Josh's Crowd Calendar

[alex9179]

I do plan my trips 6 months out, so unfortunately Josh's site no longer works for me.

I don't know...I also plan WAY ahead of time and found his site very helpful. When you read his reasoning behind the recommendations on the crowd calendars you don't really need them for itinerary planning. He has cheat sheets for touring, independent of attendance, that I adapt to fit our interests and stamina. I like the food reviews, visits to the resorts, his "here's what I got done in the park today" posts, and tips on handling the new rides.

The calendars were a nice crutch, though.

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

Not slighting Josh's work in the least, but if you are a grizzled WDW vet you can pretty much intuit which parks he might recommend without reading his calendars. I am guessing that making those calendars was/is the most tedious part of keeping up that blog, probably consuming and inordinate amount of time and energy.. I'm glad he puts energy and passion into the photo tours.

 

[Farro]

I don't really utilize the crowd calendars on his or any site honestly. But I do read them and if I happen to pick the parks he agrees with, I feel validated.

I like his site for the reviews. Honest and funny without hysteria.

 

[Minsc]

if you are a grizzled WDW vet you can pretty much intuit which parks he might recommend

Exactly. It's a formula based on educated guesses and historical tendencies, right? How does anyone put together a crowd calendar? I can assure you they don't get special access to Disney's secret analytics. I bet most Disney veterans could look at Disney's published hours, events, EMH, etc., and fairly accurately guess what parks are going to be recommended, and which aren't.

What I appreciate Josh for, beside his awesome photos and snarky wit, is the time he spends doing extra analysis based on real data and facts. Is it going to help you decide what ADR's to make 180 days out? Probably not. Will it give you a little more insight and understanding around how the "machine" really works, which in turn helps you develop your own plans and strategies? That's my hope, at least, and why I really dig the analysis (besides the fact it's part of what I do in the real world).

 

[senadler]

Not slighting Josh's work in the least, but if you are a grizzled WDW vet you can pretty much intuit which parks he might recommend without reading his calendars. I am guessing that making those calendars was/is the most tedious part of keeping up that blog, probably consuming and inordinate amount of time and energy.. I'm glad he puts energy and passion into the photo tours.

I agree to an extent, but I also think his calendars and the logic behind the recommendations has helped me to gain the knowledge to figure it out myself. After planning so many trips, I was still comforted to see that my plans for March matched up with Josh's recommendations. However, for those who are not veterans, I think he has a lot to offer in the way of touring advise.

 

[calablovedisney]

Since they're no longer available far enough ahead to use it for anything planning wise I just look at it as a guide if we decide to change things around once we get there. Because yes, we already have at least some of our ADRs booked by now.

And I know for our trip this summer over July 4th week that we're doing everything he would advise to avoid so it doesn't really matter (LOL he would probably say to avoid the entire week ). We're going to do 2 morning EMHs at AK to try to get thru Pandora and we're spending July 3rd at MK for the fireworks (which is also scheduled to be an evening EMHs) and then we're doing July 4th at EP (another EMHs evening). We know he would advise to avoid EMH parks. But the whole point of even GOING this week is for the special holiday fireworks. They only do them on the 3rd and 4th at MK and at EP on the 4th so there's not a whole lot of choice there if we're going FOR the fireworks.

We are doing the same thing!! We have done it before (twice actually) and love it so much we are doing it again. Insane? Maybe...but it's a fun insane! Love the EMH 7/3, at MK. In the past it has been open as late as 3 a.m. and we stay until then. We nap that day and go in for an ADR (BOG this year). The park is so fun that late at night, especially now that our kids are teenagers now. We do the same on 7/4 at Epcot, but usually head out after the fireworks, but I don't remember PM EMH last time. If we can find the energy, we might just have to close down Epcot as well. It definitely goes against the crowd calendar-but I do use the calendar for all our other days and it has been a great resource!

 

[kboo]

Wah! I miss the crowd calendar now that I'm trying to make ADRs for August. But I agree with PPs, if you've used them in the past, you learn the basics and can manage to have a pretty good visit even on very crowded days. We go to EMH if we know we can make it then; better is an 8am breakfast in the park on a non EMH day. Also, since we have a toddler, we usually take a midday break and park hop, so the afternoons are very subject to change.

