Touring Plans

[disney4life2008]

I paid for Touring Plans in October to see what the daily attendance rates are for my January 1-15th trip. Besides the 1st, everything was pretty much between 4 and 7 for my trip. But now, the 2nd and 3rd have changed. Touring Plans originally said the best park to visit on the 2nd was MK and it had a low rating, now it is gone and they put EPCOT in its place.

This changes my plans a little.. so my question is this:

Would you recommend going to HS on a Friday or Saturday?
Would you recommend going to MK on a Friday or Saturday?

Touring Plans have both Friday and Saturday rated as an 8 - in their lingo, how long will waits be for attractions?

Everything has changed on Touring Plans... all 15 days... how reliable is this site?

 

[bradandsarabr]

One school of thought is that parks are less crowded on Saturdays as Saturdays are typically travel days. However, Saturdays also bring day-trippers. If Saturday is a typically a travel day then Fridays are typically last days. On average, most folks spend their last day at MK.

 

[Philo]

The first time I used TouringPlans I went along with their advice for planning which parks to visit and when etc with pretty pleasing results. On the fourth day of our trip I decided I was going to go to AK, despite TouringPlans putting this as a 'Worst Park' for that day. Oh how foolish I was, I lasted about 2 hours there before getting annoyed with the crowds. At that point I moved over the the much more pleasurable Epcot which was a 'Best Park'. Through the whole trip (during spring break) the plans seemed to give us the best results we could have hoped for

 

[Gravydeen]

Why the sudden change. I just noticed it too. They have the 1st, 2nd and 3rd ranked as 8's now. I have been relying on this sight for months in planning my trip and two weeks out they change it drastically. What gives?:brick:

 

[happymom52003]

Why the sudden change. I just noticed it too. They have the 1st, 2nd and 3rd ranked as 8's now. I have been relying on this sight for months in planning my trip and two weeks out they change it drastically. What gives?:brick:

I'm totally taking a guess here....but this is what I think...

I'm pretty familiar with the touringplans crowd calendar. I've studied and studied it in the past trying to pick times to take my WDW vacation. I noticed not too long ago that they had upcoming peak times such as Christmas week, President's Day weekend, and Easter rated a bit lower than they have in past. For example, the days surrounding Christmas day are usually all 10's....this year they are at 9's. Same for Easter...usually 10's, this year it is 9's.

I'm not sure why they decided to make their predictions for these times lower than in past years...maybe because of the economy?:shrug: Anyway, based on my own personal experience on my recent trip and reports I've read from others, attendance does not seem to be down as much as some thought it would be.

So my guess is that touringplans is adjusting their predictions based on how crowd levels have been the last few weeks. I could be wrong, but it makes sense to me.

 

[Gravydeen]

They actually lowered New Year's Eve from 10 to 9 and the raised the 2nd and third up to 8's.:shrug:

 

[disney4life2008]

They actually lowered New Year's Eve from 10 to 9 and the raised the 2nd and third up to 8's.:shrug:

Thats whats bothering me. When I first began using Touring Plans in October to plan my January trip.. they had January 1s rated as an 8. That was acceptable because it was New Years Day. However, January 2nd and 3rd (If I recall) were a 6 or 7. And the 2nd was listed as MK as the best theme park to visit. But now they do not list MK at all asbest or worst. And the numbers are all 8. What gives? I had my trip all planned (with ADRs) around those October numbers now every day has changed on their website. I AM SOOOO UPSET!!!!!

 

[happymom52003]

Thats whats bothering me. When I first began using Touring Plans in October to plan my January trip.. they had January 1s rated as an 8. That was acceptable because it was New Years Day. However, January 2nd and 3rd (If I recall) were a 6 or 7. And the 2nd was listed as MK as the best theme park to visit. But now they do not list MK at all asbest or worst. And the numbers are all 8. What gives? I had my trip all planned (with ADRs) around those October numbers now every day has changed on their website. I AM SOOOO UPSET!!!!!

In the past, Jan. 2 and 3 have never been as low as a 6. They've always been pretty high. So something caused them to rate them lower this year. But like I said, crowds are not being affected by the economy like some had predicted...so I still think touringplans is probably changing the numbers based on recent crowd patterns.

Remember, their numbers are just predictions...as much as they would like one, I don't think they have a crystal ball! They are usually pretty accurate. But there will always be unforseen things pop up that make them need to change their numbers a bit.

 

[disney4life2008]

In the past, Jan. 2 and 3 have never been as low as a 6. They've always been pretty high. So something caused them to rate them lower this year. But like I said, crowds are not being affected by the economy like some had predicted...so I still think touringplans is probably changing the numbers based on recent crowd patterns.

Remember, their numbers are just predictions...as much as they would like one, I don't think they have a crystal ball! They are usually pretty accurate. But there will always be unforseen things pop up that make them need to change their numbers a bit.

Thats tru. I am going to make the most out of the January 1, 2 and 3rd and try to get in as much of the Holidays before they go back to normal at the world.

 

[Gravydeen]

What's crazy is that common sense would tell you that with New Year's Day being on Thursday this year that no school will be back until the following week. I could have told you months ago that crowds would be high through Saturday of the weekend. Why did it take Touringplans so long to realize it? I had just hoped they new something I didn't. Guess I was wrong or right...or something like that.

 

[wvdisneyfamily]

I hate Saturdays in the parks. They seem to be more crowded. However, I would go with MK becaue there are more rides and attractions there than at MGM...er...DHS.:brick:

 

[mwoates]

From TouringPlans.com

Crowd calendar updated

Still no word from Disney on May or June hours, but we had enough minor changes accumulated to post an update to the crowd calendar. Question and comments on the calendar can now be sent to our statistician Fred at hazefre@yahoo.ca. Look for Fred to take over the crowd blog soon as well.
Posted 2008-12-10

 

[DISMOM]

Maybe they changed the ratings when Disney came out with the '4 nites, get 3 free offer' and they anticipate bigger crowds.

 

[tomm4004]

For my trip in November I found Touring Plans to be hit and miss. They were right that Tuesday's at MK are dead but the day they picked as best for DHS was dead wrong. The park was open later with two Fantasmics and it was jammed to the rafters from opening. So use them as a guide but be wary. I think their general day chart is better than their day-by-day number assessments.