Scratching my head over Touring Plans

[PrincessWithABlaster]

I think Optimize works well when you don't know the park well. It gets your plan in the ballpark and then you can tweak things to reduce criss crossing. The map with order on it at the bottom is gold IMO. This is how I used it last year and how I'm using it for DHS this year since we haven't been there in over 15 years. Once you're familiar with the park, you can get the plan in the ballpark yourself and Evaluate works very well. I do usually start with Optimize first because sometimes it shows me something I didn't realize (doing JC before BTMR at RD is more efficient for example).

I like Optimize but I wouldn't use it in the park. It will shuffle your plan with no easy way to get back (unless you have a back up of the original which I'm thinking may be a good idea). Evaluate will still update the times without changing the order. Although if you mark your rides Done in Lines and just have a few attractions left and want to see the best order for them with the latest info then Optimize away.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

Now I'm really looking forward to it.

 

[pa. dad]

I am a long time WDW vet, Ap holder who visits the park 4-6 times a year.

I recently subscribed to Touring Plans, because I have heard great things about the lines app.

Even though I know the parks well, and have my personal touring style, I decided to enter my itinerary into the TP site to see how their touring plan compared to my own.

On my MK day I have FP made, and I entered those into TP. As well as the other attractions that we will likely do.

TP then calculated my plan. I got a message that basically said

"We see that you have FP For splash and space but we don't think that's the most efficient way to go. Instead follow our plan."

Well the thing is, they put Splash and Space elsewhere in my day without FP, but they have the approximate wait times as 54 and 71 minutes. How is standing in line for 71 minutes a better plan than using a FP?

They would only make sense if other attractions had even longer waits. If a Peter Pan had 80 and the Mine train had 90 and jungle Cruise 75 minutes their advice would save you time if you wanted to do those rides. Some of the waits to meet the characters can have some really long waits too.
I think they assume that you want to do all attractions equally which may or may not be the case.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

Len, let us know when the bug is out and I'll start with my customized plans.

Touring Plans made all the difference for us and now that I understand the Optimize button better, I am really looking forward to using it. Thanks!

 

[BeerMe]

Never used the app - but I do use the calendars. They work fine for my purposes

 

[bridgetmck]

What is the 'Lines' app that everyone is referring to? And who is Josh? (Sorry for my ignorance....please, feel free to enlighten me!)

 

[lentesta]

@mrzrich - this should be resolved now. Let me know via email if there's anything else that looks wonky. Thanks again for reporting this, and for your patience.

 

[mrzrich]

Thanks so much Len!

 

[MaryKatesMom]

So do I need to add the attraction with FP+ to customized plan? Will it plug the FP+ in the plan? Thanks!

 

[ChloesDaddy]

What is the 'Lines' app that everyone is referring to? And who is Josh? (Sorry for my ignorance....please, feel free to enlighten me!)

Lines is the app from Touringplans.com. It tracks wait times and allows you to create, follow and edit touring plans for your park days. It also has information on the parks, hours, crowd levels, attractions, and restaurants. The TP website has more detailed information on WDW as well as resort room views and other features.

Josh is the proprietor of easywdw.com, a site with comprehensive information on expected crowd levels, park hours, wait times, and information about the parks, attractions, resorts and restaurants.

I find both to be very useful tools and sources of information for planning a trip.

 

[Tarheel girl 1975]

Pretty sure optimize is meant to be used the day of, taking into account current information that is being added by users. It's not meant to be used ahead of time. Thus why it doesn't work.

I've used optimize successfully before. It usually works as long as you have set all your hours and ADRs correctly. I usually optimize, then add my FP, then tweak and evaluate.

I subscribed to TP before our first trip, and even then I knew the touring plan part just wasn't right. We didn't want to crisscross the parks as we had mutiple days and I thought it would be easier to do everything in an order, but touringplans always recommended it. I ended up making my own touring plan that worked for us, but I find a lot of the other information helpful. Their estimated wait times and crowd calenders helped me make my touringplan and their menus were helpful too (though I think some are outdated). We also subscribed to the Universal portion because it was hard to find some of that information on Universal (like all menus together, wait times) and that was helpful too.

