FP+ is making UOG Touring Plans seem very appealing

Rosebud123

DIS Veteran
Joined
Feb 9, 2012
Messages
880
We've always followed a plan, but never an exact ride-by-ride one like the ones in the UOG. Staying offsite in April and I'm thinking this might be the only way for us to actually enjoy Disney this trip! I hate standing in lines.
 
The problem is I'm not sure you can even count on those until they have had a chance to figure in how all the new changes are affecting everything.

Their plans were all set up around the old fp- system. It was great to use the plans because in general you knew if I pull a fp for ride A at time X, it will return a time somewhere around Y. Then they had you do things in between those two times. Since it doesn't work that way anymore, all the plans will have to be redone.

Also, they had predicting crowds down. Now rides and shows that use to not have lines do and crowd patterns are all being changed based on what's getting booked. I figure it will take at least a year to settle into any kind of predictable pattern and until then all bets are off on touring plans.

The only strategy I'd bet on right now is book all the headliners you can, rope drop for the others, and use an app to monitor wait times for the rest.

Which all kind of sucks because I've had great luck following the touring plans in the past. Saved us a ton of time relative to same time of year without them. And they weren't really that bad. It was nice to know when and where we were going. No fighting, arguing, debating what to do next, or wasting time trying to decide what to do next.
 
Good point! I didn't even realize the plans relied on FP. I thought they just had the rides timed perfectly. Thanks.
 
I guess in theory you could modify or leave the fp out of the plans, but I don't see how they would be accurate anymore even if u ignored those parts.

The plans worked because they understood that x number of people were normally in a certain part of the park at a certain time. Then they moved you to the parts of the park with the least amount of people. Since the old fp effected where those crowds built and when, none of that applies now.

I expect we will start seeing new crowds and lines in new places. Eventually, the plans will be a big time saver again, but I don't see that happening until new data is collected. You have to remember they had years of data and real world testing put into computer algorithms to create the current plans, now it's a whole new game.

I kind of feel bad for them. It's going to be almost like starting over. They will need to collect all new data to figure out where people are going when with the new system. Add to that, that the old fp has been gradually phased out. No one will be able to collect any valid data until the old system is completely gone and people have had a chance to settle into whatever the new patterns turn into. Once those new patterns are established, they will be able to feed that data into the computer and create new plans that work with the new system, but I wouldn't expect to see those turn up for quite a while.

I actually expect new plans may make the whole situation worse with plans telling people book XY&Z as your FP+ choices, then ride AB&C, with everyone trying to do the same thing at the same time. Because there is really no other way to fit it all in, since you can't pull throughout the day like before. Many people who wouldn't bother to follow a plan before, will now at least follow the first part of the instructions to book XY&Z because what does that cost them? They won't need to get up early, or stick to a plan, so if the guide book says book these specific FP+, I think people will try to do it.

It should be interesting to see what happens.
 

The Unofficial Guide to WDW is also updated.

Well, thats true and I bought a new one, but I don't find the FP info in there very meaningful at all in this edition. I wasn't expecting it to be either, so I'm not complaining about that. It's very limited and some of it is already seeming out of date, or incorrect (I can't remember what specifically, just that I thought that while reading). But the program is still too new and filled with too many changes for a printed book to be up to date on that. I think the TP in the back of the book are the same as they have been in the past, but I didn't study them very closely so I could be wrong on that.

At this time, I do not have high expectations for TP models or RideMax's program to be working as well as they have for folks in the past.
 


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