Touring Plans Walking Speed - HELP!

[Mark Hammond]

Could anyone help me with any advice regarding the accuracy of the Walking Speed on Touring Plans please? I’m starting to put some plans together for our visit in late May, and had set the Walking Speed to Relaxed as I’ll be travelling with a 6 & 8 year old.
On our first full day, we’re visiting Hollywood Studios on an EMH day, and are intending on being at the gates just before RopeDrop, avoiding the madness of Toy Story Land, and going straight to R&R & ToT instead, and then over to Star Tours.
Google Maps has the walking distance between R&R and ST at 0.3 Miles/ 480 Mtrs, and Touring Plans has the walking time as 9 minutes. I changed the Walking Speed to Very Relaxed, which increased the walking time to 14 minutes. I then entered a break at the beginning of the plan to test the walk at 1:00pm to see if it would make any difference with the park being busier later in the day, but the times were exactly the same, so Touring Plans obviously doesn’t take any differing crowd congestion into account.
Has anyone got any feedback on how the Walking Speed has worked out for them on their own plans in real-life? I’m planning in breaks, toilet stops, and allowing for a bit of free time to catch the side-shows now and again, so we won’t be rushing from one attraction to the other all day, but there are also times where I’ll need to rely on the walking times being realistic otherwise it’ll really stuff things up on the day.
TIA.

 

[FCDub]

14 minutes to walk 0.3 miles? I’m not sure you could walk that slow if you legitimately tried to.

 

[chris benton]

You. Will. Be. Just. Fine. The walking speed will work out fine for you.
You just have to make it a point to not stop too long for things along the way (unless that's what you'd like to do.)
There might be distractions of Photopass spots, and an impromptu street actor show on the street leading out of RNR/TOT, and there are a few stores, but not much else. Once you get to the intersection, I'd suggest staying away from the side that has the entrance of the courtyard tht has launch bay - there might be some disney jr characters in there - could be distracting.
You'll be totally fine.
Even set to relaxed pace, that's plenty of time to get to Star Tours, with a potty break, even!

You are doing it right, building in breaks for time buffers. You might have to adult a little bit here and there - if they are spending too much time looking at something, but you want to get them back "on track" to the next thing that you know they will enjoy more than what they are looking at. You're doing it the right way.

 

[Ladyandthepuppies]

I spent hours on my touring plan and messed with walking speed, different fast pass times, etc. The anticipated wait times on our days in the park ended up being far enough off that we had to reschedule a fast pass one day and ran out of time to do everything we wanted to do on another. I think the odds that the wait times will be different than it’s estimating are higher than that your walking speed will interfere with your touring plan.

 

[Rach3975]

I spent hours on my touring plan and messed with walking speed, different fast pass times, etc. The anticipated wait times on our days in the park ended up being far enough off that we had to reschedule a fast pass one day and ran out of time to do everything we wanted to do on another. I think the odds that the wait times will be different than it’s estimating are higher than that your walking speed will interfere with your touring plan.

That's been our experience, too. When I make our plans I use the slowest walking speed and identify (in my mind) which things are must-do's and which ones we'll let go if wait times are longer than planned for. Touring Plans is great and gives us a better blueprint for our day than I could come up with on my own, but the reality is that those crowd levels and wait times are all estimates. If my plans are so tightly timed that a 5 minute vs 9 minute walk is the difference between making and missing something important, I'd expect wait times differences to derail the plan way before walking times do.

 

[EdnaMarieMode]

I've learned that if a difference of 5 minutes in walking time is going to make or break my plan, I'm cutting it all too close to begin with.

It can take my group 9-14 minutes easily because we stop to take photos (I'm a photographer, it's worth stopping to snap what interests me), we stop at at least one Photopass, and have to park a stroller. I'd rather err on the side of it taking 14 minutes and being pleasantly surprised when we show up in 7.

Crowd levels (I don't put much stock in these at all because they make no difference even when they are accurate) and wait times (which I use as a very rough guide) could change right up until your trip, and looking at TP for my own plans I already know that very few of the expected wait times it shows are accurate. No way am I getting on TSMM with a 28 minute wait in the middle of the day, as an example. I really suggest leaving any extra time in the plan that you can, because the unexpected happens.

 

[quickcat]

Our touring plans wait time were drastically off. After the first three rides, we ditched it and went on our own. The wait times TP listed were far shorter wait times then they actually were. Happened at every park for this past February. I honestly don’t know if I would even bother with TP anymore. Maybe as a general guide at best.

 

[disneyinthespringtime]

We used TP and the very relaxed speed. I found the plan worked very well although i was mostly tracking whether we finished a ride by about the time in the plan not whether the walk vs ride times were totally accurate themselves. We stopped for pictures, parked an ECV, did bathroom breaks when needed.

 

[chiisai]

I set to relaxed our first visit, with kids around your age. I’ve been back twice (about once a year or two) and have set to very relaxed.

It is extremely easy to take longer to get somewhere. Bathroom breaks, crowds, watching something unexpectedly for a few moments, pictures, snack, looking at things along the way, not rushing.

I will re-evaluate in the app as I go if I do get done with things more quickly.

 

[lentesta]

14 minutes to walk 0.3 miles? I’m not sure you could walk that slow if you legitimately tried to.

