TourGuide Mike Up to date?

[todd222222]

I've purchased the Tour Guide Mike package and for the most part I'm finding it very helpful, but I'm finding more and more stuff that is not up to date.

for example on one of the touring plans it says to "Ride it's a small world (closed through March 2005)."

How old is that? it opened 2 and 1/2 years ago....come on.

Plus there is no mention of the Laugh Floor.....what else is missing that I don't know about?

Any thoughts?

Again, I think it's a great resource and lots of good stuff.....and I'm happy I got it, but.....

Thanks

 

[blessdmommy]

That's one of the reasons that I cancelled. His information (that is current/correct) is good but finding things outdated or missing was too frequent for me. Like LOEMH(little ones extra magic hours) was still from 2006 when I searched it last month. And there was some information in the Sept. section that said August. I emailed him about it but a couple weeks later it was still incorrect and I hadn't heard from him. So I went ahead and cancelled. I bought membership last year but this year just seemed like I wasn't getting use out of it.
I will say that the refund was very promptly taken care of and I was pleased with that aspect. It is probably a great place for a newbie who doesn't have time/energy to scour the Disboards but I probably won't be back.

 

[MartDM]

I found the same thing to be true. I also found that TGM was the last to post any sort of news, even later than the many free sites out there.

I made the grave error of politely inquiring about this on the forums and I guess I touched a real nerve as Mike himself personally lambasted me for my audacity and suggested I take a refund & leave. Probably needless to say that I took him up on his offer after such "great" service and assistance.

 

[Ahabart]

This was my experience too. When we went in 2004, I found his info to be invaluable and didn't find anything to be out of date. Unfortuantely, this experience has been totally different. I e-mailed with my frustrations and never heard a reply from anyone in his company. I had particular problems with his sample tours of Animal Kingdom. I can't remember which area, maybe the ones for tours for young and older kids, but he didn't address some of the newer rides at all and they opened quite some time ago. There were also things I noticed like what OP mentioned about things due to open or close that were really outdated. His advise is only benefecial if it's up to date. I didn't cancel this year b/c I did use his website and it did provide some information that was easier to find then searching through threads here, but I will not be purchasing it again in the future unless some major changes are made.

 

[Ahabart]

I found the same thing to be true. I also found that TGM was the last to post any sort of news, even later than the many free sites out there.

I made the grave error of politely inquiring about this on the forums and I guess I touched a real nerve as Mike himself personally lambasted me for my audacity and suggested I take a refund & leave. Probably needless to say that I took him up on his offer after such "great" service and assistance.

WOW! That says a lot to me. I thought maybe they were just overwhelmed, but that is extremely unprofessional. When you say you touched a nerve, did the others on the forum have similar complaints or were they angy with you as well?

 

[Passions71203]

Thanks for telling me this, I had planned on using him for our Feb trip

 

[dcforbreakfast]

Yes, there is some outdated stuff on the site, which I don't understand. I didn't think it would be that time consuming to update information, but I guess it is. Seems to me with a pay site, it should be updated. There are touring plans that have not been touched since 2004! That part is frustrating and I don't get why he won't just fix it or have someone on his staff fix it.

HOWEVER, I will say I've been very happy with my TGM subscription despite this, and have learned A TON and have learned things I would not learn on other sites. Especially if you are new to Disney, or if you are going at a peak time, this site is well worth the 18 bucks or whatever it is.

 

[todd222222]

Thanks for the confirmation of my thoughts.

Since I'm going in late January I'm not to worried about the crowds I'm probably going to go ahead and get the subscription.

The info he does have is very well presented and is in general very helpful. I'll just need to look at everything with a grain of salt and make sure I keep abreast of happens elsewhere.

Todd

 

[dcforbreakfast]

Whoever is running your vacation club in the forum there will be excellent and will be able to answer any questions you have.....

 

[mom2aandj]

I found that parts of the site--the touring plans paticularly--were out of date when we went. I still thought my subscription was WELL worth the money because of the best days/best park chart and the forums there--in my case there was specific information about the week we were there that was NOT in the public forums and which was incredibly helpful to know about!

 

[Ahabart]

I found that parts of the site--the touring plans paticularly--were out of date when we went. I still thought my subscription was WELL worth the money because of the best days/best park chart and the forums there--in my case there was specific information about the week we were there that was NOT in the public forums and which was incredibly helpful to know about!

