The Tip Board Newsletter by James Grosch

Disney Intelligence for Smarter Vacations

🏃‍♂️ The Rope Drop: The biggest month at Disney World?

May has quickly become one of my favorite months at Disney World. It typically has great weather, lighter-than-you'd-expect crowds, and something new and shiny.

But this month has so many new and shiny things at Disney World. Four huge ride revamps. A reimagined area at Hollywood Studios. Characters from Disney+'s biggest show finally making their WDW debut. The return of Cool Kids' Summer.

Too many new things? Of course not. But you will need the right strategy. So here's everything you need to know for one of the biggest months I can remember at Disney World.

📲 The Tool I Wish I Had Last Mother's Day: Booking Magician (Partner)

One of the most common crowd questions I've seen in my comments is if Mother's Day is crowded. The answer? Yes and no. I learned this the hard way last year.

Mother's Day doesn't have a big effect on lines or in-park crowds. Sunday is typically on the lighter side at WDW anyway.

But it can have a huge impact on dining reservation availability - especially at the resorts and Disney Springs. Turns out, Mother's Day is a very popular time for brunch and special dinners. Who knew?

Seems like common sense. Except last year, I made a critical mistake on Mother's Day. We went to Magic Kingdom without an ADR, thinking we could find something last minute along the monorail loop.

Long story short, Mother's Day dinner ended up being going through a Pollo Tropical drive-thru at 10:12 pm. (Yes, I know down to the minute. I still may never live this down)

This year, I'm very happy I have a Booking Magician subscription, because it can help find last minute tables at Disney's best restaurants. Their text alerts are so speedy, they give you the best chance of avoiding my Mother's Day fiasco.

Use code GUIDE2 for 10% off Booking Magician (affiliate link).

📊 The Analysis: Your Week-by-Week May Game Plan

Here's every week's crowd forecast and events, so you can plan accordingly.

🟢 May 1-3 (April Holdover)- Big Thunder reopens at Magic Kingdom Sunday with a new track and many more upgrades (more on that later). But crowds should be similar to the end of April.
🟡 May 4-10 (The Sneaky Busy Week) - Mother's Day, end-of-year cheer competitions, sporting events are all colliding in the first full week. But none of these should drive giant crowds.
🟢 May 11-17 (The Month's Lowest Crowds) - The week is among the quietest of the month. Heads up: Magic Kingdom closes early on Wednesday May 13th at 5:30 PM for a private event (file that one under must be nice).
🟡 May 18-24 (Memorial Day Weekend) - Memorial Day weekend lands here, but here's the surprising thing — Memorial Day weekend at Disney World does not mean huge crowds. Memorial Day weekend lines are 75% of what you'd see on Presidents Day weekend. Plus the new Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run mission debuts on the 22nd. When I went on this weekend last year, crowds felt downright light.

🟡⭐️May 18-24 (So Many New Things) Memorial Day itself is delightfully light for a holiday, and Tuesday May 26th is the biggest single day of new things at Disney World in recent memory.

Bluey's Wild World (AK)
Soarin' Across America (EPCOT)
Cool Kids Summer (WDW), including Jessie's Roundup (MK)
Walt Disney Studios Area (DHS)
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Live (DHS)
Muppet Rock 'n' Roller Coaster (DHS)

All of those open the same day. Normally, new attractions bring a spike of big crowds. But with new attractions spread across all four parks, the crowds spread out too.

This week has been light-to-moderate over the past four years, and even if there's a spike in crowds due to all the newness, it might not feel as bad because there are so many new things to soak up the crowds. This is my pick for the best week of the month.

🎢 Park Intel

EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival continues all month long.
Big Thunder reopens May 3rd... and Disney did something they almost never do. They're lowering the height requirement from 40 inches to 38, the same as Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Slinky Dog Dash. The complete track replacement and refreshed trains let safety teams approve the change while preserving (in Disney's words) the "trademark hootin' an' hollerin' energy." Big Thunder was the first big coaster I ever rode. Looks like it gets to be my daughter's too.
Extended Evening Hours go weird this month. The default pattern is Mondays at EPCOT and Wednesdays at Magic Kingdom — but May has three departures from that. Monday May 4 and Wednesday May 13 at Animal Kingdom, plus Monday May 11 at Hollywood Studios. Plan accordingly.
The Original Trilogy is coming to Galaxy's Edge (but only at Disneyland). Earlier this week, Han, Leia, Vader, and Luke started showing up out west, and the land is splitting into three timeline zones (Sequel, Mandalorian-era, and Original Trilogy). The iconic John Williams score is finally being added too. Disney World? Not getting it, at least not yet. Apparently the costume shop in Orlando was just all out of robes and vests. Find out more about the timeline shift here.

⭐️ The Recommendation: The May Cheat Sheet

If you're visiting Disney World any time this month, download my free May Cheat Sheet. It has the crowd forecast for every week, plus the best and worst days to visit each park. You can save hours in line across your vacation by picking the right day for each park.

Download your May free cheat sheet here.

Dive Deeper: Disney's New Plans for Its Abandoned Water Park

Disney's upcoming mixed-use DVC resort near Fort Wilderness has a fascinating history.

Formerly Reflections, Disney Lakeshore Lodge will feature design nods to Bambi, Pocahontas, and Brother Bear, as well as an extensive water complex featuring a lazy river. The long-stalled resort will finally open in Summer 2027.

But many years ago, this was home to River Country: not only the first water park at Disney World, but the first themed water park in the world.

Why did River Country close? And why did it become a legendary site for "urban explorers?"

▶️ Find out in my quick video on the history and future of the site of Disney's abandoned water park.

One More Thing

I made a donation to Make-A-Wish today, and I want to tell you why.

This week is Disney's Week of Wishes. Almost 200 wishes granted in 7 days, from Walt Disney Animation Studios to the NFL Draft to Aladdin on Broadway. At Disneyland, 40 wish kids took over Avengers Campus with their favorite creators and actors — MrBeast, Mark Rober, DudePerfect, Paul Bettany, and Anthony Mackie all showed up.

But there's a bigger story here.

Make-A-Wish's very first official wish was a trip to Disneyland, and Disney has been working with them for 45 years. They've granted over 175,000 wishes in that time. Disney is the world's largest WishMaker, now granting one wish every single hour of every single day.

When a family is going through the most challenging time possible, when a child is fighting for their life, a character like Mickey or Spider-Man or Elsa can become a constant companion and source of comfort. A place like Disneyland becomes the escape they desperately need.

And there’s no other company in the world that can grant these wishes quite like Disney. Because this is so core to what Disney has been doing for over 100 years.

Since Walt founded the company, Disney has been in the business of bringing joy through these characters, these stories, and these places. While Disney’s partnership with Make-A-Wish started long after Walt, I think it’s a fitting way to carry on his legacy. Because delivering joy and happiness to a kid that desperately needs it is the most Disney thing Disney could possibly do.

If you want to help, do what I did. Head to wish.org/disney and contribute however you can.