We leave this coming Saturday for a brief trip to the world to celebrate our 25th anniversary. Staying at CBR, where we stayed on our honeymoon. Spending one day at EP and one at MK.
I created my plans and reoptimized today as crowd levels keep changing. In my MK plan it has an hour plus of free time after Dumbo and before a lunch break, but then has some long wait times for rides after lunch.
The lunch is just a place holder to carve out some time. We would just eat somewhere near where we are at that point in the plan. Am I getting the long free time due to the way I have put in the lunch? Or should I just reoptimize in the park after Dumbo?
That is a bit odd - maybe because you have it set to minimize walking(?) and said you were leaving the park? I would try getting rid of lunch, optimizing, and then putting it back in and optimizing again…
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I would make a copy of the plan and take out lunch just to see what happens. If it makes a big difference, I would go with the new plan and then just eat lunch when hungry. You can also reevaluate in the moment too.
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I’ll try removing the lunch. Thanks.
I haven’t had time to “study” the plan, but after a quick look I noticed this:
Your plans seem pretty tight on time. I’ve seen too many “perfect” plans that go from ride-to-ride nonstop. You really need to put a 10 – 15 minute break in your plan every 1.5 – 2 hours. I’ve had more than one person tell me, “I’m on vacation. I don’t need to schedule when I pee.”
These breaks are a buffer for unexpected Magic / toilet / gift shops / drinks / etc.…
When putting in these breaks make sure to account for the walking time to your next attraction. Any time you insert a “rest” into a plan, the walking times after the rest are wrong due to a bug in TP software. For example, you are at Dumbo, then rest, and then plan to go to Jungle Cruise it only allocates a one minute walk time, instead of what should have been like 10-15 minutes.
If your next attraction is nearby this isn’t a big deal, but it is something to consider.
It’s always IMHO better to have the break & not need it than get behind.
Also, IME, while I LOVE TP it’s not perfect. On average I have to cut 2 - 4 attractions / shows every day. This is even with giving myself all those breaks. More often than not TP will greatly underestimate a couple of predicted queue waits. (Often an additional 30 - 50 minutes) So… be prepared to figure out what you can be ok missing or not getting a repeat ride on.
I have kept my plans over the last three years and written out all the data. (predicted vs. actual waits) IME - Touring Plans averages a -81 minutes longer than predicted each day. Again… I’ll never go to WDW / DLR / UOR without a personalized TP , but I’ve learned that you have to leave good amounts of unscheduled time & add in 10 – 15 minutes breaks every 90 minutes or so to be able to realistically accomplish all that I want.
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I don’t really see a problem. TP created a plan where you hit every ride during the hours in the park, with extra free time to boot. (Although, as already said, you need to account for breaks!)
TP could theoretically move some rides before the lunch break, but it probably increases overall wait and/or walking time to do so, while moving free time blocks elsewhere in the plan. You could manually try moving a ride or two into that slot and then evaluate instead of optimize.
I would keep some free times and use them for the unexpected moments you will invariably experience.
Also, for a more accurate walking time, swap out using a Break for lunch and pick a likely actual eatery. Add a note that it is a placeholder. But it will keep your walking times more accurate, and may give Optimize better data to calculate with.
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Thanks. I’ve used TP in the past. Mainly as a guide for basic order of doing things. Will keep breaks in mind.
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Thanks. I’ll try using a brwak inatead of lunch.
Thank you so much for this. I kept thinking I was insane or doing something horribly wrong. Everyone here talks how theirs are just perfectly accurate but mine also diverge like 90 mins longer. I’m glad that someone shares the point of view that plans are useful but far, very far from accurate.
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