Variability of the various crowd calendars

[3littlecuties]

Do you consider any of the various crowd calendars to be more accurate than the others? Looking at 3 major predictor sites, I'm getting totally different crowd predictions for the time that we will be there...

Undercover Tourist Touring Plans Easy WDW
July 13 10 5 8
July 14 10 6 8
July 15 10 6 8
July 16 10 7 8
July 17 10 6 8
July 18 10 5 8
July 19 10 6 8

Also, one site will say a certain park is recommended for a particular day and another one says that it is a park to avoid. So it seems like it is just anyone's guess! FWIW, I used EasyWDW when I picked our parks for particular days and made our ADRs. I hope it's fairly accurate! The only reason I noticed the difference was because I just went to Undercover Tourist to order our tickets and noticed their crowd calendar which freaked me out a bit!

 

[3littlecuties]

Well I see that my formatting didn't come through right. First column is date, 2nd column is Undercover Tourist prediction, 3rd column is Touring Plans, 4th column is Easy WDW.

 

[LSUfan4444]

It's July. It will be hot and it will be crowded. The difference between a 10 and an 8 or an 8 and a 6 won't be that noticeable because they're both busy.

For the lowest crowds hit non EMH parks the day after they have EMH at rope drop, leave for a mid day break then head back to a park in the afternoon//evening where you will either have your FP+ waiting for you or will be making additional FP+ selections from what is available.

 

[Bob P]

It's July. It will be hot and it will be crowded. The difference between a 10 and an 8 or an 8 and a 6 won't be that noticeable because they're both busy.

BINGO!!

In my estimation, crowd calendars are slightly more reliable than Ouija Boards, but slightly less reliable than Magic 8-Balls.

 

[3littlecuties]

BINGO!!

In my estimation, crowd calendars are slightly more reliable than Ouija Boards, but slightly less reliable than Magic 8-Balls.

Haha! I guess I won't worry about it then!

 

[Momma2PrinceNPrinces]

I couldn't say which one is more accurate over the other. I used TP for the last 2 trips. It was dead on for our May 2011 trip and so-so for our June 2013. However, I knew June would be crowded and hot hot HOT! Our AK day was expected to be a 7, and it was honestly more of a 9, if not 10. Our HS day (supposed to be a 6) was so crowded that when we got to the parking lot at 8:45am, the CMs were just ushering cars in without paying and we were at the way back of the lot. We ended up pulling out and driving to KSC. This time my I'm using easywdw, but may renew my TP subscription just to compare the 2.

 

[Crystal824]

I've always found Touring Plans to be pretty accurate more so for our trips than Undercover Tourist. As someone else noted, July will be hot and crowded no matter what.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

Personally, I'd totally disregard UT. I love UT, I've been a customer for years, but they're in the ticket selling business, not in the crowd prediction business. To me, their crowd calendar is offered up as a way to set expectations for their ticket buying customers, and nothing more. I would assume that if those dates in July are 10s on their scale, probably every date between mid June and mid August are 10s as well.

As far as TP vs. easywdw...I think that they both ARE in the crowd predicting/recommending the best park business and so I'd chose one of them to go with. But keep in mind that they use vastly different systems for making their predictions. I also don't think that you can necessarily compare their scales, because an "8" on easywdw is likely going to mean something different than an "8" on TP's scale.

Personally, I'm an easywdw.com user and I've always felt his recommendations were spot on. Besides being free, I also like the fact that his recommendations and predictions really don't change much.

 

[Dan Murphy]

I find Easy to be extremely accurate, and therefore useful.

 

[siskaren]

I haven't looked at UT or TP, but I like that Josh (the guy who writes easyWDW) explains why he makes the recommendations he does.

 

[girli565]

I find easywdw the most accurate. I used to use TP but didn't really use it enough to justify the cost so I dropped my subscription. We used it during spring break to pick the most recommended parks during our long weekend and it really allowed us to tour the parks and enjoy it even during the packed spring break week/weekend.

 

[Ametista]

I usually go with EasyWDW if there is disagreement. But in truth the parks always seem crowded to me. I have been to AK on "4" days before where it was so crowded it was hard to get from one place to another.