Since everyone seems to be putting the disclaimer “oh I wouldn’t use it” I just thought I’d point out that @fred did kind of say that in his thread opener. It goes without saying that most of us here - crazy planner types - would not use or benefit from this, but we all know people who would - mainly first timers and others with limited experience. And for them, it’s a wicked cool option.
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This sounds AMAZING! I personally don’t over plan or fiddle around. I was introduced to your book (8 yrs ago) and followed the printed plan in the book w/ fabulous results. I was sold. If the app did all the tedium for me I would use it more.
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I probably wouldn’t use it, but I can definitely see the advantage to it for newbies!
I’ll admit, one feature I really wish was part of the app was to AUTOMATICALLY log the wait times. During the pandemic extended queues, this wasn’t so easily done. But now that we’re back to normal, I think it could be done fairly accurately. (Why? Because I NEVER EVER remember to log actual wait times.)
Basically, use location services to detect when someone is near/at the entrance to a ride. Since the accuracy isn’t perfect, you can start a timer at this point (time from entering queue), but don’t consider it an actual time unless you confirm their location one or more times being actually INSIDE the queue/ride area.
Oh wait. You didn’t ask for feature requests. 
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Agreed! I either forget to start the timer, or forget to stop it.
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Sounds brilliant! I’ll be there in September if you need a beta tester. 
Keep in mind I haven’t used the regular app in the parks yet, so I wouldn’t have a previous experience to compare with the new TP idea.
Okay. I agree: BRILLIANT idea. And I’m going to go against the grain a bit and say I might actually use this - particularly on solo trips. “Where will TP send me today?!” Kind of like Randall’s old “bus roulette”
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Yes! Arriving tomorrow with first day in parks Monday! Wish it was available now!
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One of the preference questions should be if they prefer to focus on one park area (less walking) or optimize time (more walking).
Although we plan our trips we do like to go with the flow so I can see my family using this option.
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I think this is a brilliant idea. I usually create an amazing plan before my trip and promptly forget all about it when I’m at the park. Question though: How is it different from creating a plan and then optimizing throughout the day?
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In the before time, I would carefully craft a plan, adhere to it for the first couple of hours, then wing it for the rest of the day (while leveraging Fast Passes)
When on family trips we do use a DAS so that can complicate adhering closely to a TP.
I could totally see us using this but it would be best if:
- We could indicate things that we have already enjoyed (if we want to turn it on 1-2 hours after arrival)
- It could somehow figure out how to integrate DAS usage.
Note, we only leverage DAS for some things, but not others since that person isn’t an intrepid coaster person. If integrating DAS, maybe have some way to indicate attractions that would require it and those that there is no interest in and we would need to use Rider Swap for.
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I think it’s a good idea. If I can make a recommendation - make each recommendation a multiple choice: attraction A or Attraction B with some info about wait times etc., plus a “try again” option.
I love planning, but I would also value having something that allowed for a little less planning - especially for subsequent visits to a park on a single vacation.
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Great Idea. I could see this being the default even for liners.
If you have the system ask some of the basic questions you usually do to get the engine running, like:
- do you want to minimizing crossing the park?
- what pace do you want to walk? This one of course could fade out as you learn a person’s walking habits.
- do you want to stick to a specific area/land(s)?
- what are your must dos?
- how many attractions would you consider a successful day?
Over time you could learn their favourites based on ratings and frequency of visits.
I am glad you are toying with machine learning.
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This is actually great for my wife (@alpha_foxtrot) who knows that she has to plan for Disney, but doesn’t really like making a plan. For her, this is a nice compromise.
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Along those lines, I was wondering if there would be a way to input if you go off what was suggested. Sometimes the kids like to ride things multiple times in a row. Would there be a way to tell the plan you did that? Or that you went to dumbo instead of barnstormer for example.
I think I would be willing to try this for my upcoming trip. This trip is my least planned trip by far.
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I have the same question. I think I need more details about how this would be different than using one of the premade plans and optimizing. Obviously optimize doesn’t learn your preferences so that would be a new feature but maybe that could/should be a function of optimize?
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My concert with the “learning” is that there is always more to do than can be done. We purposely choose to do things or not do things knowing we will choose differently in some cases next time. But if it learns we skipped POTC, for example, because we plan to do it on another park day, it learned the wrong thing.
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I think this sounds really cool. I often see people that don’t have a plan, but don’t want to run one of the canned plans from the book. This would give another option and provide a way to use the app in a productive way without having to put a lot of effort into creating a new or editing an existing plan.
The biggest value for me is the app, with the data, when I’m on the ground. I think this might get more people using the app.
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I LOVE this idea. As a newbie contributor to the forum and someone that won’t go as often as many others on here, this would be my preferred TP. Though I like the concept of planning, I am not always very good at the execution. On our last trip, I found it stressful to have to cut short a spontaneous moment of magic to get to the ADR or fastpass selection I had booked months before that suddenly didn’t seem quite as important or appealing in real time. I’d love the opportunity to put in 3-5 choices I’d be equally happy with and let the algorithm decide where we should go next. It feels like a happy medium between planning and kismet.
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Full disclosure - I have never used TP on the ground and only go to Disney every 3-5 years. My previous planning style was to start with the TPs in the book, learn the traffic patterns in the park, the parade schedule, show times, etc. and then make my plan. If something went squirrelly on the day of, I knew enough to adjust the plan on the fly. Kid threw a tantrum and wait for Peter Pan is 60 minutes? Skip it and move on. Try to come back to it later. Ride down? No problem - slot in another attraction. Oh, and make sure you are on the correct side of the MK before the parade gets there!
For this trip, I am going to try trusting the app. I have heard a lot of good things about it! UOR does have me a bit worried, though.
All that being said, this sounds like a good feature, with the caveat that @ryan1 pointed out - how do you keep it from learning the “wrong” things? Maybe it would need some other inputs, like “skipped because wait too long” or things like that.
@teamzeewagen, I really appreciate that comment because I think it is too easy to have the plan get in the way of the enjoyment. Although I do not have first hand experience, I suspect that if you got to your ADR late and explained to the CM that you are sorry you are late, but Chip and Dale (those mischievous chipmunks!) were playing with DS3s stuffed animals, they might be able to work some pixie dust!
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I would try it. I’ll be there in November
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