If you’re looking for the least crowded, best day to visit Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party in 2013, circle Tuesday, December 10, 2013, on your calendar. That Christmas Party, on a Tuesday in early December, was the least-crowded event in 2012’s schedule.

If that date doesn’t fit in your schedule, last year’s crowds indicate that Tuesday Christmas parties are less crowded on average than parties held on any other day of the week.

Friday is the next-best day to attend a Very Merry Christmas Party. Thursday and Sunday are the busiest days, although that may be a bit skewed since Magic Kingdom often has morning Extra Magic Hours on Thursdays.

Unlike our analysis of Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, the earlier Very Merry Christmas parties are not the least crowded. With the higher crowds arriving at Walt Disney World around the Thanksgiving holiday, many November dates rank among our most crowded.

Where you will find lower crowds for the Christmas parties is in the lull between the Thanksgiving and Christmas busy periods. Four of the five parties between December 3 and 10, 2013, are among our top 7 least-busy parties (we expect Sunday, December 8 to be a bit busier).

While there are no Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Parties during Thanksgiving week, the parties just prior to and just after that break are traditionally busy. The last few parties before Christmas are also quite crowded.

If you are considering other dates, here are our predicted rankings of attraction wait times at each of the 2013 Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Parties. The changing date of Thanksgiving makes these estimates challenging. In addition, the opening of New Fantasyland in 2012 skewed many of our 2012 Christmas Party numbers. The new area’s official opening was December 6, 2012, the date of 2012′s busiest Christmas Party. The parties immediately following that date also saw high wait times, so we have adjusted our rankings accordingly.

[Please note that the military discount ends following the November 21 party, and the Annual Pass and Disney Vacation Club discounts end following the December 10 party, but are also not available for the parties on November 22 or December 6 or 8.]

To determine all of the above, we looked at posted wait times from key attractions including Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, it’s a small world, and The Barnstormer. We narrowed it down to times between 7pm and midnight, which is when the park is limited to party guests. Some quick notes about our research:

• Our wait times only include attractions−not character meet and greets, special shows, or parades. The characters, in particular, often have long lines, especially for rare characters like the Seven Dwarfs. Regardless of which party you attend, some of the character lines will be long. If those are a must do, do them as early in the evening as possible.
• In general the wait times during the Christmas parties are quite low, averaging only about 9 minutes. If there are any attractions that you have really been wanting to do, experiencing them during the Christmas party might just be the time.
• If you are a data nerd like we are, you can find all of our wait time data for the Christmas parties on this Google spreadsheet.

Looking for more information? Erin Foster wrote an amazing overview of Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party that will help you whether this is your first trip or your 100th (and if it’s your 100th, you might have a problem…being too awesome).

Now that you are armed with the most powerful weapon…knowledge, you can plan your 2013 trip to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. This blog post will help you find all of the party dates and prices.

Hopefully this analysis will help you choose the best Christmas Party to attend. Merry Christmas (a little early)!

Thanks!

Least Crowded Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party 2013 Dates is a post from the TouringPlans.com Blog. Signup for a premium subscription today! Or get news via Email, Twitter, & Facebook.

If you’re looking for the least crowded, best day to visit Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party in 2013, circle Tuesday, September 17, 2013, on your calendar. That Halloween Party, on a Tuesday in mid-September, was the least-crowded event in 2012’s schedule.

If that date doesn’t fit in your schedule, last year’s crowds indicate that Tuesday Halloween parties are less crowded on average than parties held on any other day of the week.

Friday and Sunday are the next-best days to attend a Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. Thursday was surprisingly the busiest day, although it may has something to do with the Magic Kingdom often having morning Extra Magic Hours on Thursdays.

Not surprisingly, September dates are generally less busy than the October dates, although Tuesdays are still the best days regardless of which month they are in. The one big exception to this last year was Friday, September 28, 2012, which was the busiest Halloween party we tracked. The most likely cause was that this was also the opening weekend of the Epcot Food & Wine Festival as well as the weekend of the Wine & Dine Half Marathon.

A strange quirk in attraction wait times is that October 31, 2012 (Halloween), was one of the parties with very low wait times. In this case the data is deceiving, as that party was sold out (as was Sunday, October 28). While the sellout indicates high crowds, our research shows very short attraction lines. In reality, both of those are true, and all of the parties near Halloween tend to be quite busy, regardless of the wait times.

