I was looking at the crowds for Presidents Day weekend. Right now the crowds look moderate, but looking at last year’s crowds, those same dates were heavy. Anyone know why TP expects lower levels next year? @len?
On the same note, has anyone been during Presidents Day week in recent years? How were the crowds?
I am going again this year and I have in the past. I did not think it was crazy crowded. My family said it was very busy and we just had a great plan.
I don’t know… I’m seeing mostly 6s and 7s early in the week, and 3s, 4s, and 5s mid-week. But the last couple of years have 8s, 9s, 10s… I have a reservation Sat through Thursday of that week and plane tickets that I have to cancel by tomorrow if I want a refund… I’m getting cold feet and wonder if I can trust the touring plan and why there is such a discrepancy from prior years…
The crowd calendars have changed. I do not expect it to be a low crowd.
I will be there that week as well. The CL were higher but have come down quite a bit for that week. Not sure if I believe the 2’s and 3’s but don’t think it will be super crowded. As @PrincipalTinker said, as long as you have a good plan you will be fine.
@principaltinker How was it just moving around, especially in MK? I’m sure I can get on a lot of attractions with a good plan, but is the atmosphere of the parks still enjoyable?
It was enjoyable! I have run into some unexpected crazy crowds in the past (where you cannot move). I may be lucky but I have not had that happen in February.
When did you last go for Presidents weekend?
2017 and I am returning in 2019.
Remember in 2018 Disney was testing staff and ride capacity cutbacks from January through mid-February. That artificially inflated wait times, and thus crowd levels.
I expect the long weekend to be busy in 2019 (say, the Friday before to the Tuesday after), but not what we saw in 2018.
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Thanks @len. You don’t think Disney will reduce staffing again in Jan/Feb next year?
Also, in regards to general crowd levels for the weekend, would it be more in line with normal Spring break/early June type crowds, or more in line with Easter week/Christmas/Thanksgiving level crowds? So maybe a 6/7/8 in most parks as opposed to 8/9/10?
I don’t think they’ll do the same thing as in 2018. It was a disaster, according to the people who told us about it.
The big unknowns over the next 4 months would probably include how people react to WDW’s new ticket system, the general state of the economy, and the lack of new attractions in the parks.
My guess is that the crowd levels will rise a bit as we get closer, maybe to 8-ish. I could be wrong. The calendar has been pretty accurate over the last quarter.
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Yes. Yes it was.
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@len Just out of curiosity (as I’m generally interested in data science and how these things work), what kind of data could change the calendar and cause it to rise as we get closer (i.e. what unknown variables will inform the calendar as we get close?)
A short, possibly incomplete list: a change in park hours, a change in current crowds vs what we’ve seen in the past for the same times of year; the US economy.
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