Anyone here use Tour guide mike?

[LisaZ1113]

I was about to sign up, but was wondering if it was worth it?? Those that have used his strategies, were you happy? Thanks!

 

[lovetoscrap]

Moving this to the Theme Parks Board.

 

[scanmom]

we went to WDW July 6-10th this past summer, and
I was really worried that it would be a horrible trip, being summer and all. It turned out to be a fairly good trip, even though my DH's shirt caught a spark from the fireworks and got a hole the size of a quarter burnt in it, DS had a spider bite that absessed ad ended up getting it drained in the ER, and I fell outside the Dolphin hotel on a patch of still wet concrete and fractured my kneecap, which is finally in the end stages of healing! But, TGM was some help with the crowds, but we didn't follow his advice to the letter. We did follow it most of the time, and we only had one long wait, RNRC, which was about an hour. But, I think that we would have done just fine from tips on this board and others. Probably wouldn't reccomend paying for his services to anyone else. Now, if you want a ride by ride breakdown of where to go all day, you could try ridemax. I have never used it, so don't know if it really works firsthand, but I have read good reviews about it.

 

[dannewi]

There were a few things that were not as I had expected. But seeing that this was our first trip in 13 years and our last trip was a disaster (I think it took me 13 years to recover), I felt it would be worth it.

I liked the current calendar updates. I liked the reviews of all the attractions. It was easier to find what I was looking for instead of looking through all the different chats and threads. I liked parts of the planner where I could put all my reservations desires and the ability to mark them complete.

What I was not thrilled with was the actual tour creation. When I see automated vacation planner I assumed that I would choose the attractions and these would be pulled into a spreadsheet .. something along those lines. Automated right?

This is not the case. You still have to create your own plan / spreadsheet if you are not printing and following the tour examples. This is not what I was expecting. I was expecting an application that would allow me to pick my attractions and then have those generate into a printable spreadsheet format. This is not what the site does. The tour examples can be printed out in several formats, but they are not in a format that is easy to update if you want to tweak or remove an attraction.

I found some things still outdated. I found a review for the Stars and Motor Cars Parade that I was excited about. Added it to my tour, but then just found out a week ago that this was an old parade that no longer takes place. Nothing on the site indicates the parade no longer takes place. There are no current updates for Space Mountain. I think that until it is officially announced by Disney, it does not make it to the site. You may find updates in the chat room, but why pay for that when you have disboards.

Then there were some items I found that I did not find anywhere else. Our friends went in September and told us how much they planned based on the tour books and some stuff they found on the internet. They had a miserable trip. They missed Fantasmic, missed some of the parades, missed Kim Possible.. etc. I expect our trip will have better results. I liked that a monthly calendar has the dates of all the parades and fireworks documented in one place.

In the end I felt it was worth the $18.00. I figured giving up one trip to Mickey D's would pay for months use of the site. I got much more out of the site than I did from the WDW tour guide book I bought.

We will know for sure in 10 days... if anything... my little tour package I created for our family looks impressive !!!

 

[eliza61]

I was about to sign up, but was wondering if it was worth it?? Those that have used his strategies, were you happy? Thanks!

We used it once. I think I tried it at the wrong time. when I finally bit, I had been to Disney a number of times and I was a member here. So 95% of what he recommended I already knew.

I enjoy reading about the world so it wasn't a waste of money but I don't use it now since I'm a "regular". I check out the crowd calendar on the other site for free.

Hey for 20 bucks, I'd probably recommend it. It's about the same price as a good book.

 

[Pinkpony]

Yes, I've used it and I'm using it again. In fact, I just came over from TGM's site. I needed a touring plan for AK (we've never been) and so I posted under the "Theme Parks Touring and Strategies" thread and now have a touring plan that's tailored to our specs. I'm using the same touring plans for the other parks that the helpful posters on TGM's site helped me put together last year. The money is worth it for the forum alone.

I too was a little disappointed that the "automated" part wasn't what I was expecting, but the articles are very helpful.

The advice on which parks to visit on what days is super!

During our last visist (last Thanksgiving week), we waited less than 15 minutes for any ride, and mostly it was 5 to 10 minutes. I think there was one time we waited about 20 minutes for TT, but that was because the ride broke down right before we got on with our FP.

You could probably find all your answers here on the DIS, but it would take a lot of research and asking a lot of questions and doing a lot of searches.

I'd say if you're a touring veteran, you won't need it. But if you're unfamiliar with WDW, it's a wonderful tool to make your vacation more enjoyable.

 

[Debonna]

I have used it once and actually like Touring Plans better. (www.touringplans.com) They seemed more practical and easier to follow than TGM. Just my personal opinion.

 

[PAcpl]

This is the fourth time I have signed up for TGM. Well worth the cash IMO.

Have fun!

 

[kennythepirate]

I like Touring Plans and Ridemax way better. Mike's site was very clunky and cumbersome. His best parks recommendations are the same as the others, just color coded and divided by half day. All these guys recommend the same thing: Stay away from Extra Magic Hours = they attract crowds.

