Going on the least recommended days...

[Susan Storm]

Okay, I have a question. I have a trip coming up the 22-29th of May. I've spent sooooo long planning it, and I picked out my days based on touring plans and the requests of my family. I only just realized when I was looking at my dates versus Josh's recommended days from easywdw that about 6 out of the 7 days I have planned I'm going to the park that's least recommended for the day. I can't switch parks now this close to the date without losing fastpasses like 7DMT or losing ADRs people really wanted, so my question is - how important are the crowd calendars? Is the park going to be so insane that we can't enjoy it even if we plan well? Right now I have us going in in the mornings (not rope drop every day because some days we're sleeping in after staying late at night). I almost always have us leaving for a mid-day break and coming back at night. I have three little kids I'm bringing so I realize the schedule has to be flexible. Anyway, just wondering if my trip is going to be ruined because I'm going to the wrong parks on the wrong days. I'm wondering if it makes that big of a difference that I should lose my fastpasses and ADRs just so I can get us into a park that's less crowded. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[Paigevon]

*hug* It's not ruined! It will be a little more crowded but it will be fine. Arrive at rooe drop as often as you can. You'll be goong for a break during the busiest time anyway. Do you have hoppers? If yes, you can switch parks after doing your plans there for the day. If not, just relax and enjoy the busier times when lines may be super long maybe with non headliners or some ice cream and one of the play areas like Tom Sawyer's island. Focus on your family and creating a magical time.

 

[Susan Storm]

*hug* It's not ruined! It will be a little more crowded but it will be fine. Arrive at rooe drop as often as you can. You'll be goong for a break during the busiest time anyway. Do you have hoppers? If yes, you can switch parks after doing your plans there for the day. If not, just relax and enjoy the busier times when lines may be super long maybe with non headliners or some ice cream and one of the play areas like Tom Sawyer's island. Focus on your family and creating a magical time.

Thank you!! That's what I'm hoping to do! Just have been worried that it's going to make a big difference in the quality of the trip. I feel very encouraged after reading your response though I don't have Park Hoppers or I would definitely park hop to the least busy parks when I could!

 

[mindeola]

The calendars are not always right. They are a prediction. I plan my trips according to them, but we do MK on our first day no matter what. Even on a high number day, with rope drop and FP you will be good to go!

 

[Mikie]

I do follow crowd calendars, BUT Touring Plans for instance, emphasizes that a good touring plan is more important for a successful day than picking the right park. Take a look at easywdw's "cheat sheets" if you haven't already to help organize the path you go throughout the park and your morning/break/evening plan is already a good one.

If you have any days without hard-to-get FPs or crucial ADRs, it's worth checking to see if you can switch. If not, your plans and flexibility will see you through!

 

[Jadyreen1282]

Go and have fun. You probably would not have cared had you stayed away from crowd calendars. They are a good tool but Disney is awesome regardless.

 

[Shellyb84]

Do not worry, you will have fun no matter what! Be there at RD as often as possible, but if not you still have FP+ so you'll get to do the main things you want. I didn't even know about crowd calendars before our first trip, and everything worked out fine. We were able to do most everything we wanted. We were there over 4th of July so a really busy time also.

This trip, I've been trying to plan even more, and I've been checking the Touring Plans, easyWDW and Undercover Tourist crowd calendars, and they're all different!! So I have no idea which one to go by. I'm just going to plan FP+ and be at RD, which is all we did last time. My main concern is the 4th of July. I know MK will be the worst but don't know whether AK or HS will be the least crowded.

 

[MinnieSweetheart]

The only comment I want to say is that regardless of recommended parks, the end of your trip lines up with memorial day weekend. If you are doing any parks multiple days, make sure you do your MUST DOs on the first day when it's less crowded. You will very likely notice the difference at the end of the week.

As mikie mentioned, touring plans help immensely. Try to ride rides at off peak times and it gives you an order so you don't waste time in the parks making decisions.

 

[Shellyb84]

I do follow crowd calendars, BUT Touring Plans for instance, emphasizes that a good touring plan is more important for a successful day than picking the right park. Take a look at easywdw's "cheat sheets" if you haven't already to help organize the path you go throughout the park and your morning/break/evening plan is already a good one.

If you have any days without hard-to-get FPs or crucial ADRs, it's worth checking to see if you can switch. If not, your plans and flexibility will see you through!

Which crowd calendars have you found to be the most accurate?

 

[rwdavis2]

According to bothe easywdw and Tourng Plans it's more important to get their at rope drop and have a plan In mind than least/most crowded parks.

 

[Nancyg56]

I think that crowd planners help but that they are just a guide. I use them but after I plan my trip, if something changes, I generally adapt my touring rather than toss it out and start over again.

