Tour Guide Mike?

[photobob]

I'm making my seventh trip to WDW in nine years this June. We are going the last week in June, a time i haven't been before. We are also going at the same time with friends. I am probably the person everyone we'll be looking to for touring guidance. My plan for parks is usually pretty simple. I go to a given park the day after they have EMH and arrive at gate opening. I have the rest of my party head to one major attraction to get in a standby line while I head to another to get fastpasses for everyone. We can usually ride a couple a standby rides while waiting for FP time. Once we do the major attractions and standby times start increasing we head to the lesser crowded attractions. This has usually worked quite well.

Now my question: Given my experience and usual success rate with my own plans, do I need to try Tour Guide Mike or go with my usual plan?

 

[JRawkSteady]

TGM has very useful advice. I've been to WDW many times myself (as you can see from my signature), and I still learned new info from him. But I know how to dodge long wait times...there's so much more you can learn from TGM. I always recommend it...I mean, hey, it's only 20 bucks for unlimited use until 60 days after your trip, right? The question is...Do you think it's worth it?

 

[MagneticxBoy]

I agree with the poster above.. I have been 16 times and were going back in August.. A few weeks ago I paid the money to use tourguidemike and I have to say I havent been disapointed at all! Sure alot of the info you can find at other sites for free, but there is soo much advice and info you can't find anywhere else!

If you are willing to put the time and use the site correctly it will really be worth it!

 

[johnvree]

The Pros:
1. Some of his tips are invaluable. I didn't know them despite my many trips and having read every WDW book out there.
2. His least crowded park days are great and he explains why to avoid and hit certain parks on certain days.
3. He gives more specific information than guidebooks do. For example, even the Unofficial Guide, which I love, only gives you a page or so on Wishes (what it is, where to see it and how early to get there.) TGM has multiple articles on the subject chock full of good information.
4. He updates his site almost every day. That means as things change (an attraction goes down/an event that will effect attendance is scheduled/etc.), so does his advice. Guidebooks are sometimes full of dated information on the day they are released.
5. Twenty bucks is a steal. If it was $100, I'd still join based on what I know now.

Cons:
1. Difficult to navigate. It takes some time to get used to it. Often I was unable to find the same page twice. After a while, it becomes second nature, somewhat.
2. It times you out pretty quickly. This is a very minor pet peeve, but one I wish TGM would address. Your session will time out due to inactivity way too quickly, and it seems to come at different times. When it does, signing back in is a pain since (1) it doesn't remember your user name and password and (2) it brings you back to the home page which means you have to find your way back to the place you were on when it timed out.

One more point, which isn't really a pro or con. TGM is going to challenge some of your current practices. There were a bunch of things that I have always done that seemed to work but that are contrary to TGM's advice. But once he gives you the "why" you understand his recommendation and at least I was willing to change my approach.

 

[mdoc]

We've been to Disney many times and we pretty much did what you do. It works pretty well. But on our recent spring break trip I signed up for TGM and I have to say it was worth the price. It was our smoothest trip ever, and at a pretty busy time. I knew an awful lot of what was on his web site, but there were a couple things I didn't know that alone were worth the price and then some.