Touring Plan?

KrzyKtty

KrzyKtty

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
My family will be spending 4 days at the Disneyland Resort from December 27th through December 30th.


When we go to Walt Disney World we always used touring plans to help us manage lines and crowds. I know this would not normally be particularly helpful at Disneyland during most times of the year. However I know the weeks between Christmas and new years can be pretty crazy.

Would it be helpful at all to use touring plans to build a itinerary? Or even with the crazy crowds during those weeks would it just be easier to wing it?
 
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shambolicdefending

Well-Known Member
KrzyKtty said:
My family will be spending 4 days at the Disneyland Resort from December 27th through December 30th.


When we go to Walt Disney World we always used touring plans to help us manage lines and crowds. I know this would not normally be particularly helpful at this new land during most times of the year. However I know the weeks between Christmas and new years can be pretty crazy.

Would it be helpful at all to use touring plans to build a itinerary? Or even with the crazy crowds during those weeks would it just be easier to wing it?
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In my experience, TouringPlans' value is very hit and miss. Some days they get their estimated times pretty close. Some days they're dramatically off and the plan you created isn't useful at all. A basic subscription is cheap enough that it probably doesn't hurt to have one, just be prepared for the actual times to be quite a bit different than what they tell you to expect.
 
CastAStone

CastAStone

5th gate? Just build a new resort Bob.
Premium Member
My experience is that their WDW accuracy is better than their DLR accuracy. Weather is SO important to DLR crowds which makes it so much harder to predict. It thus becomes more important at DLR that you’re regularly optimizing in the Lines app while you’re there - their software does eventually adjust to the actual crowd levels (based on posted wait times).

That said I used their DLR stuff for my last trip and I’m using it again for my next trip. Their stuff is most useful when crowds are crazy, not least useful. The what attractions you should do in what order stuff is helpful even if they predict a 7 and you get a 10, you just might not get to everything, and you’ll need to have a plan of what to cut. All the more reason to keep hitting optimize as you go through the day.
 
George Lucas on a Bench

George Lucas on a Bench

Well-Known Member
One of the nice things about DL compared to WDW is that things aren't as spaced out and touring tends to be a lot more efficient. The parks are still large but it's a lot easier to do more if you're on top of Fastpassing and opt for things with shorter lines in between. You can do everything in Fantasyland in the first hour or so the park is open and then get in the Fastpass line for Space Mountain, get a FP for Indy while doing the west side stuff like Pirates, HM, Thunder Mountain etc. with 20-30 minute lines and then take a breather by lunch time.
 
smooch

smooch

Well-Known Member
Like others have said I never have really used touring plans on my trips and my parents never had any for my family when I was younger. I think if you usually have some sort of touring plans for WDW then you should at least come up with a lit of what you wanna do specifically at Disneyland and then rank it by importance of actually doing it and then try and group stuff together based on proximity (mostly for later in the day, I think if you go early in the day then it isn't as bad if you wanna go from Indie to Space Mountain for example because even though they are on opposite sides of the park it is still early and the lines will be much bigger later) and then work your way through the list. Even on such busy times, 4 days should be more than plenty to get everything done in Disneyland and California Adventure. Just make sure to take breaks during the day, it gets tiring trying to make a mad dash for everything the entire day with no time to relax and recharge.
 
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Sailor310

Well-Known Member
Even super-crowded, with four days, you can do everything at both parks easily. Hopefully you're planning on using Maxpass.
I would run a TP for a reference and to remind you to get a fast past for a ride that fills up, etc.. One problem is TP doesn't do a park-hopper plan. I keep asking.
I haven't ever used it, but I believe that if you have a TP and Lines running on your phone, the TP will adjust for changing wait times through the day. That might be really helpful. I find Lines really helpful and use it all the time. Lots of information..ride now shortest line of the day...wait, line is only 30min at 9:30, etc... Oh, I think I saw above, you have to hit the "optimize" button for the app to update.
 
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Weather_Lady

Weather_Lady

Well-Known Member
We're visiting Disneyland for the first time VERY SOON (we fly out on Saturday!!!), and will be using MaxPass and doing some hopping around.

I did put together some touring plans on the touringplans website and tinkered around with them, but it was more to educate myself -- to learn what attractions have lines that build quickly and what ones don't, as some of the crowd flow for certain attractions is different from their Disney World counterparts, as well as to see how long it would take to walk from certain parts of the parks to others.

My understanding is that at Disneyland, with a little basic knowledge of what the headliners are, which attractions have Fastpass and how to use Maxpass wisely, you don't need a hard and fast touring plan. So the ones I made will just be just jumping-off points for wherever the road may lead -- ideas of what we might get done each day -- and I'm looking forward to being able to really relax and meander. :)
 
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shambolicdefending

Well-Known Member
Weather_Lady said:
We're visiting Disneyland for the first time VERY SOON (we fly out on Saturday!!!), and will be using MaxPass and doing some hopping around.

I did put together some touring plans on the touringplans website and tinkered around with them, but it was more to educate myself -- to learn what attractions have lines that build quickly and what ones don't, as some of the crowd flow for certain attractions is different from their Disney World counterparts, as well as to see how long it would take to walk from certain parts of the parks to others.

My understanding is that at Disneyland, with a little basic knowledge of what the headliners are, which attractions have Fastpass and how to use Maxpass wisely, you don't need a hard and fast touring plan. So the ones I made will just be just jumping-off points for wherever the road may lead -- ideas of what we might get done each day -- and I'm looking forward to being able to really relax and meander. :)
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I generally agree with this. The other big key at Disneyland for my family has been to make rope drop every day we're there and take full advantage of the slower morning hours.
 
truecoat

truecoat

Well-Known Member
shambolicdefending said:
I generally agree with this. The other big key at Disneyland for my family has been to make rope drop every day we're there and take full advantage of the slower morning hours.
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Rope drop is your friend. You can do so much before 1 pm even at Christmas. We went at Christmas in 2012 right after DCA finished up with Carsland and although it was busy, it wasn't unbearable for us.
 
THE 1HAPPY HAUNT

THE 1HAPPY HAUNT

Well-Known Member
The best plan for Disneyland is not to have a plan. Disneyland is soo unique that no matter what you do, you are guaranteed a fun experience whether you go on any rides or not. you can sit in the hub all day and people watch and take in the atmosphere and have a blast. The ambiance of Disneyland is what makes it perfect. That said if you want to hit the rides usually with the longest lines i would recommend doing Peter Pan at rope drop and then Indy. also hit up any rides not in disneyworld then go on the rides that are shared by either park. one of the best times to go on rides at night is either during fantasmic or fireworks. you can pretty much walk on most rides not in fantasy land during fireworks in fact one of the best places to see fireworks at night is to actually ride BIG THUNDER during the show because I have seen many a fireworks show while on the ride and it adds to the ride experience and you get amazing views.
 

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