Oh no! Crowd levels changed from "1" to "4" during our week!

[luvmarypoppins]

I read the boards more than the tour books and guides. This will be our lst trip this time of year, but I have made the adrs we want for the most part, bought the mvmcp and candelight tickets already etc. My dh is going there with about 6,000 people for a huge convention Nov27-Dec 1st and then we are staying the 1st to 4th of Dec and that week end is the mousefest, parade taping, pop warner coming etc. I am making a plan a and b of my own for touring. I thought easter was really crowded but if you prepare well you will have a good time.

 

[scoutsmom99]

Please post the link to the website that has the chart that rates crowds from 1 to 4. I cant find it. Thanx

If you haven't found it yet it is www.touringplans.com click on crowd blog.

 

[Glendamax]

Thank you!!!

 

[whacked]

I would add that I think the UG is an excellent starting point, and worth putting some stock in. The information that is in the guide is organized in a format that is easily digestable.

These boards, despite having more information on many topics, are not as easy to reference as a guide book. It's also more difficult to take the boards in to the park.

The disadvatange of ANY traditionally published information is that by the time it makes it through the publishing process the information is generally 6 months to one year old.

I would suggest that for most people, it is worth picking a non-Disney affiliated guide book, and supplementing the information with that on this board. Use the book to narrow choices on things like lodging, then use the boards to help with the final decision.

I found the official Birnbaum (official Disney) book to be mostly an advertisement for the parks, and not really useful in touring the parks.

I use the boards, the book, other internet sources, etc. I find that if my family is going to drop a large pile of cash on a vacation, I'm willing to spend a lot of time researching the best way to do things.

As with ANY information from ANY source, YMMV (your milage may vary)

Oh, and I freaked when I saw the changes too.

 

[hezzie]

We were there from Nov 30 - Dec 8 last year and thought the crowds would be very low. We were quite surprised at how busy it was!! It was not nearly as bad as April, but still more crowded than I expected for that time of year. We did make use of fastpass and found that to help with the more popular rides.

We also did MVMCP and found that to be extremely crowded! We were expecting some light crowds, but found it to be very crowded with longer than expected waits for the popular rides and for character autographs. Not that we did not have fun! We enjoyed ourselves and had a great time experiencing Disney during the holidays!

We just went down for quick trip this past long Labor Day weekend and I was expecting huge crowds and found it to be much less than I expected (of course, the downpour at the MK on Sat. night also helped lighten the attendance!). So, I would say you should go knowing that the crowds are probably going to be larger than you expected, but it's still possible to see and do everything you want. Make use of fast pass and enjoy yourself!!

 

[Lizzybee]

With all the wonderful information you have uncovered here on this website, you will be just fine. We went this past Spring Break, which was also Easter, which was also the first time in many years all of the 4 counties surrounding WDW were on break at the same time. I read lots of info saying the crowds will be unheard of and crazy. It WAS crowded, but not at all unmanageable. With fastpasses we were able to ride everything we wanted to ride and see all shows we wanted to see with good views too. It takes a bit of patience, flexibility and planning but crowds aren't the kiss of death for theme park vacations. Then again, we live near Six Flags Great America and it's not unusual to wait up to two hours in the sun with no fans for a ride on the latest roller coaster. Disney handles it so much better, most of their lines seem to be shades, a/c'ed, or at least have fans. We were at WDW a couple of weeks ago and we had very little wait times on everything we rode and did not use one Fastpass. We waited about 45 mins to ride Soarin, but it was indoors, airconditioned, beautiful and worth twice the wait. Don't worry be happy, go and enjoy!

 

[DisneyFreq]

Wow..thanks for the link. I use UG religiously and (its been four years since I've been and therefore 4 years since I've bought UG) I had no idea they now had a website with custom touring guides. I'm debating on whether it's worth it to subscribe to the website on top of buying the book? (2006 in the mail...should be here any day).

Has anyone ever heard of RIDEMAX? I know its a bit OT, BUT I used it once and fell in love. Its only for DL but, you pick your rides, date, time of arrival ..enter it into the software and it calculates everything down to the estimated wait time for each ride. and it WORKS! They're gathering stats for a WDW version that covers all four parks and may be out as early as next year. Keep an eye out for it!