Is TouringPlans worth it???

[glohoffman]

We are heading for Disney May 11th, and I have my FP+ all set. But the whole touring plan thing is stressing me out! I have two little girls, 5 and 3, so the big fast attractions can be skipped. But I am so afraid I am not allowing myself enough time with reservations and fastpasses etc. Would it be best to have a personalized touring plan done? Do you guys feel it is really helpful and worth it? Thanks!

 

[newlywed mice]

I bought it and never used it. I used josh's plans from easywdw.com which are free and the Disney app for wait times.

I don't think it was worth it but some people love touring plans.

 

[Mac4life30]

I really depends also how accurate the Crowd Prediction Calendars are.

 

[LSUfan4444]

No, not worth it at all. Especially if you have no need for headliners like Tower of Terror, Rock N Roller Coaster, Everest. Just schedule more days in Magic Kingdom than anything else.

 

[Disneyhabs]

I looked it over and found it to be useless to pay for a service that you can find all the same info for free on multiple places. I would say no not worth it at all.

 

[glohoffman]

Ok thanks guys! The crowd calenders show our vacation days ranging between 2-4 depending on the park we are in. So that would be wonderful! I actually went to Disney once as a young teenager with my church youth group in the middle of summer. I dont remember much, but I do remember it was hot and busy! So i dont even count the trip since it was short and I didnt plan it lol. We are planning 2 days in magic kingdom, with one of the days getting in the park a little early for a castle breakfast. So hopefully we can cover most of the stuff without me totally stressing out!

 

[glohoffman]

Do you guys have any advice for making your touring plans? We are doing lots of character meals, simply to avoid waiting in line to meet them!

 

[LSUfan4444]

Do you guys have any advice for making your touring plans? We are doing lots of character meals, simply to avoid waiting in line to meet them!

Doing alot of character breakfasts or lunches? Unless your breakfast ADRs are before the parks open (8 am), I suggest lunch. Don't waste that first hour sitting down eating Mickey Waffles watching the lines build around the park.

The value of what you get to eat for lunch is much better as well.

 

[JeremyGNJ]

I bought it with a discount. I think I paid $9.

Not sure it was worth it for the crowd calendars. However I found it worth it for the SIMPLE listing of all attractions, restaurants, park hours, show times, etc.

Yes, you can find that information elsewhere, but someone always has it wrong or out-of-date. The $9 was worth not searching around for all that information piecemeal.

 

[flutterby3744]

Do you guys have any advice for making your touring plans? We are doing lots of character meals, simply to avoid waiting in line to meet them!

We are doing the same...a two birds one stone kinda thing!

We have
7:30 Chef Mickey's
8:00 Akershus (not for A & E lol)
10:35 Crystal Palace (MK morning EMH day)
and we are doing the Pirates and Pals Cruise for Hook and Pan

We plan on doing rope drop each day (My family are morning people anyway, DS is up at 5 sharp EVERY day)

 

[jiminykrikkit]

I find that it's worth it for me. I think that the service that allows you to build your plan and then it will put the attractions in the suggested order for you, with info on how long it will take to walk/wait/ride is really great. The pre-made plans for lots of different scenarios are really handy as well.

Maybe this kind of personalization is free on other parts of the internet, but I definitely feel like it is worth the money I paid, and I'd pay it again.

 

[jvattes]

IMO it is. On our last trip we used the plans and had a GREAT time - except for the one day we didn't follow the plan. The difference in the quality of our days speaks volumes to me about how well it works. It's only $12 - for me, some of the best money spent on our trip.

 

[jvattes]

We are doing the same...a two birds one stone kinda thing!

We have
7:30 Chef Mickey's
8:00 Akershus (not for A & E lol)
10:35 Crystal Palace (MK morning EMH day)
and we are doing the Pirates and Pals Cruise for Hook and Pan

We plan on doing rope drop each day (My family are morning people anyway, DS is up at 5 sharp EVERY day)

We come in 3 days after you

 

[Winnowill]

If you're going to be there when crowd levels are high, I think it's definitely worth it. Even if the wait lines aren't 100% accurate because of the FP+ anomalies, it'll give you the best order to do things in. I, personally, love the ability to tell it, "I want to do this, this, this, and this," and let it put them in a good order for me.

 

[Jewel3k]

I enjoy using it. It helps me get an idea of how much we can actually fit in a day and aware of all the rides. Its so nice to have a list to help guide me each day. I can never keep all the showtimes right for various things, so it helps me not miss anything.

 

[WDWOswald]

Touring Plans is a VERY cheap investment to make into your trip. I mean what is it the cost of a cupcake or two?

That being said, easywdw is a free website that is more accurate, reliable, and thorough than touring plans. It's also completely free.

 

[sethschroeder]

Every day is different and touring plans lets you set your list of to-dos and as you check them off you can reevaluate the rest of the day.

For instance it might say Peter then Dumbo then Ariel. Once you finish Peter it might say do Ariel before Dumbo. TP did this possibly because of a spike in wait time or because you selected you didn't want to walk as far and were more happy to wait than walk all over.

This is just a small thing but it can do your whole days wait list and be updated with the latest data for the day at any point.

Those who say a free schedule of what to do even stated they didn't even use TP when they got to the parks. If you actually use the smartphone ability to update and follow you schedule it's well worth it.

Also if you look at one of the days your going you can actually see projected wait times for each ride at each time during the day. This has been a little off as of late though it sounds but I would assume it's only going to get better as we move forward. *This is not generic like EasyWDW for a level 4 day but specific to that level 4 day

EasyWDW is a great site but TP just has more targeted specific info on it.

 

[Viva Las Disney]

I love Touring plans and I'm not sure how first timers plan without it.

On my first trip to WDW last year I had no frame of reference and was totally lost trying to plan my days. I had no idea how short or long the lines, rides, and shows were going to be and I had no idea how long it was going to take to get from point A to point B. This made it very stressful for me to try to plan around ADR's, FP+'s, set times for shows, parades, and fireworks and just figure out my plan in general so I wouldn't be backtracking all day.

Because Touring plans gives estimated walk time, wait time, and ride time for each ride I found it much easier to plan my days. I loved how easy it was to select all the rides and shows I wanted to see and then just slide everything around until the times worked around those set places I needed to be (ADR's, FP+'s, Parades, Fireworks) at set times. I built a few half hour "breaks" into each day just in case I fell behind or they under predicted times but found their predictions pretty close.

I'm sure most of the information could be found online for free but for me it was well worth the $10 to have it all in one place in a format that was so easy to use.

 

[donnajherren]

I wasn't planning on renewing my TP subscription, but I did it for the time estimates. Not how long the waits were projected to be, but because in their personalized plans, it'll calculate for you how long the walk is to your next attraction. And you can change your option for walking speed--I went with "Very Relaxed." LOL

That might not be useful for some, but we're visiting this summer with my husband's parents, and their mobility isn't great, so it was helpful for me to get a ballpark idea of how long it would take to get from one place to another. We've never really paid attention to that factor, so it wasn't something I was personally prepared to account for.

 

[Nals]

As a technically "first time" visitor (went when I was 6) I think it's very helpful to know kind of where I will need to be or the general time to be at certain locations. But I'm a planner lol. I know some things will change and we won't get to others that I put in my touring plans I'm ok with that