Personalized touring plans from touringplans.com

[txcorey]

Has anyone used these? I just created two-one for an EMH morning at MK on Jan 2 and one for a regular opening day at AK on January 3rd. After optimizing both plans, I'm kind of surprised at the order of the rides they are giving me. I would think Peter Pan would be the first ride at MK and the Space Mountain would be further up in the order of things. I want to trust their program and all their research, but these just seem odd and contrary to what I've seen elsewhere. Here is the order of rides they are giving me for my morning at MK.
1. Barnstormer
2. Dumbo
3. Mad Tea Party
4. Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
5. Astro Orbiter
6. Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
7. Peter Pan
8. Jungle Cruise
9. Magic Carpets of Aladdin
10. Tomorrowland Speedway
11. Space Mountain
12. It's a Small World
13. Haunted Mansion
14. Pirates

This is the one for AK. I'd think that Kilimanjaro Safaris would be first. I'm really surprised that Tough to be a bug is first. This is with "waiting" minimized.

1. It's Tough to be a Bug
2. Triceratop Spin
3. Primeval Whirl
4. Kilimanjaro Safari
5. Lion King
6. Flights of Wonder

Any experience with these or any thoughts?

 

[Stubbzilla]

I have used the personalized touring plans for four trips, and this last trip about a month ago I had the same thing happen, the order of the rides really seems to be different from other years. I was also suspicious. The wait times that were estimated for each ride ended up being off during early and peak park hours (they were higher than estimated on the touring plan), even though the overall crowds were on target. The estimated wait times for afternoon to evening were spot on.

I ended up fiddling around with our plans, rope-dropping some of the rides that I knew to rope-drop, then going back on the touring plan after that, and that worked out ok. Part of the issue with rope-dropping is that now that there's FP+, it really slows down rope-drop at the very popular rides. For instance, one morning we rope-dropped Peter Pan, waited about 5 minutes to ride, and by the time we got off the ride the wait was already 45 minutes. (Don't even get me started on Peter Pan, this ride is so dumb, I would never ride it but my preschooler HAD TO. I don't understand anyone who waits for this ride unless they have a tiny kid who just HAS TO, and even then I'm not waiting more than 5-10 minutes. Also the new queue stinks like sweaty feet, really bad). MK had let us in early so this was still right about 9:01 when the line was already 45 minutes. On a low crowd level day the week before Thanksgiving. A&E, 7Dwarves, Test Track, they are all full by the time you get in because of the early breakfast entrance crowd. We rope-dropped Toy Story and waited about 30 minutes, and they let us in at 8:45.

I think all of those rope drop times are why they recommend doing other stuff at rope drop - because SO MANY other people are doing just a few select rides, you can walk on to many other rides during the first hour of the park. So, theoretically, I think the idea is that you save in overall waiting time for the average early person who can make it to the park right at scheduled opening. Rather than waiting 45-60 minutes for Peter Pan, plus 15-30 minutes for multiple other rides, you are waiting 60-90 minutes for Peter Pan later but waiting 5 minutes for multiple rides, so overall it saves you time.

Saving overall time sounds great in theory, but doesn't work when you are like us and traveling with tiny children who just aren't going to be able to make it more than a half hour in a line. I had to shuffle things around for that.

For Animal Kingdom we followed easyWDW's plan for the first time, and really liked it. I didn't want to do the other easyWDW plans, we are too tiny-child oriented at this point for them to work all that well for us.

 

[JaimeK]

I think for rope drop they don't factor in that you can often enter the park early. So if you put PP first at MK it would have you riding it at 9:15 and there's already a 45 min wait then.

 

[Tarheel girl 1975]

The order does seem odd to me. What does it recommend for FP+?

 

[txcorey]

I'm saving my FP for the park I hop to in the afternoon so I didn't plug in any FP options.

 

[soniam]

I have used this for all of our trips. Are you sure you specified minimum waiting and not minimum walking? I would try leaving the waiting and walking at default and see what it does. Are you specifying RD for start times? Make sure that you specified to use AM EMH and that the times listed are the correct times. I have accidentally not specified the proper start times before. That can throw it off. What does the crowd calendar say for those days? If they are pretty low crowd days, then it doesn't matter that much when you hit anything.

