Will SPD / RO / FD promos affect crowd calendar?

[CounselorX]

So I'll be going to WDW Jan 25 to Feb 1 and I've been going by the crowd calendar on easywdw.com which rates my days very low on the attendance scale.

Do you guys think these predictions were made knowing that there will be promos this time of year, or do you think the attendance will be much higher than what it currently says because of all the promos?

 

[iwasdaisy]

Watching to see how people respond to this question too.

 

[joanne312]

No. We've gone this week twice, and have always gotten promos (Free dining in 2011 and SPD in 2013). It's a very low attendance time of year. The biggest aspect of the crowds is the big tour groups.

 

[MsThumper]

There are promos every year (that's the only way we will go) and there are years of data to base their attendance figures on. It is just naturally the time of year with the least attendance for many reasons. As Florida residents, we will only go from late October to early March. You couldn't pay me to go to Disney from June to September.

 

[CounselorX]

No. We've gone this week twice, and have always gotten promos (Free dining in 2011 and SPD in 2013). It's a very low attendance time of year. The biggest aspect of the crowds is the big tour groups.

There are promos every year (that's the only way we will go) and there are years of data to base their attendance figures on. It is just naturally the time of year with the least attendance for many reasons. As Florida residents, we will only go from late October to early March. You couldn't pay me to go to Disney from June to September.

Great to know. Thanks! My wife and I took our first trip ever last September. The crowds were great but the heat was too intense for me. I can't wait to be there in the cooler weather!

 

[kanderson89]

We've gone during this timeframe the past two years, and it's been fine. There have been a few busy peaks but it's been great!

 

[EagleScout]

As pp have said, these are based on historical figures, which have included lower rates for many years, and discounts/promos on top of that for the past several. Note that if there is a fd promo, some of the restaurants (partic char meals) may be atypically crowded compared to the overall park crowds.

 

[DCDisney]

We've gone this same week a number of times and the promos don't seem to change things much. Certain things will still have lines, fastpasses will go quickly, etc though we've found if it's cold and/or rainy the parks can be really empty. The other issue though in January is that WDW plans for low attendance so if things get more crowded they can't do much about it. We find that restaurants that might have 10 lines open during busy times sometimes only have 2 lines open so it's not really any faster during a slow time of year. Lots of rides now can adjust the capacity so there again ride lines aren't always as much better as you imagine and there are typically a lot of rides closed for refurb this time of year too. I know Splash Mtn is already scheduled to be down. Plus there are a TON of youth tour groups from South America because it's a vacation time for them. We've not had issues with the kids but there are tons of them so sometimes we have to change plans at the last minute when we see a hundred kids walk into a line we were thinking of entering. I've personally found I can do more in the times of year where the parks are a 5-7 range than a 1-5 range but I'm giving January another chance after taking a year off