How well do Touring Plans work?

[jrandall]

So I'm trying not to plan extensively but I can't help myself. The more I think about waiting in line with toddlers is making me grouchy already so I'm finding myself using Tour Plans to try to minimize the wait and plan out where to start in the park, what time I want to leave. I need to get a rough idea how much we will be able to accomplish in a day. Has anyone successfully used personalized Touring Plans (from the website) while at the park? What was your outcome? This may have been discussed before but I am fairly new here. Thanks everyone!

 

[DYOBL0305]

Last year was our first time there with kids (6, 3, and 1 at the time) and I knew we wouldn't be able to make the most out of our trip without a lot of planning and strategizing, so I can totally relate to how you're feeling right now. I looked through different touring plans and followed some of their suggestions, but I ended up making up our own for every park based on character times, locations, and what I knew my kids could manage. We successfully got through each and every day at the parks with 30 min or less wait times for rides, plenty of time for breaks (very important with little ones), and, best of all, with no meltdowns! Lol

 

[jrandall]

Last year was our first time there with kids (6, 3, and 1 at the time) and I knew we wouldn't be able to make the most out of our trip without a lot of planning and strategizing, so I can totally relate to how you're feeling right now. I looked through different touring plans and followed some of their suggestions, but I ended up making up our own for every park based on character times, locations, and what I knew my kids could manage. We successfully got through each and every day at the parks with 30 min or less wait times for rides, plenty of time for breaks (very important with little ones), and, best of all, with no meltdowns! Lol

YES exactly my thoughts. I wasn't going to plan AT ALL. But now I'm thinking I need to plan out days so we have the least amount of waiting. Using fastpasses & low wait rides/attractions only. Plus scheduling in breaks so we don't miss things. I am stressed though because I don't see ANY way to get both sides of Epcot in unless we have 2 days there. Although I have 2 toddlers, I also have an 8 year old that will enjoy the major rides at Epcot.

 

[minnie mum]

2 days in Epcot are ideal, especially if you want to do all the WS attractions without frantically running around, and also want to do character meets.

I used to use Touring plans.com to plan our park touring guides. But the last few times I've just used the cheat sheets at easywdw.com. The worked very well.

 

[ilovebassets]

They're helpful to get a general idea as to the flow of your day. I find them most helpful for the Magic Kingdom, somewhat helpful for DHS and Animal Kingdom, and not really helpful for Epcot since it's really hard to time things around the World Showcase. I tend to stick to them for the morning when I need help getting from major attraction to major attraction. Then we eat a TS lunch usually, and slow things down in the afternoon for the less popular attractions. If you rope drop, you'll find this is the general theme of how things are recommended. We have a 2.5 yr old and a 4.5 yr old now, but have made three long drops with them both already, and 1 trip when the older child was 21 months, so I have a lot of experience with toddlers at WDW. If you're traveling at a lighter time of year and don't mind missing the occasional big attraction, you will spend very little time waiting in line if you follow that general pattern.

I don't know if you've subscribed to Touring Plans yet, but for the relatively small cost (you can almost always find a 20% discount code if you look for one as well), I find their information helpful even I don't follow a plan to the T.

 

[tink9702]

I used a touring plan for AK & MK and they worked great. I didn't bother with HS since I thought it was so small and that was a big mistake. We did a lot of "what should we do next" & missed shows we should have enjoyed. I also didn't do a plan for Epcot and we missed a lot there too. We still had a GREAT time at all the parks but I think we would have had an even better time if I did a touring plan for HS and Epcot too.

 

[JamiLeigh1913]

I just signed up with Touring Plans, with a 20% discount, I figured for under $11 why not?
We are arriving Oct 1st and right now they have crowds levels projected quite a bit lower than say Easywdw has theirs. I like that, but what if they underestimate? Has anyone had a problem with that?

 

[tink9702]

I just signed up with Touring Plans, with a 20% discount, I figured for under $11 why not?
We are arriving Oct 1st and right now they have crowds levels projected quite a bit lower than say Easywdw has theirs. I like that, but what if they underestimate? Has anyone had a problem with that?

I'm sure that if they are off the lines/waits would be longer and you may not accomplish as much. But even if that's the case your plan should still have less waits than a person who doesn't have a good plan. hitting headliners at RD, with FP+ or very late in the evening will always be the least amount of wait regardless of crowd size.

