Crowd Calendar

[tkdmom]

Can anyone give me a sense of how accurate the crowd calendar is on the Touring Plans website?

According to the calendar, crowds will be at "7" most of the dates we will be at WDW, with a couple of days at "5". The last time we visited it was midsummer, where the crowd levels probably would have been around the 8 or 9 level.

I would just like to get a sense of how busy the parks might be.

Thanks again for your help!

[Strmchsr]

It depends. Sometimes they're pretty accurate and sometimes they are WAY off. You just never know. Generally they're pretty close 2-3 weeks out (maybe 75-80% of the time) with their final adjustments. More than a month out it's 50-50 as to whether they'll be right. For what it's worth, the fact that WDW is offering a discount during the summer means bookings are off, but those summer discounts might cause a lot more people to book and put the levels back up.

[eeyorepoohfan]

I think that they are a good way to prepare you for what MAY be to come. When we were planning our trip for Dec 2009, I would check back to see what the crowds were looking like. It was showing a 5-7 the entire trip. We prepared ourselves mentally that we were going to be waiting a little bit for each attraction. We were pleasantly surprised to find that we were consistently having less than 10 minute waits, if any at all. There were many instances where we literally walked right onto a ride, or just had to wait for the next car/boat/etc to pull up. I think our longest wait was 40 minutes for Soarin one night and the autopia (20 minute wait). Other than that we were happy the crowd calendar was incorrect! Plus, the Fastpass system really helped to cut down some of our wait times!

[Goofy Pluto]

What is Touring Plans?

[Strmchsr]

What is Touring Plans?

Another website that is affiliated with the Unofficial Guide to WDW book. They publish a crowd estimate calendar that, as noted above, is dubious in terms of its accuracy but it gets a lot of people to look at their website and buy their book.

[CaptSmee]

Well...how accurate do you think it would be? All it is is an educated guess. It's not like they can look into their crystal ball and see the future. I matched up to their calendar once after a trip, and it seemed close...I suppose.

[KAJUNKING]

Well...how accurate do you think it would be? All it is is an educated guess. It's not like they can look into their crystal ball and see the future. I matched up to their calendar once after a trip, and it seemed close...I suppose.

We dont plan our trips around the crowd calander, but i do use them as far as what park to visit on which days and have been very happy with the results, as far as determining what time of year to go, no you cant predict the future but they have lots of info to track trends and i think they have a pretty good idea what the crowds will be. I dont think its perfect, but I think it is the best plan available!

[MarkC]

Like the prior posters said, you can use it for generalization but the same information is normally readily available on this site and others. They are also prone to make changes frequently. For instance, last summer we went, and a couple of days before we left a couple of days changed from "6" to "9". Don't rely on it for specifics, although they are helpful in advising which parks to visit on which days, and which parks to avoid. I use that advice but would never pay for the service. Just my two cents. Mark

[disneymom2000]

The only thing I would rely on would be an online estimate about 2 months before my visit. The only reason is that Disney has a really good idea from the reservations of how many people have made plans to be there. Other than that, I would go when it is convenient for me - no matter.