Crowd Calendars & Spring Break 2016 -- HELP!

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Hi all!

I put the following table together based on three crowd calendars for dates that we are considering for an upcoming trip.



I guess that I basically have one question... maybe two...

1) ANY reason to expect that UG is more likely to be right than Undercover Tourist or easyWDW? I'd love to hope that there is, but kinda' doubt it.

2) Does the following make sense to assume: The easyWDW figures I'm using are based on his 2015 crowd ratings, using when Easter falls as the anchor. So... in 2015 Easter was on Apr 5, with crowd numbers beginning with Apr 5 listed as 9-9-9-9-8-8-5-5-5. So in this table I started with Easter falling on Mar 27, and for crowd numbers beginning with Mar 27 I've listed 9-9-9-9-8-8-5-5-5.

Thanks in advance, DISers!!!

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Perhaps the answer to 1) is NO, and no one wants to break it to me...

Wishful thinking... I was actually just looking at actual crowds on UG's site, and plenty of places where they predicted 6-7 for Easter 2015 turned out to be 10. You think they'd update their 2016 predictions to reflect this rather than show 6 again...

 

[skuttle]

We never pay attention to those crowd calendars, so I can't help you with that. However, we did just from an Easter trip (April 1-10) and had a fabulous time! It took a lot of planning, but we did everything we wanted to do, including several of the big rides more than once. We took advantage of the 7am EMH every other day and got SO much done during the first 3-4 hours the park was opened. We committed to doing 7am rope drop, so we were able to knock out some big attractions during EMH, and that allowed us to save our FP for other attractions later in the day. The weather was perfect. Our boys loved being able to swim almost every day. We hadn't been to Flower and Garden in several years so we really enjoyed that.

We were really nervous about going during Easter week because of the crowds. And don't get me wrong, by midday, the crowds were CRAZY! However, this was probably one of my favorite trips! I wouldn't hesitate to go during Easter week again!

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

That is really good to hear, @skuttle! Thanks for sharing your account!

We've never gone during a peak time like this, but with our school district shifting to far stricter attendance rules and the kids starting to get older, this seems like the time to bite that bullet... but I am NOT looking forward to it!!

Good to hear that by sticking with some tried and true things (rope drop, EMH), a great trip can still be had over this period.

 

[skuttle]

Glad I could help ease your fears a little! If you have any specific questions just let me know!

 

[itchin2go]

That is really good to hear, @skuttle! Thanks for sharing your account!

We've never gone during a peak time like this, but with our school district shifting to far stricter attendance rules and the kids starting to get older, this seems like the time to bite that bullet... but I am NOT looking forward to it!!

Good to hear that by sticking with some tried and true things (rope drop, EMH), a great trip can still be had over this period.

We went Thanksgiving week of 2014 and I was scared.

We used our tried and true strategies and had a great trip. I'm sure most days were 8s (maybe some 9s), but they didn't feel any different from our previous January and October trips (which were supposed to be low crowds). We rope dropped and stayed till after lunch, riding mostly standby with short waits. We bolted after lunch (or maybe a FP or 2) and then came back for dinner. Next trip, I may make my FPs for the evening because we just didn't really need them before lunch (except SDMT, and Anna and Elsa, in case that's something you're looking for).

We're doing Spring Break as well (first full week and March), and I *would* be worried, but we had such a good Thanksgiving trip that I'm just not! Hope this helps!

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Glad I could help ease your fears a little! If you have any specific questions just let me know!

We went Thanksgiving week of 2014 and I was scared.

We used our tried and true strategies and had a great trip. I'm sure most days were 8s (maybe some 9s), but they didn't feel any different from our previous January and October trips (which were supposed to be low crowds). We rope dropped and stayed till after lunch, riding mostly standby with short waits. We bolted after lunch (or maybe a FP or 2) and then came back for dinner. Next trip, I may make my FPs for the evening because we just didn't really need them before lunch (except SDMT, and Anna and Elsa, in case that's something you're looking for).

We're doing Spring Break as well (first full week and March), and I *would* be worried, but we had such a good Thanksgiving trip that I'm just not! Hope this helps!

Thank you both -- very helpful!!