I wonder how valid the details of this are now that modifying reservations is allowed.
This is what I'm hoping works for us. We are going for six days and we always do two in MK and two in EP and one in the other parks, each. I think the only day I'm getting G+/ILL is our HS day, because I just don't see any other way to make a dent there. But otherwise I really don't want to mess with it.
Wow, that's an additional $1380 (for two people) if you booked G+ and ILL each day (and the average cost was $20 each).
Nope, was not at the park... was just replying to the OP. I was shocked that he could not click on 1 of the 3 headliners at 7am at Epcot. I used genie+ over this past Thanksgiving (paid the $29 - ouch on the price tag, but the rest of our group had pre-bought it so we added it on) and while I didn't enjoy paying extra, it was useful.
A mix of data and first hand reports from those I have helped with plans this week. I do not doubt that the poster was unhappy with what he was able to get with Genie+. Parks were packed and unless you were actively refreshing and modifying, you were unlikely to get a 2nd "headliner" by the time you were 2 hours past park opening. But based on the other first hand reports and the data we do do have - the fact remains that both point to nearly everything being available right at 7 and the vast majority still available until after park opening. Now - whether him saying "nothing was available" really meant "the only return times were really late in the day" I cannot say. Or maybe his phone was glitching. Or maybe he didn't start trying to use Genie+ until park opening. But accuracy is important and we have multiple data points that most rides he said were unavailable within minutes did in fact have availability at 7am and at least a while past park opening.
Interesting, We were there 12/27/22-1/1/23 and I felt like the crowds were much lower than we've ever experienced at the holidays. This just shows how everyone has a different perception and everyone has to decide for themselves. I also didn't experience any "dirty parks" like other people have posted about and I am a clean freak.
We did 6 park days last March during peak spring break crowds. It was busy but we did just about everything without any genie+ purchases, as off-property guests. We skipped ROTR and Space Mountain but did everything else through early mornings/late nights.
I was at Disney from December 22 - January 1st. I did not set my alarm for 7 am but woke up on my own by 8 each day. I had no problem getting at least one "Tier 1" ride at any park by booking before 8 each day.
The problem with this though is that it assumes that someone will get the same enjoyment from spending 4 days at WDW without Genie+ as they would 2 days with Genie+ (as an example). Personally, I would find 4 days standing in hour plus lines for everything to be absolutely abysmal, even if I got to do everything I wanted.
In my experience this past week, at Magic Kingdom, unless you really wanted to do Jungle Cruise or Peter Pan in the morning first thing, you did not need to wake up at 7 am to make your first selection. So long as you made your first selection prior to park opening to start a stack it didn't matter.
Key word: was.
Prices are variable based on demand. Christmas is the most expensive time of the year to visit Disney. From the reports I've seen, they are severely underpricing it.
So I used genie+ over Thanksgiving (day before, day of, and day after) and while I didn't enjoy paying $29, it did work well compared to previous times we tried it. A lot more availability. I was thinking the price point was helping in terms of demand. I did not compare crowd levels to Christmas break, so maybe this Christmas break was just bonkers compared to this Thanksgiving. My other thought was the recent change to allow people to modify without re-setting the 2 hr cool down. A positive feature for sure, but one that is going to add to the issues during the super busy weeks since there is only so much ride capacity.
I was there 12/27-1/2. On 12/28 we started at Epcot and ended at MK. We did LLs for Test Track (first selection). Peter Pan, Big Thunder, Space Mtn, Haunted Mansion, and Pirates.
Yeah, MK is the easiest one for sure to be able to sleep in because there are a good amount of rides. I did want Jungle Cruise though, woke up at 7a, and got a 3:05p return time. Got a 635p return time for 7DMT at 7am. I definitely did not want either to be that late.
