I need TGM 101

[Reese'smom]

So I signed up for Tour Guide Mike to help plan our Sept. trip to Disney. I'm disappointed. It wasn't even able to help me for Sept 09. Am I missing something? I dont understand what is so great about it and am beginning to think I've wasted money.

 

[mjkacmom]

He's not able to give you best/worst days until park hours are posted, which is many months away. However, in the meantime, he give a lot of good information regarding how to plan your itinerary, and the reasons why, plus lots of other stuff.

 

[lunalibre]

Please go join the forum group for September 09 on TGM, then post your questions there. I'm sure you'll get plenty of helpful responses.

While the information on TGM's web site isn't arranged in the most intuitive way, I can say that what I learned there let my family have one of the best vacations we've ever had. We're going back to Disney in June 2010 and I'm already signed up for TGM.

Hi, my name is Lunalibre and I'm an obsessive Disney planner.

 

[MickeyHereWeCome!]

Please don't give up yet .

As someone else said, start by joining your September vacation board. If you ask detailed questions there or anywhere on the forum, you will get great answers.

The LCP charts for September will be out soon after Disney releases the September hours. That's always the hardest (and longest) thing to wait to wait for! Once those are out, things will start to slip into place.

I remember expecting a little more once I signed up. But, once I took my time to go through all of his material, I totally got it. I also remember thinking "this is it?", thinking there were those 6 quick steps and I was done. But, there is so much more. There are so many links...from dining to resorts, to parks and attractions. It really does take a good long time to read it all. Start with each step, read each article that is relevant. This is probably a good time to go through the dining section and decide on which places you'd like to eat. He has tips for everything, but you do need to take the time to explore and figure out his system. It's not going to be given to you....as in his system won't spit out what do do and when. It's up to you to make the most of his material.

Again..hop onto the forums over there. You will get tons of great advice. People on your Sept. vacation forms are in the same boat you are, so join in the fun over there.

Most of all...have fun planning. Once you find your way around, it will all click.

 

[MinnieLove]

i joined for a March trip and was also disappointed. I thought it would be more clear cut. I feel like a lot of the tips are things that I have read here on the Dis boards. We are staying offsite, had made our adr's and rentals.

I guess I need to spend more time on the site. I knew the park hours and show times and some general info. I feel like I am still missing it.

 

[blessedby3]

I have been very overwhelmed by his site. I have gotten good information, though, on the best/worst park for the day. I think the price will be worth it for that if nothing else. I think if I spent more time on it, then it would get easier. It just seems so overwhelming.

 

[MinnieLove]

double post

 

[madamimadam]

We went last April using Mike and it helped our trip out tremendously. We're signed up with Mike for our June trip. Disney has been slow posting park hours so he won't have detailed info for you trip until maybe July if May and June are any indication but it will be there.

For now, there is a ton of information on the site. I'd start with the vacation articles that interest you most. There is a lot to digest over there but he'll especially help you with planning for your dining reservations.

Next I'd recommend reading through his touring guide samples to get an idea for how you will be touring the Mike way. Once your Least Crowded parks are available you can really start to hammer down a schedule.

I print out all the touring plans that I am inerested in or apply to my family situation and I print out the Least Crowded Parks sheets and take them with me in my luggage. Then we have all we need to adjust if rain or fatigue cause us to change plans while we are at the park. The touring plans give us a good start for how to handle each day. In my world, that means reading through them with DW quietly after the kids are asleep.

Hope this helps,

Adam

 

[jkp464]

I used TGM for our June 2007 trip. I was really concerned about going in the summer and the crowd level, so wanted to get as much information from as many sources as possible. I do think the TGM website is hard to navigate. Most of the information on TGM can be found on the DIS boards. However, I did find the best parks/worst parks schedule supplied by TGM extremely helpful. I only went to "green" parks and we had no problems with crowds and wait times. I also found the members in my vacation month club helpful and many of them had been in June before and had good insight.

I decided to use TGM again this year just for the best parks/worst parks schedule and the vacation month club.