Touring Plans' Crowd Calendar

[damaris13]

I just checked the Touring Plans' Crowd Calendar for the week of June 15th, and for me the numbers seem a little low. 6, 5, and 4 out of 10 for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of that week. Isn't that getting into the summer season? Star Tours and Little Mermaid will have just opened. I thought it would be a little more packed.

I'm trying to put it in perspective with the crowds from WDW. I've been to WDW in the heat of the summer in July when the crowds seemed very heavy, but nothing compared to New years in WDW when we came to a complete standstill for about 15 minutes trying to get to Splash Mountain. I would place New Years at a 10 (12 if I could) and July at an 8.

Anyone able to give me a little more perspective?

 

[TinkFlies]

Where exactly could one find such calendars??

 

[damaris13]

I search Touring Plans for Disneyland, and then go to that website. They have a "Crowd Calendar" link for WDW and DL on the front page. I selected for DL. I'm posting the CC link below, though, so you can see what I'm talking about.

http://touringplans.com/disneyland-resort/crowd-calendar

 

[starshine514]

Their DL data isn't as good as their WDW data (yet). They are new to the DL arena. I'd take it with a grain of salt.

 

[TinkFlies]

Thanks for sharing. Hadn't ever heard of such a thing.

Seems grain of salty to me too. The numbers feel overly optimistic on the low end.

 

[HydroGuy]

Some of those days are grad nights which will reduce crowds.

FWIW I have decided that whereas I know how TP determines their crowd ratings, I cannot relate their days to anything meaningful to me. So I ignore their crowd ratings or at least only use them to compare within a one week time.

I looked at their ratings for last July when we spent five days at DLR. These were actual and not predicted ratings because the dates already happened. They had every day a "10". But those were some of the least crowded summer days I have ever seen. I have been on real "10" days and those were like "7" days to me. I would take last July's "10" days every time I visited DLR. So I cannot relate to their predictions and thus they do not help me.

Now for their wait time predictions for rides, I can relate to those. Because I can compare that to my experience waiting and I tend to find those more useful.

 

[CrazyDuck]

Take their numbers with a grain of salt... For instance June 3, they have DCA at a 5.9, and DL at a 2.9

 

[starshine514]

Hydroguy, do you find their ride wait times accurate? I made myself a spreadsheet (a la you RideMax post) of their wait times for each of the days we're there and was wondering if I need RideMax, too - or if those times are pretty good.

 

[ArchOwl]

Yeah, I have a hard time making the Touring Plan "numbers" meaningful as well. I was there in February and one of the days was supposedly a 10. Um, no. 10 is supposed to be "can't even walk down Main St.". We walked down just fine. Was it a little crowded? Yes. It was President's Day weekend and we went in with that expectation. But Space Mountain was never above 60 min wait (mostly 45) and we walked on Pirates and HM. Jungle Cruise also a walk on. I expect a 10 rating to mean that Jungle Cruise is diverting the line to the upstairs queue and you have to wait for 30 minutes for Pirates/HM and 90+ for Space.

Needless to say, I am unsure what their crowd numbers mean. Maybe they need a bigger scale!

I look at Is It Packed? sometimes, they have a crowd calendar for Disneyland:
http://www.isitpacked.com/disneyland-crowd-forecast-predictor-calendar/

For your dates they are saying, "yup, it's packed", which is a notch below "Forget About It". Putting it I would guess an 8 or so. Seems more reasonable to me.

 

[HydroGuy]

Take their numbers with a grain of salt... For instance June 3, they have DCA at a 5.9, and DL at a 2.9

Obviously completed wrong...

 

[HydroGuy]

Hydroguy, do you find their ride wait times accurate? I made myself a spreadsheet (a la you RideMax post) of their wait times for each of the days we're there and was wondering if I need RideMax, too - or if those times are pretty good.

RM is always a little or a lot high. TP does not shoot for conservative. They shoot for right on. I used their wait time data at WDW last month and for the most part it was confirmed. As for DL they never seem to say PP is over 40 minutes but I regularly see the posted wait as 60 minutes.

 

[ArchOwl]

RM is always a little or a lot high. TP does not shoot for conservative. They shoot for right on. I used their wait time data at WDW last month and for the most part it was confirmed. As for DL they never seem to say PP is over 40 minutes but I regularly see the posted wait as 60 minutes.

I agree. I used Lines, Touring Plans mobile app, and it was consistently too low on its estimates of wait times. I think RM has years of data on TP as of right now. RM is generally higher wait times than in actuality, but I prefer that. Nothing worse than finding out the line is significantly longer than you planned.

 

[starshine514]

Do you find Touring Plans DL wait times relatively accurate? Meaning that if they say the wait for Nemo is 20 mins and the wait for SM is 30, that in actuality, the wait for SM is longer than the wait for Nemo (but the waits are actually 30 mins for Nemo and 40 mins fo SM)? So, could you still use them to figure out the ride order?

 

[damaris13]

What it's sounding like is that I should definitely use RideMax over Touring Plans based on their expertise at DL? I really thought a 2.anything was a little low on the first day a new ride was open.

Thank you all for your help!

 

[HydroGuy]

Do you find Touring Plans DL wait times relatively accurate? Meaning that if they say the wait for Nemo is 20 mins and the wait for SM is 30, that in actuality, the wait for SM is longer than the wait for Nemo (but the waits are actually 30 mins for Nemo and 40 mins fo SM)? So, could you still use them to figure out the ride order?

IMO if you want ride order get RM. If you want wait time data conveniently formatted and relatively accurate, use TP. If you want mobile phone wait times then TP offers that too. RM apparently has a new web capability that maybe helps with real time data. Have not looked at it yet.

 

[damaris13]

HydroGuy...I think I'm just going to take you! You're always giving me clear and concise answer to my questions.

 

[HydroGuy]

HydroGuy...I think I'm just going to take you! You're always giving me clear and concise answer to my questions.

When are you going again? My DS18 (let's just call him HydroKid) will be at DLR this weekend and would love to have someone pay his way into DLR!

 

[damaris13]

Haha! We're going in June. My DH gave me a look when I said I'd joked about bringing you along as our "tourguide."

 

[HydroGuy]

Haha! We're going in June. My DH gave me a look when I said I'd joked about bringing you along as our "tourguide."

DS18 has never gone to DLR without me and is kind of scared to not have me as a tourguide. He is going with his 17 year old cousin (my niece) who has an AP and will take care of him this weekend.

As for me, be careful what you wish for! My family loves having me along - usually - but when I start spouting off details and history they roll their eyes and sometimes just tune out. I try to keep things cool but sometimes fail.