Spring is here, and that means that what passes for a slow season at Disneyland Resort is coming to an end. The summer months are right around the corner, and millions are likely planning trips to the park very soon. But if you eyeing a Disneyland trip this May, get ready, because things are going to be significantly more crowded than they usually are. This is not only because crowds are sure to increase, possibly more than usual, but also because these crowds will have less space to move around in.
Two major seasonal events taking place at Disneyland simultaneously this May, and when combined with significant Disneyland attraction closures, this means it will be tougher to navigate the park starting this May. At this point, it’s far from clear exactly when things will get any better.
May Is Always Crowded At Disneyland, And This Year Will Be No Exception
May isn’t technically summer, but Disney Parks often refer to Memorial Day Weekend as part of the summer season. With the school year coming to an end, May is the month that tends to see a significant uptick in guests visiting Disneyland, as the free time to visit the park significantly increases for many.
Disneyland Resort is certainly going to be encouraging people to visit the parks in May. Two different seasonal events will be running simultaneously in May. Season of The Force, the Star Wars-themed event that began April 5, which includes new elements on Star Tours, will only be half over when we reach May the Fourth. Additionally, Pixar Fest will have begun on April 26 and is set to run into early August.
Whether these two events bring in more guests than your average May remains to be seen, but we can certainly be sure that Disneyland won’t be any less crowded than it usually is, and may very well be more crowded. This is a bigger issue than it would otherwise be because Disneyland is going to be a much smaller park than it usually is in May.
A Significant Portion Of Disneyland Will Be Closed This May
Disneyland has been dealing with two major attraction closures for the last few months. Splash Mountain is in the middle of its transformation into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, a ride that isn’t expected to open until sometime in the back half of 2024. Also, the best ride at Disneyland, the Haunted Mansion, closed in January for a major queue renovation, and its reopening date is also unknown. This is especially a problem because both rides are right next to each other. At this point, there isn’t even a break in the construction walls between the two attractions, and those walls are about to get longer.
Starting on May 1, all of Critter Country, the land that includes Splash Mountain/Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, is set to close down as two gift shops attached to the log flume ride get rethemed into Princess and the Frog-themed shops. While it’s unlikely that work will take too long, no reopening date for the land was announced alongside the closure.
This means that an entire corner of the park, basically everything west of the New Orleans Square train station, will be closed. This may or may not also block one of the entrances to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, a passage through the construction may be left open.
Critter Country is not the largest of lands. Outside of Splash/Tiana’s, it’s home to only the Winnie the Pooh dark ride, the Hungry Bear quick service restaurant and a few shops. Still, not having access to it just means that the guests in the park will be crammed into even less space. Beyond that, there simply isn’t a reason for any guests to go any further into New Orleans Square than Tiana’s Palace because nothing beyond that is open.
Disneyland Park Is Going To Feel More Crowded Than Usual, And It May Last A While
Take the normal, if not the inflated, number of guests in the park, and then thrown in a park that is going to be smaller than usual, and you have a recipe for crowds. With two major attractions that usually devour crowds into the queues not able to do so, combined with the fact that the amount of general pedestrian space will be reduced, you’re just going to have a lot more people than usual in the remaining space. This is going to mean longer lines on the remaining attractions, and more than likely just walking through the park is going to be a bit more difficult.
At this point, exactly when this period will end is unclear. Tiana’s Bayou Adventure has a “late 2024” opening date, which means we're likely looking at something in the fall. The Haunted Mansion doesn’t have a reopening date, but there’s every reason to believe we might not even see the classic Haunted Mansion at all this year. This could mean that even if the attraction is ready, it also might not open until the end of summer at the earliest. We still have months to wait here.
The Critter Country closure is likely to be much shorter, though how short is difficult to say. The closure of Critter Country entirely will give the people working on renovating the two gift shops the freedom to do whatever they need to do, without needing to work around guests. As such, we can expect the plan here is to work as fast as possible and just get it all done.
Beyond that, the gift shop work is just retheming; there are no moving parts like renovating attractions, so this work shouldn’t take too long, weeks rather than months. But whether we’re talking Critter Country being closed for just a couple weeks or a month or more, we don't know, and every day counts.
All this work, all these construction walls and all the guest inconvenience will certainly be worth it. When the work is done, this corner of Disneyland is sure to look amazing and be better than ever. But that doesn’t mean it’s going to be a lot of fun to get to that point.