We probably get a couple emails a week that says that's too fast.

 

[lentesta]

Could anyone help me with any advice regarding the accuracy of the Walking Speed on Touring Plans please? I’m starting to put some plans together for our visit in late May, and had set the Walking Speed to Relaxed as I’ll be travelling with a 6 & 8 year old.
On our first full day, we’re visiting Hollywood Studios on an EMH day, and are intending on being at the gates just before RopeDrop, avoiding the madness of Toy Story Land, and going straight to R&R & ToT instead, and then over to Star Tours.
Google Maps has the walking distance between R&R and ST at 0.3 Miles/ 480 Mtrs, and Touring Plans has the walking time as 9 minutes. I changed the Walking Speed to Very Relaxed, which increased the walking time to 14 minutes. I then entered a break at the beginning of the plan to test the walk at 1:00pm to see if it would make any difference with the park being busier later in the day, but the times were exactly the same, so Touring Plans obviously doesn’t take any differing crowd congestion into account.
Has anyone got any feedback on how the Walking Speed has worked out for them on their own plans in real-life? I’m planning in breaks, toilet stops, and allowing for a bit of free time to catch the side-shows now and again, so we won’t be rushing from one attraction to the other all day, but there are also times where I’ll need to rely on the walking times being realistic otherwise it’ll really stuff things up on the day.
TIA.

It sounds like you're prepared enough, Mark. I wouldn't worry about the walking speed. There are a few points in the parks where you'll encounter traffic, but I'd be surprised if your group walks that slow on average, over time.

I'd suggest following the plan on your phone, and tapping the "optimize" button every couple of attractions. It'll update the plan based on your progress and the park's current conditions.

 

[mamaofsix]

We swear by the plans - they've always been pretty darn accurate on our trips, including walking times. We set our pace to regular in November and had 6 kids under 14, plus grandparents. The walking times were very do-able for us, so I'm sure relaxed will be fine for you guys. Some rides / walks go faster than expected, some go slower. It all seems to even out as the day progresses.

 

[cincystamper]

We always set our plans at the very relaxed walking speed. That builds in more flexibility, allows us to take the time to notice things, stop for a restroom or "sit and relax a minute" break, grab a snack, take pictures, etc etc. It's worked pretty well for us in the past!

 

[kniquy]

I’m starting to put some plans together for our visit in late May, and had set the Walking Speed to Relaxed as I’ll be travelling with a 6 & 8 year old.

I always choose relaxed so that if a particular area might be more congested I have accounted for it.

Has anyone got any feedback on how the Walking Speed has worked out for them on their own plans in real-life? I’m planning in breaks, toilet stops, and allowing for a bit of free time to catch the side-shows now and again

This is always a good idea. With putting the touring speed to relaxed, maybe pop in a 30 minute break here and there for just a snack or a stop in a shop it helps to limit packing in too much stuff into your day.

I have typically used touring plans for a general overview of our day and to create a good flow so we are not running from one side of the park to the other. Once we are actually there we mostly stick to our FP times and ADR/meal times - otherwise other rides we can sneak in really depend on using the MDE app and seeing what the wait times are actually at. Just relax and enjoy your time.

 

[gharter]

With the ages of your kids, the 9-14 minutes probably isn't too far off.
They will want to stop and look at things or get distracted as you're headed to the next attraction.
As mentioned above, if 5 minutes makes a huge difference in the plan, the plan probably won't work well and needs to be adjusted.
We have also found some times the plan works and the times are close, other times, the expected wait times are dramatically off.

 

[lentesta]

True story: I asked the team to add the "Optimize" button to the app after taking my then-DD6 on Peter Pan. I swear she got on the ride with two shoes. She had one when we got off. We spent half an hour getting a new pair, and that's when I realized we needed a button to re-do the touring plans from that point forward.

I was joking with Bob Sehlinger the other day that a sizable chunk of advice in the Unofficial Guide and on the site, comes from us screwing up our family vacations.

 

[Mark Hammond]

True story: I asked the team to add the "Optimize" button to the app after taking my then-DD6 on Peter Pan. I swear she got on the ride with two shoes. She had one when we got off. We spent half an hour getting a new pair, and that's when I realized we needed a button to re-do the touring plans from that point forward.

I was joking with Bob Sehlinger the other day that a sizable chunk of advice in the Unofficial Guide and on the site, comes from us screwing up our family vacations.

Did the shoe fall off due to being packed to help her reach the height requirement for Space Mountain? lol

 

[Mark Hammond]

Thanks for everyone’s input on this, it’s much appreciated. I’ll take it on board, and make a few tweaks to my Plans...

Going back to my original question though, I probably set the wrong tone by quoting the 9 vs 14 minute walk, as I was just using this as an example to highlight the question. No matter what happens, we’ll have a great time. Cheers!

 

[Rach3975]

Our touring plans wait time were drastically off. After the first three rides, we ditched it and went on our own. The wait times TP listed were far shorter wait times then they actually were. Happened at every park for this past February. I honestly don’t know if I would even bother with TP anymore. Maybe as a general guide at best.

On our November trip the wait times they'd predicted ahead of time were way off because the parks ended up more crowded than expected, but their Lines App was better than the MDE wait times while we were in the parks.