The first year we did TGM, we were in amazed with the park calendars and specific crowd charts, this year, we found it helpful b/c we didn't have to do the work. I now understand why so many people that are frequent visitors to the parks say that you don't need TGM to figure out this system. If you pay attention to when the shows, EMH, and park hours are, you can figure it out on your own. If you aren't familiar with that process, though, having someone do it for you is fantastic!

When the sample tours are updated, they are fantastic too. It is SUCH a timesaver. Hopefully they will get that updated by the time we go again. I simply don't want to spend the time I had to this year trying to figure out what rides are most popular, have the longest rides, etc. For parks like AK, where EE and Nemo aren't even on the itenerary, the sample tour is useless if they aren't included.

For those of you who are considering TGM and haven't been to Disney many times or know how to calculate park crowds, I still think it is a great idea and value for that information!

 

[te2077]

I found his best days very helpful. We used him on our last trip and didnt have to wait in line. We are using him this Feb because we will run into presidents week. Ill let you all know how it works out.

 

[MartDM]

I thought maybe they were just overwhelmed, but that is extremely unprofessional.

He was incredibly unprofessional. With regard to being overwhelmed, my experience was a year ago and it sounds like not much has improved with regard to the timeliness of information on the site since. IMO, if the lack of updating is a case of being overwhelmed, Mike owes it to his paying customers to rectify that situation with additional staff or whatever else it takes to get things up to date.

When you say you touched a nerve, did the others on the forum have similar complaints or were they angy with you as well?

I honestly went to the forum to inquire when I might expect the info I was looking for to be brought up to date. I wasn't looking for other complaints so I don't know if they existed (I suspect they did not though since Mike made it abundantly clear in his diatribe at me that such things were not allowed). I did receive a number of private emails from other members expressing their regret that I was treated so shabbily and they all agreed with me that many sections of the site were terribly out of date. They seemed to be decent folks so I think the forum community there is probably friendly & helpful...it's just the proprietor who wasn't (in my experience anyway).

 

[KatheeME]

Sadly, when it comes to discussing TGM, one can not dissent without being jumped on eventually, or it seems in the past here on the forums.

 

[familyS]

I am using TGM for our February trip and have found information that is very useful.
However, I will not make the mistake of even hinting in the forums that some information is inaccurate. Although some people over there think the TGM boards are friendlier than the DIS, they are actually pretty intimidating. I still respond to posts there when I can be helpful, but always have to think twice . YMMV, I think I may take things a little too literally .

 

[Cool-Beans]

Every time I see a thread like this, I want to join and go over there and say somethig blasphemous, like certain info is not up to date and see what happens.

One of these days I might just pay them their stupid $20 just to get a peek. Might. Maybe.

 

[KteaRN]

I'm just wondering here - why do people use TGM if things like that aren't up to date? I've always used UD, and they have a website that has a best park for whatever date guide, and a crowd level calculator based on date, and their touring plans seem to be up to date. The site is less than $10 to subscribe to. I don't remember how much the book is, but I think its well worth it.

Now, if TGM had an up to date area where you could plug in who is going, with sex, ages, ride preferences, etc, when, and for how many days you are going, and spit out a customized touring plan, then, I think, it would be worth it.

 

[Ahabart]

Every time I see a thread like this, I want to join and go over there and say somethig blasphemous, like certain info is not up to date and see what happens.

One of these days I might just pay them their stupid $20 just to get a peek. Might. Maybe.

It's cheaper if you go through the banner

 

[disneyfanforever]

I am glad to read all of this information. I had no idea the information was not current. I was thinking about using him since we are going to be at WDW during Easter next year. We have been to WDW many times, but I thought there might be something I was missing since I have heard he has some great time saving techniques. I am not sure what to do now.

 

[MartDM]

Now, if TGM had an up to date area where you could plug in who is going, with sex, ages, ride preferences, etc, when, and for how many days you are going, and spit out a customized touring plan, then, I think, it would be worth it.

I agree and that is what I was hoping to find based on the advertisements of customized plans. All that it really does is let you check off certain attractions and it creates a list...thanks, but I can do that on my own computer for free