Never before have a seen the touring plans so inaccurate!

[connorlevismom]

Not sure I'd go so far as saying easywdw "could not be more WRONG!" The crowd level could have been a 1 or a 10, both of which would be more WRONG. It sounds like you went to Magic Kingdom on October 23rd. According to the crowd calendar for that date:

Magic Kingdom is tentatively recommended, though this will be the third busiest day of the week there. We have longer hours of operation and two Electrical Parade, both of which are popular with on-site and off-site guests alike. With no Electrical Parade scheduled yesterday and not another until Saturday, today will be more popular than either of the next two days. Anyone who wants to see Main Street Electrical Parade and doesn’t have Park Hopper (and many that do) will have to spend most of their day at the Magic Kingdom in order to see the Parade at night. While the Magic Kingdom may be busier than other days this week, many people do want to see the Parade and Wishes Fireworks show and this is your best opportunity to do both. Ideally, you would Park Hop over to Magic Kingdom in the late afternoon or early evening, after spending the majority of your day at a Park that’s recommended higher. This way, you can enjoy short lines and low crowds and still see the Magic Kingdom’s nighttime spectaculars. Without Park Hopper, you’ll want to arrive prior to 9am and head straight for the priorities on your itinerary. The 9am to 11am timeframe is always the best time to tour, regardless of overall crowd level or what day you visit. You’ll be able to get a lot done in those first two or three hours, but crowds will begin to build around 11am and will continue to be moderately heavy until the end of the night. Plan to move on to some of the less popular attractions in the afternoon and/or take a lengthy afternoon break when crowds are at their highest. You can then return to the Magic Kingdom around 6pm for dinner, Main Street Electrical Parade, and Wishes. This is always the second best plan of attack (second to only the evening Park Hop) when you’re trying to see evening shows that aren’t scheduled often enough. Overall, Magic Kingdom is recommended if you tour during the recommended times and make efficient use of the morning and FASTPASS. It will be more crowded in the afternoon than several other days this week. You’ll want to visit on a Mickey’s Party date if all you care about is low crowds. For the Main Street Electrical Parade, stake out a spot along the Parade route in Frontierland or Liberty Square for the 10pm Parade. Both areas are significantly less crowded than Main Street and the later Parade is less crowded because so many families leave immediately after Wishes, if they even make it that far.

That is absolutely accurate.

The "3" for that day is not saying every park is going to be a "3" that day. The explanation of that number is:

The fourth line is an estimation of the overall crowd level. A “5″ refers to average crowds. Numbers above 5 refer to a larger than average overall crowd level and numbers below 5 refer to lower than average overall crowds. A day with an overall crowd level of “1″ means that the crowds are expected to be the absolute lowest of the year and a “10″ means crowds are expected to be at their largest of the year. In other words, the overall crowd level estimation will give you an idea of how many people are in the entire Disney World complex, including the four major theme parks, water parks, Downtown Disney, golf courses, resorts, etc. Individual theme parks can have smaller or larger crowds than the overall estimation, which is where the theme park recommendations come in.

I won't have actual numbers for this week until the first week in November, but wait times this week have been lower than the last two weeks, when the overall crowd level was higher. And wait times this week are much, much lower than the summer with crowd levels of 7, 8, and 9. And they are much higher than September, with crowd levels mostly 1 and 2.

So you're left with a crowd level in the 3 to 4 range, which is what you see this week.

Just because crowds are higher than you've experienced in the past or higher than you'd like them to be does not automatically make the crowd projections "wrong."

There is a post on the site a couple days ago about "the new normal."

We're all experiencing that these days, but to put the crowd level any higher (it sounds like the insinutation is that the crowd level is a 6+) would be disingenuous as crowds are far lower than the summer.

There are some other oddities these days with Disney messing with the legacy FASTPASS machines in addition to all Disney owned resorts distributing MagicBands with access to FP+ beginning just three days ago.

That's having an effect on posted standby waits as well, which may very well not be accurate whatsoever.

As far as Stitch, there are two default wait times. It's usually ten minutes but if only one of the two theaters is operating, it could be moved up to 20 minutes.

But yes, Magic Kingdom in the heart of Mickey's Party season is not particularly pleasant on a non-party date.

Edit: Meant October 23rd.

I understand your need to get defensive, but you are incorrect in your predictions. There are people EVERYWHERE, not just at MK yesterday. Line rides have been busy at almost every park, everyday. Resorts are crawling with people. We went to Mara the other night for dinner (at 8:30) and the line was out the door along the path with people waiting to order. It is not a 3, no matter how you try and spin it. I have been when it was predicted to be a 3 and it was fantastic. This is brutal.

