Unofficial Guide's free WDW Trip Planner now available

[lentesta]

[We're pleased to announce this first on the DIS. Our sincere thanks to everyone here who helped beta test the site. - Len]



The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World announces the launch of its free on-line Trip Planner for Walt Disney World at http://www.TouringPlans.com/UG.

The Trip Planner is a full-featured organizer designed to help you keep track of every detail of your Walt Disney World vacation. It contains a comprehensive set of worksheets and checklists, including the following:

• Our Timeline worksheet shows when to book airfare, find the best deals on lodging, make priority seating reservations and more.
• A three-page Packing checklist will help you remember everything from prescriptions and diapers to digital camera memory.
• Airline pages assist in keeping track of flight numbers, gate assignments, connections, special meal request, and more.
• Ground Transportation forms hold rental and shuttle service information, including discounts used, reservation numbers, and pickup times.
• Lodging pages stores everything from deposits paid and reservation numbers to your building, room, and bus stop locations.
• Daily Activity pages help plan your days in the parks, including weather, dining reservations, attractions, and daily budgets.
• The Budget worksheet keeps track of estimated and actual spending during your vacation. No calculator needed - we'll do the math for you.
• Notes pages allow you to jot down reminders, last-minute ideas and other important information once your trip has started.
• The At-A-Glance pages summarize your trip details in a concise format.
• Handy Contact List pages let family and friends know how you can be reached during your trip.
• Autograph pages include space for signatures and photos of your character encounters.
• A list of important Phone Numbers is also provided, including everything from local hospitals, lost and found, and taxi services.

Many more pages are coming soon.

When you're ready to head to Walt Disney World, you can print out your Trip Planner pages in several different formats:

• Pocket-size pages measure 3.75" by 6", and fit comfortably in a back pocket or small purse.
• Standard pages measure 5.5" by 8.5", and fit many popular organizers, including Franklin Covey(tm), DayTimer(tm), At-A-Glance(tm), Day Runner(tm) planners, and more.
• Large-format pages fit nicely into a standard 8.5" by 11" three-ring folder. These pages contain larger print for easy reading, and more room for folks needing a bit more space.

Free refill pages are available in every format: http://www.touringplans.com/UG/freeorganizer.php?showtripplanner=

Best of all, you can share trip details with family and friends online instantly. This is a great way to exchange information between family members traveling together, or with your travel agent. You decide whether the person can only read, or is allowed to update your trip details. If you're working with a travel agent, the agent can update your Trip Planner with airline and hotel details, and that information will be available to you immediately.

Future Trip Planner destinations include Disneyland, Las Vegas, and more.

Have a suggestion for new Trip Planner pages? Want us to include another
destination? Drop us a line at Webmaster@TouringPlans.com.

The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World's On-line Trip Planner:http://www.TouringPlans.com/UG

 

[oogieboogie]

Len,

Just wanted to tell you that you guys at UG are the best.

First, the UG is our bible at home. We've read it front to back so many times, and love reading it over and over again.

Second, the organizer pages are just awesome!!!! I mean really really awesome!!!! I grabbed a few pages, printed them out and I'm going to make copies to build my organizer! It fits perfectly in my small travel organizer/planner!

Keep up the good work guys... we really appreciate it!

 

[vald1977]

Thanks. I just started looking through it but I love it already .

 

[lentesta]

Thanks very much folks!

Len

 

[4greatboys]

Cant wait to start planning my next trip with it!

 

[wasabi girl]

I love the Unnofficial Guide! It is my "bible". Reading it is nearly as good as being there! Thanks for the trip planner can't wait to put it to use!

 

[ZeoliFamily]

Thanks so much for this, I like it!

-Jim

 

[steven512]

There is a small bug in the online trip planner, but there is a workaround.

steps to reproduce:
1. create a new trip
2. progress thru the pages by using the buttons on the right (not the links). You should get stuck on the Day 1 page.

You get stuck on the Day 1 page. No matter what you click it redirects back to the Day 1 page.

To workaround. Go directly back to the original url by either typing it into the address bar or by bookmark. Then click the day you want on the left.

A symptom is that when on the Day 1 page the button still reads Day 1 when it should read Day 2.

 

[lentesta]

Thanks steven512. This seems to be resolved now. Let me know if not.

Sincerely,

Len

 

[steven512]

I tested your fix but it didn't work, but this made me think -- I forgot to mention that my browser is Mozilla FireFox 0.9 (sorry).

So I tested it using Internet Explorer. It worked.

I'm sure most people use IE so it won't matter. Nonetheless, if you test it using FireFox the behavior is awfully strange. Even if you type in an entirely different address in the url -- say www.amazon.com -- it still redirects you back! Quite odd.

