Everything Genie, Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lane - Please Read Posts 1-7

[scrappinginontario]

Need the experts (your) input please!

We've been to Disney too many times to count, however, this is my first time staying offsite (large family trip). We do not plan on hitting Epcot until after 2 pm. My question is how do I secure Genie + for Ratatouille and Guardians for after this time?

Thank you for your wisdom!

Join the virtual queue for Guardians at 7am. If your boarding group is called before 2pm, it's okay. You can arrive late. You could decide to try buying Guardians at 9am, but I would join the virtual queue at 7am in case it's not available to purchase at 9am.

For Remy, I would book it at 7am. The return time very quickly moves to after 2pm, so you can likely book at 7am and refresh a few times until it reaches a return time for after 2pm.

Have a great trip!

Agree.

Another option for Remy is to book whatever time you can get at first and then modify to a later time.

 

[Alice Sr.]

Is G+ multi good for 3 parks in one day? I don't think I will need it at MK but just wondered (it might come in handy if they have some immediate return times), I realize that would push back my 11:00 LL option. I have 1 night at AKL savannah 5/21 so my plan summary is below. My specific questions are bolded but your comments/suggestions on anything else will be appreciated. This will be my 1st go with G+ and VQ or $ILL (normally my DD handles it).

LL's
7:00 SD at HS
11:00 TT at HS
1:00 TSM or M/M RR at HS
3:00 Something at Epcot

Check-in day: Buy G+ at 6AM
LL SD at 7:00
VQ Tron asap after SD if it's a bad time or I don't get in I will try to buy LL when I get to MK.
Head to MK rope drop Adventure Land, is that at 9:00 or is it earlier because I am staying onsite?
Monorail to Epcot to try for 1PM Guardian VQ, I must be in the park correct? Do I need to be in the park to $ILL Guardian if they are available? (If not that would give me the option to go straight to HS from MK.) Then walk to HS to work through my LL and snack at BD outside lounge.
Hoping for a room ready text no later than 4:00. My only must do at HS is TT and BD so I'm ok with flexing through the afternoon.
Epcot in the evening with lots of wants but nothing that will tip me over if it doesn't work out but I am looking forward to the latest PM show (whatever it's called) at the end of the night.

Thanks!!!

 

[Matrixleos]

Advice on 7am LL selection for a day Park Hopping from Animal Kingdom to Magic Kingdom. We'll be there on Saturday, May 25 over Memorial Day weekend. On this day, AK opens at 8am and MK opens at 9am.

My initial plan was to stack LL for MK with Jungle Cruise at 7am LL and then get ILL for Tron and 7DMT. Then at 11am get a Peter Pan LL and then for 1pm get Big Thunder LL. We're also planning to get to Animal Kingdom for Early Entry to Flights of Passage and then ride Na'vi before we head over to Kilimanjaro Safaris. Although I've recently noticed Safaris jumps to 40-60 minute wait times very soon after it opens in the mornings. Those wait times might be inflated but I figure they might be closer to those numbers over a busy Memorial Day weekend.

Here's my question....since Animal Kingdom opens one hour earlier, would it be crazy to get a 7am LL for Kilimanjaro Safaris to skip that line? As soon as we scan into Safaris, I would then book for Jungle Cruise. As long as I'm able to scan into Safaris before 9am, I should get a return time for Jungle Cruise around 4-5pm. Plus with the 2 hour after park opening rule, I'll still be able to get Peter Pan at 11am and Big Thunder at 1pm as long as we scan into Safaris before 9am. If I get a Safaris LL return time after 9am and if I can't modify to an earlier time, I'll just cancel it and get Jungle Cruise before 9am, so it doesn't delay my 11am LL booking.

In this scenario, would you do 7am LL for Kilimanjaro Safaris and hopefully avoid a long standby line or stick with my original plan with Jungle Cruise at 7am for my first LL?

 

[Tom_E_D]

Is G+ multi good for 3 parks in one day? I don't think I will need it at MK but just wondered (it might come in handy if they have some immediate return times), I realize that would push back my 11:00 LL option. I have 1 night at AKL savannah 5/21 so my plan summary is below. My specific questions are bolded but your comments/suggestions on anything else will be appreciated. This will be my 1st go with G+ and VQ or $ILL (normally my DD handles it).

