Unofficial Guide Touring Plans

[BWVPam]

How many of you have used the Unofficial Guides Touring Plans. If you have, do you think they work??? Do the days that they tell you are the best for a certain park really that? Trying to nail down our schedule for Dec. 17-23 and not sure what to do.

Thanks,

 

[debkorb1]

Yep, they work! Went Summer 2004 June 27th-July 12th and didn't queue for anything. No one at home in London believed it. But you really must get to the parks early early early as they suggest - that's the key.

In terms of best days, it is harder to tell. Saturday at the MK was very crowded, although the Unofficial Guide - and the resident computer whizz Len Testa - swears the wait times are less on Saturdays. I think you need to avoid early magic and extra magic days, but apart from that I am not so convinced of the advantages of following the recommended day plan at all costs. So follow it if you can, but if you have to go to a park on a non recommended day then I think you'll be fine, as long as it is not EMH. But then the guys at UG have the science on their side!

Enjoy - I wish I could go to Disney at Christmas.

 

[jbird327]

How many of you have used the Unofficial Guides Touring Plans. If you have, do you think they work??? Do the days that they tell you are the best for a certain park really that? Trying to nail down our schedule for Dec. 17-23 and not sure what to do.

Thanks,

I have not used the touring plans but on my upcoming trip, Dec 16th-23rd, I used the guide as a basis for what parks on what days. I usually travel to WDW in January so this will be new to me. Basically I am trying to cover the parks in the first five days and leave the rest of the days to take a few tours and just wander around. My guess is that it will just get more crowded as the week goes on. Since I will be there with my mother (mid 70s) and youngest daughter (13) both of whom will not go on any of the major rides, I do not have much pressure to ride everything (I have done that many times before). I will be at the MK on the 16th and 17th, AK on the 18th, MGM the 19th and Epcot on the 20th. I have tickets to MVMCP on the 20th and the rest of the evenings will probably be spent in Epcot. I only have a few lunch ADRs made so this 'plan' can be abandoned as needed.

 

[Maureen McB]

The touring plans are fantastic! Follow them and you'll see everything that you want to probably more than once! As for the days to go, we use to do EMH in the mornings but now with a toddler we sleep a little later so we go by what parks the guide says to do. Worked great for us last time we went (November of 2004).
Have a great trip!
Maureen

 

[dmslush]

We used them this past July and never waited more than 10 minutes for a ride. I will never NOT use them again!!

 

[jimmiej]

I've used them with great success!

 

[DrTomorrow]

We think that the UG is the best WDW guide there is: informative, useful and with a nicely dry sense of humor.

We have used the touring plans and found the to be VERY helpful. I feel this way: the busier the parks during your visit, the longer your list of "must-do" attractions, the fewer times you have been (or will be going back) to WDW - the more important it is to use the UG Touring Plans.

 

[slduck]

Do you follow the guide verbatim, or do you customize it?????

 

[JerseyJ]

It's great to hear the postive comments on the tourguides. Plan to give them a try the first week in January.

Anybody have any comments on anything they would change or modify on the plans?

 

[tiberius]

I've used them wih much success, but keep in mind you are more than free to alter them during the day to your own personal tastes. They should be considered a guide, not a rule, for your tour in the parks.

 

[dmslush]

Do you follow the guide verbatim, or do you customize it?????

I customize it. I just mark out things we don't like and squeeze in things that we do.

 

[erikthewise]

Their touring plans are not for the faint of heart, but they definitely do work.
After you've read them and tried them, they seem like common sense. Get there early, do the high-demand and slow-loading attractions first, and the high-capacity rides and shows laters. Don't get in a line longer than 30 minutes, get a fastpass and come back later.

But it doesn't become common sense until after you've read the book! Once you've tried them and understand the ideas behind them, it's not hard to modify them to suit yourself. Even the first time, if nobody wants to ride Dumbo, just skip it and move on to the next thing.

 

[lentesta]

In terms of customizing, there are a couple of good approaches:

1) Follow the first few steps verbatim, usually through late morning, then improvise after that.

2) Follow the general advice, rather than the exact steps.

In the first method, you'd use the touring plan's first five or six steps exactly as written, then go with the flow afterwards. The rationale for this is that the first few steps usually include the most important attractions for a given plan (e.g., Dumbo, Space Mountain, Test Track, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster). These things usually ease up just before lunchtime.

