Question about touring plan numbers

[JEWLSVERN]

2 of our days in WDW we are planning to hit parks that are listed as the parks to avoid. The crowd levels are a 6 one day and a 5 the other. Will we still be ok if we go to this park. We especially want to go to MK since it is DD2 birthday, but it is listed as the park to avoid. It has EMH that morning. Is that why it is park to avoid?

 

[PrincessTiffany]

2 of our days in WDW we are planning to hit parks that are listed as the parks to avoid. The crowd levels are a 6 one day and a 5 the other. Will we still be ok if we go to this park. We especially want to go to MK since it is DD2 birthday, but it is listed as the park to avoid. It has EMH that morning. Is that why it is park to avoid?

Yes, the EMH morning park is always the busiest park of the day. If it's listed as a 6 then the average ride wait time will be at least 60 minutes.

 

[Alesia]

If it's listed as a 6 then the average ride wait time will be at least 60 minutes.

The number actually represents the peak wait time for headliner attractions. The average wait time will be much lower.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

The number actually represents the peak wait time for headliner attractions. The average wait time will be much lower.

Much lower? Probably not. Also, it depends on the time of year. UG still puts mid-September and early December as a 6, but I've been both of those times of year, more than once, and most of the headliners had a lot longer waits than 60 minutes. It's always better to plan your touring plans around the crowds being on the larger end of the UG spectrum on a particular than the lower end. If the crowds turn out being slightly lower, that's great, but you want to be prepared if they are not so low.

 

[JEWLSVERN]

OK the MK is listed as a 5 and park to avoid for the day we are going 3/4. It is the first week of March. I am told this is not a busy time of year. What can I expect in the way of crowds?

We are also going to MK on 3/1 and it is listed as the best park with a crowd level of 6. Which day is going to be busier?

 

[korie]

We will be at the MK on both of those days too! I was just looking at the crowd calendars for those days yesterday and wondering what it will be like. Everything I've heard seems to indicate that it's a slow time of year. I've also heard that no matter what the crowd calendars say, be there for RD and you'll be fine. I'll be interested to see what kind of responses you get. I have no idea what a "6" park day is like.

 

[Goofdad]

another late Feb. early March vacation here.
I've seen those touringplan #'s too and I have been curious.

most days are listed as 5 or 6 with a couple of 4s and 7s in there too.

So that time of year is somewhere between 4 and 7.
4 and 7 is "moderate" or "average" busy?

do they ever put up 1s and 10s on their ratings?

and no, I'm not planning everything around touringplans or taking it as gospel, but with such a big/fun vacation coming up soon, I'm looking at all resources/info.

 

[JEWLSVERN]

We will be at the MK on both of those days too! I was just looking at the crowd calendars for those days yesterday and wondering what it will be like. Everything I've heard seems to indicate that it's a slow time of year. I've also heard that no matter what the crowd calendars say, be there for RD and you'll be fine. I'll be interested to see what kind of responses you get. I have no idea what a "6" park day is like.

Yeah, this is our first ever trip to WDW. We have no idea what to expect. We have only been to DLR. We are not early morning people and we have DD2 and DS7months so getting there early is hard.

i also heard it should be slow so I am surprised to hear 60 minutes or more. We took DD2 to DLR on her first b-day 3/4 and SM was only a 10 min wait at 3pm. I thought it might be fairly similar.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

another late Feb. early March vacation here.
I've seen those touringplan #'s too and I have been curious.

most days are listed as 5 or 6 with a couple of 4s and 7s in there too.

So that time of year is somewhere between 4 and 7.
4 and 7 is "moderate" or "average" busy?

do they ever put up 1s and 10s on their ratings?

and no, I'm not planning everything around touringplans or taking it as gospel, but with such a big/fun vacation coming up soon, I'm looking at all resources/info.

There are no more 1's on the crowd calendar anymore - never goes under a 4 anymore. Those marketing geniuses at Disney keep too many "good deals" out there and keep the people in the parks. The crowd calendar does reach a 10, usually Christmas week, Easter week and 4th of July. A 10 is pretty muhc capacity crowds, where they are shutting down the parks before noon, because they are full.

Late February, early March is a good time to visit WDW, definitely one of the lower crowd times, but the parks won't be empty - that just doesn't happen anymore. With a 4 you will have afternoon wait times at the headliners of about 40 minutes or so, some of the less popular attractions will probably have much smaller wait times - this would be low. At a 7, the crowds are getting much bigger and are more like medium-high.

 

[MHSweb79]

Crowd levels of 4-6 are nothing worry about. I wouldn't switch my park days around because one was reported to be a 5 but the other a 6.
If you use morning EMH and/ or arrive at rope drop, you can ride the super headliners first before the lines build up. If you can't get there early, then get FP's for the super headliners that you want to ride. With moderate crowds predicted, there may be a wait of 40-60 minutes at Space Mountain, but Big Thunder or Pirates may only be a 5-10 minute wait. Buzz will likely be a walk-on or less than 10 minutes (it loads fast.)
So please don't assume that every attraction will have a 60 minute wait-that's not what these numbers are saying!

 

[Goofdad]

thanks for the info PrincessTiffany
so they never give a "1" and "4"s are the lowest possible grade.
So, even during the lowest crowd levels, I can expect to wait 30 - 40 minutes for a headliner. Good to Know.



JEWLSVERN
we took our DD (2years old) a couple of years ago.
Characters, Character Meals, Parades, Fireworks, Hotel Pool(s), playgrounds (i.e. Toon Town, Pooh's Playground) and a few kiddie rides (Small World, Nemo on Stage). All in that order.
That's what she enjoyed. We did very few "rides" and spent most mid-afternoons at the hotel/pool.
We had a terrific vacation and we're going back this year knowing that she's ready for even more.

 

[HeatherC]

One way I also pick what park, which day is to check the EMH. Since we stay offsite, we go to that park the day after and have never had a problem. I also try to coordinate it with touringplans.com's crowd calendar and have always had good luck.


Have a great trip!

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

The number actually represents the peak wait time for headliner attractions. The average wait time will be much lower.

Agreed! Also want to add that the actual Number only corresponds to the MK average wait times on the Mountains. I think some of the confusion comes in when people try to translate that # into another park. It is for MK only.

from touring plans.com
"The scale measures the peak wait time at the Magic Kingdom's three headliner attractions (Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad). "

We find the best advice to the the park to avoid/best park recommendations. and the numbers cause great debate on there you will find people that say it is packed and horribly crowded at a 4 and some that think its empty. Same thing with 5, 6, 7, and so on. We always travel in September, last year the week was 4-5-6's and I found it to be accurate w/ what the actual #'s meant on the tp site or less than posted.