Thanks debkorb1.
Hey folks,
Our statistician is going to try to address the "What day is the Magic Kingdom the busiest?" question in the next 30 days using our most recent set of data. I don't want to speculate too much until then, but I've not seen or heard anything yet that tells us our website suggestions are wrong.
One thing we hope to do is to clarify what we mean by "busy." We're taking the approach that attraction wait times, rather than attendance levels, are what most people are concerned with when they ask whether the parks are "busy."
Certain headliner attractions, such as Big Thunder, Space Mountain, and Splash Mountain, can vary the number of ride vehicles in operation. So, for example, on a day with relatively light attendance, Splash Mountain might have 35 (just a guess) or so boats in the water. During peak periods, that number might be more than double.
Disney restricts the number of ride vehicles running to avoid maintenance costs on those vehicles, which probably have to be serviced every X hours of operation, and the ride system itself. And, as we've noted elsewhere, a certain amount of wait time on every attractions is probably desirable from a theme park operations (i.e., Disney's) perspective.
To be sure, there are certainly days when "busy" means both high attendance and high wait times (e.g., Christmas). But there are days where extra ride capacity more than balances out higher attendance, resulting in more people and lower wait times.
So, when we ask whether the Magic Kingdom is "busy," I think most people could care less whether there are 25,000 or 40,000 people in the park. It's the wait times at the popular attractions that they're concerned with. That's what we hope to address.
Marie32, the easiest way to avoid the crowds is, as you're planning, to split the Magic Kingdom up into two days. If you'd like a touring plan for that, let me know.
Sincerely,
Len Testa
