Y’all -
What am I not doing right?
This is my first attempt at a touring plan and I have a giant gap in the middle of the day and seemingly have no real waits.
Is that because DLR doesn’t have solid inferences like WDW, because of the whole “locals park thing”?
The gap is because you don’t have enough things to fill the whole day. BUT, no way those wait times are right! 8 minutes for TSMM almost 2 hours after park opening? No way.
TPs aren’t really handy for DLR, most Liners use them more like a checklist. I don’t think there are very many users who submit wait times out there, and DLR has never been the focus of TP (that’s WDW).
Your TP is a dream, but I just can’t see it being reality, unfortunately.
Thank you - that actually gives me permission to not try to do one for each day!
I didn’t on our last trip and our party of 9 got to do pretty much everything we wanted in four days. And we only missed what we missed bc we repeated some favorites multiple times. I just always wonder if I could do better with my plans.
Do you just totally wing it at this point? Do you ever look at the Disneyland app for posted wait times?
I went from mildly interested to totally excited in like 24 hours.
I do mostly wing it these days. With 4 days there is plenty of time to catch everything you are interested in. If we get Genie Plus for the day we ride almost all of the Genie Plus rides in both parks that day.
I look at the DL app for wait times only when there, never before a trip. I have been enough times I can look at a line and tell about how long the wait will be.
I am glad you are getting excited! I am taking Carson on March 1st for just the day (he has classes Thursday and my AP is blocked on Saturday) and we will hit it fairly hard that day. Parks are open 8am to midnight so hopefully plenty of time to ride.
OH! Enjoy your time with him!!!
Does he like to eat anywhere special when you go?
He always wants a corn dog from the little red wagon and ice cream from Ghiradelli’s (though last time we were there Ghiradelli’s was like $17-20 and that is insane so it’s off my list). He also likes the Monte Cristo sandwich at Cafe Orleans and the mac n cheese bread cone at the Cozy Cone.
I didn’t make any ADRs for the day, there are so many quick service things we like in both parks.
I can totally see my kids opting for a corn dog. 
Cozy Cone was one of the places we didn’t really get to try last time. I love all things Cars movie. Tab too.
there is a max as to how much better ice cream is over standard fare. There is no way it is THAT much better. Wow.
No, it’s not better. I likely won’t go there again.
This is what I would do. Assume you can complete 2 rides per hour before ~11am, and 1 ride per hour thereafter and it will be about right. Just pencil out which areas you plan to focus on each day, then come back to sweep up later.
Plan less for the later days – try to finish everything in the first ~2 days. That way your later days can just be repeats / pickups.
I love this formula!
Thank you.
And I’m truly not above waiting.
80 mins for Hagrids was well worth it. I’d invest similarly for RSR, ROTR, and WS. I’d give some serious time for GOTG:MB and MMRR as well.
I think I’ll actually have two evenings before I have my full days. I’ll play it by wait times or lands, I guess. Like try to do Pixar Pier or Tomorrowland or something. Or just see some of the night time shows and eat? WOC was closed in 2018. I’m wondering if they will recycle the same Pixar Parade?? We will be there for Pixar days again.
I don’t think there is a Pixar Parade anymore but I’ve never been interested in parades so I could be wrong. World of Color should be going and is well worth it!
I usually plan to do certain lands for each chunk of time I have. Like, I’ll start with Tomorrowland one morning, then do Carsland in the afternoon or whatever. Depending on my priorities and how much time I have.
You’re going to DL?! 
YAY! How fun! Who is going with?
me and DD17 for her grad!
@QwertySC I use personalized touring plans as a reminder of what I want to do. I have plans made for my trip in a few weeks, and the order from optimize is not what I would do. The use of LLs in the plan is not a good indication of what I will do or how many LLs I expect to get. I do look at current wait times on the Disneyland app, but lately they have been skewed by rain, earthquakes, Super Bowl crowds.
Thank you for sharing this!!
Oh man, I’m so excited for you guys
I am also adding notes from information on the Disneyland/DCA calendars to my TP for the day to remind myself what days Dapper Dans (for example) are performing (Sun., Mon, Tues, but not Weds. and Thurs during my trip). If I want to see Storytelling at Royal Theater, it has to be Sun., or Monday, so making myself a note not to put it off until the end of the trip.
Also, double check the Disneyland, DCA calendars for refurbs. I am finding that while TP lets me put Incredicoaster in my plan for all of my days, it actually goes under refurb my second park day.
Good catch!
We missed this in 2018. I had it down for our last park day, the later show for that day, and my girls were all dressed up and they had to cancel the show for some reason. Big sad.
Oh man, I cannot heart a post about a disappointment like the Storytelling show being cancelled.
I do love that show though so if you have it in you to do it this trip (and if DD17 is at all interested) then definitely put it back in the plans.
Also, Jeff’s advice on planning for the front-end and leaving the back-end completely flexible is 100% how I plan all my DLR trips.
I haven’t made a touring plan in awhile, but when I am sitting down and putting effort into planning a longer trip, I definitely do enjoy it still and will use it just as mentioned, as a checklist to keep me on track.
And I definitely ALWAYS verify the refurbs and showtimes as I notice that they aren’t always kept up to date as Disney changes things (which happens with some frequency on this laid back coast).
But what you lose in not having a definite plan by those changes, you gain back in oodles with all the ‘surprise’ or pop-up things that happen at DLR, like roaming characters or unexpected 30 or less min waits for a headliner just because. It really is a place you can go where the wind takes you. I still like having my list to check off though.
There is one for the new Pixar season I think starting in April. I’m excited cuz this was a good parade in the past.