Ridemax is nice because you can pick and choose easily which attractions you want and how many times and what times.

Touringplans best asset is the numerical value of how busy the park will be on the day you choose it. It has a nice assortment of formatted touringplans as well.

 

[LisaZ1113]

Thanks everyone!

 

[MariDisney]

I like Touring Plans and Ridemax way better. Mike's site was very clunky and cumbersome. His best parks recommendations are the same as the others, just color coded and divided by half day. All these guys recommend the same thing: Stay away from Extra Magic Hours = they attract crowds.

Ridemax is nice because you can pick and choose easily which attractions you want and how many times and what times.

Touringplans best asset is the numerical value of how busy the park will be on the day you choose it. It has a nice assortment of formatted touringplans as well.

I will admit to using TGM every trip for his best parks. I compared his with touringplans this last trip just out of curiosity and they only agreed on I think 2 out of 8 days.

 

[lucas43068]

we used it, it was pretty decent, but honestly, most of it was common sense.. and if you have little ones, you cant ever stick to a touring plan anyway, well all know they are the tour guides!

 

[lucas43068]

that being said, i would probably get it again if there are new attractions next time we go. and just to use it for what days and where.

 

[duffy]

I use it, almost solely to get the "least crowded parks" on each day of our visit. Once I know which park, I know what to do: be there at rope drop, get a FastPass right away, etc.

When I try to figure out which park to go to on which day, my head hurts. I let Mike tell me where to go, and when.

 

[rie'smom]

We use Mike every time. His least crowded days and the vacation club forum for the particular month is a godsend for the trips.

 

[Dan Murphy]

We use Mike for every time. His least crowded days and the vacation club forum for the particular month is a godsend for the trips.

Likewise here. For less than 20 bucks, (a third less than parking for a day here in Chicago), I let him figure out the 'what park/s what day/night deal. It has never failed me yet, slower times, busier times. I prefer a relaxing vacation, not a commando one. That translates to going to the low crowd park/s.

 

[Travel Mum]

I have joined Tour Guide Mike and, although we are not going until next September, I've got a question. How far in advance does he release his least crowded days calendar? Is it as soon as WDW releases it's hours and therefore before the ADR reservation window opens up?

 

[triciari]

I got it when I was planning my first ever trip to Disney - with only 5 weeks notice! It was fantastic! I'm going again next month and purchased it again, and it's still helpful, but not nearly as helpful as it is for a first-trip planner!

-Tricia

 

[triciari]

I have joined Tour Guide Mike and, although we are not going until next September, I've got a question. How far in advance does he release his least crowded days calendar? Is it as soon as WDW releases it's hours and therefore before the ADR reservation window opens up?

I purchased months before my 180+ came up, and the park days were only published a day or two before my 180+ day! That being said, you can pretty easily look back on past years (archived and accessible) and figure out what days are likely to be recommended - you just need to match Monday to Monday, and so forth, and not Nov. 1 to Nov. 1. And, if you're in doubt, you can post your guesses on the forum (much smaller community than this) and compare with their long-time posters. Also, I chose ADRs for 2 different parks when I was in doubt about where I'd go, and then deleted some when I made my final decision.

-Tricia

 

[dqpowell]

I have used Tour Guide Mike, Unofficial Guide/touringplans.com, and RideMax on various trips. I used and compared all three for one of my trips.

In my opinion, touringplans.com is the best value, offering the most benefits with the lowest subscription cost. If you get the companion book, The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World, the overall cost goes up but the cost of the website subscription is cut in half, and you end up with a useful reference book too.

Tour Guide Mike is useful if you have a lot of time to plan (several months) and can take your time reading everything on the site and interacting on the private forums there. The disadvantage is that a lot of his material is outdated and hasn't been updated in a long time. The advantage is that he has an active community of subscribers on the private forums who are willing to help you work out a plan. And that's the other advantage or disadvantage, depending on what you want to get out of it. He doesn't provide actual step-by-step touring plans. You will build them yourself using his recommendations and touring philosophy and probably some help from the forum regulars.

Touringplans.com offers actual touring plans in lots of "flavors." You pick the plan that best matches your available time and preferences, and it gives you the steps. 1. Go here, and do this. 2. Go there, and do that. ... I have used their touring plans to great success, and can assure you they do work well.

RideMax is designed for the person who wants to customize a touring plan to the nth degree. You enter what rides/attractions you're interested in, and the number of times you want to do each thing, and it comes up with a down-to-the-minute plan for your park day. You have to remember to plan things like potty breaks and lunch. It's good for control freak/commando touring, but little else IMO.

TGM and touringplans offer other useful information such as recommended parks/avoid parks each day. Touringplans has also implemented a new per-park crowd calendar that estimates crowd levels at each park each day.

I like touringplans.com best, but all of them work (keeping in mind what each one is designed to do).

David