Good News, Good News, Good News, Bad News for easyWDW

A lot of good news for easyWDW and one piece of bad news today.  First up is the bad news.  My poor 16 year old cousin is in a coma at Seattle Children’s Hospital this afternoon and has been in the hospital for the last thirteen days.  I am there now, which is why updates and returned emails have been slow recently.  I promise I will catch up and get back to each and every one of you soon.  My cousin Jamie came down with a fever and “flu like” symptoms about two weeks ago.  When things took a turn for the worse, she was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit at Children’s, where things began to deteriorate rapidly.  She was not getting enough oxygen, which led to cardiac arrest and the need for a ventilator.  Her kidneys are not working properly and she is on a dialysis machine.  She was just hooked up to what I think is called a cardiopulmonary bypass machine and things are looking “grim” to say the least.  She is a lovely girl and if you are the praying type, I would appreciate it if you would add cousin Jamie in Seattle, Washington to your prayers.  We are thankful to all the doctors and nurses fighting to keep her alive.  We continue to hope for recovery.

In more uplifting news, easyWDW surpassed the 20,000 monthly visitor mark in October, with a total of well over 60,000 unique page views.  I appreciate everyone who has told family, friends, and other Disney enthusiasts about this relatively new website.

While I am technically the only person who updates easyWDW, I have a “team” of about 40 friends and family members who tirelessly roam the Disney theme parks, record wait times, compare overall crowds in just about every imaginable situation, and test various “touring plans” I have been concocting.  I suppose they also get to ride Space Mountain, eat Mickey Bars, and get harassed by the Toontown Fairies as often as they want, but taking orders from me is a rough job that I wouldn’t wish on anyone.  Cumulatively, we just passed 1,000 days spent in the Disney theme parks this year (1,000 days divided by 40 people equals about 3 days per in the parks, per person, per month).  I have been using this data alongside “insider information” that I’m “not supposed to have” to make the overall crowd calendar estimations and best/worst theme parks to visit even more accurate.

Finally, while I haven’t been as glued to my computer as I would like, there haven’t been any changes to Park hours, Fantasmic schedules, Extra Magic Hours, or anything else since my last update.  I am expecting a pretty major update to the December Park hours on Monday November 15th.  Additional Fantasmic shows and Main Street Electrical Parades should also be added at that time.

There are a few things coming down the pipeline in the near future.  I’ve finally collected enough information to offer some more detail on the crowd calendar.  Instead of just recommending/not recommending theme parks to visit each day, I’ll be including “grades” on an A to F scale in various categories, including crowds, wait times, entertainment, hours of operation, and evening “park hoppability.”  This will give you a better idea about how much more crowded Magic Kingdom will be when it has extended hours and Main Street Electrical Parade or how low crowds will be at Hollywood Studios in January when it has morning Extra Magic Hour, but no Fantasmic.  For example,

Epcot on a Saturday in November during the International Food and Wine Festival:

Wait times: C+

Crowds: D

Entertainment: A

Hours of Operation (No Extra Magic Hours): B

Park Hoppability: B

Hollywood Studios on a Thursday with two Fantasmic shows scheduled at the end of  September:

Wait times: C

Crowds: C

Entertainment: A

Hours of Operation: A-

Park Hoppability: B+

Magic Kingdom on a Friday with a Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party at the beginning of November:

Wait times: A-

Crowds: A

Entertainment: D-

Hours of Operation: D

Park Hoppability: D-

I haven’t worked out the exact values yet, but it will be on a scale that compares each day to every other day of the year.  This will give you a better idea about what you’re up against during Christmas week in December or how crowds increase going into a holiday weekend.  For example, the Magic Kingdom from December 25th to 31st for crowds will all be D’s and F’s.  It will also make the less crowded times of the year clearer.

The crowd calendar, as it stands, compares each theme park’s crowds on certain days  to other days surrounding it.  This allows us to find the least crowded days to visit each of the major theme parks, but doesn’t tell us much about the overall touring conditions.  Of course, we can look at the overall crowd number and get an idea about what touring conditions will be like, but individual “not recommended” Parks can be much busier than the overall crowd number would suggest.  With the individual ratings, the overall touring conditions will be clearer, along with what you’re giving up to visit the Magic Kingdom when it does or doesn’t have an evening parade.

As I insinuated before, I’ve been finalizing a load of touring plans that will be coming out soon as well.  Unlike other sites that might have you walking 20 minutes from Tower of Terror to the Backlot Tour and then 20 minutes back to Beauty and the Beast, these touring plans will minimize both wait times and walking in many different touring conditions.  They also factor in show times, parades, and a list of attractions that are skipped so that you can edit the plan to include a show that you may want to see more than one that is included in the plan.  For those that are not interested in a more militaristic “do this, now this, now this, now this, now this” format, there are also plans that explain which rides are best done in the morning, afternoon, and evening.  That way, you can plan your own day based on what you want to do and how you want to do it.  The methodology of each plan is also explained, which will give you a better idea about how to change the plan to fit your individual needs.

That’s should do it for now.  My Fort Wilderness review is coming up next, but I had to cancel the Swan and Dolphin.  Hopefully I can get in later this month.

Take care,

Josh