I really hope touring plans is accurate

[eliza61nyc]

I really enjoy touring plans, and even though I've been many times I still subscribe. Just started planning our late August trip and the crowd calendar has us down for a couple of 3 days, a 2 day and even a 1!!! I really hope the Disney God's will smile down on us and this holds true. I can't even imagine what a 1 day on the crowd calendar is like.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[DarthVader]

I've come to the realization that disney is always crowded, its a question of crushing crowds, or just suffocating crowds. I just got back from a week there and we consistently had 60 minute waits on the majority of rides at MK.

 

[drizgirl]

The problem is that if Disney expects lower crowds, they will staff down so many attractions will still have longer waits. Thanks, Big Data.

 

[Andrew Appleby]

Which days are a 1? We're going for the last 2 weeks in august!

 

[eliza61nyc]

Which days are a 1? We're going for the last 2 weeks in august!

Friday August 31st. Overall score was a 2, with the MK a 1!!! of course sat and sunday being labor day weekend it jumps back up but even the jump is doable in my world

 

[eliza61nyc]

I've come to the realization that disney is always crowded, its a question of crushing crowds, or just suffocating crowds. I just got back from a week there and we consistently had 60 minute waits on the majority of rides at MK.

That's doable for me. If I use my 3 fp's for the biggies and get there early that pretty much means we can ride the headliners at least twice with only one wait.

Ironically we also were there from 4/13-4/17. Of course the big wait was for FOP and the river thingey. we fp's FOP, dinasour and kilamanjario safaris. the Kilamanjario safari was a wasted one as we signed up for wild africa trek. Expedition Everest was a surprising 40 minute wait, kali river rapids was 50 minutes. so we got all rides done really easy. and went on FOP again during rivers of light. wait time dropped to 1 hour and it was actually ~45 minutes.

 

[eliza61nyc]

The problem is that if Disney expects lower crowds, they will staff down so many attractions will still have longer waits. Thanks, Big Data.

Darn it.
lol, I think Disney is in a very hard position. I mean I grew up working in my uncles restaurant in Harlem NYC. On slow days they cut back on staff. common sense, why pay workers to stand around and do nothing? so I understand if you expect lower crowds you would not have a full staff on hand. but I can see the frustration.

 

[DarthVader]

Of course the big wait was for FOP and the river thingey.

I waited over two hours for the Navi River and it was such a disappointment. My entire family, leaving the ride, was like we waited over 2 hours for that??? Of course what made it even more frustrating, was the standby time was 65 minutes, so we went in thinking it was that, and having basically to wait 2x the amount of time. We had a fastpass for FOP, and I think that set the bar extremely high in a sense. That was so great, and then to have a ride like splash mountain (inside scenes), but without the splash was so disappointing.

 

[winstongator]

I could see that being a quiet week. Kids just back at school. Labor day might be a little more crowded than they have it, based on my experience last year. My first trip with kids 5 years ago was around Labor Day and the crowds were very thin. Good luck, should be a great trip.

 

[Andrew Appleby]

Friday August 31st. Overall score was a 2, with the MK a 1!!! of course sat and sunday being labor day weekend it jumps back up but even the jump is doable in my world

Ah, 31st is the day we land back in blighty (or the UK as you may know it) which explains why I hadn't spotted it that low. That sad our second week is mainly 3s and 4s so I think we'll be ok.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I really enjoy touring plans, and even though I've been many times I still subscribe. Just started planning our late August trip and the crowd calendar has us down for a couple of 3 days, a 2 day and even a 1!!! I really hope the Disney God's will smile down on us and this holds true. I can't even imagine what a 1 day on the crowd calendar is like.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Late August is the slowest block of the year now by a significant margin.

 

[drwadadli]

I waited over two hours for the Navi River and it was such a disappointment. My entire family, leaving the ride, was like we waited over 2 hours for that??? Of course what made it even more frustrating, was the standby time was 65 minutes, so we went in thinking it was that, and having basically to wait 2x the amount of time. We had a fastpass for FOP, and I think that set the bar extremely high in a sense. That was so great, and then to have a ride like splash mountain (inside scenes), but without the splash was so disappointing.

No offense, but being Pandora - The World of Avatar is still considered new, so I would have expect the stand by line for Navi River and FOP to be extra long wait times.

Using @eliza61nyc example of using TouringPlans, they rate today (4/25/2018) as a crowd of 5 for Animal Kingdom which translates to a wait time (stand by line) of 160 - 270 minutes for FOP and 90 - 170 minutes for Navi River.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I've come to the realization that disney is always crowded, its a question of crushing crowds, or just suffocating crowds. I just got back from a week there and we consistently had 60 minute waits on the majority of rides at MK.

