Can I avoid waking up before 7?

[GBRforWDW]

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?

I don't remember as much, but from what I've read, yes, there was a Fastpass to standby ratio. That could have been 20 to 1 and LL to standby is higher.

 

[lockets]

What selections for MK were completely gone by park opening?

I couldn’t get Peter Pan or Haunted Mansion.

 

[lockets]

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

LMAO.

On the the real I was wondering if any travel agents offer to schedule G+ at 7 AM and throughout the day? For that I might be willing to switch to an agent next time. What made me think of this is another thread with a similar topic where a travel agent posted that most of her clients love Genie, thought it was great and got good use of it (paraphrasing). It made me wonder if agents are pitching in to help book rides?

 

[ComeToSocialize]

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?

The long (and excellent) defunctland YouTube video on Fastpass said that official policy was that standard procedure was a 4:1 ratio in favor of Fastpass. If the FP line got backed up, they’d bump that to 9:1, and if it got really bad (due to breakdowns earlier in the day) they’d go to 20:1.

I don’t know what the ratios are now under LL but I’d be surprised if it’s 20:1 all the time, as the standby lines would be way longer (and whatever uptake is on G+, it’s less than what it was for FP+, since FP+ was free). I’d guess they’re using the same ratios as before, but that’s just a guess.

 

[wisblue]

I couldn’t get Peter Pan or Haunted Mansion.

That must have been at an exceptionally busy time, like Christmas or Thanksgiving, or an aberration.

Today at 10:30 AM EST the return time for HM is 12:40 PM, and the return time for PP is 5:30 PM. Based on my trips in mid November and for Marathon Weekend, and the charts on the Thrill Data site, today is more typical.

 

[GBRforWDW]

That must have been at an exceptionally busy time, like Christmas or Thanksgiving, or an aberration.

Today at 10:30 AM EST the return time for HM is 12:40 PM, and the return time for PP is 5:30 PM. Based on my trips in mid November and for Marathon Weekend, and the charts on the Thrill Data site, today is more typical.

I went Christmas week, got the parade for my first selection at 7am and at 10:30 (park opened at 8:30), got Peter Pan for 5:30 or 6pm, so definitely would not have been Christmas week.

 

[Turksmom]

Looking right now, there are quite a few rides at MK that are "not currently offered". Even Pooh. Barnstormer has next time at 6:50 pm! That's a lot of time to fill at MK, if you've been there since RD.

 

[lmdean]

We had G+ for the entirety of our visit (1/25 through 2/2), and used it to our advantage (I booked at 7am every day and was diligent to book the next ride right at 120 minutes or after we had tapped into our first LL ride). ILL rides were mostly sold out by 9am in MK and HS. We used our first HS selection on Smuggler's Run and by the time we exited the ride at 10:30, the stand by line was 85 minutes and G+ return times were after 7PM. RotR was 2.5 hours in standby at 9:30 am with no ILL available. TZToT was our next selection and by the time we rode that (before noon), G+ selections were after 8:30 PM.

I was frankly shocked at the crowd levels for late Jan/early Feb. We last went in Feb 2016 and walked on many popular rides most days with little to no wait. Not so this trip. We still had a wonderful time, but I planned most days down to the 1/2 hour. I know not a lot of people like to do this, and I get it, but anyone trying to wing it during the time we were there would likely have been pretty disappointed. Fricking Jungle Cruise was a huge wait ALL THE TIME. I expect that from Peter Pan, but c'mon, Jungle Cruise?

We did use free time to see anything and everything we had never done before. Sat through stage shows and presentations we had never done (The animation class at AK was a ton of fun for us (both adults over 50)). We rode the skyliner and friendship boats all over the place and visited resorts we had never been to. It made for a much more interesting trip.

 

[lockets]

We had G+ for the entirety of our visit (1/25 through 2/2), and used it to our advantage (I booked at 7am every day and was diligent to book the next ride right at 120 minutes or after we had tapped into our first LL ride). ILL rides were mostly sold out by 9am in MK and HS. We used our first HS selection on Smuggler's Run and by the time we exited the ride at 10:30, the stand by line was 85 minutes and G+ return times were after 7PM. RotR was 2.5 hours in standby at 9:30 am with no ILL available. TZToT was our next selection and by the time we rode that (before noon), G+ selections were after 8:30 PM.

I was frankly shocked at the crowd levels for late Jan/early Feb. We last went in Feb 2016 and walked on many popular rides most days with little to no wait. Not so this trip. We still had a wonderful time, but I planned most days down to the 1/2 hour. I know not a lot of people like to do this, and I get it, but anyone trying to wing it during the time we were there would likely have been pretty disappointed. Fricking Jungle Cruise was a huge wait ALL THE TIME. I expect that from Peter Pan, but c'mon, Jungle Cruise?

We did use free time to see anything and everything we had never done before. Sat through stage shows and presentations we had never done (The animation class at AK was a ton of fun for us (both adults over 50)). We rode the skyliner and friendship boats all over the place and visited resorts we had never been to. It made for a much more interesting trip.

We went in mid-January too and experienced the exact same thing. Never got to go on Peter Pan at all. Was finally able to score a G+ for Jungle Cruise at night in pitch black on a packed boat.

 

[lockets]

That must have been at an exceptionally busy time, like Christmas or Thanksgiving, or an aberration.

Today at 10:30 AM EST the return time for HM is 12:40 PM, and the return time for PP is 5:30 PM. Based on my trips in mid November and for Marathon Weekend, and the charts on the Thrill Data site, today is more typical.

