Touring Plans

KrzyKtty

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Maybe this question should go under Tips rather than here, so if I need to delete and re-post let me know.

My family is going to WDW in June, and we have gone many times before. I never heard of TouringPlans before, but have seen it mentioned a few times on here. How valuable do you think the plans are? Did they really help you? I just don't want to waste money on one if it isn't worth it. What are your experiences with it?
 

cheshiresmile

Active Member
We haven't used them yet, but I have heard lots of good things so I bought the membership for our trip in May. If you have the Unofficial Guide you get a discount. I paid less than $9 for a year, and you ave other trip planning tools online with it. Even full price is around $13 I think, and if it will get us into more attractions and have less time in line I'll gladly pay that!
 

Patcheslee

Well-Known Member
As a first timer it seems great being able to get an idea of how long it takes to get to different parts of the park, and an idea of wait times. I keep the plan settings at the slowest walking and evaluate only so we aren't walking all over the park. It also has the option to fax custom room requests by picking the room you want. For me its worth the $13.
 

CaptainAmerica

Premium Member
As a first timer it seems great being able to get an idea of how long it takes to get to different parts of the park, and an idea of wait times. I keep the plan settings at the slowest walking and evaluate only so we aren't walking all over the park. It also has the option to fax custom room requests by picking the room you want. For me its worth the $13.
You can change your settings to "minimize walking" and still use the "optimize" feature.
 

Kate Alan

Well-Known Member
Been using them for years, and find that they tend to be very accurate. Even though I've been so many times and tend to have my own methods down for the specific things I want to do, I still use their touring plan feature - I find their data very helpful when factoring crowd levels and wait times during various points in the day. For someone who likes planning, it's a fantastic tool.
 

JIMINYCR

Well-Known Member
They've never steered me wrong, and I've referred them to many friends who have reported back positively. Good to see their researchers come back with valuable, accurate, and helpful info that gets passed on to us.
 

Rebel_

Member
I have always loved TouringPlans; however, I found them, sadly, not to be as relevant this past trip. I love their guides and buy a new one each trip. That being said, it wasn't my go-to most recently. I'm not sure who we can and can not endorse on this board, but there is a certain pirate name Kenneth, or something like that, whose plan helped a deal in 2016.
 

KrzyKtty

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
How accurate do you find their plans in June? I built quite a few today and I just can't imagine some of the wait times from June 10th through the 18th would be that short! Maybe I should try building them again closer to June.
 

dmatt87

Well-Known Member
They work well but it's more planning than necessary. If you did your research and booked the appropriate FP+, you can get through without the touring plans.

Also, accept the fact that you will not do or see everything you want on your trip. That is normal and makes even more fun to come back multiple times :)
 

bjlc57

Well-Known Member
we have used the plans in the book for many many years. .and each time its been worth its weight in gold. .but there is one true key to the plans.. TIMING .. if you aren't there ON TIME.. you can forget it. .get to the park and be at the front of the line for the rope drop and the rest of your day is a breeze.. .and I personally have gotten spanked because I didn't do this ONCE.. when you go to WDW for 8 days and wait in lines for 20 minutes 4 times BY CHOICE only.. well that says it all .. and thats what we have waited the last three times at WDW ...I have more then impressed my son in laws.. who never believed it could happen that way..
 

bjlc57

Well-Known Member
and as for NOT seeing every thing you want to see.. we had 6 adults.. and every one .. got to go on their favorite ride TWICE.. minimum. .all of us together.. we get to see EVERYTHING WE WANT TO SEE..
 

dmatt87

Well-Known Member
and as for NOT seeing every thing you want to see.. we had 6 adults.. and every one .. got to go on their favorite ride TWICE.. minimum. .all of us together.. we get to see EVERYTHING WE WANT TO SEE..
That's pretty cool. I manage and plan all year long, so I try to take a small break when I go on vacation.

However, I might give it a try once DS4 is older and wants to go on more ride, although I'm not a thrill ride kinda guy, and planning becomes key to having a better trip, especially during the high season.

I will have to convince my wife to follow along. She already hates the pre-planning that goes with a trip for the FP+ and ADR's, so getting her to follow a step by step plan might be a lot of work.
 

Kate Alan

Well-Known Member
That's pretty cool. I manage and plan all year long, so I try to take a small break when I go on vacation.

However, I might give it a try once DS4 is older and wants to go on more ride, although I'm not a thrill ride kinda guy, and planning becomes key to having a better trip, especially during the high season.

I will have to convince my wife to follow along. She already hates the pre-planning that goes with a trip for the FP+ and ADR's, so getting her to follow a step by step plan might be a lot of work.

If you're willing to be the one to put the nuts and bolts of the touring plan together based on input from her, it might go a long way to getting her on board. My sister and many of my friends are not planners when it comes to vacation - they plan the basics and the rest is kept very loose. The idea of having a set "attraction itinerary" or the sheer depth of some of the crowd level information would drive them batty if they had to look at it. So they don't. They give me the things they know they want to do, and I do all the behind the scenes stuff. They don't want to see how the sausage is made, but they enjoy the benefits they reap from the end product.

To me, it's not about over planning or micro-managing - it's maximizing the efficiency of our fun. The fact is with a well done touring plan you can hit up everything you want in the parks, sometimes repeatedly, but all without feeling like you were just dragged all over creation at breakneck speed. Putting together a touring plan has allowed my travel parties to chill out in the parks because no one has to dither over where to go next or complain about having spent all day waiting in line unnecessarily. And in the event that you need to alter the plan day of, it's easy to remove or add items to the plan via the app and update it.
 

sophie_the_pooh

Well-Known Member
I create my own plans with touringplans.com and use the "evaluate" feature to fix them. It made our last 2 trips so much easier! I can't remember waiting somewhere for more than 10-15 minutes (and I think it's because we arrived early at a show!). I wouldn't go to WDW without those plans anymore!:)
 

RMichael21

Well-Known Member
Personally, the touring plans are nice but I find that it sets unnecessary expectations for the day because things can (and will) go wrong, leaving you disappointed. Personally, I set a game plan for the first hour or two after rope drop and go from there. :)
 

bjlc57

Well-Known Member
some personal advise. .buy the book or do the touring plans and put One person in charge. .They are the Sargent. whatever they say goes at least until Noon.. but if you have an organized person, who will stick with the plan.. the plans will more then work for you.. If you have that same person be some one who has major Disney experience , all the better.. i.e. the first day on our complete family trip with two son in laws who have to be convinced, at the end of main street .. I told the group to turn.. and my one son in law objected. he said. its not on the map.. trust me, ,I said..and then he and my daughter rode space mountain 5 time in a row.. with no line. He decided to listen the rest of the trip..
 

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