You have to leave the parks at 1:00 when they get crowded. If you show up for rope drop, leave after lunch, and come back around dinner time, you won't have any problems with crowds.

 

[drwadadli]

You have to leave the parks at 1:00 when they get crowded. If you show up for rope drop, leave after lunch, and come back around dinner time, you won't have any problems with crowds.

That is what my wife and I do and have been doing that for the last 15 years. It is a great way to avoid the crowdest and hottest parts of the day, give a change to eat lunch outside the parks, even take a nap if need be, and go back in the evening refreshed and ready to stay late.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Friday August 31st. Overall score was a 2, with the MK a 1!!! of course sat and sunday being labor day weekend it jumps back up but even the jump is doable in my world

My bday. Don’t tempt me!!

 

[Weather_Lady]

I really enjoy touring plans, and even though I've been many times I still subscribe. Just started planning our late August trip and the crowd calendar has us down for a couple of 3 days, a 2 day and even a 1!!! I really hope the Disney God's will smile down on us and this holds true. I can't even imagine what a 1 day on the crowd calendar is like.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

As others said, don't be surprised if those numbers go up before your visit -- and don't be worred if they do. A crowd level "1" doesn't mean what it used to mean, because WDW has attempted to standardize wait times across the board by reducing staffing and capacity when crowds are expected to be low. (Unfortunately, this takes much of the "lower wait time" advantage away from those attending on low crowd days, although there are still many other advantages -- clearer walkways and easier access to tables at CS restaurants, etc.)

For example, several of the crowd level 2 and 3 parks for our upcoming trip are now estimated as crowd levels 5-7. However, when I re-evaluted our personalized touring plans on touringplans.com to see our "new" estimated wait times with the higher crowds, our overall wait times didn't go up by more than a minute or two, if at all, due to the anticipated crowd-driven staffing and capacity changes.

 

[OneofThree]

I really enjoy touring plans, and even though I've been many times I still subscribe. Just started planning our late August trip and the crowd calendar has us down for a couple of 3 days, a 2 day and even a 1!!! I really hope the Disney God's will smile down on us and this holds true. I can't even imagine what a 1 day on the crowd calendar is like.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

In terms of "crowd calendars" (all of them, really), it's all relative because Disney these days is always busy. I think a lot of people look at the index and assume a "1" day isn't crowded. In reality, I've found very little difference between what they call 9, and what they call 5, for example. TBH, some of the least crowded park days we've experienced over the past year have been on days they predicted would be 6 or more,, whatever that means. Catching low crowds seems to be like catching lightning in a bottle.

 

[eliza61nyc]

In terms of "crowd calendars" (all of them, really), it's all relative because Disney these days is always busy. I think a lot of people look at the index and assume a "1" day isn't crowded. In reality, I've found very little difference between what they call 9, and what they call 5, for example. TBH, some of the least crowded park days we've experienced over the past year have been on days they predicted would be 6 or more,, whatever that means. Catching low crowds seems to be like catching lightning in a bottle.

I wonder if the disconnect is between "crowd" levels and wait times. for example when I was there a few weeks, the wait time for pandora lands were out of control. that of course is because it's new but overall I did not find the park crowded at all. very easily walkable without bottle necks and other wait times under an hour. I think folks see 2 hour wait for pandora and automatically think "very crowded".

I do recognize the days of walking through an empty magic Kingdom are long gone, and definitely don't expect that.

 

[dieboy]

Just there in off season, weeks after spring break. MK on a monday was an absolute nut house. We've never had issues in off season, this was a first for us .. normally we can meander around not wait long for anything outside of our FPs. This time, only FP rides, waited I think 40mins for haunted mansion the one ride outside of FPs we rode.

I'm not sure how accurate those 'crowd calendars' are. They can be hit and miss, its hard to predict when all the local APs decide to stop in for a day, etc, etc.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I wonder if the disconnect is between "crowd" levels and wait times. for example when I was there a few weeks, the wait time for pandora lands were out of control. that of course is because it's new but overall I did not find the park crowded at all. very easily walkable without bottle necks and other wait times under an hour. I think folks see 2 hour wait for pandora and automatically think "very crowded".

I do recognize the days of walking through an empty magic Kingdom are long gone, and definitely don't expect that.

There is a disconnect...it can be traced back to the day that internet fastpass went up.

Low crowds don’t seem to affect wait times up much because your usual suspect attractions are always prebooked.