1) Oh man, I forgot about grad nights in early June! My sister and her family used to like to go that first week, but they also didn’t stay past dinner time. So it didn’t effect them like it would average guests. So your park hours will be shorter due to that, at least at whichever park they host them in. Which then means the other park will be packed in the evening. I think that anymore, DL is going to be packed from Memorial Day up until Labor Day weekend (which is a half marathon race weekend as well). I do know that sometimes you can go in early/mid August and it’s not so bad on crowds due to so many schools being year round. So that means kids often go back in late July. We did WDW for my actual birthday (August 14th) and honestly thought the crowds weren’t bad at all compared to July crowds. So I would think DL would be similar, besides the fact that there are so many more locals that pop over. My ideal time for DL is late September or October (avoided Columbus day weekend and Halloween). The temps are great and crowds are lower. If you could go in early May (and avoided Mother’s day weekend (Tinkerbell half marathon weekend) the crowds should be nice and low.
2) The Rivers of America will open sometime this summer. I don’t know that they’ve released the exact date. So if that is something you would like to see, then you would be looking to book sometime later summer to guarantee it’s all running. Once it’s back up, then Fantasmic should start running again, along with Mark Twain and Sailing Ship Columbia. They claim that Pain the Night is going seasonal and during busy season. So theoretically, once the MSEP ends in early June, Paint the Night might go back into rotation. There is no guarantee or confirmation of this that I have heard yet. If parades are shows are that important to you, then yes, I would wait to go another time when they might guarantee them. But I would think and hope that Paint the Night will be going all summer, due to crowd levels. I personally like DL Fantasmic show better. But you do have to sit on the ground and get there pretty early.
3) I haven’t used any touring plans for either coast. I use the DL app and keep it handy at all times! It tells you current wait time and also if Fast Passes are still available for an attraction, along with the return time window. This really saves you from walking across the park to be disappointed if they are out or have a long stand-by wait time. There is a lot less pre-planning to go to DL. You don’t pre-book FP’s. They are old school paper and have to follow the waiting period printed on the FP ticket to know when you are eligible for the next one. The app is very accurate and helpful. Just a heads up, they do not have free wifi at DL. And since you are bouncing off of nearby cell towers, my battery drains a whole lot faster at DL. And you also have to be mindful of data usage if you don’t have unlimited. I believe we have 6 gigs for our month and are fine, but we’ve cut it close at DL.
Let me know if you have other questions or need clarifications! I’m happy to help! I’m a DL veteran and have been at least 2-3 dozen times in my life! We typically like to go for at least 4 days just to make sure we have time to see things, but also relax and take in the atmosphere as well. @imarebelpilot did a great job covering things too!
.
