Too Late for Tour Guide Mike??? Over planning?

[WDWorld2003]

I was reading the post below on Tour Guide Mike and looked at the site - seems to be lots of great info.... Just wondering since I've already made flight and hotel reservations if it would be worth it to buy the Tour? We are arriving in Disney on March 28th and leaving on the 5th of April.

I already have a few guide books (Birnbaums, Unofficial Guide, etc.) and am receiving the 2003 Passporter soon.... am I overdoing this?

I love reading about Disney and have checked out many books from the library and looked at many web sites. Can he offer any more than this info and is it worth the $$$???

 

[Sarangel]

Think of Tourguide Mike as another guidebook (well, guidebook in progress). Then you can decide whether or not you want to buy in. We already have flight & room reservations for our Nov. 2003 trip, but I bought it anyway for the articles. There are, unfortunately, several articles that I would *love* to read, but they haven't been written yet.

He does have a good reminder list for PS and e-mail notification you can set up to remind yourself for other activities.

Just my $0.02

Sarangel

 

[chi-mom]

There are also many touring plans listed to fit your group. There are a multitude of special tricks and hints which I have not read anywhere else.

 

[Rileygirl]

Hi wdw2003

There are a few threads on this dis board about tgm. You should look at what others are saying about him. Look at theme park strategies, they have a really current thread called tourguide mike p2. Also on the budget board, a thread called tourguidemike promo code...
If you read any of the other threads you will know that I absolutely love this site.
For your specific question as to whether it is worth it, your vacation is two months away...I would first like to ask you if you plan to spend some serious time reading his stuff. He has so much more than any other guide book you have, and some of it is completely different to what those other guide books say, it might overwhelm you. As far as hotel and transportation, although he covers those topics, where he shines like no other is theme parks information and itineraries. Attraction information, hints, timing, how to best use your time, where to view parades, fireworks, special events....the list is endless. I suggest you go to his site before buying it, and go click on the yellow bar up top on the sections called "vacation articles" You can scroll down and see all the catagories, click on them, and up come the specific vacation articles. If there is a date beside it, it has been published. If there is a lock icon beside it, unfortunately you cant open it, but look at the descriptor, it tells you what that article is about. If there is no lock icon, go in and read it. For a little taste of how good his private articles are, read under the "what parents want to know" catagory, the unlocked articles about lost children and how disney responds....these two articles are free, but contain some great stuff. Are you going to an e-night? His locked article here is amazing. Do you know how to have two fast passes at once? he tells you how. He really helps with priority seating, his calculator and reminder system is excellent. You still have plenty of time to utilize this. If you buy tgm, quick go into your parks and places and look at his attractions. Go into mk and look at buzz lightyear, or space mountain, scroll down past his general description to the good stuff.. His tips, his itinerary advice, his trivia, his other helpful secret tips...I defy you to not be blown away. And just know that for EVERY attraction, there is specific info like this. Trust me you will spend hours and hours (if you like to read and learn) just in the attractions area.
His vacation articles are brilliant, but there is so much more too. I hope two months is enough time to get through it all.
Passporters I think has a better hotel section, and I love their maps.....but tgm is head and shoulders above anybody else, if I could only own one thing it would be tgm. I would throw out the unofficial guide, it is garbage, but thats just my opinion. Hope this helps....
Rileygirl

 

[TreeOfLife]

Sarangel, Tour Guide Mike is not just another travel guide at all.

It is unique, in that it offers a lot of information you don't find anywhere else and on top of it all, everything is updated in one single site. No need to search through boards or websites to get the latest info, not even the need to download updates. He has it all there for you! It is like having a fresh source of information available at the click of a button... He does go through the hassle of updating it like no other source around, even sharing his secrets and tips about getting by and around activities, as he learned them planning personal tours for celebrities.

Oh yes, and then the unique service you get when you plug in your party's travel information and out comes a whole planner! Some sites provide some travel planning queries but none does it as thorough, fun and easy to use as his.

 

[yesdisneyfool]

You won't be sorry. The worst case is you already know the info but chances are you will find that one or two things and say, WOW, "I didn't know that" or "I never thought of it that way". Look around as mentioned and if you do chose to purchase and it's not all what you thought, email Mike and see what he can do. In less than 4 weeks will be back and once again using his guidance and advice.

