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by Todd Perlmutter on August 26, 2010 12 Comments

In my blog post from last week, I discussed how to take all those travel plans you have lying around in email, printouts, postal mail (why can’t I get my Disney World reservations emailed to me?), Facebook, Plancast, napkins, etc. and begin to organize and integrate them online, with the ultimate goal of getting all that information onto your handheld device – whether it be an iPhone, Android device, or something else that supports Google Calendar. This week, I’m going to talk about some more tools that I use on a regular basis to help me travel. Since I’m an iPhone user, all were originally found by me as Apps, however I’ll indicate which of these are also available as an online service, have a web interface, and are also available on Android, BlackBerry, etc. Note that iPhone will most often include iPod Touch devices as well – it always pays to at least try an app there. And now, on with the geekiness…

Dropbox - If you’ve got files, like your medical records or list of medications, on your computer that you’d like to access when you’re away from home, then Dropbox is for you. This service is a freemium online storage area that you can use to store anything up to your size limit which is 2GB to start with (2.25GB if you fully complete their registration). You can earn more space by recommending friends and getting them to sign up for the service. The great thing is this service can be on every device or computer you own – it integrates with your Mac or Windows desktop, just drag and drop your files to your Dropbox folder and they will be synced to your online storage. This will make them available in your web browser. They also have native apps for iPhone, iPad, and Android with a BlackBerry app in development. And a mobile website as well.

GateGuru - If you’re standing in an Airport and looking for something to do, a place to eat, or a store to shop in, this is the App for you. Just choose an airport and you’re good to go. Each airport is broken down by gate and/or terminal groupings, with each grouping containing a list of amenities that can be found therein. Each location will have up to a 5 star rating, and may contain reviews from other travelers. The database is very easy to update and is crowdsourced. When my wife Cheryl and I visited Philadelphia earlier in the year and were hanging in PHL before our flight I was able to use this app to find myself a very nice and freshly made sandwich to have for lunch. iPhone only at this time, but Android and BlackBerry versions are being developed. For Android you can instead try: Airport Maps (also for iPhone).

MetrO - I spent a good part of my life living in Boston, and like most Bostonians I became accustomed to travelling the T (Boston’s train & subway system). One thing I took away from that is this: you need the practical equivalent of a PhD to ride the rails. It’s easy to get lost, and if you miss a stop on a train, it can be worse than missing an exit on the highway. This app will help you navigate the rails. Just give it a starting point and an ending point, and it will tell you everything you need to know, from buses, to interchanges, to walking. It will get you to where you need to go. And it’s another app that helped Cheryl and I in Philly… well that is when Megan and Kelly weren’t around. iPhone only. There are several city specific apps for Android. There is also a mobile site.

AAA TripTik – Like many travelers and motorists, I’ve been a AAA member for a long time. And for as long as anyone can remember AAA has offered travellers driving directions in the form of the TripTik. These maps were always invaluable resources as they were stamped with hotels, rest stops, restaurants, etc. This App incorporates all that into a map on your phone. You can use the phone’s GPS to pinpoint your current location, move the map to a location you wish to view, or even get directions. This App does not require a AAA membership to use, but it can be entered in if you wish for a few additional member features. iPhone only at this time, but an Android version is being developed. Mobile users can use this link.

KAYAK - KAYAK is a fantastic service that has been around since 2004. It’s simple to use and can help you find the cheapest price for hotels, airlines, and car rentals. This can really help you with planning out your trip ahead of time, and also save you a bit of money along the way . It has a number of other very helpful services, such as flight status, price alerts, deals etc. Once nifty feature that I find useful is that you can get a list of airline fees such as baggage pricing, pet charges, or special seating options. Primarily I’ve used this to research prices. They also do a fantastic job of supporting a wide array devices having native apps for iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android, as well as a mobile version of their service.

