Time to Restructure Crowd Calendars?

[MouseMum]

Parks being more crowded than they used to be makes sense to me, so I get a crowd level of 5 not being the same as it was 5-10 years ago. FP+ getting priority in the lines and making standby waits longer makes sense to me. What does not make sense to me is the lower ride capacity. Why is Disney doing this? I read somewhere that it wouldn't cost them much to increase capacity since most CMs are college students making minimum wage. Is there more to it than this? Is running the ride at capacity really costly? What is their reasoning behind all this? Are they trying to make people have a miserable time so the parks aren't as crowded? What gives? Is the money suck of Shanghai Disney behind any of this? Thoughts?

I was pondering these questions too (actually not pondering, because I'm seething about this). I cannot get over the fact that Disney, the American entertainment conglomerate that takes in billions of dollars annually (WDW being one of those huge contributors), has resorted to these ridiculous attraction capacity cuts! I want to know why too! Walt would be so "disappointed" (read, disgusted). These cuts are right up there with taking "One Man's Dream" out of WDW. Don't get me started on THAT one!! Grrrr

EDITED to add WDW theme park contribution

 

[AutiAndEma]

One of the problems is that people need to understand that a "5" today is much different from a "5" ten years ago. A "5" today is like what an "8" was ten years ago. Also, things like Soarin being closed has dropped attendance at Epcot and closures at DHS also makes people avoid that park, making MK more crowded. The crowd calendars are just predictions and it's hard to take everything into account. I remember last Oct (I think it was Oct) MK was insanely busy and everybody was baffled as to why. Lines to get in the parking lot were long, the line for bag check was endless, ride queues were long etc. Well it turns out there was a Jewish holiday and because of the way it fell during the week, many schools (a lot in NY, NJ, and FL from what I read) were closed wed, thur, and fri. So what did everyone do? Go to Disney. As someone said in another thread, never underestimate the impact a few Northern states can have on attendance.

I teach in NYC. This year there is a 2-day Jewish holiday at the beginning of the month that we have off for on Monday and Tuesday. Figured if I am ever going to get to see Disney in the fall, this is my chance, so I will be one of those people you described that will be adding to the crowd. I actually always wanted to go in the fall partly because I'd always read the crowds were so light. Glad I am seeing these reports/posts because I have been looking at the crowd calendars on Touring.com thinking: "Yes!!! MK is a 2!!!" I guess it's unlikely that will actually happen.

 

[AutiAndEma]

much like weather forecasts, crowd calendars rely on history to guess at what happens in the future.

Unfortunately, Disney has thrown a wrench in the works by running parks at (much) lower capacity then in the past. It will take time to gather the data - but, if this trend continues, then this time next year we should have better calendars.

If somebody could accurately estimate crowds/wait times in the future with any consistency regardless of operational changes, they should pick the winning lottery numbers, not run a a Disney website (unless the site is a labor of love, I guess...)

I am not in-the-know about all things Disney. Can someone explain what this means when they say the parks are operating at lower capacity?

 

[Mikie]

I am not in-the-know about all things Disney. Can someone explain what this means when they say the parks are operating at lower capacity?

Reports in business journals and Cast Members who post here that staffing has been cut a lot throughout the resort. Sometimes this has resulted in running only one platform or track of a ride that has 2 tracks available.. So a day that has fewer people in the park still has long lines because they're only running half the ride.

 

[AutiAndEma]

I wonder how much the opt-out movement affected April crowds...families that opt out of testing may decide if no alternative activities are provided for kids they may take them out of school during standardized testing....just a thought, I have absolutely no evidence this is true lol

As for crowd calendars - I've used easywdw' crowd calendars and followed Josh's recommended touring plans (with revisions that fit our family priorities and touring style) and the only place we have run into any long waits at all is Hollywood Studios...and that's mostly because of the tiers - we typically FP+ TSMM, ToT, and Star Tours so we've waited in lines for GMR (30 min) and RnRR (60 min)....would have rope dropped RnRR but didn't think DD would ride it so once we were over there and she decided she wanted to we had to wait...we haven't waited longer than 20 min anywhere else and we ride everything.

Opt out was hugely pushed in my little town here in NY. I know of at least one family that kept their kids out of school and went to Disney. I imagine that happened a lot!!! Tons and tons of people on Long Island are thoroughly against the state testing. I imagine if I know of ONE family in my tiny little town (and I don't know many families here), then you may be on to something there!

 

[anniemae]

I teach in NYC. This year there is a 2-day Jewish holiday at the beginning of the month that we have off for on Monday and Tuesday. Figured if I am ever going to get to see Disney in the fall, this is my chance, so I will be one of those people you described that will be adding to the crowd. I actually always wanted to go in the fall partly because I'd always read the crowds were so light. Glad I am seeing these reports/posts because I have been looking at the crowd calendars on Touring.com thinking: "Yes!!! MK is a 2!!!" I guess it's unlikely that will actually happen.

Well hopefully the calendars will take it into account this year. I think there was also something going on those days too besides just the Jewish holidays, so it was kind of a fluke I think. I don't think it would be as bad this year. I still think Oct is a great time to go and if I were in your shoes, I would go too!

 

[Cee]

I'm all about ignoring calendars. I was there the week of Dec. 13-20 and again Feb. 5-12. Weather was much better in Dec. and crowds were not bad at all. Feb. was freezing cold and the place was packed. I would have assumed the week closer to Christmas would have been more crowded. Go figure. Just GO...and enjoy!

