A New Touring Plan Idea

We only go around the same interval, but I weirdly think about planning a lot. I usually have a plan in place that I can refer to, but I optimize periodically through the day so my plan is rarely what I started with.

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This is SO my family.

My last trip I had ADR’s for every dinner and a lot of lunches and we ended up cancelling half of them. We see the crowds, and go away from them (like your parade comment). Kid wants to single rider Splash for 2 hours…sure! DH wants to run back to the hotel for a nap and to catch up on emails before our big attraction push…why not?

Me too!

I put so much stress into trying to make it perfect, I forgot to be present and just enjoy the simple moments.

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I like the idea a lot. I have a background in OR/Simulation and have used the books and/or the app every time I’ve gone to WDW/DL, as they’re just that valuable. This going back close to 30 years!

I do however sometimes deviate from your “optimal” plan in order to “locally optimize” based on current data, live feedback from other users, or a personal whim that day. That has always indicated to me that I should re-run the simulation, but in fact it’d be much better if the simulation could run only from my current position and understand the rides I’ve taken today, my current plan, the history of my preferences, the current queue times, and this historical queue distribution patterns. Plus me re-running the simulation takes time and a lot of jiggering around to get right.

Part of the fun for us in going to the parks is knowing that we’re saving significant time dashing from ride to ride and optimizing our experience in WDW. Hitting all the major rides in the MK by lunch when most are still just getting there and lining up for Dumbo gives us great satisfaction! And any enhancement to the tool that gives us more flexibility and allows for dynamic planning / replanning would be greatly appreciated!

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Yes to all of this!!! Welcome to the forum!

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I think it’s especially cool when no fpp

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Thanks for all the feedback everyone! Sounds like there is some interest. We are still working out the details for how it will look to Liners and also how the recommendations will work in the background.

Once again, we are so grateful for this community of followers, thanks folks!

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Judging by the number of people asking very basic questions in social media Disney groups, I think it would be very useful. I introduce your book a couple times a week. But if people don’t already know you, how will they find the touring plans? Good luck!

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Welcome to the forum!

I would want to try it out, sounds pretty cool!

I think this is a great idea, especially if there is gps type map to help people navigate. I would absolutely use this when traveling with relatives who balk at the plan once we are in the park and I would suggest it to others also.

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@fred @len

I imagine one could still feed it info such as FPPs, ADRs, “less walking vs less waiting in line”, and perhaps a pre-selection, i.e. “not interested in this”, “must do this”, “prioritize this”, “only if we have time”, “Do Splash Mt 4x” etc. And other things I’m probably not thinking of. (Others mentioned ages, heights, great idea). All optional (could enter nothing if one is a complete newbie).

One thing to keep in mind: I’ve found that the TP software in general tends to place a small overemphasis on rides & shows that one waits for, rather than “live entertainment” such as Dapper Dans, Main St Philharmonic, & the like, especially if one is willing to just miss the onset of a show. (Understandable, as the rationale is to save time waiting in line!)

So if one is near some live entertainment in the area that may have just started that doesn’t require any wait time, would be cool if those recommendations popped up: “Hey there, you’re near the castle, and Casey’s Piano Player [just started/is in progress.] Want to check him out?” This would be particularly helpful if the AK & Epcot live entertainment returns to semi-normal.

Anyway, these were thoughts off the top of my head.
Definitely a nifty idea for newbies.
I’m a crazy planner, but God willing, once I retire to FL… :slight_smile:

EDIT: If enough people use TP (no idea how many do), the software could also disperse people more evenly throughout the park. That would be epic. And WDW should pay you for the tech!!

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Great point. Ability to tell it to “prioritize” which things to see (must do, want to do, skip this, only if time permits, do Splash 3x) must be there in some form. Make it optional.

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Indeed. Yes. This! Welcome.

Sounds an excellent idea.

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I think Len has discussed this on Disney Dish and I think the software does take this into consideration so that everyone doesn’t show up at Dumbo for the first ride.

Actually I would like for the software to send everyone to dumbo first so I can’t jump on the other rides when they wait in line. :thinking:

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I wonder if you’d consider letting people rate rides in advance, for those who’ve been to Disney before and know some of the things we like or not. That would make it more useful to more people, I think.

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Lol, great point about Dumbo. @len has discussed the possibility of dispersing crowds via TP for a long time, but I’m not sure what, if any, extent it was implemented. If only we could get the whole world on TPs. :wink: The last time I discussed it with him, he said not enough people were on TP for it to make a difference, but that was a number of years ago. Perhaps it could make a tangible difference now?

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Maybe, but the number of TP users are probably still a drop in the bucket for the WDW crowds (@len please correct me if I’m wrong, because I’d love to be wrong about that) . I’m all for having TP manipulate the crowds at Disney. A grand social experiment, which TP kind of is.

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Between us and the book, it’s 1.5 to 2% of overall crowds. Which is still a lot.

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So at, ballpark number, close to 1000 a day going by the book or site? Maybe, a guess, half of those at MK at any one time (I’m assuming since this is the most popular). I guess if you sent everyone to the same rides at the same time, you could really screw with the park traffic. Of course that assumes everyone starts and ends at the same time, which is unlikely, though slightly more likely without fast passes.

If you could pull that off, would that really mess up (temporarily) how WDW operates for that period of time?

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