How our crowd levels are made
Ride waits recorded through the day, a formula you can read, and the limits of both.
A past day is measured
- 1Recorded through the dayEach ride's posted wait is saved.
- 2Day averageThe average wait across the rides that run on most open days.
- 3RankedThat day is ranked against the park's own measured days.
- 4LevelLow, Medium, High or Peak. Shown solid.
A future day is estimated
- 1An average dayEvery future day starts here.
- 2Plus its termsDay of the week, month, holidays and known events.
- 3EstimateA level with its biggest reasons. Shown dashed.
- 4Checked laterOnce the day is measured, the estimate is scored.
Recorded 5 times in the last 24 hours.
What we record
Ride waits are recorded through the day for every ride at every park we track, using data from Queue-Times. Each reading keeps the time the park last updated it, so a stale reading is never counted twice.
A measured day
For each park we pick the rides that run on most open days, so one ride closing for maintenance does not swing the number. A day's value is the average wait across those rides while the park is open. We then rank that day against the park's own history:
- Low: quieter than 35% of the days we have measured at this park
- Medium: between the 35th and 65th percentile
- High: between the 65th and 90th percentile
- Peak: busier than 90% of measured days
Levels are relative to each park. High at a small park is a different number of minutes from High at a big one, and that is on purpose: the question is whether a day is busy for that park.
An estimated day
Future days start from an average day and add a few terms: the day of the week, the month, public holidays, school holidays and known events. Each day shows its biggest reasons, such as "Saturday + July + Independence Day". Until a park has 60 measured open days, the terms are general starting values for similar parks. After that, they come from that park's own measurements.
Open or closed
A closed day is marked Closed when the park's official calendar says so. When the calendar is not published yet, we mark "Closed?" using last season's pattern. No crowd level is ever shown for a day we expect the park to be shut.
Limits
Posted waits stand in for crowd size, and they are not the same thing. Parks add staff on busy days and every ride has a maximum capacity, so on the very busiest days our number can understate how full a park feels. Estimates further ahead are less certain than estimates for next week. We publish how often we are right on the accuracy page.