), so their spring breaks would been long over. I had also mentioned that by mid to late-April most public school's spring breaks were done as well, and how most parents weren't willing to pull their kids out of school late in the year for a vacation. To me, all this added up, in my mind, to lower attendance, as low attendance as you can get at Disney. My DW and I had talked and had said that if our DD was doing good in school, we'd pull her out for a vacation. So far, she's doing great, so being able to pull her out won't be too much of a problem. My only problem now is that she attends a private school and has 5 kids in her class. Oh well, she's a good student.

 

[Scubadaddy32]

My wife and I visit in both May and Sept.
Crowds in May are slightly worse than in Sept. Lots of Love Bugs in May and a ton of toddlers in strollers. It's spring, people bring the kids out...
I'd say if Sept. was a 3 crowd level, May was about a 5. We still were able to pick up plenty of FP's and AH were really lightly attended in May. Early May WDW has a cheerleader competition that increases the crowds early in May, the dates are on the WDW calendar.
We've never been in April, so we are of no help there.

 

[CapeCodTenor]

My wife and I visit in both May and Sept.
Crowds in May are slightly worse than in Sept. Lots of Love Bugs in May and a ton of toddlers in strollers. It's spring, people bring the kids out...
I'd say if Sept. was a 3 crowd level, May was about a 5. We still were able to pick up plenty of FP's and AH were really lightly attended in May. Early May WDW has a cheerleader competition that increases the crowds early in May, the dates are on the WDW calendar.
We've never been in April, so we are of no help there.

Thanks for your response, you've given me something to think about with the cheer groups. I'll have to look into this.

 

[beccasmom]

We like visiting in May, but haven’t done so in quite a while. We did visit in late April after Easter this year and we scored fabulous weather. It was a very short trip, but we enjoyed ourselves. The Flower Festival at Epcot is wonderful and I highly recommend it.

 

[DaisyDuck001]

Went May 8-16, and there were swarms of lovebugs all over the place. They don't bite, but it's annoying, like when you go to sit and they are all over the bench. I prefer April trips.

 

[PhDisney]

Thanks for your response, PHDisney. In my original post I had explained in more detail what my thinking was (I felt I was rambling, so I went with a shorter version), and this was one of the reasons: Colleges and universities getting out early to mid-May (though, mid-May, I think, would be late), so their spring breaks would been long over. I had also mentioned that by mid to late-April most public school's spring breaks were done as well, and how most parents weren't willing to pull their kids out of school late in the year for a vacation. To me, all this added up, in my mind, to lower attendance, as low attendance as you can get at Disney. My DW and I had talked and had said that if our DD was doing good in school, we'd pull her out for a vacation. So far, she's doing great, so being able to pull her out won't be too much of a problem. My only problem now is that she attends a private school and has 5 kids in her class. Oh well, she's a good student.

Yeah, you're pretty much on the mark. We're one of the only universities out at that time, so every time we've been in that timeframe has been pretty calm. We're usually late April, as opposed to early May, so we also miss a lot of the humidity and lovebugs. You want to aim after Easter, obviously, but I do think it'd be worth it to pull a kid out that time of year.

There's usually some cheer crowds, but they don't make a real difference at the parks in my experience, and we barely noticed them at the value resorts except for breakfast. We stayed deluxe during the cheer competitions too and the cheer crowds made no impact there at all.

 

[CapeCodTenor]

Yeah, you're pretty much on the mark. We're one of the only universities out at that time, so every time we've been in that timeframe has been pretty calm. We're usually late April, as opposed to early May, so we also miss a lot of the humidity and lovebugs. You want to aim after Easter, obviously, but I do think it'd be worth it to pull a kid out that time of year.

There's usually some cheer crowds, but they don't make a real difference at the parks in my experience, and we barely noticed them at the value resorts except for breakfast. We stayed deluxe during the cheer competitions too and the cheer crowds made no impact there at all.

I'm glad you mentioned that you stayed at the value resorts because that's where I'm going most likely wind up. I had read, on another thread, that some cheerleaders will start routines late at night, essentially waking up everyone in that area, did you find this happening when you were there? From reading your post, it sounds like that didn't happen, but I did have to ask.

 

[PhDisney]

I'm glad you mentioned that you stayed at the value resorts because that's where I'm going most likely wind up. I had read, on another thread, that some cheerleaders will start routines late at night, essentially waking up everyone in that area, did you find this happening when you were there? From reading your post, it sounds like that didn't happen, but I did have to ask.

We stayed at all star music, and had no issues with noise waking us up or anything. We're not exactly late-night people either! We were mostly in bed by 10PM. It might be a little different at all star sports but we had 0 noise issues while there. We were set a little further back but I feel like I still would have noticed, as I can be very noise sensitive.

 

[CapeCodTenor]

We stayed at all star music, and had no issues with noise waking us up or anything. We're not exactly late-night people either! We were mostly in bed by 10PM. It might be a little different at all star sports but we had 0 noise issues while there. We were set a little further back but I feel like I still would have noticed, as I can be very noise sensitive.

That's great! Thanks for your response.

 

[zskid00]

Went May 8-16, and there were swarms of lovebugs all over the place. They don't bite, but it's annoying, like when you go to sit and they are all over the bench. I prefer April trips.

We were in Orlando May 20 this year. We noticed the lovebugs at Universal but they weren't bad at all in the parks. When we drove outside the city it was near apocalyptic. Gas stations and rest stops for miles were without washer fluid and there was a line 12 deep to wait for the automatic windshield sprayers. On the back end of our trip we stopped at Disney Springs to shop for the kids. This was on May 25. Again, I didn't notice too many lovebugs, but it was like 93 and humid. Just a brutal afternoon to be out.

We are going to take the kids out of school the week of May 10 next year to go to Disney. I am hoping for temperatures in the 80's and limited lovebugs but I know it's out of our control. For our schedule that seems like the best time to go. We'll hope for the best!

 

[Junior8]

My previous trips have all been the last week of April into the first week of May. Had my kids out of school for two trips. The weather was ideal for us New Englanders. hot enough to swim but not summer time humid. We never noticed the love bugs. Bus transportation to and from Port Orleans Riverside was never an issue and park crowds were manageable for our trips. We liked rope drop, park hopping and made ADR’s and FP with no issues. By the end of 7 nights, we had done all four parks as many times as we wanted and revisited our favorite things as many times as we wanted. Definitely a great time to go for us. Last trip was 2016.
I‘m planning a trip for two for late Sept of 2020 because I want to experience food and wine at Epcot. Hoping for low crowds and some discounts as some people will be waiting for 2021. God luck with whatever you choose.