 

[soniam]

I use the personalized TP plans religiously. We have now done 3 WDW, 1 Uni, and 1 DLR with them. The best software is for WDW, but Uni and DLR are very helpful. There are times that I think the software is smoking crack and that can't possibly work. At the park, we almost always find that the hoards are right behind us, and wait times jump up the minute we get off the ride. We usually finish everything we want with plenty of free time to spare. They were great with FP+ too. We have used them in two FP+ trips now.

Another benefit of subscribing is that you get access to the Lines app, which is great at the park. It had posted, predicted, and reported wait times for all parks, FP+ availability, and TS, QS, & food cart menus.

I would go for it. What do you have to lose? If they don't work for you in the parks, then do something else. However, I bet you will be a convert after your first day.

 

[Anesthesia Fine]

They're helpful to get a general idea as to the flow of your day. I find them most helpful for the Magic Kingdom, somewhat helpful for DHS and Animal Kingdom, and not really helpful for Epcot since it's really hard to time things around the World Showcase.

This, exactly. It's also pretty easy to manage through the app if you have a change in plans; we got sidetracked by characters a bit, but being able to switch some things around on the fly helped keep us on track without a lot of back and forth and made everyone happy.

 

[hollypoast]

The Touring Plans lines app is worth the price alone, IMO. Good luck!

 

[tjevans]

When DW and I went to WDW when DD was 18-months old, I found there was no need for a touring plan, or at least, it wouldn't have done us any good (this was also before FP+). That's because:

(1) DD's nap time was during the prime times for more kid-friendly attractions,
(2) DD couldn't ride DW and my favorite attractions, but they had single-rider lines, minimizing the wait, and
(3) There was plenty to see and do for DD to keep entertained. At epcot, she loved walking under mist-ers. At WDW, in frontierland, she loved going near Rivers of America and watching ducks.

I should also add the disclaimer that we "won" that trip from my job and we didn't feel like we had to maximize our money's worth either, so that was probably the most enjoyable WDW trip I've had.

 

[jrandall]

I already signed up because I found the code & figured why not?! And it looks so promising! It is really helping so far to figure out what is possible in a day.

 

[soniam]

I already signed up because I found the code & figured why not?! And it looks so promising! It is really helping so far to figure out what is possible in a day.

That is so true. I had no idea what was possible on our first trip, but TP really helped with that.

 

[mshanson3121]

I'm curious how many of you use the optimized version versus a personalized one? Did anyone find that the touring plans app didn't leave enough time for shows? Ex. It would show me arriving at 10:27 for a 10:30 show.

 

[Yumi696]

I'm curious how many of you use the optimized version versus a personalized one? Did anyone find that the touring plans app didn't leave enough time for shows? Ex. It would show me arriving at 10:27 for a 10:30 show.

That's why I move things around myself so that I can leave enough time for shows and whatnot.

It had me arriving 15 minutes before MSEP, and I scoffed. People park their butts for more than an hour for MSEP. My family and I have arrived last minute for MSEP before and I am not looking forward to repeating that experience again.

 

[soniam]

I always use optimize on a personalized plan. It's not an either or situation. You can do evaluate or optimize for the stock or personalized plans.

If you want to allow more time for a show, particularly a long time for fireworks or parades, then just put in a break for a specific start time and a specific amount before the show.

As for other shows, if I feel that it's not enough time, I go to the show and then come back to what I skipped. The plan isn't worthless by doing this. I have also used evaluate instead of optimize to deal with shows, I also sometimes go out of order for FP+, because I don't like to count on the 15min grace period. TP does.

 

[newestkg06]

I've played with it a bit, but it is so frustrating that you can't pick the time of show you want. It also cut way too close (in my mind) between shows and ADR's even with relaxed pace. I think it would be far more helpful if you could pick the time of shows you wanted with how much buffer time you want before. This was especially true at HS.

 

[richmo]

I'll generally use Touring Plans/easyWDW to figure out which park to visit, but not much beyond that. In that regard, I've found their suggestions to be quite good over the years.

One thing I was reminded of this past trip: If the previous day was quite rainy, Magic Kingdom is going to be packed the following day, regardless of crowd level predictions.

 

[abouley]

I have always found that scheduling my morning and playing the afternoon/evening by ear works best with young kids. I try to make sure the must do's are planned early in the day and then leave room for things like shows, play areas, etc later in the day when lines aren't as much of an issue. There are some parks (HS) for example where I do like to plan the whole day since fitting in all the must do shows are hard. You also do want a loose plan on when to see fireworks/parades. I really like touring plans for the order of when to do things in the am and what to do first thing and what you can hit later in the day! I think with little ones you want to have a plan but understand how to change things up when the plan doesn't work!