When I was in the early planning stages for our first trip to Disney World, I discovered the Disney Planning Guide from Touring Plans. They have spent many years researching crowd patterns and have it down to a science. They can predict which parks are going to be crowded on which days and they have it all available for you to use to plan your trip.
You do have to have a subscription to TouringPlans. It is $12.95 for a 365 day subscription and they even give you a 45 day money-back guarantee!
Touring Plans crowd calendar is outstanding. They use a scale from 1 to 10 (with 10 being the busiest) to indicate how crowded Walt Disney World parks are going to be. When I am considering dates for a trip, I pull the calendar up to check my dates. If they are croweded, I check to see if the week before or after is better. This is a great way to make sure you are going at the absolute best time for your family. Time is money at Disney World and if you are going to invest in a trip, you need to make sure you are making the best decision you can.
In addition to the crowd calendar, they also recommend which parks to go to on which days. For example, they might say that Magic Kingdom is the best park to visit on the first day of your trip while Epcot is the worst. You then know that you need to pick a different day of the trip to go to Epcot if you want to avoid long lines. I use this to determine every day of our trip. It hasn’t steered me wrong yet!
They also give you access to over 140 different touring plans. These are custom plans based on your family’s ages and desires. By using their crowd calendars, best days and touring plans, you can drastically cut down the amount of time you spend in line while still seeing everything on your must do list. They have also added a new feature that lets you personalize and save your own touring plans.
But the BEST part of the subscription is the LINES app. (Do you want to ride Dumbo? I have an app for that!) At any time, even at home, you can pull up the wait times for rides at Disney World. (It is currently a 19 minute wait to ride Dumbo.) We used this on our last two trips and it was spot on 95% of the time! It also tells you what the current return time is for Fastpass distribution and has an area for people to report wait times in real time. It’s currently available for the iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Computer.
I know it seems crazy to invest in your trip now before you have even determined if you are going to go, but with their 45 day money-back guarantee, you have nothing to lose!
Find more tools for planning your trip to Walt Disney World including apps, DVDs and more.
says discount code is invalid. :(
Any comments on the Touring Plans Disney Cruise version? Thanks!
Thanks so much for all the info! I love your site. :) I recommend it all the time. I was wondering…how far in advance are the best/ worst parks to visit going to be accurate? I would need to look 180 days in advance to book all my ADRs. I understand that it is going on past numbers, but I would hate to plan around it completely and have it all change with no hope of changing our dining reservations. Thanks!
I just tried the code (was in my email today) and the site says it’s invalid :(
Pam – Maybe you copied the period at the end of the code? Try this one: COUPONINGTODIS
I swear by the crowd calendars listed on their website! Would not plan a Disney trip without Touring Plans! I was just offered a renewal rate of $9.95 and your discount gave me another $.40 off!
I love Touring Plans! The Line App is worth the price.
I used this when we went two years ago and it was pretty awesome. We’re not going for another few years, but I’ve got half a mind to subscribe with the discount just so I can start planning hotels and other fun stuff.