 

[DisneyDad2015]

Yep, I'm tossing crowd calendars out next time I go. Don't think they really matter anymore anyway.

 

[anneboleyn]

This is so nice to read after so much being said in the opposite direction lately!!!!
I will be there in December...if I take stock in the majority of things that are being said, I would be in for a horrible trip! And our September 2015 trip was wonderful!!!

Your last sentence makes me feel better. I am going this year during the week of September 11th, and I was getting so worried when I saw people saying that September 2015 was worse than June. I was starting to panic lol. So thank you for saying that you had a good time...it gives me hope!

 

[jknc]

BREAKING NEWS:

Crowd calendars have been changed across all sites on Al Gores Internet.

No more 1,2,9,10 or color coded days. Now all crowd calendars just say CROWDED, every day of every month.

Eat, drink and be merry. You're welcome.

 

[PrinceOfPeace]

It is excluded from the FD promotion because it is Pop Warner week.

When is Pop Warner week!? We're going in Sept.

 

[theme_park_mom]

Do you think the Universal Studios/IoA crowd calendars are any better?

 

[siskaren]

When is Pop Warner week!? We're going in Sept.

December 3-10.

 

[maxiesmom]

I was pondering these questions too (actually not pondering, because I'm seething about this). I cannot get over the fact that Disney, the American entertainment conglomerate that takes in billions of dollars annually, has resorted to these ridiculous attraction capacity cuts! I want to know why too! Walt would be so "disappointed" (read, disgusted). These cuts are right up there with taking "One Man's Dream" out of WDW. Don't get me started on THAT one!! Grrrr

Because the Disney conglomerate is made up of many separate parts. The parks being one of them. When one of the parks are struggling they don't pull from their movie division to make that up, they pull from other parks.

 

[MouseMum]

Because the Disney conglomerate is made up of many separate parts. The parks being one of them. When one of the parks are struggling they don't pull from their movie division to make that up, they pull from other parks.

Of course, you're right. I had meant to imply the WDW theme park as a contributor to the $$$$. Thanks for catching that. Post edited.

 

[phillymummer]

I could be totally wrong here, but I suspect Disney changing their park hours and EMHs at the last minute is not helping any. For example, Disney extends the park hours of MK or adds late EMH one month beforehand and now suddenly MK goes from a recommended park to a non recommended park. Who is going to change their ADRs and FPs because of the change? And people are more flexible with their schedules and/or love those late night hours are going to flock to MK. Does that make sense? Maybe that example doesn't work, but I still think that Disney playing around with their hours, EMHs, and show times as close as weeks beforehand is not helping with the crowd calendars

 

[TheFloatingBear]

I am taking a totally wrong here, but I suspect Disney changing their park hours and EMHs at the last minute is not helping any. For example, Disney extends the park hours of MK or adds late EMH one month beforehand and now suddenly MK goes from a recommended park to a non recommended park. Who is going to change their ADRs and FPs because of the change? And people are more flexible with their schedules and/or love those late night hours are going to flock to MK. Does that make sense? Maybe that example doesn't work, but I still think that Disney playing around with their hours, EMHs, and show times as close as weeks beforehand is not helping with the crowd calendars

This is kind of what happened to us... we were in WDW last week. We planned a Saturday in MK (4/16) - not ideal but we did it for two reason - (1) it was our first full day and we wanted to be in MK and (2) we were doing a split stay and were, at that point, at a MK resort, so we figured with a non-EMH morning and quick transportation, we'd be good in am for rope drop and could always hop later. We made a PPO ADR at BOG for the same reasons (proximity, etc.).

So about 2 weeks before, they added the paid night-time event, which in turn appeared to affect the EMHs, and the MK morning EMH was switched to our Saturday, thereby making it more likely to be more crowded and less desirable. However, given we had our FPs set for some time, and changing things would entail changing multiple days, we just ditched the BOG reservation and made the best of things. Rope drop was great but it definitely was crowded as the day wore on... Now, I'm sure MK wasn't the most recommended for that day to begin with, but the added EMH probably made it less so!

 

[IndyPirate]

I wonder how much this has to do with the COO's departure a few weeks ago.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I think Disney in general is just more crowded now than it used to be. We'll be sticking to our usual plan of avoiding parks with EMH and using FP+ for our must-dos, but we're prepared for it to be more crowded than we're used to.

 

[Goofey Drool]

Our family just got back last week and I used the crowd calendar for most of the days. Our first day we arrived at Hollywood Studios at approx. 5pm and it was the most recommended park. It gave reasons which appeared valid enough but holy cow....it was completely packed. Long lines for everything and the streets were so crowded it was hard to walk around.We had a fantasmic reservation but left early instead. Over the course of the week everything appeared way more crowded than our last April vacation but that was 6 years ago. The next night we went to Disney Springs and by 7pm it was just a sea of people. This was not fun at all and just getting a meal before we left was an act of congress. I think it is what it is...busy most of the time and take it or leave it. This was our last trip as a family most likely, both kids are now teens. It's time for new adventures and a more relaxing style of vacation without the huge lines. It was a good time but I can think of plenty ways to have a fun vacation for half the cost. I know...it's a Disney forum and I should only make good comments but I am just being honest.