8th May Public Holiday in France & 9th May Fantasy Pass blackout day

[karenmoloney]

Hi,
We will be at DLRP next week arriving Sunday evening 4th May & staying until Saturday 10th May.

I know that Monday is a bank holiday in the UK & Ireland so I am expecting the parks to be busy so will not plan to try and get too much done that day. Does anyone have any experience of the May Bank Holiday in the park & could let me know what to expect.

I have just discovered that Thursday 8th May is a French national holiday - Fete de la Victoire - and was wondering if schools are off in France that day?

Friday 9th May is a blackout day on the fantasy pass & I was wondering why that is? DH & DD1 currently have fantasy passes, but we are considering upgrading to dream passes when we renew next week.

I thought I had booked a week that wouldn't be too busy as it is not during any European school holiday blocks as far as I can see (although DD is off that week), so just hoping now that I am right!

Any thoughts on how crowd levels will be next week will be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[britchic4]

If the 8th is a public holiday the schools will be closed. Found this info too:
"Note that when a holiday happens to fall on a Tuesday or Thursday, many French workers may take the Monday or, respectively, Friday, off as well. This is not official and does not apply to institutions such as banks or government, but is sufficiently commonplace to cause difficulties doing business on occasion."
Maybe that's why the blackout day? Although I don't know why there wouldn't be a blackout day on 8th as well.

 

[bavaria]

May 8th is VE Day or Fête de la Libération and as it falls on a Thursday this year many will take off the Friday as well. Also, Pentecost falls on the May 11th this year. The following week is also the German Pfingstferien holiday week for most states.

My German website for checking crowd levels marks the Thursday/Friday as 2nd highest crowd level busy and the weekend as peak season.

I have already adjusted my work accordingly.

Edited to add: I just finished my major spring holiday and planned it carefully to avoid the very busy French and German holiday periods. Unfortunately I think that you will have a very busy weekend at DLRP

 

[Maribel]

I'm arriving on the 11th, so that means that week will be busy too? I avoided the previous week because of the french holiday, but wasn't expecting a german one. Are the parks really affected by german attendees?
Thanks!!

 

[BRobson]

I am sure you will still have a great time Karen - maybe be worth getting to the parks to use EMH. We found this worked well in the summer as the locals dont arrive in the parks till a bit later

 

[i.love.tigger]

I am in disney as of tues lunchtime, i didn't realise about the 8th and 9th, I think i shall be getting lots of charcter photos on tues and wed if thurs and fri are going to be busy, im glad i have made all my food reservations already.

 

[karenmoloney]

I am sure you will still have a great time Karen - maybe be worth getting to the parks to use EMH. We found this worked well in the summer as the locals dont arrive in the parks till a bit later

I'm sure we'll have a great time. Looks like we will do as much as possible in Disney on Tue & Wed. Much as I would love to use EMH, I can't see us getting there in time as our kids are 6 yrs & 17 mths and with the hour change, we'd never get them out of bed & ready & pack up for the day & then get the bus over! They both sleep about 12 hours a night & are so grumpy without it. The last 2 years we have been there the first week in July, so I'm sure the crowds won't be any worse than then & we won't be there at the weekends anyway. Our pace will be quite slow with stops for feeds & sleeps so we're not expecting to get alot done every day. And the reason we're staying at Marriott this time is that we want to spend some time chilling out too.

 

[bavaria]

No, the German visitor level is not that high, but the Pfingsten holiday is quite long in many states, and is one of the travel holidays for Germans. So you may well have a higher number than normal.

I was at DLRP on the 18th of April which was still a holiday time for some Europeans, and crowds were not bad.

But I do think that the weekend will be busy

 

[Orion33]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I don't want to hear this!!! I picked these dates because they were the cheapest days in May which says to me.....park is quiet.....

I wanted the place to myself dammit

Maybe they will all go away on a public holiday, you know ,like anywhere but Disneyland...like Alton Towers !!!! a cultural theme park exchange (ok so they would get the short straw but then we get to line up for stuff less!)