If you’re looking for light crowds and short lines, the month of May is usually a great time to visit Disneyland. The long and busy Spring Break season, which starts in the middle of March and through April, is finally over with, making way for a less crowded resort in much of May.
While the annual Grad Nite event does take place after park closing on some nights and the weather starts to get warmer during the day, it’s not the summer season just yet. The bulk of the summer crowds don’t begin to arrive until June.
The Disneyland Resort anticipates Monday-Thursday to be the least busiest days of the week in May. The crowds do tend to pick up on Fridays, and weekends will generally be busier. Here’s some of the dates you may want to try to avoid if you’re going this month.
Dates To Avoid
Memorial Day Weekend – Big crowds and long lines are the norm throughout Memorial Day weekend. If you don’t like crowds, avoid going on that Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.
After Memorial Day – Disneyland is expected to get crowded for the summer right after Memorial Day. With midnight park closings and a full entertainment lineup scheduled for the entire week, the summer season crowds don’t let up until the end of August.
May Crowd Calendar
For the forecast of crowd levels of any day in May, be sure to check out the Disneyland Crowd Forecast Calendar.
For real-time updates and information on current crowd levels and conditions at the park, check out the Disneyland Live Crowd Tracker.
Have you gone to Disneyland in May? How were the crowds? Be sure to let us know in the comments below.
Image: uubergeek
I’m not sure if I will still get an answer, all the other answers are from around a year ago. I was thinking of taking our son for the first time in May and thought why not go on Mother’s Day. Will it be busy?
It’s not expected to be too crowded on Mother’s Day. That Sunday has been manageable these last few years.
What time period would be best to spend 5 days in a row in may?
The first week of May (Monday-Friday) is usually most manageable.
We are planning a trip May 4 – 7th and would like to spend 2 days in Disneyland/California Adventures and 1 day at Universal to check out Harry Potter world. Any suggestions on which days we should spend where? Would Universal be best in the middle of the week, especially since HP world will be so new? Or would it be a shame not to take advantage of the low crowds at Disney on Wednesday and Thursday?
I’m thinking going to Universal on Wednesday would be best, then Disneyland on Thursday, and California Adventure on Friday. It’s tough to say right now how bad Universal will be for Harry Potter World, but mid-week should be most manageable.
We’re headed to Disneyland in mid June. On a crowd tracker site, it says that June 18th and 19th (Sat/Sun) will actually be LESS crowded than the following M/T and W. This doesn’t make sense to me since I thought the weekends were the worst. I will be nearby for 2 weeks, so I have some flexibility re when we go and I don’t want to mess this up since it will be my son’s first time there (he’s 15).
I actually don’t think there is much of a difference between weekends and weekdays in mid-June. I would just try to avoid going on Grad Nite days if you can, since the event tends to make the parks more crowded. Grad Nite dates that month: June 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 15, 17
I just went to disneyland on Tuesday the 17th of may and the wait time to get on the rides amazed me I waited
30-45 minutes the most to get on each ride so I’m planning on going again next year around the same time I feel May is the perfect time to go but the first 3 weeks of may .
How will tomorrow be, May 26?