Touring plans - do you trust the forecast wait times?

[Procrastinator]

So I have been playing around with the touring plans customised plans and have something of a dilemma.

An example being in AK. Now before I looked at TP, I had booked a FP for Expedition Everest for 9-10am as I know my DS will love it. But TP tells me that if we get there at 9:15 am there will be a 5 min Q and to save the FP.

So do I trust it, cancel the FP and book something later. Or play safe and keep the FP?

How have others found it with that sort of thing?

[3disneykids]

Hi, It was my first time in May/ June and we used busy day planners. They might work for most people but we found it very busy and waiting times of an hour plus. If you really want a ride fast pass it to guarantee it. Maybe we just got unlucky which is more than likely but now we know next time we can fp the rides we really want... If you get there and there is a 5 min wait you could just go through the standby queue and change your fp to something different.
Hope the kids enjoy their first WDW holiday

[prthomas]

I would expect it to be in the region of 5-10 minutes as long as the park had opened at 09:00 and not EMH as Pandora takes most of the crowds at rope drop. Here is TP times versus actual wait times for yesterday and here is Josh's general overview - both seem about 10 mins for that time of day.

I would suggest booking a FP later on (say 10-11) and trying it is standby in the first hour.

[Procrastinator]

Thanks for your comments. Think I'm going to trust in all their data! Have cancelled that Everest FP... And will follow their advice on other days too... But if anyone else sees this thread who has taken their advice throughout a holiday, let me know how it worked out for you! Thank you!

[shrek1609]

Originally Posted by Procrastinator

Thanks for your comments. Think I'm going to trust in all their data! Have cancelled that Everest FP... And will follow their advice on other days too... But if anyone else sees this thread who has taken their advice throughout a holiday, let me know how it worked out for you! Thank you!

See more...

We used touring plans last year in June/July over Independence Day and found their advice priceless.

I cross referenced their crowd rating with busy day guide and if it was a green day (busy guide) and a lower crowd (touring plans) then that was where I planned us to be.
Occasionally busy day and TP said opposite of each other for a particular park, so I tended to look for where they agreed.

June/July including Independence Day was busy but we used to get up early, be at parks at rope drop and have done everything we wanted by 1/2pm and go off swimming or shopping.
We often returned to a different park later in the evening and often managed to pick up more fast passes using the MDE app for 3 of us.

I’ve just resubscribed and will be using them again this sept and next June.

You can download the app onto your phone to give you up to date wait times both for Disney and universal

[ratmanscoop]

Based on what I've been seeing, I don't think you'll find much of a wait for Everest before 10am, everybody that got there early is still queuing for Flight of Passage. I tend not to bother with FPs much before 11am.

[YorkshireT]

Originally Posted by Procrastinator

Thanks for your comments. Think I'm going to trust in all their data! Have cancelled that Everest FP... And will follow their advice on other days too... But if anyone else sees this thread who has taken their advice throughout a holiday, let me know how it worked out for you! Thank you!

See more...

Pro- at AK at ropedrop the crowds are heading towards Pandora. Great time to ride Everest etc. Have the FP kicking in from about 10 to 10.30 if you're there for RD.

[YorkshireT]

I take most of their advice. It generally works out good. What I do is let it crunch the rides into its list, then I shift them about a bit to go for smaller distances maybe in 1 or 2 or sometimes it puts long waits in when if you jiggle it about a bit (not literally) you can fit a ride in the gap. When I'm happy with it (first draft if you like) I book my FPs which inevitably are not the ones they suggest (I put the rides in I don't want to miss, taking into account I'll do some at rope drop so have them kicking in 10 to 10.30) then calculate it all again on TP.

[Procrastinator]

Originally Posted by YorkshireT

I take most of their advice. It generally works out good. What I do is let it crunch the rides into its list, then I shift them about a bit to go for smaller distances maybe in 1 or 2 or sometimes it puts long waits in when if you jiggle it about a bit (not literally) you can fit a ride in the gap. When I'm happy with it (first draft if you like) I book my FPs which inevitably are not the ones they suggest (I put the rides in I don't want to miss, taking into account I'll do some at rope drop so have them kicking in 10 to 10.30) then calculate it all again on TP.

See more...

This is pretty much exactly what i have ended up doing. Was just a little nervous at first about dropping something like the everest fp as we must ride that. But it makes perfect sense that almost all rope droppers will be at pandora so everest will be close to a walk on.

It also seems to quite like suggesting a fp for shows like indiana jones. I think the logic there is that if you fp it you can rock up 5 min before show time. If you dont you need to be there early and wait. Makes sense i guess!

It is a lot of work sorting out a plan on there. Only done day 1,2 and 7 - fp for day 7 are up tomorrow. Will gradually iron out days 3-6, though im guessing it will want me to change all my fp!

[ratmanscoop]

I like the idea in principle of using FP to turn up to a show early, if you have the luxury of blowing FPs on shows, because it could save you 20+ minutes easily, but the issue I always have with that is, what are you doing beforehand that you can time precisely enough to have only 5 minutes to spare for the show without risking missing it?