Avoiding crowds

Register or Login to Hide This Ad for Free!
BuschGardener

BuschGardener

Jun 18, 2011
110
76
90
I've always assumed that in peak season the best days to visit the park to avoid crowds are Monday or Tuesday. Anyone have any theories or numbers to dispute my assumption?

Along these same lines - wouldn't it be nice if the park website had a live capacity gauge?

Example:

The park is currently at 72% capacity.

Seems it would help fill the park on slow days and give people in the know a heads up that the park is about full - and perhaps save them a trip...
 
You should tell them that they should add that into the next version of the BG app... Or at least show how many people are in the park at one given time... Ex. There are 16,265 people in the park
 
  • Like
Reactions: BuschGardener
All I know is that the typically low attendance Friday was thwarted by "Every Middle School in God's Green Earth" day on the 4th. <sigh> Can't wait for BG to be open every day so I can start gonig on low attendance Thursdays! :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: netdvn and Zachary
Spelled said:
All I know is that the typically low attendance Friday was thwarted by "Every Middle School in God's Green Earth" day on the 4th. <sigh> Can't wait for BG to be open every day so I can start gonig on low attendance Thursdays! :)
Click to expand...

That happened to us two weeks ago. #1 on Pompeii made up for it. It was like a form of payback for them all being there.
 
A park is never going to tell you how crowded it is. Doing so might make people avoid coming on a certain day and thus the park loses money.
 
  • Like
Reactions: netdvn and Zachary
Ok. The attendance meter maybe wasn't such a good idea. What's the best day of the week to go during peak season?
 
Swiftman said:
^ This. There's a reason they don't allow you to view wait times outside the park.
Click to expand...

Is that why it does not show me wait times? I have been wondering that since I installed the app.
 
This past Saturday was every bloody Jr High and HS Chorus group on the East Coast Day. Argh.
 
BuschGardener said:
Example:

The park is currently at 72% capacity.

Seems it would help fill the park on slow days and give people in the know a heads up that the park is about full - and perhaps save them a trip...
Click to expand...

Not to rain on your parade but in addition to the concerns listed above the technological aspects of doing this seem daunting as well ( depending on what the park has in place already to track these stats.)
 
My best advice: Pick a day with a sub-50% chance of scattered showers or thunderstorms. The forecast normally keeps people away and if there's a sudden downpour that lasts an hour or so, it'll drive at least 50% of the people in the park out. If it starts raining, just catch a show or two, enjoy a ride on the train, etc.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Peter R. and netdvn
Like Swift said, go on a day with not so great forecasted weather. Apparently a lot of tourists expect the park to close if there is mention of rain.

Usually, the down pours don't last long and at most it may sprinkle a bit. So catch the indoor shows, window shopping.

Also a weekday with some unfortunate weather can be very helpful, or a cloudy Sunday always works well almost.

I remember a day where attendance was so bad, you saw about 5 people in each country.

Always get there early or go late. If you get there early, try to do as much as you can then take your time doing seconds of everything again.
 
How about tomorrow? Monday, May 28. Locals are mostly off work - but tourists are headed home, generally.

How busy do you think the park will be tomorrow?

Thanks :)
 
If I had to take a guess, probably normal Saturday sized crowds. There's a slight chance of rain tomorrow but I don't think a 20% chance is going to keep that many people away.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BuschGardener
We've been the past few Memorial Days and it really wasn't bad. A lot of people are leaving town, and even though many of the locals are off, a lot of them have cookout plans. However, Verbolten is a big X factor this year. So...hard to say.
 
jmu2011 said:
A park is never going to tell you how crowded it is. Doing so might make people avoid coming on a certain day and thus the park loses money.
Click to expand...

You used to be able to call the park and get an attendance estimate. I believe they used to round it up to the nearest thousand. It was an automated option you could choose.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BuschGardener
RocketChk said:
jmu2011 said:
A park is never going to tell you how crowded it is. Doing so might make people avoid coming on a certain day and thus the park loses money.
Click to expand...

You used to be able to call the park and get an attendance estimate. I believe they used to round it up to the nearest thousand. It was an automated option you could choose.
Click to expand...

I assume this is no longer a service the park provides, right?
And from responses it appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday are (all other factors notwithstanding) about the same, crowd-wise.
Have the BGWFans app team/person considered adding a park attendance feature to that app? Maybe just a place where anyone logged in, and in the park could select from say 5 options ranging from "nobody here" to "park full"?
Just a thought... :). And thanks for input.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Consider Donating to Hide This Ad