I introduced updates to my ranking of the weeks of 2012 at Walt Disney World a few weeks ago, and promised I’d get back with a little more detail on what changed and why. Here it is.
CHANGES IN RANKING OF BEST AND WORST WEEKS AT DISNEY WORLD
47 weeks had their rankings change.
Changes came from analysis of final school calendars and resulting changes to the 2012 Disney World crowd calendar, and from analysis of final 2012 prices.
They also came from some new policies to make the rankings even more helpful.
While only 6 weeks had no change, of the rest, 36 weeks changed their rankings only +/- 3 weeks, and only two weeks had a ranking change of more than 10 weeks.
POLICY CHANGES AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS
Here’s the new policies built into the revised 2012 week ranking:
Have no recommended weeks that aren’t low crowd weeks.
This moved the week beginning 12/15 out of the list of recommended weeks entirely, and the 14 week change in ratings was the biggest of all changes.
For those who picked it based on its old rating, I haven’t changed my view of the week–low crowds and prices at the beginning, high at its end, and moderate levels on average.
It’s still a sound week to go, but with the change to no moderate crowd weeks on the recommended list, its ranking has to drop a lot.
Make sharper distinctions on summer crowds, which moved some late May and early June weeks well up in the rankings—these were the next biggest ranking changes.
Pay more attention within groups of like weeks to ranking lower-priced weeks ahead of higher priced ones. This moved the recommended fall weeks ahead of the recommended spring weeks, and caused minor shifts in a number of other weeks.
Pay more attention to the fact that Pop Warner week is typically excluded from deals and discounts.
Carl (“Dad”) at Dad’s Guide to WDW has been advocating that I do this for years.
I had some reasons for not doing so, resolved by moving from one suggested week in my home page and When to Go points of view to three suggested weeks.
This shift resolved my reasons for disagreeing with Carl, who really does know WDW. It also led to a new number one ranked week for 2012! Thanks, Dad!
The 2012 week rankings begin here–or you can just click the image.
MORE ON WHEN TO GO TO WALT DISNEY WORLD
- For when to go to Walt Disney World, see this
- For the next best dates, see this
- For the best and worst times to visit, see this
- For 2011 weeks to visit, ranked in order, see this
- For the 2011 Week Picker, see this
- For 2012 weeks to visit, ranked in order, see this
- For forecasting crowds at Walt Disney World, see this
- For seasonal pricing at Walt Disney World, see this
- For 2011 price seasons, see this
- For 2012 price seasons, see this
- For weather at Walt Disney World, see this
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