September "Crowds"

Walt Disney World Crowd Calendar
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(1) Thanks for the updates, Fred. The Crowd Calendar is a great feature on this site, and it’s part of why I subscribe and use this site heavily for planning.
(2) I feel bad complaining here. We’re going from September 21 - October 2, and the crowd levels over that time frame seem to average about a 4, which isn’t bad at all. Some people posting here saw increases from 5 or 6 up into the 9 or 10 range for a trip coming up in the next few weeks, which would be very disheartening. I recognize a 4 instead of a 1 isn’t going to ruin my trip. So with all that said…
(3) Your update “No major increases except for the weekend before Labor Day. Some decreases in mid and late September,” - that doesn’t at all match up with the changes we’re seeing. I guess I’m looking for an explanation for the change in predictions.

For example, copied directly from the email I got from TouringPlans.com:

(+3) September 21, 2015: Disney’s Hollywood Studios Crowd Level updated from 1 to 4.
(+2) September 21, 2015: Resort-wide Crowd Level updated from 2 to 4.
(+1) September 21, 2015: Epcot Crowd Level updated from 2 to 3.
(+1) September 22, 2015: Magic Kingdom Crowd Level updated from 1 to 2.
(+1) September 22, 2015: Epcot Crowd Level updated from 3 to 4.
(+2) September 23, 2015: Magic Kingdom Crowd Level updated from 2 to 4.
(+2) September 23, 2015: Disney’s Animal Kingdom Crowd Level updated from 2 to 4.
(+1) September 23, 2015: Resort-wide Crowd Level updated from 3 to 4.
(+1) September 24, 2015: Epcot Crowd Level updated from 5 to 6.
(+2) September 24, 2015: Disney’s Animal Kingdom Crowd Level updated from 3 to 5.
(+2) September 24, 2015: Resort-wide Crowd Level updated from 4 to 6.
(+3) September 24, 2015: Magic Kingdom Crowd Level updated from 3 to 6.
(+1) September 25, 2015: Epcot Crowd Level updated from 3 to 4.
(+1) September 25, 2015: Disney’s Animal Kingdom Crowd Level updated from 4 to 5.
(+2) September 25, 2015: Resort-wide Crowd Level updated from 2 to 4.
(+2) September 25, 2015: Magic Kingdom Crowd Level updated from 2 to 4.
(+2) September 26, 2015: Disney’s Animal Kingdom Crowd Level updated from 4 to 6.
(+2) September 26, 2015: Resort-wide Crowd Level updated from 4 to 6.
(+1) September 26, 2015: Magic Kingdom Crowd Level updated from 5 to 6.
(+4) September 26, 2015: Epcot Crowd Level updated from 2 to 6.
(+2) September 27, 2015: Disney’s Animal Kingdom Crowd Level updated from 4 to 6.
(+2) September 27, 2015: Resort-wide Crowd Level updated from 2 to 4.
(+2) September 27, 2015: Magic Kingdom Crowd Level updated from 1 to 3.
(+2) September 27, 2015: Epcot Crowd Level updated from 2 to 4.
(+3) September 28, 2015: Resort-wide Crowd Level updated from 2 to 5.
(+2) September 28, 2015: Magic Kingdom Crowd Level updated from 3 to 5.
(+1) September 28, 2015: Epcot Crowd Level updated from 2 to 3.
(+3) September 28, 2015: Disney’s Hollywood Studios Crowd Level updated from 2 to 5.
(+2) September 28, 2015: Disney’s Animal Kingdom Crowd Level updated from 2 to 4.
(+2) September 29, 2015: Resort-wide Crowd Level updated from 1 to 3.
(+2) September 29, 2015: Magic Kingdom Crowd Level updated from 2 to 4.
(+2) September 29, 2015: Epcot Crowd Level updated from 2 to 4.
(+2) September 29, 2015: Disney’s Animal Kingdom Crowd Level updated from 1 to 3.
(+2) September 30, 2015: Magic Kingdom Crowd Level updated from 1 to 3.
(+2) September 30, 2015: Disney’s Animal Kingdom Crowd Level updated from 1 to 3.
(+1) October 01, 2015: Magic Kingdom Crowd Level updated from 1 to 2.
(+1) October 01, 2015: Epcot Crowd Level updated from 1 to 2.
(+1) October 01, 2015: Disney’s Animal Kingdom Crowd Level updated from 2 to 3.
(+1) October 02, 2015: Resort-wide Crowd Level updated from 1 to 2.
(+1) October 02, 2015: Magic Kingdom Crowd Level updated from 1 to 2.
(+1) October 02, 2015: Epcot Crowd Level updated from 2 to 3.

Now, I’ll be up front and state I omitted five single-park -1s and a -2 from this list. Note that overall, the direction is WAY up. Overall (including factoring in the few cases it dropped), that’s a +66 in crowd levels over 12 days. Resort-wide, nothing went down, 3 days remained the same, every other day went up between +1 and +3 (with +2 being the most common change). The average, Resort-Wide, over the 12 days, is just over +1.4 crowd levels per day. How does that get classified as “no major increases with some decreases in mid-late september?” That just doesn’t seem to add up. What’s up here?

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Tagging @fred so that he notices this.

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Hi JLLKPrice, I responded to your comment on the blog as well.

I agree. After a second look at the changes that were posted I feel that I over-generalized what I saw in September. I see some decreases in mid-September (at The Studios, Epcot and some resort-wide) but late September is strictly increases. In retrospect I’d change it to say “Some decreases in mid-September and increases in late September.”

Do not feel bad complaining, this is the forum to do that - pun intended :smile:. I know that this stuff is key to people’s multi-thousand dollar vacations so I am more than happy to address as many concerns as I can. It is also a good chance for us to get ideas about how to deal with changes in the future.