Klayfish
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 19, 2016
I'm a bit disappointed. We had a very limited time frame to work with, as we are travelling from Australia, and this period is our school holidays. I did so much research before booking the dates, and knew it was a Saturday, but a 10 level crowd? OMG.
My DD 17 has anxiety problems, especially in crowded places. Is there anything I can do to try and miss some of the crowds? Does Disney have anything that can help in a situation like that?
Seriously, ignore the "crowd" calendars. They don't even actually try to predict crowds, they try to predict ride wait times, which may or may not be related to crowd size. So even the name "crowd calendar" is misleading. They have no true accuracy value. Don't bother, and don't let them get you concerned. Just because they "predict" the crowd will be a 10 (whatever that actually means anyway), doesn't make it a fact...by any stretch.
Maybe here's a better way to answer your questions. The busiest week of the year at WDW is Xmas to New Years. I've done that week twice, in '15 and again last year. All of the parks are much busier than most other times of the year, it's busy to be sure. There are very few times where it was actually truly "wall to wall" people. When we did experience that, it was almost always in MK. After fireworks is one time, and after a parade is another. That was the only time we were "stuck" in the crowd and couldn't actually go anywhere...even then it only lasted a few minutes until the crowd started to disperse (we were in Liberty Square). The rest of the time, there will be lines for most everything...womens bathrooms (mens don't have lines), quick service restaurants, etc... But if you have patience, you'll be fine.
Yes, doing "rope drop" can help avoid crowds. The first hour or two the parks are open are the least crowded. Same for the last hour or so, that's often far less crowded. Try to plan attractions during the busiest part of the day that aren't as popular...such as Carousel of Progress, or Tough to be a Bug, or Pixar short films. Use FP+ to your advantage.
Really, don't get worked up over some projection of what a crowd might be. Nobody really knows for sure, and any guess is just that... a guess.