Unofficial Guide's Tour Plans

[sweetpee_1993]

Has anyone ever tried using the tour plans in the Unofficial Guide? Did they make a difference? I'm curious. I think we're going to try at least 1 while we're at Epcot on our next trip. Just wondering what others thought of them.

Also, has anyone ever used the custom tour plan service from touringplans.com? How was that?

Thanks lots!

 

[lcsrig]

I haven't used any touring plans because we just kinda go with the flow. We go to the rides we want usually trying to hit at least one or two E-ticket rides first. Do what you can and enjoy yourself.

 

[joelleharbert]

The first time my family went to WDW in 2004, I tried modifying the Unofficial Guide's touring plans to fit our family and I have to say that by attraction #2, I was stressed out beyond belief. We ended up just going to the things that interested us and if there was a long line, we just tried going back later or the next day. I think that if you only have one day to do the parks, they would work really well; however, I am a type-A person and it was just too much work to try to jump all over the park to fit everything in. I am now a go-with-the-flow WDW visitor, too. It works out better for me and the family doesn't hate me by the end of the day. :lol:

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Thanks for the replies. We've always just done whatever as we went along when in the parks and not stressed much over any of it. I wondered if the touring plans really shaved off wait times. I think one of the biggest things I've gotten from pouring over the Unofficial Guide is the importance of an early start. I'm not a morning person but I loooove afternoon naps. I can make a push in the morning if it means I'll get a good nap. :snore: I'm one of only a few people I know who genuinely enjoys sleep and wakes up irritated that they had to leave it in order to get up. LOL!

Anyone else ever tried the touring plans???

 

[Philo]

I've never followed a plan but I do take the general advice (which day is best for which park, which attractions you should go to first, when is it worth picking up a fast-pass, which way to go round the park etc). If you know all that stuff then you can just do what-ever you want whilst still getting the benefits of a plan.

Personally, I don't think I could stick to a "do this at 9.00am, now walk over to x, if the queue is long do this else do this, now get lunch". There are just too many things that can go wrong and for a rare visitor like me, you miss out on all the little things that make Disney great.

When we went a year ago we were lucky that the crowds were small. We took the general advice of the guides and then found that we had seen most of the attractions very quickly so then we had loads of time to do everything else we wanted!

 

[Philo]

I'm one of only a few people I know who genuinely enjoys sleep and wakes up irritated that they had to leave it in order to get up. LOL!

My GF loves to sleep, I think she spends 90% of her life in that way! She doens't like to be woken up either :fork:. I'm not fussed though, I sleep because I have to but I really hate having to wake up at a certain time and get out of a warm bed into a cold room (damn this UK weather).

 

[PotteryGal]

Thanks for the replies. We've always just done whatever as we went along when in the parks and not stressed much over any of it. I wondered if the touring plans really shaved off wait times. I think one of the biggest things I've gotten from pouring over the Unofficial Guide is the importance of an early start. I'm not a morning person but I loooove afternoon naps. I can make a push in the morning if it means I'll get a good nap. :snore: I'm one of only a few people I know who genuinely enjoys sleep and wakes up irritated that they had to leave it in order to get up. LOL!

Anyone else ever tried the touring plans???

I read the Unofficial Guide as well, and I would say it is most beneficial to people who have never been to Disney. There is so much to experience in each park that it is a great source of information. I will be more inclined to use their plans this June, because the parks will be busier; that being said, I will probably customize the plans to suit our family. As long as you have a general idea of what you really want to ride and take into account the time of year you go, I think the UG is extremely helpful.
And I can relate to what you said about sleeping, I am not a morning person. :lol: For some strange reason, however, I have no problem getting up early at Disney. I would go for the early park visit and the afternoon nap IMO.

 

[dnalorg]

IMO, the usefullness of the touring plans would depend on what time of year you are going. We usually visit offseason (12 more days!!! :sohappy and using the plans to bounce around the park to avoid lines when there aren't really that long of lines to begin with just wouldn't make sense.

 

[H20Babie]

I personally like the new UG "Not a Tour Plan" tour plan They're more like guidelines than actual step-by-step instructions.

 

[Bolna]

I have used the morning of the MK one day adult plan with great success as well as the morning of the AK one. I like not to have to think about where to go next. One thing I don't like about the plans is that they focus more on getting to see everything, but there are some attractions I want to see more than once and others I can live without. That's why we tended to leave the plan around lunch time as we had different priorities.

 

[colliera]

Useful to me

I've used the UG for years and yes they did bounce you back and forth across the park with their plans in the past. Since they added their new math package that has become much less of a problem. The plans do follow more of a consecutive flow than they used to do. That said I would suggest a few points in using the plans.

