Can I avoid waking up before 7?

[White_Rabbit18]

I am planning on going this summer and the idea of waking up at 7 sounds so ridiculously stressful. Even though, we usually rope drop half of the days we visit the park and thus being awake before 7 anyway it just sounds really stressful that we have to be up before 7 to book Genie Plus. I think I would actually have a bad night sleep because I will be so stressed about making the reservation. With FP I knew what I had scheduled already before going to bed and would always book the first ride for after 10:30 so I didn’t feel so rushed in the morning.

So what would happen if I bought Genie plus after 9? How many rides would I be able to go on if I just did standby during the end of August ?

 

[GBRforWDW]

I am planning on going this summer and the idea of waking up at 7 sounds so ridiculously stressful. Even though, we usually rope drop half of the days we visit the park and thus being awake before 7 anyway it just sounds really stressful that we have to be up before 7 to book Genie Plus. I think I would actually have a bad night sleep because I will be so stressed about making the reservation. With FP I knew what I had scheduled already before going to bed and would always book the first ride for after 10:30 so I didn’t feel so rushed in the morning.

So what would happen if I bought Genie plus after 9? How many rides would I be able to go on if I just did standby during the end of August ?

The only park you really have to be on at 7am to book for is Hollywood Studios. The Slinky Dog and Rise of the Resistance passes are gone in minutes every day. Flight of Passage in Animal Kingdom will typically sell out before park opening, so it's good to wake up by 8 for that. Otherwise, most rides should be available at park opening. I'd say at least wake up before the official park opening, so you can make your second selection 2 hours after park opening like nearly everyone else.

End of August is typically the beginning of the late summer slow down when school is starting back up. If you're going weekdays, I would imagine lines wouldn't be terrible, but it's really hard to say, with the pandemic and travel from other countries up in the air, you may seen an influx of foreign guests when US schools start back up. Just a lot of unpredictability right now in that aspect.

 

[lockets]

I think you can purchase G+ after midnight if you don't want to purchase at 7 AM. I woke up at 7 AM and did it all. I agree - not fun. That being said, January is typically a less busy month and it was busy enough that by park opening I noticed a lot of selections were already gone for MK and the park was busy/bordering on packed. midweek.

 

[stinkpickle]

At the end of August, I probably wouldn't mess with G+ at all.

 

[wisblue]

I think you can purchase G+ after midnight if you don't want to purchase at 7 AM. I woke up at 7 AM and did it all. I agree - not fun. That being said, January is typically a less busy month and it was busy enough that by park opening I noticed a lot of selections were already gone for MK and the park was busy/bordering on packed. midweek.

What selections for MK were completely gone by park opening?

 

[wisblue]

One easy way to evaluate how essential it will be for you to be awake at 7 would be to check the tip board from home before your trip at some later time, like 8 or 8:30, to see what is available.

If being awake at 7 is going to have a negative impact on the enjoyment of your trip, I definitely wouldn‘t do it every day of a longer trip.

As a PP said, except for ROTR and SDD at DHS, things don’t disappear that quickly. You might find that being up that early to book something isn’t necessary most days.

For people who are up earlier anyway, like the thousands that are at each park for EE every day, 7 AM is a very convenient time to make that first selection.

 

[Haley R]

We just got back from a 3 day trip. The only ride we paid extra for was frozen at Epcot. I thought the times went pretty fast. It was at 2:30 pm after a couple of minutes

 

[x93nelson13]

I took the bullet for the family and woke up to book everything this past December, and I will do so again later this month. I found it worth it, and I like getting up early, finding some coffee and waiting for my family to get up and ready.

 

[Sydnerella]

I am planning on going this summer and the idea of waking up at 7 sounds so ridiculously stressful. Even though, we usually rope drop half of the days we visit the park and thus being awake before 7 anyway it just sounds really stressful that we have to be up before 7 to book Genie Plus. I think I would actually have a bad night sleep because I will be so stressed about making the reservation. With FP I knew what I had scheduled already before going to bed and would always book the first ride for after 10:30 so I didn’t feel so rushed in the morning.

So what would happen if I bought Genie plus after 9? How many rides would I be able to go on if I just did standby during the end of August ?

