Touring Plans and FP+

[Turn the Page]

Hello everybody.

I just subscribed to touring plans and am really excited to try them out. I have never used them before and am currently playing with the personalized touring plan tools to optimize my plans but I was wondering how one goes about factoring FP+ in to the plans.

For example, we are thinking of hitting HS on the afternoon of our arrival day and I worked up a plan that had us arriving at HS around 3 PM and it said TSMM would have an hour wait. If possible we would get a FP for that ride so is there a way to enter that into TP or not?

 

[PoohsHunnyBee]

Yes. After you choose your attractions and meals and breaks, it's right under the plan preferences where you set the walking speed.

 

[Turn the Page]

Oooh awesome, thank you.

 

[PoohsHunnyBee]

No problem. I've been playing around with their personalized plans too, and they seem really nice. You can just enter what FP+ reservations you have or you can have them suggest which ones you should get.

 

[cakebaker]

We already have our fp+'s scheduled and really TP doesn't work for us at all. If you already have your fp+'s scheduled, when you optimize it simply shows wait times. It doesn't reorder your plans into the best configuration. If I have to manually do that, I don't need TP's. I've requested a refund. To do it before you select FP's means you have to be able to find the exact fp's at the exact times they suggest I suppose. Not happy with it at all.

 

[soniam]

I haven't had any problems using TP with FP+. We have used it on two FP+ trips now. One thing you can do is pick one FP+ at a time that they suggest and optimize after selecting each one until you hit 3. However, I usually just end up putting mine starting around 10-11:30am and put them at subsequent hours. I like to finish them up soon. I haven't had a problem getting the FP+ for the times I have chosen, but I do it at 60 days. I will play around with the ordering, leaving the times about the same, sometimes to get a better flow/less wait times.

 

[WDW_fan_since_75]

I've found Touring Plans to be very helpful over the years. The crowd calendar alone is worth the small cost. It's very helpful in planning which park to visit on which day.

 

[Tarheel girl 1975]

I usually choose my attractions, then use the optimize button. Then I add my FP, make a few changes and use the evaluate button. Usually works pretty well for me.

 

[123SA]

I'm using it to figure out what time to try to get a fast pass. In addition, when I make my own plan it is very helpful in determining what I can reasonably expect to do. I have learned that I have been overscheduling Hollywood studios and underscheduling Animal Kingdom.

We visit a lot of characters; I just schedule a "rest" (re-name it to the character name) and estimate a time it will take for the characters.

 

[jas80]

I'm using it to figure out what time to try to get a fast pass. In addition, when I make my own plan it is very helpful in determining what I can reasonably expect to do. I have learned that I have been overscheduling Hollywood studios and underscheduling Animal Kingdom.

We visit a lot of characters; I just schedule a "rest" (re-name it to the character name) and estimate a time it will take for the characters.

Are you saying that TP can't include characters in their itineraries? That sounds like a major flaw.

 

[cakebaker]

I haven't had any problems using TP with FP+. We have used it on two FP+ trips now. One thing you can do is pick one FP+ at a time that they suggest and optimize after selecting each one until you hit 3. However, I usually just end up putting mine starting around 10-11:30am and put them at subsequent hours. I like to finish them up soon. I haven't had a problem getting the FP+ for the times I have chosen, but I do it at 60 days. I will play around with the ordering, leaving the times about the same, sometimes to get a better flow/less wait times.

We booked before we decided to try TP, might've worked better had we done it first. We book at 60 days too so availability most likely wouldn't have been a problem.

I'm sure our lack of knowledge on how TP works has a lot to do with it, I just didn't find a lot of information on how to actually use it and I'm a step by step learner...with very little patience. lol

 

[sleepymouse]

I usually choose my attractions, then use the optimize button. Then I add my FP, make a few changes and use the evaluate button. Usually works pretty well for me.

This is basically how I use it too. Sometimes I make a copy of the plan I am working on so I can tinker with it and compare changes to my original.

 

[soniam]

Are you saying that TP can't include characters in their itineraries? That sounds like a major flaw.

You can schedule a character meet and greet by putting in a rest/break. It does not have specific meet and greets listed, like it does attractions and shows. Partly, it's because they are unpredictable. Disney doesn't even really track the wait time for most of them. Also, I think philosophically meet and greets kind of go against their ethos of maximum efficiency. They also heavily discourage some rides, like Dumbo, in their book. However, you can still put Dumbo in the plan. It's not really a flaw; it's just the nature of how they determine when the least amount of waiting time is. Their algorithms need actual data for statistics, and they don't have a way of getting meet and greet data.

