Planning without using a crowd calendar

[chelseabun76]

I didn't use a crowd calendar. I'm just going in expecting crowds, it's Disney. LOL! I planned according to a number of things, including the fact that I love to spend my first and last day entirely at MK, advanced adr's that I was able to get only on certain days, etc. We are going during 'slow' time end of January, so that might be why I wasn't toooo focused on it. Hopefully it will be ok.

 

[stinkpickle]

I didn't use a crowd calendar. I'm just going in expecting crowds, it's Disney. LOL! I planned according to a number of things, including the fact that I love to spend my first and last day entirely at MK, advanced adr's that I was able to get only on certain days, etc. We are going during 'slow' time end of January, so that might be why I wasn't toooo focused on it. Hopefully it will be ok.

We were there last January, and there were some big differences between the crowds at recommended vs. non-recommended parks.

 

[jwlnroe]

I never knew they existed either until I started planning what day we were going to go to MK - gonna shoot for Tues Nov 18th and hope for the best.. I have 11 days before I can book my FP so hoping to get atleast one ride I want. . good luck and hope you have a fun trip!

 

[stinkpickle]

I never knew they existed either until I started planning what day we were going to go to MK - gonna shoot for Tues Nov 18th and hope for the best.. I have 11 days before I can book my FP so hoping to get atleast one ride I want. . good luck and hope you have a fun trip!

FYI...Both touringplans and easywdw have the 18th as non-recommended for MK.

 

[vleeth]

I used a crowd calender site that allowed you to make your own touring plans. It said MK would be a 1.1 crowd level on the day we went.

Um...no...they were off.

The times they gave for waits were off, way off. Waits that were supposed to be 5 mins were 30 and 40 mins.

So now I'll use a different, free site for recommended days and make my own general touring plans. I can't be much further off than the 'experts.'

 

[HM]

I've never used a crowd calendar. I plan according to park hours and how long our trip will be. I've had approximately 20 trips now.

 

[PEC]

I didn't use one and I will go as far as to say I often go against what the touring plans say to use the EMH. I went the week before Easter (one of the busiest times of year). Did everything I wanted at MK on a Monday (did go back a second morning to do what we did not do the first day). Went when there was an EMH at DHS and EPCOT and did everything we wanted. Same with AK. I used some of the old FPs (that is what they had then) but not many. The only thing we waited really long for Peter Pan. We just decided to do it during the evening EMH and it was the last thing we did.
If you do Rope Drop and get the handful of big attractions at each park out of the way, I have found the big capacity attractions/shows take care of themselves.
Now this is not a knock on the crowd calendars and plans, it is just if time is used wisely you can handle the crowds.

 

[jwlnroe]

FYI...Both touringplans and easywdw have the 18th as non-recommended for MK.

Crap I was looking at undercover tourist and it showed only Epcot had EMH dang guess I'm not so good at this - so what day the week if the 17th would be better we are there the 17-22nd of nov

 

[stinkpickle]

Crap I was looking at undercover tourist and it showed only Epcot had EMH dang guess I'm not so good at this - so what day the week if the 17th would be better we are there the 17-22nd of nov

According to easywdw, it's most recommended on the 17th and the 21st, crowd-wise. HOWEVER, there is no Wishes fireworks on the 17th, and the 21st is a party night. If you want to see Wishes, the 19th might be your best date. If you have park hoppers, the 22nd should be a good night to visit with evening EMH...just wait until after 7 or 8pm to arrive. Of course with hoppers, you can do same on the 18th.

 

[W.E.D.]

I've never used a crowd calendar and we've always had wonderful visits. That being said, each person is different. You may want to weigh using a calendar vs. the time of year you are going.

 

[Mambo Junkie]

I don't know if it matters; or else it depends on which calendar you use. I planned my days by a crowd calendar and I looked a 3 different websites. According to 2, I only messed up on my HS day. According to 1, every day I planned save 1 is going to be horrible crowds. That one has my whole week as super crowded while the others have high crowds on the weekend but the following week low. Go figure.

