Touring Plans - mini rant

[joolz1910]

I subscribed to touringplans.com so that I could get information to help with my planning. Well, November hours are out and touringplans still haven't updated theirs!

Their website still has the last MNSSHP as 1st November and nothing else seems to tally with disney.com's park hours either.

I emailed them yesterday and got this response:

Thanks for contacting us! Disney release a calendar to the travel industry every month. The November Calendar was released this past week and we have updated our website to reflect those changes.

My guess is that Disney has not updated their webpage. We see this happen sometimes.

Hope this helps!


I responded that the hours are up on the Disney site and I got a response saying that they were going to update their hours yesterday - nothing has changed. I know that it was only a few $$$ to scubscribe, but you expect them to be up to date. I only have a few days to plan before I book my ADR's.

 

[wickesy]

This is why I stopped subscribing to TourGuide Mike - he was very slow to update as well so I use www.easywdw.com now, it's completely free.

 

[joolz1910]

This is why I stopped subscribing to TourGuide Mike - he was very slow to update as well so I use www.easywdw.com now, it's completely free.

Thanks David, I'll check it out.

 

[Elise79]

I would expect to see updates soon - they posted a blog post about the change in date for the parties http://blog.touringplans.com/2012/04/20/mickeys-very-merry-christmas-party-2012-schedule/ on Friday so I would expect an update early next week.

TBH - we usually have dinner in Epcot or the resorts so I have never paid any attention to how quickly they update the calendar as I only look as we get close or even the day before to see recommended days.

 

[Cyrano]

Sorry to hear you are having problems with TP.
We have always been impressed with the service

 

[Shazzie B]

I'm 'tracking' my dates; a lot of changes over the last few weeks for us were on Sundays (we go in Oct) so fingers crossed for you.

 

[UKDEB]

Where are you seeing the November hours at disney.com? As far as I'm aware, they haven't released the full month's hours to the public yet and neither have they officially announced the MNSSHP dates. The media release (which I posted recently) is available, but the hours are subject to change and, although I've never been a subscriber to Touring Plans, I don't think it's unreasonable that they haven't published yet.

This is why I stopped subscribing to TourGuide Mike - he was very slow to update

He seems to have responded to the mounting criticism and has upped his game considerably of late. His Least Crowded Parks article for 1-10th November was available the day the hours were released to the media.

 

[UKDEB]

I would expect to see updates soon - they posted a blog post about the change in date for the parties http://blog.touringplans.com/2012/04/20/mickeys-very-merry-christmas-party-2012-schedule/ on Friday so I would expect an update early next week.

Based on this blog entry, they're clearly on top of things. I'm guessing they let their subscribers know what's going on, but don't officially publish park hours until Disney do.

 

[joolz1910]

I thought these were the November hours from 1st - 12th Nov.

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/calendars/

Touring Plans have updated now but are showing MNSSHP as starting on 6th Nov and being on 7th too, despite MK not closing until 8pm. Is this normal? I'm new to all of this, so perhaps I'm being impatient.

Just read the blog and they are guessing that MNSSHP will be on those early dates.

 

[chmurf]

I know that it was only a few $$$ to scubscribe

unofficial guide only is advertised at 3 million families helped. That makes a lot of few $$$ on top of a lot of few $$$ for subscriptions

I guess they've grown too big and are now faced with issues that "companies" all face when they reach "critical mass". They become slow to respond and have more and more difficulties to adapt.
It's hitting even more hard since they have evolved in an environment that didn't change a lot. But now, Disney is changing some policies, and it's even more difficult.

It's quite obvious when you see how TP seem to struggle to update and adapt, as compared to other free "helpers" who are smaller in size and have the capability to react much faster.

Of course, agreed that some are totally devoted to, and delighted by, their TP subscription, but I guess it has something to do with the fact that if you flip a coin and ask 100 people to choose heads or tails, you'll get 50 happy people, 33 people who blame it on luck (stuff happens), 16 people who just won't care or even notice, and 1 who will rant. Let me be that one.

 

[UKDEB]

I still can't see that they've released the full month's hours, nor fireworks/parade times (other than the media release). I'd say TP have it wrong on the party dates, though. From what I can see, 2nd November will be the last of MNSSHP and MVMCP will start on Friday, 9th.

 

[vincev33]

I love touring plans and all it has to offer especially the personalize plans and the new optimize feature on lines. If I need updated hours I check out the Disney World site. Or the official app.