If you are considering other dates, here are our predicted rankings of attraction wait times at each of the 2013 Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Parties.

[Please note that the military discount ends following the September 27 party and the Advance Annual Pass and Disney Vacation Club discounts end following the October 24th party, but are also not available for the parties on October 4, 11, or 18.]

To determine all of the above, we looked at posted wait times from key attractions including Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, it’s a small world, and The Barnstormer. We narrowed it down to times between 7pm and midnight, which is when the park is limited to party guests.Some quick notes about our research:

• Our wait times only include attractions−not character meet and greets, special shows, or parades. The characters, in particular, often have long lines, especially for rare characters like the Seven Dwarfs. Regardless of which party you attend, some of the character lines will be long. If those are a must do, do them as early in the evening as possible.
• In general the wait times during the Halloween parties are quite low, averaging only about 10 minutes. If there are any attractions that you have really been wanting to do, experiencing them during the Halloween party might just be the time.
• If you are a data nerd like we are, you can find all of our wait time data for the Halloween parties on this Google spreadsheet.

Looking for more information? Erin Foster wrote an amazing overview of Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party that will help you whether this is your first trip or your 100th (and if it’s your 100th, you might have a problem…being too awesome).

If you consider yourself handy with the camera, or if you simply want better pictures, you can’t go wrong with Tom Bricker’s tips on photographing the Halloween party.

Now that you are armed with the most powerful weapon…knowledge, you can plan your 2013 trip to Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. This blog post will help you find all of the party dates and prices.

Hopefully this analysis will help you choose the best Halloween Party to attend. Make sure to check back here later, where we’ll soon be breaking down Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, as well.

Thanks!

Least Crowded Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party 2013 Dates is a post from the TouringPlans.com Blog. Signup for a premium subscription today! Or get news via Email, Twitter, & Facebook.

Do you have a podcast that discusses Disney or Universal theme parks? If so, we would like a word with you to discuss the development of the TouringPlans.com Podcast Network.

We are looking for a number of various podcasts to possibly form a new network which would combine the wonderful content that already exists in the podcasting world with the reach of a popular site like TouringPlans.com. No matter the style, format, or topics of your podcast, we would love to hear from you.

We’re looking toward the future…well okay, the Italy pavilion.

Very, very little would need to change about your podcast yet you would get the backing of a website that gets a few million hits a year (yes, this one). The basic idea is that your podcast, along with a handful of others, would be available via the TouringPlans.com Network feed. Listeners would get the benefit of finding great content all in one place and you would get the benefit of a very wide audience.

This could be a great opportunity for you as well as us and the theme park community as a whole. If you are interested in hearing all the details, please email Brian at Brian@TouringPlans.com by no later than Wednesday, May 22. Your email should include:

• The name of your podcast
• A brief description of what the podcast is about
• Any other details we should know (is your podcast only 20 minutes long, do you only record once a month, is it dirtier than George Carlin’s stand up, etc.)
• The name and email of at least one person from the podcast that we can contact
• A link to a fairly recent episode that you would like us to review for consideration

Simply applying is not a binding agreement so you can send us an email simply if you want to hear more about it and you can remove your application at any time. When we get all of this information we will review your podcast and give you all of the details about what we would expect and what you can expect from us should we decide to partner up. We are very excited to be starting this and we look forward to hearing from you. Thanks!

We Are Looking For Theme Park Podcasts! is a post from the TouringPlans.com Blog. Signup for a premium subscription today! Or get news via Email, Twitter, & Facebook.

As you probably heard, Merida from Disney/Pixar’s movie Brave was recently inducted as an official Disney Princess. This “event” got me thinking about Disney’s Princesses as a whole and how I feel about them.

Most of my life I was a typical, self-centered, middle class American. I have never been prone to idol worship: sure I had Michael Jordan posters on my wall as a teen, but despite the advertising I never really wanted to be like Mike, just play basketball like him (yeah, that didn’t work either).  Even as an adult, I never really thought about celebrity role models or their effects. Then I had kids.

Having kids changes a lot, but mostly what it changed for me was that I suddenly had to try to guide another human and prepare them to make future important life choices. That’s pretty heavy. While I still believe parents play the most crucial role in a child’s development, it would feel foolish for me to think that popular culture does not have any influence.

As the Disney fans that we are, my 4 year old daughter is heavily invested in the Disney Princesses. We have seen all of their movies, met them all at the parks, and have a bedroom dedicated to them (my daughter’s…not mine…really). She has even become interested in the mediocre Sofia the First Disney Junior television series.

