Today, Friday April 24th, I think the crowd level rating for the MK was a miss. Instead of a 5, I think it was closer to a 6, maybe 7. Parking at 8:15 at TTC was a traffic jam, and crowds swelled to the point that Pirates was 30 min with lines out into the plaza at 11am. 20+ min for IASW, and a visible line out the door at Philharmagic. TTC lots at 3pm were all utilized, except for the rear most sections.
Just my opinion.
Those are actually pretty decent wait times. Those are more in tune with a level 3-4 (http://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/crowd-levels)
Also, POTC was supposed to be down for refurbishment. So I’m sure a lot of people swarmed to it since it was open.
We were there the week after Easter and the crowd calendar was a miss all week. It said 7s and 8s and we had 9s and 10s actuals the entire stay. Not sure how the predictor works with movable holidays like Thanksgiving and Easter but our wait times were off very significantly. I think TP also has some trouble with morning hours before “normal” park opening times. We had EMH every day at 7AM for MK and by 9AM the waits were very significantly longer then TP predicted.
We still did MUCH better than if we had not used TP but we did have to make some adjustments as we went to accommodate the added wait times.
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Keep in mind also attendance is up a lot over a few years ago as the economy recovers and people can afford to go more.
That makes sense too. We heard lots of CMs talking about how big the crowds were. We still managed to do a ton by hitting those early morning RDs and sticking to our TP as much as possible.
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Check out the TouringPlans Blog - every week they have a post that analyzes the predictions from the prior week versus the actual observed values.
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Keep in mind the park level numbers is much like “The Code” it’s more of a guideline
It looks like my In-Park observations, from a non-scientific perspective were right on about the MK on Friday. It was predicted as a 5, but actually its crowds were closer to a 6, per TP recap.
Also, the opening crowds for MK, yesterday were far below what I experienced on Friday… and ended the day lower than predicted.
But that’s forecasting for you… results don’t always line up.
Ultimately… the Personalized touring plans we created here, helped us plan our short week at the mouse so that our nephew’s first visit to the parks was as complete as we could make it. Hitting all 4 parks Wed until Sun-noon was no small feat, but we got to see all evening parades/shows, hit every headliner, Character Breakfast, Cali Grill Dinner, BOG Lunch, Biergarten, and had a good balance of shows/rides. Overall it was a successful trip and one that he will remember for years to come, but that Friday caught us a bit off guard, so we had to modify our TP that day and take in a couple of the attractions the next evening.