Recommended Parks...Which site is best?

[Erica's Mommy]

I am researching what parks to go to on out trip in September. I like to look at recommended parks and plan out days accordingly and then make dining reservations based on that. I know easywdw.com and touring plans give park recommendations, but which one is more accurate? Is there another site that is better? I want to make my dining reservations tomorrow because I am at 180 days now.

Thanks for any help!

 

[jecon]

Both are really good. Lately I've been using easywdw bc I like the detailed explanation he provides.

 

[maryj11]

From my experience I think easywdw is more accurate.

 

[JoshuaShaw]

Easywdw 4 life

 

[crackerjack21]

I've always used easywdw to plan and my fellow travelers were always amazed how little we waited despite the crowds. Planning ahead is key.

 

[Meldev]

I've always used easywdw to plan and my fellow travelers were always amazed how little we waited despite the crowds. Planning ahead is key.

I have printed both easy WDW and another - I am debating how much I want to give up extra magic hours for low crowds though...

 

[BJSforVols]

We like touring plans better, but easyWDW is free and good as well.

 

[jrmcvay]

I used both. They were pretty similar for my May dates but I liked being able to look at the wait times on touring plans. Helped plan my day better in regards to what times to eat!

 

[Magpie]

The explanations on easyWDW make good sense to me, so that's the site I use. I don't think either one is "more accurate" than the other, though each has its fans and each has its detractors. I just prefer Josh's logic.

"Free" doesn't hurt, either.

 

[JeremyGNJ]

Here's the thing. They're all making educated guesses.

Read your horoscope in the morning and use that to make your decision.

 

[BJSforVols]

Here's the thing. They're all making educated guesses.

Read your horoscope in the morning and use that to make your decision.

Very true but; Vegas is also making educated guesses when they set sports odds. I could also make an educated guess at setting sports odds. It doesn't mean my educated guess would have the same value as the odds set by Vegas. Regarding Disney crowd predictions, both touring plans and easyWDW are comparable to Vegas setting odds on sports in my opinion. They may be wrong occasionally, but typically they can give you a fairly reasonable expectation.

 

[wareagle57]

I like that TP gives a crowd level rating for each park individually for each day. EasyWDW just tells you which park is recommended for the day.

I like that I can quantify them know know the tradeoffs between picking one park over the other. AK might be the "best park to visit today" but not be the smartest to visit. It may be the lowest crowd level day at MK for my entire trip, just not as low as AK. AK might be low on other days and it won't be that big of a deal to visit then instead of MK today.

I've gone as far as to arrange every possible combination and find the lowest possible average relative to the amount of time the parks are open.

 

[BJSforVols]

I've gone as far as to arrange every possible combination and find the lowest possible average relative to the amount of time the parks are open.

Heeeyyyyy!!!! DId you hack into my PC??????? I've got this going right now for an Oct. 2014 trip. I've even got a couple of categories which include the crowd level predictors with recent past year's historical numbers.

 

[prudence64]

I like the look of undercover tourist's the best. Don't know about accuracy though.

 

[amym2]

I like the look of undercover tourist's the best. Don't know about accuracy though.

I looked at their crowd calendar for Oct and it is completely different than easywdw's suggestions. I'm sticking with easywdw.

 

[Kristine316]

I think all of them have been a little off lately, even Easywdw.

If you really want to know which site to use for your vacation planning do what I have been doing... go every day to Touring Plans and look at their "How we did" section and then compare that to all of the crowd calendars for that particular day.

Yes, in order for this to work one has to buy into the numbers Touring Plans uses in this section. Disney does not release actual numbers so, I don't know where Touring Plans is coming up with their data but, I would think they must be getting it from somewhere fairly reputable or else they wouldn't be posting it.
Maybe they are using actual posted wait times for the rides through out the day at each park to determine the crowds.. who knows.

I do know this.. Touring Plans is off a little every day, which seems reasonable, I mean they aren't fortune tellers.. they are basically just giving it their best educated guess. Easywdw is pretty good with overall crowd numbers but, I have noticed the most recommended park many times recently has ended up being the most crowded park of the day. Yes, this is according to Touring Plans data and they are a direct competitor of Easywdw but, that doesn't mean they are wrong.