 

[Anal Annie]

We are doing the same thing!! We have done it before (twice actually) and love it so much we are doing it again. Insane? Maybe...but it's a fun insane! Love the EMH 7/3, at MK. In the past it has been open as late as 3 a.m. and we stay until then. We nap that day and go in for an ADR (BOG this year). The park is so fun that late at night, especially now that our kids are teenagers now. We do the same on 7/4 at Epcot, but usually head out after the fireworks, but I don't remember PM EMH last time. If we can find the energy, we might just have to close down Epcot as well. It definitely goes against the crowd calendar-but I do use the calendar for all our other days and it has been a great resource!

Since we've never been before during this week I wasn't sure if we might run into phased park closures at MK or not. We were there one spring break (3/30/10) where they hit a phase 3 closure at MK and it was CRAZY packed. We left at like 10:30-11:00 that morning because we couldn't MOVE. We rode the train back up to the front because it was so hard to even WALK. In the past 10 years on July 4th MK hit Phase 3 in 2013 and Phase 2 in 2014. Although I heard crowds were much, much lower last year - which is why they offered a bounceback offer for this summer. That could mean increased crowds again. I'm glad we're doing MK on the 3rd and EP on the 4th after reading about these closures. We have 2 ADRs at MK on the 3rd because I didn't want to deal with the lines at the counter service places that day. We have The Plaza for an early lunch (we'll likely arrive at the park just in time for that or shortly before) and then CRT for dinner (our 1st time there - I decided I wanted to eat with Cindy for my birthday dinner!) The only ADR I made at EP so far tho on the 4th was Tokyo Dining (another new place for us to try out). I considered making one for lunch at Spice Road but DH just wants to wing it for CS. He hates being tied to ADR times and this way we can just get there whenever we get there. Now I'm waiting for the July RoL dining packages to be released so I can plan that one night and for the online booking to open for the DVC moonlight magic at Typhoon Lagoon for the 5th...

I don't know how late we'll stay for EMHs - we don't even know for sure if our DS will be with us on this trip or not. He will be 20 in May and is supposed to have a co-op over the summer as part of his college major requirements - but he hasn't secured it yet. So I'm making all of our reservations for 3 for now and if he can't join us then I'll cancel him off. It may be that he can come for just the weekend or something. Bridges yet to cross....he and DH will sometimes stay out later than me. Sometimes my feet swell and I just have to go get off of them for the night so I can get thru the next day! Overall I'm looking forward to it but am a little nervous about the crowds....

 

[LvsTnk]

We really are vets (I do the planning but DH has a lot of say he is a super vet and voice of reason) been a few times over the 4th but not recently. Have our ADR's and events kinda set just waiting on a few things to become available.

So, with that I was just wondering even leaving a few slots open for things we can't book yet our schedule is pretty set. Just mainly what parks on what days so we cover everything we want to do. How does a crowd calendar fit in at this point?? The 4th I have the earliest CRT booked probably do a few rides then back to the pool booked a cabana for that with dinner at O'hana staying at the Polynesian for this reason. Even thinking of getting the twilight feast for our room, not sure yet. Just want to walk into the MK for the 4th this year.

Great replies, I love to read Josh's reviews of things as well, but once I'm getting close or down there I am not checking a crowd calendar or second guessing myself. It's all about the fam and fun no matter what the crowds because like everyone else you have to know what your getting into that week to even go.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

I've said for ages... I look at a few crowd calendars ONLY when picking when to go to WDW. On the day-to-day level, whether it's crazy busy or not, we go with our tried and true strategy: early EMH / rope drop, hop to less crowded park for pm, late EMH.

These days, I'm taking a look at these when picking when to travel:

http://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/crowd-calendar

http://**************.net/2015/10/18/2017-weeks-to-visit-walt-disney-world-ranked-in-order/

http://wdwprepschool.com/disney-world-crowd-calendar-for-the-2017-2018-school-year/