Now what got me started on this diatribe was my thoughts on Disney Princesses as a whole and their message to the public, specifically young girls. What I found is that most Disney Princess movies have a few messages that I’m not thrilled with. Let’s go one by one:

Snow White: Hiding from her murderous stepmother (okay, that was probably a good idea) and waiting for her prince to come. This in not generally a bad message as “prince” can be metaphorical.

Cinderella: In a bad spot with her step-family (not looking good for stepmothers so far), so she wishes super hard and her dream of marrying a rich guy comes true. I’m not liking this message.

Aurora: Put to sleep by Maleficent until her true love (and the boy she was betrothed to as a baby), the rich guy can come kiss her. Not the worst, but not the best thing for a young girl to hope for.

Ariel: Seeks the counsel of an undersea witch because she gets mad at her father. Doesn’t ever have to regret it because everything works out fine in the end…not loving this one either.

Belle: Definitely one of the better messages as Belle is well read and loyal to her father (by the way, Disney is much more forgiving of fathers than mothers to this point). She sacrifices herself to free her dad and eventually even develops a soft spot for the Beast. I like how Belle is strong and smart and how she sees right through Gaston’s crap.

Jasmine: A strong woman, but also has some spoiled brat in her. It’s not really her movie, so she doesn’t really grow or change the entire time.

Pocahontas: Not my favorite movie, but a good message. Pocahontas is strong, smart, and willing to stand up for her beliefs.

Mulan: Another one who sacrifices herself for her father. She also never is a part of or marries royalty, so I’m not sure how she’s a princess at all, but that’s beside the point. I think the character of Mulan is not a bad role model for girls, but the movie spending 90% of its runtime putting down women and their role in society is not so good.

Rapunzel: This is a strange one because Rapunzel never really grows during the film. She is kind, sweet, and naïve in the beginning as well as the end. Everyone seems to love her in the movie, but the character development arc belongs solely to Eugene “Flynn Rider.”

Merida: The new girl has a few things going for her. She defies her mother (look a mom storyline that isn’t bad), but unlike Ariel she learns something from her mistake. Merida also doesn’t need a man, which I see as a good change of pace.

This gets me back to the one I skipped: my favorite, Tiana. In The Princess and the Frog Tiana is a smart, very hard working woman who is trying to claw her way out of poverty and make something of herself. Already this is different for Disney as she is not born into royalty, nor does she simply wish for it (well, she kind of does, but feels ridiculous about it). The way she wants to make herself better is by outsmarting and outworking everyone else.

Tiana is thrown into some crazy circumstances and, despite not wanting to be tied down, falls in love with a prince (although even the prince is penniless at the time). My favorite thing is that the happy ending involves Tiana and Naveen buying their restaurant with Tiana’s cans of change (and some gator staredowns) and building it by hand. There is no fairy that poofs it into existence and no king that gifts it to his daughter-in-law, just elbow grease.

As a parent I am trying to make sure my kids know that willpower, determination, and hard work are how you get what you want. And that is why Tiana is my favorite princess.

Why Tiana is My Favorite Princess is a post from the TouringPlans.com Blog. Signup for a premium subscription today! Or get news via Email, Twitter, & Facebook.

There are few concrete truths in this mixed up, crazy world, but one of them is that Finding Nemo – The Musical at Disney’s Animal Kingdom is the best stage production at Disney World. In fact, I am so certain that I will not even explain my reasons…thanks for reading!

What!? You are dubious of my claim!? Okay, I’m about to drop a Nemo-shaped truth bomb on you.

Let’s start at the beginning: Many Disney parks productions are called “Broadway quality” by people who apparently don’t understand how good Broadway level shows actually are. In actuality, Disney’s productions are “very good theme park quality.” Finding Nemo, however, is actually of Broadway quality, and that starts with its creator.

No, I don’t mean the fine folks over at Pixar, even though they did a wonderful job creating the world in which Nemo, Marlin, Dory, Crush, and others inhabit in the motion picture. While a story is essential to great musical theater, the show is nothing without great music. If you are a fan of the movie Finding Nemo, you probably remember that it is not a musical.

