Scratching my head over Touring Plans

[mrzrich]

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?

 

[Shanti]

TP is BS. Sorry to be that blunt about it. Search Touring Plans on this forum and you'll see that their batting average has been very weak for the past few years.

Your plans sound sensible. Stick with them.

 

[Alesia]

The Lines app is great! The touring plan generator is not.

 

[mrzrich]

No skin off my nose with the promo code it was like 7 bucks. I'll use the "dining Buddy" type feature, the room request, the lines app and I'll peruse the crowd calendars, likely going with Josh if there is a discrepancy.

 

[tinkerbella16]

Yeah when I did my day by day plans for my trip through them, I pretty much gave up by day 2. Because I would also put in my fps and the same message would come up. I went and did fine without it. I do like TP for the room request fax though! It worked out great and I got the room I requested at POR. Using it for our trip this year too, not expecting the same, but will be pleasantly surprised if we do get one of the rooms we chose.

 

[snayak]

I just use touring plans to model my preferred touring order and pick FPs based on their predicted wait times (so, this would be done on day 61, before I make FP reservations).

I do not use their "optimized" plans or the Lines app, just their planning engine to see how the day would look. I set the walking pace to "slow" and added breaks, it was pretty close to what we actually accomplished in a given day, and we generally didn't wait for anything for >30min (in late October 2014, average crowd of 5-7)

 

[disneydacey]

I prefer Josh's touring suggestions. They have never failed me in 4 trips so far.

 

[ChloesDaddy]

I just use touring plans to model my preferred touring order and pick FPs based on their predicted wait times (so, this would be done on day 61, before I make FP reservations).

I do not use their "optimized" plans or the Lines app, just their planning engine to see how the day would look. I set the walking pace to "slow" and added breaks, it was pretty close to what we actually accomplished in a given day, and we generally didn't wait for anything for >30min (in late October 2014, average crowd of 5-7)

Agree on not using the "optimize" feature when creating plans, especially if you choose to minimize wait times. It can produce crazy plans that have you zig-zagging all over.

That said, I find TPs plan generator/evaluator to be a useful tool as long as you recognize its limitations and as long as you leave some flexibility. I don't use it to create rigid plans that have to be followed. That's a recipe for disaster, or at least a disappointing day.

I use it to evaluate an order that I choose and play with it to get an idea of timing and options. It works well for rides, shows and M&Gs that are FP eligible. It doesn't give accurate wait times for other M&Gs like Merida or Tiana.

OP -- you might just try putting in your own plan order and start tweaking things to see what kind of results you get. Once you've got a feel for it you can create alternate plans that are different from your normal touring approach and maybe let you experience the parks in a new way.

Even though we only go every few years, I like to take a different approach to the parks each time, so I can imagine that more regular visits could become dull if you do things the same way every time.

 

[mrzrich]

Eh, I go enough to know the parks very well, and I know what works for my family. I didn't really make the purchase for the touring plans, and I probably won't ever use that feature. I was just surprise at how bad the plan was.

 

[jcemom]

I agree with the others who said don't use Optimize. It's pretty accurate if you already know how to tour and want to estimate what your day will look like. That's what I use it for. I know what order I want to put the attractions in. I've found their wait time estimates to be fairly accurate, so the custom plans help me a good deal. I also just like to have everything in print to make sure I don't forget anything.

 

[kiford]

I just use it mostly for the Lines app which I find more accurate than even Disney's posted times. It has saved me many times from walking somewhere just to find out how bad the wait is. It has also encouraged me many times to get in a line that the posted time has as a long wait but the Lines app said wasn't and the Lines app was correct.

 

[ArielSRL]

Agree on not using the "optimize" feature when creating plans, especially if you choose to minimize wait times. It can produce crazy plans that have you zig-zagging all over.

That said, I find TPs plan generator/evaluator to be a useful tool as long as you recognize its limitations and as long as you leave some flexibility. I don't use it to create rigid plans that have to be followed. That's a recipe for disaster, or at least a disappointing day.

I use it to evaluate an order that I choose and play with it to get an idea of timing and options. It works well for rides, shows and M&Gs that are FP eligible. It doesn't give accurate wait times for other M&Gs like Merida or Tiana.

OP -- you might just try putting in your own plan order and start tweaking things to see what kind of results you get. Once you've got a feel for it you can create alternate plans that are different from your normal touring approach and maybe let you experience the parks in a new way.

Even though we only go every few years, I like to take a different approach to the parks each time, so I can imagine that more regular visits could become dull if you do things the same way every time.

