Undercover Tourist Crowd Calendar

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Anyone use the Undercover Tourist Crowd Calendar to plan their park days?

I am comparing it with the Busy Day guide on the DIBB and the recommended parks for each day are quite different.

Your thoughts?

 

[johde]

I've never used Undercover Tourist that much. But it looks like their number is looking at Orlando as a whole and then attempting to pick the best park from there instead of looking strictly at Universal. The places I look at for indications or crowd level are first, Universal Express Pass prices. The more expensive the express pass the more crowded it's expected to be. Next would be Orlando Informer, they specialize in Universal. And Finally Touring Plans, They are a pay site but their Universal subscription is fairly cheap.

 

[THKKPorter]

We use it every year. I think it's really helpful.

 

[DPCummerbund]

At least for the dates I've looked at, Undercover Tourist, Orlando Informer, and the Universal Express Pass prices are all in agreement.

I wasn't sure what "The DIBB" was, and had to look it up - I thought perhaps the OP was trying to say "The DIS", but had a cold...

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

At least for the dates I've looked at, Undercover Tourist, Orlando Informer, and the Universal Express Pass prices are all in agreement.

I wasn't sure what "The DIBB" was, and had to look it up - I thought perhaps the OP was trying to say "The DIS", but had a cold...

Nope, I don't have a cold.

Orlando Informer and the Universal Express Pass prices do, indeed, match up for our dates (arriving Friday, May 1st and departing Friday, May 8th).

So for all the days marked as "slow" (May 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) I am trying to determine which day will be which park.

Undercover Tourist says Universal Studios is NOT recommended on May 3 and 7. It notes IOA is not recommended on the 5th.

UT says Universal Studios is recommended on May 5th & 6th, IOA is recommended on the 1st, 3rd, 6th & 8th.

The balance of the UT is marked yellow, which I would guess is neutral.

The DIBB Busy Day Guide, which friends have found a good resource in the past, doesn't always line up with the UT recommendations (for example, while UT does not recommend Universal Studios on the 3rd, that's one of the DIBB's most recommended parks for the same day). So that is what prompted my initial post.

Of course, considering Universal and Orlando Informer both note the greatest portion of the week as "slow", perhaps it doesn't matter at all?

 

[Colonel W]

Just got back from a disney trip with 2 days at Universal/IOA. Visited on a tuesday and a wednesday during the first week of Feb (one of the least crowded times of year). Universal was significantly more crowded both days due to Diagon Alley. The lines at IOA were very short both days while universal wait times were about double IOA times with Escape from Gringotts topping the list with 60+ each day. The forbidden Journey at IOA was only 20 minutes. Mornings were easy going while things really picked up after 11am. Do Universal early mornings and jump to IOA afternoons. I cannot stress enough how crowded Diagon Alley was in the afternoon. Hogsmeade was still crowded but not nearly to the extent of Diagon. I think the crowd calendars are useless based on my experience. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were the least crowded days at all parks (Disney included). Crowds picked up significantly on Friday and were complete chaos on Saturdays. Sunday wasnt too bad.

 

[DPCummerbund]

Just got back from a disney trip with 2 days at Universal/IOA. Visited on a tuesday and a wednesday during the first week of Feb (one of the least crowded times of year). Universal was significantly more crowded both days due to Diagon Alley. The lines at IOA were very short both days while universal wait times were about double IOA times with Escape from Gringotts topping the list with 60+ each day. The forbidden Journey at IOA was only 20 minutes. Mornings were easy going while things really picked up after 11am. Do Universal early mornings and jump to IOA afternoons. I cannot stress enough how crowded Diagon Alley was in the afternoon. Hogsmeade was still crowded but not nearly to the extent of Diagon. I think the crowd calendars are useless based on my experience. Crowds picked up significantly on Friday and were complete chaos on Saturdays. Sunday wasnt too bad.

I can understand that it felt crowded to you, but what you reported actually matches up pretty well with what the crowd calendars predicted.

You stated that overall, "Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were the least crowded days at all parks (Disney included)." For the first week of February, Undercover Tourist had Sunday, Friday, and Saturday as the most crowded days of that week for all theme parks (all three were listed as yellow / moderate, while Monday-Thursday were listed as green / low). Orlando Informer has Sunday and Saturday listed as moderate, with Monday-Friday at low.

So, both guides actually match what you experienced.

As for Saturday being as busy as it was... again, it's all relative. They stated that Saturday would be the busiest day of that week, and it was. And while it sounds like you feel that the crowds were well above Moderate ("complete chaos"), you also said that the wait for Gringotts was over an hour. During really busy times, Gringotts can approach two hours or more. Did they block the entrance to Diagon Alley? In general, the really crowded days occur when the entrance is blocked (i.e. you have to wait or get a return ticket in order to enter Diagon Alley), and on those busy days the it can block well before noon and stay that way through most of the day (I've seen reports where people have gotten there at 10:00 am and received return times for 7:00 pm). If you did have to get a return time for Diagon Alley, then the crowd calendars were probably wrong, and it really was busy. If you didn't have to get a return time, then what you saw was unfortunately "average" for Diagon Alley.

 

[Colonel W]

I can understand that it felt crowded to you, but what you reported actually matches up pretty well with what the crowd calendars predicted.

You stated that overall, "Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were the least crowded days at all parks (Disney included)." For the first week of February, Undercover Tourist had Sunday, Friday, and Saturday as the most crowded days of that week for all theme parks (all three were listed as yellow / moderate, while Monday-Thursday were listed as green / low). Orlando Informer has Sunday and Saturday listed as moderate, with Monday-Friday at low.

So, both guides actually match what you experienced.

As for Saturday being as busy as it was... again, it's all relative. They stated that Saturday would be the busiest day of that week, and it was. And while it sounds like you feel that the crowds were well above Moderate ("complete chaos"), you also said that the wait for Gringotts was over an hour. During really busy times, Gringotts can approach two hours or more. Did they block the entrance to Diagon Alley? In general, the really crowded days occur when the entrance is blocked (i.e. you have to wait or get a return ticket in order to enter Diagon Alley), and on those busy days the it can block well before noon and stay that way through most of the day (I've seen reports where people have gotten there at 10:00 am and received return times for 7:00 pm). If you did have to get a return time for Diagon Alley, then the crowd calendars were probably wrong, and it really was busy. If you didn't have to get a return time, then what you saw was unfortunately "average" for Diagon Alley.

My point was that common sense will tell you that Monday-Thursday are the least crowded days while Friday, Saturday and Sunday are more crowded. For the crowd calendar to point this out wasn't exactly a stroke of brilliance.