To add the music for the 40 minute production, Disney went out and got Robert Lopez…yes, THAT Robert Lopez. Okay, you probably don’t actually know who he is, but odds are you have seen some of his work. Lopez co-wrote two of the most innovative Broadway musicals of the past 20 years: Avenue Q and Book of Mormon (and if you don’t know them, you should be warned that they are most certainly not Disney and not safe for work). He has also contributed songs to South Park and The Simpsons, and he wrote the wonderful musical episode of the sitcom Scrubs.

Lopez has also done quite a few family friendly projects, as well, such as Wonder Pets, and he has created music for Phineas and Ferb and the most recent Winnie the Pooh movie. Lopez has been nominated for an Emmy and has won three Tony awards, a Grammy award, and a Daytime Emmy. This guy is a pro.

The result is four original songs (with a few reprises and such) that are catchy, enjoyable, catchy, well constructed, fun, and really catchy (I am a lock to be singing “Big Blue World” for hours following a viewing). The songs expertly mix humor, drama, and tension, all while pulling tidbits straight from the well loved movie the show is meant to represent.

The music is not the entire show, though, for the characters have to be represented, as well. Since these are non-human characters, putting their likenesses on stage was no small challenge. The result is a mix of puppetry styles, with all of the main characters being directed by their puppeteer/actors live on stage. The idea of seeing both the large puppets and the puppeteers at the same time seems like it would be jarring and distracting, but it adds quite a bit to the performance. Seeing the actors deliver their lines, sing, and emote really drives home the characters joy and pain…sunshine and rain (whoops, broke into a Rob Base track there).

The mechanics at play in Finding Nemo – The Musical are just as fascinating as the show itself. The actors having to also be puppeteers is one thing, but the complexity of the multitude of puppets using wires and poles and the creativity of the sets and ancillary characters really has to be experienced to be understood. As you can see by some of the pictures, this is not a sock puppets and cardboard stage production.

I have taken people to see this show who range in age from 8 weeks to mid-60s, and not one person has not enjoyed it (okay, the 8 week old slept, but he loved it at 1). It is a wonderful show with amazing talent and great music. It will make you laugh, and it will tug at your heart. What it will not do is disappoint.

Thanks for reading!

The Best Stage Show at WDW: Finding Nemo – The Musical is a post from the TouringPlans.com Blog. Signup for a premium subscription today! Or get news via Email, Twitter, & Facebook.

Here at TouringPlans.com we spend a lot of time honing our predictions to make our Crowd Calendar the most accurate available. One of the many methods we employ is projecting park hours for all of Disney’s Florida theme parks. You may be wondering why we bother since Disney World publishes its park hours for all to see. Well, Disney does not always make things easy (as outlined here).

The published hours are available for the next six months (currently through October), but they are simply preliminary hours. Disney doesn’t create an operational schedule for its employees that far in advance. Using things like hotel occupancy rates and dining reservations, Disney reviews all hours for a given month approximately two weeks prior to the start of that month (for instance, May’s adjusted hours should be released on or around April 15) and makes changes to its park hours.

How often are park hours changed two weeks before the start of a month? This post will give you idea of what to expect when May hours are adjusted. And the chart below shows what the final park hours were for Walt Disney World in May 2012.

The numbers in red are May 2012 dates that changed when park hours were adjusted in mid-April last year.

There are a few things you should notice about this chart:

• As mentioned above, these are the final park hours from last year (I want to make that very clear); final hours for this May (2013) have not yet been released.
• The opening times for all parks change very rarely.
• Epcot times change very, very rarely (which is why they are not listed).
• Wishes is performed once per night, and changes are very rare, so we have not listed Wishes because of this.
• The days that have Extra Magic Hours almost never change.
• Closing times for the Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom, as well as the number of performances of the Main Street Electrical Parade and Fantasmic!, are the most variable.

So the real question is: what you should expect for this year? Since we started actively tracking park hour changes, we have noticed that the previous year is quite a good predictor of the upcoming changes. We do make some adjustments for our internal calculations, but the chart above should give you a good idea for planning purposes.

One thing to remember is to compare days of the week rather than numerical dates. For instance, if you are traveling from Saturday, May 11, through Saturday, May 18, 2013 you would look at the second Saturday through the third Saturday from last year (May 12-19, 2012). Please also keep in mind that this chart is one of many references for you to use in planning your trip and is not necessarily the exact operating times.

Thanks!

WDW Park Hours: What to Expect in May is a post from the TouringPlans.com Blog. Signup for a premium subscription today! Or get news via Email, Twitter, & Facebook.

