Easy wdw touring plan vs touring plans

[pesto78749]

No one has mentioned the optimizer feature on touring plans. This has saved us a TON of time as a family. Lets say your plan that you created ahead of time said space, splash and big thunder then haunted mansion. Well one time that was our order. Hitting optimize when coming out of space it changed the order and we found out later that splash broke down so it was sending us to thunder, then haunted mansion and we optimized later and it put splash at the end and we rode it with a 15 min wait. I could list many more times when the optimizer feature was worth every penny!

 

[DisneyBrat]

I am still confused lol If I use the crowd calendar on TP to determine which day to tour which parks but use easywdw for the cheat sheets would this work out ok?

 

[SeanTomorrow]

I am still confused lol If I use the crowd calendar on TP to determine which day to tour which parks but use easywdw for the cheat sheets would this work out ok?

I think you'll be fine. The day you visit and plan you use are independent variables. Just by paying attention and using a plan already puts you ahead of most visitors.

Good luck!

 

[chiisai]

No one has mentioned the optimizer feature on touring plans. This has saved us a TON of time as a family. Lets say your plan that you created ahead of time said space, splash and big thunder then haunted mansion. Well one time that was our order. Hitting optimize when coming out of space it changed the order and we found out later that splash broke down so it was sending us to thunder, then haunted mansion and we optimized later and it put splash at the end and we rode it with a 15 min wait. I could list many more times when the optimizer feature was worth every penny!

Totally agree. TP has a lot of flexibility in designing your day. Especially adding in the fp+. I'm using them for our spring break trip where I am pretty much by either easywdw or tp.

I used TP for our DL and CA last spring break and loved the personalized plans from TP. In park optimization was awesome. Our plans changed a bit throughout the day and it was great.

 

[grizzy77]

We use both, but our trips are spur of the moment day visits (from Tampa).

I've been using TP since 2010 and I think they're usually dead on. We're mainly interested in shorter MK wait times and I feel TP is better at this. We use it for finding MK levels at 3 or below. Plenty of times EasyWDW has disagreed with those TP low crowd predictions by not making MK a "most recommended", or even sometimes a "not recommended". But yet, we've gone and experienced the smaller crowds TP was predicting.

I feel like EasyWDW is more for (and really good at) helping people map out, and get the most bang out of, their full week vacation, and recommends parks with that in mind. They weigh things like park hours, special parades, etc. They say things like, "save this park for later in the week so you can view the MSEP".

Guess it matters what type of guest you are. Since we're local we can (and do) visit often. We don't need to spend 12 hours in the park, ride everything, see everything, etc. We can spend 4 hours in a park, hit some favorites, and call it a day. So, for us, the park specific levels on TP have always worked great.

 

[letsgoreds]

EasyWDW + KTP = Great trip

If you need to spend money on something, buy Josh's book. I did and will gift it to the next friend I know who is planning their first trip. Saves me from printing and gifting all of his maps and cheat sheets (meat of the page).

What is great about Josh is that he is teaching you about touring at Disney, so that you can adapt/apply knowledge when there are rode closures, weather issues, etc. vs. the minute-by-minute spoon fed (often inaccurate) touring plan that TP provides (for a fee).

I am planning a trip to DL and am checking out RideMax. Still too much detail, and not enough logic/summary approach to tour smart.

 

[edk35]

I sure wish TGM was still around. Loved his site. Used it for many years. I would love to know his take on FP+ touring the parks these days.

 

[MarkF0wle]

I've planned holidays using both tools - we are not a family that finds a daily touring schedule to our liking so I only use them to decide where to go each day. With that in mind & in my subjective experience I find easyWDW to guide me better.

When I was making this decision myself I planned a holiday using both, the days when they both agreed was settled & when they disagreed I chose 50/50 based on each websites recommendations. Of those days I felt the days I followed easyWDWs pick to be less busy. While it's hardly scientific following Josh's recommendations leaves me relaxed & that's what I want when I am on holiday.

 

[NOLAteacher]

Well, it all depends on your alternatives. Here's the real example I have in mind, planning for 2 days at the MK:

MK day 1: Early morning hours, crowds 5/10 on TP. EasyWDW DOES NOT recommend

MK day 2: No early morning hours, crowds 6/10 on TP. EasyWDW DOES recommend

This is why I take their recommendations with a grain of salt. You have to test their reasoning against your alternatives, not just accept their conclusions. They're saying there are other days of the week that might work better, but it's not a 1:1 relationship that recommended = low crowds.

I'm having a similar problem. May 25, Memorial Day, TP shows MK as a 6 and the other parks as 8 or 9. However, EasyWDW says to avoid MK on Memorial day because MK is always the busiest park on holidays. I looked at TP's crowd counts for previous Memorial Days, and it showed MK as the lower crowd of the 4 parks. We'll have 6 days at the parks. What should we do for Memorial Day? TP shows very high crowd counts for the other parks and EasyWDW recommends EP and AK. (TP says AK will be a 9!) Conflicting park recommendations happen later in the week too. Please help me decide what to do...

 

[siskaren]

However, EasyWDW says to avoid MK on Memorial day because MK is always the busiest park on holidays.

Well, actually, Josh says to avoid MK on Memorial Day because it's a Monday, his reasoning being that a lot of people travel over the weekend and want to go to MK on Mondays for their first full day. He doesn't say anything about avoiding it because it's a holiday. (He does recommend avoiding MK on the big holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter and 4th of July, though.)

 

[wareagle57]

Just because TP says one day is a 5 and the other day is a 6 doesn't mean that EasyWDW agrees with those rankings. I believe EasyWDW's daily crowd level predictions are more accurate than TP.

Also remember that EasyWDW takes the other parks into account when making recommenations. For your example, Epcot is a 2 on day 1, and a 4 on day 2. Which is better? A 2 day at Epcot followed by a 6 at Magic Kingdom, or a 5 at Magic Kingdom followed by a 4 at Epcot. 2+6=8, while 5+4=9; so you're better off, in total, with the higher crowd level at Magic Kingdom when you consider the trade-off (if you insist on using TP crowd level figures).

I think EWDW is much better at knowing which parks will be crowded on each day. But the reason I like the very inaccurate TP, is that they quantify their predications. Being the best park to visit for the day doesn't really mean much. I want to be able to compare how much better one park is to the other. If EWDW ever went to a number system, I would drop my TP subscription.

 

[Magpie]

I've used both Touring Plans and EasyWDW. In fact, I started with Touring Plans way back in 2005! For a little while, after EasyWDW came on the scene, I used both. Then one day I realized I'd barely cracked my latest copy of The Unofficial Guide to WDW, and I no longer needed or wanted step-by-step touring plans. So I let my TP subscription lapse and now I only use EasyWDW. Overall, based on my admittedly very unscientific observations, EasyWDW has been a better match for me, and feels more accurate, than Touring Plans. But I don't think you can go wrong with either site!

 

[Silock]

EasyWDW is perfectly fine if you are an experienced park goer, and are going on a low crowd week. Touring Plans is also great if you need the structure of a touring plan and are a number nerd, like me.

 

[Tarheel girl 1975]

I sure wish TGM was still around. Loved his site. Used it for many years. I would love to know his take on FP+ touring the parks these days.

I think that Josh uses a lot of the same reasoning that TGM used for his recommendations. Most of it is common sense for WDW veterans anyway.