Touring Plans--realistic wait times

[hllb]

This is probably my favorite feature. I think only once has it led us astray and that was due to a delay with a character or something that they couldn't foresee.

It might be my favorite thing I've learned on these boards. I am such a data geek.

 

[SarahC97]

I subscribe and didn't even know this existed LOL. I just downloaded it and it's cool. Not graphically appealing like MDE, but they have the posted wait time vs. the expected wait time. They also show if you should wait to ride because they expect the lines to get shorter later in the day. Shows if FP+ is available too. Very cool data.

For example, right now, Dinosaur has a 50 minute posted wait time, with the app saying you'd get through in 39 minutes if you got in line (I have found park posted times to be fairly inaccurate). It then says "Wait. Lines dropping until 6:30 PM". For FoP, it says "Ride Now. Lines not going down." with a posted wait time of 140 minutes and expected wait time of 115 minutes.

I think that lines app is one of the best things TP offers. I've used it on two trips and have found it incredibly useful!

 

[Ermise]

You can also pull up your personalized touring plans on the lines app while you are there and make changes as you go if the actual wait times weren't close to predicted for some reason. "The best laid plans of mice and men..." I've used personalized touring plans for several years and have found that we don't typically stick to every step in order. It gives you a very good sense for what most wait times will be at different parts of the day and you can plan accordingly.

 

[ArielSRL]

When was the last time you saw FOP or 7DMT wait times of 20 minutes?

She said those are the waits using a FP. Not standby.

 

[ArielSRL]

I always use the slowest walking setting,

We use TP and this is exactly what we do as well.

We feel it is fairly accurate. There are only a few times the wait has been noticeably different. Also, like others have said, "evaluate" your plan again as it gets closer because TP can adjust times as your trip gets closer.

 

[ArielSRL]

You can also pull up your personalized touring plans on the lines app while you are there and make changes as you go if the actual wait times weren't close to predicted for some reason. "The best laid plans of mice and men..." I've used personalized touring plans for several years and have found that we don't typically stick to every step in order. It gives you a very good sense for what most wait times will be at different parts of the day and you can plan accordingly.

We do this as well. Then it helps with my trip report when I get back home, because it accurately depicts what we did. LOL

 

[slpeters]

Thanks everyone! I feel better. I know it won't be perfectly accurate and have built in a ton of redundancy, a couple breaks I don't really intend to take, and indicated when and where to cut if necessary. As far as the walking time--we're two fit adult men so I can't imagine we wouldn't be able to move around the park at least as fast as the average group of visitors. We have the Lines app to re-plan on the fly. I really am trying to look at it as what we'll do if no better idea comes along--as long as we don't spend any time standing around wondering what to do next I'm good. And it really would be nice if we only waited in a few long lines.

I guess I just had a moment this morning where I was starting to feel like I had bought into a completely unrealistic set of expectations. Thanks everyone for talking me down. The trip is for our anniversary and while of course I know it won't be perfect it would be nice if it was, well... perfectly magical. It'll be just us for a week so I suppose that's a pretty good start...

 

[Carla1183]

as long as we don't spend any time standing around wondering what to do next I'm good.

This is really whole point to planning for me. I am taking a 4 and 6 year old. I have no fantasy that my kids are going to march exactly to the schedule I have set out! But I don't want us standing around having no idea where to go next and hopping in an unneccesary 70 minute line bc it's where we happen to be standing.

 

[lentesta]

I'd suggest using the app in the parks. Any days-in-advance prediction that turns out to be wrong once the park opens, will be corrected within a few minutes of the app seeing the first set of wait times in the morning. It should also re-route you automatically around rides that break down unexpectedly, and allow you to change the plan on the fly if someone wants to do something else.

The site has optimized a little more than 17 million touring plans. It does a decent job.

 

[heather13]

I had the same worry as you for our trip this past week. For MK turns out TP was pretty spot on, basically because we followed the plan. Longest wait was 7DMT at 30 min because we arrived a bit late. Now Epcot was another story, no idea what happened there but we waited more than 15 min for 3 Cabarrelos, and some other times were a but off (like just missing the doors for O Canada that can really throw things off). At DHS we were totally off again because Jedi sign up was far longer than predicted by me, so we spent the day trying to catch up with our plan. I continually optimized it though which definitely helped.

 

[McNs]

We used TP planning and the lines app for our visit last week, and found it to be excellent. I don’t know how accurate it was against our original plan as I would often re optimise during the day. The important thing was it would put you in places it predicted less people to be, so if the park was busier you were still ok.

One evening we went to MK unplanned, I put in the rides we wanted to do on the bus and it was really good at giving us a plan to work from.

 

[jaceraden]

Keeping in mind that FOP and NRJ have not been around long enough for there to be enough data to be totally accurate about wait times. I love lines, don't get me wrong. But, I know I've read there that this is an issue.

Add in that crowds have lately been higher than predicted probably largely due to displaced Irma guests.

 

[marx]

I like making my own plans in TP then use the Evaluate button. It's worked most of the time and I plan my days and FP's based largely on TP. On my last trip to WDW (this past August), TP was way off on waits on rides where I used a FP. There were significantly longer waits on FP lines (15-30 longer than TP predicted; like 45 minutes on Frozen, 35 on TT and 40 on SM) that resulted in my plans being thrown off schedule. What I did was move rides or attractions to the end of the day to keep on track (and maintain my other FP windows).

 

[LizGirl]

I think most people don't plan to the level that those of us on this board do. Many folks I talk to (that are not Disney nerds) assume we spend our days standing in line but, in reality, I refuse to wait longer than 20-30 minutes depending on the day/attraction. If you plan ahead, there is no reason to wait!

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

I like TP for a lot of reasons but it's also important to combine it with common sense. If you look at a line and think 'there is no way that's 10 mins' it's likely not. The one exception here is first thing in the morning (before they open the lines) and late at night. When TP lines is off it tends to be egregiously so.

It is great to have a backup to MDE though. MDE was not behaving well on my phone the first day of our trip in May and with Lines I was still able to see wait times and know that Splash was down before we walked over there. I use both apps while in the park typically.