"Low" crowd days and why they arent always best

[g8torphan]

Wait. I thought the crowd calendars were not based on a count of those who pass through the turnstiles - but on ride wait times themselves. Both TP and EasyWDW show wait times correlated with the infamous 1-10 crowd rankings.

For example, here is the EasyWDW AK cheat sheet: http://www.easywdw.com/cheatsheets/ak_cheatsheet.pdf

So if WDW cuts back on staff and ride capacity - which of course they do - that will increase wait times and make that day a "higher crowd" day. TP does the same thing.

OP here-

I question their ability to accuratly predicit future wait times based on historical data.

Not to mention, what the websites predict and what Disney staffs for can be two totally different things. Easywdw and TP cant know in advance the staff levels. Just look at Josh's post about 1/28.

And TP only uses wait times on selected rides, not overall attendance or even all rides.

 

[Tarheel girl 1975]

I think picking the right park during low season is more important. Crowds can vary a lot because of early closures for hard ticket events and nightly entertainment offerings. During high season the parks are more consistently busy, so having a good plan is more importaant than picking the right park.

 

[disneyfanlincoln]

I think the OP is on to something. Just returned from end of Jan, begining of Feb trip one of the lowest predicted crowd no days. It felt busy. One factor is all the construction and hoardings giving you an enclosed compact feeling and funnelling more people into less space. Secondly rides did sometimes appeared understaffed and were definitely not running to the Max negating some of the low crowd advantage in terms of wait times. I didn't think about it at the time but looking back on higher crowds days, queues moved more quickly and there were more staff present to sort out any issues which kept things running smoother. Good point OP.

 

[Happyinwonerland]

Makes sense

 

[ThistleMae]

hmmm....lots of mixed replies. I haven't been to Disney yet during a busy time, so I can't really compare. I am going Thanksgiving week this year and have heard it can be very busy. I think a factor to consider may be the weather. If it's really hot, everything is going to seem to take longer if you are waiting in line and it's uncomfortable. For me...its all about the weather. I do not especially enjoy the heat...unless I'm swimming. Sooo.....I'm hoping for some cooler weather in November and I don't really care much about the crowd levels. And....I love the Disney boards....even if no one can agree....because we are all talking about Disney!

 

[kamik86]

My favorite times to go are times where there are special extras going on. Like Food and Wine or Flower and Garden. The crowds are a bit heavier during these times for higher staffing but the extra thing to do is drawing people away from many of the other rides, shows, etc. So it feels pretty uncrowded everywhere except the actual festival areas. I can deal with the crowds for just that one thing.

 

[DisneyFive]

Sorry OP, but our experience doesn't follow some of your comments. I'm not disagreeing that there may be lower staff in some areas on lower days. We personally have not noticed lower staffing on very low crowd days (1-3), but I have absolutely noticed more crowds and an overall busy feeling when we've been to parks when the crowd levels are 5 or 6.

We've basically realized that, for us, once we hit a 5 or higher, we expect a much busier feeling in the park which has been accurate in our experience.

What we really miss out on with low crowd levels are park hours. In late september when we typically go, park hours are roughly MK and EP 9am - 9pm, HS 9am - 8pm, AK 9am - 5pm.

Dan

 

[sunsetbeachgal]

I will always take a low crowd day!! We did a short WDW visit in January and hit two low crowd days and it was pure heaven. Did not notice any lack of CM's. There was only one ride down for planned refurbishment, and construction did not bother us. Matter of fact our prior two trips where while the Fantasyland expansion was going on so the current construction did not seem like much at all by comparison.

 

[Lovetherodent]

I will admit that my one lower crowd visit was pre-FP. Often the second line, which is now a FP line, just wasn't running. There might also be fireworks at the MK every night now. I don't know because I've never been back during a low crowd period. I'm pretty sure here weren't then, which made MK crowded on fireworks/parade day, even if overall crowds were lower. This time around, I'm only hitting MK at night or for EMH (and then getting out of Dodge by 9:00), so the crowds probably won't matter. One can accomplish a lot while everybody else watches the parade!

 

[HydroGuy]

OP here-

I question their ability to accuratly predicit future wait times based on historical data.

Not to mention, what the websites predict and what Disney staffs for can be two totally different things. Easywdw and TP cant know in advance the staff levels. Just look at Josh's post about 1/28.

And TP only uses wait times on selected rides, not overall attendance or even all rides.

Well if your point is that the crowds can't be predicted, that is a bit of a different point. I agree and disagree with this. But I don't have enough experience with WDW throughout the year to have any strong opinion.

 

[jlundeen]

I think the OP is on to something. Just returned from end of Jan, begining of Feb trip one of the lowest predicted crowd no days. It felt busy. One factor is all the construction and hoardings giving you an enclosed compact feeling and funnelling more people into less space. Secondly rides did sometimes appeared understaffed and were definitely not running to the Max negating some of the low crowd advantage in terms of wait times. I didn't think about it at the time but looking back on higher crowds days, queues moved more quickly and there were more staff present to sort out any issues which kept things running smoother. Good point OP.

I agree with you...we were there in December - supposedly "best week of the year" to visit - but it felt crowded to us...especially on the weekend. We've been there at that exact time in years past, and felt it was much less crowded. This year, they were also running a FREE DINING offer, which is what we attributed the additional crowds to... don't know for sure, but it felt like a whole different trip all the way around...

 

[jtowntoflorida]

This is why the last week in August is so primo, IMO (as long as you can stand the heat). You still have summer hours, and summer staffing, but not summer crowds. If you wait until September, the crowds will be marginally lower, but the hours are also shorter and you're likely to run into rides not running at full capacity.