Has Anyone Used Tour Guide Mike???

[PenguinGal]

Just wondered if anyone has used Tour Guide Mike (www.tourguidemike.com) when planning their WDW vacation? My family will be making our first trip in June, and I have been diligently reading the many guidebooks and websites. His site looks very good - just wondered if others who'd invested in his materials felt that they were a good value. Thanks!

 

[luvngoofy]

I am using TGM and the DIS for our planning. We leave in 37 days, yahoo!
I don't know when in June you are going but I will post when we return and let you know if he was useful. He seems to have a lot of valuable info though.

 

[PenguinGal]

Thanks - I'll look forward to hearing what you think. The site does look good, and I may go ahead and buy his planning guide just to see what I can learn from it. Compared to the price of our trip, it is a very small investment!

 

[welovedisneyx4]

I used TGM last year and loved it. The more info I can get about DW when planning a DW trip, the better. Go for it!!

 

[Daniel&family]

We've just got back and used Tourguide Mike along with the guide books.

We found his Tour Plans very good and managed to get most of the main attractions done early with minimal waits (this was also over the Easter period). We toured all the parks and were especially impressed with his Plans for AK and Fantasyland @ MK.

However to take advantage of his Tour Plans you have to be prepared to be at the parks before opening and I found the web site a little hard to manage.

Overall if you are a early riser I would thoughly recommend his advice.

If you do decide to use his services I have a discount code for friends that will save $3.00 (HE7KD-8GD), although I'm sure other codes are available.

 

[Eyore4Ever149]

What about the fact that he says you wont wait in any line more than 10-15 minutes and satisfaction gauranteed.

I just signed up and I cant say I care for the website, and all the information seems rather generic (meaning I have already read the same suggestions in at least 3 other informational locations, websites, or books....., but perhaps I am not looking in the right places....

I would love to hear from more people who have tried his services.....

 

[litlpixie]

We used TG Mike for our Easter week trip. We NEVER waited in line for more than 5-7 minutes....NEVER!!! I followed his advice basically to the letter except for 2 days that week we rested--no parks, and we got to see everything we wanted and we have 3 kids and visited every park! TG Mike is awesome and we will be purchasing another guide next year for our Summer trip.

 

[Eyore4Ever149]

Well, Im glad to hear that Litlpixie.

It seems like I still have to put the information together myself- I thought I was paying for a customized touring plan- I said I have no kids, and yet after I finished the questionaire I still have to siphon past the links for suggestions for touring for kids....

I must be doing something wrong, since there are other people who believe his planning is great. But I know I want to be careful what I write, because regardless of whether I like the service I agreed not to disclose anything he considers "his" but at the same time, Im not really seeing a lot different from what i have in my UnOfficial Guide- and theres no rules against sharing what I have in my UG book.

I do want to tour the parks in the most optimal planning method possible. whatever tour guide plan that is.
please understand,
Im not posting to bad mouth anybody- but because I feel I paid for a service because I have read enough DIS posts praising it, but in the last 2 hours of reading the site...Im feeling let down. But I really want to rectify that , since others believe it to be successful.
I know I read one DISer who wrote that they considered themselves an expert, but TGM had them beat.

 

[KIRSTIN'S MOMMY]

I agree totally! I bought TGM to find customized touring plans also, and haven't seen anything to that effect. He advertises this, but then on the site, it says "please understand that I cannot give everyone a customized itenerary" huh? I'm also finding the site to be a little overwhelming. Maybe I'm not looking in the right places for the touring info? If you have bought TGM and have had success with the touring plans, please pm me and tell me where to look!

 

[motaei]

I used TGM for my last trip & this upcoming trip. I really like his stuff. His writing style is very personable. I can easily narrow down (and add to) the "best of the best", narrow down my restaraunt choices, etc. He has great photo tours too. When I am ready, I can just print out a page of what to see when, as well as a page for my day's itinerary. You do need to take some time to get familiar with the lay out - however, he also has a link if you are in a hurry that will speed up the process & get you to the "need to know" areas of his site. He makes up-to-date changes to the site & changes his itinerary advice as needed - such as with the new EMH test in May.

BTW - I had some trouble with my personal preferences this 2nd time around. I emailed him & he replied promptly, personally & his tech solved the issue. I was very pleased with the personal service.

 

[Eyore4Ever149]

bump

 

[trstno1]

I'm leaving Friday and I plan to use his touring plans for small children - my kids are 4, 22 mo, and 22 mo. I didn't find plans elsewhwere that fit as well for this age group.

That said, I think you can otherwise find most of his information on your own, particularly if you are as obsessed as most of the people on this board.

I'll let you know what I think after I get back.

 

[cruisnfamily]

If you want a truly customized plan just for you then Tourguide Mike is not the place to find it. Go to www.touringplans.com which is run by the UG and they will make you a touring plan that will work around your personal likes/dislikes/PSs/breaks, etc. It is the only place I know of to get a truly custom plan.

Personally, I wouldn't pay TGM for the same general info I can get right here.

Check this thread for more info:http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=551572&highlight=+tourguide++mike

 

[BrianMonk]

just wondered if others who'd invested in his materials felt that they were a good value

This is probably best answered by saying....It depends.

It depends on what you're looking for.

If you're looking for a site that gives you a plan to follow without doing a lot of reading and searching through different articles, then the touringplans may be your best bet. I haven't bought one (yet), but based on the example, I seems you put in a bunch of your own personal criteria and it chews it up, digests it, and spits it back out with a nice concise plan to follow.