 

[connorlevismom]

So, if you're thinking about skipping Disney next year because the Fastpasses are making you wait longer, think again, because it's just not true. It can't be.

This is not the only reason we are going to skip next year. The main reason is that I have no desire to plan out every moment of my trips, months ahead of time. I can no longer vacation at WDW like I used to, on the fly. We are a dual working family with two little kids, both in activities. My entire daily life is planned out to the minute and I have no desire to do that on vacation. It is supposed to be fun and relaxing. Not work and stressful. I don't know what park I am going to until the night before and we don't know what ride we want to ride first until we are on our way to that park. That is 1/2 the fun for us. Being spontaneous. We don't usually get to do that every other day, so it is so fun to do it while on vacation.

 

[surferdave]

I have little doubt that Disney has always looked at those low crowd days that we covet the same way the airlines looked at their half empty flights in the 90's and 00's, and in similar fashion to the airlines I think they are working hard to make them a thing of the past.

Once upon a time a savvy traveler knew what time of year or what time of day they could do things like book cheap flights, hang around terminals to jump on nearly empty planes, consistently upgrade to first class, and do all kinds of things that passengers during peek hours and seasons couldn't dream of; it was very synonymous to Disney travelers that rely on the crowd calendars and touring plans to tour Disney parks more efficiently today. Those days are gone, since the airlines have made strategic changes (most of which their customers didn't like at all) that all but eliminated the half empty flights.

It's not hard to see that Disney has been doing the same thing. It's not hard to imagine a someone there looking at the same data that easywdw.com or touringplans.com uses and saying "we gotta fill these holes, get on the phone to some Brazilian travel agents, some high school soccer leagues, and conventioneers! Let's throw some pumpkins and wreaths up in the parks during the holidays as well!"

Between the changes Disney has done or is doing to keep their parks full and their changes to their virtual queue system that we really don't know much about yet, I don't envy the guys who are making their living telling people how to avoid getting bogged down in crowds at Disney right now.

 

[2Tiggies]

I tried to change a Fastpasses selection at 10 am for one later in the day and couldn't believe they were already distributed.

That is a bit concerning to me because I have been under the impression from the recent/current reports that it's the paper FP that have been reduced in proportion to the FP+ so given that only a percentage of the total number guests is actually eligible to use the FP+ system at the moment. Of course it will depend on which attraction you tried to change on the day but still, not really what I wanted to hear

OT, but how is your little boy? (Or am I confusing you with another DISer?)

 

[delmar411]

I tried to change a Fastpasses selection at 10 am for one later in the day and couldn't believe they were already distributed. We have done more things like the waterparks and mini golf to try and escape crowds.... We were going to go to a park this evening..., but I think I decided to skip it. Just don't feel like fighting crowds. Last night waiting to load the ferry at MK it was literally shoulder to shoulder. First time I ever feared getting trampled at Disney!

We are heading to Epcot today and yesterday I couldn't get a FP+ for TT today. At any time. They simply were unavailable for today, I'm pretty sure that ppl who don't get there at RD are going to be out of luck today.

Also I checked and I couldn't book a TSM FP until Saturday afternoon. I prebooked a ride for next Tuesday so we could get a morning slot on a day we are free.

The parks are extremely crowded right now. I'm hoping it clears out for at least a couple weeks before Tgiving.

 

[AlohaAnnie]

If I remember correctly, last October around this time there were a lot of complaints about crowds being much higher than any year.

In fact, I have seen this for several different months over the past year. If I remember correctly, the end of May/beginning of June this year had the same issue along with rain.

We have also noticed larger crowds growing over the years but that is what Disney has set out to do (get more business) and they are achieving it.

Disney is changing again, I know change is hard. We are accepting it but not everyone has to accept it or like it.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

I understand your need to get defensive, but you are incorrect in your predictions. There are people EVERYWHERE, not just at MK yesterday. Line rides have been busy at almost every park, everyday. Resorts are crawling with people. We went to Mara the other night for dinner (at 8:30) and the line was out the door along the path with people waiting to order. It is not a 3, no matter how you try and spin it. I have been when it was predicted to be a 3 and it was fantastic. This is brutal.

I think what Josh is saying is that 3 is relative. 2013's 3 may not look like 2010's 3 did, but it's certainly not 2013's 6 or 7. I was visiting in June this year, during 7/8 crowd levels. This past Sunday, the 20th, felt similar to June. Lo and behold, Josh's calendar says this past Sunday WAS a 7. The days since then have felt much, much less crowded, which is what his calendar is predicting. Yes, there have been some congested areas of the parks (Pixar Place in DHS, Fantasyland in MK, around the Land and the Seas in Epcot), but besides where crowds tend to congregate in each park, I've been very, very happy with the crowd levels. The ride wait times for the most part have supported an average to below average crowd level, IMO.