Yelp - Like KAYAK, Yelp has also been around since 2004, and is an extremely popular service that allows you review or read reviews on restaurants, stores, bars, etc. It’s great any time not just for travel. Just feed it your current location and search for what you need by either category or by search/filter. You’ll get star ratings, reviews, directions, phone numbers, etc. All at the the click of your mouse or the tip of your finger. Yelp also has done a great job with native apps for BlackBerry, iPhone, Android, Palm Pre (see Mark G. they do exist), and a mobile site. The iPhone app has this nifty augmented reality feature called Monocle that uses the GPS, and compass to produce an overlay on the camera view of the locations in the direction you’re looking – it’s very neat to play with with.

My TSA – This app came out unexpectedly earlier in the year from the TSA (Transportation Security Administration). And it’s surprisingly good all things considered. In it, the TSA pulls together airport status data from the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) as well as security check point wait times entered by travelers and feeds them back to the user. Wait time entry is very similar to how you would enter an attraction wait time into Lines – you choose the security checkpoint you’re at, enter the time, and then submit it. It also has one more very useful feature called “Can I Bring?” which allows you to type in an item you’d like to take on your trip and it will give you packing instructions or tell you that the item is not permitted. There is an iPhone app and a mobile web version as well.

SitOrSquat - Ordinarily I’d have skipped a service like SitOrSquat based solely on it’s name, I mean lets face it the name is questionable. That said, the service is useful, and the iPhone App was sponsored by Charmin. The purpose of the service is simple, find the nearest bathroom. You can add new toilets as needed. Each is color coated to indicate if it is opened (green), closed (red), or unknown (yellow). You can also flag favorites – c’mon everyone has their favorite pottys. There are native iPhone and BlackBerry versions. Also, any phone that can send a SMS text message can also use the service – which is unique among the apps I’ve discussed.

Now I know I said I’d discuss apps and TripIt this week, but because the apps portion became more than just a “try these” list, I’m going to put off discussion about TripIt until next week so that I can give it the attention I feel that it deserves. Again if you have any questions about these apps don’t hesitate to ask me here or contact me on Twitter or Facebook.

Now what about you? Have you used any of the apps I mentioned above? Do you use any others? Which travel apps do you love? Which do you hate? May your days be apptastic and your battery life long.

New Magic Kingdom Touring Plan For Parents With Younger And Older Children

by Len Testa on August 25, 2010 7 Comments

One of the most common touring plan requests we get is for a one-day Magic Kingdom plan that includes attractions for both older and younger children, such as Space Mountain and Dumbo. It’s a difficult scheduling problem for one day, because crowds in both Fantasyland and Tomorrowland increase rapidly in the morning. There are limits to how quickly you can obtain FASTPASSes for the headliner attractions, too, and certain low-capacity attractions such as the Magic Carpets of Aladdin, don’t offer FASTPASS at all. We also assumed that families would be using the “child swap” option, so all the adults could ride without having to wait in line twice. This complicated things more, but since we love a challenge, we decided to give it a shot.

We chose the two dozen most popular Magic Kingdom attractions with all age groups for our touring plan – everything from Jungle Cruise and Goofy’s Barnstormer, to It’s a Small World and Splash Mountain. Then we ran a couple of different crowd scenarios through our touring plan software, and came up with four different plans to test. We put out a request for folks willing to help test them over the busy Memorial Day weekend. Among the crazy people who volunteered were J.L. Knopp from fabulous Disney Driven Life blog (and occasional TouringPlans.com blogger), and Bernie Edwards, longtime friend of the Unofficial Guide and an actual rocket scientist.

Bernie, J.L. and family slogged through touring plan after touring plan, day after day. We tweaked the most promising, and they re-tested the new versions. The overall best plan is now available on TouringPlans.com.

Here’s our new Magic Kingdom One-Day Touring Plan for Parents with Younger and Older Children. Comments and suggestions are welcome. Thanks again to J.L. and Bernie for all of the help!

