Oh, that’s an interesting idea, too.
That way, you can still Optimize and the TP software can’t move it off the time slot, because it doesn’t move breaks like it does rides.
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This is exactly what I do for all rope drops. Just insert a break as your first step and make it for as long as you estimate it will take you to ride that first rope drop ride. Works perfectly.
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That’s my #1 TP wish too. I’d love to be able to set a time range for certain attractions then optimize the rest.
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I’ve gotten it to force a ride to be first by putting the ride in as a fast pass for park open.
I think I heard that idea on a TP video.
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If you want to force the TP to give you accurate timing, you could try this tedious option.
Make a TP with nothing on it but a PPO BOG ADR that ends 10 minutes before park open, and 7DMT. Evaluate. See what time it predicts for 7DMT. Let’s pretend it has you arrive at 9am, with a 12 minute wait and 6 minute ride duration.
On your “real” TP, put in a “break” (or a meal if you want the software to have a location for walking to your next step) that represents the time you will actually ride 7DMT. So you would have an 18 minute break on your “real” TP that will start at 9am and end at 9:18am.
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Or simplify things and guesstimate the wait for the ride at RD. 20 minutes should suffice for most rides, and will give you some leeway.
Now this next bit is a genuine query since I never use Optimise on a TP. But for those who do use Optimise, presumably you have faith that the Optimiser is going to give you the best plan? So why would you ignore it’s recommendation as to when to ride a particular ride?
I mean I can understand if it’s a family tradition that you always start with IASW or PPF. In that case I would just put in a break, add a note that it’s to ride X, and continue from the next step.
But the algorithm is trying to give you the lowest overall wait time over the day. So why disregard just one step?
As I say, genuinely curious.
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One big problem, I think, is that if you are going to RD something - like really RD it - the software doesn’t work. It thinks you’re starting from the gate at park open, and arriving at 7DMT (or whatever you’re RD’ing) 15 minutes later, when the wait time has climbed to 60 minutes. At which point, of course, the software will suggest riding at a different time. If your plan is actually to arrive near the front of the crowd while the wait is still <15 minutes, you need to hack the software’s methodology a little bit. Then, if you’re the optimizer sort, you can combine your RD strategy with the epitome of statistical technology in one tidy TP package.
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I understand why you add a break at the start.
But by adding the break you are telling the Optimiser where you are going to be right at rope drop. So why not trust it to suggest the best ride to rope drop?
Because (I think) it doesn’t actually do that. Since the software doesn’t “know” you can RD 7DMT to arrive at the queue at 9:02am and score a 15 minute wait, it might tell you to wait until 7pm and stand in a 45 minute line for 7DMT, while sending you to ETWB at 9:12 to stand in a 30 minute line when you could actually return to ETWB at 7pm and also stand in a 30 minute line. (As a totally random example. Doesn’t have to be 7DMT.)
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Good question and one I asked at some point, too.
This is actually a known and admitted flaw in the TP software. TP does not have the ability to know if you are in the front, middle, or back of the RD pack. Or if you actually RD Starbucks but think you are RDing 7DMT because you got to the park when it opened.
Len et al have addressed it in posts and podcasts a few times. They suggest a lot of these little hacks as well.
I do recall seeing a post about something “in the works” to potentially address this better in the future. In the meantime, I have a 1 minute breakfast at Woody’s Lunchbox planned. 
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Yes, I know about the hack to show you’re in the park, and where.
But then do you let the TP tell you which ride to RD? I thought it would then choose the best one knowing that you are actually at, or near, the front of the line. In other words, this hack works. I mean, if the hack doesn’t work, why do people use it? And why would Len and his team tell people to use it?
What some people are saying, or seem to be, is that the TP still doesn’t “know” your wait is shorter. Which means they think the hack doesn’t work.
Ah. Got it.
Yes, sometimes it still tells you to RD a different ride, right? Even with the hack TP won’t recognize the ability to be off of FOP before the park officially opens. It will assume you are getting in line at 9:00. But not that you are the first person in line.
And I think sometimes the end of the night wait times are lower than RD so it still tries to put that ride at park close.
Definitely not perfect. But I have found it helpful in most of my plans.
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I would think they could add a feature for what time do you plan on atrincherado to the park, walk speed, and if you have a stroller or wheelchair to estimate where in the pack you will be and your true arrival time to that ride.
I like the way the system currently works, because it tells you how long the wait will be if you are bad at RDing.
It is really hard for a system to predict how good you will be at RD. Wait times will vary widely for headliners between someone that arrives 5 minutes before park opening and leisure walks to the ride someone who arrives 90 minutes before, knows where to be and powerwalks to the ride. I believe the best person to estimate your RD wait is yourself.
I estimated my RD game based on YouTube videos and I ended up discovering that I am actually terrible at RDing. One person in your party deciding to stop to take a picture is enough for your entire group to end up way behind the pack, even if you arrive really early.
I always use Optimize. I honestly don’t understand the “Evaluate only” proponents. Apart from the flaws in regards to RD (which I won’t rehash as they have been fully explored in this thread and others), I don’t get why someone wouldn’t trust the software. I mean, you’ve paid to subscribe here, why wouldn’t you defer to it’s judgement? There is no way I would put my best guesses against it’s extensive historical database when determining my order of operations.
I always Evaluate. I have 3 small children and do not want to walk from one end of the park to another and back again. I tour one land at a time and do very little backtracking. Evaluate is very useful for me because it helps me determine meal and FP times, as well as sets expectations. Perhaps I end up in a longer line once or twice throughout the day, but I don’t wear everyone out rushing across the park either. Last summer I used this method and never waited more than 20 minutes for a ride. So for me it’s not about whether or not I trust the software, it’s about touring the way I want to tour in the most efficient way.
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That makes sense. In that case, I would wish that it would be able to Optimize, but in chunks. Like to highlight by dragging your mouse over a section of rides (say the “Fantasyland” portion of your day), and then click Optimize on that isolated selection.
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Although I only go once in a few years, I could quite happily do an entire day in each park without doing a single ride.
So my aims are to enjoy the park, looking at the details, and on the way we do some rides. I do not want to race around the park missing all the details and the impromptu moments.
Last trip I watched a couple of CMs with brushes and a bucket of water as they “painted” Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Donald, Goofy eat al on the sidewalk. The pictures were amazing and of course disappeared after a few minutes in the heat - even though it was Christmas time.
Or watching Gaston and Cindy’s step sisters interact with other guests.
My reason for being at WDW is entirely different to someone who wants to hit as many rides as possible in a day.
I only use TP to tell me how long my plan is going to take. Having done that, the plan never gets a glance during the day. I look over it the night before and that’s it.
You can do that, albeit using several plans per day.
In fact I do tend to do that. DH rarely spends more than 4 hours in a park at a time. So I plan the first 4 hours or so, and then make another plan for me and anyone else who wants to carry on.