Every year, people seem to think that October should feel like September, and then when it's not, we wind up with posts like this.

 

[surferdave]

We are heading to Epcot today and yesterday I couldn't get a FP+ for TT today. At any time. They simply were unavailable for today, I'm pretty sure that ppl who don't get there at RD are going to be out of luck today.

http://touringplans.com/ says today is a 4 out of 10 and Epcot is the best park

 

[AmyB2006]

If I remember correctly, last October around this time there were a lot of complaints about crowds being much higher than any year.

I'm there every October around this time. We leave in 2 days.

I don't remember it being unusually crowded last October. Not like what people are reporting now.

 

[ajfd]

We are heading to Epcot today and yesterday I couldn't get a FP+ for TT today. At any time. They simply were unavailable for today, I'm pretty sure that ppl who don't get there at RD are going to be out of luck today.

At this very moment, I can grab a pair of FP+ for TT today beginning:

10:10a
11:40a
12:05p
1p
5:30p
6:20p

 

[robinbutterfly]

We are going in a couple of weeks and I already decided this is our last trip for awhile because of the crowd reports I am hearing about.
SO SAD to take such a magical place and overload it with people. I don't blame them for keep increasing the ticket prices! They should keep doing that until half the people stop going! Too many people and long lines is not my idea of Disney magic!

 

[Dislover1991]

I hate to hear this! We have our park days planned according to the crowd calendars on those sites and even avoided EMH since they were considered "not recommended". It may be too much trouble to change around ADRs now but I may just reschedule our park days.

 

[delmar411]

At this very moment, I can grab a pair of FP+ for TT today beginning:

10:10a
11:40a
12:05p
1p
5:30p
6:20p

Why couldn't I get them yesterday? I'm going to try now, thanks! Yay!

 

[FLchick415]

FWIW, I don't think any of these crowd calendars GUARANTEE that the days will be exactly as they predict. Like the weather, it's their "best guess". I CAN understand the frustration though, especially for those out of state. I live in FL, so it's easier for me to go at different times of the year. So, YMMV.

 

[AmyB2006]

Why couldn't I get them yesterday? I'm going to try now, thanks! Yay!

Either they're holding back spots for the day of, or it depended on how you were searching.

Were you trying to change the experience or time? Or were you just searching for new FP+s?

I've noticed if you try to change one that you have, it's not very easy to do. But if you search for all new, everything is open.

We leave tomorrow!! I'm so excited!!

 

[delmar411]

Either they're holding back spots for the day of, or it depended on how you were searching.

Were you trying to change the experience or time? Or were you just searching for new FP+s?

I've noticed if you try to change one that you have, it's not very easy to do. But if you search for all new, everything is open.

We leave tomorrow!! I'm so excited!!

Trying to get new. And I finally see it as a choice but I picked it and it says it is not available. I got 4 options and none had TT in them.

 

[wisblue]

At this very moment, I can grab a pair of FP+ for TT today beginning:

10:10a
11:40a
12:05p
1p
5:30p
6:20p

Is there a difference between the ability to make FP+ reservations through the Disney website than through the MDE app? I am not at WDW today, but when I went to the site I was able to make (and subsequently cancel) FP+ reservations for Soarin, Test Track, and Mission Space with the usual 4 choices of times. I didn't try to change the times to see how much flexibility there was there.

This has happened several times over the last week. People here say they are unable to make FP+ changes using their smartphones or the kiosks, but I am able to make them sitting at home on my computer.

 

[delmar411]

Is there a difference between the ability to make FP+ reservations through the Disney website than through the MDE app? I am not at WDW today, but when I went to the site I was able to make (and subsequently cancel) FP+ reservations for Soarin, Test Track, and Mission Space with the usual 4 choices of times. I didn't try to change the times to see how much flexibility there was there.

This has happened several times over the last week. People here say they are unable to make FP+ changes using their smartphones or the kiosks, but I am able to make them sitting at home on my computer.

I'm using the iPad and going through the browser so I guess the real site?

Maybe I should download the app and try there.

 

[wisblue]

I'm using the iPad and going through the browser so I guess the real site?

Maybe I should download the app and try there.

I was using the website and FP+ was available there one minute ago for all of the attractions at EPCOT for today. Maybe they are starting to be taken now as more people get up and start making reservations for the day.

 

[delmar411]

I was using the website and FP+ was available there one minute ago for all of the attractions at EPCOT for today. Maybe they are starting to be taken now as more people get up and start making reservations for the day.

Tried the app too. No TT FP+.

Oh well, we are going for F&W so we'll just putter around until that opens.