Crowd calendars! Worth looking?

[kittykitty87]

Firstly let me say I know people say don't take these as gospel or plan your whole holiday using theses but do people think it is worth using it as a rough guide?

The one I am looking at is EasyWDW (?) I think it's called! Advises to stay away from any park that has EMH on that day and go to a park that has had EMH the night before! Should I be taking this information with a pinch of salt or do with think that is good advice?

My boyfriend and I are going 9/23 - 10/5 I am just starting to try and work out my plans and I am just getting confused about it all

 

[nan1217]

That method is good advice. EMH parks are busier than other parks. Lots of people won't even wake up in time to take advantage of the EMH, but they'll still go to that park since that's what they were planning on doing.

Our fam is going to do a morning EMH at HS for our next trip because it can be worth it if you're there before the park opens and want to ride the rides that are usually busy. Toy Story Mania is so nuts that we want to ride it during EMH to see if that helps decrease the mad rush to get to it. I'm sure the park will get busy so we may end up leaving and heading out to a different park.

 

[minnie mum]

The thing with crowd calendar recommendations is that the recommended park is almost always the park with the lowest crowd predictions. The EMH park will never be that park! If you do not have PHs you have to decide which is more important to you- attending the park during EMH or avoiding crowds.

If you DO have PHs then you can do both- attend the EMH park during the EMH hours but hop to the recommended park outside those hours.

PS: We've used easywdw's crowd calendars for our last few trips and found his advice to be very sound.

 

[kittykitty87]

PS: We've used easywdw's crowd calendars for our last few trips and found his advice to be very sound.

It does seem more logical than some of the others I have seen so I think I will carry using this as my 'rough guide'

 

[Dan Murphy]

Josh's advice and recommendations on easywdw are excellent. I have followed them for a number of trips now, previously using TourGuideMaike's (before his site slipped so badly). Josh uses pretty much the same philosophy as Mike and both have worked very well for me over many years.

 

[kittykitty87]

I'm glad to see other people have followed it and it's worked out well I think I will use this then. Only thing I need to do now is also try and fit SeaWorld, Universal and IOA in....!

 

[Wendybird55]

Crowd calendars can be helpful and there are some good rules of thumb to follow like the EMH one. But, my #1 rule is to plan based on your needs and schedule first and foremost. I guess it all comes down to priority. Like restaurant ADRS. I enjoy eating at various restaurants, but don't like spending lots of time travleing from place to place to get to them so I like to plan ADRS so I'm in an easy accessable area. Like one day we have lunch at Crystal Palace and Dinner at Liberty Tree. This way I'm in MK and don't have to rush or leave a park early to get to my ADRS. In this case following crowd calendars can be tough especially if a restaurant you want to dine at has limited availabilities. DS LOVES Chef Mickeys and we go at least twice a trip and sometimes our MK day is based on when we can get breakfast ressies for Chef Mickeys.

If you are very flexible with what you do each day and dining or other plans don't get in the way then using crowd calendars can be helpful, but I wouldn't sacrifice a plan for something you want to do or that works for you because a crowd calendar says it's not the best day to visit a certain park.

 

[blessedby3]

I always check out the crowd calendars and plan accordingly. We dont do park hoppers, and avoid all EMH anyway. I like easywdw.com and Im using them for our next trip in Oct.

 

[Art 1]

I pay no attention to the crowd calendar, never looked at one. I go when and where I want.

 

[Hootch]

don't have park hoppers I would usually advise not no going to an AM EMH park. There have been times when we have jumped to them later in the evening when and they were not busy, but most times the afternoon and early evening are packed.

We usually go to AM EMH. The kids don't have a problem getting up early to go the parks and we do get through a number of rides in that first hour. Depending on the crowds we may eat an early lunch and head back to the resort or leave for another park in the late morning.

 

[kittykitty87]

Thanks for the all the info folks

 

[JennyDrake]

I go 3-4 times a year and I have never found them to be as accurate as others seem to worship them.

