Touring Plans actual touring plans worth it now?

[_19disnA]

If you are a Disney regular and have been to the parks multiple times, seems you would already know where everything is and have a sense of the rides/shows you do (or don't) want to do. If this is your first time at Disney, then you won't know what you like doing until you have seen it for the first time. In either case, I don't see how a 3rd party paid service will be any more helpful at mapping out where to walk at the parks. Your plan can also change if a ride is down for maintenance/bad weather or you decide the ride line is too long to wait and would rather do something else.

I doubt that any 3rd party can accurately predict future crowd levels for a particular park. Wait time by individual rides seems mostly like guesswork. I would imagine the most popular rides tend to have the longest wait times and crowds increase during the day before dropping off in the afternoon. Before they started with the park reservations, even Disney had no idea how many locals with AP's will just decide to show up some day when there is good weather.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

As others have said, I use the plans ahead of time to get an idea of what we can reasonably expect. Then use the touringplans app once you're in the park. You will have set it up with the attractions you want, so optimize the plan again first thing in the morning, add LLs as you get them, tell the app once you enter a line for something and re-optimize. It's better than G+ which I thought did not consider what I indicated were my priorities at all (it was almost like a joke really what it was recommending).

We think the wait times on the touringplans app are more accurate.

Love the room-finder and system they have for making a room request. As someone else said, as soon as I get the text that my room is ready, I look it up on touringplans to make sure I don't hate it!

We've had our subscription almost continuously since 2007.

 

[Suzabella]

It isn't about learning where things are. We've used TP many times over the years and have been able to avoid long waits in line. That's what its about; getting a good ROI on your investment ie. ticket.

We've been at spring break using TP and only stood in line for 20 minutes average by following their plan and using their tips. We've recommended them to friends and they've all reported the same resort. (Note - this was pre covid and pre Genie.)

We're going this fall and are using them again. We're traveling with friends who have never been so hitting the highlights is crucial on this trip as they won't be back.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

The key to using the plans successfully, especially now, is re-optimizing in the morning on the day of your park visit and re-optimizing while you're in the park. You can't count on being able to follow the plan as it existed before you left home. The parks are just too weird right now (crowds, staffing, LLs etc).

Yes, you will have to look at your phone to do this, but let's say you spend 20 minutes out of the day (I think that's a really high estimate) fiddling with the touringplans app. It's worth it to save 2 hours in line over the course of the day. I do the app stuff when we are in line or when we're sitting down to eat. Or I delegate the job to my teenage son who is going to be looking at his phone anyway.

 

[Scalemaster34]

The key to using the plans successfully, especially now, is re-optimizing in the morning on the day of your park visit and re-optimizing while you're in the park. You can't count on being able to follow the plan as it existed before you left home. The parks are just too weird right now (crowds, staffing, LLs etc).

Yes, you will have to look at your phone to do this, but let's say you spend 20 minutes out of the day (I think that's a really high estimate) fiddling with the touringplans app. It's worth it to save 2 hours in line over the course of the day. I do the app stuff when we are in line or when we're sitting down to eat. Or I delegate the job to my teenage son who is going to be looking at his phone anyway.

Till they offer support for LL and Genie+, I don't really see how you can re-optimize.... I've been waiting on them to figure out how to do this for months now.

And out last trip back first of Feb.... crowd levels just didn't match up to their suggestions. I know in the past at DHS you could go to Toy Story Land late in the evening and crowds would be gone... waiting for Fireworks or Fantasmic. But no Fireworks or Fantasmic, Toy Story Land at 45 min to park closing was a mad house. AK with Everest and Kali down was crazy...

In the end I think Genie+ was suppose to offer more of a planning feature... but crowd level are beyond what the parks can accommodate. And Disney doesn't really want Genie+ to show that.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

Till they offer support for LL and Genie+, I don't really see how you can re-optimize.... I've been waiting on them to figure out how to do this for months now.

And out last trip back first of Feb.... crowd levels just didn't match up to their suggestions. I know in the past at DHS you could go to Toy Story Land late in the evening and crowds would be gone... waiting for Fireworks or Fantasmic. But no Fireworks or Fantasmic, Toy Story Land at 45 min to park closing was a mad house. AK with Everest and Kali down was crazy...

In the end I think Genie+ was suppose to offer more of a planning feature... but crowd level are beyond what the parks can accommodate. And Disney doesn't really want Genie+ to show that.

OMG do they need to get Fantasmic back open! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! And every other show that occupies a lot of people.

I had not considered that the G+ planning feature doesn't work because of the crowds. I just thought it was terrible. Because when they launched, it sounded like it would work like touringplans used to.

 

[Scooley01]

OMG do they need to get Fantasmic back open! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! And every other show that occupies a lot of people.

