Crowd levels

[joseph821]

We arrived around 5 pm and wait times were not that low. ROTR said 45 min but, based on the queue outside, it looked like it was over an hour. I'm guessing the low wait times were when it was 95 degrees +75% humidity.

 

[LKing]

July 4th weekend this year was legitimately low crowds. But Believe was blocked 2 of the days and it wasn't Halloween. The fall is always a bit different with the OBB early closure of DCA it kind of messes up crowd flow all week long (even though I realize no early closures took place over the holiday weekend). And Labor Day is not the middle of summer so I do think it's more locals like you said.

I was there July 4 weekend and agree, it was a nice calm weekend.

I really think the weather is impacting what time people visit the parks. People are either going early to beat the weather or late to wait it out. Out of town guests are going back to their hotel rooms or to the pools for longer periods of time in the middle of the day.

I wasn't in the parks on Friday, but went last night. It was legitimately crowded. Everywhere we went, it was a sea of humanity. Attraction lines were longer than normal, stores were packed (probably with people looking for AC) and the parade route was mostly full by 7 pm. Even Tomorrowland which doesn't have evening entertainment was crowded. There was a decent line for popcorn buckets and quiet a few people sitting in the Tomorrowland Terrace seats.

We walked into the first room in HMH around 9:15 pm last night. There was a audible massive sigh of relief when everyone felt the A/C.

 

[joseph821]

deleted

 

[LAS2AMS]

Crowds at the parks have been heavy the entire month during the weekends and afternoon/ evenings. Toy Story parking lot was using the entire section that was formerly cast parking - first time I’ve ever seen that.

It’s not just DLR seeing crowd boost. We were at WDW over Labor Day last year, and most every attraction at the non-Magic Kingdom parks were walk ons (except headliners, which had shorter than normal waits). Not true this year, despite terrible weather.

We went to Knott’s last night. Last year, everyone talked about how dead the park was during our annual Labor Day Heat Wave, but it was insanely packed. 3 hour wait for two rides, in high 90 heat. Six Flags mentioned that crowds were below average but since late July had seen a resurgence. This is at the national level.

 

[FLCA026]

Tier 6 day $206.

Touring Plans Observations:

Overall Crowd 4/10

Disneyland 2/10
DCA 6/10

For the day we went, Touring plans said it was actually 1 Disneyland and 2 DCA. I felt is was very crowded. Especially parade! Hard to believe a 1.

 

[FLCA026]

We arrived around 5 pm and wait times were not that low. ROTR said 45 min but, based on the queue outside, it looked like it was over an hour. I'm guessing the low wait times were when it was 95 degrees +75% humidity.

Same when we were there Friday night. We did not go on any rides that night. We were there to see the parade and fireworks since we don't usually stay that late. We wanted to have dinner and enjoy the Halloween decorations and went over to DCA also.

 

[blabbermouth]

We were there from the 23-26, Saturday to Tuesday. I wouldn't consider any of those days busy at all. We didn't get LLMP and didn't get in any lines longer than 30 minutes. We rode all of the big rides including ROR twice! Saturday was super hot, Sunday and Monday were hot, Tuesday was comfortable to us. I'll go look at the touring plans report now.

 

[blabbermouth]

Nevermind, I guess I can't see past dates without a subscription? Would appreciate anyone sharing their rankings with me for those dates!

 

[joseph821]

deleted

 

[joseph821]

We were there from the 23-26, Saturday to Tuesday. I wouldn't consider any of those days busy at all. We didn't get LLMP and didn't get in any lines longer than 30 minutes. We rode all of the big rides including ROR twice! Saturday was super hot, Sunday and Monday were hot, Tuesday was comfortable to us. I'll go look at the touring plans report now.

 

[blabbermouth]

Thanks @joseph821 , looks about how it felt to us! We got lucky.

 

[irlandaise]

If you look at the wait times for the attractions it was not crowded at one point RoR was 35 minutes in the afternoon and Peter Pan was 25 minutes, both touring plans and the thrill datas site both are accurate.

As OlliePop noted:

The number is also based on ride wait times. That is often not helpful at DL during the evening entertainment when locals flood in for parades, fireworks, and shows.

There could well be fewer people going on the rides but tens of thousands of other people in the park for entertainment. Ergo, crowded, not a "2/10" at all!

Locals and Keys flood after 6. it was $206 ticket day...it was all the locals and Keys flooding after work.

Right, which means that the TP estimate was not accurate. Apparently they issue a crowd estimate for the whole day, so it can not accurately reflect what happens at DLR as more locals arrive.

