We will be there in late January and TP is giving MK a crowd level 2 on a day with EMH. Every other crowd calendar site I’ve looked at says to stay away from MK this particular day. Thoughts?
The other sites are probably using the conventional wisdom of the EMH park will probably be the busiest park. I looked at a few crowd calendars and surmise that you are referring to a Wednesday? So I compared TP with WDWinfo.
WDWinfo is basically saying that MK is not the suggested park most Wednesdays in Jan - most likely because of the EMH. I wouldn’t take that as a “stay away.” I’d take that as, “as far as crowd levels in the other parks go, MK will probably be the busiest.” For the crowd levels across the board for January, unless there is some event causing some huge surge on whatever day you are referring to, the crowd levels are pretty light in all of the parks. I wouldn’t worry about it.
What is the date in question here?
Thanks, yes it is a Wednesday on Jan 25. This is my first time ever using TP. I normally follow the other calendars. I know it will be a light week in the park overall, just want to maximize our time!
The important thing is that you follow a Touring Plan. No matter the crowd level, a TP will allow you to maximize your time in the park. Even on the busiest of days, following a TP will keep your line waits down to as little as possible. Download the TP app on your phone and follow the TP on your phone. That way, if you get off track at all, you can reoptimize it on the fly. (And bring a portable phone charger!)
If crowd levels are 2’s, 3’s and 4’s, and you have access to utilize the emh, I’d make an effort to go. MK has more attractions so the crowds are spread out more.
TP also used to list any park with EMH as “not recommended”. One of the reasons for this is that the majority of people who go to WDW do NOT stay on site, and therefore cannot take advantage of EMH. So for them, showing up at a park where on-site guests had a 60 min “headstart” reduces the benefits of being there ar RD. TP dropped the recommended/not recommended parks a couple of years ago. Other sites have retained it.
Yes, EMH will draw some (but not all) onsite guests to a particular park, but my own feeling is that this is a relatively small factor compared to the relative number of off-site guests. And my personal in-park experiences seem to back this up.
If I have access to EMH (which is virtually always), I use it about 90% of the time. If I didn’t have access to it, or thought I couldn’t make it, I would NOT go to that park on that day.