Thanks for your post. This depends in large part to your trip dates, if you are on-site, which parks and which rides you prioritize. We were there for nine days around Thanksgiving week so that pretty much demanded us to use G+ and ILL if we wanted to have as many attraction opportunities as under our FP+ trips and get on the coveted headliners for which we had the most interest without revisiting the 180 minute wait we had during TG2020 with no FP+ for FOP. because it wasnt back yet in any form. And we arrived 30 minutes after RD which was not at the posted times back then, they did it early everywhere for the most part.

That week people were arriving at the parks at 11 or later and buying Genie+ only to find out there was such limited availability of anything they wanted to ride that they were filling the GET lines to complain/get refunds. I heard from two different cast members at AK one day that they were issuing refunds left and right because there was nothing left to book but somehow the system kept letting people buy Gene +! The Guest experience really matters to Disney…

SLOWER season EX:

My BFF is there now and per my advice did EP yesterday without the Genie, Crowd Calendar 3 and they are off-site. Remy was actually available for a while at park open but they did not buy and waited 100 min cuz it broke down while in what should have been 40 min line. Otherwise a great day with generally short waits though I haven’t heard about everything they rode as she was with her family having fun, not reporting back to me all day She will be at HS Friday with CC of 5. I recommended to buy G+ as this is their only day there and it is the hardest park to navigate either way. They will be shut out of Rise by the time they are eligible so thats a guaranteed longer wait, but the rest is doable with G+ and starting to book at 7 - MFSR is their priority for the first G+ booking.

ANYtIME
HS - On-site? yes if you want to secure a better CHANCE at Rise and I say chance because we had it break down each DS day of our last trip. SDD and MFSR also go fast the latter was not gone by 11 at TG though but it seemed to be soon, check Thrill Data. Off-site I still would at 7 to get MFSR as SDD is not our jam.

OTHER

MK - So many attractions and with a couple MK days you can get up later and start booking if you dont mind missing a couple that will go fast/ be gone or pushing into eveing times. Thrill data will tell you more on this. I would still not do MK without G+ - even for a sleep in booking time which i think is doable outside the busiest seasons.

AK - If you RD this park you will be up anyway. Otherwise not worth it but for on-site FOP booking when you want to.Although it may be available after RD on non busy seasons - again, thrill data can tell you if you find a comparable period to your trip crowdwise when things are gone and still available.

EP - Worst because you actually can sleep in and RD this park… big bummer to have to wake early to book when you could have still been asleep and make RD if thats your thing. But not really worth it unless you need TT without doing it SR or in longish line. Depends on season… and how much it broke down that day… For ILL if onsite, Remy is the other consideration. Frozen seems to be available later. You dont really need G+ here at all. And it is not as big a value if test track is gone by the time you wake up and start booking.

You also make a very valid point about the stress and difficulty sleeping. Previously under FP+ I was that way one night, 60 days out from my VACATION, but not while ON my vacation. And that is not pleasent. Not to mention rising at 630 so you have time to go to the bathroom first thing, splash the sleep out of your eyes, buy the Genie+ well before 7 (if I woke up in the middle of the night I would even buy it or stay up an extra hour to buy it after midnight to make sure I didn’t have issues in the morning ) and in my case, bundle up to go out to the balcony where my service was best to make my reservations.

And sometimes waking another family member - on purpose or accidentally - for help to get an ILL while you get the first G+ or because you’re quietly but still moving around the room/place despite having a one-bedroom. Oh the joy.

Maybe it’s just me but I could never sleep in afterwards even when I tried after the process of booking the genie plus. Perhaps younger people ? who don’t need to use the bathroom within 5 minutes of waking LOL or have a decent enough service from bed can do it and roll over. It just didn’t work out that way for us. Too much awake time and even adrenaline going from stress in some cases trying to get stuff booked during a busy crowded time when the app glitches can change your entire plan.

 

[Selket]

You might plan to wake up one one or two days for those hard to get attractions in DHS. Otherwise if you like to stay in the parks late - you might try an afternoon/evening stacking strategy. Fortunately if what you did doesn't work on one day you can try something else the next day. The parks weren't open very late when we were there but they may be in the summer.

I know it also made me anxious about waking up to get it. No way could I go back to sleep afterwards.

 

[DizneyLizzy]

I have no advice except to send constructive feedback to WDW Guest Communications about this. I'm hopeful that Disney is listening to feedback about Genie+ and if enough people speak up, Disney will tweak the system over the course of the year(s). They're not going to roll back the entire system, but they do want people to continue to purchase this, so it behooves them to make improvements.

