Can I avoid waking up before 7?

[Davey Jones II]

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.

Why would G+ not be necessary at Epcot? Pre-pandemic, I've seen substantial (over 30 min.) waits for TT, Soarin', and others. And Frozen is endlessly mobbed. Even if waits for some rides like Soarin' are 25-30 min. , wouldn't it be useful to get a 5-10 min. wait?

 

[Dis Dragon]

Frozen isn't included in G+, Soarin wait times fluctuate all over the place but it's not uncommon to find it at less than 30 minutes at any given time. The only real reason to get G+ at Epcot is Test Track.

Now when Frozen switches to Guardians, it will hold enough value to warrant it.

 

[Miffy]

Frozen isn't included in G+, Soarin wait times fluctuate all over the place but it's not uncommon to find it at less than 30 minutes at any given time. The only real reason to get G+ at Epcot is Test Track.

Now when Frozen switches to Guardians, it will hold enough value to warrant it.

@Dis Dragon answered for me! Frozen is on ILL$, not G+. We rope-dropped Soarin' but saw the wait was often not bad throughout the day. Everything else, with the exception of TT, was a minimal wait. Remy, of course, is also an ILL$.

 

[Davey Jones II]

Thanks for the replies. We haven't been to WDW since 2019, so I'm still pretty confused about the new system.

 

[Dis Dragon]

Thanks for the replies. We haven't been to WDW since 2019, so I'm still pretty confused about the new system.

The new system is not an easy one to manage. It has a lot of nuances that make it not fun.

I think everyone was expecting the simplicity of maxpass.

 

[bsmcneil]

I can't begin to tell you how frustrating this was for me. And for those who say, "Well, you don't have to use it" - that's decent in theory but we had a hard time navigating lines even with G+. I can't imagine how it would've gone without it. I really did find that I missed legacy FP/FP+. I don't know what the alternative is/could be - but it really stunk (honestly, this is what would be amazing to have a Travel Agent do. I'd completely be happy to pay someone to do this for me).

 

[MakiraMarlena]

you can even get in Test Track with a minimal wait if you are willing to use the single riders line.

 

[wisblue]

I can't begin to tell you how frustrating this was for me. And for those who say, "Well, you don't have to use it" - that's decent in theory but we had a hard time navigating lines even with G+. I can't imagine how it would've gone without it. I really did find that I missed legacy FP/FP+. I don't know what the alternative is/could be - but it really stunk (honestly, this is what would be amazing to have a Travel Agent do. I'd completely be happy to pay someone to do this for me).

As a middle ground to being up at 7 every day and going without Genie+, I would suggest taking a look at what things are available to book a little later in the morning, say between 8 and 9 AM.

You might find that the things you are most interested in are still available with reasonable return times. There are only a few attractions that you might miss out on completely, Slinky and ROTR being the obvious examples. If you want to take a crack at those, you can have someone in the group get up early for a DHS day and sleep later on other days.

IMHO, one of the biggest positives of Genie+ and ILL$ is that it offers more opportunities to fit different touring styles than any other system WDW has had, including those who don‘t want to be up in time to hit early entry and rope drop.

For people that don‘t want to be up at 7, you can still use Genie+ to make reservations for later in the day, or save the payments altogether and use standby later just before park closing when a lot of the people who are up before 7 every day have packed it in for the day.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

I'd completely be happy to pay someone to do this for me

Disney has that covered, too. For the low, low price of $4K+, you can get a private VIP guide that will manage all this for you!

 

[DisneyFive]

Yes, at Epcot it still has value, just not nearly as much as MK and HS.

I prepurched G+ for our entire 8 night stay, of which 2 days are EP and one AK.

TT is the biggest time saver with G+, and we can all ride that together with G+ rather than be split with single rider. However it still DOES save time for rides like Soarin, Mission Space, etc…. It just depends on if all that is worth the $16 pp ( including tax). For us it is. We’ll LL everything and do it again standby if we want to if waits are low enough. We will not purchase ILL for Frozen, nor Remy. We may bite the bullet and wait in the dang standby line for Remy.

This all is very similar for AK.

-Dan

 

[maryj11]

I hated getting up at 7:00 and doing genie+. It is stressful, I would look at the clock when I thought it was almost time even though I had an alarm set.
Why can’t we do all our genie selections ahead of time.

 

[wisblue]

I hated getting up at 7:00 and doing genie+. It is stressful, I would look at the clock when I thought it was almost time even though I had an alarm set.
Why can’t we do all our genie selections ahead of time.

As was shown with FP+ there are downsides to that too.

Letting onsite guests make reservations for the length of their stay gave guests with longer stays a head start over ones with shorter stays, and an even bigger edge over offsite guests who couldn’t make reservations until 30 days in advance.

Also, the time that the reservation window opened every day was more convenient for people in some time zones than others. And many posters on this board didn’t like having to make reservations that far in advance because that effectively tied them to a specific park for that day. They liked being able to start each day with a clean slate.

There’s no system that’s going to make everyone happy, and this one is no exception.

 

[Bullseye]

Thanks for the replies. We haven't been to WDW since 2019, so I'm still pretty confused about the new system.

Check out the sticky. It's clear and comprehensive.

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