I tend to arrive early if possible, but if we start later, I use FP to my advantage and manage my expectations. I think that you should be okay if you have a plan in place to help you move fairly efficiently.

 

[Mikie]

Which crowd calendars have you found to be the most accurate?

People debate that a lot around here. Of course, since you can't be in all the parks at once to see which is really the "best", you have to make a choice. Many on the DIS are staunch supporters of EasyWDW (and its author, Josh). I like his forecasts, and he gives a long detailed description of WHY he chooses or doesn't choose each park and it's free. But he only tells you an overall crowd level for all of WDW and a "recommended" or "not recommended" for each park. Touring Plans takes a paid subscription (but the $12 is well worth it in my opinion if you are planning a WDW trip and it includes its excellent Lines app for giving real-time ride waits in the park). I like it because it gives a numeric crowd level for every park (5/10, 8/10 etc) and evaluates themselves the next day to rate how they did. This helps me to know if the difference between a recommended park and non-recommended is only a 5/10 vs a 6/10 or if it's a difference between a 7/10 in one park and a 4/10 in another. When Easy WDW and Touring Plans disagree, I have read the description behind the ratings and evaluate how it applies to me. In general, I go with Touring Plans and have been happy with my park days that way.

 

[Amw1064]

I have been to Disney hundreds of time and not once have I ever looked at those calendars. I go to which park we want to go to and just enjoy the day.

 

[mykidsmom]

We are going the same time except leaving on the 28th. Sunday 22nd and Thursday (26th) and Friday (27th) look like they will have the heaviest crowds. And I seem to have picked the wrong parks for these days. We picked Monday to go to MK because we couldn't wait until Tuesday. I do have our fast passes booked for that day with a prepark opening BOG reservation and a late lunch at crystal palace. Those were must do's for our family so I can't change them. We have 3 teens so we also hope to go to the Evening extra Magic Hours at MK on Wednesday night. Friday looks very crowded so we may do the water park this day.

 

[grrrlennyl]

I agree with what pretty much everyone else is saying. You've already planned, so ride it out, get there for RD, and just have a good time. It might even be interesting to compare notes with someone on here who went during the same dates but to different parks to see what their experience was like.

Have fun!

 

[redsbe]

FP your highest priority, and yes either stay late right up to park closing and/or RD when crowds are fewer. And make sure everyone in your party is on board with those plans. It will be very disappointing and frustrating to you and everyone else if anyone thinks that getting to the parks even one hour after opening or leaving in early evening is going to allow you to see all that you are looking forward to if you are in a park during that time when everyone else is!

 

[JimmyV]

I wouldn't stress it. For most days, EasyWDW recommends three parks and eliminates one. Sometimes it recommends two and eliminates two. For the time you are going, Touring Plans and EasyWDW agree on almost every day. What you have to keep in mind is that EasyWDW takes into account a length of time that a guest is there and tries to recommend a best park based on what you have already done, or what you are likely to do. For example, your first day is the 22nd. Easy might recommend a park on the 22nd based on its recommendation of what a guest should have done on the 21st. But you weren't there on the 21st. Neither the park recommended for the 21st nor the park recommended on the 22nd may be the "best" park that day in a vacuum, but they might be the best in the aggregate over the course of two days. Whereas Touring Plans tries to tell you relative crowd levels and EMH hours, (which it generally suggests be avoided unless you are going to go at RD). From what I can see, the Touring Plan numbers and the Easy recommendations of three (or two) parks per day line up pretty well. Don't shift your plans. Just try to be early. That is far more important.

 

[Disney Khaleesi]

Go and have fun. If you hadn't looked at the crowd calendars, you never would have known how busy the parks technically were supposed to be. It'll be manageable.

 

[Sevey13]

Thank you!! That's what I'm hoping to do! Just have been worried that it's going to make a big difference in the quality of the trip. I feel very encouraged after reading your response though I don't have Park Hoppers or I would definitely park hop to the least busy parks when I could!

Honestly, I feel that biggest thing that makes a difference in the quality of the trip is expectations/attitude. If you go in expecting it to be fairly crowded based on the crowd calendars, and your whole family is under the same impression you have one of two outcomes: 1) You are correct, it is crowded, and you may not get on everything you wanted, but that's ok because you were expecting it and everyone was on the same page; 2) you are incorrect and it is less crowded than you expected, and you get to ride more than you expected because you planned for more crowds. Relax. You are going to Disney World!

 

[Accident]

It's memorial day weekend/week.. do you want really crowded or very crowded.. that' going to be the difference for least and most recommended.. Also I forget what but something opens up (I think AK at night) so that is going to cause a nobody really knows shift in people, especially night crowds...