Dad's Crowd Calendar FAIL!!!

[Corryn]

Before planning our trip this year, I checked Dad's to see how this week/weekend would be, it said it would be a great weekend - Green and Light Blue- indicating low crowds. Awesome, right?
Now that we are here, we notice all the roaving bands of young girls in pigtails and huge bows - there's a cheerleading convention here this weekend. Shouldn't Dad have taken this into consideration? It's mobbed! I'm really bummed! I chose this week because my daughter is in a wheelchair and we didn't want to deal with the crowds

 

[CAS239]

The cheerleading crowds were there last weekend as well. Tons and tons of little girls running around screaming

 

[kandb]

Don't think the crowd calendars are that reliable anymore!!!!!!

 

[ChadInOKC]

We have just about given up on any type of crowd calendars. Every time we go it is busier than the previous time no matter what time of the year we pick! Jan, Apr, May, Oct, Nov, Dec.. ect. Supposedly dead low times. From now on, just plan on the parks being NUTS and then if its not too bad, you win! lol

 

[ConnecticutNonna]

Who is Dad's?
Every single time I think I have a handle on Disney info another one pops up. It's like whack-a-mole! lol
I usually check out Kenny the Pirate, Touring Plans and WDWmagic. All 3 are excellent, although they don't always agree. I just kind of follow as much as possible, and have been very lucky!

 

[Tink_83]

So, I started to write this saying that wouldn't it be nice if there was a calendar of all of the conventions in Orlando... and then I decided to use Google! While it's an extra step I believe I will be using this in the future in addition to the crowd calendars, if only to avoid conventions that I think may be annoying to be around (like a bunch of preteens / teens running around Orlando for a cheer leading competition, or that World Ballet Championship coming up in June that sounds questionable). Maybe try to time the trip to conventions where a bunch of professionals who won't have time to do anything else will be attending? I know when I go to Vegas for conventions I don't really have any time to do anything other than the convention and work (the work I would normally do during the day, in my hotel room at night).

Edit: after all that I forgot to include the link! Here it is:

http://calendar.occc.net/calendar/

 

[AngiTN]

Never heard of Dad's. No idea if it's reliable or not. They aren't all reliable.

 

[Juliet0778]

Yeah, we were there in early May a couple years ago and the cheerleading/dance groups were so obnoxious. (Large groups of teen girls!!!) Luckily they cleared out a couple days into our trip so it wasn't so bad.

 

[mkb3]

We used touring plans and booked this week with a 3-4, but crowds were insane this week.

 

[Shanti]

I do not trust any crowd calendar. They all rely on outdated information.

 

[FelisLachesis]

So, I started to write this saying that wouldn't it be nice if there was a calendar of all of the conventions in Orlando... and then I decided to use Google! While it's an extra step I believe I will be using this in the future in addition to the crowd calendars, if only to avoid conventions that I think may be annoying to be around (like a bunch of preteens / teens running around Orlando for a cheer leading competition, or that World Ballet Championship coming up in June that sounds questionable). Maybe try to time the trip to conventions where a bunch of professionals who won't have time to do anything else will be attending? I know when I go to Vegas for conventions I don't really have any time to do anything other than the convention and work (the work I would normally do during the day, in my hotel room at night).

Edit: after all that I forgot to include the link! Here it is:

http://calendar.occc.net/calendar/

I hate to burst your bubble, but there is one convention in Orlando that I'm aware of that's not on that calendar. It's my oldest's college organization national convention, which is in mid-July.

 

[Doug S]

Crowd calendars usually do not take into account sport tournaments. Because every team/squad has a different schedule, they shouldn't be touring the parks on the same days. However they will make quite a ruckus wherever they're camped out, which is almost always the All-Stars.

Like others have said, crowd calendars are not very predictable at the moment. Nobody is quite sure why the sudden uptick in crowds over the past year, but I think it's a combination of more travelers and staff cuts. No longer does WDW feel obligated to keep wait times low. It seems like management now is fine with waits not dipping below 15 minutes for stuff that would be walk-ons historically. Hopefully the staff reduction trend will end soon, as they're hiring 1000.

 

[cdnusagurl]

So, I started to write this saying that wouldn't it be nice if there was a calendar of all of the conventions in Orlando... and then I decided to use Google! While it's an extra step I believe I will be using this in the future in addition to the crowd calendars, if only to avoid conventions that I think may be annoying to be around (like a bunch of preteens / teens running around Orlando for a cheer leading competition, or that World Ballet Championship coming up in June that sounds questionable). Maybe try to time the trip to conventions where a bunch of professionals who won't have time to do anything else will be attending? I know when I go to Vegas for conventions I don't really have any time to do anything other than the convention and work (the work I would normally do during the day, in my hotel room at night).

Edit: after all that I forgot to include the link! Here it is:

http://calendar.occc.net/calendar/

This is basically my plan. Assume it will be crowded whole avoiding certain crowds.

 

[DebbieB]

I don't think they considered the last showing of Wishes/first showing of Happily Ever After. The picture I saw from MK tonight was a mob scene.

 

[Tink_83]

I hate to burst your bubble, but there is one convention in Orlando that I'm aware of that's not on that calendar. It's my oldest's college organization national convention, which is in mid-July.

I posted a link to the the largest convention center in Orlando (which happens to be the second largest convention center in the US, behind McCormick Place in Chicago). I'm sure there are other, smaller convention centers (sort of like going to Vegas, pick your convention center); hotels that host conventions, etc.... If someone knows of a centralized calendar for all convention centers in Orlando that would be certainly more useful.

 

[Accident]

Let's not forget wishes ending, happily starting and pandora AP previews starting.. When disney pre-announces MK is going to have backstage areas opened to watch the fireworks, it's going to be crowded.

 

[MissPrice]

You can also check out the event calendar on ESPN Wide World of Sports website. -Amanda

 

[FelisLachesis]

I posted a link to the the largest convention center in Orlando (which happens to be the second largest convention center in the US, behind McCormick Place in Chicago). I'm sure there are other, smaller convention centers (sort of like going to Vegas, pick your convention center); hotels that host conventions, etc.... If someone knows of a centralized calendar for all convention centers in Orlando that would be certainly more useful.

I think that's the bigger issue. With all the hotels around, there's no centralized list. I actually looked for that convention through the hotel's website (Hilton Orlando Buena Vista Palace) and I could not find a list of conventions at that hotel at all.

Some hotels may not want that information public, as some potential guests may see a convention coming and it might scare them to another hotel.

 

[Corryn]

You can also check out the event calendar on ESPN Wide World of Sports website. -Amanda

While standing on line, that's exactly what I did that's how I figured it out

 

[Corryn]

So, I started to write this saying that wouldn't it be nice if there was a calendar of all of the conventions in Orlando... and then I decided to use Google! While it's an extra step I believe I will be using this in the future in addition to the crowd calendars, if only to avoid conventions that I think may be annoying to be around (like a bunch of preteens / teens running around Orlando for a cheer leading competition, or that World Ballet Championship coming up in June that sounds questionable). Maybe try to time the trip to conventions where a bunch of professionals who won't have time to do anything else will be attending? I know when I go to Vegas for conventions I don't really have any time to do anything other than the convention and work (the work I would normally do during the day, in my hotel room at night).

Edit: after all that I forgot to include the link! Here it is:

http://calendar.occc.net/calendar/

Thanks!!!