 

[lentesta]

Thanks Steven512. I'll forward that on to our tech support group, and see who in our beta group had Firefox. Drop me a line if you see anything else: webmaster@TouringPlans.com.

Thanks again,

Len

 

[disney4us2002]

This is pretty neat. I do have one small question: Is there a way I can reproduce the activity page so that I can have a day 8, 9, and 10? Fortunately, my vacation is more than one week, lol!

I don't get the budgeting thing. It appears to add it per page but it doesn't add my estimate for the whole trip? I haven't printed yet, but if I do will the side for 'actual' be blank or show zeros?

Thanks.

 

[meandtheguys2]

This is cool! (dating myself!) UG is our ultimate book here too! I sent 2003 with my son to Canada to plan a trip when he is bored! He will love the planning stuff!

Michelle

 

[LadyBears]

Thanks!
I'm going to go "play" with it now!

 

[lisajl]

Thanks so much..can't wait to go try it out!!

Lisajl

 

[GeekChic]

thanks so much! went out to buy the UG today (haven't needed it with 43 trips under my belt but curious what my in laws are reading! LOL) but couldn't find it! Will have to order from amazon. in the meantime this will keep me busy...thanks so much Len!!!

geek

 

[LadyBears]

Originally posted by disney4us2002
This is pretty neat. I do have one small question: Is there a way I can reproduce the activity page so that I can have a day 8, 9, and 10? Fortunately, my vacation is more than one week, lol!

Thanks.

I would like to know that too.

Also, a few other things I have found: You need an area for "misc" ressies - not just restaurants so we don't have to enter them in the note section - such as Dive Quest, Family Magic Tour, the shows that are part of the packages (like the Prince & Princess gets the shows at AK, MGM), the Pirate Cruise, the tea party or any of the other kids activities.

Another thing I see is that there is only room to enter 1 park per day. Some people do more than one per day.

 

[lentesta]

Thanks for the feedback, folks. I'll check in to the budgeting thing. It should transfer numbers back and forth between the daily pages and the master budget page.

As for days 8 and beyond, we're working on supporting up to 21 days (oye - we should all be so lucky). Give us a couple of weeks to get that done. In the meantime, free blank templates for every page are available via the "free refills" link on the lefthand side.

LadyBears, the Notes section is exactly what we had in mind for those kinds of reservations, and any kind of miscellaneous things to remember for a particular day. If enough folks write in to ask for a special section (and are willing to carry around a third page of daily activities), we'll be happy to add another section. Thanks very much for the idea.

As for the one park per day.....let me take a look at that and I'll get back to you. Another wonderful idea.

I'd also like to say thanks very much to Pete, Corey and the moderators here on the DIS. Not only did we annouce the Trip Planner here first, but most of our beta-test team came from this very board. A big thank you to all those folks as well!! :thewave:

Sincerely,

Len

 

[CdnMom2]

I'm SO looking forward to using this planner!

I think UG is The Best Guide Book for WDW. I may have posted this here before -- I know I have said it many times to people -- but I laugh when I hear people say it is too rough on WDW.

We had no plans to go to WDW. Early 2001 (think snowed-in & cold) I saw the UG 2001 lying on a Library counter & picked it up as an amusement to scan through & get some cynical balance, maybe gossip, to all the sugar-coated ads we were being inundated with. WELL, after reading it cover to cover & laughing & loving all the cartoons (& a LOT of help from the DIS boards) my family of 6 was off to WDW for 3 weeks December 2002 to January 2003, armed with our purchased & well-thumbed copy of UG 2002 with route-planners cut-out & in Mama's waist-pouch! That alone was a big deal -- I never cut out books! Your book did it. More than just lit that spark. Brought 6 (well, 2, the kids were pretty happy ) cynical naysayers to the big corporate machine theme park MANY miles from home, in the U.S., even after 9/11 gave us some pause in our plans... I'm sure WDW enjoyed all our money spent there, just as they will again in December 2005. We can't wait to go back -- all of us -- even DH who was the most cynical about it & had not been living on The DIS boards for 18 months . We tell EVERYONE we know (many fellow cynics, some interested in going, but think they can't possibly afford to) about UG & The DIS... We also like the Birnbaum for Kids book as a special souvenir & excitement-building planner for the youngest.

Sorry this is so long, but I think your UG book brings a whole new market to WDW that wouldn't otherwise be going. And I'm sure all the fans here, Disney Co., & shareholders are pretty happy with that! I know we are!

 

[donaldbuzz&minnie]

Hi -
I'm very enthusiastic about using the online planner.

I just started to try to use it for an upcoming trip in May. Since very little can be nailed down this far in advance, the only info I entered on the Lodging page were the probable dates. I saved the changes and then tried to go to the Day 1 page, and the program wouldn't let me leave the Lodging page.

Is there anything I should do to correct this?

Thanks.