Hi All. First time poster. I just got a notice that my week of March 9, the crowd predictions have dropped from the 7/8 range down to the 5/6 range. Thought that would be the start of spring break and decent crowds. Anyone have any idea what might be driving the lower crowds? Don’t get me wrong, happy to see that it will be less congested, just seemed a little strange. Thx
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I think most spring breaks are the week after. I was surprised to see the beginning of the week that high. I will be there (hopefully) the weekend before. I thought maybe last years Mardi Gras was skewing things but that would have an impact on the weekend before the one you are referencing. I do think maybe 5, 6, and 7’s will be more accurate.
A blog post addressing the Crowd Calendar changes just dropped. I’m sorry that we didn’t get that out earlier today!
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Right! Doesn’t that make for disgruntled guest? And with all the reservations you need to make at Disney, I would be upset if I were too late to one because the posted time was significantly less than what I waited and planned for.
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So you think they should NOT have adjusted the crowd predictions downward?
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My trip is the week of the 15th, which is now mostly crowd level 5. Would you buy LLMP at this crowd level?
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last I looked, it was 7, 8 and 9’s for the beginning of that week. I look at the individual parks, not the overall crowd levels though. Now they are 5, 6, and 7’s (with some 4’s mid week). I think that is more reasonable for that week.
I would. Because this is the first week for some spring break crowds. These numbers are averages so you may hit higher level crowds in the middle of the day. But it’s just me and DH so it’s not that much of an expense for a few days of LLMPs and LLSPs.
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It I could fit it in my budget, I would buy LLMP.
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Yes, for about half the guests, anyway.
We all know Disney has inflated posted wait times for years to increase guest satisfaction when they wait less than the posted wait times (Becky Gandillon mentions this every week in her weekly “Data Dump”), and it is also done for crowd control. However, now in the days of paid lightning lanes, Disney is being accused of inflating wait times to encourage guests to buy lightning lanes. Disney is darned if they do, and darned if they don’t.
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I don’t think they would do that. It would have to be a long term strategy. Because day LLMP purchase could net very few LLs if the day is already in full swing. That would lead to guest dissatisfaction. For a long term strategy (I’ll buy it tomorrow or next trip to avoid long lines then) could easily back fire into I’m not going to Disney as often or anymore because I’m sick of the long lines and all the extras that have to be purchased. I do think they are trying to be accurate mostly.
I agree simply because Disney has inflated wait times for as long as I have been following Disney parks news. There is a segment of social media that will find any fault Disney makes and blow it out of proportion for extra clicks to their site.
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I think it may be commonplace in Disney. For years guests were given “red cards” you handed to the CM as you loaded the attraction. That was the posted wait time. So, in practice, the time posted was how long the guests exiting the attraction waited, not how long the guests would wait if they were just entering the attraction.
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It wouldnr change drastically but do they still use that method? I didn’t think so.
I don’t think they have used that method since covid. I just think posted waits have always been off. I always found the old system never accounted for all the guests that ran to the lines with short waits thT caused dramatic increases.
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