I love Disney world, despite the fact that we aren’t wealthy and need to scrimp and save for even a short trip. There are so many things we are priced out of, and times we could go that are unbelievably crowded or hot or annoying, but I still love it because in the end, standing in line sweating waiting to see Pirates in the musty darkness is a great equalizer.
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This is so tempting to do, though! Because CLs do factor into choosing parks, and choosing dates, in the first place.
Although, in general, most things went up so switching an entire trip or park days wouldn’t help much. For example, in my case, early May is still better than spring break! And still cooler than September.
And if MK increased from 5 to 7 (which I believe is still only 4 more min per line), so did Epcot and AK, or some combo.
And if we’re onsite and want to use EMH or avoid them bc we have a PPO breakfast, then the increases don’t matter. (Park hours changes in April will, but that’s not TP’s fault!)
Is this the kind of thing you do and so don’t switch park days based on crowd predictions?
I guess it is tempting if you pick you days by CL. That is not something I do.
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I loosely do pick my days by CL, but once I have FPs selected I don’t worry about it…
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The CLs have never been accurate when I’ve been the last two years (both times in December). The actual CLs were anywhere from 2-5 levels higher than predicted. The first year it felt extremely busy, but then this past year it did not feel as crowded, but actual CLs were higher than on my first trip, so I think in general crowds at WDW are much higher than they used to be 10 years ago, but I was more mentally prepared for it on my second trip. Also, using FPP really helped wait times to the point that between FPP and RDs we only waited more than 15min on 2-3 rides all week. I think knowing how to use the system to your advantage is more important than what time of year to go. Look at historical CLs for which day to go to which park. That helped me the most. I only look at historical CLs, not predicted CLs. Here are a few other sites that are very helpful: Disney World 2023 Crowd Calendar (best times to go) and https://www.dadsguidetowdw.com/crowds.html. If you start taking all of these crowd calendars together you will start to see patterns. Hope this helps some of you!
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Interestingly, touringplans, wdwprepschool, and dadsguide, as well as ktp, all say different things about the time I am going, from light to medium crowds, to in the 6s, to wall to wall people.
There are BoG reservations for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner available including PPO breakfast. I can eat at Cinderella’s castle for any meal the whole week. And Ohana’s famous food is available any time. That is a better indicator to me. Shrug.
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Yeah whether things are available or not is a good indicator, you’re right. I knew I was going on a crowded week in December as soon as I got to 60days for FPP and couldn’t get the popular rides!
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