I’ve read many of the posts regarding the inaccurate touring plans from January and February. I’ve some of the reasons that this happened. (Disney lowering capacity, foreign tour groups, better economy)
My question, now that we’ve had 10 days of March (and maybe a taste of Spring Break crowds) … are the touring plans a little more accurate? My trip is March 24-29. I know it will be crowded. I’m ok with that. I’m just wondering if I can count on my touring plans to be somewhat close to actual wait times??
I listened to an interview Len had with Craig Williams of The Dis Unplugged last week. His team has been working diligently to figure it what has changed to make the tool less accurate all of a sudden. One theory is that Disney is cutting staffing in the parks, meaning a cut in ride capacity that results in increased wait times. They have put in a condition in the program to reduce capacity by 5% on weekdays and suddenly they seem to be more accurate again.
So it sounds like the answer to your question is yes, they are more accurate again this month. And also to know that Len et al want the tool working well and accurately (both for their client base and because they are massive geeks) so whenever it seems to go wonky they get on it and try to right it again ASAP.
I guess that would depend on when you last optimized them, what days of the week were involved (weekends seemed to have remained pretty accurate) and whether the attractions you have on the plan would together have a great enough impact to make a noticeable difference. You also would have had to have noted the time totals before optimizing (waiting, rising, free time, walking). The ride order may not change but your totals for each day might have and there’s no way to note hat unless you do so before hitting he buttons. (I do this often, actually)
I always check them before I optimize. (I usually make a copy so I can check the differences!) Maybe they are assuming the week before Spring Break will be running at full capacity, so no changes are warranted? I hope so! Thanks for the info! :)
Thanks for the link! That was interesting! I’m thinking that since Spring Break is ALWAYS busy … they didn’t tweak their system to allow for lower capacity. I wonder if @len could let us know for sure?
I agree. The idea of longer wait times as a function of reduced capacity is only going to affect days with reduced crowds. If WDW is running full capacity, then the older models would still be correct. So, I think you are correct that since spring break is always busy, WDW is likely to be at full capacity and, thus, no adjustment would be necessary.