Are touring plans worth it?

[kelmcdstl]

I spent well over an hour this evening trying to come up with a touring plan at touringplans.com for one day at the Magic Kingdom. I never could manage to create one that didn't have me running from one end of the park to the other between each attraction. That sounds exhausting. Has anyone had luck with these? The crowd level predicted for that day is a 2.

 

[asmit4]

This is because you are hitting 'optimize'....hit 'evaluate' instead

Put your attractions in the order YOU want, and then evaluate. It will give you a good idea as to how long everything will take. THEN I book FPs based on the longest wait times and evaluate again

 

[sethschroeder]

Make sure to set it for the least amount walking and more waiting. That should cut down on the walking some. Also note that you don't have to stick right to the plan you can complete in any order and just hit optimize after each ride is checked off even if it's not next .

 

[kathy884]

I created a customized one for our Magic Kingdom day this weekend too. I changed walking to relaxed. If it's too much criss crossing for you change you balance between walking and waiting to minimize walking. With a crowd level 2 day if you don't have any problems with your wait time like this, go for it. Next hit optimize and it should give you a plan with less criss crossing. Next if you want to switch the order of some things, change those on your own and then put in evaluate, which will keep your order and just update predicted times.

I had average for a balance between walking and waiting for us and put down relaxed pace as we'll have some seniors with us (active and in great shape for their ages), but will use a scooter in the park.

I like the plans, as they give me a realistic expectation of what we can fit in, and I add and subtract attractions accordingly. Also, they help minimize line times which is more important for heavy crowd days.

A 2 day should be pretty good, with waits not too bad for almost everything.

 

[ifjf414]

I spent well over an hour this evening trying to come up with a touring plan at touringplans.com for one day at the Magic Kingdom. I never could manage to create one that didn't have me running from one end of the park to the other between each attraction. That sounds exhausting. Has anyone had luck with these? The crowd level predicted for that day is a 2.

I like touringplans but I've found the "optimize" isn't really that helpful. It always seems to send you back and forth over the parks. You have to use your own common sense about generally where you want to go in the park. It's better for giving you an idea of how long you will be at each area and helping you maximize your time there.

You might even start with one of the other online plans and plug it into touringplans.

 

[Tarheel girl 1975]

I like touringplans but I've found the "optimize" isn't really that helpful. It always seems to send you back and forth over the parks. You have to use your own common sense about generally where you want to go in the park. It's better for giving you an idea of how long you will be at each area and helping you maximize your time there.

You might even start with one of the other online plans and plug it into touringplans.

Touring plans defaults to minimize time waiting, even if that means criss crossing the park. Luckily, you can customize by choosing to minimize walking instead. I usually set it to minimize walking and optimize my choices. Then I might tweak the order of a few attractions and evaluate my final plan.

 

[CyndyDan3girls]

This is because you are hitting 'optimize'....hit 'evaluate' instead

Put your attractions in the order YOU want, and then evaluate. It will give you a good idea as to how long everything will take. THEN I book FPs based on the longest wait times and evaluate again

This is great advice and something that it took me a while to figure out. Once I did the same, it worked great. I put in what I wanted in a given area then hit evaluate. Once that came back up I scrolled down to the map that it includes and tweaked my selections to minimize the walking even more. Really worked well. Then I added the FP+s where I could. (I'd recommend trying to get all of your FP+s in by lunchtime so you'll still have some good options left if you want to pull a 4th or 5th FP later.)

BTW - when we actually got to the park, I didn't stick to the Touring Plan entirely but had it as a guideline in my head.

 

[j2thomason]

I sure do wish they would modify he website so you can sort your attractions on a tablet. I hardly ever use a desktop or laptop computer. I normally use my iPad. When I try to manually move/drag my attractions into the order I woulda like, they will not move on my iPad.

I have also found it very frustrating that when I put in information about my meals or Fastpasses, they don't get entered into the system at the times I selected.

I so like using touring plans for looking up show times, or crowd calendars. But the actual personalized touring plans never work correctly for me.

 

[BuzzinDownToDisney]

I sure do wish they would modify he website so you can sort your attractions on a tablet. I hardly ever use a desktop or laptop computer. I normally use my iPad. When I try to manually move/drag my attractions into the order I woulda like, they will not move on my iPad.

I have also found it very frustrating that when I put in information about my meals or Fastpasses, they don't get entered into the system at the times I selected.

I so like using touring plans for looking up show times, or crowd calendars. But the actual personalized touring plans never work correctly for me.

So much of all this! I do most of my planning on my iPad.

This is my biggest complaint. I schedule my breaks and meals and it always enters them 3 hours off.

My only other gripe is if you plan to try to meet some characters you can't schedule that and have it optimally worked to their location.

 

[BlueFairy]

They advise you set your touring speeds first and optimize. Do this before you add in your fast passes. It will tell you which ones it thinks will have the longest waits. Those will be the best to use Fastpass for. Then enter, make whatever adjustments, and evaluate. Do this a few times.

