83 year old Disney Legend visiting WDW- top tips for helping them navigate Genie+/LL?

[crazymomof4]

My uncle from Calif. is 83. He and his wife and 2 daughters are coming to the 50th celebration. He was a Disney Scenic Artist since 1970. He is officially a "Disney Legend". He relocated for several months to help finish up the Magic Kingdom just before it opened. (also helped in the creation of every other Disney park in the world)
I've been wanting to join them for a WDW trip for decades. Now it's finally here.
I know WDW very well but my last visit was just before Genie and LL went into play.
I REALLY want them to enjoy WDW, but it looks like it will be crowded and while I *used* to know how to work around crowds by making masterful use of the old FP system.... I'm totally deer-in-headlights with this new system.
We meet there in just a few days. A very spur of the moment trip! No time to read through pages of information. At this point I don't even know if I should tell them to go ahead and add Genie + or not. I'd be willing to wake early and attempt securing LL for everyone if need be.
What top tips would you share, regarding use of Genie(+) and general touring now, that would make the most impact on their having a nice time?
TIA

 

[GBRforWDW]

My uncle from Calif. is 83. He and his wife and 2 daughters are coming to the 50th celebration. He was a Disney Scenic Artist since 1970. He is officially a "Disney Legend". He relocated for several months to help finish up the Magic Kingdom for before it opened. (also helped in the creation of every other Disney park in the world)
I've been wanting to join them for a WDW trip for decades. Now it's finally here.
I know WDW very well but my last visit was just before Genie and LL went into play.
I REALLY want them to enjoy WDW, but it looks like it will be crowded and while I *used* to know how to work around crowds by making masterful use of the old FP system.... I'm totally deer-in-headlights with this new system.
We meet there in just a few days. A very spur of the moment trip! No time to read through pages of information. At this point I don't even know if I should tell them to go ahead and add Genie + or not. I'd be willing to wake early and attempt securing LL for everyone if need be.
What top tips would you share, regarding use of Genie(+) and general touring now, that would make the most impact on their having a nice time?
TIA

What an incredible opportunity to not only tour Disney world with a Disney legend, but he's family! How cool.

Genie is a crazy system. Each park has 1 or 2 rides that will go quickly. Honestly, if you don't want that top ride or think you can hit it standby with early park entry, you'll have more success with Genie. If you start with the number 2 ride as your first Genie selection, you can usually get that earlier in the day, and usually in the first 2 hours of park opening which will allow you to get your next selection earlier than most in the parks.
Also, it's very difficult, but do what you can to avoid criss crossing the park. Because of how ride popularity works and locations in the parks, it's rather difficult to avoid.

Sometimes, the ride you want to select has too early of a return time for your other plans. I ran into this a few times over Christmas at AK and Epcot. You can't do much about that other than to wait until the time gets out to a convenient time. I did this both at 7am, hitting refresh to get a time that worked - we waited til 11 to get to the parks - and after the 2 hour limits.

Some people have more luck park hopping and stacking up all their Genie+ ride return times for the second park. Doing that can sometimes better arrange return times so you're not criss crossing the park. With park hoppers, when you select a ride in a park that is not your reserved park, you'll get a return time for after 2pm guaranteed.

I'd also read up on the first 7 posts of this thread to get more information:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/e...lightning-lane-please-read-posts-1-7.3856734/
Good luck and enjoy your trip! Sounds amazing!