When will Unofficial Guide respond? Len Testa?

[Big V]

Thanks Len!

 

[Mainebound]

Thanks Len and the folks at UG! This is a huge help! And I love the transparency regarding rules. You'd need a PhD to devise that system... but I guess you know that! LOL!

 

[Tinks]

Thank you guys for being on top of this. Your guide is the best!

 

[cajunmommy]

A huge "Merci beaucoup" to Len & the UOG Team! Thanks so much for the help. You've definitely made it much easier for me to deal with my anxiety over how to deal with the new schedule changes affecting our February trip.

I found the UOG before I stumbled into the DIS. I still can't believe I managed to do Disney without either one. If only I knew then what I know now.... ... ...

 

[trstno1]

I don't want to tell you your business, which you are obviously very good at, but I don't see a constraint relating to the Magic Kingdom and Spectromagic days. In my experience (n=2), Spectromagic days are bad all day at the Magic Kingdom.

For example, you recommend going to MK on February 7th, a Monday when Spectromagic is showing, instead of Tuesday February 8th, when it's only Wishes. That just intuitively seems wrong to me.

(And where's the constraint for just intuitively seeming wrong? )

 

[lentesta]

Nice moniker, trstno1. We've heard similar theories about Saturdays in the park, when Spectro is often shown. And we've investigated this specific question, as it seems to come up often.

Based on the data we've collected, however, we don't see any evidence to support the idea the Spectro days (or Saturdays) significantly increases park attendence.

We've got an extensive data collection project starting in January, so we'll be checking all of our assumptions again. If anyone has, say, an Excel spreadsheet with observations they'd like to share (hey, you never know ;-) ), especially something that contradicts our data, I'd love to take a look.

I wouldn't worry about the crowds in the MK on a Monday in February, either, unless the crowd level is > 5. Relax and enjoy the park!

If there's anything we can help you with for your trip, trstno1, feel free to drop me a line.

Sincerely,

Len

 

[trstno1]

Thanks for the quick reply, Len. I studied biomedical engineering before going to medical school, and I spent a little bit of time doing health services research before i went into private practice. I would have sworn that the crowds (and waits) at MK were higher on Saturdays and Spectro days, but I have to trust the numbers. If you tell me that no such pattern really exists, then I believe it. I've had great success with your touring plans in the past.

 

[QuickGold]

Looks great Len!

 

[Tromba]

Thanks for working this out so quickly. I'll look forward for your update at the end of February, since our upcoming trip is in May. You guys will have figured it all out by then, I have no doubt!

 

[DizBelle]

Yo Len!!!

When determining the "crowd factor" for a particular day, can you tell me if you take the infamous "Jersey Week" into consideration?

Thanks!

 

[JessetheCowgirl]

Recommended park on July the 4th is MK???? How in the world can that be? I always trust the UOG, but this seems implausible.

 

[aec]

I was suprised to see that mid-January is listed as 3's. We've only been in mid-November before which is listed as 2's. I am hoping that our upcoming trip in January will be as light as we are expecting.

I am also really suprised to see that the Thanksgiving crowds are not expected to pick up until Nov 23/24. Based on our November experience the crowds started rolling in on the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

 

[disneymania]

I was concerned by the 3's at end of January too. We have been in early & mid December & were expecting same or less crowds. Too see that it is same projected attendance as our spring break would have been the 3rd week of April is disappointing. We could have gone at warmer time without taking kids out of school & had as light of crowds as Jan? We really hate long lines & so thought we were going for slowest time.

 

[FallDisney]

I was concerned by the 3's at end of January too. We have been in early & mid December & were expecting same or less crowds. Too see that it is same projected attendance as our spring break would have been the 3rd week of April is disappointing. We could have gone at warmer time without taking kids out of school & had as light of crowds as Jan? We really hate long lines & so thought we were going for slowest time.

I'm with you! We planned for last week in April or first week in May thinking that with Spring Break and Easter over and kids still in school, we had a fair shot at very low crowd levels. I'm still smarting over our October 4 - 11, 2003 trip and vividly remember the awful crowds when they premiered Wishes and Mission Space. I'm hoping those last couple days of that week were more like 8's or 9's and that the first part of that week was a 3. If that's true, then I'll breath much easier! We still had to make use of FastPass, but a lot of rides we walked on or there was very minimal wait time. Anyone know what kind of effect the May 5 kick-off of the DL 50th Celebration might have on the crowds?

 

[m&m's mom]

How lucky we are to have a resource like Len here!
I ordered a tour plan from him in Oct. 2003 right before they announced all of the press events for Mission Space and Wishes. I emailed him I was concerned how all of the new press events would affect my plan and he immediately emailed me back assuring me all was fine and even included his personal cell phone number for me to call if I had any questions while I was there.
I was delinitely impressed w/ him.

 

[Karibeth19]

That looks wonderful, but I'm concerned about the 3's and 4's for the weekend starting May 5th (the kickoff of Disneyland's 50th celebration). You don't think it will be more crowded than that? Of course I hope you're right, since we're arriving on the 7th.

 

[lentesta]

Hi folks,

Sorry for the delay in responding, but a big hello from Mousefest!

I'll check into the crowd projections from the most recent "Jersey Week" to see if it made for a big jump in crowds. Also, I'll check on the 05/05/05 date for the Magic Kingdom. Not sure if that was announced when the original came out.

If an update needs to be made, we'll post it to the site and add an announcement here, too.

Sincerely,

Len

 

[LovePug]

Thanks for the great info ! We're not heading back until June and I'll be looking forward to the update. I already had my tentative touring plan before I read this post and I was glad to see that I don't have to change anything so far .

 

[lentesta]

I spoke with Bob this evening (at MVMCP), and it looks like we'll recommend Epcot on Monday, July 4, even though that's also Epcot's EMH. In this case, we think Epcot with EMH will be "less bad" than the MK. Thanks JessetheCowgirl for catching this.

We're going to hand the "Jersey Week" question to our statistican for analysis, as we're not sure what the impact of this year's JW was. I'll post something when we know it.

Thanks very much for the help!

Sincerely,

Len

 

[JessetheCowgirl]

Thanks for responding, Len! Otherwise I would have convinced my family to go to MK on the 4th---"But the Unofficial Guide SAYS SO!!!!"

You guys are the BEST