We’ve gone the last two years during the last week of April. No way in heck are we going then next year with the Easter holiday falling as it does.
That’s reassuring that I made the right decision. If even you wouldn’t go at that time, then it really must be insane to do so. (In the sense that you know all the tricks and subscribe to “a good touring plan beats a high crowd level” and “modify, modify, modify reduces the need to plan”.)
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Um. No. This isn’t true. Not the week of Christmas. A week of Christmas CL 10 is way worse than a CL 10 any other time of year!
I’ve been during times of CL2. Without a plan, you can practically walk on everything.
Having said that, I will say that having a plan with CL 10 will be much better than another guest who doesn’t have a plan during a CL 10. 
Our problem with plans is they never end up working out. My DS2 is unpredictable (and has some gross motor delays and behavior issues), my parents want to do things their way, and even my two older nieces who often go have behavior problems that can set even the best plan back. I loosely plan each trip (bc trying to plan more led to everyone being miserable). Never goes as planned. Not even close.
My October trip this year will be the first trip where only half is planned with someone else, and then my November trip is just me, my son, and my one niece. Hopping that only having to plan for me will make it much easier.
But I still find it hard to plan when you’ve got little ones in tow. Trying to also fit in pumping and nursing on my last trip was a nightmare and time waster, so looking forward to going when I’ll at least be done pumping.
Also, for me, just having a million people everywhere just kills my disney buzz. It isn’t even just about lines. It’s people people everywhere. A given at Disney. But I don’t think I’d survive a week (even with a plan) of CL10.
With this, I agree, which is why I will tell anyone who will listen that it is better NOT to go to Disney than to go to Disney during the Christmas/New Year week.
To put a crowd level increase in perspective, if you use a touring plan, you can expect to wait an average of 2 more minutes per attraction for each point of a CL increase.
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I’m going to be at Disneyland December 26th, 27th, & 28th. CL went from 9 to 10.
I always said I would never do WDW during Christmas week…now I’m going to DLR 
Dd is marching in the Rose Bowl Parade on 1/1. Ds and I are heading out a few days early because I can’t be THAT close and not go. We will also get another day at DLR when dd marches w/ her group there.
Is it at all possible that this latest round of crowd level increases is still a result of what the numbers represent being changed? Or is it now all a representation of actual increase in crowds? I haven’t been following along too closely.
I think it’s this. Because if you look at their levels and the average wait times associated with those…SDMT on a CL1 day has a TP wait time listed of 60-103 minutes, PP is 50-75, and Space Mtn. is 30-68. I don’t think that anyone planning a trip on a CL1 day would think they might wait 75 minutes for PP without a FP, or almost two hours for SDMT. So I think they’re still adjusting based on their new definitions of CL. Who knows, though. This is just what I think! 
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