TouringPlans.com is proud to announce another addition to our stable of  eBooks: the Walt Disney World Bars and Lounges eGuide!

Are you unfamiliar with the over 70 bars and lounges found on Walt Disney World property? Are you a frequent visitor who is always on the lookout for hidden gems and new experiences? Do you like pretty pictures? Have you always wanted to try your hand at making Disney cocktails at home? This eBook is for you!

With descriptions and numerical ratings of every single bar at Walt Disney World plus over 400 pictures, this eBook is just another way that TouringPlans.com fully prepares you for any Disney vacation. From the Walt Disney World bar novice to the advanced lounge lizard, this eGuide offers something for everyone! It contains information about history, themes, drinks, and food at every lounge along with wonderful pictures illustrating the highlights. The suggestions and tips in this eGuide will easily pay for themselves as the Bars and Lounges eGuide will help you pick the best bars and make the best selections, saving valuable vacation time!

Another wonderful thing about this eGuide is the 26 cocktail recipes that allow you to continue that Disney vacation feeling from your own home lounge. The recipes are designed to minimize the amount of liquor needed to maximize the value of our drink list.

Cheers!

Purchase Walt Disney World Bars and Lounges on the TouringPlans.com eBooks page! As a thank you for purchasing from our site, we are offering 20% off for a limited time. Use code BARSBLOG20 when you purchase the eBook!

Still need convincing? Check out these sample pages!

WDW Bars and Lounges: A Brand New Touring Plans eGuide! is a post from the TouringPlans.com Blog. Signup for a premium subscription today! Or get news via Email, Twitter, & Facebook.

1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian Resort is an interesting restaurant. It hosts character dining all day long, yet boasts three very different character meals. The Supercalifragilistic Breakfast sees Mary Poppins, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Alice, and the Mad Hatter, while the afternoon brings the Wonderland Tea Party. The meal I am focusing on here, though, is dinner, where 1900 Park Fare hosts Cinderella’s Happily Ever After Dinner.

Atmosphere

My biggest problem with 1900 Park Fare is an extension of my opinion of the Grand Floridian Resort, in general. I find it very classy and clean, but ultimately boring and uninteresting (although I have been called boring and uninteresting myself, so maybe I am not the best judge). The restaurant is lightly carousel themed, with a few antique looking carousel horses and a band organ as the primary decorations. These items are incredibly nice, but they are few and go unnoticed far too easily. Other than that handful of items, the rest of the room is filled with beige. Nothing really draws the eye, and there is nothing special to even discuss here.

Photo courtesy of Disney

Characters

Luckily, most do not come for the atmosphere. The characters are the stars of any character meal, and they should be, given the excess price demanded for character meals. The group that attends this celebratory dinner is from the 1950 classic Cinderella, which is still a favorite of many. The idea that is portrayed during the meal is that this is a dinner celebrating the marriage of Cinderella and Prince Charming (both in attendance). Of course, Lady Tremaine (Cinderella’s step-mother) and Anastasia and Drizella (stepsisters) could not stay away, either.

For our particular meal, all five characters were very good. My daughter was a little apprehensive about the step-family, because “they are not very nice,” but the characters did a wonderful job of staying in character without scaring her away. By focusing on things like their jealousy of our food and my daughter’s looks, they were catty without being mean. Prince Charming was regal and debonair, although a little short (come on, I have to knock him somewhere). Strangely, the only character we found less than great was Cinderella. There was nothing in particular wrong with her, and my daughter said nothing, which is probably all that matters, but Cinderella seemed a little disinterested.

I am, of course, picking on the poor princess. With every industry, service depends on the individual, and she was not even close to what I would consider “bad.” If I were rating the characters on a scale 1-5, with 1 being “Times Square Elmo” and 5 being “the Ariel I had at Akershus,” I would rate all characters a 4 (with Cinderella being a low 4), which is the “Disney” category. For the record 3 is “Universal” and 2 is “Mall Santa.” And, yes, that scale is approved by the National Society of Inane Rating Systems (NatSIRS).

Food

For me personally, the food is the real star at 1900 Park Fare. It is served in a large buffet and contains many items not found on other Disney buffets. The line starts with 8 different salads and three different soups, then moves on to entrees such as sushi, strip loin, paella, coq au vin, and a create your own pasta station. Sides range from fruit to rice to beef stew, and the dessert table has several individually sized creations, as well as a big bowl of gummy bears (takes lots of willpower to walk by that, let me tell you).