Restaurants Added To Tables In Wonderland Membership

by Fred Hazelton on August 25, 2010

Four restaurants have been added to list of those accepting the Tables In Wonderland discount.

At Disney’s Boardwalk Resort: Big River Grille & Brewing Works

At Downtown Disney West Side: Bongo’s Cuban Café

At Downtown Disney Pleasure Island: Paradiso 37

At Epcot Italy Pavilion: Via Napoli

Tables in Wonderland is a dining discount program for Florida residents and Annual passholders. For an annual fee of $100 for Florida Residents or $75 for Annual Passholders, members receive a 20% discount on all food and beverage (including alcohol) purchased at participating full service restaurants.

August Trip Report

by Kristen Helmstetter on August 25, 2010 12 Comments

Last week I touched on my most recent trip when I discussed the success of the Touring Plans team’s successful Meet Week. While these meets made up a big part of my August trip, there is a lot more to tell you about! Our group varied in size from time to time but on average I was walking around the parks with about 20 people all of the time. It is amazing to me how my group of Disney geek friends has grown to this size! Since I did a good deal of the planning for our crew I was a little nervous about how it would all go, but I can’t put into words how wonderful the trip turned out to be. Trying to explain the relationship I have with these people would be next to impossible so I will just say these are some of my best friends and I miss them terribly when we are not together. Thanks, you guys, for an amazing few days in our favorite place.

After arriving and checking in at Pop Century, my friends and I decided to head to Epcot for the afternoon. The first order of business was to grab some lunch at the Rose and Crown pub where a small food selection is available from the bar. We hit a few attractions including a giggle fest during the newly reopened Captain EO. A few drinks were enjoyed around World Showcase with plenty of time spent in my favorite watering hole La Cava del Tequila. Soon it was time to head over to Disney’s Hollywood Studios to host our first meet! We had a great turn out and I got meet a lot of Touring Plans fans. After the meet, we hit a few other attractions, grabbed some dinner, and hoofed it back to Epcot to catch Illuminations from Canada. The crew headed over to the Boardwalk Inn to have some drinks at the Bellevue Lounge before calling a night after a long, fun filled day.

The following day we got up bright and early and headed to Typhoon Lagoon (TL) and took advantage of their morning extra magic hour. A few of us decided to rent one of the cabanas Disney has set up around the water park for guests. I will write more about the cabana experience in a future post. Since we got there early, we headed right for the slides to get them done before the crowds got heavy. Our method worked out really well and we hardly waited at all to zoom down slides like Crush’n'Gusher. We took the rest of our time at TL to relax at our cabana, swim in the wave pool, and do laps around the lazy river. And to top it off we made it back to our car right before a big storm! I would definitely return to Typhoon Lagoon again with a fun group.

We all decided to head back to our rooms, clean up, and maybe grab a nap since we planned to be at the Magic Kingdom until 2 a.m. After a well deserved break we all met back up again at the Wilderness Lodge to have dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe. Can you believe 28 people joined us for a really fun meal!? We took up three large tables and while I can’t speak for the other tables, the one I sat at had an awesome time. Great friends sharing a meal and goofing off with our server doesn’t get much better. After dinner, everyone headed to the Magic Kingdom for the next Touring Plans meet event. We had a lot of people join us for Main Street Electrical Parade and popcorn. Everyone stuck around to take in the Summer Nightastic fireworks and a big group of us hit Pirates of the Caribbean too. The group decided to head out of the park to the Polynesian’s lounge for a drink and a break. While we were at dinner we jokingly invited our server at Whispering Canyon Cafe to have a drink at the Poly with us and to our surprise he was there when we arrived! After some drinks and laughs we all piled back onto the monorail to go back to the Magic Kingdom to take advantage of extra magic hours. We hit a few attractions and shut down the park at 2 a.m.

