Touring plans...to use or not to use?

[4our3kids]

Any feedback regarding touring plans would be most appreciated. We are first timers going in Sept 08 (can't wait)! In trying to not drive my husband crazy, I have found the boards. They are great! I've learned so much! I've successfully booked a room at a great rate, am getting ready to order discounted tickets (undercovertourist.com) and have made adr's as well as put together park schedules. I've researched cs restaurants and have a good working list of places to eat on the fly. Now, we're down to the actual park touring. That's where you come in. Let me know the pros and cons, as well as your preferred source of touring plans. Thanks so much!!

 

[Disney Brat]

What we do is find out info about the rides etc, so we know where to head first to not get a super huge line, or to get a fastpass. So we use more a a stragey system instead of a touring plan. We like to use an educated 'winging it' attitude. Does that make sense? I don't like to be held to a plan where every minute has to be planned out. I like having a general plan of attack but that is about it. HTH

 

[Goofy4]

It all depends on how busy the parks are and what your expectations are. To see most of the park on a busy day, it's a must. September... Maybe not so much.

If you can get there at rope drop, you can be generally aware of a "plan" but not feel tied too it.

 

[Metsoskil]

We get there at rope drop, and have a touring plan for the first 5-8 or so rides. We then wing it until noon or so, go back to the resort for the pool or naps, and then come back to a park around 5 w/o a plan (other than a ADR for dinner sometimes). Anything we get to do in the evening is bonus in our book. Over the course of a 10 day trip, we get to see everything we want this way, and most things twice.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

Any feedback regarding touring plans would be most appreciated. We are first timers going in Sept 08 (can't wait)! In trying to not drive my husband crazy, I have found the boards. They are great! I've learned so much! I've successfully booked a room at a great rate, am getting ready to order discounted tickets (undercovertourist.com) and have made adr's as well as put together park schedules. I've researched cs restaurants and have a good working list of places to eat on the fly. Now, we're down to the actual park touring. That's where you come in. Let me know the pros and cons, as well as your preferred source of touring plans. Thanks so much!!

September used to be slow and there was no need for touring plans. Well, since September is now Free Dining season the crowds are more medium-ish than low. What we did last year to make the most of our time in the parks was to get there early and use Fastpasses and have a list of the attractions that were a must. Also, the extreme heat can also slow you down so hitting the headliners in the morning also helps in that aspect also.

 

[Rellagirl]

I wrote up a tweaked version of a touring plan from the UG based on our preferences. However when we got there, I may as well have thrown it out. S/O and his DD wanted to do whatever came to their mind... It became let's do this first, how about that, can we do that again? Needless to say, we only managed to do about half of what we wanted to in the time we had. It didn't help that it was hard to get the teenager out of bed in the morning. You'd think I was waking her up for school! Sheesh.