# Touring Plans - is everyone doing it?



## Nolathyme (Sep 8, 2012)

We'll be going to Disney with 2 kids under 4. 

I'm wondering about researching touring plan ideas.

Don't most people read up on touring plan ideas?  if so , is everyone following the same plans and making the plans worthless?

Back in the day (late 70's) my parent's plan was to take us out of school a few days early to beat some of the crowds. Once at the park, we would run from one ride to the other until we hit space mt.


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## markbernstein (Sep 8, 2012)

When we went last year, my planning included getting a subscription to touringplans.com, and their mobile app, and it all helped a lot.  Thing is, of the thousands and thousands of people at the parks on any given day, only a small minority are aware that touring plans even exist, so no, you don't get everyone doing the same thing.


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## Twinkstarr (Sep 8, 2012)

markbernstein said:


> When we went last year, my planning included getting a subscription to touringplans.com, and their mobile app, and it all helped a lot.  Thing is, of the thousands and thousands of people at the parks on any given day, only a small minority are aware that touring plans even exist, so no, you don't get everyone doing the same thing.



Agree, we usually go for Thanksgiving and every touring plan will tell you not to go to MK on turkey day. Go to the bus stop, see a huge crowd and they all climb on the MK bus. So that tells you something.


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## sfwilshire (Sep 9, 2012)

We don't bother, but we have been many times and know what we like. We just start early, try to hit the popular things first, and skip anything with a long line. We quit when we're tired and go back to the condo. If we perk up after a rest and a meal, we might go back to the same park or a different one. I sort of plan out the parades and fireworks to try to see most of them during our visit.

Sheila


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## Nolathyme (Sep 9, 2012)

What percent do you think use the touring plans , 2,5,10,20% ?

Maybe the same percent of timeshare owners that are aware of tug?


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## ciscogizmo1 (Sep 9, 2012)

swj said:


> What percent do you think use the touring plans , 2,5,10,20% ?
> 
> Maybe the same percent of timeshare owners that are aware of tug?


 From just talking to my friends none of them put the energy into planning a trip like a I do.  We travel about 4 weeks a year and I look at everything from tripadvisor, youtube, disboards, touring plans, etc... to plan my trips.  Most people I know just go and figure out the details when they arrive.  I plan all my days out to the meal.  Some people like to wing it.  I'd say more are in the wing it category.


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## Twinkstarr (Sep 9, 2012)

swj said:


> What percent do you think use the touring plans , 2,5,10,20% ?
> 
> Maybe the same percent of timeshare owners that are aware of tug?



My example was a Thanksgiving morning early(get to the park for rope drop) at DVC Saratoga Springs, after the MK bus pulled away, the only people at the stop was my family and a older couple. We all headed to AK.

Biggest key to doing WDW at anytime of year is getting to the park early.

Chatting with people in line, you will find out many don't know what rides are closed for rehab, or my favorite they have no clue how to use Fastpass. The rules have changed now, but you see people standing in line for an hour waiting for a ride and they give you dirty looks when you walk by in the FP lane. 

Or the one time we left DHS with 4 FP's for Tower of Terror, tried to give them to a family and they acted like we were trying to give them kooties. :hysterical:  Next ran into a father and son asked them if they wanted them, said thanks that was nice of you and took them.


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## MichaelColey (Sep 9, 2012)

You can pretty much sum up 90% of any touring plans with:

1) Go to the park with the smallest crowd each day.  Basically, avoid the parks that have EMH or extended hours, and you'll usually do good.
2) Be there at least 30 minutes before the park opens (i.e. "rope drop").
3) Know which rides at each park get busier later in the day, and hit those rides first.  Do the busiest one or two rides first.
4) Collect and use FastPasses.
5) As crowds start to pick up (gradually from 10am to noon), circle back around and do the high capacity or less popular rides, which seldom have lines.

If you do that, you can do more (and have far less stress and minimal waits) from rope drop through lunch time than the masses get done in a "full day" from 10 or 11 through evening time.


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## Twinkstarr (Sep 10, 2012)

MichaelColey said:


> You can pretty much sum up 90% of any touring plans with:
> 
> 1) Go to the park with the smallest crowd each day.  Basically, avoid the parks that have EMH or extended hours, and you'll usually do good.
> 2) Be there at least 30 minutes before the park opens (i.e. "rope drop").
> ...



Bingo, getting to the park early is really the key. We usually have our "must do" list done by lunch time. 

