I am now a Believer - Tour Guide Mike

[DIS4MYGIRLS]

I have 2 questions:

1. What is TGM?
2. How did you get Free Dining plan as a DVC member? are you there as a non DVC trip?

 

[madgomez]

Yes, it may be humiliating, but...I got one heck of a loud laugh out of it! Made my workday that much more interesting...

How'd that mouseforless user taste, anyway?

Like chicken.

 

[Donnask8pro]

Quote:
Originally Posted by madgomez
The discount code for TGM is A82E8-2AH , or if you ate a "mouseforless" reader, there's an ad with a link for the discount.

LOL how embarrasing ! Well, the "r" and the "t" are right next to each other! I would edit it, but then some of your follow-ups won't make sense - so I'll stay humiliated!





Took me a while to figure it out..

 

[Meezers]

I love the planning stage...I have the Passporter and TGM.

I had to go to Franklin Covey and get a "storage binder" since I have so much info....I recommend this for anyone who likes to carry around or have in one place printed info. The storage binder has very large rings! I have stuff printed from all kinds of web sites and the Passporter in that binder...plus our tickets...and all our confirmation info.

Now I need to dig into TGM some more and tweak my tweaking!

 

[Lori of the Lodge]

For those of you who have used Tour Guide Mike...would you recommend it for short (weekend) trips? I'm going for a long weekend in october. Planning to attend MNSSHP on my day of arrival followed by 2 days of park hopping.

Considering purchasing TGM, but I'm afraid it may be geared towards longer trips. Any advice?

 

[luuuceee]

Hi all! Here is a link to the reply I just gave Lori on the original thread in which she asked this question. I'd love to see what other TGMers have to say too!

 

[Lori of the Lodge]

Thanks Luucee! Great answer...I appreciate the advice.

 

[tom401]

What/who is Tour Guide Mike? What is his web address?
thanks

 

[Lori of the Lodge]

www.tourguidemike.com

It is the website of a former Disney V.I.P. Tour Guide who now offers his tour guide services by way of his web-based automated vacation planner. His customized touring plans are highly recommended...I just signed up myself.

 

[Texas Princesses]

What is the Passporter Organizer...are we talking a "Franklin" kind a thing being hauled around the parks??? Our first ever trip to WDW is in 10 days. I have a basic plan with various ADR's mapped out, but think this TGM might really help. Especially since we have never been to a Disney park.

Worth the investment 10 days out? I am very comfortable with the online research deal...any feedback is welcome.

 

[HappyMommy2]

What is the Passporter Organizer...are we talking a "Franklin" kind a thing being hauled around the parks??? Our first ever trip to WDW is in 10 days. I have a basic plan with various ADR's mapped out, but think this TGM might really help. Especially since we have never been to a Disney park.

Worth the investment 10 days out? I am very comfortable with the online research deal...any feedback is welcome.

If you have several good solid hours between now and your trip to do some online reading, and you have an extra 20 bucks in your budget, I would say it is worth the investment. If you aren't going to have more than an hour or two to look it over, skip it. But if you have a little more time, go on there and study (and print out) a few things like the basic which-park-which-day strategies, the best-times-to-ride guides, and maybe some descriptions of attractions you're interested in. You can get a lot out of these few sections of TGM, enough to make it worth the money IMO especially for a first-ever trip.
Have fun!

 

[cheshirekat]

thanks for those who volunteered the discount codes - the user was *delicious* and i saved $3 which i will put towards a turkey leg. in less happy news, i can't seem to get my AVP to process!! did anyone else have this problem? i've already emailed my new buddy mike about it.

 

[PedsTherapist]

Okay, so I subscribed to the UG sample touring plans and none of the ones I found really applied to a couple without kids who want to go when the park opens. It is also my husband's first time to go the the World, I would really love to make his trip not very stressfull (read: reduce waiting in line times to a minimum ) so that he hopefully will want to go back. Crowds really stress him out, yes I know we are going to WDW Can you really plug in what you want to do and he tells you when to do it? I guess I am wondering if I should subscribe to TGM since I already have to the UG. Even though we leave in 10 days, I should have the time to devote to research.

 

[madgomez]

TGM does NOT spit an itinerary out at you - it teaches you the whys and whens so you can create your own plan that you can modify on the spot if required (like by a ride having technical difficulties).

That being said, TGM does have an Express Planner for just your situation - not alot of planning time. Just remember to read the intro after you sign up and follow the steps - TGM provides the tools for exactly what you're asking - little or no lines and a relaxing visit to WDW.

 

[luuuceee]

Yeah, Mike doesn't spit out an itinerary for you. He does, however, have sample touring plans for each park, and he has separate ones for people who are going with younger kids, as well as a plan for adults, teens and older children. He also has a section that lists what timeframe is best to ride each ride or see each show, which would allow you to easily tweak his sample touring plan to fit your needs.

