How to Find Crowd Level Indicator

[anett]

Looking throughout the boards tonight on several posts it stated "crowd level indicators". I'm aware there are heavy and light crowd times but is there an actual link to this "crowd level indicator"?

 

[Dan Murphy]

www.easywdw.com

www.touringplans.com

www.**************.com

 

[anett]

Thank you so much!

 

[chapie1968]

www.easywdw.com

www.touringplans.com

WOW, I've always checked easyWDW, but that Touringplans actually charges people???? What do you get for that? Is it worth anything????

 

[keithandmissy]

WOW, I've always checked easyWDW, but that Touringplans actually charges people???? What do you get for that? Is it worth anything????

Josh's predictions at easyWDW are human (he does them himself). Whereas the Touringplans predictions are computer based (mostly) using historical data. Also, Josh considers mostly the crowd level for recommendations whereas Touringplans seems to also factor in if there is an event or special entertainment. So, Touringplans might recommend a park with a bigger crowd because there's a festival going on that most people would not want to miss.

There are probably more differences but these are the ones I noticed.

 

[thumper*]

Plus Josh from easywdw is a CM and has first hand knowledge for his predictions.

 

[Lita]

WOW, I've always checked easyWDW, but that Touringplans actually charges people???? What do you get for that? Is it worth anything????

You also get their great app where you can build a touring plan. You can optimize while you are in the parks based on current crowd conditions. It was very handy for us.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[mesaboy2]

Plus Josh from easywdw is a CM and has first hand knowledge for his predictions.

I did not know this. Are you sure about that?

 

[GigiDisneyfreak]

Plus Josh from easywdw is a CM and has first hand knowledge for his predictions.

I got the impression from reading his blogs that he does not work for Disney. I could be wrong but are you positive he is a CM?

 

[FPminusCommando]

So, Touringplans might recommend a park with a bigger crowd because there's a festival going on that most people would not want to miss.

I really don't believe this is true.

First off, touringplans.com used to recommend specific 'best parks' and 'parks to avoid' for each day. But now that seems to be gone from their site. Instead they just show you the crowd numbers and let you decide.

Touringplans.com's crowd calendar is based on attraction wait times. Here is a quote from their web page: "We at Touring Plans define a 'crowd' as the average posted wait time for the key attractions between 10:00 am and 5:00 pm. " They use the expected wait times to create a crowd level between 1 and 10.

 

[FPminusCommando]

Plus Josh from easywdw is a CM and has first hand knowledge for his predictions.

Touringplans.com has staff in the parks all through the year collecting data and comparing it to their predictions. On their web page the actually show each day what they predicted the crowd levels to be and what they actually ended up being.


For the OP, a big reason to subscribe to the touringplans.com site is the personalized touring plans. You use their web page to create a plan for what rides you will go on, optimized by their computer to minimize wait times. You can save multiple plans on their web site, then when you are in the parks you can use their Lines app to see your plan. Throughout the day you can use the Lines app to reoptimize your plan based on actual conditions in the park. For example perhaps you took 2 hours for lunch instead of the planned 1 hour. Just his 'optimize' in Lines and it will show you a new updated plan for the rest of your day.

I've used touringplans.com for many years and their technology gets better and better every year. Easily worth the $15 or whatever they charge a year.

 

[lilclerk]

I've used touringplans.com for many years and their technology gets better and better every year. Easily worth the $15 or whatever they charge a year.

Agreed. Plus you get a discount if you have the Unofficial Guide for the year, so I think it works out to be $12 or so for the year.

 

[china mom]

there is a discount code at the bottom of the home screen. I knew I wanted to sign up so I just jumped in and joined and then later, after paying, I discovered the discount code.

One thing about joining is that the public can only see the crowd predictor for the following month or week (I can't remember) whereas members can see the whole year ahead. Great for people trying to figure out when to go.

 

[Lsyves]

I am at wdw now and used easy wdw when planning and so far we haven't even used many of our fast passes because there was no wait in the standby line. So, I'm pretty happy w his predictions! We do avoid the parks between 1ish and 5ish so that helps also, but I was definitely still surprised at how light the crowds were at each park on the days we visited.

 

[coolers]

At easywdw.com he suggests staying away from the parks with the early morning magic hours. What does everyone think about that idea? Just wondering if it is a good idea. Thanks!

 

[2Tiggies]

Agreed. Plus you get a discount if you have the Unofficial Guide for the year, so I think it works out to be $12 or so for the year.

$9.95 when you renew

I've used the Unofficial Guide and Touringplans since 2008 and it's worth every penny. The Lines app alone is worth it to me. On a multi thousand dollar trip, an extra $10 a year to help planning before and while at the parks is absolutely worth it to me. It's personal preference and depends what you are looking for.

 

[sethschroeder]

Big touringplans supporter but don't buy a subscription just for the crowd calendar make sure you will use the in-park app or specific ride wait times to get the most advantage otherwise EasyWDW makes sense.

Touringplans you can actually look ahead at what predicted wait times will be for a specific time during the day. For instance 11am on May 10th on Space Mountain the wait will be X. This really helps when trying to determine if you want to do certain rides in the morning or just wait until the afternoon with waits. You can also use the in-park app that will automatically align the rides you want to do in the best order to avoid waits / walking.

 

[anricat]

At easywdw.com he suggests staying away from the parks with the early morning magic hours. What does everyone think about that idea? Just wondering if it is a good idea. Thanks!

You have to actually be there on time to use them, but if you don't mind rising early, I think it's worth it. We did both MK and AK last year with EMH. We woke up crazy early and then with AK we left mid-afternoon (never went back, just chilled out at the resort and went to DD for dinner). With MK we took a long afternoon nap and went back in the evening and it was fine. This was in April during spring break so it was a busy time.

We aren't doing them on our upcoming trip partly because we'd like an extra hour of sleep and partly because they don't really line up with the days we want to go to the particular parks anyway.