Odds, Ends, and Details

While much of the food suffers from the buffet problem (stuff gets dry out there), most of it was very good and definitely above average for a character dinner. The buffet style, while creating preparedness issues, does allow a trial and error approach to unfamiliar items that is perfect for children and picky adults. You can see the full menu at the TouringPlans.com 1900 Park Fare page.

Cinderella’s Happily Ever After Dinner costs $39.99 per adult and $19.99 for those ages 3-9. The price may increase during peak times of the year and does not include tax. Alcoholic beverages are available, although those are not included in the buffet price. Dinner is served daily from 4:30 to 8:30 pm.

Final Thoughts

While I do not personally enjoy the decor at the Grand Floridian in general and at 1900 Park Fare in particular, I cannot help but admit that the characters and the food make this a good meal. It is one of the pricier character meals due to the royal guests, but the good, solid food makes it feel a little more worth the money. If you have a child (or adult) in your party who is really into the movie Cinderella, this is a meal that person will enjoy, although an appearance by Jaq or Gus every now and again would not be a bad thing.

Previous Character Meal Volumes:

• Cinderella’s Royal Table
• Chef Mickey’s
• Garden Grill
• Akershus
• Cape May
• Crystal Palace
• Tusker House
• Hollywood & Vine
• ‘Ohana

Character Meals: Vol 10 – Cinderella’s Happily Ever After Dinner at 1900 Park Fare is a post from the TouringPlans.com Blog. Signup for a premium subscription today! Or get news via Email, Twitter, & Facebook.

February can be a great month to visit Walt Disney World, but it can be a reasonably busy month, depending on the week. Here’s a quick view of Walt Disney World’s February 2013 Crowd Calendar:

And here are a few specific days that I would like to bring to your attention:

• February 3, 2013 is a holiday for many Americans…Super Bowl Sunday. Traditionally, we have not seen much change in wait times on this day, although we do not recommend going anywhere near the ESPN Zone at the BoardWalk during the game.
• February 11-17, 2013: As part of Disney’s Limited Time Magic, this is “True Love Week.” There will be many love-related decorations and photo opportunities, as well as special character meets. This will most likely increase the crowds slightly, although we do not expect it to adversely affect wait times.
• February 12, 2013: Much like Super Bowl Sunday, we have not seen much, if any, change in wait times due to Mardi Gras.
• February 18, 2013, is the only holiday in February: President’s Day. The long weekend increases crowds significantly and keeps the crowds higher than average for the entire ensuing week. If you do not need to utilize that extra day off, any other February week will be significantly less crowded.
• February 22-24 is the weekend of the Princess Half Marathon, which is a very popular event. As this weekend also bookends the weekend of President’s Day, higher than average crowds are expected through the weekend. Much of the crowd disperses following the race, so wait times will lower significantly starting on Sunday.

As a reminder, here’s how to interpret the crowd calendar:

• Crowds are rated on a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 indicating the highest crowds.
• The crowd rating is based on attraction wait times, not the number of people in any given park.
• Ratings are generally comparable with previous years, so if you visited Disney World in 2010 on an “8″ day you can expect an “8″ day in 2013 to be similarly crowded.
• Ratings are not comparable from park to park. A “6″ at the Magic Kingdom is not necessarily comparable to a “6″ at the Animal Kingdom. Why? The Animal Kingdom has fewer rides and shows than the Magic Kingdom, handling different numbers of people per hour. The number of people that make the Magic Kingdom a ’6′ would overwhelm the Animal Kingdom’s rides.
• Some rides, such as Soarin’ and Peter Pan’s Flight will still have a wait of around 60 and 30 minutes, respectively, even on the crowd calendar’s “1″-rated days. A “1″ simply means that it is one of the least busy days, relative to all other days.

If you are fortunate enough to be traveling on a day with low crowds…enjoy! If you find yourself going on a day that has a higher crowd rating…you have no worries, either! Why, you ask? As a TouringPlans.com subscriber you have access to thousands of Touring Plans (which are now optimizable) and our Lines mobile application which will guide you through the parks and keep you from waiting in long lines. Arriving at park opening and following a Touring Plan is the best way to totally negate the crowds.

Hopefully this shed some light on our Crowd Calendar ratings. Feel free to ask questions!

Thanks!

Looking over the February Crowd Calendar at WDW is a post from the TouringPlans.com Blog. Signup for a premium subscription today! Or get news via Email, Twitter, & Facebook.

