Is there a way to find out what actual crowd levels are while in the parks??

[mamamelody2]

I check a number of crowd calendars including touring plans while planning. Often they are quite a bit "off" which is understandable. BUT, is there a way to find this out "day of" while in the parks?

For instance, I will check past days on touring plans and see that MK was expected to be a 4, but it was actually an 8, while AK was expected to be 6 and was actually a 2. It would be nice to be able to see that crowds were low at AK, so we could hop if desired. It really doesn't help to find that out the day after.

 

[Missyrose]

I check a number of crowd calendars including touring plans while planning. Often they are quite a bit "off" which is understandable. BUT, is there a way to find this out "day of" while in the parks?

For instance, I will check past days on touring plans and see that MK was expected to be a 4, but it was actually an 8, while AK was expected to be 6 and was actually a 2. It would be nice to be able to see that crowds were low at AK, so we could hop if desired. It really doesn't help to find that out the day after.

Nope, that technology doesn't exist yet. The only way that comes close is looking at wait times on other parks via the Lines app.

 

[CAS239]

If we can't decide what park to hop to we look at the wait times for each. The crowd levels the day of are pretty useless imo as it's someone's opinion. Disney doesn't release park attendance numbers so you can't see that say, well there's 60k people in MK so we'll go to Epcot because there's 40k.

The crowd levels are best guess estimates with park hours, emh, historic past dates, events going on, holidays, etc taken into account. So in the end someone's 9 might be someone else's 3. Looking at wait times is your best bet

 

[mamamelody2]

If we can't decide what park to hop to we look at the wait times for each. The crowd levels the day of are pretty useless imo as it's someone's opinion. Disney doesn't release park attendance numbers so you can't see that say, well there's 60k people in MK so we'll go to Epcot because there's 40k.

The crowd levels are best guess estimates with park hours, emh, historic past dates, events going on, holidays, etc taken into account. So in the end someone's 9 might be someone else's 3. Looking at wait times is your best bet

Thanks so much! That makes a lot of sense!

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

If we can't decide what park to hop to we look at the wait times for each. The crowd levels the day of are pretty useless imo as it's someone's opinion. Disney doesn't release park attendance numbers so you can't see that say, well there's 60k people in MK so we'll go to Epcot because there's 40k.

The crowd levels are best guess estimates with park hours, emh, historic past dates, events going on, holidays, etc taken into account. So in the end someone's 9 might be someone else's 3. Looking at wait times is your best bet

Even knowing the number of people might be kind of useless to the average person. 60k in MK might be better than 40k in Epcot due to how the crowds are spread and how much there is to do in each park.

 

[sydneymorganmom]

I find that www.easywdw.com has the most accurate predictions over the last few years.

 

[Accident]

I lightly use the wait times in the app and the touring plans app (pay but worth it) has more real time information on what the line is really taking so more accurate to guess what it's going to be like to change parks or head to a specific park. This is if I'm thinking of hopping. I generally hop for something specific so crowds don't really matter, it's when we don't really care that the line app will let us know what's going on somewhere. I did notice this fall that ride lines weren't matching in the walkway crowds. some days it was not much of a ride line, lots of people roaming around and vice versa.. that's new so I think there is a lot of peopel coming not expecting this crowds and getting tired of just waiting in line so they start to roam more..

Now to pick first park of the day, that's things I do at the resort. First I'm up an hour early so I'll just pay attention getting lots of coffee for what families are talking about. Not ease dropping but you'll be surprised how many excited kids are talking loudly and getting in your way getting coffee about what they are about to see. Then I find the smoking bench closest to the coffee and beer to have people you will meet repetitively (the cheaper the resort, the friendlier the smokers). since we don't rope drop, we can just ask someone who is on their way back for a resort break what they saw and where. Or we talk about where everyone is about to head.. Last I do the same but peopel watching the bus and how many are heading to what park. You can generally tell the 1 or 2 parks that are going to be more crowded than the others from the bus and if lucky at a resort with bus lines for each park so you can see right away and not have to wait a round of buses to tell.

And last is rain, many just don't get rain doesn't last all day so people tend to leave the parks most consider not rain friendly and pack the others tight if the rain is early enough in the day. heading to the worst for rain parks can be a huge advantage when rain is going to be earlier and they all clear out of your way.

It's worked out well for us and we hop when we get there and not in the mood for what we find.

 

[Accident]

I find that www.easywdw.com has the most accurate predictions over the last few years.

Josh who makes them doesn't agree with you. He just started putting them back out trying a new method so we'll see how it does. So far it's been a little off but not horribly but it's only the first month with a new one.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

I think there is a lot of peopel coming not expecting this crowds and getting tired of just waiting in line so they start to roam more..

I wonder if part of this is people crisscrossing the parks to get to the lowest waits. "Pirates is 32 minutes and Dumbo is 28. Even though we're by Pirates, let's head to Dumbo."

Josh who makes them doesn't agree with you. He just started putting them back out trying a new method so we'll see how it does. So far it's been a little off but not horribly but it's only the first month with a new one.

He was off pretty badly the first week of Jan but TP was off pretty badly this week. At the end of the day it's a prediction so they're all bound to get it wrong sometimes.

 

[Accident]

I wonder if part of this is people crisscrossing the parks to get to the lowest waits. "Pirates is 32 minutes and Dumbo is 28. Even though we're by Pirates, let's head to Dumbo."

I more see people that just look lost and wandering like they aren't sure what to do next. a lot of touring plans will criss cross you as they are jumping you towards an area of the park that is about to get less people so while that first ride seems like a waste, you get out of the crowd and when done with it, suddenly some lines really drop for a few rides and then you jump to the next area of park that is starting to thin out. I do this myself when I'm doing rides although no night parade has really changed what gets empty when at night so lately I'm the one walking around aimless trying to figure out the new pattern. Or I came top the park to walk 10 miles and exercise with a you did it fireworks finale.

He was off pretty badly the first week of Jan but TP was off pretty badly this week. At the end of the day it's a prediction so they're all bound to get it wrong sometimes.

disney was too, never seem them do a multiday raise all the closing times up like they did that first week as well. I think how many people went back to school the 9th really skewed the attendance.

 

[sydneymorganmom]

Josh who makes them doesn't agree with you. He just started putting them back out trying a new method so we'll see how it does. So far it's been a little off but not horribly but it's only the first month with a new one.

I guess it's been just good luck when we have gone. I have looked over both his and TP for 1/21 - 1/27 and they are pretty close. We shall see, I suppose.