Is a Touring Plans subscription worth it?

[gsmith0113]

our family is going to WDW in November, and I’m wondering if a subscription to Touring Plans is worth it this year.
We have reviewed other crowd calendars and put a plan together based on all of those (including Kenny the Pirate’s).
More curious than anything.
Thanks!

 

[Cindylieu]

our family is going to WDW in November, and I’m wondering if a subscription to Touring Plans is worth it this year.
We have reviewed other crowd calendars and put a plan together based on all of those (including Kenny the Pirate’s).
More curious than anything.
Thanks!

I’m in the same situation and am wondering the same thing. Having made a pretty detailed plan for our June trip, is it worth it for the wait-times info and other amenities for us to subscribe?

 

[Tomh]

I have used both Touring Plans, and RideMax in the past, and they have their place. If you are fairly new to Disney World trip planning, and don't have much experience, then one of these touring plans can certainly help you to avoid the really long lines, and make it easier to see and do everything you want. If you have a few trips under your belt, and have an understanding of when and why lines build up, then you can likely put together your own plan and do pretty well.

The main advantage, to me, of these touring plans is that they lay out the times you should be arriving at rides. This makes it easy to know if you are running ahead of schedule or behind. If you find that you are arriving at attractions 15 minutes behind your expected time, then you can easily figure out if you need to say skip a ride in order to make it to your lunch ADR on time, and maybe add that ride in later in the day, or just skip it all together. Without the touring plans, you have to have some kind of idea how long things take, and be able to time things yourself in order to make it to ADR's, shows, etc at the proper time.

 

[kc2wdw]

The lines app is really helpful. The best feature they have though is the dining reservation finder which is free. If I were going for the first time, I would definitely get the sub just for the wait times app. If I was a seasoned vet, I’d probably pass

 

[kniquy]

I don't personally use it for the crowd calendars, but it is very helpful with plotting out your day with knowing what estimated wait times might be and how you can tackle the park and not be back tracking. Once my plan was complete I really didn't use the app portion when i was in the park. I found it just easier to pop on the MDE app to look at wait times. The crowd calendars anywhere are not accurate so don't bother looking at them. Your best tactic if you want to avoid crowds is to -- hit rope drop, leave the park just after lunch time an return for the evening if you want to see more. If a park has EMH -- it is often best to avoid because those without park hoppers will hit this particular park so that they can get the most time there. Plan TS meals to give yourself a break from the crowd.

Could you make your plan on your own -- certainly with a map and estimating time for waits and walking, but touring plans will figure that for you. With using it -- always put your walking speed to relaxed or very relaxed -- this builds some extra time into your plan which will account for longer waits or those busier areas which cause you to walk slower between attractions.

You can choose to optimize your plans or just evaluate what you have put in place. 9 times out of 10 I prefer to just stick with my plan and have the system tell me the estimated waits -- sometimes i feel when it optimizes that it has me moving around more than i want. I like to tackle things in a certain area then move on to a new land, but the system might have you going to a different part to take advantage of a lower wait time. For what it costs it is worth trying at least once. Like a PP mentioned -- If you are new, fairly new or haven't been to WDW in the past 4-5 years -- then get it. It will help you keep some sanity in the planning process.

 

[greg9x]

I liked the Line app part most, think it gives you better idea of wait than MDE (and doesn't inflate wait times).
As for the scheduling part...You can put your plans in and get an idea if you should change things around (Maybe better to put FP's in different order to avoid unnecessary walking, etc) But also think the plans part is very optimistic in it's times.
But for $14 (or less with mousesaver discount) I think it's worth it.

 

[Finerfam]

Yes! I love the personalized touring plans and all of the available data about wait times for rides. The Lines app is helpful, too, to see expected vs. reported wait times and to view your touring plans on your phone rather than carrying paper around. I'm a newer Disney-goer, so I feel like TP helped me learn a lot about touring strategies and good use of FP+ but as PP mentioned, I could see it being less essential if you go often and are a seasoned vet.

 

[Greg Lembrich]

YES. One of the few things in life I would willingly pay more money for. The crowd analysis, real-time lines data, personalized touring plans capabilities, and reservation finder would each justify a subscription service on their own, in my opinion.

 

[anomamatt]

YES. One of the few things in life I would willingly pay more money for. The crowd analysis, real-time lines data, personalized touring plans capabilities, and reservation finder would each justify a subscription service on their own, in my opinion.

I agree 100%. Touring Plans is one of the rare things that I feel like I get MUCH more value from than the cost.

 

[brewhome]

I personally like it for the hotel views and room request function. I know I could submit one myself, but they make it super easy and I don't have to worry about doing it myself on an exact date. I just look through the room views, set my request up on the site when I feel like it, and they send it at the right time for me. Easy!

 

[Alison S]

I am brand new to planning DW, and recently bought TP. The thing I am finding very helpful is the planning tool. Now I have some idea of how much we can fit in with walking time and waiting, or where we will be approximately at lunch time.

 

[Trinity88]

Yes!! Worth every penny and more.

 

[Crystal824]

I love Touring Plans. I sometimes do the personalized plans, but I really like the Line App, the dining finder, and the room request fax. I've always gotten the exact room or a room very close to that room every time I have used TP to fax the request. The dining finder is free (you have to set up an account), it is awesome. It has found the ADR I wanted everytime I've used it.

 

[Dan Murphy]

TP is absolutely worth the little cost that it is. Get a discount from the www.Mousesavers.com website. All the above mention features and benefits are superb. I use it every trip for multiple things.

 

[WDW_Ding]

Look at it this way.

A year subscription to Touring Plans is about 12 dollars.

Your trip to WDW is going to cost many thousands of dollars.

What is another 12 dollars? Especially if it means access to all of TP's great services and information?

 

[zoo2tycoon]

I like TPs. Agree reservation finder good-bye my alert went off at 2am this morning. I didn't look and missed my alert but tine was later than I wanted. I had success with room request fax last year. People are great on chat for questions!

 

[Anesthesia Fine]

The Lines app alone has been worth every dime. I really like it for the wait times.

 

[lvdis]

Another yes! I have fun playing with the touring plans even if I don't stick to them completely once in the parks. I think it really helps get an understanding for the flow. Very much worth it to me!

 

[StageTek]

At full price it's $1.24 a month. They are good group with good info. Well worth supporting.

 

[disneyinthespringtime]

Ditto all of the above. TP is a fantastic product worth much more than what they charge.

I will say I found the reservation finder, room requester and especially personalized touring plan tool to be the most useful.

The app was a bit harder for me to feel like it was working as intended but since I had my touring plan put together already that was not a big deal.