Aside from having to pay for something that used to be included in admission, the major complaint I've heard from friends and family (and now myself) is the day-of, early morning booking, and it seems like there are viable solutions/options on the table to change this. With FP+ it was nice to get that out of the way before your vacation started. We are early risers, but the whole concept of morning-of-booking stressed me out so much that I got a horrible night's sleep the night before we had a Genie+ day. Unless things change before my next trip, I'd rather just wait in standby lines (I noticed that posted wait times are egregiously inflated by Disney at some attractions - I'm looking at you, it's a small world) than deal with the stress and unknown of 7 AM decision making.

 

[gharter]

This depends in large part to your trip dates, if you are on-site, which parks and which rides you prioritize.

Thats probably the most important piece.
If you are there at a "less" busy time, Genie +is not as important. We found it helpful at MK and HS. AK sort of helped, but not really needed unless very busy. EPCOT, not at all.
The benefit of booking at 7 is ILL$ and getting the first high demand ride booked.
If those don't matter, sleep in.

 

[danceintherain]

If I was traveling with teens and older, I probably wouldn't obsess over it. As it is, the first few days of our trips, at least one of my kids is up at the crack of dawn, so I expect it will be easy enough to be up. That's not even including my increasing inability to sleep in as I get older.
With teens and older, they can either handle waiting in the line for whatever they want to do, or get up themselves. Although I may enjoy getting up before everyone else to enjoy the peace and quiet, when my kids are all older.

 

[DavidNYC]

At the end of August, I probably wouldn't mess with G+ at all.

Normally I'd think that as well but looking at wait times today - they're much much higher than I'd expect to see first week of February before any school breaks have happened. There's got to be some explanation beyond crowds as to why wait times are a lot higher than typical for this time of year. I would not be surprised if staffing levels were such that they're not running rides at as full a capacity as they used to increasing wait times (with a goal of pushing more people to use the paid system). They now have no incentive to move people through standby lines quick - in fact, the incentive is to make them longer. It's perverse really especially for Disney.

 

[Kingoglow]

I can't tell if the OP is just hyperbole or not. You say that you usually rope drop, so that indicates that you have visited WDW a few times already and that your travel party is used to being up at that time. Why is it 'ridiculously stressful' to do something that you have done it the past and are used to as part of your vacation?

Or did you just mean to say that you are nervous about using Genie+? And that the time is not really a factor on that stress, just that the app portion is new to you?

There are many many threads in this forum already started by people that feel that way and man many many more responses from other forum users, talking them down. You might feel better if you read others experiences.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

if you really don't want to deal with stuff at 7, skip using Genie + at all, or use it only at MK. Studios you have to be up at 7 if you want Slinky Dog. ROTR is ILLS and not on Genie + but that will also be gone pretty quickly

I actually went last August and rode everything at Studios using standby, even Slinky Dog. Might have been before the deluge though.

 

[GBRforWDW]

I actually went last August and rode everything at Studios using standby, even Slinky Dog. Might have been before the deluge though.

Just remember, last August was before G+ was available, so everyone went standby. With G+, they take 20 (or more) LL passes to every standby pass, so standby lines move a lot slower now.

That being said, late August crowds are typically low, so shouldn't be difficult to manage a lot of standby lines.

 

[CanucksRock]

Off site ..only got up for 7 on MK & DHS days. (Even, I did sleep in until 7:20 on one MK day, just ended up with later time for PP.

 

[Delirium]

Send Bob Chapek an email and ask if he would be willing to get up and schedule them for you.

 

[lockets]

Just remember, last August was before G+ was available, so everyone went standby. With G+, they take 20 (or more) LL passes to every standby pass, so standby lines move a lot slower now.

I was trying to remember if they did this for fastpass? Having used fastpass back in the day I, for whatever reason, have this memory of both lines meeting up and them pulling a few people from fastpass and then a few people from standby (or something of the like).

Last month having used standby on some rides - the amount of LL people that they stopped our line for and allowed on the ride seemed like a lot more people. In some cases definitely more than 20 and maybe that was on ILL$ rides.

But I could be remembering FP wrong. Does anyone remember how they used to move fastpass line vs genie/LL lines? Was it the same?