Re-optimized my touring plan for Aug18...changes wow!!!

[MouseMum]

Touring Plans has Aug 18 as a crowd level of 9. However, I was really happy with my plan. I re-optimized my plan today and it changed everything around. Most surprising was the fact that it no longer recommended BTMR and Splash first, after our 805 CP breakfast. Instead, it put Splash at the end of my plan, at a 59 min wait!

So I fudged things a little, putting Pecos Bills as my "first break" for 15 mins (about the time it would take to ride BTMR) just to see what it would do with Splash (I'm wanting to start with these 2 rides). Well, it put Splash next, at 9:23, at a 43 min wait! What is up? When I originally made my plan, Touring Plans had that day as a 9, (and I had re-optimized my plans several times last week), so the crowd level hasn't changed. Also, last year we had several MK days starting with these rides, and wait times were very short and we even got to ride BTMR twice! Why the huge jump in wait times then?

 

[maryj11]

I have just heard from someone who is there now and they said touring plans had the park they went to yesterday at a 9 on crowds. They said the crowds were not that bad. I think touring plans is a little high on the crowds. I would go by easywdw they had her park at a 7.

 

[minnie mum]

That's what you get for re optimizing. It will do some seriously weird things to your plan. Far better, if you tweak something on a plan you are generally happy with, to hit the Evaluate button instead. Looks like you might have to start all over again. I hate it when that happens.

 

[Ceryssa]

I hate that Optimize button. It puts things in a really weird order.

 

[Mom2Stitch]

I subscribe to touringplans mostly for the crowd calendar and recommended days. I have to say though that when I try making a touring plan I end up frustrated and I think the reason for that is that I've never used a touring plan. I want to try them, but it just seems too scheduled for me. We schedule our ADRs and FPs now and just go from there.

 

[klo1335]

I 2nd the not hitting the Optimize button once you like you plan. I have even taken out breaks because I feel like it messes up my plan when I then hit Optimize. I move things around and hit Evaluate instead.

 

[Alesia]

Never, ever use the optimize button.

 

[minnie mum]

I subscribe to touringplans mostly for the crowd calendar and recommended days. I have to say though that when I try making a touring plan I end up frustrated and I think the reason for that is that I've never used a touring plan. I want to try them, but it just seems too scheduled for me. We schedule our ADRs and FPs now and just go from there.

I have found Touring Plans to be frustrating too. But I really like having a plan to guide our day. The last few visits I've been using easywdw's cheat sheets. Simple, easy to use, and tested. I just modify them by eliminating attractions we don't want.

 

[Alesia]

I have found Touring Plans to be frustrating too. But I really like having a plan to guide our day. The last few visits I've been using easywdw's cheat sheets. Simple, easy to use, and tested. I just modify them by eliminating attractions we don't want.

That's exactly what I do.

 

[lwc]

Touring plans will optimize to the best plan it can find -- with a limit to how long it will let the server "work on it"

To get the REAL optimal plan would take HOURS of processing all the variables after hitting the button.

What you get is an excellent compromise. A 95% optimal plan with 45 seconds of waiting for your results to spit out rather than a 100% optimal after days? of processing.

If you hit optimize again, without changing ANYTHING you will often get a different plan. (The algorithms get applied to what just got spit out, and the whole thing gets re-tweaked) do this 3 or 4 times and it will stabilize and not change when you re-optimize.

At this point you will be very close to the absolute best way to minimize wait and walk time based in your timeframe and attractions.

At this point you can move things around (I, for example, don't really want to do Splash at park open. I like it after lunch.) So I might move it and then by hitting evaluate I can see how much it changes things. It might only make a 2 minute difference, and that might be worth it to me.

Touring Plans custom plans are GREAT for those who love to tweak and want a detailed PLAN. They also have other tools for people who would rather not preplan every moment (like their "not a plan plans"

We have had great success with making a detailed plan and then being willing to adapt as we go. (Everybody is hot and tired, let's skip the Riverboat and get ice cream sundaes.)

To us, a touring plan is like budgeting our time -- we have this much time, these are the things we are going to do with that time. If we haven't budgeted time to stop and watch a street performer, it doesn't mean we don't stop. It means we can easily chose whether watching is more important than what we have to give up to watch (walking at a leisurely pace, second trip through a favorite ride, 20 out of 30 min on Tom Sawer Island).

For us, a detailed plan is a way to make informed choices. It doesn't stop us from smelling the roses. Except when a certain 7 year old makes it clear that all things Frozen are far mor important than any roses. ;-)

 

[MouseMum]

I'm really miffed that I hit that optimize button. All my previous tweaking and re-tweaking is out the window! And I still can't figure why the loooonnng early morning wait at Splash!

 

[SFMommy]

The EVALUATE button is your friend. OPTIMIZE is your frenemy.

 

[lwc]

I'm really miffed that I hit that optimize button. All my previous tweaking and re-tweaking is out the window! And I still can't figure why the loooonnng early morning wait at Splash!

It stincks that you lost a plan you were happy with.

Try hitting optimize over and over again until the plan stops changing. That often helps get rid of wonky things. Then tweak and evaluate (or COPY before optimizing!)

 

[cigar95]

I have just heard from someone who is there now and they said touring plans had the park they went to yesterday at a 9 on crowds. They said the crowds were not that bad. I think touring plans is a little high on the crowds. I would go by easywdw they had her park at a 7.

Can't directly compare the numbers for two different sites, though, as they almost certainly mean different things. I know that TP has a chart of specifically what their numbers mean in terms of wait times, can't say for the other site.

One of the things you can see about the TP numbers is that there's not a lot of difference in the wait times between the different crowd levels. A 7 and a 9 aren't all that different on the scale, which is somewhat consistent with how the WDW crowds don't vary as much as they did on earlier years.

 

[MouseMum]

It stincks that you lost a plan you were happy with.

Try hitting optimize over and over again until the plan stops changing. That often helps get rid of wonky things. Then tweak and evaluate (or COPY before optimizing!)

I usually do copy, before I tweak and optimize, but in this case, I had only done it a few days earlier and everything was "normal". So today I just added my ADR confirmation #s, and decided to hit optimize. Thought "Hey, I don't need to copy this...I've been working on it for so long, it won't change!" WRONG THINKING!!! You gotta understand my utter dismay! I have been working on these TPs for months! I had tweaked them so much and not much happened in the line of changes, that I just DID IT! 6 DAYS BEFORE WE LEAVE! When I saw the results I thought "Something has changed big time! What the heck is it?"

 

[soniam]

Sometimes Touring Plans over-estimates the wait for rides at park opening. Don't feel bad. I have done exactly what you did. Usually, I just go with what TP says. However, if you really want to do stuff at a certain time, then do when you want. The TP police won't get you

 

[MouseMum]

Sometimes Touring Plans over-estimates the wait for rides at park opening. Don't feel bad. I have done exactly what you did. Usually, I just go with what TP says. However, if you really want to do stuff at a certain time, then do when you want. The TP police won't get you

TP police Thanks for the laugh!

 

[MouseMum]

Len Testa is kindly looking over my TP

 

[lwc]

Len Testa is kindly looking over my TP

THIS is why I (literally) dream about being part of his team. That and a geeky fascination with algorithms.

 

[MouseMum]

THIS is why I (literally) dream about being part of his team. That and a geeky fascination with algorithms.

OMG funny!