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

 

[Dreamin192]

TP was telling me the same thing the other day, I figured something must be off. I also noticed though that the EasyWDW crowd calendars, at least the May one, hasn't been updated with new EMH. I had to rebook our vacation so I was looking at it on Thursday. I based my days off of that and booked things for my kids and then found out I did them on MK EMH days which I would have rather avoided, but oh well, too late now.

 

[WooPigScientist]

That said, I find TPs plan generator/evaluator to be a useful tool as long as you recognize its limitations and as long as you leave some flexibility. I don't use it to create rigid plans that have to be followed. That's a recipe for disaster, or at least a disappointing day.

I use it to evaluate an order that I choose and play with it to get an idea of timing and options. It works well for rides, shows and M&Gs that are FP eligible. It doesn't give accurate wait times for other M&Gs like Merida or Tiana.

This is exactly how I used TP. It was a great tool for mapping out our scheduled FP and meals and seeing what we could probably get done in between.

Our goal was to walk back and forth as little as possible while also keeping low wait times, so it really hated my FP choices. I put in my meals, breaks, FP, and goal attractions for the day, used the Optimize button, then moved things around and only used the Evaluate button until I had a plan I liked.

Once we were there, having the plan gave us a loose agenda that we could deviate from as necessary. Jungle Cruise 40 min wait when TP thought it was going to be 15? Oh look, Pirates is 15, lets go! Another benefit was that as I checked things off the plan, it basically served as a running tally of what we had and had not done. With a 3 and 5 year old, I need all the help with mental lists I can get.

 

[wdw4rfam]

They couldn't have been further off on crowd predictions his last time, and I didn't get even close to room request on fax, so I let mine expire. I'll just use josh like I used to.

 

[Nancyg56]

Eh, I go enough to know the parks very well, and I know what works for my family. I didn't really make the purchase for the touring plans, and I probably won't ever use that feature. I was just surprise at how bad the plan was.

Oh it's bad! I like TP and use it along with Josh to figure out my parks planning, but that Optimize feature? nope.

 

[Disneymom1126]

We always start with the most popular ride that we don't have a FP+ for at rope drop, then make our way around the park (any of them) in a big circle....I schedule our fast passes for the 11-4 time frame depending on when we will be near it/when we are eating lunch. That has always worked really well for us and has limited the backtracking!

 

[SFMommy]

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

Exactly. Most of us on these boards know the best order. So I plan my day, then hit "evaluate" to get an idea of wait times, walking times, etc. Love "evaluate"..."optimize" not so much.

 

[luvmyguyz]

Agree on not using the "optimize" feature when creating plans, especially if you choose to minimize wait times. It can produce crazy plans that have you zig-zagging all over.

That said, I find TPs plan generator/evaluator to be a useful tool as long as you recognize its limitations and as long as you leave some flexibility. I don't use it to create rigid plans that have to be followed. That's a recipe for disaster, or at least a disappointing day.

I use it to evaluate an order that I choose and play with it to get an idea of timing and options. It works well for rides, shows and M&Gs that are FP eligible. It doesn't give accurate wait times for other M&Gs like Merida or Tiana.

OP -- you might just try putting in your own plan order and start tweaking things to see what kind of results you get. Once you've got a feel for it you can create alternate plans that are different from your normal touring approach and maybe let you experience the parks in a new way.

Even though we only go every few years, I like to take a different approach to the parks each time, so I can imagine that more regular visits could become dull if you do things the same way every time.

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

This is how I use it too. It's unfortunate that the optimize feature doesn't work very well, but I like the "evaluate" feature to map out my plan for the day; knowing that once were there I will likely deviate from the plan. Mapping it out in advance is half the fun! It also re-familiarizes me with the park layout, which is helpful since we only go once every two years.

 

[snayak]

This is how I use it too. It's unfortunate that the optimize feature doesn't work very well, but I like the "evaluate" feature to map out my plan for the day; knowing that once were there I will likely deviate from the plan. Mapping it out in advance is half the fun! It also re-familiarizes me with the park layout, which is helpful since we only go once every two years.

So, "optimize" might work when you're in the park using the Lines app. If I wrote it (and I most certainly did not!) it would take into account your location on the map, the most recent wait times, and the attractions the guest has selected to visit for the day and suggest the next attractoin to visit. It might do that now, I don't know, I didn't use it for our last trip (I did use TP though)

But unfortunately, the Lines app is too slow for me, as is the internet connection in the parks (WiFi or cellular) - and I don't want to be on their phone all day in the park.

So, I evaluate and live with my plans. We generally travel as a group of adults...if we miss something or a line is longer than we'd care to wait, we just skip it. We don't do many M&Gs but that will change w/ the ability to meet Chewie and/or Vader.