Touring plans discounts/worth it?

[JenniferFolsomCa]

Any guess if buying a Touring Plans membership is worth it? I've paid for it 2 times in the last 4 years, and feel like I've learned a lot but wondering if much has changed since 18 months ago.

Any guess it they might offer a Black Friday deal?

I used to love their wait times as well as the forums where people discussed drop times.

Jenn

 

[eticketplease]

We use it for room requests (only a 50% success rate for us) and the dining reservation finder.

Just went on their site and the dining finder is no longer working. This is unfortunate as it had helped in the past for some of the restaurants that don’t load in there available slots at the 60 day mark like Topolino’s.

With DS we can’t really stick with a plan so the lines app doesn’t really do much for us.

 

[_19disnA]

Never purchased their membership but you can input your room preferences for free on the Disney reservation website. Their success rate for getting what you requested is probably no better than any other method you might use.

There isn't any 3rd party that can accurately predict future random events like ride wait times or how busy a park will be. Parks historically are most crowded in the middle of the day and the most popular rides will have the longest wait times. Disney isn't going to share future hotel occupancy details and even they have no idea how many locals with AP's will decide to show up some weekend when there is good weather.

 

[eticketplease]

Never purchased their membership but you can input your room preferences for free on the Disney reservation website.

Actual room numbers? I may be doing something wrong but I have only seen like high floor close to elevator/lobby etc

 

[_19disnA]

You are stating a 'preference'. The more specific your request, the less likely it will be available. Seem to recall other threads where you can call Disney reservations to specify something specific if the available online drop-downs don't have what you are looking for.

 

[eticketplease]

Yes I know it’s a preference and it’s not guaranteed. You mentioned on Disney’s website which is why I asked as I thought there was a section I had overlooked/not clicked on.

 

[Trinity88]

I find it worth it and the cost is so low in the grand scheme of a Disney vacation, I don't really question it.

I do find the plans don't work as well for Genie+/ILL though. I can't get them to use them correctly in my plans. But I still like to be able to play around with the plans.

Knock on wood (one was just sent for my Dec trip), but I've used the room requests through TP at least 6 times and have always gotten what I've requested. I must be lucky!

 

[Mle8308]

Yes I know it’s a preference and it’s not guaranteed. You mentioned on Disney’s website which is why I asked as I thought there was a section I had overlooked/not clicked on.

There is a place for requests on the Disney site, but it has become much more limited in choices.

 

[eticketplease]

These are all the choices I can make for Riviera.



For Boardwalk, all I can request is "Near Elevator".

This is one of the reasons I do use touring plans. I can specify the room number, room range, floor, building/section.
Yes it is all a request and has only worked 50% of the time for us. I believe it partially doesn't work as we would rather have the room earlier than wait for the request to be ready. At BCV we got the area we were looking for and on the second floor with the much larger balconies. At BLT and OKW we were able to get the exact room number.

 

[Jimsig]

These are all the choices I can make for Riviera.

View attachment 809237

For Boardwalk, all I can request is "Near Elevator".

This is one of the reasons I do use touring plans. I can specify the room number, room range, floor, building/section.
Yes it is all a request and has only worked 50% of the time for us. I believe it partially doesn't work as we would rather have the room earlier than wait for the request to be ready. At BCV we got the area we were looking for and on the second floor with the much larger balconies. At BLT and OKW we were able to get the exact room number.

At one point a number of years ago "Near Elevator" was a choice for the Cabins at Fort Wilderness. DOH!

 

[Genie+]

Years ago when people still bought books before going to Disney, it gave us a TP discount code. Some years after that we’d just find that year’s code online and sign up again when necessary. Then for the past 7-8 years we’ve just kept renewing at whatever TP listed. It’s some of the best WDW money we spend now.

I love that it has all our past trips listed on the dashboard, complete with all the details we plugged in. Want to remember how many times you went to BoG before it went to Signature Dining? It’s there for me. Want to see the itinerary made for the 18 hour MK day long ago? Can’t remember resort we stayed in 2017… or what room requested.

We’re no longer commando schedulers, but using TP itinerary tool is still a great shortcut so we can frame out and not miss scheduled offerings like shows, fireworks, etc.

We always use the room request feature. Also got great use from ADR finder before WDW made recent changes.

At this point I feel happy to support the site because it has been very good to us over the years.

 

[eticketplease]

Also got great use from ADR finder before WDW made recent changes.

Just found out about that which is a shame. I was able to get Boma and Topolino's with that as for some reason these restaurants don't seem to load their schedule like the rest of them. On at 5/6 am and nothing but 5 days later we get a text at noon that they were both available. Hopefully they can figure a way to get it working again.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

It's worth the price for the lines app alone. The wait times are much more accurate than Disney's. I only use the lines app while in Disney and it's pretty accurate. Disney may have it posted at 45 minutes, Lines app says 20 minutes and I'm on in about 18 minutes.

 

[SL6827]

Did Disney's changes help get rid of the ADR alert systems with all other companies? Could Disney soon start their own alert system, for a fee of course?

 

[dez1978]

Never purchased their membership but you can input your room preferences for free on the Disney reservation website. Their success rate for getting what you requested is probably no better than any other method you might use.

There isn't any 3rd party that can accurately predict future random events like ride wait times or how busy a park will be. Parks historically are most crowded in the middle of the day and the most popular rides will have the longest wait times. Disney isn't going to share future hotel occupancy details and even they have no idea how many locals with AP's will decide to show up some weekend when there is good weather.

You are right that it can't be accurate on predicting things. However the Lines app from Touring plans gets it data from the users in park who are reporting actual wait times in addition to it's algorithm. It has a timer on it you can start when you get in line and one when you board. Its wait times are FAR more accurate than the ones Disney posts.

 

[_19disnA]

While they can get info from those currently in the park on how long a ride line was, that is still past information. By the time that person got to the front of the line, there could be more/fewer people waiting behind them. Still not sure how knowing that 1 hr ago the ride line was 1 hr long does anyone much good in deciding which rides to wait for next. If that is something they charge for, I wouldn't see the value in paying to know historical data. The most popular rides generally have the longest lines and peak crowds tend to be around the middle of the day.

 

[SL6827]

Got to be better than Disneys though.