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Touring Plans - Pandemic Edition

Apr 21, 2013
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Hello All -

Trying to plan a trip to Universal and Disney in March, but finding some very interesting info on Touring Plans. Given the pandemic has brought an unprecedented time with no prior year historical markers (at least yet), I have some questions about the validity of the tracking.

During the week of Spring Break (3/27 -4/4), Universal looks super busy, but Disney’s parks constantly fluctuate around a 2-4 out of 10 each day.

Why is this if all the parks are at 35% capacity? And on that note - has anyone had any experience recently regarding the accuracy of the crowd calendar? Is it simple because locals can buy new annual passes at Universal and not Disney (unless grandfathered)?

On the other side of the coin - Undercover Tourist combines Universal and Disney together and has almost every day as an 8 out of 10.

Really trying to get an accurate read here...I will most likely not go if the parks are an 8, but if they’re below a 5, I will definitely plan a trip.

Thanks in advance!
 
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Hello All -

Trying to plan a trip to Universal and Disney in March, but finding some very interesting info on Touring Plans. Given the pandemic has brought an unprecedented time with no prior year historical markers (at least yet), I have some questions about the validity of the tracking.

During the week of Spring Break (3/27 -4/4), Universal looks super busy, but Disney’s parks constantly fluctuate around a 2-4 out of 10 each day.

Why is this if all the parks are at 35% capacity? And on that note - has anyone had any experience recently regarding the accuracy of the crowd calendar? Is it simple because locals can buy new annual passes at Universal and not Disney (unless grandfathered)?

On the other side of the coin - Undercover Tourist combines Universal and Disney together and has almost every day as an 8 out of 10.

Really trying to get an accurate read here...I will most likely not go if the parks are an 8, but if they’re below a 5, I will definitely plan a trip.

Thanks in advance!
I think the difference lies in the available capacity of both and how they determine what 35% means.
WDW is restricting flow with the reservation system and not hitting capacity while Universal is first come first served and they hit capacity on a regular basis.
Maybe more people prefer showing up vs planning and reserving?

I'm not sure if @Lentesta has an account here, I know he has one on magic and will respond if tagged
 
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I don’t know if I can answer your question regarding Touring Plans, but, we’re in the middle of a great example of a typically busy holiday weekend/week showing itself as still being fairly busy at Disney. So, going by that, I’d wager Spring Break will probably still be busier than normal.



 
Touring Plans Blog has been running a nearly daily breakdown of the actual observed wait times for the attractions in the four Disney parks. Generally they've been reporting that 'actual' wait times at WDW are only 50 or 60% of the posted line times.
They are also doing a breakdown of percentages of guests they observed with proper mask usage. That figure runs between 95% and 97% on most days. These stories are on their Blog, which is in addition to the crowd calendar attraction breakdowns.
 
gut feeling (as a Floridian) is that folks in cold areas like to seek warm areas for their Spring Break. When I was a lad in Ft Lauderdale, these spring break 'weeks' lasted nearly two months (when the beach down there allowed college kids to 'unwind'.

Many families go to Central FL attractions (in past years).

From the little time I've spent in parks post COVID, a low capacity might 'feel' more crowded dur to spacing in queues, this causes the lines to overflow out in walkways and such which gives the area less of an open feel. We did visit Disney at a traditionally very busy time (12/25 - 12/28/20), we did find wait times tended to be lower than what was posted -- but nothing like what I would call 'under five' (from what I knew of that scale around 10 years back) and from what I recall of spring break, it can be as busy as end of year--I mean Easter week tended to be one of the few times MK would hit capacity (from what I recall from about 10 years back).

Anyway, anytime it is cold in the NE, FL grows the number of locals just because it tends to be warmer here than there -- the SW folks go to places like Cancun. W go to Palm Springs or something.

Also, if it were a nice day on a weekend, I would bet my family would go to Disney, but no, we cannot get passes so it does stop my family from visiting Disney were we could easily go to UoR, so it could make some difference, but both parks will most likely be busy, also, if it is not the local school's spring break, the parks might not have any real local influence (during the week).
 
We just returned from Disney. The crowd levels were consistent with TP's estimations, around 3 for Magic Kingdom. However, the lines averaged 40-60 minutes due to reduced capacity on the rides. Just throwing that out there. It was much easier to navigate as we didn't have to fight to get through crowded walkways. The queues were kind of funny as they snaked all over the place to maintain social distancing. Peter Pan's line went through Liberty Tree Tavern, including going upstairs, downstairs, and in/out multiple entrances.
 
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