Well said....I also love the UG but all of this is making me go crazy as I haven't been to Disney when it's crowded since the 80's...I've always done a great job being flexible and planning a trip during less crowded times...Len even commented that they started to take a second look at the numbers only after they got a couple of days just plain wrong over the Easter / Spring Break Season. I admire someone taking a step back to take another look at their research and recording methods, but this being said, what's to say that these new "un-tested" methods aren't completely wrong. Also, I would suppose it would be better trusted data in the long run if the numbers are TOO HIGH versus too low...that way you have people happier readers amd followers versus angry ones when they show up at a 2 level and get slammed with crowds.
I almost changed my entire trip because of these threads and it has really stressed me out and dampened my spirits. I'm only a week away from being there and I now find my excitement level far below my anxiety over dealing with possible crowds. I guess that's one problem with being a hardcore DIS planner and DIS board member...you are sometimes struck with information overload. Heck, if I wouldn't have found this board (first time reader before a trip), I would have simply showed up at the parks happy as C*rap and then proceeded to deal with the unexpected crowds using my generally well tested knowledge of crowd patterns, fastpasses, and the like. Simply being armed with an excellent knowledge of how to get from one place to another in the parks puts us at an advantage over those people you see huddled around a guidemap during the day wondering where the heck to go next.
Even if the crowds are nasty, I am sure we are only going to have to adjust things for the attractions such as the Mountains (usually always only hit these rides at the last hour the park is open) - Test Track - and Mission Space. I've yet to have trouble with Tower of Terror and only had to get a fastpass for Rock n Roller once....again, I've only been during a holiday or the Summer since the 80's.
Well, at this point I am mainly anxiously awaiting to hear from those people that are just now getting there. The tale of this week will pretty much be somewhat similar to the last week of April.
Just as a sidenote...I was able to make a PS for a California Grill (had 3 times to choose from) dinner just about 4 days ago with no problems. I am using this to my advantage so I can leave the park at closing on Tuesday without waiting in the hoards of people trying to get to Ferry Boats, Monorails, and Buses. I will already have a rental car parked at the CS for our dinner, will walk right over there after the Fireworks, get in my car and high tail it back to POR. I'm also going to try this strategy for my Thursday night at Epcot after Illuminations since my schedule kinda has me stuck at Epcot on a more crowded day of the week....the plan is...get a PS at the Yacht club restaurant, park, enter and leave on foot via the International Gateway.
Anyways, good luck to us all during this busier than usual time and I'm truly thankful for everyone's input in regards to this time at the resort.
He's only trying to give background on how they predict crowds, because so many people wanted to know.
Hello cheerleaders and band groups 
