Genie + on a MNSSHP Day?

[Steve19842015]

I’m leaning towards going to MK on a Friday MNSSHP. I won’t have tickets for party entry. If I use this strategy it will be my last day at the parks. Thinking if I decide to go this route if I should also get Genie + to maximize times.

 

[Nick6300]

Are you going near Halloween or closer to early Oct? It's been a few years since we've been to MK on party days in Oct. but it gets busier from here on out the closer it gets to end of Oct. And some people have Columbus Day off 10/9 so they vacation that weekend/week coming up.

We were there week of Labor Day. Not as busy as Oct, but in 8 park days, we only paid for G+ once, and didn't need it. We went to MK on both Mon/Fri party days and had very low crowds.

 

[Steve19842015]

I arrive in Orlando on Saturday. Parks days are from Sunday Oct 1st through Friday October 6th

 

[Nick6300]

Hi Steve, I replied to you on your other post regarding this but I personally like one party day and one full day at MK such as Sun and Wed at MK, Fri at AK... we always try to fit AK in with the highest crowds park day - usually a Sat for us. You could have Thurs be your off day and M&T for EP/HS or Tue off instead of Thurs. If you like Sun & Fri for MK, starting and finishing at MK, you just won't be able to see MK fireworks, and that Fri will likely be relatively busier at MK, even for a party day, it's Fri before Columbus Day, which people always underestimate how busy it can be at the parks that weekend. Doesn't seem like a lot of people would have Columbus Day off, but I still remember going to MK on Columbus Day (I get that it's the following Mon.), and we didn't even go on anything it was so bad... we turned around and left. The only time I've ever done that.

 

[elittleton]

Nick360, what day do you suggest for MK? We will be there from 10/6 - 10. We are planning on MK on the 6th, HS on Saturday, EP on Sunday, AK on Monday, short day at Disney Springs on Tuesday before driving home on Wednesday. I figured Friday/party night would be less crowded for MK of our options

 

[Nick6300]

Nick360, what day do you suggest for MK? We will be there from 10/6 - 10. We are planning on MK on the 6th, HS on Saturday, EP on Sunday, AK on Monday, short day at Disney Springs on Tuesday before driving home on Wednesday. I figured Friday/party night would be less crowded for MK of our options

Hi elitteton. Tough one being a short trip right on a holiday wknd with parties except Sat and Sun 9am - 11pm, both of those will be popular with the Fri, Mon parties.

Personally, with one MK day I’d pick Sun. Both Sat and Sun will be popular, but not every local is going to have Mon off or otherwise staying through Sun evening, 11pm is so much later than 6pm for a party day and tough for me to miss fireworks on the one and only MK day of your trip. I’d put AK on Sat, your least popular park on the busier day, and the 1st night at hotel before the sat AK so you still get to take advantage of the 8am (7:30 early entry). The earlier night back at hotel after AK on Sat, may also serve as an assist for a better nights sleep for trying to take advantage of a long day/night at MK Sun. also I’d put EP on Fri, and HS mon with HS being open 8:30 on sat sun only, instead of 9 am open on other days. While some of us like to avoid EP fri and sat for the influx of locals for food and wine, if you rope drop Fri you should be ok. Generally more Fri night after work WS would be more crowded. Could also swap EP/HS. So I’d choose EP fri, AK sat, MK sun, HS mon.

 

[Nick6300]

If you’re wanting to go to MK on a party day… picking between fri or mon: I’d lean mon especially if you’re not getting to parks right at open fri but bit of a tossup with Mon being like a regular Sun since it’s Columbus but you also get to finish with MK. I’d still try to have AK Sat. Ep fri, HS sun. So in this case it would be Ep fri, AK sat, HS sun, MK mon.

 

[elittleton]

Thanks. I’m not big on fireworks mainly due to the crowds and my DD doesn’t care one way or the other, at this time (16 - it could change between now and next weekend). I was trying to pick the days that would be less crowded. I hate coming on school holidays so we normally come during the summer. Due to how it worked out this year my daughter has 3 days out of school instead of just 1 for Columbus day. She asked if we could go to Disney. She is doing really well in school so I told her we could stay an extra day to give us the 4 days.

Thanks for the suggestions. I’ll look into changing our reservations.

For me, doing MK last is not a priority. We have always done AK first and last, when we came for a week, because it’s my DD favorite park. That being said, if we don’t move MK to Sunday, would Friday or Monday have the lower crowds? I know it’s all a stab in the dark but I’m asking for just an educated guess.