1. Only visit the attractions that interest your group. That means you need to know what your touring group likes. One year I asked everyone and no one in the family would give me an answer so I was forced to just pick and choose on my own. Well they complained the whole trip when I passed up their favorites and stopped for things I liked. Next time they were willing to give me input and things went better. It takes some time to find this out. I just made a check list of all the attractions by park and had them rank attractions from "This is why I go to WDW" to "I won't ride this and you can't make me." The next plan worked much better. Don't follow the plan without a reason. If no one in the group wants to do something just cut it out of the plan.
2. Sometimes the plan does get off for whatever reason. You got to the park later than you intended to, a tour group of 40 just stepped in line ahead of you, etc. When a wait time is more than 15 minutes I just go to the next step and come back when the line is down.
3. The UG goes on and on about NOT going to any Early Entry park. I disagree. If have that perk then do go early but abandon that park by 10:30 - 11:00 AM as it goes critical. It would be time to take that mid-day break anyway. Then I go to the park that had Early Entry the day BEFORE. The Early Entry crowd will have already done that park and if they leave it's not as likely they will go back to the day before park. This will require a ticket with park hopping.
4. The only zipping across the park that the UG plans do much any more is sending one person to scoop up FastPasses for the group. We usually take a bathroom/snack break while we wait on them to return. If it is a snack break their snack is waiting on them when they return.
5. Some rides have better capacity to move crowds than others and some rides are bigger draws than others. That's where the plans work best. Their research knows this and takes that into account suggesting better times and in what order. Like I said, they now take into account the proximity of rides to each other better and how that affects the plan.

I did order individualized plans a few years ago and I don't think they do that anymore. It takes awhile to run those programs. They do offer specialized plans on their website and I use parts of those plans as suggestions.

The biggest aid is their calendar. It is very helpful in planning when to take a trip and when to avoid the peak crowds. WDW has so many special seasons and group events year round now that it isn't likely you will find many days that fall below a 4 or 5 crowd level. However, that is better than a 9 or 10.

Seasonal weather also can play a factor. Wonder why the meal plans are free some times of the year? Those offers match up with the peak hurricane season. Sometimes you just get lucky with this. I went the week after Charlie and before Francis one year. Crowds where like just post-9/11. The next year I moved a little deeper into the calendar and arrived the day before Wilma glanced Orlando. The parks were closed that day but opened to the resort guests at 12 noon and stayed open to 12 that night, (MK and Epcot.) It was the only time when the question, "When is the 3 o'clock parade?" ever made sense. It ran at 5 PM that day. Time of the year makes a big difference if you can go whenever.

 

[Eyorefan]

I have a dream of using the one that does everything in the MK in one day. I think it would be a fun challenge.

 

[catne]

Unofficial Guide Fan, Big-Time

Thought you might want to hear from a tried & true UG user. First used the unofficial guide back when it was a thin thing, circa 1989 or so. And loved it! It was a prize trip my 10 yr. old won, only had "4 days/3 nights" so we planned to go to MKthe day we arrived. Checked into hotel at 3 P.M. and rain was just pouring a deluge...I looked at son & said "UG says the harder it's raining, the better it will be." He voted to go to park--we went and just like the book said, cars were 4 across, bumper-to-bumper leaving the park. We got in, got close parking, and rode ride after ride with no waits--usually exiting and walking right back on for another go. Have since used updated versions for every trip-4 times, for visits with everything from preschoolers to elder-teens. Works wonderfully--especially for planning with teens & little ones (if you're willing to let the teens stay in the parks when you leave for mid-day break.) Managed to hit all the little one's choices (like Dumbo) before major crowds, and all the big kids stuff (like Space Mountain), ditto. We'd go back in the late afternoons/evenings for leisurely strolls, shows & sightseeing, catching rides where there were no lines.
We never had any problems following the plans--their advice to send the fast & trustworthy to sprint ahead for the fastpasses is soooo good...it worked for us every time. Agree with poster about using the early magic hours...the books used to make it clear that the advice not to go on those days was for people who did not have the early entry perk (non-WDW hotels) -- because by the time the general public was admitted at regular park opening time the parks would be packed with WDW hotel patrons. Somewhere along the line, they changed the advice to apply to everyone, and I don't know why. We've always gone at the earliest time for the early park opening & have always had a great time...many times leaving the park just 2-2 1/2 hours after getting there, having ridden all the major rides at least once if not twice & seen the major attractions. Then spent 4-5 hours swimming, eating, etc back at our hotels. We did this as recently as 5/2007. (we've gone the week before Memorial weekend every time.) Hope this helps.

 

[tjkref418]

The main things I get out of the UG touring plans when I use them are: the emphasis on doing some prior planning (even if it just a list of what you want to see), touring early in the day (and being on plan for park opening), attending the most popular attractions first thing in the morning.

I find that if you follow a few guidelines, you will still have a lot of time to tour at your own pace, or just relax at your resort.