Do you follow crowd calendar advice for recommended park days?

[mla973]

I've often wondered if the sites that offer advice on crowds tell people it's a 'red' day (or not recommended day), if everyone followed that advice, the park would be empty.

Do you pay attention to the crowd calendars, or do your own thing? I'm having trouble working out my vacation schedule based on the recommendations of a crowd calendar site, and I'm wondering if I should just forget the rules and go with whatever I want. Do you think their advice has any affect on crowds?

 

[anniemae]

No. It is really not worth it anymore. It is almost impossible to predict crowds, too many variables, it is just not cut and dry at this point. There are too many promotions, holidays, free dining, specials, school breaks etc. that make it difficult to predict. That is why Josh stopped doing it I believe.

 

[DisneyMom111]

I always use those crowd calendars as my guide, I use easywdw. But I understand that lately they can't really predict anymore so I'm not sure what I'll do when I plan my 2017 trip. Perhaps just look at last year's and make my own plan. I am going to be lost without his recommendations.

 

[MaizeRage25]

It seems like most people have given up on trying to give these types of recommendations, easyWDW most notably. Disney has just done a great job of making it crowded nearly all the time.

I do think there are general trends -- avoiding MK on non-party days, for example -- that you can try to use, but you are most likely better off with park hoppers and a flexible plan.

 

[Disney9.9.10]

I usually take a look at a crowd calendar and factor it in to which days I'm going to which parks but it is far from being the only thing that I consider when deciding where to go for the day.

 

[Klayfish]

Before I found this message board earlier this year, I didn't even know a crowd calendar was a thing. When I heard about them, I looked at it out of curiosity, but haven't since. Gives you my thoughts on them...

Everyone vacations differently. We go to whatever park we want to on whatever day, don't even look at crowd calendars, EMH, whatever. Doesn't matter to us.

 

[tiggerrr]

We rarely did when the crowd calendars worked well. We definitely don't now, given the issues crowd calendars are now having, especially with Disney changing hours so late in the game now. What convinced us a few years ago was something that TP published on their site and in the Unofficial Guide books. When they looked at all their data, what they found was that having the right touring plan, particularly starting the day at rope drop, was 5 times more impactful on saving time in line then picking the right day of the week. Despite the changes that have occurred in lines due to FP+, I still think that principle likely holds.

If we get up for Rope Drop and we get the rides done in the right order, and make judicious use FP+, we'll get the most done. Best or Worst parks for the day is less impactful, so we (mostly) ignore it. We will look for big things that may impact, like parties or special events, but that's it.

 

[Accident]

no, they are never right or so popular everyone is using them and the crowd goes to where they say isn't crowded.

 

[wilkeliza]

I do my own thing. It seems that these days everyone and their mom puts out a crowd calendar and there are no more true "secrets" to getting the best out of a Disney trip by what day you plan etc. There are statistical days to not go based on travel patterns but I still don't let it stop me from going there. Touring plans and crowd calendars worked best a couple years ago (like 5+ now) when almost no one knew about them but in the past year they have become almost useless in my opinion and frequently wrong.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

I NEVER follow what the crowd calendars recommend.
I often find that personal experience is more reliable than crowd calendar predictions.
When staying onsite I base which park on which day by looking for the morning EMH. I enjoy going to the morning EMH parks as I feel I am able to get so much done in that one hour.
We'll be staying offsite for the first time in 14 trips come this April so I've planned which park on which day by AVOIDING EMH as much as possible especially morning EMH and EMM because I want to have an equal playing field.

 

[85glht]

No. It is really not worth it anymore. It is almost impossible to predict crowds, too many variables, it is just not cut and dry at this point. There are too many promotions, holidays, free dining, specials, school breaks etc. that make it difficult to predict. That is why Josh stopped doing it I believe.

Agreed. We just go when we can. If it's crowded, so be it.

 

[DisFanJen]

I will take Touringplans into consideration for two things.

1) when I don't have a preference of what park to visit on a specific day then I'll go with the best number on the crowd calendar but as I want to spread out my visits (so 2 visits to each park, say) and I might want to be there for a specific event I can only do that some times.

2) When I plan what I want to do in the park I make a touring plan that is ordered on my preferences (rather than doing it automatically where it makes you walk all over the place) then I ask it to work out the best FP+ reservations for me.

I find that's the best way to use the site.

 

[crazedprincess]

I had used them on our previous trips but I didn't with this trip in 2 weeks. I figured it would be busy no matter what I do, so why sweat it. And if it's not busy.... BONUS!

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

I have never looked at a crowd calendar. I just figure that Disney is always going to be crowded. You are going to see the long wait times on the popular attractions. Depending on the time of year or if it is a weekend/weekday will determine the other attractions. If you are staying on property, take advantage of the Extra Magic Hours or show up at rope drop. You can get a lot done during the morning hours before everyone gets to the parks.

 

[ujpest_doza]

We always use Touring Plans crowd calendar and recommendations and have found them to be pretty accurate.

They do say that less than 5% of people use them though so the chances of a park being full because everyones looked at a crowd calendar and followed it are quite slim.

They factor in things like EMH's, MNSSHP, MVMCP, Food and Wine Festival etc etc into their plans.

 

[mickey2minnie1]

We use them and find them to be pretty accurate. We focus on the plan though too.

That is part of the fun in planning. Putting in the full time hours to plan my trip to make it even more magical for my families.

 

[Disneylover99]

I still look at crowd calendars and try to utilize them when I start planning. Most have a common theme.....avoid MK on Saturday, Epcot on weekends during food and wine, parks with emh's, etc.... I know park hours are added last minute at times, but I'm flexible and I'll switch park days around if I think attendance will be impacted by the changes.

I like to read the "just back" or "here now" threads. It's interesting to read other people's perspective of crowds knowing you were at DW during the same time. More often than not, I've found that the people who have complained about crowds were at different parks than me. So I guess I'll keep looking at crowd calendars.

 

[dakotix]

We used the crowd calendar for our November trip in 2014. It was completely wrong. It was so crowded. I knew it was just a guide but i wasn't prepared for the huge levels of crowds i wasn't expecting. We have shifted and in our last two trips we've opted to plan going to the parks at rope drop and then leave by noon and hop to parks that are reported that day to have light crowds. Flexibility is the key these days.

 

[KristinU]

I still use them, mostly because it gives me a framework to work from when planning.

The funny thing is, though, how do you ever know if they are accurate or not unless you have someone on the ground with some sort of system to gather metrics at a different park that day? I may be happy as a clam at park A thinking "boy it must be crazy crowded over at park B today" without any sort of point of reference.

 

[wfjny]

Funny, the short answer is no.

The slightly more involved answer is that we have always been very flexible with our plans. In my mind, there is no one “right” way to do Disney. In the summer, we tend to go to a park, return to the hotel in the heat of the day for shower, pool, nap, etc., then go back to another park at night.

Last week, with picture perfect weather, we tended to head to the parks in the morning, and leave about dinner time. Having APs allows us to not only park hop, but also to say it is just not worth it to wait two hours on a line.

So the longer answer is really we go, we see what it is like, and we adjust accordingly…