Daily crowd calendars? Overall crowd question too...

[lily2521]

I'm trying to avoid crowds, that's my biggest priority. Good luck in DW I know

But...I'm guessing I'd want to avoid parks with EMH's, and I looked at daily crowd calendar/park suggestions at both EasyWDW and Undercover Tourist.

These calendars seem to differ a bit from each other. EasyWDW rates 5/17 Epcot is Most Recommended, with MK being 2nd in line. Undercover shows red for MK for the same day...so which crowd prediction site is more reliable?

5/18 EasyWDW lists AK as most recommended, but Undercover has it as a yellow that day (they actually don't have any green parks that day)

Also, DW website says MK open 9a-12a online on 5/17, but both of these crowd calendars show MK closes at 10P that day. Will this affect the recommendations for those days? I'm looking at 5/17 just as an example for one day trying to figure it out.

We will have kids with us, so very unlikely we'd be staying the extra 2 hours from 10P-12A, I'm just wondering if it will have any affects on crowds overall for that day.

*If we do spend the extra 2 hours there from 10P-12A, or even 1 of those 2 hours and stay until 11, how are crowds at that time of night? Will DD be able to hop on rides pretty easily during those times? We wouldn't be doing the crazy rides with tons of popularity, think rides a 6 year old girl would like. Wondering if that would be incentive to take a mid-day break and go back to MK in the afternoon to stay later...but I know she won't nap mid-day. Even if we try. And then we have a 8AM Tuskers reservation the next morning, so I don't know if that will be too little sleep for her.

 

[siskaren]

I like easyWDW because Josh explains why he does or doesn't recommend a park. For instance on 5/17, he recommends Epcot because AK has EMH, DHS has Star Wars Weekends and MK has longer hours with nighttime entertainment. Actually on 5/18 Epcot is again the most recommended, with AK highly recommended, and the reason for AK being highly recommended is due to the fact that it had EMH the day before and also because most people start their vacations at the beginning of the week and like to start with MK.

Also I checked the calendar Josh uses (http://media.disneywebcontent.com/StaticFiles/ParkHours/WDWTravelAgent_may.pdf) and it is showing the 12am closing on 5/17, but it says at the bottom of each page that it was last edited 1/9, so maybe Josh just hasn't posted the changes yet. (I noticed though that he just posted the changes for Jan-Apr, so maybe he's working on it as I type. ) I don't think the additional 2 hours are going to change his recommendation, though.

 

[lily2521]

I like easyWDW because Josh explains why he does or doesn't recommend a park. For instance on 5/17, he recommends Epcot because AK has EMH, DHS has Star Wars Weekends and MK has longer hours with nighttime entertainment. Actually on 5/18 Epcot is again the most recommended, with AK highly recommended, and the reason for AK being highly recommended is due to the fact that it had EMH the day before and also because most people start their vacations at the beginning of the week and like to start with MK.

Also I checked the calendar Josh uses (http://media.disneywebcontent.com/StaticFiles/ParkHours/WDWTravelAgent_may.pdf) and it is showing the 12am closing on 5/17, but it says at the bottom of each page that it was last edited 1/9, so maybe Josh just hasn't posted the changes yet. (I noticed though that he just posted the changes for Jan-Apr, so maybe he's working on it as I type. ) I don't think the additional 2 hours are going to change his recommendation, though.

This is so good to know, I too like (and appreciate the work he puts in) reading why certain recommendations for each day were (or weren't) made. I'm really trying to schedule around his recommendations for either Most Recommended, or Recommended for each day we're there. At the very least I'm avoiding is big red NOT RECOMMENDED for each day

 

[siskaren]

I've had yet to have an opportunity to put his recommendations to the test, but sometimes it is necessary to go with a non-recommended park - like for instance if you want to participate in Star Wars Weekends, you're going to have to go to DHS on a weekend. Or if you're there between Sept-Dec and want to see MSEP and Wishes, you most likely have to go to MK on a non-recommended day.

 

[BrianL]

Easy is the standard for me as well. It's all I use. It is important to read why he has rated the parks as he did. Personally I like to use EMH, so if EMH is why a park is red, I'll plan to go anyway, maybe with a mid-day hop after Morning EMH, or to hop in for evening EMH. Josh is very reliable though.

 

[lily2521]

Easy is the standard for me as well. It's all I use. It is important to read why he has rated the parks as he did. Personally I like to use EMH, so if EMH is why a park is red, I'll plan to go anyway, maybe with a mid-day hop after Morning EMH, or to hop in for evening EMH. Josh is very reliable though.

Good to know that it's a good go-to site! We aren't doing the hopper. I think that's why I'm so concerned with trying to hit up the lesser crowds on certain days.