Scratching my head over Touring Plans

[scrappinginontario]

I have never been able to figure out how to use the TP planners properly and I really want to try again! Based on what I've read here I'm trying to plan out a day in April. I've copied the plan and changed it to our date.

The first thing I tried to do was add a meal we've booked at Be Our Guest at 9:15am. I entered it (it was now listed at the 18th item of our day) and clicked 'Evaluate.' It was still listed as the 18th thing of our day and the time was now showing as 10:25pm.

HELP Len! What am I doing wrong???

 

[Karin Witherell]

I have never been able to figure out how to use the TP planners properly and I really want to try again! Based on what I've read here I'm trying to plan out a day in April. I've copied the plan and changed it to our date.

The first thing I tried to do was add a meal we've booked at Be Our Guest at 9:15am. I entered it (it was now listed at the 18th item of our day) and clicked 'Evaluate.' It was still listed as the 18th thing of our day and the time was now showing as 10:25pm.

HELP Len! What am I doing wrong???

It was doing that to me also. When I optimized the plan, it put everything back in order. After months of planning, I'm finding mysel wishing we'd have just stuck to our multiple times a year DL vacations instead of WDW. So much simpler pulling up RideMax the night before or on our way to the parks to plan our day!
I'm sure this is going to be an amazing vacation for all of us though.

 

[lentesta]

I have never been able to figure out how to use the TP planners properly and I really want to try again! Based on what I've read here I'm trying to plan out a day in April. I've copied the plan and changed it to our date.

The first thing I tried to do was add a meal we've booked at Be Our Guest at 9:15am. I entered it (it was now listed at the 18th item of our day) and clicked 'Evaluate.' It was still listed as the 18th thing of our day and the time was now showing as 10:25pm.

HELP Len! What am I doing wrong???

Thanks for using the site, @scrappinginontario. Post a link to your plan, please, and I'll be happy to take a look. (Click the "Edit" button on your plan. A pop-up window will appear. At the bottom of the window is a checkbox that says "Publish this plan?" Click the checkbox. And close the window. At the top of your plan there'll be a blue URL that says "Share this link with anyone...")

It sounds like you might want to click the "Optimize" button instead of "Evaluate." Optimize will ask the software to re-order the steps in your plan to minimize your wait in line. That is, the computer makes the plan.

The "Evaluate" button is for people who want to make their own plan. The computer doesn't move any steps around. Instead, it takes the steps exactly as shown, and says how long it'll take to complete that plan as shown.

There are probably better names for those buttons than "Optimize" and "Evaluate." I'm open to suggestions.

ETA: instructions on how to publish a plan.

 

[ArielSRL]

I have never been able to figure out how to use the TP planners properly and I really want to try again! Based on what I've read here I'm trying to plan out a day in April. I've copied the plan and changed it to our date.

The first thing I tried to do was add a meal we've booked at Be Our Guest at 9:15am. I entered it (it was now listed at the 18th item of our day) and clicked 'Evaluate.' It was still listed as the 18th thing of our day and the time was now showing as 10:25pm.

HELP Len! What am I doing wrong???

You need to drag it to the step you want.

 

[Karin Witherell]

Thanks for using the site, @scrappinginontario. Post a link to your plan, please, and I'll be happy to take a look. (Click the "Edit" button on your plan. A pop-up window will appear. At the bottom of the window is a checkbox that says "Publish this plan?" Click the checkbox. And close the window. At the top of your plan there'll be a blue URL that says "Share this link with anyone...")

It sounds like you might want to click the "Optimize" button instead of "Evaluate." Optimize will ask the software to re-order the steps in your plan to minimize your wait in line. That is, the computer makes the plan.

The "Evaluate" button is for people who want to make their own plan. The computer doesn't move any steps around. Instead, it takes the steps exactly as shown, and says how long it'll take to complete that plan as shown.

There are probably better names for those buttons than "Optimize" and "Evaluate." I'm open to suggestions.

ETA: instructions on how to publish a plan.

"Clueless" (that would be me) works for the "Optimize"'button.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Thanks! That helped.

 

[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.

Just checked and my evening EMH is working/saving properly now. BUT...now the morning EMH at MK on 9/16 is doing the same thing the evening was lol. It was fine yesterday. When I just went in to add an attraction it reverted to 9am and I can't change it lol. Sorry!

If it's in the process of being worked on, no big deal. I was just posting an update.

 

[mrzrich]

Just want to say I got back from a quickie 2 day trip and used the optimizer in real time in the park for the first time. Worked great!

 

[jcemom]

Just want to say I got back from a quickie 2 day trip and used the optimizer in real time in the park for the first time. Worked great!