 

[nan1217]

I go 3-4 times a year and I have never found them to be as accurate as others seem to worship them.

Touring plans are much more important than picking the least busy park. Plus, if you go during a less busy time, it doesn't make as much of a difference.

 

[kaligal]

As the UG/touringplans.com peeps will tell you, a good plan is far more important than this Best Park and Park to Avoid stuff.

If you aren't using the EMHs, do try to avoid the EMH park. Other than that, don't knock yourself out with Which Day stuff. That stuff can change and...its importance is just WAY overblown around here.

 

[tstidm1]

I am avoiding the EMH on both ends of the day this year on the trip because I want to not purposefully make it more stressful than it needs to be. I usually don't really have a touring plan when I go. I also am going in July for a variety of reasons this year. I feel that I need the touring plan due to purposefully taking a break in the afternoon for at least a couple hours. It will be interesting to see how it goes for me in a month.

 

[CableKC]

I planned my entire 7 full day trip to DW around the EMH for each of the parks ( except for AK since it only has morning EMHs ). The main reason is because I plan on not getting up so early the next morning, go swimming or biking in the morning at CBR then head over to the Parks around or after lunch on a few of the days.

The obvious question is....how bad are the crowds on EMH days?

I am locked into certain days where we will be going to certain parks due to ADR....but I am concerned about the crowds at the Parks and the long lines since I have only planned one day for each park where we can spend the extra hours going around the parks.

 

[DaisyD3]

I used easywdw last time and it was fairly accurate. I am using it this time in our planning for our next trip too! I think he (the guy who does the calendars) is very good at accounting for the reasoning behind ratings and breaking down actual reasons for the recommendations he makes. I like evidence and he has it! I also never stay on property because my in-laws have a house in town, so it makes sense for me to avoid a park on a day when I cannot benefit from the extra perk others can benefit from.

With that said, I think also if you have to go outside the exact recommendations, it's not the end of the world and as long as you are optimistic and make the experience what you want it to be (and perhaps use other suggestions, like going to RD, using FP, going left when people are going right, you'll be fine)

 

[kittykitty87]

I used easywdw last time and it was fairly accurate. I am using it this time in our planning for our next trip too! I think he (the guy who does the calendars) is very good at accounting for the reasoning behind ratings and breaking down actual reasons for the recommendations he makes. I like evidence and he has it! I also never stay on property because my in-laws have a house in town, so it makes sense for me to avoid a park on a day when I cannot benefit from the extra perk others can benefit from.

With that said, I think also if you have to go outside the exact recommendations, it's not the end of the world and as long as you are optimistic and make the experience what you want it to be (and perhaps use other suggestions, like going to RD, using FP, going left when people are going right, you'll be fine)

From reading the explanations he gives for going to/avoiding the parks is really good and makes good sense! I have taken in to consideration all of the parks now I'm trying to fit in days off, SeaWorld, Universal and IOA!! It's so hectic!

 

[bcrook]

I use the following strategy that combines crowd calendars and historical patterns. But this generally only works with Hoppers.

I go to Animal Kingdom from 3:00 - Close (7:00 or even 8:00 pm) in the summer. Ride wait times drop significantly after the parade. I can ride Dinosaur, Kali, and see Tough to be a Bug with no waits at all. Everest is easy for standby. Sometimes I go in earlier to catch a show.

Go to any park at open on a non-EMH morning day and take advantage of the short lines for the rides. Go to the shows and eat during the busy part of the day. Come back to the parks for close to enjoy shorter lines again.

Epcot lines drop significantly after 6:00 pm for Spaceship Earth, Maelstrom, Living with the Land, Mission Space, etc.

No matter what you do at DHS you have to get there early for the FP for TSMM. I find it best to avoid the EMH morning nonsense.

Peter Pan is the most difficult ride to manage in all the parks for me. The line is long all the way to closing even on EMH nights. I find it hard to use a fastpass for this. So, sometimes I just have to wait.

 

[kittykitty87]

That's great thank you