 

[FutureMrs.Incredible]

I don't know if it matters; or else it depends on which calendar you use. I planned my days by a crowd calendar and I looked a 3 different websites. According to 2, I only messed up on my HS day. According to 1, every day I planned save 1 is going to be horrible crowds. That one has my whole week as super crowded while the others have high crowds on the weekend but the following week low. Go figure.

Looking at multiple websites is a terrific idea! I have messed up my days before too!! Once we were on the monorail heading to 1900 Park, and the rope is literally dropping at MK.. Is there a dunce cap emoticon on the Dis??

 

[pepe of ohio]

I've never used a crowd calendar. I plan according to park hours and how long our trip will be. I've had approximately 20 trips now.

Never looked at one in my life... That's 52 trips and we've enjoyed every single one...

We go to the parks we like when we want...I don't count guests so who am I to say there's 1000 more in one park over another... And I can't be 2 parks at once to compare crowds...

It's all a crap shoot and we don't rearrange our plans over heresy, tarot cards or phases of the moon...

 

[ghtx]

Never looked at one in my life... That's 52 trips and we've enjoyed every single one...

We go to the parks we like when we want...I don't count guests so who am I to say there's 1000 more in one park over another... And I can't be 2 parks at once to compare crowds...

It's all a crap shoot and we don't rearrange our plans over heresy, tarot cards or phases of the moon...

Actually, it is neither a crap shoot, nor heresy, nor tarot, nor moon phases - many crowd calendars use lots and lots of data to make very well-informed predictions. You can ignore them if you want to, but it's incorrect to say that it's nothing more than guesswork.

 

[Ava]

This year's trip was my first using a crowd calendar, and I think it was helpful. There was one day where two calendars I was looking at had completely different recommendations, and I think I chose wrong. Or I messed up by getting to the park later than planned.

(It was Animal Kingdom. We didn't get to the park until close to 10, almost missed our 9:10-10:10 FP+ for the Safari. By the time we got off the Safari it was almost 11:00, the whole Africa section felt jam packed, and we'd missed the 10:45 Flights of Wonder show that I'd wanted to go to. We still had fun and hit the major rides, but we completely missed Rafiki's Planet Watch and most of the characters I'd wanted to meet. Oh well, next time.)

Next year I want to try Park Hopping, which I haven't done in years, so I'm not sure how crowd calendars work with hopping plans. Good thing I have 4 months to figure it out before I have to start making ADRs.

 

[KimBean]

Just wondering if anyone has planned a trip without using a crowd calendar? We are visiting the week before Christmas and while I did look at the overall crowd levels I didn't plan our days based on the recommended parks. We are staying onsite and will be doing a few EMH evenings- probably not many morning EMH. We often arrive a little later and stay until closing/EMH and sometimes we leave a little earlier and head out for dinner. Since we will be departing before the pre Christmas weekend crowds arrive most of our days are at a low/moderate crowd level- so I'm not too worried.
Please share your experiences of planning without a crowd calendar or going to a non recommended park.
Thanks!

My upcoming Dec trip (12-21) is the first one that I have ever used a crowd calendar for (using easywdw) I usually refer to them to go for a less busy week but this is the first time to go by which park to go to each day. I hope it works better but to be honest never have had a problem seeing all that we want to see at each park. The only trip that has been mega crowded with Dec 2012 and we planned that trip for a year and it just happened to coincide with New Fantasyland opening. Talk about cray cray. But, other than that, it was fine. But, I've never gone in summer or right at christmas time or spring break, etc.

 

[AmyB2006]

I've never used a crowd planner. Ever.

Never had a problem.

 

[jwlnroe]

Ive seen different crowd calenders say different things now. . we really want to see the MSEP and the Fireworks so guess we will deal with the crowds if it is more crowded . . we will make the best of it as we are easy going we will ride whatever we can in the time period we have. . the only other days it says are lighter are days when those are going on or one or the other. I've learned alot with these threads.

 

[JoeA]

I can't even begin to say how many Disney trips we've taken over the years and never even thought of this!

 

[Mambo Junkie]

I actually planned my ADRs before I looked at a calendar. According to 2 of them, I chose well except for our HS day. Last time we went, the crowd calendar was way off from what the reality was. I think all the free dining, discounts and other incentives play a big part in the crowd count anyway.