On Saturday everyone wanted to sleep in a little after being at Magic Kingdom so late. After a leisurely morning we headed to Epcot for the day. We did the old run for fastpasses for Soarin’ and grabbed some coffee at Sunshine Seasons before meeting up with the big group at Epcot’s newest restaurant Via Napoli. I’ll be writing about Via Napoli next week so I won’t go into too much detail now. By the time we were finished with lunch it was time for the Touring Plans team’s next meet! We met with readers at the Germany pavilion in World Showcase and treated everyone to pretzels. When the meet was over my buddies and I sought air conditioning so we went to the Mexico pavilion for some drinks and a spin on Grand Fiesta Tour. Some of our group split off to attend the Last Tour to Endor event at Disney’s Hollywood Studios at that point. The rest of us did a bit of touring around Epcot for the rest of the day, grabbed a quick dinner, and discovered a new favorite spot to watch Illuminations. After heading out of the International Gateway after the show, we went to Beaches and Cream to find an hour and a half wait. Some people grabbed ice cream from the take away window and we all hung out for a while. Later, small group of us decided to check out Jellyrolls since we were in the neighborhood. I really liked the venue and I look forward to returning again, but we’ll have to get their earlier next time to grab a table.

Sunday was our last full day and some of us had what we thought was a great plan. A group met for rope drop at DHS with the intention of running in, getting fastpasses for Toy Story Mania and then high tailing it out of the park. Well, the park was packed that morning. The queue to get through the security check and then the turnstiles was nuts. We got ourselves over to Pixar Place, but the line to get fastpasses was well over an hour and we didn’t have that kind of time since we had a breakfast ADR to get to. We bailed on the Toy Story plan, went over to Rockin’ Rollercoaster and waiting in the single rider line before heading out of the park instead. We arrived a few minutes late to our reservation for 22 people at Chef Mickey’s, but our friends were waiting patiently for us. Chef Mickey’s was a lot of fun! I wasn’t sure I would like it since I generally avoid characters, but it was a ball. Although I’m pretty sure I’d have a great time with this group just about anywhere.

After breakfast we headed to the Animal Kingdom (AK). Something I should point out before we get too far into telling you about this day’s activities was the heat index for that day was 113 degrees! Unfortunately, almost immediately after our arrival at AK one of our crew needed some medical attention due to the heat. We all did our best to keep hydrated, but in 113 degrees it’s not easy. Erin fell victim to the heat and wound up in the park’s first aid office after trying to make it back to our resort. Although the nurse was not thrilled that so many of her friends came to check on her, she was very helpful and after a good nap in the air conditioning Erin was feeling well enough to leave the office. During her trip to first aid, the Touring Plans team held our final meet for the weekend at the Dawa Bar in Africa. After everyone hung out for a while we walked over to Kilimanjaro Safari’s and had enough people to fill a jeep!

When we were finished with our safari we all decided we had had enough of the heat and wanted to go back to one of our resorts for a swim and a break. We decided to go back to Pop Century so our sick friend could nap in her own bed while who ever wanted to could go for a dip in the Hippy Dippy Pool. I retrieved our sick girl from first aid and promised to take good care of her. While she rested in our room, most of us met up by the pool bar at Pop to have a few drinks, relax, and go for a swim. I thought the pool would be refreshing and relaxing, but it was so hot out that the water was too warm to cool anyone down! Despite the warm water we got a much needed break and it was really nice to slow down. In fact, we were supposed to head back to the Studios for an ADR at the 50s Primetime Cafe, but everyone was so happy relaxing we blew it off. We grabbed dinner at Everything Pop! the quick service eatery at the resort instead.

Everyone was pretty exhausted from days of nonstop fun so we decided to take it easy for the rest of the night especially since Erin wasn’t 100%. Someone had the idea to head to the Polynesian and watch Wishes from the beach. I had never done this before so I was all for a slow paced evening on the beach. We arrived early and enjoyed some drinks by the pool before claiming a spot on the beach before the fireworks started. This evening was what this trip was really all about. Spending time with amazing friends; we didn’t need to be running around a park to have a good time, we just needed each others’ company. Since it was our last night and Wishes is so awesome a few tears were shed during the fireworks display. I don’t think any of us wanted that night to end.