Many people don't want to hear this because Easywdw has a very loyal following and many don't want to hear anything other than it is the most reliable but, I wonder if perhaps Josh is becoming a victim of his own success?

I think Easywdw is a brilliant site and it is FREE... you cannot beat that! I would listen to Josh above pretty much anyone else when it comes to planning my WDW vacation but, what if more and more people start taking his advice.. eventually all those wonderful little WDW nuggets and secrets become less valuable as more people start to use them. If more people are going to the most recommended park every day, that park will become busier and busier, to the point where it could actually become a busiest park as people flock to the one park they are told will be the quietest.

I think for years this wasn't an issue as most WDW guests never bothered to do a lot of planning so those who did their research definitely had a leg up. However, with the arrival of FP+ many Disney guests are forced to plan in a way they never had to before, as they now have to know which park they will be in each day to make their FP selections. So.. many (not all) will be looking for a calendar or a site to tell them what park is best on which day and chances are these "non planners" will be looking for a FREE site and not want to pay the fee for a site like Touring Plans. In my opinion Easywdw is the best FREE site there is and Josh is getting a very good reputation with his analysis for each day and the way he spells it out in a way that makes perfect sense. It is sort of a weird thing where the more popular his site becomes and the more people listen to him, the less reliable his advice will be when it comes to predicting the slowest park for each day. Odd I know but, it isn't an indictment of Easywdw, in my opinion it is more about the secret getting out.


Many people disagree with the idea that these sites are actually somewhat influencing crowd flow. This is just a theory I have, obviously I am no expert or can't prove any of my thoughts here. I just think it makes sense. I don't think it would take a huge shift in overall guests using these sites to make the difference between a park being the least crowded on any given day to being the most crowded park on that day.

I certainly don't want to step on anyone's toes here, these are just thoughts.

 

[Dan Murphy]

....If you really want to know which site to use for your vacation planning do what I have been doing... go every day to Touring Plans and look at their "How we did" section and then compare that to all of the crowd calendars for that particular day.....

What section is that in?

 

[Kristine316]

What section is that in?

At the top of the Touring Plans WDW crowd calendar they have a small section entitled "How We Did". Each day they show the actual crowd levels for each park and compare those to their predicted levels for each park for the day before. So if you went to TP's site today they would show you the comparison for yesterday. They call these numbers "actual" but, it is important to remember there are no official numbers coming out of Disney so, if someone feels so inclined they can dismiss TP's numbers as being unreliable.

Two things I have noticed is that TP is underestimating crowd size on a regular basis. Second thing I noticed was that many times recently a park that is most recommended on Easywdw ends up the busiest park at WDW on that particular day and a park that is predicted to have higher crowds that day is not as busy. To me that spells that in some way, even if it is small, this site could actually be driving crowd movement. Again, in order to believe this you have to believe in TP's actual crowd data and assume it is sound. I don't know, I have always used Easywdw and felt very confident about it, now I am not sure but, I don't know if it is enough to change my plans right now. I will keep an eye on it in the coming months.

 

[BJSforVols]

I looked at their crowd calendar for Oct and it is completely different than easywdw's suggestions. I'm sticking with easywdw.

Agree. I noticed the same thing. Touring plans and easyWDW are similar but undercover tourists was extremely different. That makes me skeptical of Undercover Tourist regarding crowd predictions.

 

[Dan Murphy]

At the top of the Touring Plans WDW crowd calendar they have a small section entitled "How We Did". Each day they show the actual crowd levels for each park and compare those to their predicted levels for each park for the day before. So if you went to TP's site today they would show you the comparison for yesterday. They call these numbers "actual" but, it is important to remember there are no official numbers coming out of Disney so, if someone feels so inclined they can dismiss TP's numbers as being unreliable.

Two things I have noticed is that TP is underestimating crowd size on a regular basis. Second thing I noticed was that many times recently a park that is most recommended on Easywdw ends up the busiest park at WDW on that particular day and a park that is predicted to have higher crowds that day is not as busy. To me that spells that in some way, even if it is small, this site could actually be driving crowd movement. Again, in order to believe this you have to believe in TP's actual crowd data and assume it is sound. I don't know, I have always used Easywdw and felt very confident about it, now I am not sure but, I don't know if it is enough to change my plans right now. I will keep an eye on it in the coming months.

Thanks, Kristine. And some interesting observations.