I have noticed that setting a break, for instance in Frontierland that covers the parade window, also is better than just telling it I want to see a parade or show. Sometimes for meals as well. It adds walking time that sometimes looks unnecessary and throws things off.

I find the crowd calendar useful before booking my trip, but you've got that covered. I'm jealous of your 2 day.

 

[SA mom]

I had the same problem. I had ACL surgery 8 weeks ago and we hit the parks next week. Once I actually read everything on the page instead of hitting optimize right off the bat, I found something that I think is really going to work for us.

However, I'm not sure if I can enter Magic Kingdom at rope drop and NOT head straight to Dumbo!

 

[Woodmnky]

I had the same problem. I had ACL surgery 8 weeks ago and we hit the parks next week. Once I actually read everything on the page instead of hitting optimize right off the bat, I found something that I think is really going to work for us.

However, I'm not sure if I can enter Magic Kingdom at rope drop and NOT head straight to Dumbo!

We always arrange ours to start us at Dumbo. I do minimize walking, slow walking speed, and then optimize my choices. From there I rearrange things as I prefer and then evaluate my new plan. Most often this really doesn't change times much, but a few times it has. It is good to know this upfront so that I can then figure out what exactly is the best plan for our family.

Whether Touring Plans are worth it or not is very subjective. For us I really like having a step by step plan of what we are going to do and where our FP+ fit into this plan. This keeps us from forgetting something that we wanted to do because we got distracted by something else. By setting the walking speed at slow I have always ended up with extra time that lets us fit in the things that aren't listed in the Touring Plan.

I don't print the plan from the site, but instead copy the steps down onto a 3x5 index card. I highlight our FP+ selections and times. These are easy to keep in my pocket or on the stroller, plus it is nice to have a piece of paper rather than have to rely on MDE to tell me when my FP+ reservations are. In my steps I include the things we want to see & do that TPs does not list like M&Gs, photo stops, ect.

 

[twirler324]

In the past, I have only used the prepared touring plans. Do you feel that the customized ones are better to use?

 

[joannamet]

I love the customized plans. I just start with the plan that is closest to what I want for my group then enter fastpasses, dining and breaks. As long as I remember to hit Evaluate instead of Optimize I can reorder the attractions until I have the perfect plan.

Personally, we don't criss-cross the parks at all. We hit the attractions in one area and then move on using fastpass for the attractions with the longest wait times.

I use a laptop and I've never had any trouble with the system.

 

[ttintagel]

Whether or not the plans from that particular site meet your needs or not, I don't enjoy going without any plan at all. I absolutely hate those "What now?" moments and all the time they waste.

 

[vleeth]

I had such a great time customizing mine. I loved being able to put things in the order I wanted, change it around and see how long the waits would be (and how much I could get done in a day.)

Then I got to the parks and it was way off. It also told me it was going to be a '2' for crowd level. Not sure what happened but when I went to BTMR for my 5 min wait, it was a 30 min wait. It was 20-30 mins off on quite a few of the wait times. Same thing at Universal. Yes, I paid extra for the Universal part. I did not renew my subscription.

 

[kathy884]

Whether or not the plans from that particular site meet your needs or not, I don't enjoy going without any plan at all. I absolutely hate those "What now?" moments and all the time they waste.

I agree with you 100%. And we often go with a large group, which makes having a plan even more important. My brother and I put a plan together and give it to everyone and say they can do their own thing and/or join us for all or part of this and a core group goes for the plan.

 

[kathy884]

I had such a great time customizing mine. I loved being able to put things in the order I wanted, change it around and see how long the waits would be (and how much I could get done in a day.)

Then I got to the parks and it was way off. It also told me it was going to be a '2' for crowd level. Not sure what happened but when I went to BTMR for my 5 min wait, it was a 30 min wait. It was 20-30 mins off on quite a few of the wait times. Same thing at Universal. Yes, I paid extra for the Universal part. I did not renew my subscription.

Usually the WDW plans have been right on for me. One exception was a spring break DHS day. Last October though times were so close to what was predicted. It was almost scary.

I did the upgrade for Universal for December. Good to have the warning that this could we way off. We have a 4 day predicted. We'll see. Not too big a deal to us though if we need to skip some things. We mostly just want to see some of the HP theming.

 

[vleeth]

Usually the WDW plans have been right on for me. One exception was a spring break DHS day. Last October though times were so close to what was predicted. It was almost scary.

I did the upgrade for Universal for December. Good to have the warning that this could we way off. We have a 4 day predicted. We'll see. Not too big a deal to us though if we need to skip some things. We mostly just want to see some of the HP theming.

Crazy that your October trip was so spot on....because it was my October trip that was horribly wrong! We were at MK on Oct 27. It was a MNSSHP day so the crowds were supposed to be super low.

 

[martinmont]

Can you not change the order of the rides using the ipad? Or am I crazy