 

[Nick6300]

Thanks. I’m not big on fireworks mainly due to the crowds and my DD doesn’t care one way or the other, at this time (16 - it could change between now and next weekend). I was trying to pick the days that would be less crowded. I hate coming on school holidays so we normally come during the summer. Due to how it worked out this year my daughter has 3 days out of school instead of just 1 for Columbus day. She asked if we could go to Disney. She is doing really well in school so I told her we could stay an extra day to give us the 4 days.

Thanks for the suggestions. I’ll look into changing our reservations.

For me, doing MK last is not a priority. We have always done AK first and last, when we came for a week, because it’s my DD favorite park. That being said, if we don’t move MK to Sunday, would Friday or Monday have the lower crowds? I know it’s all a stab in the dark but I’m asking for just an educated guess.

Party days should be less crowded. However, you’re getting into the period with 4 party days per week for both your arrival week and next, and it’s tougher for guests to completely avoid them to wait for the longer hour non party days (vs 2 party days in early sept for instance). Coupled with the holiday, and uptick with some locals getting a long wknd and some non locals not having to use 1 additional vacation day, Fri and Mon are both likely to be busier party days. Even if you don’t care for MK HEA (assuming that’s still on), 5 extra hours from 6-11pm is significant and you can ride at noticeably lower crowds during about 8pm-9:15 ish timeframe when many people are lining up for fireworks, and then a bunch of them leaving after fireworks. But if you typically don’t stay much past 6, that could factor. I assumed you didn’t have park hopper, and maybe the 4 day magic tickets. Many people go to MK for party days then hop to EP at night because of the convenience of monorail, not having to go through security again. Without PH, I’d pick a full day for my only MK day.

Between fri and mon, I think they’re both somewhat of a wash because fri is typically going to be busier at MK, and usually that’s because of wknd/day trips from locals, but the uptick may be more pronounced in the evening where Mon being like a regular Sunday, the opposite, where the evening could free up as a work night. Between these, my guess is Mon is the lighter crowd day at MK over Fri.

When we were locals, we typically left after work Fri, stayed fri night and left after park closed late Sat. We did stay Sun and leave Mon night for Columbus. And that wknd would be deceptively super busy for MK. Wasn’t a party day back then, but specifically I still recall being at MK on Monday, Columbus and it was so insane that we turned around and left. And that’s the only time I’ve ever done that, having been on numerous Christmas days, NYE, etc.

 

[Nick6300]

Not quite the same, but this past Mon Labor Day at MK (party day) was just wonderful in terms of wait times.

 

[elittleton]

Party days should be less crowded. However, you’re getting into the period with 4 party days per week for both your arrival week and next, and it’s tougher for guests to completely avoid them to wait for the longer hour non party days (vs 2 party days in early sept for instance). Coupled with the holiday, and uptick with some locals getting a long wknd and some non locals not having to use 1 additional vacation day, Fri and Mon are both likely to be busier party days. Even if you don’t care for MK HEA (assuming that’s still on), 5 extra hours from 6-11pm is significant and you can ride at noticeably lower crowds during about 8pm-9:15 ish timeframe when many people are lining up for fireworks, and then a bunch of them leaving after fireworks. But if you typically don’t stay much past 6, that could factor. I assumed you didn’t have park hopper, and maybe the 4 day magic tickets. Many people go to MK for party days then hop to EP at night because of the convenience of monorail, not having to go through security again. Without PH, I’d pick a full day for my only MK day.

Between fri and mon, I think they’re both somewhat of a wash because fri is typically going to be busier at MK, and usually that’s because of wknd/day trips from locals, but the uptick may be more pronounced in the evening where Mon being like a regular Sunday, the opposite, where the evening could free up as a work night. Between these, my guess is Mon is the lighter crowd day at MK over Fri.

When we were locals, we typically left after work Fri, stayed fri night and left after park closed late Sat. We did stay Sun and leave Mon night for Columbus. And that wknd would be deceptively super busy for MK. Wasn’t a party day back then, but specifically I still recall being at MK on Monday, Columbus and it was so insane that we turned around and left. And that’s the only time I’ve ever done that, having been on numerous Christmas days, NYE, etc.

Thanks. I talked to my daughter and she wants the option of staying later at MK but not necessarily stay for the fireworks. I changed our days to EP on Friday, AK on Saturday, MK on Sunday and HS on Monday. I was able to change all our reservations but Beaches and Cream. It’s a would be nice and not a must have so I just canceled it. I will keep trying until we leave EP for a reservation.

You are correct. We only have a 4 day magic ticket. We don’t park hop but go to one park and stay until we are ready to leave. We don’t do afternoon breaks but normally only stay late for MK and AK.