 

[txcorey]

I have used this for all of our trips. Are you sure you specified minimum waiting and not minimum walking? I would try leaving the waiting and walking at default and see what it does. Are you specifying RD for start times? Make sure that you specified to use AM EMH and that the times listed are the correct times. I have accidentally not specified the proper start times before. That can throw it off. What does the crowd calendar say for those days? If they are pretty low crowd days, then it doesn't matter that much when you hit anything.

Yes, I definitely have waiting minimized. I've tried it at the default and with waiting minimized with the same results. I have a 7am start time with the MK and a 9am start time with AK. One day is predicted to be an 8 and one a 10. I went back and optimized again this morning and the MK plan stayed basically the same. The AK plan did change a bit. Now the order is :
1. Primeval Whirl
2. Kilimanjaro Safaris
3. FotLK
4. Flights of Wonder
5. Tricera Top Spin
6. Tough to be a bug

 

[soniam]

Yes, I definitely have waiting minimized. I've tried it at the default and with waiting minimized with the same results. I have a 7am start time with the MK and a 9am start time with AK. One day is predicted to be an 8 and one a 10. I went back and optimized again this morning and the MK plan stayed basically the same. The AK plan did change a bit. Now the order is :
1. Primeval Whirl
2. Kilimanjaro Safaris
3. FotLK
4. Flights of Wonder
5. Tricera Top Spin
6. Tough to be a bug

I bet it's the early AM EMH at MK. There won't be anyone there at 7am, so it probably doesn't matter what you ride for the first 2 hours. We didn't get there until 7:30am (darn iPhone alarm) for a 7am EMH last March with a crowd level around 8-9. It was still pretty dead. Knowing that it's such an early start, I wouldn't be concerned. How far do you get through your MK list at 9am?

Your AK list looks more correct to me now. You could wait and do PW later. It's putting it first, since it's on the way to Safari.

 

[txcorey]

I bet it's the early AM EMH at MK. There won't be anyone there at 7am, so it probably doesn't matter what you ride for the first 2 hours. We didn't get there until 7:30am (darn iPhone alarm) for a 7am EMH last March with a crowd level around 8-9. It was still pretty dead. Knowing that it's such an early start, I wouldn't be concerned. How far do you get through your MK list at 9am?

Your AK list looks more correct to me now. You could wait and do PW later. It's putting it first, since it's on the way to Safari.

That makes me feel better, and you're right. By 9 am I'm on step 11 (Space Mountain) of the MK plan. So, the 7am start time must be the reason things seem a bit off to me. And I agree that the AK list looks much better now. I've always roughly followed TP recommendations, but I've never done the personalized plan and just wanted to make sure it seemed correct. I've never gone on a holiday weekend either so I'm nervous about the crowds. Thanks for your help.

 

[soniam]

That makes me feel better, and you're right. By 9 am I'm on step 11 (Space Mountain) of the MK plan. So, the 7am start time must be the reason things seem a bit off to me. And I agree that the AK list looks much better now. I've always roughly followed TP recommendations, but I've never done the personalized plan and just wanted to make sure it seemed correct. I've never gone on a holiday weekend either so I'm nervous about the crowds. Thanks for your help.

Just relax and have a great trip. We don't go at 10 times, but we usually go during summer or Spring Break, which is pretty busy. We always use the personalized plans and finish before schedule.

 

[Supermom3]

I really like the personalized Touring Plans, but I usually just click the "evaluate" button and not the "optimize" button. This will keep your plan in the order that you have created, but will give you wait times and let you know if it will work. Or I save my plan after I evaluate it as a secondary plan and then I optimize it, so I end up with two different plans and can compare the two.

 

[dekraut]

I have decided against using them for two reasons, one because at some point I have to simply let the chips fall where they may and enjoy some spontaneity. The second reason is because we are able to use a DAS pass, so that really changes the way we tour the parks.