And we tend to go for Thanksgiving/MLK weekend, only real "off trip" we've done is the 1st weekend of May(kids get a long weekend).


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## rickandcindy23 (Sep 10, 2012)

We use touringplans.com and have been reading Bob Sehlinger's books (Unofficial Guide to DW) every year since 1991, our first Disney trip.  I no longer buy the books, I just subscribe to the site. We subscribe to both Disneyland and Disneyworld.  

We are self-professed Disney experts and go during slow times of year, and we don't really need to use the actual Touring Plans he provides, but we love seeing the daily calendar and expected crowd levels of every single day.  It's static, changing as events occur, so the book had the calendar but wasn't up to date. 

Very important to arrive to the parks early.  We don't beat ourselves up anymore, staying in the parks from morning to close.  Use FastPass wisely.  How many people are sorry they don't use it.  We have passed people with our FP's and heard them tell their kids, "That costs extra."  I wondered if they really believed that, or if they tell their kids that because they didn't get the passes?  

Slightly off topic: Universal Studios' version of FP does cost extra, it's quite a bit of money to lay out for a family of four.  It's a terrible injustice to charge for Express Yourself, on top of the tickets, because then people who have extra cash to burn get to ride before you.  Plus there is a limit to how many rides you can ride. They scan the ticket.  I find it ridiculous and never pay.  And maybe things like that are the reason Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure will never be as profitable as Disney.  

If you stay at their expensive hotels, I think you get free Express Yourself.  I have never done that, and we have the annual passes with free parking, so we haven't cared to pay more.  Universal annual passes are cheap, and they give a huge discount for upgrades.


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## sfwilshire (Sep 10, 2012)

rickandcindy23 said:


> Slightly off topic: Universal Studios' version of FP does cost extra, it's quite a bit of money to lay out for a family of four.  It's a terrible injustice to charge for Express Yourself, on top of the tickets, because then people who have extra cash to burn get to ride before you.  Plus there is a limit to how many rides you can ride. They scan the ticket.  I find it ridiculous and never pay.  And maybe things like that are the reason Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure will never be as profitable as Disney.



I'm with you on this. And Universal seems to deliberately keep the lines long to encourage purchase. We've been there at very low attendance times and yet the lines were still long because they'll reduce the number of cars for a ride or whatever it takes to keep you standing there. My sons would like to go back there, but it probably won't be with me. I like a few of their special events but dislike them enough overall not to want to go there.

Sheila


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## pnappleprincess (Sep 10, 2012)

I have used touring plans in the past and it worked out well.  We are not the type to get in at rope drop anymore, so it was nice to see a plan where we got to the park late.  

I like the wait time app and found it to be very accurate.  We use this and then loosely follow the plan.  It is nice to see the different options they have.  But honestly, Michael is right.  He just about sums a typical plan up!

Going off topic too - Disney is looking to revamp their FP system so we will see what happens.  There are doing some beta testing and calling it fast pass + where you pick your FP times ahead of time.  Rumors are that they will tier the number you get by your hotel level (values will get the least, deluxes the most).  I do not think anything specific has been heard about the # the DVC would get though.  I am not sure if this is in addition to the current system, or replacing it.  

I think Universal makes their FP a paid option so they can offer it as a perk for those staying onsite.  I have heard it is a big draw for them.


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## Paumavista (Sep 19, 2012)

*Agree*



Twinkstarr said:


> Bingo, getting to the park early is really the key. We usually have our "must do" list done by lunch time.



This is probably the #1 rule and it works!  Along with doing some research on what is important for YOU to see/do.  

As someone else mentioned doing a little research ahead of time to determine some of the most popular rides/shows and then planning accordingly.

With little ones we only made one trip each day (didn't try to do a morning trip - hotel - evening trip back) - it's just too much for one day.  Instead purchase a full week or longer pass to the parks (it doesn't really get much more expensive) - you can spend 4 or so hours at the park each morning & know that you will be coming back to that park at least once again during the week so you don't have to do everything in one visit!

We always enjoyed our afternoon naps and fun time at the resort with a regular bedtime schedule.

Judy


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## Renny30 (Sep 19, 2012)

I always have a touring plan for the parks and we never deviate from it and always had a great day. I have friends that go to the parks and complain about how they were there all day and only rode 5 things. I try to tell them to get organized and they just think it's too much to plan. 

I've always used the books, but I'm glad to know there's an app.


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