Crowd calendars

[JennyAnne]

Do you generally find these to be accurate? I know there are several out there on the internet and I'm just wondering if you generally find them to be useful/helpful. We will be traveling with small children and will likely not be taking advantage of EMH and we will be traveling in early June, so I was looking at them as a starting point for planning.

Thanks!

[SBETigg]

I used to find them accurate. On my last few trips, I found them to be wildly inaccurate, way off. I never trust crowd predictors now. The wait times on the Disney app seem fairly reliable, but even those can't keep up with changes in completely reliable fashion.

[JennyAnne]

I used to find them accurate. On my last few trips, I found them to be wildly inaccurate, way off. I never trust crowd predictors now. The wait times on the Disney app seem fairly reliable, but even those can't keep up with changes in completely reliable fashion.

Are there any other tools/resources you find to be helpful? Or is it a shot in the dark and just take a stab at it? LOL

[SBETigg]

Are there any other tools/resources you find to be helpful? Or is it a shot in the dark and just take a stab at it? LOL

I plan my days/nights going by my own interests and park hours, and I always park hop. I'll plan my FP+ for one park and probably stay there to finish them, but I go to another park. Or the reverse, I'll start early at one park and hop and use my FP+ at the second planned park. I do take advantage of EMH, but I also find that the park that had nighttime EMH the night before is often least crowded the next morning.

By now, though, I've been there enough that I'm comfortable with my own instincts and I don't mind missing attractions quite as much as I used to if the crowds are bad. I find as much to love at the resorts as in the parks and I think that helps my attitude. I can take it or leave it if crowds are too heavy for my taste. It's not the same if you're a not as frequent a visitor. In that case, planning around crowds might be more important for you but I think the crowds are increasingly impossible to predict. Best wishes with your planning!

[JennyAnne]

Thank you so much for the tips! Even though we are not frequent visitors, we have all made a pact that we are not going to stress about a missed attraction or things like that. We'll have 6 kids with us, the oldest being 5.5 (there are three families going). We will follow their cues. But at the same time, I didn't want to stick my entire family into the middle of a massive crowd with no FPs. I appreciate the help!

[BadBoyBill]

TouringPlans.com seems to be the most accurate. You have to pay a small bit but their site offers some things I felt were worth it.

[SBETigg]

I disagree, Bill, regarding their accuracy. I haven't found them to be reliable in recent years.

[DKA041177]

I agree that touring plans are very good. However, even with the best planning tools it is hit or miss.

[iheartdisney]

I obsess and plan and consult 3-4 crowd calendars and obsess some more. And then, when it comes right down to it (and because I had to make dining reservations 180 days out) I just stick with the original plan and live with it.

I do find, however, that the trick (already mentioned) of visiting the park that had the EMH the night before is a great plan.

[Tearin_it_up]

i also find touringplans to be great and accurate usually.

[Bruegge]

I agree that touring plans are very good. However, even with the best planning tools it is hit or miss.

Ditto: And with the new fp+system it's even harder to track ... It's just too new...

[JennyAnne]

Thank you so much everyone! I do appreciate all of the input.

[Gator]

Here's the rule I live by. The MK will always be busy, and you never go there on a Saturday. After that, everything else is up in the air.

[Mousemates]

Have used touringplans for crowd estimation for many years...honestly I think their accuracy has kind of drooped a bit recently...with parks being busier than their predicitons. I think the visitor patterns are likely changing with things like FP+ and it will take the statisticians analysts a while to figure it all out.

[Bruegge]

Have used touringplans for crowd estimation for many years...honestly I think their accuracy has kind of drooped a bit recently...with parks being busier than their predicitons. I think the visitor patterns are likely changing with things like FP+ and it will take the statisticians analysts a while to figure it all out.

And throw in a real bad weather day... I think Tuesday a week ago...or somewhere in there...was a near rainout. The following day park crowds were 2-5 levels higher than predicted..

You can't predict that sort of thing, but it really looked bad when they show the "How we did predicting Yesterday" section on the crowd Calendar page...

I felt sorry for them... but on the other hand I respected that they showed the true data even though it made them look bad to someone who doesn't understand how "Things could go wrong"

All info is good info unless it's based on just rumor.. That's why we are here I guess...

[Aurora]

I used to find them accurate. On my last few trips, I found them to be wildly inaccurate, way off. I never trust crowd predictors now. The wait times on the Disney app seem fairly reliable, but even those can't keep up with changes in completely reliable fashion.

Here's the rule I live by. The MK will always be busy, and you never go there on a Saturday. After that, everything else is up in the air.

[mcjaco]

I look at them to get a good idea of what it might be like. Then I decide to heck with it, as it is what it is. Just sit back and enjoy the fact you're there, making memories with your kids you'll never get to have again!

[Figment104]

Even with trying to use crowd calendars I think the thing you'll find with small kids is that the only thing that is predictable is that the unpredictable is what will happen We took my son last year when he was about 18 months old, and we just sort of played things by ear. We made sure to have hoppers so that we could adjust our schedule as we needed to. Following his lead was key. You may also surprise yourself and find that even with kids that young that you're able to do EMH. I didn't think we'd be doing much of that with DS, but he would nap in the middle of the day for so long that he'd be raring to go until 11-12 easily some nights.

Good luck and have a great trip making all sorts of amazing memories!