Touring Plan, Crowd Change = Freaking Out

[dk413]

I feel your frustration. We're going in January and this morning the crowds went up to 3 days of 10s and 1 day of 9.

 

[NaturalNine]

I'm going to embarrass myself by asking this, but how did you make this spreadsheet? It looks really good! Lol! I live and breathe Excel (my job), and this doesn't look like any Excel spreadsheets I've made. Is it some other software?

Haha cheers - I'm a bit of an excel nerd but have recently started using Apple's version, Numbers, I found I could make it look much more family friendly - I have printed several in A3 and laminated for the hotel room as a quick reference for the kids to know what our plan is for the following day etc

 

[NaturalNine]

Thanks everybody. Just checking out easy wdw now - tho I have no doubt it'll be busier than I expected, it's probably not the train smash I first thought

At the end of the day, the $15k+ I've spent, has been spent, no turning back now anyway!!

 

[Ava]

Thanks everybody. Just checking out easy wdw now - tho I have no doubt it'll be busier than I expected, it's probably not the train smash I first thought

At the end of the day, the $15k+ I've spent, has been spent, no turning back now anyway!!

You will have a great time! And with 10 days in the parks, even if its a bit busier than you anticipated, you should have plenty of time to do everything you want to do. I'm jealous, I wish I was going back right now!

 

[MataHari22]

You'll be fine. Go have a great time.

I got an email, too. I leave tomorrow. When I booked, crowd levels were 2-3 and now they're 5-6... I have my plans, and we will have fun. Not really worried about it.

 

[Raeven]

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[Rylie Grite]

After a reevaluate on my plans for these days I don't see a difference in the line wait times.

I'm wondering if Disney will change opening time to 8am; they have in the past and if crowds are getting heavier year over year it make sense that they would do it.

 

[akaDaddy]

Don't Worry. You'll have a great time and the fact that you are planning and researching will put you ahead of 90% of the wondering masses at WDW.

While it's been a number of years since our families last visit, we have usually planned using a combination of Touring Plans and EasyWDW. That has always worked for us and as a point of reference we spent 10 days in WDW with another family a few years back. The first 4 days, we used the "Hybrid" plan. The next 2 days, the other family decided to "wing it" because they felt the plan was holding them back. We ate together every night and discovered our family (with a plan) accomplished WAAAYYY more each day and most importantly our waits at the rides we each experienced were far shorter. The last 4 days, they were back on the plan and on our heels every step of the way.

When I received the email update on the crowd calendar, I too was nervous. Our family is visiting WDW over Christmas...needless to say, planning is a must. After re-looking at our personal plans from Touring Plans (which is what we had to base our fast pass selection on), it appears that very little time in the parks have changed. While the order of a couple of activities changed, the highest increase was 6 minutes and several decreased a couple of minutes. On December 20th, Touring Plans actually suggested a different FP and I was lucky enough to get it. That actually lowered our time by 32 minutes. YEAH!!! I do believe the statement it is more important to have a good plan for the park instead of having no plan for a park chosen based on the crowd calendar.

Lastly, I know there has been a lot of discussion as to Touring Plans missing the mark on crowd numbers recently and the fact that EasyWDW is looking more accurate. I wouldn't begin to guess at how complicated these forecast must be, but I will say I appreciate the fact that I have something to use. I have always enjoyed Josh's site and continue to use it, but as of today, there is still no recommendations published on the site for December 20th thru December 31 (less than six weeks out); far beyond the date for ADR's and even FP+. I realize that Disney is still in a state of flux on the opening hours but if you are going to plan (which most who visit this site are doing), I would prefer to have a suggestion that might be off by 10 minutes than no information at all to plan by.

That said...Keep a positive attitude and you'll have a great time...its the Happiest Place on Earth after all....

 

[dkrauss]

I guess my question would be...........say you didn't recieve this update. You went and the crowds were larger (matching what TP is prediciting now). Then you'd have no warning and you might have to make changes on the fly! Now with these updates (I'm impacted in both Dec and Jan ) you can be aware and maybe adjust. I think, in the end, you'll be happier you have this information now. I'd suggest you look at the crowd level predictions at EasyWDW here http://www.easywdw.com/category/calendar/12-december-2015-crowd-calendar/
Many folks have said this is much more accurate than TPlans...........which may be why TPlans is updating.

I'd also relax...........whats done is done..........don't let that ruin your trip You're coming from so far............don't make it "not fun" because of this..........come on its Christmas @ Disney World!

Doug

 

[Happy_2_B]

After a reevaluate on my plans for these days I don't see a difference in the line wait times.