Thanks for the review! I can't wait to try it!

 

[jcammans]

I would love to see Merida meet & greet added as a choice in TP. She is my daughters favorite princess and therefore it is definitely something we must do. I have it scheduled in my plans as a custom break but I have no idea how much time it might take.

 

[ArielSRL]

I would love to see Merida meet & greet added as a choice in TP. She is my daughters favorite princess and therefore it is definitely something we must do. I have it scheduled in my plans as a custom break but I have no idea how much time it might take.

Yeh I had to add Pirates league and Disney visa Kylo ren meet as breaks. Fortunately I was able to ask and research to find out about how long both would take.

 

[Dug720]

New to this - I don't do commando and typically like to wing it outside of a few ADRs and FP+, but I gave in and subscribed for the resort fax service. Figured I'd try playing with plans (not much beyond what park what day and ADRs right now as I can't do FP+ until June) and first thing I noticed was that on park days there is no way to put an ADR at a resort in other than putting it in as a "break". In this case I've got an early dinner at 1900 on my MK day and plan to leave for dinner and then go back into MK for MSEP and Wishes (and some rides before them), so I entered it as a break.

Is that what y'all do in cases like that?

 

[Disneylvr]

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.

Another non-optimizer!

 

[ArielSRL]

New to this - I don't do commando and typically like to wing it outside of a few ADRs and FP+, but I gave in and subscribed for the resort fax service. Figured I'd try playing with plans (not much beyond what park what day and ADRs right now as I can't do FP+ until June) and first thing I noticed was that on park days there is no way to put an ADR at a resort in other than putting it in as a "break". In this case I've got an early dinner at 1900 on my MK day and plan to leave for dinner and then go back into MK for MSEP and Wishes (and some rides before them), so I entered it as a break.

Is that what y'all do in cases like that?

Yes. I have a Chef Mickey's ADR so I put it in as a break.

 

[Dug720]

Yes. I have a Chef Mickey's ADR so I put it in as a break.

Thanks!

 

[j2thomason]

I go to the parks 4-5 times a year and always use TP to create a general game plan. Once I get into the parks, I go to my personalized plan for that day and optimize the plan. It is much better than the MDE app as far as wait times and also quicker to load on my phone....at least for me anyway. I also use TP to help choose my resort room. On our last visit when I got the text about our room, I looked it up and, according to TP it was not the room type I had booked or needed (handicap roll-in shower for my mom). Our room actually was a roll-in shower room. I emailed the webmaster at TP immediately and let them know that their description of the room was incorrect. I got a reply a couple of hours later asking me for a description of the room and thanking me for helping them keep their information updated. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to constantly keep all of their information updated when Disney changes things daily. Even though they have an occasional glitch, I still think it is worth the prescription price for all of the information they provide. I also use the WDWprepschool website for planning. Shannon keeps her park hours and events updated really well. She doesn't have an app though. I only use her website for pretrip planning and TP while I am in the parks.

 

[ArielSRL]

I go to the parks 4-5 times a year and always use TP to create a general game plan. Once I get into the parks, I go to my personalized plan for that day and optimize the plan. It is much better than the MDE app as far as wait times and also quicker to load on my phone....at least for me anyway. I also use TP to help choose my resort room. On our last visit when I got the text about our room, I looked it up and, according to TP it was not the room type I had booked or needed (handicap roll-in shower for my mom). Our room actually was a roll-in shower room. I emailed the webmaster at TP immediately and let them know that their description of the room was incorrect. I got a reply a couple of hours later asking me for a description of the room and thanking me for helping them keep their information updated. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to constantly keep all of their information updated when Disney changes things daily. Even though they have an occasional glitch, I still think it is worth the prescription price for all of the information they provide. I also use the WDWprepschool website for planning. Shannon keeps her park hours and events updated really well. She doesn't have an app though. I only use her website for pretrip planning and TP while I am in the parks.

I use wdwprepschool too. She's great about sending out an email (if you sign up for that) when hours change.

 

[lentesta]

Just checked and my evening EMH is working/saving properly now. BUT...now the morning EMH at MK on 9/16 is doing the same thing the evening was lol. It was fine yesterday. When I just went in to add an attraction it reverted to 9am and I can't change it lol. Sorry!

If it's in the process of being worked on, no big deal. I was just posting an update.

I'm told this is fixed, @jcemom. Let me know if not, please.

 

[lentesta]

Yes. I have a Chef Mickey's ADR so I put it in as a break.

That's what I'd do too. Thanks @ArielSRL.

 

[jcemom]

I'm told this is fixed, @jcemom. Let me know if not, please.

I just checked it and yes, it's fixed, for both evening and morning. Thank you so much!