I am trying to ‘practice’ making touring plans for a trip in late Sept/Oct.
Because I don’t have actual FP’s at this point, how do I actually add them and when?
I am confused. Am I suppose to be making a touring plan so that this site can tell me which FP’s to make, and how to best spend our days in the park?
If I make a touring plan, do I just wait then until 60 days before my trip (staying onset) and then book my FP’s on MDE account with the help of what the “touring plans” are telling me to do?
I know I’ll get the hang of this, and eventually it will all make sense… but I think I’m missing something basic that will help it all make sense to me
When you start your touring plan, you will list what you want to do in a particular park; then hit optimize or evaluate button…The result will suggest which rides are recommended for FPP. I started with optimize, but then moved the attractions, parade, fireworks and shows around in the order I wanted (generally to minimize walking, I’m on the cusp of senior, DW not so much). You can also insert ADRs in the plan at the times you want to eat, and then adjust later as you make your actual reservation. Once your ADRs are set 180 days out, or as you make them, you can lock in those time slots. I didn’t use optimize once I had a good plan made, but I would use evaluate to decide where FPP would work the best for us, and where they just weren’t necessary. You can mark in the plan the FPP where you think you will use them. One note, sometimes the plan will omit a chosen FPP saying it isn’t necessary; I have to admit I tended to discount those and when time to actually make FPP reservations, I made the ones I thought would be best for us; it worked out fine. The plans are a valuable tool; once you play around with it a bit, you’ll get the hang of it.
Thank you so much for this info. Makes a lot more sense to me. I was getting confused, and now I know that the plans I am currently making are just a general idea of how I’d like our days to go… then when I get to book my ADR’s & FP’s, I will be able to enter details in as a more solid plan and go from there.
Now I just have to remember the differences between optimising and evaluating! So, basically, once I have my plan in order and finalised, I wait until I am actually inside the parks and look at the app which I can then press ‘optimise’ again, or ‘evaluate’ again. Optimise will alter the order of my list, while evaluate will just update the wait times…? Hope I’m understanding this ok It would be best not to press ‘optimize’ once inside my parks, as my FP’s would have been booked… and I would not want to mess up my plan.
Yes…that’s how I treated making the plans. To be honest, I didn’t use the app inside the park other than to check wait times. Our plans were loose enough that I didn’t really have to worry about re-optimizing inside the park. As I understand it, its very useful if your group gets off plan, due to something interfering with your progress. Then optimizing will help you get back on track. Having a good plan, and getting to the park at RD made all the difference.
Hope this helps. The process seems complicated until you get into it, then it starts to make sense.
Good luck.
I was getting confused, and now I know that the plans I am currently making are just a general idea of how I’d like our days to go… then when I get to book my ADR’s & FP’s, I will be able to enter details in as a more solid plan and go from there.