HUGE changes on crowd calendar?

[Brendapwood]

We are booked for a trip Jan 26 - Feb 2 2019. We selected this week specifically because of the lower crowd predictions. It was the least busy time of year, with the exception of the first week in September. I logged in today to see the crowd predictions have dramtically changed. My MK day went from a 3 to a 7. I am so disappointed. I know we are far out, and I expect some adjustments but this is a huge change. What happened?

[OBNurseNH]

1. Touring plans was provided additional information they did not have when the calendar was initially released.

2. Park hours may have been updated.

3. Crowd calendar definitions were updated a week or so ago: April Disney World Crowd Calendar Update | TouringPlans.com Blog

4. There are no slow times now - Disney seems to be flexing their staffing patterns in a way that is creating a flatter/consistent crowd level

5. Remember you are still ahead of most people with the information you already have, and remember that a solid touring plan trumps any crowd level. You can do much more on a CL10 with a plan in hand than someone would on a CL3 arriving and winging it.

[RotR]

Remember you are still ahead of most people with the information you already have, and remember that a solid touring plan trumps any crowd level. You can do much more on a CL10 with a plan in hand than someone would on a CL3 arriving and winging it.

^^^ This!

[Wahoohokie]

Remember you are still ahead of most people with the information you already have, and remember that a solid touring plan trumps any crowd level. You can do much more on a CL10 with a plan in hand than someone would on a CL3 arriving and winging it.

Agree!

[linsalt]

Agree with OBNurseNH’s assessment … there are multiple posts in the forums that can provide more insight into leveling techniques that appear to have been put into place.

None the less I’m planning my next trip and still find myself looking at the calendar and asking myself “where are all the threes I have come to cherish?”

[gamusicman]

Also keep in mind CL are not determined by the number of people in the park… they are predictions of wait times. As @OBNurseNH mentioned changing staffing patterns affects this.

As an example, if 500 people could ride an attraction in 1 hour with 4 staff working, but only 200 people could ride an hour with 2 staff working, then a day with MORE people but 4 staff running the attraction MIGHT have a lower CL than a day with fewer overall guests but only 2 staff working the specific attraction.

I know it is counter-intuitive, but CL is only a gauge of wait times on a representative sample of attractions NOT an actual prediction of the total number of people in a park on a given day.