LL's
7:00 SD at HS
11:00 TT at HS
1:00 TSM or M/M RR at HS
3:00 Something at Epcot

Check-in day: Buy G+ at 6AM
LL SD at 7:00
VQ Tron asap after SD if it's a bad time or I don't get in I will try to buy LL when I get to MK.
Head to MK rope drop Adventure Land, is that at 9:00 or is it earlier because I am staying onsite?
Monorail to Epcot to try for 1PM Guardian VQ, I must be in the park correct? Do I need to be in the park to $ILL Guardian if they are available? (If not that would give me the option to go straight to HS from MK.) Then walk to HS to work through my LL and snack at BD outside lounge.
Hoping for a room ready text no later than 4:00. My only must do at HS is TT and BD so I'm ok with flexing through the afternoon.
Epcot in the evening with lots of wants but nothing that will tip me over if it doesn't work out but I am looking forward to the latest PM show (whatever it's called) at the end of the night.

Thanks!!!

Adventureland does not open for Early Entry; it opens at 9:00. If you want to take advantage of Early Entry, go to somewhere in Fantasyland or Tomorrowland first. Since you are staying onsite that night, you can buy ILLs for Tron and Guardians at 7:00. You do not need to enter a park in order to buy an ILL there. Even if staying offsite, you could buy the ILLs when the parks (MK and EPCOT) open at 9:00. You would need to have entered Epcot to be eligible for the 1:00 VQ there.

 

[FallsChurchDad]

Advice on 7am LL selection for a day Park Hopping from Animal Kingdom to Magic Kingdom. We'll be there on Saturday, May 25 over Memorial Day weekend. On this day, AK opens at 8am and MK opens at 9am.

My initial plan was to stack LL for MK with Jungle Cruise at 7am LL and then get ILL for Tron and 7DMT. Then at 11am get a Peter Pan LL and then for 1pm get Big Thunder LL. We're also planning to get to Animal Kingdom for Early Entry to Flights of Passage and then ride Na'vi before we head over to Kilimanjaro Safaris. Although I've recently noticed Safaris jumps to 40-60 minute wait times very soon after it opens in the mornings. Those wait times might be inflated but I figure they might be closer to those numbers over a busy Memorial Day weekend.

Here's my question....since Animal Kingdom opens one hour earlier, would it be crazy to get a 7am LL for Kilimanjaro Safaris to skip that line? As soon as we scan into Safaris, I would then book for Jungle Cruise. As long as I'm able to scan into Safaris before 9am, I should get a return time for Jungle Cruise around 4-5pm. Plus with the 2 hour after park opening rule, I'll still be able to get Peter Pan at 11am and Big Thunder at 1pm as long as we scan into Safaris before 9am. If I get a Safaris LL return time after 9am and if I can't modify to an earlier time, I'll just cancel it and get Jungle Cruise before 9am, so it doesn't delay my 11am LL booking.

In this scenario, would you do 7am LL for Kilimanjaro Safaris and hopefully avoid a long standby line or stick with my original plan with Jungle Cruise at 7am for my first LL?

I think you will be happy to have a Safaris LL at 8:30 - 8:45 am (assuming you will arrive for 7:30 am early entry, then do FOP and Navi, then walk up to Safaris). As you mentioned, you'll still be able to book Jungle Cruise once you scan in to Safaris, which should be before 9 am, and it won't affect your timing on later MK LLs.

It will take some extra clicking, and your Jungle Cruise return time will be a bit later, but that seems worth it. Knowing that you have the LL may also help you enjoy riding Navi and walking through AK up to Safaris, both of which should be relaxing, enjoyable experiences but are sometimes not when you're thinking about beating crowds, LL return times, etc. Have fun!

Although another option -- if you are at the front of rope drop and skip Navi, you could do FoP-Safaris-Everest x 2, which is a great start and you wouldn't need to worry about LLs at AK.

