Done with this subscription

Why do I even pay for this app? Just got back from a week in Disneyland and it was a mess. Touringplans was off on EVERYTHING. Crowd levels, ride wait times, all of it. I see zero benefit from this app now. How do you predict a 4 and the park ends up being a ten? 200 minute waits on Radiator Springs. This is what your site says for Radiator Springs on Friday.
ATTRACTION AVG. WAIT TIME PRED OBS CROWD PRED OBSERVED
Radiator Springs Racers 61 min 108 min 1 8

You predicted a 1. Really?

Sunday 9th
Resort-wide Crowd Levels
What we predicted: 7 out of 10 What we saw: 9 out of 10

Monday, October 10, 2016
Resort-wide Crowd Levels
What we predicted: 5 out of 10 What we saw: 8 out of 10

Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Resort-wide Crowd Levels
What we predicted: 4 out of 10 What we saw: 10 out of 10

Wednesday, October 12, 2016
Resort-wide Crowd Levels
What we predicted: 4 out of 10 What we saw: 9 out of 10

Thursday, October 13, 2016
Resort-wide Crowd Levels
What we predicted: 6 out of 10 What we saw: 10 out of 10

Friday, October 14, 2016
Resort-wide Crowd Levels
What we predicted: 5 out of 10 What we saw: 8 out of 10

Utter waste of money.

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I was there last week as well, so I understand your frustration - but truth is, NO ONE understands the crowds last week. I asked multiple CMs during our trip and they were baffled. They admitted being ill equipped for the crowds. And you know they have a serious system in place to predict crowd levels so they are properly staffed and whatnot and their predictions were off. So you can’t totally blame touring plans.

Something strange was going on. Honestly, I think it had to do with the weather. We saw such great, cool weather, that I think locals with APs came out in droves.

Having a good plan helped us still have a great time. Sorry you experienced such a hectic time!

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Predictions are still just predictions.

JjSorry you had such a busy week at Disneyland. The park predictions have been off since May, 2015 when the 60th celebration started. They do not seem to have recovered even though the 60th ended in early September. I totally understand your frustration. Last week also had 2 holidays- Monday was Columbus Day and Wednesday was Yom Kipper, both of which meant large numbers of So Cal kids, plus kids from many other areas were out of school. I am sure this increased crowds substantially. Fall break is now just as common as spring break has always been as more schools have added 1-2 weeks off at the beginning of October. Why TP does’t take this into account, I don’t know. TP should be just one thing you look at when planning future trips, also check for school breaks and holidays, and try to avoid those times if possible. Good luck!
Also meant to say, TP staff probably won’t see your post unless you tag some of them in your post. I will tag @Lentesta for you so he can look into why this particular week was predicted much lower than it should have been with Columbus Day and Yom Kipper.

I had a similar experience with my last trip to WDW. But I’ve had so many successful trips that I consider that last one an anomaly (as did everyone else who was there that week). Drop your subscription if you want to (no skin off my back), but don’t say that it’s an utter waste of money; many people have gotten a lot of benefit from it, and I, personally, have found it an invaluable source of information, and a place where I have met many friends.

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Honestly I haven’t worried too much about crowd levels since I can’t do anything about them. But the planning tool has been wonderful for giving me a sense of the layout of the parks and a reasonable way to go about doing the things I want to do. But the most valuable resource has been the Liner community!

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I was not in any of the parks. But i know last week was Comumbus day as well as Yom Kippor. Those both have probably been part of the cause.

It is all predictions. That is all. They do their best with historical data. They are not to blame.

No more than the weatherman who says the day will be nice and sunny so you go to the brach only to be caught in a dowmpour.

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I am inclined to agree with you, the only helpful thing on the app. are the menus for Disney Restaurants. Disneyland has their own free app. that is much more accurate for ride times, which were horrible!

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Being off by a point or two is one thing. Being off by 250% is something else. You can’t predict a 4 and it be a 10. We planned our trip based on data from this site. I used the official park app at the park and it was far better. This site was off every day we were there. If my weatherman was this off, I’d changed news stations…

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Just curious how is the DL app better than TP? Both should the same posted wait times if you compare the two. FP times are estimates but hope you and others submitted those times to TP app to assist others. Sorry you had a bad experience but I would think after the first day to throw out the crowd calendar and anticipate busier parks. Disney wasn’t prepared either, they expected Value season for the weekdays.

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I am sorry for your frustration. I work in Hospitality in Los Angeles and these last two weeks, business was absolutely crazy. Busy beyond anyone’s expectations. As others have mentioned we had a couple of Holidays that week. Also this is the last couple of months of Tower of Terror and all the radio stations are giving away 4 packs of tickets at a pretty decent clip to see it before it goes. With these promotions it has become more conscious in the general public. Also, September/October is also big for radio stations to give away family packs of tickets for MNSSHP.

Disneyland crowds were BONKERS last week. Before we left, we verified that crowd estimates at each park were between 3 and 6 (for Oct 10-14). The actuals had every day at 8-10.

As others have pointed out, Disney seemed to have been taken by surprise, too, as the parks seemed understaffed, making waits even worse.

I understand why several people are defending the Touring Plans algorithms, but folks went expecting a 4 last week, and got slapped with a 10. TP sells a product that claims to predict crowds, and they have been waaaaay off on my last few trips.

Personally, I’m not really mad at Touring Plans. I still had a great time at Disneyland. However, my family is at the point where anytime I quote a crowd estimate, my wife automatically makes fun of me. And every time for the last 3 years, she’s been right, dang it!
:slight_smile: In other words, we won’t be renewing, because, unfortunately, the value just hasn’t been there.

Are other people paying a different price than I am?

Because I paid $12.95. Or basically the equivalent of a tour book.

I guess I subscribed for the wrong reasons because I planned my trip when I wanted to go, and I’m going on the rides that I want to go on, when I want to go on them. I used some input from the algorithm as to what rides get longer lines at what time of the day, etc. I also really appreciated the reservation finder helping me find better times for both of the ADRs that I made.

Everything else is fortune telling. And I certainly don’t expect that for $12.95 a year.

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So we are first timers and haven’t even been on our trip yet (it’s coming up in Dec) This makes me a little nervous because they do tout themselves to be the experts; however, I will say I’ve also subscribed to another site and have also looked at crowd level predictions on several sites and they ALL have different opinions and predictions. You would think that they would take into account these holidays though! Who knows, I guess this at least helps me have more realistic expectations. I do like the personalized touring plan tool…I think it gives a great visualization, but I guess my full analysis is yet to be determined.

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My best understanding is, if you don’t want long lines, go to Disneyland in January, after the first week, but some rides will be closed for refurbishment. And go to WDW in September, after Labor Day, but some rides will be closed for refurbishment.

They’re places that are crowded year 'round. And if you go in December, they are going to be REALLY crowded. And if you go the week of Christmas, you are basically going to have wall-to-wall people. But I think most people could have told you that without subscribing to the app.

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And forget weekends. Weekends are a zoo. Some of the historical data may indicate that summer weekends are a little lighter than fall weekends–maybe locals are spread out across the week instead of being concentrated into the weekends–but still very crowded. Best bet is off-season mid-week.

I just got an email stating the crowd level went down for the days I am going. I would LOVE that, but I’m not so sure I can trust that with all the crazy crowds lately.