 

[bjakmom]

Mike still has info and pictures to put on the site - but if his pics of the Share a Dream and Spectromagic Parades are any indication of what we can expect - I'll be happy. I love that he captions each picture with 'inside' information on each float, what it represents, etc. - the kind of little tips I love learning about !

 

[Rileygirl]

Yup Bjackmom, I love those little touches and special info he gives about everything too. Everyone should know that the photo tours are free for anyone to look at....so I have tried to paste the appropriate links so anyone can easily view them.

First, share a dream come true, parade...

http://tourguidemike.com/parks/photoAttraction.asp?attraction_id=34

Then the spectro Magic parade...make sure you read the little captions underneath, they tell you some great trivia....

http://tourguidemike.com/parks/photoAttraction.asp?attraction_id=33

What I find sort of funny is that there is no crowds where he is standing, its single file, and if you have read his advice on where to stand, you know that you get a great (comfortable) view, and only have to show up 20, or in case b, 45 minutes before hand to get those great spots. What is not funny is those winter coats in the spectro magic shots....yikes

While I am in there cutting and pasting, WDW2003, you may be interested in this link which tells you exactly what service tgm provides you with...I agree with tree of life, to call him just a guide book is completely inaccurate. You may have already read it, but here you go

http://tourguidemike.com/tour/faq.asp

cheers!
Rileygirl

 

[cortegro]

Wow! I just began to "think" about a WDW trip with my family NEXT April 2004. I will be in Orlando for a Convention and will do a vacation either before or after.

My TGMike question is...Am I too early to sign on and start reading up?

I think the logistics of my commute to the convention center daily might be tough to stay on site, but I know my wife and three boys (11,10,8 next year) will not stay anywhere else. The business will pick up a good portion of the tab though. The planning of TGM for the family while I'm away during the day sounds invaluable.

TIA ,

Cortegro

 

[Rileygirl]

OK,its me again

You will love your tgm...go get it right now!!! I believe you can plan right up to 2006 absolutely for sure you can use it for 2004!. Check mary at mousesavers, she may still have a discount code...if not, wait til tomorrow, I understand that disneydollarless is going to offer a discount code in the next day or so.... Personally, I know I have said this before, but paying the full price of 25 dollars is nothing for what it is worth....enough said. Wish the dis boards would offer a discount code though....
Rileygirl

 

[disneyfantotheend]

In my opinion TGM is 100% worth every penny. I love it. Our trip is in Nov. I just purchased it, there is so much info that I have never seen. And he really pin points exactly when to go where, if you prefer not dealing with crowds. And so much great info on how to avoid lines. Of course I haven't gone yet, so you never know, may get there and end up running into lots of lines. Has anyone actually used the tips in the parks yet. And does it work as well as I expect it to? I say never too early or late to buy it and no such thing as over planning. Just have a great time when you go. And in my opinion TGM will help us with that part.

 

[cortegro]

Thanks,

I will sign up in the morninig! 2004 IS still a ways away but I will have a lot more info now. I will probably still end up buying all the books etc.... Now...if I can get the kids to start collecting change.....I might get out of the souvenir spending as well
I'll keep an eye out for codes....

Is it too early to begin to ask where the 5 of us should stay?

Cortegro

 

[disneyfantotheend]

We had our reservations more than a year ahead of time. Just call periodically or check mousesavers for discounts. That way if a good rate comes out you just tell them to switch your reservation to that code. As for where to stay, what kind of a budget are you on? This trip we are staying at ASMo for first and last night and Contemporary for eight night in between. Last trip we were off site and the one before that at the Caribbean Beach. We like being on site much better.

 

[WDWorld2003]

Thanks for all of your advice! I purchased the TGMike info package and am very happy. There are tips in there I never thought about and have not seen anywhere else even though I've read so much on Disney. I even e-mailed him with a question and it was promptly answered. I am disappointed that several articles I'd like to read (but I will keep checking back) are not written yet and no pics of the resort we're staying at.....

I also think the subscription should last for 1 year - it's kind of unfair that my trip is in less than 2 months and will expire 2 weeks after I get back where a person who had a trip up to 3 years later will be able to access the site for many years....

