Which crowd calendar is the best?

[bariww]

Looking at Touring Plans, WDW Prep School and Undercover Tourist's crowd calendars and wondering which one everyone finds to be the best?

 

[Robo]

For the next 6-12 months... none will be worth more than just guessing.

 

[Heather07438]

When are you going?

 

[OKW Lover]

Got to agree with @Robo above. Don't bother trying to figure it out.

 

[bariww]

When are you going?

Park days will be 1/24 - 1/30, 1/31 - 2/6 or 2/21 - 2/27 (all Sun - Sat). We're planning 1 day at MK, DHS, AK + a 2nd day at either DHS or MK, park hopping to Epcot for late afternoon snacks/dinners a few nights, 2 days at UO and 1 rest day. Ideally, we'd do our rest day on Wed so it's right in the middle of the trip, but it's my son's bday on 1/27 so if we went that week we'd def be in a park. My son in particular gets worn down really, really easily and needs to recharge his batteries or he combusts, so I thought if we went that week a good strategy might be to do our 2nd day at DHS or MK on his bday so we could make it a little more relaxed. We were there 3 years ago on his bday so it's not like a do or die at all, but if we went the following week we'd be flying home on Super Bowl Sunday and my hubs isn't thrilled with that idea. Long story short, but we wouldn't be able to book our room for the late Feb trip until 12/21 so while there's availability now, that could change in the next 2 weeks. I was hoping the crowd calendars would help make the decision obvious, but with few exceptions, they conflict on which to do/avoid on what days and collectively aren't any help.

 

[MBTigger]

You are past the holiday weekends,, so that is nice. Crowd calendars are kind of out the window right now, with capacity being limited and attendance fluctuating a lot.
The only advice I have been hearing is that DHS is extra popular and you should decide what day you want to visit DHS and secure that reservation first. I am not a football fan, so flying home during the Super Bowl would not bother me one bit.

 

[gharter]

For the next 6-12 months... none will be worth more than just guessing.

agreed. I've felt this way since the parks reopened. Anything on one of their calendars is just a guess.

 

[LilyWDW]

None of them. Nothing is normal right now. The crowd calendars are a forecasting model. They take information from the past in order to predict the future. What is happening now has NO similar data in the past. None. So they can't correctly predict anything.

 

[goofy4prez]

I didn't think they were all that reliable and accurate prior to the Roni, and in my opinion are worthless right now with the way things are. Save your $15.95 and buy a couple of Dole Whips with it instead.

 

[holden]

No calendar is needed. Parks will generally be busier on the weekend. DHS seems to be busy all the time. EP and AK are generally less crowded. Getting to the parks before opening seems to be a good strategy.

 

[evlaina]

Park days will be 1/24 - 1/30, 1/31 - 2/6 or 2/21 - 2/27 (all Sun - Sat). We're planning 1 day at MK, DHS, AK + a 2nd day at either DHS or MK, park hopping to Epcot for late afternoon snacks/dinners a few nights, 2 days at UO and 1 rest day. Ideally, we'd do our rest day on Wed so it's right in the middle of the trip, but it's my son's bday on 1/27 so if we went that week we'd def be in a park. My son in particular gets worn down really, really easily and needs to recharge his batteries or he combusts, so I thought if we went that week a good strategy might be to do our 2nd day at DHS or MK on his bday so we could make it a little more relaxed. We were there 3 years ago on his bday so it's not like a do or die at all, but if we went the following week we'd be flying home on Super Bowl Sunday and my hubs isn't thrilled with that idea. Long story short, but we wouldn't be able to book our room for the late Feb trip until 12/21 so while there's availability now, that could change in the next 2 weeks. I was hoping the crowd calendars would help make the decision obvious, but with few exceptions, they conflict on which to do/avoid on what days and collectively aren't any help.

I'm going 1/24-1/30, so one of your options. We usually do 7 day hoppers but with weird flight times we're only doing parks Mon-Fri this time. I have had no problem paying for yearly memberships to Touring Plans and Kenny the Pirate for the last 3 years, but I did not renew this year because echoing what everyone else is saying - no one knows what is happening tomorrow let alone months from now. I truly don't think it matters anymore, there's no Extra Magic Hours to direct people, no night shows, Early Morning magic, etc.

We're doing Mon - Epcot, Tues - HS, Wed - MK, Thurs - AK, Fri - HS. We want 2 chances at Rise so we're starting HS 2 days to be safe. I would choose whatever park is your fav for your son's birthday, but I don't think HS will be relaxing unless you get a boarding pass. Also, we picked the week we did because it was one of the cheapest (IE less busy) weeks of the year. That made our decision.