I had not considered that the G+ planning feature doesn't work because of the crowds. I just thought it was terrible. Because when they launched, it sounded like it would work like touringplans used to.

Fantasmic got cancelled a few years ago when we were at Disneyland for NYE. Really hoping it's back for our WDW honeymoon in July!!

 

[Doingitagain]

We still find it very helpful even with G+. The most valuable tools for me are that it tells you how long it takes to walk from one attraction to another, and tells you how many minutes each attraction takes. So, when I map out a rough touring plan ahead of time, I see that it will take me 13 minutes to walk from attraction B to attraction C, that attraction D is 8 minutes long and Attraction E is 21 minutes total.

And it adjusts the line wait estimates based on time of day / day of the week / dates, etc. So, I can get a general estimate of how long the wait will be for Flight of Passage at 9a.m. on Easter Monday vs. 4p.m. on a random non-holiday week Thursday. It really is very helpful and worth the money, especially if using the tools way ahead of time to plan your trip.

Similar for us. it also helped figure out which rides to Genie +.

 

[Dan Murphy]

That's the way I look at it too. That's less than a round of popcorn and soft drinks at WDW.

AND soft drinks also, Ron? I think the popcorn would take care of that money.

I find TP well worth it, have subscribed for over 20 years. Great information there. The app is great!!

 

[Scooley01]

For those who have used TP's Lines app recently, how accurate/efficient is the suggested order? For example, on our MK day, it wants us to head to Astro Orbiter first right at Rope Drop. That doesn't sound like the best move based on everything I've read and seen...surely it makes more sense to knock out a big attraction right at rope, right? It's suggesting that we do 7DMT around 3pm with a 62 minute wait.

 

[DisneyRobbie]

For those who have used TP's Lines app recently, how accurate/efficient is the suggested order? For example, on our MK day, it wants us to head to Astro Orbiter first right at Rope Drop. That doesn't sound like the best move based on everything I've read and seen...surely it makes more sense to knock out a big attraction right at rope, right? It's suggesting that we do 7DMT around 3pm with a 62 minute wait.

We used touring plans in Oct 2020 and it was extremely accurate. Post genie plus we used it last month and the times were way off (in fact the disney times were way more accurate). Example: we did early entry at HS and right when the park officially opened we did standby for TSMM - TP said 15 minute wait but disney said 45 minutes - we waited 55 minutes. It was like this for many rides where TP underestimated the times pretty consistently (probably because it was spring break - the week after Easter - and the predicted TP crowd levels were way too low because the crowds were actually crazy).

I still enjoy the lines chat function but you don't actually need to pay to use the chat.

I think with more post genie plus data they will get the times estimates better but now I notice they tend to predict the crowd levels way too low for the huge demand and crowd levels that are actually at WDW.

 

[KDee]

We used the Lines app in March 2022 and found the wait times to be accurate As Disney inflates the times on MDE. We have been using the app for a few years and found the itineraries pre Genie+ to be very helpful and less so afterwards, since you never really know which LL you will get. I do like the views of the rooms from the hotels which we have used many times to request a specific room. Good luck!

 

[hildarumpole]

Used TP last week. Wait times were generally accurate and very helpful given Disney's tendency to inflate wait times on their app. The only one that was off the mark was Remy. The ride experienced a lot of downtime that day, so while we were waiting a steady stream of LL's got in line, which messed up the wait time and caused the line to stall. Even Disney's officially posted wait ended up being less than reality.

 

[ZeeWP]

Now that TP can use LL times, I can do a lot of pre thinking and planning using their features. Also, we are going to be using DAS cause of my kid, so there is some planning we can do ahead of time.

 

[danceintherain]

For those who have used TP's Lines app recently, how accurate/efficient is the suggested order? For example, on our MK day, it wants us to head to Astro Orbiter first right at Rope Drop. That doesn't sound like the best move based on everything I've read and seen...surely it makes more sense to knock out a big attraction right at rope, right? It's suggesting that we do 7DMT around 3pm with a 62 minute wait.

Astro orbiter is notorious for slow moving loading with low capacity which leads to long lines. Basically Dumbo, before they moved it from the middle of Fantasyland.

Also, "the get into any park 30 minutes early" for resort guests mucks up TP's metrics. IF you are at the very front of the pack, when the parks open to resort guests to the point of getting on the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd car, then going to 7DMT first might be a good idea, but then you may end up waiting 60 minutes for Astro Orbiter later in the day....in an outside queue....closer to the sun.

You can try creating a customized plan your way and hit the "Evaluate" button, instead of optimize. You can also read articles about their rationale behind certain recommendations.

I definitely hope they get Genie+ and ILL worked in, because it will make things easier. I'm definitely planning on renewing for our big family trip next year, because I can't be in more than one place at once, and I don't want people stuck waiting in long lines just because I'm not with them to tell them how to minimize their wait times.