Overall, though I am happy with the advice and will use it on our upcoming trip in 51 days!!!! (I love the way Mike counts down)

 

[TreeOfLife]

WDWorld2003, I am glad you purchased the program.

It is a valuable investment offering information like no other service around. It is filled with information you can't find anywhere else, and Mike makes it easy for you to get it all for a great price, without searching up and down threads or downloading updates

The way he put it together is innovative and unique. Although our trip is in December, thanks to his detailed information and planning assistance we have the meals portion "ironed out".

Have fun reading through and planning your trip now!

 

[mickeysaver]

I can't see spending the money for the service. I don't know what I'm missing because I have never subscribed to his service. I have never heard anything that would lead me to think that it's not useful or a credible service. Now, I'm sure TGM can tell you things that conventional guidebooks and the net won't be able to tell you, but is it worth it? I have seen deals with $3 off the membership, but I just can't justify spending roughly $22 for a guidebook service. I don't think I need that much help.

I started planning my September, 2002, vacation about 8 months in advance. I read just about every WDW info site out there for pointers on WDW and it's secrets. When I would find something that I thought would apply to our vacation plans, I copied the info onto documents in Word that I then turned into my own laminated and bound touring guide. It served us well. I found the info that I collected online to be more up to date than the guidebooks in the stores. I read the guidebooks at the book stores, I never invested in them because the info was all available online, well the parts that interested me at least. I had a well planned out guide that helped us keep up with our PS arrangements and phone numbers for any potential need at WDW. It has even become part of the scrapbook we are making from our trip. Mickey

 

[TreeOfLife]

His site is very unique. We've already written about our impressions and are very happy to share a great vacation planning and informative tool...

There are tips you can't find elsewhere, schedules that you can find in various places but don't need to search and scrutinize all over.

We've shared our impressions in previous posts, feel welcomed to read them and see why we recommend the program

 

[Rileygirl]

Hi disneyfantotheend

I just noticed that you asked if anybody has ever used Michaels advice on a trip and has since returned....I have only seen one dis er post that they have, I believe you will find it on the Theme park strategies board, the second page on a thread called tourguide mike, look on the third page a post by I think Yesdisneyfool. She just says she loved it but did not elaborate....maybe she would post a reply on this thread....If not, you can always look at the tgm site, the endorsements page have lots of comments about it. Of course, the nice thing about the disboards is you can always get both points of view.. (the good, the bad, aaand the ugly). I would also like to hear what others have to say about this ....
Rileygirl
PS I am going in March, and I will certainly make a post about this....

 

[yesdisneyfool]

Hi all, I was a little short on my compliment of the tgm site. Thanks to Mary at Mousesavers for pointing me to him, we had a great Holiday in Disney. My Family and I had been to Disney 3 times in 2002 and the 4th was going to be the sites and Holiday events. I had no idea of what the crowds would be. Thanks to Mike, we used his "Best Days and Evenings in each park...." and "Best times...Minimize Crowds & Lines.." and we had a truly enjoyable time avoiding the crowd masses. I really believe without this in hand (each day I carried my printout for the day in my camcorder bag), we would have been in the wrong place at the wrong times (especially Christmas Day because the plan was to be in the MK - we were in AK). We are going back with family (10) on 2/28 and are using his knowledge again.

I did not discover Mike until a few weeks before our trip so I didn't have much time for reading the articles he's suggested for the trip but what I was able to read save me time avoiding the lines and the time spent with my family at this special time of the year was, as the commercial says "Priceless". Being in the least crowded parks on the least crowded days (for the busy time we were there) was well worth the $$.

This trip coming up, I have had lots of time to roam and have printed just the info that I need such as "Maimize your MK enight", again "Best times....Minimize Crowds & Lines" for each park, "Itinerary Planning for ON Property Guest Children, Teens & Active Adults", "Days to Go; Days Not to", and others that I've just not read fully but have added to MY ARTICLES section (just for me).

One thing that is great is the updating to Disney's many, many changes, such as hours, attraction closings, etc all this gets updated ASAP and it's all in YOUR Vacation Planner Section.

For Me this compliments the DIS site. Each family needs to decide for themselves. The most important thing to remember is YOU'RE ON VACATION WITH YOUR FAMILY.

 

[Whiskers]

Is tgm only for Disneyworld and not Disneyland in CA?