Went last month. Our experience was exactly same as what Lmdean posted above. Park was packed. US opened up to international travelers soon before and they showed up in droves. 7 Dwarves was down for a large part of the day. Splash Mountain still out of service. Not sure if that put pressure on other rides? Never got on Peter Pan. Haunted Mansion - we waited standby for a long time and I was so happy to go on it!

 

[lockets]

The long (and excellent) defunctland YouTube video on Fastpass said that official policy was that standard procedure was a 4:1 ratio in favor of Fastpass. If the FP line got backed up, they’d bump that to 9:1, and if it got really bad (due to breakdowns earlier in the day) they’d go to 20:1.

I don’t know what the ratios are now under LL but I’d be surprised if it’s 20:1 all the time, as the standby lines would be way longer (and whatever uptake is on G+, it’s less than what it was for FP+, since FP+ was free). I’d guess they’re using the same ratios as before, but that’s just a guess.

Ok! So I’m not crazy… I’m my experience LL is definitely not operating at 4:1 ratio. They let a lot of people in when the standby line is held in place and yes it seems closer to 9:1 or 20:1. There were times I was at front of standby and told to wait and I would lose count of the people they let in because it certainly wasn’t just a couple families. It was a bunch of people - like whoa!

on the flipside I did buy ILL and G+ and was ushered in with a lot of people on those rides while standby had to wait.

FastPass had a way more egalitarian vibe.

 

[Davey Jones II]

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.

In reference to the bolded...can you (or anyone else) please explain what that means? I'm still unclear on this whole "stacking" business.

 

[Dis Dragon]

In reference to the bolded...can you (or anyone else) please explain what that means? I'm still unclear on this whole "stacking" business.

There's plenty of threads on this already, but the idea is that you just keep getting selections at the park you're hopping to once the rebooking window opens. So you get the original one at 7am, then 2 hours after park open you pick another and then another 2 hours later. The idea is you enter a park later in the day with 4-5 LL lined up.

 

[Kcgaido]

We had G+ for the entirety of our visit (1/25 through 2/2), and used it to our advantage (I booked at 7am every day and was diligent to book the next ride right at 120 minutes or after we had tapped into our first LL ride). ILL rides were mostly sold out by 9am in MK and HS. We used our first HS selection on Smuggler's Run and by the time we exited the ride at 10:30, the stand by line was 85 minutes and G+ return times were after 7PM. RotR was 2.5 hours in standby at 9:30 am with no ILL available. TZToT was our next selection and by the time we rode that (before noon), G+ selections were after 8:30 PM.

I was frankly shocked at the crowd levels for late Jan/early Feb. We last went in Feb 2016 and walked on many popular rides most days with little to no wait. Not so this trip. We still had a wonderful time, but I planned most days down to the 1/2 hour. I know not a lot of people like to do this, and I get it, but anyone trying to wing it during the time we were there would likely have been pretty disappointed. Fricking Jungle Cruise was a huge wait ALL THE TIME. I expect that from Peter Pan, but c'mon, Jungle Cruise?

We did use free time to see anything and everything we had never done before. Sat through stage shows and presentations we had never done (The animation class at AK was a ton of fun for us (both adults over 50)). We rode the skyliner and friendship boats all over the place and visited resorts we had never been to. It made for a much more interesting trip.

I’m so glad to hear about your experience. We are avid Disney goers but are usually so focused on the big attractions that we don’t take advantage of the ambience, shows or less popular attractions. I’m excited to take it a little more slowly this trip, even if it’s kind of being forced upon me by the unusual crowds

 

[wisblue]

Went last month. Our experience was exactly same as what Lmdean posted above. Park was packed. US opened up to international travelers soon before and they showed up in droves. 7 Dwarves was down for a large part of the day. Splash Mountain still out of service. Not sure if that put pressure on other rides? Never got on Peter Pan. Haunted Mansion - we waited standby for a long time and I was so happy to go on it!

Even with larger than expected crowds I‘m surprised that G+ times for PP and HM were gone before the park opened.

I have not seen anything even close to that on the days that I’ve been there or any of the days when I’ve looked at wait times and return times from home.

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

"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."
This, this, a thousand times this.

 

[Dis Dragon]

"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."
This, this, a thousand times this.

What? You mean people don't enjoy suffering on their vacation?

You get enough dealing with any Disney technology with glitches and lost pages at home, but at least you have some time to recover from that. The anxiety your whole morning is going down the toilet because an app is failing or you woke up 1 minute too late... it just doesn't get any better.

 

[Davey Jones II]

There's plenty of threads on this already, but the idea is that you just keep getting selections at the park you're hopping to once the rebooking window opens. So you get the original one at 7am, then 2 hours after park open you pick another and then another 2 hours later. The idea is you enter a park later in the day with 4-5 LL lined up.

Thanks for the reply.
I guess I'll have to start plowing through that 150+ page Genie + thread....

 

[Turksmom]

Thanks for the reply.
I guess I'll have to start plowing through that 150+ page Genie + thread....

There have been some changes since it rolled out, so just read the first few posts and then skip to the end and work backwards.

 

[Miffy]

It's pretty much a guarantee that RotR ILL$ and SDD G+ are going to be sold out by 9. Probably by 7:15.

As for everything else, yes, there may still be selections available at 9 a.m., but odds are they're going to be late-afternoon or evening times. And some things will be sold out.

But if it's not crowded when you go, forget G+ and just do standby for everything except RotR and FoP. Pay for ILL$ for those--and buy them at 7 a.m. so you get the time you want. Or something close to it.

For us, G+ was unnecessary at Epcot. It was probably unnecessary at DAK, but we appreciated it since we wanted to to KS twice. MK is the park where you can get the most mileage out of it, assuming you stick around for most of the day. Ditto DHS.