Touring plan or not....

[dlavender]

Always use a plan that we customize to our liking.

But if we don't ride or experience 20 attractions, we feel let down (a little dramatic).

To each their own...

Some people do just as well without one. I would never know, and am not about to start

 

[aebeauregard]

I made the personalized touring plans for our days in the park just because it was something fun to do while I wait for my disney trip! However I don't plan to use them strictly. I found it useful to get an idea of what to expect though. This is our first trip with our daughter (almost 2), so we really have no plans to do roller coasters or haunted mansion or height restricted rides. I have always planned my days with these high on the to do list, so I enjoyed seeing an estimate of how much stuff we can get done in a day when we skip most of the headliners. I've been enough times I don't need a touring plan, I know which attractions you should get to first and which can be done later in the day.

 

[Princesca]

I've done it both ways. If I have enough time that I have two days in the parks I most want to see, I don't use them. But if I only have one day, and have to commando-it, I use a TP.

 

[tlmadden73]

I think you need a GENERAL plan and should try and come up with one on your own, but don't need to pay for one on other websites. (or buy a book ..etc.)

It just depends what you want to get out of the trip and how much knowledge you have of the parks from previous trips.
I think half the fun is coming up with your OWN general plan based on your own knowledge of the parks (if you have been there before). To me following someone else's touring plan is just too rigid and too stressful.

So . I generally make up my own plan like:
1) Get there at rope drop
2) Hit this "land" and have rides X,Y,Z in mind to do. But do whatever comes to mind .. take pictures .. ride a ride twice .. whatever.
3) Schedule Fast Pass 1 at 10:00ish (and within short distance) of the first land schedule Fast Passes 2 and 3 as close as possible to the first Fast Pass and schedule them in (or near) the same land. Probably have time to hit other short rides in between these Fast Passes (in the same land). These Fast Passes are scheduled based on my own knowledge (from experience and word of mouth here) .. on what is usually the longest waits .. or something we just "want" to do with no line.
5) Have lunch (maybe an ADR, maybe not) (that is near the land where we spent our morning).
6) Have the entire afternoon free to do whatever the group is in the mood for .. afternoon break .. see a parade, see a show, or try and book a 4th, 5th, 6th fast pass and hit short lines until dinner.
7) Dinner (probably an ADR unless lunch was .. (I don't like being restricted by two meal reservations in one day).
8) Hit another attraction, shop, stay for night show . .whatever suits our fancy.

Did we efficiently maximize our time and get on every attraction? Not really. Were there attractions I wanted to get on and never did? Sure. But, we had a magical, relaxing time. It was flexible and we could switch gears if there was rain, something a toddler wanted to see/do instead, a tired kid or a cranky parent (which there were at various times).

In contrast .. I was at WDW at the same time as another big family group that had their days planned out to the "T" for them - Fast Passes, ADRs, etc. They were exhausted from basically running from one reservation to another. We met them for a meal or two to say hi and sure, they got to have some great experiences, but were exhausted after 4-5 days of that. There were some days that some of the party just skipped their fast passes or meal reservations due to just being worn out.

 

[Leelo]

We have always used a touring plan except for 1 trip in late September when there were basically no waits at any rides. It definitely maximizes our time. We always feel good about using them when we see posted wait times during the day that greatly exceed any waits we had using our plan.

 

[Krista72]

We have a very specific plan, and if we're 90 seconds late to a ride, there's a penalty to be paid. Well...someone had to be the contrarian....

No, we don't really have a hard and fast touring plan either. It's more of a loosely organized plan. We plan out the park we want to be in. That part needs to be known so that we can book our FP+ as far in advance as possible. Beyond knowing which park and which FP+ we have (which even that can change over the course of a trip), the rest is pretty much winging it. We try to be organized so that we aren't walking from end to end of the park all day, but nothing specific.

 

[Mofang]

We split the difference and use the Lines app from the TouringPlans.com team. We find their data to be more accurate than Disney's (where wait times are often inflated to discourage you from standby at popular attractions), and it's a great guide for selecting what to do next (particularly the commentary about whether wait times are generally flat, increasing, or decreasing at a given ride).

 

[Jewel3k]

We have one because without a plan there would be to much arguing and walking. It works for us and I don't have a problem when something must be done a second time or we need a snack or we need to watch what that little parade is about... The family knows we will get to everything and they appreciate the low wait times.

 

[Anne5555]

We used it for the first trip, but not the second. I subscribed again, planning to use it for the 3rd trip, but I found it to be too frustrating. I entered our lunch and dinner times and fast pass times for the first day, then hit optimize. It moved both meals to the morning!!! Shouldn't we be touring in the morning? Plus 2 breakfasts? We always eat before we go to the parks and like to have lunch and usually dinner there. I think there is another option where it will just estimate how long things take without optimizing and reshuffling everything, but I don't think I need that.

 

[MataHari22]

I like a plan/outline, but I construct it, myself. I try and go with easywdw's best park days, and adapt his touring plan to my wants and needs. I did use the touring plans app to put all my plans in and then I used the "evaluate" function to get an idea of the timing. (I don't like the "optimize" function.) I like a plan so that I can try and minimize waits, try to avoid crisscrossing the park, and most of all, I cannot deal with the whole "what do you want to do?" , "IDK, what do you want to do?" thing. I am not trying to pack in 40 attractions a day, either. I schedule about one thing an hour and have plenty of down time in my day for photos and some exploring and things that pop up.