Do you put any faith in crowd calendars?

tmitch

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
image.jpg
 
Upvote 0

Horizons '83

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
I go off of the Unofficial Guide's touring plans (with a few tweaks of my own) and I usually have great success with wait times. Peter Pan is one of those you have to hit in the first hour of opening or last hour near closing to have a low wait time, or of course have a FastPass+ for.
 
Upvote 0

MickeyMomV

Well-Known Member
We give NO weight to crowd calendars at all! We expect it to be busy all of the time. We plan our days around EMH and we will park hop if things get too out of control. Having been at MK during Christmas when the gates close we know what's possible and will deal with whatever we get. We don't dwell on it, we have fun and enjoy the time we get in the world.

On a side note we give the temperature forecast our full faith and avoid late spring, summer, and early fall at all costs!
 
Upvote 0

SAV

Well-Known Member
I do use crowd calendars, but not from touring plans. I use a site that is filtered out here for some reason, so I can't tell you. But it is an EASY site with WDW information.COM . And I have found it to be accurate in our trips.
 
Upvote 0

MickeyKimmy

Active Member
I usually find Touring Plans crowd calendars to be pretty accurate but they got it wrong today. All this week was supposed to be a level 1 or 2 (typical for this time of year) which it is most definitely not. We come this same time every September so I am very familiar with what a 1 or 2 is like and today at MK is not even close. I have never seen the parks this busy in September.
 
Upvote 0

NelsonRD

Well-Known Member
The problem is these scales are relative. It is not an indication of how busy the parks will be, rather an indication of how busy the park is compared to other days. A crowd level of 1, 2 or 3 does not mean non existent crowds. It means a 3 is not as busy as 4, but busier then a 2. As crowds has increased, so has the wait times across the board. Your '3' today, may have been a '6' in the past, but it makes no sense to grow the numbers outside of a 1-10 scale. So if you think its busy, or not accurate, attend on a day that it's a '8', or '10'.
 
Upvote 0

Horizons '83

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
I usually find Touring Plans crowd calendars to be pretty accurate but they got it wrong today. All this week was supposed to be a level 1 or 2 (typical for this time of year) which it is most definitely not. We come this same time every September so I am very familiar with what a 1 or 2 is like and today at MK is not even close. I have never seen the parks this busy in September.
Thats too bad, that is a major reason why we go every September (including next weekend). Oh well, I have been in thick Xmas crowds several times, so if we can handle that, we should be able to handle September crowds.
 
Upvote 0

Baltar

$4 billion for EPCOT
I like Touring Plans but numbers are relative. a 7 at the MK seems a lot worse than a 7 at Epcot to me. But the main thing I do is avoid all EMH mornings (except MK's then I leave after lunch and park hop). EMH is a great predictor of which parks will be the most crowded.
 
Upvote 0

disneygirl1

Well-Known Member
This makes me nervous we arrive Saturday. My DS school is closed 9/23-9/25 b/c the Pope is coming to Philadelphia. I'm wondering if a lot of people in the N.E. are heading down this week b/c of the kids being off of school. He's also going to DC and NY. Going to prepare myself now that it's gonna be crowded!
 
Upvote 0

Horizons '83

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
I like Touring Plans but numbers are relative. a 7 at the MK seems a lot worse than a 7 at Epcot to me. But the main thing I do is avoid all EMH mornings (except MK's then I leave after lunch and park hop). EMH is a great predictor of which parks will be the most crowded.
I agree, but I do enjoy hitting DHS for the morning EMH. I can hit everything I want and grab lunch at the Derby and be out of there by 1PM and on to the next park.
 
Upvote 0

Baltar

$4 billion for EPCOT
I agree, but I do enjoy hitting DHS for the morning EMH. I can hit everything I want and grab lunch at the Derby and be out of there by 1PM and on to the next park.
I guess i should preface that I have a 5 and 7 yr old who won't ride TOT and Aerosmith's Rock n Roller Coaster so I don't hang out at DHS too long. :)
 
Upvote 0

tmitch

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Ummmm. I'm here today and touring plans says 2. Not. Even. Close. Been here 30+ times and it is busier than I have ever seen. Looked like Disney was unprepared too...

I usually find Touring Plans crowd calendars to be pretty accurate but they got it wrong today. All this week was supposed to be a level 1 or 2 (typical for this time of year) which it is most definitely not. We come this same time every September so I am very familiar with what a 1 or 2 is like and today at MK is not even close. I have never seen the parks this busy in September.
It sounds like I'm complaining, but these people get it. I'll be the first to admit we come here way too much, and I've never seen it this crowded in September before.
 
Upvote 0

tmitch

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The problem is these scales are relative. It is not an indication of how busy the parks will be, rather an indication of how busy the park is compared to other days. A crowd level of 1, 2 or 3 does not mean non existent crowds. It means a 3 is not as busy as 4, but busier then a 2. As crowds has increased, so has the wait times across the board. Your '3' today, may have been a '6' in the past, but it makes no sense to grow the numbers outside of a 1-10 scale. So if you think its busy, or not accurate, attend on a day that it's a '8', or '10'.
If I think their 2 is busy, why on gods green earth would I attend an 8 or 10? That's stupidity in motion
 
Upvote 0

rkelly42

Well-Known Member
If a majority of people booked based on previous years crowds and this years predicted crowds, the calendars will be off. Everyone I know who travel to disney use a crowd calendar to help decide what week to go. Fact is there is no such thing as a slow week anymore.
 
Upvote 0

stevehousse

Well-Known Member
There are slow times you just need to know where to look guys!!!

With that said, using the calendars can be quite bias. Since there is about 3-4 different sites with different calendar info, I always make sure I look at all of them and not just depend on one.
 
Upvote 0

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom