My goodness, SuzieD! You sure picked an early date to make your first Whitney attempt. You will probably encounter so much snow that the trail will be hard to follow, especially higher up. Since May 1 is a Tuesday, there will likely only be a dozen or so people on the trail at all. Check the
Unused Permits over the past years, and see how many people actually went that early.
Unless you feel comfortable navigating with a map over snow, I think you should cancel your May 1 reservation, and go for a walk-in permit during the week late in June. You can see from the unused numbers that walk-in permits are always available due to all the no-shows.