End of May or Beginning of June

[bouncy54]

We're planning a trip to DL next year. My #1 concern is the crowd level. My family's #1 concern is the weather and longer hours at the parks.

I wanted to go the 1st week of June, but my son and his wife manage a mobil home park and have to be here until the 5th of every month to collect rent. So now we have to make a choice...June 9 - 17, or May 19 - 27. The May dates will run right into Memorial Weekend, but we would be leaving for home on that Sunday. The June dates might be really crowded if the kids in California get out of school before we leave for home on the 17th.

Personally, I love going to DL in November, but I don't think everyone will have the resources to go that soon, not to mention the family's desire for warm weather and longer hours.

So...does anyone have any experience going to DL during the dates above? If so, please share them with me.

By the way...we did WDW last November for the 1st time. It was great in it's own way, but we love DL...maybe because that's where we took our kids as they were growing up and now we're beginning to share that same magic with our grand-kids.

 

[iceskatejen]

May would be better than June as you would be running into kids off for summer that week of June. Just use the last day as a show day or just catching a few rides you want to experience again.

 

[woody73]

May will be less crowded.

Woody

 

[lulubelle]

Another vote for May. Just don't count on doing too much on the weekend and make use of FP.

Good luck deciding

 

[bouncy54]

May sounds good to me too. Maybe we'll just come home on Saturday instead of Sunday. That will still give us 7 days down there. The family wants to go to Sea World, Universal and Knott's Berry Farm so that will leave 4 days of Disney. That should be plenty of time to soak in the magic at a leisurley pace.

I'm not going to Sea World with them. Instead, I'll be doing one day of Disney solo. I've always wanted to visit DL without any little ones just so I could go through the shops, ride what I want to ride when I want to, and maybe just sit and people watch. Of course, if DH wants to stay behind with me, that would be even better.

We're hoping to stay at the Candy Cane Inn, but I read on one of these threads that there have been some bad reviews lately. Has anyone stayed there? I love the idea of the shuttle. We've stayed at Howard Johnsons, which was nice but quite a walk after a full day at the park. We've also stayed at the Fairfield Inn and what used to be called the Saga Inn that was right next door to the miniature golf course before they tore it down.

The one thing that we didn't like about WDW was how spread out it was. DL is so compact, and somehow more intimate. We've been there so often that we even know where all the grocery stores in the area are. LOL.

The biggest plus, though, is that we only have to be on a plane for 2 1/2 hours instead of 5 and 1/2. By the time you get up to your cruising level, then served your breakfast, it seems only a matter of minutes until you hear the Captain say that we're preparing to land at John Wayne Airport. (We live near Seattle)

My daughter-in-law had never been to anything Disney until she became part of our family....she's never even seen any Disney movies! Can you belive it? But I think we've turned her into a fan. Her first Disney adventure was in Nov. 1999, when we treated the whole family to a vacation to DL. Then she went with us to WDW, which she had been worried about because we all shared a 5 bedroom villa and she didn't know how we would all get along. But she was pleasantly surpirsed at how smoothly everything went with all of us under one roof. Now she's looking forward to next year. I don't know if she feels the same magic we do, but she knows that her husband and 2 sons do, so she is content to go along with us.

Oh my...I do carry on..don't I? That's what Disney does to me....I get carried away.