Super Busy after Irma and Crowd Tracker Accuracy

[AndreaA]

Well I just booked us at the GF for Oct29-Nov4. I'm hoping it won't be crazy busy. I feel as if most people might have tried to rebook closer to their original dates.

 

[sharonabe]

My cousins invited me down for a last minute trip right before the news of hurricanes started. I booked the 14th through the 19th. I will be without husband and kids for this trip(their work/school schedules wouldn't allow them to go). I booked at Sports because it was the cheapest since I feel guilty doing this trip solo.
Anyway, I'm a little anxious myself not knowing what the crowds will bring in the days immediately after. Well, and also nervous/guilty about a mom only WDW trip across the country. Ha ha.

I laughed at that last line. I took a mom only cruise with my DSil and niece last year and it was HARD to leave the rest of the family at home. But, if you look at my signature below, we're ALL going this year, so maybe the same will be true for you next year.

 

[avic77]

Right. From what I've seen a large portion changed a week or two out, not a month.
First week in October is fall break throughout the South. It's going to be crowded. Probably not far from Spring break.

The first week of this October is the Gartner Symposium. Thousands of IT professionals will be in Disney for that.

What dates are these?

 

[SaintsManiac]

What dates are these?

In Louisiana fall break is 10/9-10/10.

 

[AngiTN]

What dates are these?

Ours begins Friday 10/6 and they return to class Monday 10/16 (provided I have the date right, it's a Monday. They get a full week plus that Friday before

 

[avic77]

Here's what we (TouringPlans) are doing to update the crowd calendar:

1. We've started surveying large travel agencies to get a sense of how many people cancelled their trips outright and how many rescheduled.
2. For those guests that have rescheduled, we're asking for the dates to when they rescheduled.
3. We're added data to our models that take into account the park impacts from storms Hermine ('16), Colin ('16), Matthew ('16), Beryl ('12) and Irene ('11), including their severity and proximity to the parks.

That update should be available in the next couple of days.

Beyond that we're also looking at two other things:

1. The possibility that Disney may announce non-hurricane-related parks & resorts layoffs in the next few weeks. I'm told this is likely.
2. An issue with Disney's reservation system that's incorrectly showing lower room availability. I'm told a summer update to the reservation system is causing 1 reservation request to reserve rooms at 2 separate resorts. That's causing the second resort to show artificially low occupancy. I was able to confirm this in person a couple of weeks ago.

I changed my dates in my TP account. Is that the best way to let the team know?

It really makes no sense for anyone to reschedule within 60 days if they want to get Fastpasses and dining reservations.

I took the first set of dates that Guest Services offered that kept my free dining package and our friend's room only rate and kept us in MNSSHP and F&W. I had spent 8 hours on hold praying that we would be able to keep our free dining. If we had lost that deal I would not of been able to reschedule and pay more plus add cost of food to the trip. I am super flexible with my dates. My kids home school and my husband's work is very accommodating especially considering why we had to change our vacation dates.
I got all most all my fast passes except FEA, they are not all the same time slots but most were close enough. The only reservation I lost was Be our guest but ill stalk that one till i can get it. I am not too worried about it. It may not be pre-park opening but I'll get in there.

 

[Jays2013]

Well I just booked us at the GF for Oct29-Nov4. I'm hoping it won't be crazy busy. I feel as if most people might have tried to rebook closer to their original dates.

Our precise days! But we're at AoA.

 

[The Hendies]

We are headed to "The World" October 5-17. I'm guessing it's going to be busier than usual. On the bright sided, we have all of the Fast Passes I was looking for except Na'vi River, and that one I'm willing to wait for. A crowded day in WDW is better than a work day anytime!!!

 

[SaintsManiac]

Ours begins Friday 10/6 and they return to class Monday 10/16 (provided I have the date right, it's a Monday. They get a full week plus that Friday before

Wow that's a nice long break! We get Mardi Gras, so it's fair I guess

 

[JerseyJanice]

What dates are these?

Pretty sure Gartner is 10/1-10/5/17.

 

[linzjane88]

I laughed at that last line. I took a mom only cruise with my DSil and niece last year and it was HARD to leave the rest of the family at home. But, if you look at my signature below, we're ALL going this year, so maybe the same will be true for you next year.

Our family trip is in November. We have a problem.

 

[StageTek]

I, too, booked Sept 18 to 22 because that's usually slow. SO many people moved their trips to those dates because of Irma that I expect the parks and resorts to be busy and full. Could be summer-type crowds.

 

[YensiD2017]

I still have 20-24 but haven't even returned to my home post Irma... likely will cancel
We fled from swf into Ga. then Tn... and by the time we get to return n get straightened up, I'd have to head back north up to Orlando another 3.5 hrs.
It's honestly the driving back n forth that makes me think I'll re-schedule. And I had an Awesome deal in a bounce back.
But it's All Good.. my home is waiting for us!
So long Irma!

 

[Mama Jean]

I looking forward to hearing what Touring plans have to say....but it won't help me though...we are scheduled to fly down on Wednesday

 

[tomlinson]

We're going 22 Oct - 29 Oct, knowing it was going to be busy. Between Food and Wine and Halloween right around the corner, there's going to be crowds. I'm not even going to think twice about if it's more crowded that week as a result of people rescheduling their vacations. Those people deserve to be there just like me, so bring on the crowds. I've got my ADRs. I've got my FPs. We'll roll with it!

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

We rescheduled our trip for Dec 18th - 28th lol. So I'm definitely going to get higher crowds than my planned Sept trip But I will also be at Disney for Christmas so no complaining here!

 

[Tinkerbell2017]

Before the storm the resorts seemed quite booked up, probably from the great discounts. I'm not sure it will get worse if they are already booked unless the locals decide to pay a visit put off by the storm.

 

[Amy___M]

Someone correct my numbers if they're wrong, but don't Disney resorts hold like 20-30k people, but MK alone can hold 100k parkgoers? I'm sure the online reservation glitch may factor in a bit, but I don't think it'll be too busy in Sept. Locals will need to be getting back to school and work next week. Oct and even earlier Dec will increase I bet. Lots of people seem scared of Sept (and Jose) and moving trips to those other times.

 

[MissDisney121]

Just from what I've seen people post it seems they just pushed back their trips as opposed to cancelling it. I'm afraid the rest of Sept. is going to be busy.

That's what I'm afraid of. My trip is Sept 19-24 and it was supposed to be like a 3/10 crowd level. Now I'm sure it will be much higher. I usually go in June so I know how to handle it but I was looking forward to smaller crowds. I'll just have to go with the flow and just be glad WDW is still there.

 

[smallsy]

Booked for Sept 19-23 a while back specifically for low crowds too. It's just DH and I with a 4yo and 2yo twins. I was already anxious about taking the kids when they're so young, and now the crowds and possibility of more storms make me want to rebook. If it were just us adults or even if we had a longer trip I wouldn't be as worried. I keep thinking I should cancel and rebook for the Spring. Maybe save a bit more and try to do a longer trip so we can afford more downtime.