Who has the best crowd calendar?

[whineaux]

EasyWDW is the BEST!

 

[nansmama]

I like EasyWDW's calendar because it's easy to read, and I also like the dad's guide because his observations seem to mesh with my own over the years. Mostly I check the sites for overall impressions of what to expect--we don't actually plan months ahead which parks we will visit on which days. I like that the calendars show the times for things like Fantasmic and MSEP, as that does affect what we'll do for the day. I don't think Disney even has a consolidated schedule on their site.

 

[pmama]

Wow, very interesting. Not sure who lentesta is but assume (s)he is with TP. I found her/his responses to be a bit disrespectful which is disappointing.

​

I've always used TP and found it very helpful. I've recently been using easywdw for our upcoming trip as well. I agree with those who say each of the two is very helpful in their own right.

 

[lentesta]

"Josh" thanks for the post. That wasn't so bad, was it?

Okay, so if I understand correctly, your estimates are based on park attendance ... six months out? Is that correct? And you determine the accuracy of those estimates by looking at wait times after the specific day is over?

Thanks again for the info.

Len

 

[Ana~n~Joseph]

Before I found easywdw, I was a TP believer.....now, I'm a easywdw believer. I think Josh does an amazing job and really prepares me to have the best experience possible at Disney World.

I had been renewing my TP subscription for the iPhone app but won't renew this year, specially after reading this thread.

 

[elaine amj]

I use easyWDW. I was a former TGM'er and I like knowing the whys and the ins and outs. The blog really helps me understand how to go about my day.I read it consistently.

When I give advice to a noob - I send them to Touring Plans and the Unofficial Guide. The way the info there is presented is simple to understand and easy for a noob to grasp. I also like the way the touring plans are there for noobs to just grab and use.

EasyWDW requires a fair bit of reading and some folks just don't care for that - or it takes them too long to sift through. It's there to help you understand HOW to tour and many noobs just aren't interested in the why and how. They're used to just walking around and riding whatever suits their mood. Touringplans just tells them what to do, and it's quick and easy for them to get to the information.

 

[Bettie]

Question for Len and Josh: would you be willing to go "head to head" on an upcoming day or two where your crowd recommendations are divergent?

Looking at Sept (so it's in the free offerings from TP, no giving away any subscriber info), on Sept. 2nd TP has AK as avoid and Easy has AK as a best. Likewise on Sept. 3rd TP has MK as a best park and Easy has it as avoid. Couldn't you, on Sept. 4th, review those two days and see whose recommendations were the best?

Or even go back to days that have just passed? Without giving specific days/crowd level info, there is a day just a few days ago in July where Easy has HS as the best park and TP has it as avoid with an extremely high crowd level score. Wouldn't it be easy enough to look at the actual crowds that day (however you do that...wait times, whatever various ways you have of measuring that) and report back to help people understand the two models better?

I love both TP and Easy have found them both invaluable in my planning. (And have been a TP subscriber since we first started going to WDW a couple years ago.) For the most part you are generally in agreement. It's just those days where you are SO opposite that I can't figure it out!

Since you have both been in this thread and seem eager to defend your product, maybe you would consider a little friendly show-and-tell using actual days where your recommendations diverge?

 

[AmyPond]

Sometimes easywdw is going to be correct and something touringplans is going to be correct. No one will be correct 100% of the time though.

When I was planning my trip earlier this year, TP had Epcot as a park to avoid pretty much every single day of my trip. I just found that to be very odd because we ended up going to Epcot on quite a few different days (our favorite WDW park) and the crowds were VERY low on most days.

TP most and least recommended parks for my dates in 2012 looked like this -

Recommended Parks
February 1st = Magic Kingdom
February 2nd = Epcot, Animal Kingdom
February 3rd = Animal Kingdom
February 4th = Animal Kingdom
February 5th = Animal Kingdom
February 6th = Magic Kingdom
February 7th = Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios

Least Recommended Parks
February 1st = Epcot
February 2nd = Hollywood Studios
February 3rd = Epcot
February 4th = Epcot
February 5th = Epcot
February 6th = Epcot
February 7th = Epcot

To me, that just isn't very helpful since we only like to do 2 days at AK and we like to go to EP as much as possible.

I liked that for my dates over at easywdw, each day ranked all four parks best to worst. For me, that was WAY more helpful.