 

[soniam]

We booked before we decided to try TP, might've worked better had we done it first. We book at 60 days too so availability most likely wouldn't have been a problem.

I'm sure our lack of knowledge on how TP works has a lot to do with it, I just didn't find a lot of information on how to actually use it and I'm a step by step learner...with very little patience. lol

I had been playing with TP since before FP+. I do find that I tweak stuff more with FP+ than I did before. Used to I just plugged in my rides, breaks, and meals and hit optimize. Now, I play around with the FP+ times and order to see what has maximum efficiency. However, it only seems to change by a few minutes, so I probably should just pick something and go with it. It takes a leap of faith sometimes to trust it, but it has rarely, if ever, steered me wrong so far.

 

[mshanson3121]

We already have our fp+'s scheduled and really TP doesn't work for us at all. If you already have your fp+'s scheduled, when you optimize it simply shows wait times. It doesn't reorder your plans into the best configuration. If I have to manually do that, I don't need TP's. I've requested a refund. To do it before you select FP's means you have to be able to find the exact fp's at the exact times they suggest I suppose. Not happy with it at all.

Not meant with offense, but you're doing something wrong then. If you enter your FP+, and then hit optimize, it WILL schedule your day/the rest of the rides into the best order, working around your FP+. What order depends on what you select - minimizing wait times, minimizing walk times, a mix of the two. That said, the best thing is to make a touring plan that you like, then try and book your FP+ to the order of your touring plan.

Now, you can also manually tweak things, and drag rides around etc... Then you hit the evaluate button. That is what tells you what wait times you're looking at with the selections you've made. We've found it very much worth the money.

 

[cakebaker]

Not meant with offense, but you're doing something wrong then. If you enter your FP+, and then hit optimize, it WILL schedule your day/the rest of the rides into the best order, working around your FP+. What order depends on what you select - minimizing wait times, minimizing walk times, a mix of the two. That said, the best thing is to make a touring plan that you like, then try and book your FP+ to the order of your touring plan.

Now, you can also manually tweak things, and drag rides around etc... Then you hit the evaluate button. That is what tells you what wait times you're looking at with the selections you've made. We've found it very much worth the money.

No offense taken! I appreciate any of the help I can get. I think part of the problem was, when I emailed them about the issues I was having, the response led me to believe I could not optimize- that all I could do was enter my fp+ times, add the additional rides/rest times in I wanted and then evaluate- which doesn't do anything but give me wait times.

I can see where it would work best if you haven't already made your fp+ selections. A PP hit the nail on the head though, TP's takes a leap of faith that it knows what it's doing. It requires giving up a bit of control- something else I am not the best at. I'll play with it a few more days and see if I can't warm up to it.

That said, I do find the customer assistance to be lacking somewhat. The responses I got in email, while very nice and polite, were not particularly helpful and in this instance, apparently wrong.

Thanks for the help all of you! I may be a convert yet.

 

[mshanson3121]

^^I agree about the CS. I had to email about something and wasn't thrilled with their response either. However, that said, did you know they have their own forum? You can post questions on their about any issues/questions etc... you might have.

 

[LetsTalkWDW]

You can schedule a character meet and greet by putting in a rest/break. It does not have specific meet and greets listed, like it does attractions and shows. Partly, it's because they are unpredictable. Disney doesn't even really track the wait time for most of them. Also, I think philosophically meet and greets kind of go against their ethos of maximum efficiency. They also heavily discourage some rides, like Dumbo, in their book. However, you can still put Dumbo in the plan. It's not really a flaw; it's just the nature of how they determine when the least amount of waiting time is. Their algorithms need actual data for statistics, and they don't have a way of getting meet and greet data.

Maybe I'm not understanding this correctly but I see the "Meet and Greets" listed under "Headliner Attractions & Entertainment".

Hopefully you can see the image below ...

 

[cakebaker]

^^I agree about the CS. I had to email about something and wasn't thrilled with their response either. However, that said, did you know they have their own forum? You can post questions on their about any issues/questions etc... you might have.

No, I didn't. Thanks!

 

[jas80]

Maybe I'm not understanding this correctly but I see the "Meet and Greets" listed under "Headliner Attractions & Entertainment".

Hopefully you can see the image below ...

View attachment 95926

Sounds like that only includes the characters for which there are official queues and wait times. Doesn't include characters like Merida, Jasmine, Peter Pan, Buzz/Woody in MK. Or the characters at the pavilions in Epcot. Etc.

I'll be going with young kids who love the characters, so that will be a significant part of our touring. Sounds like TP is not for us, since it doesn't provide estimates for that.