But, unfortunately, it did and on Monday we all got up, moped around our resort rooms as we packed up our suitcases, and got ourselves set up for our various departure times. My friend, Doug, had a great idea to have our last meal together at O’hana’s character breakfast. I had only been to O’hana for dinner so I wasn’t sure what I was in for. Food is served family style and our group of 11 had a great time. The character interaction here was a hoot and the food was tasty; I’m sure I’ll write more about it later. A good bunch of our group had to head to the airport or up the highway after breakfast was finished. After many hugs and many tears it was time to say “see ya real soon” to some of our fellow travelers.

Despite being sad at the departure of many of my buddies, several of us were set out to enjoy the rest of the day at the Magic Kingdom. Something pretty awesome happened once we went through the gate and I just have to tell you all about it. If you’ve been following along on my adventures you’ll remember I brought one of my friends from home on this trip. She started the trip as a Disney World newbie and ended it as an annual pass holder! When we arrived at the Magic Kingdom we went straight to City Hall to upgrade her five day pass to an annual pass! The cast members who helped us couldn’t have been better and even hammed it up when we took pictures of Erin getting her AP to send to the departed crew. We had such a good time with the CM behind the desk at guest relations that when we were finished with Erin’s transaction she leaned over to us and said “how would you guys like some fastpasses for being awesome?” Of course we would!

We spent the rest of the afternoon trying to accomplish as many of the Magic Kingdom attractions as we could. We brought our newbie on some of the classics and told her we were educating her and grooming her to be a true WDW geek since she now had an annual pass. We got caught in a rain storm so we dropped into the Hall of Presidents. I wasn’t sure Erin would like it since I was sure she would much rather do a ride, but she wound up crying at the end just like I always do! I knew I brought that girl for a reason. Not only did we do some of the classic attractions, but we got our newbie her very first Dole Whip. Now she has even more incentive to come back and use her annual pass! After our time in the Magic Kingdom it was time for another group of us, including Erin and I, to head to the airport. After another tearful goodbye we were on our way to MCO to head back to New Jersey after five incredible days at Walt Disney World.

I would not have traded these five days for anything. I met a lot of great people who I know will be lifelong friends, got to chat with readers who I look forward to seeing again, and had a wonderful time with old friends. One of my crew of 20ish said it well when he said trips to WDW used to be about the attractions, but now they are about the interactions. He was right. I focus much more on hanging out with my friends these days than trying to get a lot of attractions accomplished. Splash Mountain will still be there the next time I go down to Florida, spending time with people from all over the country is much more important. I couldn’t do it justice if I tried to explain what these relationships mean to me. As Walt Disney said “it all started with a mouse,” but now it is so much more.

Thank you for following along on my adventures! I will be back in Disney World in October and look forward to sharing that trip with the Touring Plans readers as well!

Next week I’ll review Epcot’s newest addition Via Napoli…

Per Park Crowd Levels And The Crowd Calendar

by Fred Hazelton on August 24, 2010 21 Comments

Several readers have asked us questions about how to interpret the per park crowd levels that we recently added to our crowd calendar. Although we use the same methods to produce the numbers there are some differences that we want to spell out.

The per park crowd levels are an absolute ranking of the wait times for that park. We only take wait times into consideration for per park levels. The park recommendations are based on touring conditions. A “Best Park” is one which has the best touring conditions for that day, a “Park to Avoid” is one where the touring conditions are more restrictive. For “touring conditions” we take into account wait times, special events, extra magic hours and other factors that affect touring.

It gets confusing when the per park crowd is low but a park is listed as the park to avoid. How can that be?