This is a very last minute trip, as in I bought the tickets and made the reservations last weekend. Was just going to be a relaxing long weekend away.

I’m normally a months and months planner. Needlessly I haven’t had time for my normal research on best days and options. Since we haven’t been in 2 years and never when there are parties I feel like I’m playing catch-up.

I think I have an idea of how Genie+ works and maybe the virtual queues. Fingers crossed.

 

[Nick6300]

Thanks. I talked to my daughter and she wants the option of staying later at MK but not necessarily stay for the fireworks. I changed our days to EP on Friday, AK on Saturday, MK on Sunday and HS on Monday. I was able to change all our reservations but Beaches and Cream. It’s a would be nice and not a must have so I just canceled it. I will keep trying until we leave EP for a reservation.

You are correct. We only have a 4 day magic ticket. We don’t park hop but go to one park and stay until we are ready to leave. We don’t do afternoon breaks but normally only stay late for MK and AK.

This is a very last minute trip, as in I bought the tickets and made the reservations last weekend. Was just going to be a relaxing long weekend away.

I’m normally a months and months planner. Needlessly I haven’t had time for my normal research on best days and options. Since we haven’t been in 2 years and never when there are parties I feel like I’m playing catch-up.

I think I have an idea of how Genie+ works and maybe the virtual queues. Fingers crossed.

I’m glad you got your reservations switched and that you’re feeling a little better on your plans. If you plan your dinner timing right, you should see some dropping wait times before fireworks with people lining up 60-90 min before. 7DMT is tougher to judge the accuracy of posted time given you can’t see the whole queue from outside, but the posted is often well overstated and getting in around 8:30 ish works out. You could maybe even glimpse fireworks while on the attraction which is neat, or watch them from behind the castle for a minute on the way to Pan after 7D.

Genie is pretty easy. The newer update is that you can select and now refresh to see alternative time slots for option to pick another time rather than canceling it to look to see if someone canceled an attractive time slot last minute, like FP+. We definitely used this to get some better slots rather than just picking a slot and leaving it. We only did 1 G+ at EP/MK day and used 10 selections.

We hadn’t done the VQ for tron til this trip. I was nervous enough to reread tactics for being fast, rider swap since this was our first experience with it, and how they’re not letting you go late for tron. We never missed a VQ, wife refreshed at :59 and 59 seconds where I’d hold up my apple watch and verbally guide her to refresh to select it. We had most of our days MK/EP for as many tron and guardians as possible this time. But next time we’d prioritize guardians more and potentially have mostly EP days for getting a BG each day. A lot of people desire to go to tron at night for the glow effect. And guardians had long lines in late evenings with many people from the 1pm slot which can last for hours after 1pm, getting called late or people waiting until late to enter. Kept seeing wrapped around outside lines around 8pm. After having an 80 min wait at 8pm for guardians, we tried to go earlier thereafter. For guardians they’ll let you go well after your slot. We had 3rd group once and we waited til we were done rope dropping am attractions, had lunch and such, and before we knew it, it was afternoon despite being called like at 9.

Have a good friend who does beaches and cream every trip. I’ve watched vlogs of eating that big sundae. Never been over there even as an ice cream addict.

 

[elittleton]

I’m glad you got your reservations switched and that you’re feeling a little better on your plans. If you plan your dinner timing right, you should see some dropping wait times before fireworks with people lining up 60-90 min before. 7DMT is tougher to judge the accuracy of posted time given you can’t see the whole queue from outside, but the posted is often well overstated and getting in around 8:30 ish works out. You could maybe even glimpse fireworks while on the attraction which is neat, or watch them from behind the castle for a minute on the way to Pan after 7D.

Genie is pretty easy. The newer update is that you can select and now refresh to see alternative time slots for option to pick another time rather than canceling it to look to see if someone canceled an attractive time slot last minute, like FP+. We definitely used this to get some better slots rather than just picking a slot and leaving it. We only did 1 G+ at EP/MK day and used 10 selections.

We hadn’t done the VQ for tron til this trip. I was nervous enough to reread tactics for being fast, rider swap since this was our first experience with it, and how they’re not letting you go late for tron. We never missed a VQ, wife refreshed at :59 and 59 seconds where I’d hold up my apple watch and verbally guide her to refresh to select it. We had most of our days MK/EP for as many tron and guardians as possible this time. But next time we’d prioritize guardians more and potentially have mostly EP days for getting a BG each day. A lot of people desire to go to tron at night for the glow effect. And guardians had long lines in late evenings with many people from the 1pm slot which can last for hours after 1pm, getting called late or people waiting until late to enter. Kept seeing wrapped around outside lines around 8pm. After having an 80 min wait at 8pm for guardians, we tried to go earlier thereafter. For guardians they’ll let you go well after your slot. We had 3rd group once and we waited til we were done rope dropping am attractions, had lunch and such, and before we knew it, it was afternoon despite being called like at 9.