I have never followed one of Mike's sample plans to a T. Instead, I will add/subtract/move attractions so that it fits what we want to do, keeping in mind that I want to still minimize my wait times. If I don't want to ride Kilamanjaro (sp?) Safari over in AK, then I'll take that out of the sample touring plan and, using the best times guide, put another attraction in its place.

Mike helps you to think like a tour guide, so that you can either use his plans or make one of your own. It's like that adage of give a man a fish, and you've fed him for a day, or teach a man to fish, and you've fed him for a lifetime.

Hope this helps.

EDITED TO ADD: Back to madgomez's reply of changing your itinerary on the spot if you need to...I did this at MGM last month. I had the whole touring plan figured out, but DH couldn't leave RNR and ToT just yet, as both were still walk-ons. So we would have to miss the first show we'd planned to see. That wasn't an option for me, so I reviewed show times and my touring plan and rearranged it, still working in all the shows I wanted to see AND getting to the BD for our FDP on time.

 

[jennz]

PedsTherapist - I would highly recommend TGM for you! My dh gets anxious around crowds and then it gets unpleasant for us at WDW, to put it mildly. Using TGM this summer we were able to go to the parks and although it was not the best time for him he said he would go again in the summer. We have been before in the summer pre-TGM and that's when he said never again! The best thing I got from TGM for DH is which parks are the busiest. He gives green, yellow, and red days for each park and he's right on with his advice. I printed those out and took them with us. I didn't spend a lot of time on his site (probably 2-5 hours total) and I feel it was well worth it. He also has info on MNSSHP including when to arrive at the MK, where to get your picture taken, and an order for the lands that will give you the least crowds. We're going the same night as you and DH is worried about crowds, poor guy, but I have some tips from TGM that I looked up this summer that I think will help us!

So...my long winded response is that for us TGM was worth it.

 

[cheshirekat]

Okay, so I subscribed to the UG sample touring plans and none of the ones I found really applied to a couple without kids who want to go when the park opens. It is also my husband's first time to go the the World, I would really love to make his trip not very stressfull (read: reduce waiting in line times to a minimum ) so that he hopefully will want to go back. Crowds really stress him out, yes I know we are going to WDW Can you really plug in what you want to do and he tells you when to do it? I guess I am wondering if I should subscribe to TGM since I already have to the UG. Even though we leave in 10 days, I should have the time to devote to research.

hi peds -

i just wanted to let you know that i purchased an AVP from TGM last night - because of a technical glitch, i haven't been able to access it yet, but when i do, i'll PM you. we are also a couple with no kids - both turning 30. i'm a bigger disney fan, but he's more tolerant of crowds. he's a "rider" - i get green looking at the teacups. i don't know how much we "match" you guys, but i'll let you know how useful the AVP is for our purposes.

i'm jealous you're leaving in 10 days!!

 

[unixadm]

I have 2 questions:

1. What is TGM?
2. How did you get Free Dining plan as a DVC member? are you there as a non DVC trip?

1. TGM= Tour guide mike

http://www.tourguidemike.com

An online subscription service that offers lots of great information on how to tour WDW (which days to go to which parks, which rides to hit first, etc). "Mike" is an actual Tour Guide...he used to work for WDW and now has his own Touring Service. He is in WDW more days than not, and gives his knowledge and experience to subscribers.

2. Purchased a non-DVC trip at ASMo with free dining plan .... although we ended up using points to spend some time in the BWV as well.

 

[unixadm]

Ok...more "reviews" of TGM's assistance

As I said in my original post, his info for MK with kids was spot on

Ok...onto Epcot.

Touring Epcot with little ones is a bit more difficult and he didn't really provide any useful info that assisted us. I expected that....We did get in later than we wanted, so I got Fast Passes for the popular rides and really let my kids dictate the course of the day.

We left Epcot and went to MK for Dinner and Spectromagic....his info was spot on again with where to go to see the parade. We arrived 15 minutes before the parade started and I think it was better than any other spot we have had in the past.

Ok...MGM....he definately saved us some major time on a couple of rides....his information of when to hit specific rides and shows and why allowed me to make up a touring plan that avoided crowds again, just like MK. We deviated heavliy from our original plans due to our kids as well as rain. Even with that, we were able to avoid crowds by utilizing the info that I had on hand from TGM (printed out and inserted into my Passporter Deluxe).

I am defiinately happy with the quality of info I got. I don't like his layout that much and will make sure he is aware of that, but the info is definitely worth the money!

 

[JennaTX]

We were the same with TGM and Epcot and we had small children also, I think that is just a more difficult park with kids.

And from your pictures, you look like you are having a wonderful time!!!

Here's hoping your great trip continues, it looks like you are already making wonderful memories!