Disappointed with touringplans predictions

Walt Disney World Touring Plans
1

Hi,

Just wanted to share my recent experience with touringplans.

I made personalized plans for my trip using the predicted times, and kept updating them until about 5 days before my trip. This took a lot of time and effort, and I did my best to accomodate main attractions for each day.

The first day, at Hollywood Studios, I noticed I could not keep up with the plan at all, since the predicted times were much lower than the actual wait times. I ended up skipping attractions to mantain FP reservations.

The second day, while I was at MK, I received an email update from Touringplans, informing that the predicted resort crowd levels for all my trip had changed.

Walt Disney World Crowd Tracker Updates!

November 11, 2015: Resort-wide Crowd Level updated from 6 to 7.
November 12, 2015: Epcot Crowd Level updated from 5 to 4.
November 12, 2015: Disney’s Hollywood Studios Crowd Level updated from 4 to 5.
November 13, 2015: Resort-wide Crowd Level updated from 4 to 5.
November 13, 2015: Magic Kingdom Crowd Level updated from 4 to 5.
November 13, 2015: Disney’s Hollywood Studios Crowd Level updated from 4 to 6.
November 14, 2015: Magic Kingdom Crowd Level updated from 5 to 8.
November 14, 2015: Epcot Crowd Level updated from 5 to 6.
November 14, 2015: Disney’s Hollywood Studios Crowd Level updated from 5 to 6.
November 14, 2015: Resort-wide Crowd Level updated from 5 to 6.
November 15, 2015: Resort-wide Crowd Level updated from 4 to 5.
November 15, 2015: Magic Kingdom Crowd Level updated from 3 to 4.
November 15, 2015: Disney’s Hollywood Studios Crowd Level updated from 5 to 6.
November 16, 2015: Disney’s Hollywood Studios Crowd Level updated from 4 to 6.
November 16, 2015: Magic Kingdom Crowd Level updated from 4 to 5.
November 16, 2015: Epcot Crowd Level updated from 4 to 3.
November 17, 2015: Magic Kingdom Crowd Level updated from 3 to 4.
November 17, 2015: Epcot Crowd Level updated from 5 to 3.
November 17, 2015: Disney’s Hollywood Studios Crowd Level updated from 3 to 6.
November 18, 2015: Resort-wide Crowd Level updated from 3 to 5.
November 18, 2015: Magic Kingdom Crowd Level updated from 3 to 6.
November 18, 2015: Epcot Crowd Level updated from 4 to 3.
November 18, 2015: Disney’s Hollywood Studios Crowd Level updated from 3 to 6.
November 19, 2015: Resort-wide Crowd Level updated from 3 to 4.
November 19, 2015: Magic Kingdom Crowd Level updated from 3 to 4.
November 19, 2015: Epcot Crowd Level updated from 5 to 4.
November 19, 2015: Disney’s Hollywood Studios Crowd Level updated from 3 to 5.

Since what I had in my plan was so different from the actual queues, I ended up deciding on the fly, according to disneys app reported times.

The Lines app was good when looking at the user posted times, but very different from predictions.

2

Well - they are just that Predictions. I think a lot going into them - but are they always right - obviously not. However - I think you are still probably ahead of the curve following a plan than not. I think they do the best that can be done in regards to updating people and giving you the most accurate information at that time. It is what it is and I am disappointed that the crowds when we are going continue to be moved up - but it is what it is.

3

I am one of those crazy people that have been looking at wait times for years. The days leading up to Thanksgiving have always been reasonable. Just like September has always been a very slow time of the year. All that we always knew as fact about the parks and crowds no longer applies. It is no ones fault. No one could predict this. It may be the new normal. If it is, I expect people will have some negative experiences, tell a friend, tell a family member…at some point between crowds and costs the crowds may become manageable.

1 Like
4

The thing that I don’t get - is that WDW is SO EXPENSIVE - but continues to draw crowds ALL the time and continues to increase. When looking over the crowd calendar - I remember - not so long ago that there would be plenty of 1, 2, 3, 4, Now - they are more endangered than a Pizza at Planet Fitness.

5

I found it very strange that Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure were not crowded at all during the same week.

6

I was there from Nov 9-18. I knew going in that the predictions were off. However, I got a bit annoyed that the updated predictions were still off a fair bit. Off by 2-5/10 after the update for what I experienced. They probably didn’t have enough time to predict them properly.

In the future I think I am going to make my touring plans on days that are predicted to be a few points higher than what is predicted for the days I go.