There are many tours one can partake in at Walt Disney World. Out of all of them, the “Keep Moving Forward” Segway tour of Epcot was always the one that stood out to me. Unbeknownst to me, I was given a birthday present during my last trip and suddenly found myself a part of this tour.

This specific tour was new as of September 17, 2012, although it is just a slight remodel of an older tour. The “Keep Moving Forward” tour lasts 3 hours and includes breakfast and Segway training. The cost is $99 and it is available for ages 16 and up, although under 18s will need a signed waiver by a parent or guardian. A 15% discount is available for annual passholders or DVC members.

Onto the tour: Mine was the first tour of the morning, meeting at 8:30am at Epcot’s Guest Relations. After choosing our breakfast and signing a waiver that promised our first born child (sorry honey, it’s been fun, but you belong to Disney now), we were walked over to the Innoventions pavilion for Segway training.

Our group of 10 was led by two guides. The first was a Disney tour guide (or “plaid,” since they wear the plaid vests), and the second could only be described as the Segway police. Our Segway police was a very nice woman who takes Segway safety very seriously and makes sure you know it. Although no one in our group tested her threats, she made sure we all knew that it was her way or no way at all.

The majority of the Segway training session was led by the Segway police. It was started with a simple task of how to get on and off of a Segway, which is considerably trickier than it sounds. Segways are astounding machines that are well balanced and designed to react to your every move. That makes them highly versatile, but with a steep learning curve.

I was ultimately surprised by two things with the Segway themselves: The first was that it was pretty tough on the legs and feet and the second was that it was super easy to use once I relaxed a bit. As you may imagine, these two things were related. If I was tense and constantly pushing on the Segway with my feet it made my feet hurt and it made me constantly over correct. If I calmed down and stopped thinking about the machine under me, it was a lot easier…a lot easier.

Once the training was done we cruised (on our Segways) over to Sunshine Seasons in the Land pavilion for breakfast. The breakfast itself was fine with eggs, bacon, sausage, and potatoes, but nothing to get excited about. After the meal the tour started in earnest, moving us out of the crowd and into World Showcase.

What makes the early morning versions of this tour the best is the simple fact that World Showcase doesn’t open until 11am. This means that from the time you pass Norway (which is open for the Akershus breakfast) until 11am it is just you, your Segway, and a few maintenance personnel.

All members of this tour are fitted with personal earpieces so that the tour guide’s words are delivered directly into your head (although it is less creepy futuristic than I just made it sound). As you cruise past Mexico and Norway, the guide tells you interesting tidbits about both. The first stop is in China, where the guide…uh, guides everyone into the pavilion where we all stopped for a more in depth lesson on the Chinese architecture.

As we moved around World Showcase, the tour guide told us all sorts of facts about Epcot, World Showcase, and the individual countries. I won’t go into the specifics, but it was interesting to anyone even remotely curious about Epcot trivia. For me personally, I was told very little that I didn’t already know as I am an avid reader of Disney history. That said, there were still a few tidbits that I heard for the first time that day.

When we got over to Italy, after running a slalom around the posts of the “Doge’s Palace,” we were given a break alongside the lagoon. During that break, the guide took pictures of each participant mounted atop their regal steed. As I am sure you will agree, I still manage to look amazingly cool, even with the helmet.

The picture of cool

As we continued around the lagoon, World Showcase began to open to all visitors. I cannot stress enough how much of a difference being in the early tour is. Having to weave around passersby as well as operate a Segway and try to listen to the guide in your earpiece is not even close to the same experience as having the promenade all to yourselves.

At the end of the tour we all received a limited edition “Keep Moving Forward” pin that is very nice. I do not have a picture of it because I somehow lost mine within the hour. My hope is that a pin collector stole it off of my camera bag in some sort of organized heist, because that sounds cooler than “I dropped it.”

I found the “Keep Moving Forward” tour to be a lot of fun, although riding a Segway is about 60% of that fun with being in an empty World Showcase making up another 30% (the remaining 10% is a combination of breakfast and waving at people). I would highly, highly recommend the earliest tour available and I would also recommend taking deep breaths when you first get on the Segway. It knows when you’re scared.

Riding Around the World (Showcase) on a Segway is a post from the TouringPlans.com Blog. Signup for a premium subscription today! Or get news via Email, Twitter, & Facebook.