If you like researching, reading, adjusting, tinkering, and being in control, etc...then you may like TGM (I do). I basically have multiple plans going for different kids of mine. One is 2.5 years old and she won't be going on all of the rides our 6 year old will go on. Our 4 year old will be mixed inbetween.

I also have a grandma and grandpa going that will be mixed on what they do as well. Many rides we'll do all together, some will be mixed and some may just be my wife (or me) with the 6 year old while the others are doing something more age appropriate for our 2 & 4 year olds.

TGM gives me tons of info (some great and some ok) and I decide what I want to do, when to do it and who is going to do it. I take a little bit of this and a little bit of that and make my own plan. It is a lot of work, but I do it once the kids are in bed. It's either that or watch some excuse they call a TV show.

Some of it is definately redundant on what you read here. But should he really NOT include things that are on the DIS? To me, when my current subscription expires, I'll be reordering even without a trip "in the queue". I just like reading it for the heck of it or when I do talk my homebody wife into going again, I'll be ready.

TGM is somewhat difficult to navigate. I can tell you multiple times I've tried to find a specific article I've read there before and it took a while before I could find it again. Get comfortable with the search feature and that should help.

Neither is all that expensive compared to a trip to Disney. Maybe give each a try?

And let me plug to all who haven't given, how about a <i>little</i> financial support for the DIS too? If possible, it would be great as advertising rates for Internet impression revenue stinks, pop-ups blow chunks, and I'd absolutely hate to see the DIS eventually have to go the way of the cheesy Internet site as listed above. As someone who spends waaaaayyyy too much time on the net, this site, and the posters, are superb!

 

[Atotty]

TGM is awesome. You can keep doing research...all over the internet and reading books, but you won't find the same info he has. I read 15+ guidebooks last trip (literally) and found out all I needed was Mouseforless e-mail list, allearsnet.com and TGM. (I found disboards too late last time...two weeks before our trip...I love it though and am using it more than Mouseforless for the upcoming trip). I thought I had to do all the research myself, but these three things had everything I needed last time. Each place gives you diff info, but together they give me everything I need.

He updates things all the time because WDW changes all the time, so it's much more current than any guidebook out there. He's already updated his suggestions to include all the EMH test stuff. He's updated all of his suggested parks for each AM/PM for each of the test days and rates them 1, 2, 3 and let's you know why so you can make the best decision for your family.

For TGM, you put in your dates and answer a brief questionnaire and he'll show you the rides/parks/hotels/restaurants/everything Disney that are the best according to your personal likes/dislikes. It's good because it will allow you to focus and learn about just the things that you're family is interested in/would enjoy. If you hate seafood, there's no reason to wade through info on seafood restaurants. If you're on a value budget, there's no reason to wade through Grand Floridian info. But if you decide you want to,
you can still get to all the info about anything at WDW...even if you didn't put it on your questionnaire.

He also takes the info you give him in your questionnaire and comes up with a list of rides for each park. The list is divided into Best rides for AM, Afternoon, PM, Anytime to be able to avoid lines.

The other personalized parts are the e-mail reminders and the AVP (where you sign up for the month you're going and get ongoing updates for that month).

It does not give you a personalized itinerary, but it does have sample itineraries for thrill seekers, EMH Mornings, people with young children, etc...several categories...for each park that really work. He'll tell you to get FP, go ride this and this, then it's time for the FP return time and it worked every time for us. Our longest wait was 15 mins for Dumbos. And they are diff than the other guidebooks. I've looked. (couldn't help myself...it's the planner in me)

He has a chart that shows the best park for AM and PM for each day. He rates the parks 1-4 for each daypart and gives the reasons behind the ratings so you can decide where to go each day. It really helped us stay away from the crowds.

He tells you the best places to sit for every ride, the little things you may overlook in the ride, things to help a child who is timid about a ride, tips for being picked for interactive shows, etc. Tons of info that I haven't seen anywhere else.

He tells you the overlooked photo opps.

He also has an auto e-mail feature that reminds you when to do certain things such as every PS you want for food, illuminations cruises, Pirate Cruise, Hoop De Doo, etc. You can even put in your own reminders....stop the paper, get someone to take care of the cat, get RX refilled, etc. and he'll send you e-mail reminders for those, too.

He also has tons of info on restaurants, hotels, pix, and ratings from WDW guests. If it's Disney, he has pix, hints, and ratings for it...except for Disneyquest...and only a little for Typhoon Lagoon.

He also has all the schedules for each park and the special events and lets you know when it changes. You sign up for the time you're going and he has a special section that tells you all the times, changes, rehabs, etc. for then...and he updates it all the time as things change so you don't have to keep cruising the internet to find it. Just found rehab info that hasn't hit allearsnet.com yet that effects our trip. Ans it's all in one place.

JMHO,

 

[Eyore4Ever149]

Giving to the DIS is a totally different topic and doesn't belong here.

I plan to read more on the TGM website today. If I am still not satisfied I will contact them.

It seems those with different types of people in their party have a greater success rate with needing his information.

I would still love to have someone PM me (if they need to do it that way) and tell me please where they found the outlined itinerary for their particular group- or does that not exhist? Anything else that they found on his site that they didn't know about from discussion boards, books, etc.

Thanks

 

[Serenity]

There was a discount offered last year for Mousesavers so I signed up for TGM at half price. I am glad it was half price, because I didn't really benefit. I know most everyone really likes it but I found the information too general. He listed every resturant on my preference list - I could have done that. I found the site to be difficult to understand and the information to be not that much different from other websites (which are free). Maybe I just didn't know how to appreciate the information he gave, but I would not use it again.