 

[bariww]

agreed. I've felt this way since the parks reopened. Anything on one of their calendars is just a guess.

So we've eliminated my sons bday week because it'll be better for us to do our rest day on Wednesday. That leaves 1/31 - 2/6 and 2/20 - 2/27. Disney room rates are higher for the late Feb dates...we're renting DVC points and there's no difference in cost to us, but would it be fair to say that's an indication they expect it to be busier?

 

[sethschroeder]

I didn't think they were all that reliable and accurate prior to the Roni, and in my opinion are worthless right now with the way things are. Save your $15.95 and buy a couple of Dole Whips with it instead.

Except for Touringplans its way more than Crowd Calendars if you only use it for that then its a waste of money. They have tangible information of every ride every day regarding posted and actual wait times being reported. You can outline your park day, optimize, reorder, get time estimates, and even update during the day while in the park.

It also comes in handy if staying in new resorts and looking for which room area to request.

Sure you can get an idea on this forum but its not going to have as much easy to access data as TouringPlans.

Flip side is on a trip that you are spending $1k-$5k-$10k on is spending $15 on a tool that directly can show you how to plan your day by looking up recent wait times throughout the day that big of drain on your budget? That's basically skipping a single specialty drink you would have ordered otherwise if you are really on a tight budget. They likely have discounts as well (not positive got a discount for a 3 year renewal earlier this year).

 

[sethschroeder]

That leaves 1/31 - 2/6 and 2/20 - 2/27. Disney room rates are higher for the late Feb dates...we're renting DVC points and there's no difference in cost to us, but would it be fair to say that's an indication they expect it to be busier?

So room rates for Disney are set a ways ahead of time. Yes its built on past experience but its not always 1:1 and more people may go because its cheaper as well.

Doubt there will be too big of a difference between the two unless there are changes. The sooner you go the more likely though Disney doesn't increase capacity again. Flip side the sooner you go the less time for additional things to be opened.

 

[sponica]

So we've eliminated my sons bday week because it'll be better for us to do our rest day on Wednesday. That leaves 1/31 - 2/6 and 2/20 - 2/27. Disney room rates are higher for the late Feb dates...we're renting DVC points and there's no difference in cost to us, but would it be fair to say that's an indication they expect it to be busier?

The first bunch of dates historically has a cheer competition, but prob not this year. The last week is traditionally a winter break week in parts of NH but nowhere near as popular as the week before.
This year's rates were set last summer based on whatever room rate voodoo was in existence.

If I was in the mind to travel, I'd take the first one (1/31-2/6) because I feel like the next round of expanded experiences would be in the March/April time frame and there's nothing worse to me than being OH SO CLOSE BUT OH SO FAR to new/expanded experiences.

 

[figmentfinesse]

I'm traveling 1/23-1/30 and FWIW, most of the days my parks rank 2 or 1 on TP's scale. Epcot ranks 5 on 1/30 though. I am mostly very optimistic on crowds that week. Everyone is saying it should be fairly slow.

 

[sponica]

I'm traveling 1/23-1/30 and FWIW, most of the days my parks rank 2 or 1 on TP's scale. Epcot ranks 5 on 1/30 though. I am mostly very optimistic on crowds that week. Everyone is saying it should be fairly slow.

It's usually the lull between Martin Luther King Day and when the school vacation weeks start. And in the early part of the 2010s that week would be awesome crowd wise.

 

[MrsPete]

For the next 6-12 months... none will be worth more than just guessing.

Add to that, once we get back to normal, I suspect we'll have a surge in Disney vacations (and other travel) because people will be "making up" for missed trips.

 

[SarahC97]

I agree that none of them are particularly useful right now. I'd just go with your basic assumptions for park plans which are you want to avoid holidays for reduced crowds (that includes President's Day and Mardi Gras) and plan for weekends to be busier than weekdays. Outside of that...it's anyone's guess. I mean, Disney probably has a pretty good idea, but they're not sharing that info.

 

[DSLRuser]

Looking at Touring Plans, WDW Prep School and Undercover Tourist's crowd calendars and wondering which one everyone finds to be the best?

None. Disney has entire marketing departments dedicated to making sure every resort. park, and restaurant are at 100% capacity very hour of every day.

Go in with the mindset the everything is a 60 min wait and shoulder to shoulder lines....then be happy when it is not. If it is too crowded, move on to something esle.