Crowd Predictor?

[mikris34]

Which site do u use for crowd predictions? I went on touring plans and 1 other and so far you have to pay for them...which is the most reliable too? Looking for 10/30-11/7 Thank you

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

I use easywdw.com and Kenny the Pirate's site

 

[mdb78]

I also use easywdw and Kennythe pirate. Although, I want to note that Josh from easywdw is no longer updating his calendars.

Undercover tourist is another site that others use as well.

 

[xipotec]

with the "invention" of Capacity scaling and late changes to schedules......Crowd predictors may not be of that much use...

 

[mom2rtk]

with the "invention" of Capacity scaling and late changes to schedules......Crowd predictors may not be of that much use...

Exactly that.

 

[CAS239]

Don't use any, they won't be accurate.

 

[hardlabor]

Help!!! I have looked at Touring Plans, WDW Prep, and Last years EasyWDW and all three conflict on my dates in March... 3/5/17-3/10/17... I am so confused!!! Any advice on who to use as crowd advice??? Pleas and Thank You!!

 

[Robo]

Trust nobody.
(Not kidding.)

You will get posts praising this one or that one...
but, no single "predictor" has THE answer in advance.

 

[Klayfish]

Yep, I agree with Robo. There's a reason they're all conflicting...they're just guesses, and typically not very accurate ones at that. Best gauge of crowds will be the time of year, not specific day. Haven't been there in early March, but I'm sure others who have been there can give you info what it's like that time of year. Mid-February isn't bad, so hopefully early March isn't either.

 

[kydisneyfans]

Find a couple of free crowd calendars and go with the trend.
With that being said, as more people research and learn about the calendars, there may be an issue that so many are following the advice, a slow park may be jammed and vice versa.

Last October we followed the trend and the only time the crowd calendar was way off was a Wednesday night at Epcot. All calendars were green and you could not move.

 

[Robo]

Haven't been there in early March, but I'm sure others who have been there can give you info what it's like that time of year. Mid-February isn't bad, so hopefully early March isn't either.

Early March finds "Spring Break Season" starting up.
WDW is a prime destination, especially for families with school-age kids.

 

[NH-to-FL]

As earlier responders note, crowd levels have become hard to predict. Disney works hard to fill in the quiet times with promotions. Combined with an increased willingness to take kids out of school makes the former "quiet periods" much less quiet. Add increased international travel conflicted with varying worldwide economic conditions and predictions are hard to make.

All that said, if you want something to look at check out the Your First Visit web site. Dave has a forecasted 2017 weekly crowd calendar. I don't have the latest version but the Unofficial Guide had a crowd calendar.

As to how all this translates to wait times, as 'xipotec' notes, Disney has been scaling ride capacity and making last minute changes to park hours which can make it "feel busy" even during low crowd periods.

 

[hiroMYhero]

Help!!! I have looked at Touring Plans, WDW Prep, and Last years EasyWDW and all three conflict on my dates in March... 3/5/17-3/10/17... I am so confused!!! Any advice on who to use as crowd advice??? Pleas and Thank You!!

Merged you to the current Crowd Predictor thread.

 

[CAS239]

Help!!! I have looked at Touring Plans, WDW Prep, and Last years EasyWDW and all three conflict on my dates in March... 3/5/17-3/10/17... I am so confused!!! Any advice on who to use as crowd advice??? Pleas and Thank You!!

I would just take a look at EasyWDW's and use last years as a building block. With Disney not releasing full hours until about a month out and stuff changing, there's no way any of these crowd calendars will be accurate (their an educated guess regardless)..Josh from easywdw posted on here and said he's stopped making the crowd calendars for now until Disney gets back to producing info with an adequate time frame. So any crowd calendar you see out there with info on future dates, it's not accurate so I wouldn't bother

 

[BrianL]

I always liked EasyWDW's calendars a lot, but they are no longer doing them due to all the changes. It has become impossible to be accurate. Just watch out for the typical school holidays and EMH schedules (use EMH is you can, avoid that park that day if you can't). Honestly, you'll have a great time no matter if you end up in the park that is more crowded than another one that day (you won't even know anyway).

 

[Accident]

My general rule of thumb when I looked (and now help family and friends who are coming down look because I don't want to be in a packed park all day long just because they are here).

1: school holidays (and not all schools around the country are the same time). (all holidays wether 1 day or a season bring in more people)
2: is rundisney doing anything
3: is espn zone hosting some school aged competitions
4: is it the first or last weekend/week of something new at disney. (last I would do if I had too and only chance to see something but otherwise I would try to avoid).
5: harder to do now, but what do the hours look like. longer hours=larger crowds. only opened for emh=more in the resorts.. at least that's what it appears like to me.
6: what does florida and the local areas school calendar look like.
7: is there blockout dates for castmembers or annual passholders (both indicate large crowds expected) (you can good the castmember calendar, it's public so families can plan)


easywdw while not doing them anymore had excellent other information that they told you was being taken into account. It would be worth your time to read up on the month your looking to come the last couple years. Things like brazil has a month long holiday early in the year so they tend to come in their very large sometimes pushy groups or other events that tend to give people time to be at disney.

 

[sharkyandbones]

I second touringplans (the fee is negligible in the grand scheme of things) but as others have said, even they are not terribly accurate at this point because of the constantly changing environment. I find they are still helpful as a generalization or to compare one time to another. I just wouldn't put a lot of stock in the actual numbers (in regards to how long you will wait in lines).

 

[mikeyg1479]

Basically, there is no perfect crowd calendar, since there is really no telling when a place will be crowded or not. There is just too much going on all over the world, that there is no telling how it will be on any given day.

Most will agree that month to month, roughtly expect it to be like this:

January- after new years, its one of the slowest times of the year.

February, mostly decent crowd levels, but avoid Presidents Day week when it can fill up big time

March- mostly decent, but can fluctuate with various "Spring Breaks". Since spring break is different everywhere, expect crowds at times throughout the month. Stay away from easter.

April/May- mostly good, avoid easter/memorial day, but nice times to visit outside of these, lighter crowd levels compared to summer, and nice warm weather.

June/July/August- the kids are out of school, the parks will be crowded. No ifs/ands/or buts, excepting maybe right at the end of August when most kids go back

September- right there with January as one of the slowest times. Kids just went back to school, most parents don't want to pull them out during this time. But, I'd avoid Labor Day week.

October/November- In general, "lighter, manageable crowds compared to summer, BUT realize Halloween/epcot food and wine festival will attract some crowds in this time period.

December- very light crowds until middle of month the week before Xmas- then its absolutely insanely full until New Years.

All of this generalization aside, one golden rule- be aware of all holidays. If your kids have a day off because of "holiday X/Y/Z", and you are thinking of visiting because it would be convenient because of them missing less school time- count on a million other people having the same idea. Even outside of the obvious big ones "Xmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, etc. The park is least crowded when you probably least desire to go (January's post holiday "dead of winter" times, and September (right when kids go back to school, but for the love of god, NOT labor day week). If you can manage it and want to experience as light crowds as possible, go during these times.

 

[rwdavis2]

There is one thing the crowd predictors seem to agree on: That getting to a park before rope drop, with a touring plan, almost always beats that day's recommended park.

 

[Disneyforus]

....Disney has been scaling ride capacity and making last minute changes to park hours which can make it "feel busy" even during low crowd periods.

Been away from the world for awhile... Can you explain scaling ride capacity?