May 2023 Disneyland Crowd Calendar

Our free May 2023 Disneyland crowd calendar covers everything you need to know for choosing the best days to visit Disney California Adventure and Disneyland. This includes special events, weather, pricing, and of course, attendance levels at the parks.

With May 2023 falling between spring break and summer vacation during a time when schools are largely back in session throughout the country, it’s a potentially good time to visit Disneyland. Well, early May is a good time of year to visit, particularly on weekdays when Grad Nites are not occurring.

Mid to late May can be a different story as the parks start to get more crowded, but not unbearably so. Along with our crowd predictions for Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, in this post we’ll offer other thoughts on what to expect during this month at Disneyland Resort.

May Weather at Disneyland

We’ll start with a look at weather. This section of these posts should just be titled “Another Day of Sun” because this is pretty much just a thinly-veiled opportunity to remark on how Southern California’s weather is perpetually nice. For May, you can expect humidity to be low as high temperatures hover around 75º most of the month. Lows will be around 55º early in the month, rising to around 60º by the end of May.

As you can see by the second graph on this page, May in Anaheim is comfortable for most hours of the between noon and 8 p.m. Temperatures are cooler in the morning and drop once the sun goes down, so we recommend packing a sweater or thin jacket for the evening hours. Spring can chilly outside the middle of the day, and the “feels like” tends to be cooler due to the lack of humidity.

May 2023 Additions & Subtractions at Disneyland

Let’s start with seasonal events, the most notable of which is the return of Grad Nites at Disney California Adventure (and to a lesser degree, Disneyland). This will be held on select evenings, and will impact crowds on the dates listed below. As the name suggests, it’s for graduating seniors. (Sorry to anyone wanting to relive their high school glory days, but it’s not open admission.)

It’s also worth mentioning the debut of Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway and the 100 Years of Wonder Celebration at Disneyland Resort, both of which occur in late January 2023. (The reimagined Mickey’s Toontown is likely to debut in Spring 2023, too.) That celebration brings with it new nighttime spectaculars to each park, plus character costumes, new merchandise, food & beverages, and everything else locals love. Consequently, we’re expecting Spring 2023 to be a bit bonkers. However, hopefully by the time May 2023 rolls around, the new ride and entertainment won’t have much impact on crowds.

In terms of May 2023 attraction closures, we have what’s possibly a partial list on the Disneyland Refurbishment Calendar. Usually, Disneyland announces refurbishments a couple of months in advance, so that’s probably not the final list for May 2023 quite yet.

May 2023 Disneyland Crowd Calendar

Generally speaking, the beginning of May 2023 should be relatively moderate, as we’re in a relative lull between spring break and summer vacation. We also anticipate there will be a pre-summer lull, making much of May 2023 less crowded than the months that follow.

As always, Grad Nites throw a monkey wrench into these crowd predictions. These are something of a rite of passage for high school seniors in Southern California, as they participate in this once-in-a-lifetime event where they get to experience one final night of high school memories with their friends before they embark on their new adventures.

In May 2023, Grad Nites will occur on May 12, 14, 17, 19, 21, 24, 25, 30, or 31. Generally speaking, Grad Nites cause a spike in crowds on those dates, particularly at Disney California Adventure, and most notably later in the day. Read our Grad Nites at Disneyland post for more info and thoughts on how these evenings impact crowds and the guest experience.

On the weekends, crowd levels will be fairly high regardless, but if you want the best chance at more moderate crowd levels during Grad Nites this year, we’d recommend doing Disneyland on Grad Nite days. Aside from that, the Bats Day events will also cause a slight spike in crowds on May 7, 2023.

We expect crowds to spike towards the end of the month, not because we’re drawing closer to the summer months and traditional vacation season, but because tickets purchased via the SoCal Resident Deal typically expire right before Memorial Day weekend.

Every year, the last couple weeks of this promo see a surge in attendance as locals want to take advantage of the offer before it ends, or use days on tickets they already purchased. We would expect this year to be no different.

May 26-31, 2023 will be busy due to Memorial Day (May 29, 2023). However, as far as holiday weekends go, this one isn’t nearly as bad as a lot of them. In fact, it’s likely that the lead up to the long weekend will be worse due to the aforementioned ticket deal.

While the weekend itself will be busy (just like any weekend), most school districts in Southern California are not out of session until mid-June 2023. That’s also around the time Disneyland starts seeing an influx of tourists.

For most of the month, dynamic ticket prices are at “value” or “regular” prices. Likewise, Annual Passholder blockouts are minimal outside of normal weekend blockouts, as well as Memorial Day. Even these factors are not enough to cause a precipitous spike in attendance.

Read our Tips for Saving Money on Disneyland Tickets post for multi-day ticket recommendations to avoid having to deal with seasonal pricing. On the plus side, there are some multi-day ticket discounts currently available for all guests.

As far as hotel prices go, rates should be fairly average throughout the month. We rank our favorite (and least favorite) hotels in the Anaheim Resort District in our Disneyland Area Hotel Rankings & Reviews post. Check out discounted hotel + ticket vacation packages on Get Away Today to save money on off-site hotels.

If you visit on weekends in May, efficient touring plans for Disneyland and Disney California Adventure will be essential. Even if you during weekdays early in the month, having a solid itinerary is not a bad idea. Across the board, crowd levels at Disneyland Resort are higher than they were a few years ago.

Overall, we rank May near the top on our Best & Worst Months to Visit Disneyland. The main reason for this is because it’s a lull between spring break and summer seasons, and even the spikes caused by Grad Nites aren’t enough to upset crowd levels too much. The biggest impact on crowds outside of that will pretty much be locals taking advantage of the SoCal ticket offer at the last minute. If you can visit earlier in the month on one of those green weekdays (or even the yellow ones), you are going to have a far better experience–if we only factored in those days, May would be one of the best months of the year to visit!

Planning a Southern California vacation? For park admission deals, read Tips for Saving Money on Disneyland Tickets. Learn about on-site and off-site hotels in our Anaheim Hotel Reviews & Rankings. For where to eat, check out our Disneyland Restaurant Reviews. For unique ideas of things that’ll improve your trip, check out What to Pack for Disney. For comprehensive advice, consult our Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide. Finally, for guides beyond Disney, check out our Southern California Itineraries for day trips to Los Angeles, Laguna Beach, and tons of other places!

YOUR THOUGHTS

Do you plan on doing Disneyland in May 2023? Which dates are you targeting? If you’ve visited Disneyland during May, what did you think of the experience? Did you find the crowd levels to be manageable? Have any problems with Grad Nites? What about the weather? If you’ve visited in May, do you have any tips to add? Are you heading to Disneyland Resort during the month of May? Share any questions, tips, or additional thoughts you have in the comments!