I always set it to minimize walking and usually pick a slower pace.

 

[ougrad86]

I use the Lines and the crowd calendar. I like it better than easy WDW, I have compared the two and TP seems closer. Never used their touring plans. I read thru the premadevones in the Unofficial Guide and used those as a loose guide. Don't need them anymore, since we pretty well know where to go when. But I use Lines if we are just wandering and like adding some of the data myself!

 

[lentesta]

So do I need to add the attraction with FP+ to customized plan? Will it plug the FP+ in the plan? Thanks!

It should automatically add the attraction, if you've said you've got a FP+ for it. Let me know how it works, please.

 

[jcemom]

Wednesday, September 14, evening EMH at MK. No matter how many times I change the plan times to include the EMH, when I save it, it changes back to 9am - 10pm. We're only going to be there from 10pm - 12am, the EMH hours. I've even tried other hours, like 6pm - 12am, but no matter what I do, when I save the end time changes back to 10pm.

ETA: I can change the start time as long as it's prior to 10pm, but the end time will not extend into the EMH hours.

 

[lentesta]

Wednesday, September 14, evening EMH at MK. No matter how many times I change the plan times to include the EMH, when I save it, it changes back to 9am - 10pm. We're only going to be there from 10pm - 12am, the EMH hours. I've even tried other hours, like 6pm - 12am, but no matter what I do, when I save the end time changes back to 10pm.

ETA: I can change the start time as long as it's prior to 10pm, but the end time will not extend into the EMH hours.

There should be another, separate question that asks if you want to use the Evening EMH. Is that question displayed?

The reason we ask a separate question about EMH is to avoid confusion with offsite guests and showing EMHs.

 

[jcemom]

There should be another, separate question that asks if you want to use the Evening EMH. Is that question displayed?

The reason we ask a separate question about EMH is to avoid confusion with offsite guests and showing EMHs.

There is. When I check the little circle it changes the plan times to 9am - 12am. Then I use the drop down menu to change it to 10pm - 12am. When I click "save" it reverts back to 9am - 10pm. If I select a start time prior to 10pm then it saves my new start time but still makes the end time 10pm. I've never had this happen before. It isn't a huge deal but I thought you might want to know about it. I tried Chrome and Firefox to make sure it wasn't somehow my browser.

 

[lentesta]

There is. When I check the little circle it changes the plan times to 9am - 12am. Then I use the drop down menu to change it to 10pm - 12am. When I click "save" it reverts back to 9am - 10pm. If I select a start time prior to 10pm then it saves my new start time but still makes the end time 10pm. I've never had this happen before. It isn't a huge deal but I thought you might want to know about it. I tried Chrome and Firefox to make sure it wasn't somehow my browser.

Ah, got it. Yes, I can make this happen too. I'll ask one of the developers to take a look at it and get back to you when it's resolved. Thanks for the note.

 

[jcemom]

Ah, got it. Yes, I can make this happen too. I'll ask one of the developers to take a look at it and get back to you when it's resolved. Thanks for the note.

Thank YOU for always being on top of any issues, though they're few and far between! If I'm the only one who has noticed this, maybe it's only an issue with this one particular date, I don't know, but, at least for me, there's no rush. I don't even really NEED a touring plan for that evening lol, I just like seeing everything right in front of me.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Exactly what I do. Always "evaluate" never "optimize". Took me a few times to figure that out though.

Thank you to you and others who have shared this! I enjoy TP site but their trip planner has been nothing but frustrating. Going to try planning a day now without using 'Optimize' and see how it goes!

 

[Karin Witherell]

I am so happy I saw this thread. This is our first trip to WDW and my first time using TP. I thought some things were strange when trying to set up our plans, but because I really don't know any better, I was just going to go with what TP said. I'll definitely go back and evaluate them again now.