Who has the best crowd calendar?

[lentesta]

You've obviously never read easywdw. Josh explains why he rates a crowd a certain level.

Could you post a link to an example? (I just don't know what to search for in Google.) The times I've asked "Josh" about it, he's pretty certain that his crowd number isn't based on wait times, so it would be cool to see what it actually is. Thanks!

 

[havoc315]

I think we are all confusing crowd rating "numbers" with the entire utility of a full crowd calendar. As far as I've seen, only TP gives day by day, per park, crowd rating numbers.
For a number, easywdw only rates the entire resort. And let's be honest, these numbers don't differ much between websites, and arent particularly relevant. I mean, if TP says that this entire week is a 9, and easywdw says it is an 8... That's not going to effect much of anything.
The value of TP is the per park breakdown. The ability to see that while the resort is an 8, Epcot is only a 5, while MK is a 9-- and that does help.

Where I see a preference for easywdw, is the park recommendations. With all 4 parks rated a 8, and TP recommending a park based on '7 day rule,' easywdw gives a real analysis of what to expect in each park, each day. If the MK parade is scheduled for 4 days of the week, he tells you which day would likely be best to see it, etc.
TP never recommends the EMH park. Easywdw reminds you that IF you are a resort guest and truly will make it in time for EMH, that it's a good time to tour.

So really, they are 2 very different types of crowd calendars. I've used Tour Guide Mike in the past -- hated it. Ridemax -- a fun toy, but not a good sole source.
Now, I basically just use TP and easywdw. In making daily touring plans, I use TPs per park ratings, combined with Josh's daily advice.
Though I'd hate to lose easywdw as a free resource... Len, you should offer Josh a job.

 

[DisneyFive]

Being an engineer myself, I gravitate much more towards decisions based on real measured data. Touringplans has that, and I appreciate the ability to look at past results versus their predictions, and so I know roughly what to expect for our upcoming trip and how accurate the prediction should be.

Not saying easywdw isn't a useful tool, but IMO touringplans is preferred since they can back up their recommendations with real results.

They each have their use, but if I had to pick ONE, it would be TP. Hands down.

Dan

 

[icc2515]

Having been to WDW during some of the busiest times and during some of the slowest times, I can give some advice on the best crowd calculator. Common sense. If kids are off school, it's busy. If kids are in school, it's not. If it's a holiday, busy. Also look at Disney's MK park hours. If the park closes at 7 then they expect it to be slow. If the park is open till 1:00am with no magic hours, they expect it to be packed. Busy is busy and slow is slow.

I do subscribe to Touring plans, but I take it with a grain of salt. That is not to say their calcs are not accurate, as I am very sure they are. I just feel from personal experience that there is not much difference between a 7 and a 9 and a 2 and a 5. No matter what the number is you will have a great time and will get to ride what ever you want. We just returned from a mid July when every day was an 8 or a 9 and we rode every attraction multiple times with no issues. We never stood in line for more than 10 mins with the exception of riding TSM 4 times in a row we stood in line the last time for 15 mins. We make very good use of fastpass and take a break from 1 till 5. This allows the people not in the know to stand in line for 90 mins in 95 degree 100% humidity weather and burn out by 7.

Now the wait time portion of the program is without a doubt invaluable. We make use of this feature several dozen times a day. Plus the fact that touring plans allows people in the park to update times is great.

 

[jdcthree]

For our next trip I will be using a combination of TP and easyWDW. We used TP in the past and most of the time it was accurate, but there were a few "off" days. Josh's explanations for park recommendations are very helpful. I haven't had a chance to put his calendar to the test yet, but I have a feeling I'll be pleased with the TP/easywdw combination approach!

 

[hollygolitely93]

TP impresses me with their more scientific approach and I havve not been steered wrong, yet (three visits using them). I also like easywdw for it's reviews...but as crowd calendars go I find they are very similar to TP but crowds seem inflated a bit higher... With TP I like that I can go see history to as trends are important year to year when accessing weeks to go.

TPs is great for their plans too! Since they added the personalized and optimized section it provides phenomenal way to organize my agenda and the suggestions are always helpful. Easy WDW is great too...and again I find the plans are similar a lot of the times...but it just gives advice...doesn't offer a planning tool (which I like of TPs).

 

[DisneyMom76]

I've used TP for my WDW trips and have found it to be very helpful when planning. In over 15 trips in as many years we were only once mislead where we actually went to DHS on a less crowded day only to run into line after line. Fortunately we were only there for a half day anyways for a character lunch and 3 rides, so it wasn't a complete waste of a day.

 

[miami305]

Josh provides the logic behind his tour plans and why he avoids certain days. Assimilate this information and you're equipped to make your own decisions in regards to touring. We just got back. Peak season and we walked onto nearly every ride. TOT was ours 30 min wait because we were behind a tour group.