Actually, this is telling us something interesting about wait times. It means that on some days where touring conditions are not ideal (Extra Magic Hour Mornings, Special Events, etc.) the wait times are not that bad.

OK, now I’m really confused. When the per park crowd level and park recommendations don’t agree, how do I decide what to do?

Well, you have to determine how the touring conditions affect what you want to do. Here are some examples of when to use the per park crowd levels and when the park recommendations are better.

Use the Per Park Levels if …

you are taking advantage of Extra Magic Hours
you don’t mind that the park closes early
you are not concerned about sticking to a touring plan
the most important thing is low wait times

Use the Park Recommendations if…

you are not taking advantage of Extra Magic Hours
you want regular park hours
you want to complete a touring plan
the most important thing is optimal touring conditions

Keep using the Crowd Calendar as a tool to help you decide what schedule makes the most sense for you. Stay tuned for further features that will allow you to customize the calendar to fit your vacation.

WDW Today Episode 764 – Listener Questions

by Recent News on August 24, 2010

Episode 764 of WDW Today is now available for download here. Join TouringPlans.com owner Len Testa as co-host for a podcast that features many Walt Disney World travel planning tips!

One-click subscriptions to WDW Today:

Crowd Calendar Update For March 2011

by Fred Hazelton on August 23, 2010

Park hours and park schedules for March 2011 are available and our crowd calendar has been updated accordingly. Some park schedules for September have been changed so you may notice some updates there too.

Like December 2010, some March hours don’t match historical trends so we’re expecting things to be updated again some time in the new year.

Disney Dining Plan For Kids

by Ryan on August 23, 2010 57 Comments

It’s been said many times on WDW Today, by no less an authority than Len Testa, that the Disney Dining Plan isn’t exactly worth the money. Depending on the time of year, the regular Dining Plan can run you $41.99-$46.99 for adults and $11.99-$12.99 for kids. In exchange, you would receive one counter service (fast food) meal, one table service (sit down) meal and one snack. In a lot of cases, the math simply doesn’t work out, especially for adults. If you have kids, however, it can be a whole different story.

I have two children, age 8 and age 4. Under the Disney Dining Plan, both are classified as children. Since they usually travel with us to Walt Disney World, feeding them is expected. I know, I know, we could just leave them in the room and hope for the best, but Child and Family Services frowns on that sort of thing. So, let’s do the math for a typical day at Walt Disney World for the four of us, and see how the Dining Plan can actually save us money, just because of the children.

Let’s assume that we’re starting our trip at the Magic Kingdom, because that’s what we usually do. Our typical obsessive plan calls for us to be at the Magic Kingdom for rope drop, which means an early wake up call. My kids eat very light for breakfast, so we would either go to the food court at our resort, or park at the Transportation and Ticket Center, then walk over to the Polynesian and get breakfast at Captain Cook’s before going to the Magic Kingdom.

Either way, we would end up with the following (based on our last trip):

- Cereal – $1.99

- Milk (for the cereal) – $1.99

- Yogurt – $1.99

- Chocolate Croissant – $2.79

- Adult Breakfast Platter – $6.29 – includes eggs, bacon, potatoes and biscuit

- 2 coffees – $1.99 each, so $3.98

- 2 juices – $1.69 each, so $3.38

That includes cereal and milk for my son, yogurt and some eggs for my daughter, splitting the platter and croissant for my wife and I. Total comes up to $22.41 for breakfast, not including taxes.

Let’s move on to lunch. If we’re at the Magic Kingdom, that means Pecos Bill’s. Gotta have the fixins bar, right? Again, based on our last trip down, here’s what we ordered:

- Deluxe 1/3 lb Angus Cheeseburger w/fries – $9.09

- Chicken Wrap w/Apple Slices – $8.59

- 1/3 lb Cheesburger w/fries – $8.09

- Hamburger kids meal w/applesauce, grapes and juice box – $4.99

- 3 regular drinks – $2.19 each, so $6.57 total

That brings our lunch total to $37.33.