 

[nighttowll]

I think you will be happy to have a Safaris LL at 8:30 - 8:45 am (assuming you will arrive for 7:30 am early entry, then do FOP and Navi, then walk up to Safaris). As you mentioned, you'll still be able to book Jungle Cruise once you scan in to Safaris, which should be before 9 am, and it won't affect your timing on later MK LLs.

It will take some extra clicking, and your Jungle Cruise return time will be a bit later, but that seems worth it. Knowing that you have the LL may also help you enjoy riding Navi and walking through AK up to Safaris, both of which should be relaxing, enjoyable experiences but are sometimes not when you're thinking about beating crowds, LL return times, etc. Have fun!

Although another option -- if you are at the front of rope drop and skip Navi, you could do FoP-Safaris-Everest x 2, which is a great start and you wouldn't need to worry about LLs at AK.

This has me thinking. I was going to try to do FOP, Navi, Safari if at front of crowd without LL. Is that even realistic when park opens early at 7:30? Originally, when the park opened later at 8:30, I wasn't going to try that, but when they pushed back opening, I thought I could. Based on the above, second guessing that. I'm good with just buying FOP for later if needed.

 

[Matrixleos]

I think you will be happy to have a Safaris LL at 8:30 - 8:45 am (assuming you will arrive for 7:30 am early entry, then do FOP and Navi, then walk up to Safaris). As you mentioned, you'll still be able to book Jungle Cruise once you scan in to Safaris, which should be before 9 am, and it won't affect your timing on later MK LLs.

It will take some extra clicking, and your Jungle Cruise return time will be a bit later, but that seems worth it. Knowing that you have the LL may also help you enjoy riding Navi and walking through AK up to Safaris, both of which should be relaxing, enjoyable experiences but are sometimes not when you're thinking about beating crowds, LL return times, etc. Have fun!

Although another option -- if you are at the front of rope drop and skip Navi, you could do FoP-Safaris-Everest x 2, which is a great start and you wouldn't need to worry about LLs at AK.

Thanks for the feedback, big part of this is what you said. Once we're done with Flight of Passage and Na'vi, we want to enjoy walking around in Pandora a bit, take some pictures and not feel rushed knowing we have a LL for Safaris.

Rest of Animal Kingdom should be easier to navigate as we want to do It's Tough to be a Bug and Dinosaur, both of which should have low wait times. With Everest, I'm the only fan of that ride in my group, so I'll just do single rider.

 

[Matrixleos]

This has me thinking. I was going to try to do FOP, Navi, Safari if at front of crowd without LL. Is that even realistic when park opens early at 7:30? Originally, when the park opened later at 8:30, I wasn't going to try that, but when they pushed back opening, I thought I could. Based on the above, second guessing that. I'm good with just buying FOP for later if needed.

I'd recommend doing both FOP and Na'vi back to back if you are at the front of the line with early entry at 7:30am. They're the two rides at Animal Kingdom that will have constant long wait times for the standby que. Safaris standby que should get a bit more manageable after the morning rush and you won't need a LL for it if you are fine doing that ride later in the day.

I'm only considering using a LL for Safaris, was because I want to park hop to Magic Kingdom by noon and my 2 hours for stacking LL for Magic Kingdom doesn't start till 9am. So if I can do a LL for Safaris before 9am and get through that ride quicker, it would be worth getting a later Jungle Cruise LL.

 

[FallsChurchDad]

This has me thinking. I was going to try to do FOP, Navi, Safari if at front of crowd without LL. Is that even realistic when park opens early at 7:30? Originally, when the park opened later at 8:30, I wasn't going to try that, but when they pushed back opening, I thought I could. Based on the above, second guessing that. I'm good with just buying FOP for later if needed.

Sorry, I didn't mean that it's bad to do FoP, Navi, then Safaris; just that the line for Safaris in that plan will almost certainly extend past the LL merge point by the time you get there. You could stick to your plan and just not stress about the line at Safaris, or as Matrixleos suggested, you could do FoP, Navi, then something else (like Everest) and get in line for Safaris late in the day, once AK has quieted down.

Regardless of your exact plan, AK is the most pleasant, manageable park, even without using LL.