I always used easywdw's crowd calendar as I found it to have the largest list of things going on in the world (both disney and real world) that created crowds at disney (or removed some crowds but that's rare). They took a hiatus on updating the calendar because it was never accurate after some disney information changes but they have mentioned they are working on a way to bring it back. I wasn't aware others had similar so thatnks
@chris benton for the wdwprepschool.
I want to point out one thing, you can count the days that it's not crowded on your hands (days, not weeks, it's literally 1-2 days here, 1 day there). If your looking for a not crowded time to be at disney, the only option is to buy a ticket to the after hours event they have been trying out. There is always crowds, the question really becomes what time can your family/traveling group come and which of those weeks might be lower than others. Whenever you pick is going to be crowded and just get used to that idea and you'll have a better trip because your expecting it.
Finding them yourself:
- ESPN Events Calendar will tell you when there is large groups on property for competition, which is what you ran into. They tend to stay at values and then start to fill moderates so I tend to avoid values if they are on property. They are there for an event so they don't necessarily fill the parks but they can add to rope drop or after dinner crowds. They do fill up the lower cost resort rooms.
https://www.espnwwos.com/events/
- rundisney calendar will tell you when the marathons are in town. because they run int he middle of the night, they tend to only be in the parks, if they even go early in the morning and the last day or two of races. they don't really impact ride lines too much as they are more taking in the place while here. It can feel more crowded as they do walk around the parks but again it doesn't really add to ride wait times.
https://www.rundisney.com/
- jersey week is always in november, usually the second week. it's actually the week when teachers have a contractual training conference. Next year it's the week of nov 5 as the conference is on nov 9,10.
http://njeaconvention.org/ is their website for the conference that creates jersey week. Also look for other holidays that sometimes end up falling in the same week or just after the long weekend depending on how the calendars fall.
- Hell week, this is something universal has which can tie into when you might want to take a disney trip. I always throught it was the same week as jersey week but to be honest, I'm not really sure how to look this one up. It's basically a week where so many schools have off they all tend to fill universal and it's a rough week to visit there. if anyone has a good way or more concrete information I'd love to know.
- US holidays: Any extra day or two off to make a long weekend brings in crowds. Especially for that weekend but also the week before and after it. Not all schools have the same holiday schedule and some also have off for different days. For example veterans day is a common day off from school but not everywhere but it is in florida so locals show up like it's any other weekend day. I find the week that includes the extra day(s) off is the more crowded of the two but both weeks are a little more crowded then the already crowded weeks before and after.
- International Holidays: Different countries celebrate things differently. For example around feb/march brazil has a month long holiday that tends to bring in their larger tour groups. They also have a country pride thing of chanting, singing together, etc. I personally don't mind it and enjoy the country pride we don't really show here in the US but for some it's a take away but it's also larger crowds that consist of groups of 20-100 that all ride the same thing together so you have longer ride lines and they tend to be what we consider a little pushy in cutting lines and less attentive to their children, but to them that is normal. and I dont' want to create a sterotype, it's not all of them that do this, but generally htere is 1 group that always seems to be where you want to ride that does this. These are harder to track and where the crowd calendars come in handy.