But I have also found that they recommend FP+ for when it saves you the most time, but not necessarily when the ride wait is shortest. I understand the theory that you might not want to use a FP+ for an early morning ride, because it would save you less time at 9AM than at 1Pm for example, but if your main goal is to ride the ride with the shortest wait, then I sometimes disagree with the purely logical way of scheduling them. For example I wouldn't go to a store that charged me $100 for an item but gave me a 40% discount (total cost $60), instead of store that charged me $70 for that item with only a 20% discount (total cost $56) for the same item just to save a higher percentage, unless it saved me more money in the long run. Hope that made sense.

Also, I like the freedom to not follow a schedule. I tend to be ridiculously type A, and I think my family will not enjoy me with a specific schedule, especially if we are going at less busy times of the year.

 

[CodeGoddess]

I really like the personalized Touring Plans, but I usually just click the "evaluate" button and not the "optimize" button. This will keep your plan in the order that you have created, but will give you wait times and let you know if it will work. Or I save my plan after I evaluate it as a secondary plan and then I optimize it, so I end up with two different plans and can compare the two.

Same here. The evaluate plan lets me tweak and keep the shortest walking distance for the senior in our group.

 

[NYHeel]

I really like the personalized Touring Plans, but I usually just click the "evaluate" button and not the "optimize" button. This will keep your plan in the order that you have created, but will give you wait times and let you know if it will work. Or I save my plan after I evaluate it as a secondary plan and then I optimize it, so I end up with two different plans and can compare the two.

This is exactly what I'm doing for my January trip. The optimized trips are a little too "weird" in the order. I tend to make my own order, evaluate and then keep tweaking.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

I put together a personalized plan a couple of years ago and just couldn't bring myself to use it. There were a couple of days of when they told me not use the FP+ at all because it was faster to do the touring plan to minimize waiting and they were probably right.

We sat in front of the Land when it had a 10 minute wait for 20 minutes so we could use the 3rd FP+ and get a fourth. By the time we got to the kiosk there was nothing left at all. It was such a total waste of time so I'm guessing they knew what they were talking about then and now with even more data accumulated since FP+ started I have even more faith in their plan.

I am going to do it for this upcoming trip in the spring. I am going with a group of 11 so it is much easier to hand everyone a copy of plan and say "Here is what we are doing for the day." We've all seen those family gathered around a map, in the middle of the walkway of course, trying to decide what they are going to do next. Now THAT is a waste of time.

 

[JReneeW]

I keep tweaking mine for our January trip, but I have a hard time believing some of it. A 7 minute wait for Dumbo at 3:30 on a level 9 Saturday? I'm just not buying that it will be that short.

Another one was a 25 minute wait for Tomorrowland Speedway at rope drop on a level 3 Thursday? That seems WAY too long.

So, I'm trying to adjust where I can and build in as much "fluff" time as possible, but I'm just struggling with it, to be honest.

 

[soniam]

I keep tweaking mine for our January trip, but I have a hard time believing some of it. A 7 minute wait for Dumbo at 3:30 on a level 9 Saturday? I'm just not buying that it will be that short.

Another one was a 25 minute wait for Tomorrowland Speedway at rope drop on a level 3 Thursday? That seems WAY too long.

So, I'm trying to adjust where I can and build in as much "fluff" time as possible, but I'm just struggling with it, to be honest.

TP definitely overestimates wait times at RD. Also, Dumbo is popular with little kids and toddlers. I guess a lot of them may have headed back to the room for a nap. I have heard before that Dumbo wait times improve later in the day because of this. Also, I don't think the wait at Dumbo is nearly as bad as it used to be, because there are two of them now and they have a new playground/paging system for waiting. This is all second-hand as we have not ridden Dumbo.

 

[MataHari22]

I, too, use Touring Plans, but tweak my own. I read easywdw's plans for the parks, as well as TP recommended plans, and then based on that information and my own preferences, I customized my own plans for each day. I put the setting to leisurely walking, and then hit evaluate, and not optimize. I did put in each FP+, but sometimes, it wouldn't "use" it in the plan, which was annoying me when I was creating the plans.

It worked out very well for me, I think. I basically got to do everything I wanted to do, but I also do not try and over schedule my days, either. There were many times that I moved things up, because I was ahead of the scheduled plan, had time to do other things, and spontaneous things.