Anybody else feeling ripped off by TGM?

[Morganw42]

I've used TGM for two trips in the past and really enjoyed the service. I've always purchased months in advance of our trips and found the site to be useful. However, I've just purchased TGM for the third time in three years for our October trip and it's terrible. The most crowded park info is only updated through June which is only a month away. I remember that that info was always posted months ahead of time in the past.

The monthly express planners are only updated until July. August and later months are links to the 2008 planners. Additionally, when you do go to one of the 2008 planners, October for example, they aren't even updated for then. In the entry for the 2008 EPCOT Food and Wine festival the site says:

"Epcot International Food and Wine Festival: Epcot’s the place to visit for a culinary trip around the world! International “marketplaces” located around the Epcot World Showcase Lagoon serve authentic cuisine and wines from more than 30 nations. In addition, winemakers pour hundreds of domestic and international vintages throughout the celebration -- hence the name of the event! ;>)

Dates: September 26 - November 9, 2008

2007 Special Event Info (for now!): Epcot International Food and Wine Festival"

So TGM never even updated last year's info that he's trying to pawn off on us this year.

I seems like TGM is no longer interested in being involved in his own site and is just collecting money.

Am I wrong to be miffed about the lack of mid to long term support for a travel planning web site? Isn't the whole idea to plan ahead? Why would I want to buy this if it's only updated a month ahead of time?

OK rant over, we will now return you to your regularly scheduled programing...

 

[soonerlpn]

Maybe it has something to do with August hours just being released today? Just a guess. Who knows.

 

[DaveStroem]

Since you feel this way, request a refund and move on. Life is to short to let yourself feel ripped off.

 

[goin' goofy]

I was seriously disappointed in the site when I used it a few years ago. The information seemed really general, and mostly things I could get from other (free!) sites about Disney World.

My biggest problem was references I found about Dixie Landings and The Disney Institute - both of which were long gone at the time. These are the two items that stick out in my mind, but I recall repeatedly finding information that was either really old or just plain incorrect. I was irritated, not really for myself because I knew better, but when I thought of first timers who purchased access to the site to help plan their trip and then being fed bogus information it made me upset.

I sent an email to the "contact" address on the website stating my issues with the site and suggested an update. I never received a reply (which I didn't expect), but I checked the site right before my subscription ran out (several months after my email) and the information still wasn't changed.

Its only saving grace was that I hadn't paid for the subscription - it was given to me by my travel agent as part of my booking package. I would've been pretty upset had I put down money on it!

 

[torsie24]

Surely he can't update the August hours until they are out? Seeing as that only happened a day ago then you can't blame him for not doing it yet.

I was just saying how good I think his MNSSHP advice is....

 

[Kim1964]

I agree that there are issues with old information on the site, but he can't do the charts until Disney releases the hours. Since it seems to be anyone's guess these days as to when Disney will do that for any given month, it really isn't fair to expect him to look into a crystal ball and guess.

 

[Aliceacc]

I can see that, with August hours being released just yesterday, that info couldn't possibly be current.

But July has been out for some time now. And I see no excuse for still having 2007 info.

I would request a refund and take a look at either www.touringplans.com or www.ridemax.com

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

I agree that he can't do the hours or predictions until the hours/EMH are out, they have just recently started only releasing 3 months ahead of time, right? This may be why it seems like he is delayed more than in the past.

BUT, I was messing around with touring plans and he doesn't even have TOY STORY listed as a ride nor any info about Toy Story. That ride opened up in 2008, right??? I went on it in Sept. 2008, so it's been months and months with no update. I would be upset if I planned a touring plan for DHS and got there to realize that TSM was a HUGE part of a good touring plan and I hadn't known about it.

 

[Dorisk3]

I have also subscribed to TGM's site for our last 3 trips- but we most probably won't for this one. On the matter of the best days- which is probably the most useful part of site now in my opinion- he probably can't update till Disney puts the hours out. I'll give him that. However, when I was waiting for my park hours to do ADR's last year, his best days chart was late, so I had to figure out which ADR's and then go back and compare when they were done.

I expect you'll get some diehard TGMs on this thread eventually. They always stick up for him and will tell you to go the their forums. I think that has been discussed various times here on the disboards. My take is that I'm paying Mike and not misc. people on his forums for advise. If I want to ask the general Disney population a question, I'd ask here for free. It's actually kind of sad because I really thought he had an excellent site and a great idea for a business. Hopefully he will eventually overhaul his site and get back on track.

 

[fan1080]

BUT, I was messing around with touring plans and he doesn't even have TOY STORY listed as a ride nor any info about Toy Story. That ride opened up in 2008, right??? I went on it in Sept. 2008, so it's been months and months with no update. I would be upset if I planned a touring plan for DHS and got there to realize that TSM was a HUGE part of a good touring plan and I hadn't known about it.

TSMM is listed on touring plans site, I just checked. There is a description page for it and it's listed on the touring plan as well.

 

[Kim1964]

I expect you'll get some diehard TGMs on this thread eventually. They always stick up for him and will tell you to go the their forums. I think that has been discussed various times here on the disboards. My take is that I'm paying Mike and not misc. people on his forums for advise. If I want to ask the general Disney population a question, I'd ask here for free. It's actually kind of sad because I really thought he had an excellent site and a great idea for a business. Hopefully he will eventually overhaul his site and get back on track.