Finally, there’s dinner. My kids looooove Crystal Palace, so that’s where we ate for dinner. This one’s much easier to figure up.

- 2 adults at $32.99, so $65.98

- 2 children at $15.99, so $31.98

Dinner total comes up to $87.96. Whoa! That’s a lot of money, and doesn’t include tax or tip. However, the Dining Plan doesn’t include tip either, so I won’t factor that in. The total we spent out of pocket for food on that one day at the Magic Kingdom comes up to $147.70 plus tax. Tax on those meals would have been 8%, so tack on $11.82, and you come up with $159.52. Now you see why some people take out second loans for their Disney trips.

Let’s go through that with the standard Dining Plan cost of $107.96 (2 adults at $41.99 each and 2 kids at $11.99 each) and see how much was covered by the Dining Plan, and what wasn’t.

Breakfast – Cereal and milk is a snack credit, as is the yogurt and chocolate croissant, so that’s 3 of our 4 snack credits. The adult breakfast platter would be one Counter Service credit, and included one of the coffees and a juice, so that’s one credit used. Out of pocket that leaves one coffee and one juice, so $3.68 out of pocket.

Lunch – The three adult meals would be Counter Service credits, and would include a drink. Remember, Disney doesn’t make you order a kid’s meal with Counter Service credits, so you can order an adult entrée, such as we did for my son.

The out of pocket here is my daughter’s hamburger meal, which cost $4.99. But remember with the Dining Plan we would have gotten desserts as well, which could have been strawberry yogurt, carrot cake, or even apple slices. For kids, the dessert option works well, because you can supplement their meals.

Dinner is easy, because it’s all covered under the Table Service portion of the Dining Plan. So, no out of pocket costs there. That leaves us with a total of $8.67 out of pocket, with tax means we spent $9.36 on top of the Dining Plan cost of $107.96, for a total of $117.32 under the Dining Plan. That’s a savings of $42.20 versus paying completely out of pocket.

The key thing is, though, the savings comes almost entirely from the kids. The kids’ portion of the out of pocket bill comes up to $56.60, so using the Dining Plan is well worth paying the $23.98 that it cost us. But if it was just my wife and I, it wouldn’t work out.

As always, this is just one case, so it might not work the same for you if your kids eat a bigger breakfast, if you did different restaurants, etc. Let’s not even try to figure out the “extra” charge during peak times, when Disney adds $5 to the Dining Plan for adults and $1 for kids, but also adds $4 to the price of buffets. However, what we’ve determined is that if we’re taking the kids with us, it makes a lot of sense to use the Dining Plan, but if we’re solo, it doesn’t.

What about you? What’s your experience with your kids and the Dining Plan? Does it save you money, or is it not worth the hassle?

New TouringPlans.com Blogger!

by Katie Siloac on August 23, 2010

Hi Readers! We’re really excited to introduce a new blogger to the TouringPlans.com team! You may have seen his work, he’s written some guest posts that you all have loved already, but please help me give a warm welcome to Ryan Kilpatrick!

Ryan Kilpatrick started his life long love of Disney when he visited Walt Disney World with his grandparents in 1982, just a week after Epcot opened, and got his picture in Communicore printed in Southern Living magazine. Since then, he’s drafted his wife and kids into the mix! Between Disney trips he started his blog, The Disney Film Project, where he is starting the adventure of watching all the Disney shorts and features in chronological order. You can find him on his blog or on Twitter.

Ryan will be blogging for us every other Monday… starting today! Welcome Ryan!

WDW Today Episode 763 – Just A Little More Time

by Recent News on August 22, 2010

Episode 763 of WDW Today is now available for download here. Join TouringPlans.com owner Len Testa as co-host for a podcast that features many Walt Disney World travel planning tips!