Crowd Calendars and Wait Times

Summer months are traditionally the busiest sooo extending hours makes sense. I know, pre-covid, park hours in the summer could be until 2 AM. I’ve been in the parks at 2 AM :heart_eyes:

2 Likes
3 Likes

Well, for what it’s worth we are here today. I’m not sure what to make of all these crowd calendar predictions and capacity limits. We were at AK yesterday and anecdotally that park was as full to me as I remember before the closures. After we were told there would be a 55 minute wait (not exaggerating) to get into the Nomad Lounge at 2 PM, we decided to leave. The crowd level was that uncomfortable for my wife and I. But that’s just us. We’ll see what MK is like today.

2 Likes

Thank you for the report. Please keep us updated!

MK yesterday and Epcot today. Crowds clearly back, but the only serious disregard for physical distancing was at AK, fortunately.

https://touringplans.com/blog/lowest-crowds-all-month-disney-world-wait-times-for-friday-april-30-2021/

3 Likes

" This Crowd Calendar update just affects June – August 2021. Changes are relatively minor, with the biggest increase in crowd level at Hollywood Studios."

“This past weekend, May 21-23, 2021, we saw unusually low wait times. The most likely explanation for the change is that Disney has increased attractions’ capacity.” - Steve Bloom

1 Like

Does this update assume no changes to park hours? I’m hoping we will see them increase, and am assuming there will be some announcements in early June to accompany their plans for the Boo Bash.

I would suggest to check the “Crowd Calendar” link in the beginning of the previous post and compare current hours with other summer dates.

I don’t understand the suggestion. In any case, the predicted hours for the dates I’m tracking (end of August) have not changed, but I’m not sure that that means their model is using those hours, thus my question. And what I really want to know (the question behind my question) is what should we expect when Disney actually announces the park hours, assuming they may be different than predicted.

wondering why animal kingdom appears to be 7/10 most days while the other parks are not…not worried just curious!

If current park hours are longer (hours in a day) than future summer park hours, what TP is showing is probably inaccurate.

I think they announce hours a couple months ahead, but it has not been too helpful because:

For most of 2021, WDW has only been posting the final/accurate hours only 3 weeks in advance. Someone else can chime in to let you know that this is still currently happening.

Do you mean crowd level of 7 to 10?

I believe WDW indicated they would be announcing dates and pricing for Boo Bash in June. If they do that, they will be declaring hours for at least MK on those days. I have been assuming they would also announce updated hours for the parks at that time (based on nothing at all).

They have also been promising early entry for resort guests, and I similarly have been guessing this announcement would come in June.

In any case, I would think announcing hours behooves them and that anything that is a step toward “normal” would be well received.

TP’s blog post wasn’t terribly transparent (detailed) in their assumptions. I get that Disney is going to allow more guests into HS and that park is most likely to fill up first. It’s not clear what offsetting factors the models accounted for, though TP mentioned that they are assuming Disney will “increase entertainment, restaurants and shopping” (generally) and that Disney already increased attraction capacity in some cases.

Anyway - I don’t live or die by the crowd predictions; it’s more a curiosity for me.

It just seems strange to me that AK is a CL 7 each day we are there and MK and EP are 3’s and 5’s but maybe it is because of the shorter hours at AK

7 on a 10-point scale.

Remember that TP’s scales are based on wait times. So yes, it’s because park hours are lower and options are fewer. Though per the above, I’m curious about what assumptions went into the models, and how the scores may change as more attractions return.

I think the early entry may start in the Fall? (A guess if I remember)

They might be comparing to summer 2019 where AK averaged 6-7 CL’s.

Also, consider AK has fewer attractions than other parks, making queues longer. So even if the “crowds” are not bad, wait times will be higher which would elevate crowd levels.

eta: meant for @Sandyh
(I think all 3 parks are open the same length of time - 11 hours)

I think it might be because originally TP assumed that AK would be open later in the evening than what the recently updated hours are currently. So, TP adjusted the crowd levels to reflect the shortened hours?