Although I defended him about not having the charts done before Disney releases the park hours, I want to be clear that that is the only thing I was defending. Last year when I was waiting for charts to make my ADRs they were very slow in coming and I was very ticked off about it. Emails to Mike were ignored. The moderator of my vacation club took a stab at it and did a very good job for us, but I agree, I was paying for Mike's advice, not one of his proteges. The fact that TSM still isn't in the plans isn't good, either. All of this played into my decision not to renew for my upcoming trip.

 

[fan1080]

BUT, I was messing around with touring plans and he doesn't even have TOY STORY listed as a ride nor any info about Toy Story. That ride opened up in 2008, right??? I went on it in Sept. 2008, so it's been months and months with no update. I would be upset if I planned a touring plan for DHS and got there to realize that TSM was a HUGE part of a good touring plan and I hadn't known about it.

TSMM is listed on touring plans site, I just checked. There is a description page for it and it's listed on the touring plan as well.


ETA: Just realized you probably meant the touring plans on TGM's site. In which case, please excuse me, I thought you were talking about touring plan's site.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

TSMM is listed on touring plans site, I just checked.

ok, right...TGM, not touring plans! I should double check but I couldn't find Toy Story at TGM about a month ago. It was like it didn't exist?!?!?

 

[fan1080]

Well that's good! I did not see it when I was checking a month or so ago and it really threw me for a loop. I wouldn't want to state something that wasn't true. Glad that it is updated!

See my last post. Not sure if we were talking about the same site.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Nope, we weren't...but I keep editing after you post to respond and I'm sure it's confusing! LOL!

If anyone can find articles about TSM on Tourguide Mike's site or in his touring plans, I will stand corrected. The site can be confusing to navigate and maybe I missed it somehow???

 

[fan1080]

Nope, we weren't...but I keep editing after you post to respond and I'm sure it's confusing! LOL!

If anyone can find articles about TSM on Tourguide Mike's site or in his touring plans, I will stand corrected. The site can be confusing to navigate and maybe I missed it somehow???

I would have to agree with most here then. If I was a paying subscriber to his site I wouldn't be happy.

And, I'm surprised DISboards would remain, or even start, a significant relationship with him.

 

[Dorisk3]

Although I defended him about not having the charts done before Disney releases the park hours, I want to be clear that that is the only thing I was defending. Last year when I was waiting for charts to make my ADRs they were very slow in coming and I was very ticked off about it. Emails to Mike were ignored. The moderator of my vacation club took a stab at it and did a very good job for us, but I agree, I was paying for Mike's advice, not one of his proteges. The fact that TSM still isn't in the plans isn't good, either. All of this played into my decision not to renew for my upcoming trip.

Sorry, I actually wasn't commenting on what you said about the charts, I agree with you completely!- he can only do them when he gets the hours. I had a very similar experience to yours with an email about the lack of info about the finding Nemo show at AK last year- ignored and then at the forums was told that Mike "didn't recommend it" so it was not worked into any sample tour plan. The folks on the forums there are very nice however and did try to explain when to work it in.

When I mentioned the die hard fans I was thinking of previous threads I've participated in where the discussions got very heated and people were very passionately defending TGM's outdated site info. A few years ago I used to defend him to some degree (more about the layout of his website). Back then the content was more current though and it was a little easier to defend TGM.

 

[junderwood7]

I agree that his site could use some updating and I have subscribed several times since 2004. I took a quick trip last year without subscribing but went back for my trip this year. I loved the TGM initially but it doesn't look like the site content has been kept up.

 

[carmiedog]

Nope, we weren't...but I keep editing after you post to respond and I'm sure it's confusing! LOL!

If anyone can find articles about TSM on Tourguide Mike's site or in his touring plans, I will stand corrected. The site can be confusing to navigate and maybe I missed it somehow???

If you follow the "Parks and Places" blue tab at the top, TSMM is under DHS (individual park links are on the left of the page; then the individual park "lands" are on the right of the page - TSMM is included in the Mickey Avenue section - eta that this set-up isn't much different than these board's info site wdwinfo.com):

http://www.tourguidemike.com/parks/attractionDetails.asp?attractionId=176

(additional links on bottom of that page)

It's just not included in the SAMPLE touring plans. Which, by theory is fine since you are supposed to create your own plans. However, a LOT of people do use those samples as their starting point, so it would be nice to see it included since it is such a major attraction.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

If you follow the "Parks and Places" blue tab at the top, TSMM is under DHS (individual park links are on the left of the page; then the individual park "lands" are on the right of the page - TSMM is included in the Mickey Avenue section):

http://www.tourguidemike.com/parks/attractionDetails.asp?attractionId=176

(additional links on bottom of that page)

It's just not included in the SAMPLE touring plans. Which, by theory is fine since you are supposed to create your own plans. However, a LOT of people do use those samples as their starting point, so it would be nice to see it included since it is such a major attraction.

That must be why I couldn't find it, I was looking at sample plans, trying to figure out the best way to tour. I stand corrected and I'm glad it's not totally missing from the site.