The bottom line is that predicting crowd patterns at DLR is very complicated. Hence the frequent suggestion on this board to heed the advice of posters who are local and have a feel for those patterns rather than reading a published estimate, which is often wildly inaccurate.

 

[joseph821]

As OlliePop noted:

There could well be fewer people going on the rides but tens of thousands of other people in the park for entertainment. Ergo, crowded, not a "2/10" at all!


Right, which means that the TP estimate was not accurate. Apparently they issue a crowd estimate for the whole day, so it can not accurately reflect what happens at DLR as more locals arrive.

The bottom line is that predicting crowd patterns at DLR is very complicated. Hence the frequent suggestion on this board to heed the advice of posters who are local and have a feel for those patterns rather than reading a published estimate, which is often wildly inaccurate.

 

[joseph821]

As OlliePop noted:

There could well be fewer people going on the rides but tens of thousands of other people in the park for entertainment. Ergo, crowded, not a "2/10" at all!


Right, which means that the TP estimate was not accurate. Apparently they issue a crowd estimate for the whole day, so it can not accurately reflect what happens at DLR as more locals arrive.

The bottom line is that predicting crowd patterns at DLR is very complicated. Hence the frequent suggestion on this board to heed the advice of posters who are local and have a feel for those patterns rather than reading a published estimate, which is often wildly inaccurate.

 

[FLCA026]

As OlliePop noted:

There could well be fewer people going on the rides but tens of thousands of other people in the park for entertainment. Ergo, crowded, not a "2/10" at all!


Right, which means that the TP estimate was not accurate. Apparently they issue a crowd estimate for the whole day, so it can not accurately reflect what happens at DLR as more locals arrive.

The bottom line is that predicting crowd patterns at DLR is very complicated. Hence the frequent suggestion on this board to heed the advice of posters who are local and have a feel for those patterns rather than reading a published estimate, which is often wildly inaccurate.

so true.

 

[joseph821]

Thrills data shows you when a LL is currently available the time. It also shows the LL data for the prior day, week and month. Very accurate. Also if locals come at night...2/3 of the operating hours are gone so the locals only effect the last 1/3 of operating hours and if they have dinner and watch entertainment the locals do not affect wait times for attractions that much. So the swarm of locals affect attendance levels from 6pm to 12 Midnight. So 10 hours out of 16 hours have passed or 62.5% so the rush of locals affects 37.5% of operating time.

 

[joseph821]

As OlliePop noted:

There could well be fewer people going on the rides but tens of thousands of other people in the park for entertainment. Ergo, crowded, not a "2/10" at all!


Right, which means that the TP estimate was not accurate. Apparently they issue a crowd estimate for the whole day, so it can not accurately reflect what happens at DLR as more locals arrive.

The bottom line is that predicting crowd patterns at DLR is very complicated. Hence the frequent suggestion on this board to heed the advice of posters who are local and have a feel for those patterns rather than reading a published estimate, which is often wildly inaccurate.

 

[FLCA026]

Thrills data shows you when a LL is currently available the time. It also shows the LL data for the prior day, week and month. Very accurate. Also if locals come at night...2/3 of the operating hours are gone so the locals only effect the last 1/3 of operating hours and if they have dinner and watch entertainment the locals do not affect wait times for attractions that much. So the swarm of locals affect attendance levels from 6pm to 12 Midnight. So 10 hours out of 16 hours have passed or 62.5% so the rush of locals affects 37.5% of operating time.

makes sense.

 

[FLCA026]

The 2 out of 10 for the day for overall crowd level is based on attraction wait times and not the crowds for the entertainment, shows, fireworks, parades, etc. Touring Plans is attraction based data. I should have stated that before. On a tier 6 day, only the Magic Keys are swarming in at 6 or 7 - there is no ticket deal now either. If the locals swarm the attractions, Touring Plans data would most definitely pick that up in the hourly data reports and it would be reflected in the data they post the following day.

When we first arrived some lines weren't long waits. But we didn't go for the rides this time. I guess this all makes sense. We really like going early in the morning and getting a lot done.

 

[irlandaise]

The 2 out of 10 for the day for overall crowd level is based on attraction wait times and not the crowds for the entertainment, shows, fireworks, parades, etc.

Hence, not aligned with the common meaning of "crowds."

I haven't looked at that site in a long time, so if they call them "attraction wait time levels," that's fine. But if they're calling them "crowd levels," then that's misleading. Same with other DLR "crowd" prediction sites.