TourGuide Mike ??

[ajcolorado]

Um..hi everyone...ah, hmm, uh...my name is Annette and I am a travel information addict. I read Birnbaum. We get the UG every year even when we're not going to WDW that year. I watch the travel channel. And Passporter...I love that map that shows you where to stand for Illuminations. I already knew where to stand but what a great map! And I try to get others addicted. I'm alway telling folks to checkout these boards or allearsnet or mousesavers or the books or TGM. My husband and I love to go to the bookstore and laugh at the guidebooks that tell people that they should visit the MK arcade in the morning. THE MORNING!?!? Are they nuts? Anyway....

It seems like TGM and the DIS crowd would go together like...well, like Mickey & Minnie. The person who is only going to go to WDW once and doesn't like research probably should get the UG and not even read it. They should just cut out the appropriate plan from the back and do what it says. They'll have a good time. As a side note, have you ever had a non-WDW zealot look at the plan with anguish in their eyes and say, "But I don't want to go to (fill in the any attraction)."? They are just dumb-struck when you say, "Then don't - just skip it and go to the next thing that you want to do." It's so funny that they have to be given permission.

IMHO, TGM seems to be more consistant with the DIS culture. We want to know the stuff beyond the surface experience and we want to know why things work the way they do. Tell us the psychology, show us the tricks of the trade, let us pick what we want and skip what we want. We already have a park overview in our heads - give us the inside scoop. Then give us a template for putting together a good plan and turn us loose. The world is our burrito.

 

[madgomez]

I finally got some questions answered from this post about TGM. Let's say I give him the name of the 15 rides I want to do at the MK, plus lunch and the parade for that day. Will he figure out the best times for each ride??? Another thing is, does he tell you what day to go to each park?? What if I have already made all of my ADRs thinking those were the parks I wanted to go to on that day, but he thinks that is a bad ideal??? Hopefully I've done my homework on what parks to visit on what days, but who knows what he would say. I've done RideMax for DL before and it was so simple and worked unbelievebly well!!! I don't know if you know anything about that and what the differences might be???? Do you also know if TGM is customized more just for you than the UG you buy from the internet. I already have the UG book. I hope I'm making sense to you. Trying to get all this down into words is sometimes hard!! Thanks alot for your input as I'm jumping in on this post!!!

TGM provides a best days guide for each park - red, yellow and green. He will never tell you which day to go, because that may depend on other criteria specific to YOU (like ADRs you can't change). TGM provides suggested times for each ride, but will not spit out an itinerary based on you providing a list of 15 rides.
TGM is not like Ridemax. TGM teaches you how to put together a plan which works for you, and teaches you the whys and wherefors, so if something goes "wrong", like a ride is not functioning, you know how to adjust on the fly.

Please, please go to the TGM page and take the few minutes to read thru the introduction in detail. TGM does not spit out a customized itinerary for you, and his explanation makes that very clear. A lot of folks get disillusioned/disappointed because they think they will get a prepared plan. TGM teaches you how to do your own plan. There are sample plans which you can use verbatim, but TGM's real value is in learning how to do it yourself. A bit more work, perhaps. But knowing how to do it yourself, priceless!

 

[JenniferW]

If it isn't what you wanted, ask for your money back. Don't worry about what others will think and go buy a guidebook if you like. It is not a customized tour, but even as a seasoned vet I found many articles helpful and it has made a huge difference in how I am planning my Thanksgiving trip. It is up to date and I want to understand instead of just following a set plan so it meets my needs, but we each have our own.


Jenn

 

[UrsulasShadow]

He refunds money quite promptly. I purchased TGM, didn't like it after months of working with it. I think my CC was credited within a week. Just ask for your money back.

 

[edingerc]

One thing that most people don't consider is this:
Info that you read in the dis boards is anecdotal, the people here have visited WDW 1,2,5 etc times.
Info that you read in tour books is one step beyond anecdotal. The people writing the book are professional observers, but they don't spend too much more time in the parks; they have to move on to the next book
TGM spent 5 years as a Disney tour guide. He now makes his money as a private tour guide to WDW. The amount of time he spends in the world is certainly quite a bit more than either the tour book writers or us people making dis board posts. I tend to put more faith in info from someone with that level of experience.

Fortunately, most people don't follow his advice. The more people who tour "just like everyone else," the faster I get onto rides, when I fight the current.

 

[mill4023]

I finally got some questions answered from this post about TGM. Let's say I give him the name of the 15 rides I want to do at the MK, plus lunch and the parade for that day. Will he figure out the best times for each ride??? Another thing is, does he tell you what day to go to each park?? What if I have already made all of my ADRs thinking those were the parks I wanted to go to on that day, but he thinks that is a bad ideal??? Hopefully I've done my homework on what parks to visit on what days, but who knows what he would say. I've done RideMax for DL before and it was so simple and worked unbelievebly well!!! I don't know if you know anything about that and what the differences might be???? Do you also know if TGM is customized more just for you than the UG you buy from the internet. I already have the UG book. I hope I'm making sense to you. Trying to get all this down into words is sometimes hard!! Thanks alot for your input as I'm jumping in on this post!!!

No, it isn't like Ridemax. You can't pick the rides that you want to do and get a specific itinerary based on those choices.
However,
He offers several touring plans for each park. Each park has at least 2 sample plans. One for those with young children and one for those who with older kids or just adults. Each of these plans is very detailed and has lots of explanation about the reasoning for each choice. So you can pick the plan that works best for your group and either follow it exactly, or customize it for your own use.

In addition to the sample touring plans, you get a list of the best times for each attraction. This makes it easy to know where in your itinerary to add an attraction that might not be included in the sample plans.

When we went last May, we stuck pretty close to TGM's plans for each park, but I found it easy to make a few modifications. We also followed his "best days" recommendations. We saw everything we wanted to see and the longest line we waited in was 10 minutes.