Does following a crowd calendar make a difference in your trip?

[aprincessatlasst]

I booked our ADRs based off times that seemed to give us the most time in the parks as we will be there during the peak of times. I could not really find much data on best days as it seems many don't want to say due to the unpredictability of the season.

I finally found Kennythepirate site and now I have the days all wrong. If I change I would give up dining adrs for most of the trip. All with decent times to eat but the restaurants are not anything special and will not be heartbroken to miss but I will miss the timing. It is the second busiest week of the year so I am wondering if crowd calendars are something to rely on. They seem to follow the typical steer clear of emh formula so wondering how accurate that is during the holiday season.

 

[sxeensweet]

Me and DH Never use them nor take advice from them! lol. Also find it false to avoid EMH's. We love EMH's especially the evening ones and do every evening EMH's while in WDW, and do not find the parks any more crowded on those days at all.
We go where we want on any given day that fits OUR schedule best not some silly crowd calendar.
And if your going during a holiday week you already know it will be busy everywhere regardless. Keep your plans if that's what works best for you and your family esp concerning your dining reservations etc that you do not want to change. You will be fine.

 

[Tuvalu]

We go where we want on any given day that fits OUR schedule best not some silly crowd calendar.

This. Exactly.

 

[Figgy1]

Yes and no. I do make some of my plans around them but not all of them. For instance EPCOT is supposedly going to be a "good" day on our first day so we're planning on spending the am and a good chunk of the day there and then hopping to do pm EMH, day 2 and 3 morning EMH and the hopping to a "good day park. The rest of the trip will depend on where and when we make our must do ADRs

 

[MickeyMomV]

Me and DH Never use them nor take advice from them! lol. Also find it false to avoid EMH's. We love EMH's especially the evening ones and do every evening EMH's while in WDW, and do not find the parks any more crowded on those days at all.
We go where we want on any given day that fits OUR schedule best not some silly crowd calendar.
And if your going during a holiday week you already know it will be busy everywhere regardless. Keep your plans if that's what works best for you and your family esp concerning your dining reservations etc that you do not want to change. You will be fine.

We have to agree with this 100%!!! We have NEVER looked at a crowd calendar when making plans. We simply look at the calendar and see what fits our schedule and plan the trip. As previous threads have pointed out the crowd calendars are unreliable at best given the increased attendance over the past 2 years or so.

As for EMH, we try to do them as much as possible especially the evening ones. Avoiding them never made sense to me.

 

[JillC LI]

The only time I heed the crowd calendar is if there is a predicted huge spike in one particular park due to a special event there one day. In that case I will try to avoid that park. Otherwise, I plan what I want when I want.

 

[JIMINYCR]

I'll compare all the crowd calendars and use them just to get an idea of whats going on. But they are just a guide to go by, I never take them as 100 % accurate. When I plan I've got them nearby, it gives me something to refer to but I have park hoppers so if I blew a call I can move on to another park then return for my later ADR.

 

[Weather_Lady]

There is no crowd level that can't be overcome with a good touring plan. What time you arrive at a park, what attractions you go to and when, and your use of FP+ will have exponentially more impact on the success of your visit (in terms of the amount of time you spend in line) than any which-park-on-which-day crowd calendar.

In other words, don't sweat it -- tour wisely, enjoy your ADRs, and don't worry about the crowd calendars! (While crowd calendars are certainly a great tool to use in picking the week of your visit, the crowd fluctuations that naturally occur within a given week aren't going to make-or-break anything, and something as simple as a rainy day or a last-minute park hours change can throw off the accuracy of the predictions for the entire week.)