 

[Funkhouser]

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!

That line made me laugh, don't know what to search for in google!!
I do not know Len nor do I subscribe to TP but, he sure did come across as someone who is feeling the heat.
Never let them see you sweat.

 

[jamnich314]

"easyWDW.com is preferred by 6.804 out of 10.0 DISboards.com members"

 

[christie_megansmom]

"Josh" thanks for the post. That wasn't so bad, was it?

Len, I've been a BIG fan of the app, the site, the blog, and the books, and even recommended friends who've subbed, but this entire thread is creating a pretty unfavorable impression.

Instead of, "Who has the best crowd calendar?" I think a better question would be, "Which site prepares you better for a Walt Disney World vacation?"

Brilliant and absolutely true. Josh is unrivaled with the type of information he provides. Near-daily updates from inside the park. And boy, does he know his audience. He's a single 20-something who provides information for people in lots of situations. He rides things that I'm sure don't interest him just to gather data. He meets characters over and over and over again, because he knows that's important to his readers. I honestly don't know how he does it all for free, despite people BEGGING to pay him.

 

[Violet Parr]

I love TP and the data behind it. It has worked well for us over several trips. I haven't used the app yet but I'm looking forward to it.

I'll be honest. I first heard about easywdw yesterday and took a look at it. Regardless of how great the info is, the design of the site leaves an enormous amount to be desired. Blog format for organized information is...just not a super user-friendly format. What's more, there are large swaths of text to read. Tons of scrolling.

So if Josh ever gets a good web designer and works on the user experience of his site, I think that would be a huge incentive for me to take a longer look at it. Otherwise, it's an awful lot of text on white backgrounds.

Call me picky, but it's just personal preference.

However, after browsing a bit, it looks like easywdw and touringplans have positively contradictory suggestions for our upcoming trip, so I will take info from both, make a few choices, and then see how it all works out.

VP

 

[neffernie]

This is why we love Josh!!!

I thought it was for his irreverent humor and boyish good looks.

 

[hivemama]

I'll be honest. I first heard about easywdw yesterday and took a look at it. Regardless of how great the info is, the design of the site leaves an enormous amount to be desired. Blog format for organized information is...just not a super user-friendly format. What's more, there are large swaths of text to read. Tons of scrolling.

So if Josh ever gets a good web designer and works on the user experience of his site, I think that would be a huge incentive for me to take a longer look at it. Otherwise, it's an awful lot of text on white backgrounds.

VP

Ummm...his site is FREE. I'm sure he'd be happy to let you pay for a web designer to put it into a different format.

And quite honestly, I used Josh's site for our first trip, and as a noob, the sheer amount of information on his site was invaluable and easy to read. It was like talking with a friend over a glass of cheap scotch

 

[twopearls]

I love you Josh, but I hate this thread. I mean, if everyone knows how much we've been worshipping you as a celebrity Disney blogger and starts going with your recommendations, then the most recommended park will be busier and then could turn into the least recommended park. And how do we deal with that?

In all fairness though, never used any of the other plans. Had an unofficial guide for my last trip EIGHT years ago, and took a few suggestions. I don't obsess about it...I'm not a commando-style tourist (despite what DH thinks). It just seems to make sense to me to hit the big attractions first and then chill. But my upcoming Oct trip is for 8 days so I will have plenty of time to cover everything we want to do.

 

[Violet Parr]

Ummm...his site is FREE. I'm sure he'd be happy to let you pay for a web designer to put it into a different format.

And quite honestly, I used Josh's site for our first trip, and as a noob, the sheer amount of information on his site was invaluable and easy to read. It was like talking with a friend over a glass of cheap scotch

It's just feedback. I'm sure Josh can handle it.

 

[SaraJayne]

This was "literally" a great post!

I agree with the 70% majority that voted. EasyWDW, hands down, no question.

 

[cdmurphy727]

I thought it was for his irreverent humor and boyish good looks.

That too!!!!

 

[Ana~n~Joseph]

I thought it was for his irreverent humor and boyish good looks.

 

[Steve's Girl]

Len, I've been a BIG fan of the app, the site, the blog, and the books, and even recommended friends who've subbed, but this entire thread is creating a pretty unfavorable impression.

Was thinking the same thing. Some of the responses really turned me off. Thought Disney was supposed to be a happy place! There is room for everyone.