They don't have that part finished yet- only the crowd calendars are updated. They will let us know on the boards and/or through the blog site when the individual attraction waits are finished per this blog:

http://blog.touringplans.com/2015/11/10/disney-world-crowd-calendar-updates-published-november-2015/

 

[dekraut]

Our January Dates were upgraded too. It will still beat the heck out of the summer crowds we saw in 2014! Bring on the MOUSE!

 

[DSLRuser]

Hi All

Just over 3 weeks away from flying from Australia to the USA and I've received an email from Touring Plans, pretty much every planned day has been impacted with a fairly dramatic rise in expected crowd levels.

I planned this trip specifically these dates because it seemed to be the most quiet part of the holiday period, but now it seems it won't be that quiet after all

Am I over reacting? Or is this going to give me some major issues?

Thanks in advance

Below is the prediction changes, as well as my plan

Disney has armies of marketing people who sole job is to make sure every park, every hotel, and every place to eat is a "10" every day of the year.

You have to go in with the mindset that everything will be an 11, and be surprised if it is not. Going and hoping for no crowds is setting yourself up for big disappointment.

 

[Allison]

First, I would not call those changes fairly dramatic. I don't think they are dramatic at all.

Second, it is all relative. Your days changed a bit but so did the other days so you are in the same position as you started in comparison with other times to go.

Relax and enjoy.

 

[britt738]

Haha cheers - I'm a bit of an excel nerd but have recently started using Apple's version, Numbers, I found I could make it look much more family friendly - I have printed several in A3 and laminated for the hotel room as a quick reference for the kids to know what our plan is for the following day etc

That's awesome and totally right up my alley! I haven't really messed around much with Numbers on my Macbook, but now you've convinced me to give it a try! Thanks!

 

[dtoren2033]

Last time we went I relied heavily on Touring Plans crowd levels and I found they for the most part were exaggerated. The park that tended the be the most accurate was Magic Kingdom - those levels were fairly spot on. The rest of the parks were not nearly as crowded as had been suggested. I wouldn't stress too much and just have the best time possible!

 

[MrsHull]

We leave in two weeks and most of my numbers went up, as well. We are just going to roll with it. We're going to Disney World!!

 

[maryj11]

Those crowd levels will be fine. I wish I could go when they were that low. Last time we went there were no crowd levels under 7. We had no problems in the park with a 7. Anything under 7 is considered low crowds to me. With a crowded park just go at opening ride the popular rides with hardly any wait, use your FP after that, towards closing crowds will drop off again and you can ride the popular rides. I dont see you have any problems with a plan.

Touring plans do update the crowd calendar a couple times. Last time we went it updated 3 weeks before also. This trip they just updated our June trip crowds so I hope it stays that way but who knows.

 

[anniemae]

Everything will be fine. Stop worrying over numbers. It does not matter. Whether they sent you the updated info or not, the crowds will be what they are. Nothing you can do about it, your trip is booked and you will have a wonderful time. I think we put too much into the numbers. You just have to go with the mindset that it will be very busy and anything less is a bonus. There is no slow time anymore.

 

[lugnut33]

Don't over-react! It's not the end of the world if crowd levels surge. You'll just need to make sure you rely on the old reliable methods of park touring:
1. Be there for rope drop at least 30 minutes before park opening.
2. Have a plan on what attractions and when.
3. Schedule FP+ for late morning when parks are at their busiest.
4. Knock out the main headliners you want right at park open, attractions you couldn't get FP+ for or that you want to ride more than once.
5. Utilize single rider lines if available (Expedition Everest, RnR, TT)
6. Wait times will be minimal at MK towards the end of EMH if park is open until 1 a.m.

You can have a splendid time even during high crowd levels.

 

[maryj11]

Everything will be fine. Stop worrying over numbers. It does not matter. Whether they sent you the updated info or not, the crowds will be what they are. Nothing you can do about it, your trip is booked and you will have a wonderful time. I think we put too much into the numbers. You just have to go with the mindset that it will be very busy and anything less is a bonus. There is no slow time anymore.

I agree. Last trip we planned our MK day with a crowd level 7 it went up to an 8 before we left. We still went and got everything done that we wanted except we skipped BTMR because the wait was to long and we didn't have a FP for it. We did ride Splash around 10:30 pm with no wait. We found out after we got home that the crowd level had changed to a 10 It was crowded but didnt know it went up that much! On that same night we walked through Adventureland about 11:30pm and only seen about 3 people. So crowds really dropped after the fireworks and parade.