Crowd Calendars - Are They Reliable?

Screenshot from Undercover Tourist (link below)

A simple Google search for WDW crowd calendars will give you several results from Disney-related websites and blogs, all with a calendar that estimates how crowded the parks will be each week or even day of the year. Most will label each period of time with a color, number, or both -- indicating anticipated crowd levels. Many people use these calendars when planning their vacations. But how useful are they?

Crowd calendars are definitely helpful in identifying the very busiest times of the year. Usually marked with a red color or 8-10/10 on a number scale, historically busy weeks such as Thanksgiving week, Christmas/New Years, President's Day week, Spring Break season, and most weeks during the summer are easy to locate. If you are concerned about crowds on your vacation, I think a crowd calendar can be a great tool in helping you figure out which weeks to avoid at all costs! Basically any holiday week or time when most kids are out of school are going to be guaranteed to draw crowds. (And if you're thinking...who would want to spend Christmas at a theme park? Surely it won't be busy then... oh, my! You couldn't be more wrong!)

There are other historical crowd patterns that are fairly safe to consider reliable. Weekends will always be busier than week days. Mondays are usually busiest for Magic Kingdom because so many people start their vacations on Monday and want to start with MK. Many crowd calendars will show you these patterns.

I also think crowd calendars are good for anticipating big events that draw crowds. Things like Pop Warner Week or cheerleading competitions are events the average person may not consider, so seeing it on a calendar can be very helpful.

But I think there are downfalls to relying too heavily on a crowd calendar.

If countless people are planning their vacations according to the weeks the crowd calendars claim to be less busy, it only makes sense that eventually those weeks will become busy as well! After a certain time is hailed to be "slow" or the "perfect" time, people start catching on and it becomes a more popular time to visit.

There are also really no slow times anymore. There's busy and there's insanely busy. Disney is quick to rectify any "slow" times by offering promotions, festivals, and other special events to continue drawing a crowd. Also, as a world-wide vacation destination, times that may be slower b/c US schools are in session may still be popular for other countries. We went the 3rd week of January one year, expecting it to be slow, and it was very crowded! There were a lot of South American visitors. We struck up a conversation with one family during Fantasmic and learned that their schools are out for their version of summer break during that time. Who knew? But the point is, if you are going into it expecting it to be "dead" because a crowd calendar had it marked as a "green" week -- you're going to be more frustrated than ever when it's still relatively crowded. Adjust your expectations, no matter what the crowd calendar tells you.

My other suggestion is don't let it rule your vacation plans. I use one that has day-by-day predictions for each park and I have planned 2 big vacations according to which parks should be the best to visit on each day, determined by the crowd calendar. In both cases it had me ending my vacation with Animal Kingdom. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, well... I was a little annoyed with myself the 2nd time this happened. I've learned that I don't like ending my vacation with Animal Kingdom. I like Animal Kingdom, but I like it early in my vacation. I want to end my vacation with Magic Kingdom. I know this usually means it'll be busy because our vacations usually end on Friday or Saturday, which is when MK will be busiest. But it's the most magical, the most iconic, and I want to end my trip with fireworks, dang it! As much as I love AK, it feels anticlimactic as a closer. After that last trip, I decided to not let the crowd calendar determine my plans to such a degree. Ultimately I go to the parks I want, when I want, and just use the calendar as a guide. (It should also be noted that AK was still pretty darn busy on those days, which only added to my frustration.)

So, my official opinion is this -- look at the crowd calendars. Check to see if it's a historically super busy week (and prepare accordingly, if rescheduling isn't an option or desire). And then take the rest with a grain of salt.

And by the way, Undercover Tourist is my calendar of choice. I like it best because it includes more than just crowd predictions. It lists park hours for each day, Extra Magic Hours, special events (like Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party in Aug-Oct), and even the weather forecasts (if it's close enough). It really is the best chart that shows all the information I need to plan my days at one glance.

https://www.undercovertourist.com/orlando/crowd-calendar/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwuLPnBRDjARIsACDzGL2dgqg0fi9PcBFPltcsrYU3HQ2OjjaUkl01PRg8muJ1sGvKuuXzeq8aAj_uEALw_wcB

So, what do you think? Do you use crowd calendars? Which one is your favorite?