I didn't need to consult any app or follow a rigid plan. Knowing which rides have high demand and/or low capacity allowed us the freedom to make intelligent choices ourselves. Josh's calendar is no mystery. He explains for each day how he chose the recommended park of the day.

Being able to breeze onto popular rides in July.... Priceless! I'm happy easywdw is free!

 

[mossy1]

I vote for Easywdw. Nothing against TouringPlans as I have used them in the past. But I agree with others that with Josh you get to see the reasoning behind the recommendations. Not only does it make logical sense but I feel like it teaches you to apply this knowledge yourself if you wish. With TouringPlans it's more of a closed system. I understand why. Everyone needs to eat. The Lines app is a nice compliment, but I think it is just another way to feed more data into their machine. Hey Len perhaps a discount for those that are willing to report the most data back?? Just a thought.

 

[NHKristy76]

I have not checked out TGM because I've heard that it has not been kept up lately. I'm not interested in paying for something that is just "so-so" and not maintained particularly when I can access Josh's calendar for free. The info he provides is very timely and from my experience of my last two trips, he is spot on!


So, I vote Josh's easywdw calendar ALL THE WAY!

 

[bukosluvswdw]

I have comapred both Easy WDW & TP for our upcoming trip. We have 8 days in the parks and only a few times do they seem to really disagree. It seems to me that TP says a park is neutral and for Easy that either means recommended or most recommended.

On one day TP says HS is a best park and Easy has it not recommended.

Another day TP says to avoid HS and Easy has it most recommended.

On another TP says HS is the best park and Easy has it not recommended.

Another day TP says to avoid EP and Easy has it recommended.

What would be helpful in Easy is how does Josh view most recommended and recommended days. I wander if those recommended days would be the same as neutral in TP.

So I think they agree more they they would agree more than they would disagree. What I do like about TP is the crowd breakdown per park. I think that really tellls you what the crowd will be like at a certain park. I use that more than anything.

I think it would be a great conversation to get Len and Josh on WDW today and discuss all of this. I think we would all love to hear their thoughts.

 

[JJ&JHsmom]

I have used TP for the last 4 trips and have never been disappointed. For our upcoming trip I used both and will see how it goes.

 

[lentesta]

Hey Len perhaps a discount for those that are willing to report the most data back?? Just a thought.

I love this idea. How much data is a good trade for, say, a day of access to the app?

 

[mossy1]

I love this idea. How much data is a good trade for, say, a day of access to the app?

Idk Len, perhaps for for every actual wait time posted it could give you another hour of access. Something along those lines, no pun intended.

 

[lentesta]

Idk Len, perhaps for for every actual wait time posted it could give you another hour of access. Something along those lines, no pun intended.

I like it. We;d have to have some way of verifying that the time came from someone in the park. Let me see what we can do.

 

[DCLMan]

I prefer EasyWDW and I love Josh's sense of humour.

 

[wdw71]

We also have always used TP and we have never been disappointed with a recommended park or a touring plan. We will continue to use TP.

 

[jamnich314]

I'm too cheap for TP so we used Easy on our last trip and it was spot on. The frequent updates and thorough explanation of all his decisions make it great. Plus, he is a celebrity so how can you go wrong with that?

 

[dvc one day]

Having only really spent any time looking at TP and easywdw, I can't comment on the others. I think you are not likely to be significantly disappointed using either as a general guide.

I don't like the idea of reading or hearing anything and assuming it is absolute certainty.

So, what I do is look at both and instead of hoping they are right on which park is the absolute best, I look for where they agree on what is the worst park for a particular day. I think avoiding the worst has worked better for me than looking for the best.

Only one person's opinion.

 

[HayGan]

Historically I have used TGM & TP. With so many trips under our (or should I say my) belts now, we pretty much know what to look for in terms of what days should be spent in which parks. Just for fun, I compare our prepared Oct. schedule with 3 of the services - TGM, TP and Easy. Easy was spot on every day of our schedule. TP & I disagreed 1 day and TGM and I disagreed 2 days. We will see how things work out once Oct. finally rolls around. I do have to say that I LOVE the TP app and try to remember to post times when I can when we are visiting

One criticism that I do have of EasyWDW after reading it today is that the Epcot comments don't take into account Test Track being down. It is mentioned numerous times and I would think that the comments for that month should reflect that such a headliner is down because it certainly has an impact on the schedule & wait times for the rest of the park. It kind of felt like it was a canned response for that park that hadn't been updated to reflect such a significant issue. I know it is hard to write something new for every day but this is an issue that should be addressed (at least thru TT forecasted outage.)