For the second method, you'd follow the general spirit of the plans rather than the individual steps. So if the touring plan has Fantasyland attractions first, you'd still visit there first, but not necessarily each attraction in the order shown. If the second land visited is Frontierland, you'd still visit Frontierland second, but not necessarily following the exact steps shown.

Of all the general purpose advice around customizing the plans, I think these two generally meet with the most success.

If this is a topic of interest, I can write up something more detailed for the website. Let me know if that'd be useful.

Sincerely,

Len Testa

 

[BWVPam]

Thanks for everyone's comments!

 

[Buzzfan]

So what parks are better on what days? I know you're supposed to avoid the parks with early entry (or park hop once they get busy), but other than that - what days are better for MK, AK, & Epcot?

 

[RevBob]

If you go to the UG's website, touringplans.com, you will find a section entitled, "Best Days, that not only tells you what days of the week are best for each park, but will also list by calendar day what parks are best and what parks to avoid.

 

[lentesta]

Keep in mind that since public schools have been back in session, our predictions are running about 1 higher than the actual wait times we measure. So if we're predicting a 7, the actual crowd levels have been running at 6. I hope to get this adjusted in the next week or so...assuming Disney doesn't do something wacky like re-do their EMH schedule for all of 2006. Wait...

Len

 

[Tabetha]

In terms of customizing, there are a couple of good approaches:

1) Follow the first few steps verbatim, usually through late morning, then improvise after that.

2) Follow the general advice, rather than the exact steps.

In the first method, you'd use the touring plan's first five or six steps exactly as written, then go with the flow afterwards. The rationale for this is that the first few steps usually include the most important attractions for a given plan (e.g., Dumbo, Space Mountain, Test Track, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster). These things usually ease up just before lunchtime.

For the second method, you'd follow the general spirit of the plans rather than the individual steps. So if the touring plan has Fantasyland attractions first, you'd still visit there first, but not necessarily each attraction in the order shown. If the second land visited is Frontierland, you'd still visit Frontierland second, but not necessarily following the exact steps shown.

Of all the general purpose advice around customizing the plans, I think these two generally meet with the most success.

If this is a topic of interest, I can write up something more detailed for the website. Let me know if that'd be useful.

Sincerely,

Len Testa

Hi Len,

I have a feeling it would be helpful for people... I know I've been cruising the touring plans on the website, deciding which ones will work best for our trip, and it would be good to have reassurance that if we switch up a few things, we won't be "wrecking" the plan.

I think sometimes people can get a bit myopic, especially if they're worried about screwing up a good thing!

 

[erikthewise]

Keep in mind that since public schools have been back in session, our predictions are running about 1 higher than the actual wait times we measure. So if we're predicting a 7, the actual crowd levels have been running at 6. I hope to get this adjusted in the next week or so...assuming Disney doesn't do something wacky like re-do their EMH schedule for all of 2006. Wait...

Len

That's a reason Mike Scopa missed on the podcast -- they did it just to make Len's life miserable!

 

[lark]

I've never worried much about the which parks which days thing. Much as I love the UOG and find it indispensible, I think altogether avoiding parks on certain days is a bit extreme. As long as you follow the three basic guidelines for extra magic, you should be fine: (1) if it's a morning extra magic day at the park you visit, don't be late and if you're going to be there past the early entry time, don't bother unless it's a really really really uncrowded time of year. (2) After the park has been open for three or four hours, the early entry park will be much more crowded than other parks on site, so you might want to hop. If you're using a touring plan and it's going well, don't leave just because it's the EM park, but at least know that comparatively speaking that if you were to go to another park, it's probably better (unless it's EM evening for that park). Hopping itself comes with transaction costs and delays, and when you get to the other park, you're there late. As the UOG notes, AK is a great park to hop to from the EE park if it gets overcrowded. (3) Try to stay out of the extra magic evening park after about 4:00 p.m. or so.

The UOG touring plans are shockingly good, even in very crowded days. If you follow them closely, there will come a time during the middle of the day when you look around you and are absolutely shocked how crowded the park is, since you've barely waited in line all day. I've never customized that much, although by necessity when touring with children you sometimes get sidetracked. As long as you get that early morning jump and can be fairly commando for the first few steps, you get some wiggle room as the day goes on and the bulk of the park is doing what you've already done. Also, don't let the tour guide disuade you from what your eyes are actually seeing. If a massive theater show or Hall of Presidents or something has just let out near the ride you're headed toward pursuant to the plan, maybe drop it down to later in the day and move on.