Have a good friend who does beaches and cream every trip. I’ve watched vlogs of eating that big sundae. Never been over there even as an ice cream addict.

Thanks for this info. The good thing about 7D is my daughter doesn’t want to ride it. She wasn’t impressed with it. She would much rather ride Big Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain. If we can catch it with a short line we will ride it but we don’t think it’s worth over an hour in line.

I was able to get a Beaches and Cream reservation this morning. We have only been once over 10 years ago. The plan is we are going to split a hamburger then get a regular sundae.

 

[Nick6300]

Thanks for this info. The good thing about 7D is my daughter doesn’t want to ride it. She wasn’t impressed with it. She would much rather ride Big Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain. If we can catch it with a short line we will ride it but we don’t think it’s worth over an hour in line.

I was able to get a Beaches and Cream reservation this morning. We have only been once over 10 years ago. The plan is we are going to split a hamburger then get a regular sundae.

Beaches must be good to be so popular. Burger sundae sound like a good plan. Space mt, to me, is way more fun than Tron… but a lot of people hate Space. I’m amazed there aren’t more lawsuits for injuries on it. But that ride is like my chiropractic session. Space was broken on at least 2 of my MK days… the entire day to where they issued an apology on mde.

I talked to my friend I mentioned previously, today, and I forgot to ask if she’s going to Beaches when she goes back at end of this month. Her aim is to have Halloween decor, including a party, and by end of the trip see Christmas decor. We talk before each of our trips to run through park day selections, even before advent of reservations, genie selections, and after trips for any nuances or interesting things that occurred. We used to talk Disney every day as coworkers and now live in different states. Soarin over Cali and giant figment meet and greet are a few of objectives.

 

[mmouse50]

Not quite the same, but this past Mon Labor Day at MK (party day) was just wonderful in terms of wait times.

But there had been a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico (Idalia) and half of Florida was under a Tropical Storm Watch so I am assuming a lot of trips were canceled.

 

[Nick6300]

But there had been a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico (Idalia) and half of Florida was under a Tropical Storm Watch so I am assuming a lot of trips were canceled.

I think some trips were canceled but most of us were super anxious, watched closely, and saw that by Wed afternoon - the week before Labor Day, the storm was NE & out of FL. Hence we kept our trip, flew in early Sat am. If you believe the CM at Sports, she actually said that they were still 100% booked when I asked for any other room after they brushed off my room requests. It was relatively busy at MK on that day, Sat, the typical for that Sat., about a 6/10 crowd level. We knew it would be but still went to MK mainly for our Tron BGs. Crowds always drop considerably beginning Labor Day, and goes down to like a 2/10 Tue-Wed. In my opinion, rivaling parts of Jan for one of the lowest crowds of the year. Been going late Aug., early Sept. for the past 2 decades for the lower crowds... kids in school, not as many people want to go when it's super hot, rainy/hurricane season.

We went to MK for both Mon & Fri party days before hopping (Sat, Sun, Mon, Wed, Fri), and it worked out beautifully. Wed was the only day we bought G+ for EP then MK. The last day, our flight day, I was able to finish HS by 10:34am on a Sat. without G+.

 

[mmouse50]

I hope you are right about everyone keeping their trips - I have been tracking TP crowd calendar for awhile and the levels that they showed were unbelieveable for a holiday weekend, Wish I had been there. But I will be heading over this weekend and yes there has been a slight uptick at parks but hopefully it will be medium crowds.

Here is what TP posted for the week leading up to Labor day. 1st number is predicted and 2nd number is what they actually saw. If you can put stock in TP predictions

			MK	EPCOT	HS	AK
Mon	Aug	28	3 was 3	5 was 3	5 was 4	3 was 3
Tues	Aug	29	2 was 1	5 was 2	6 was 4	4 was 2
Wed	Aug	30	2 was 1	5 was 1	5 was 1	4 was 1
Thurs	Aug	31	2 was 2	6 was 2	5 was 2	4 was 2
Fri	Sept	1	2 was 1	4 was 1	5 was 2	4 was 2
Sat	Sept	2	4 was 4	6 was 5	6 was 4	5 was 2
Sun	Sept	3	4 was 4	6 was 8	7 was 6	6 was 4
Mon	Sept	4	2 was 1	5 was 3	6 was 2	5 was 3
Tues	Sept	5	2 was 4	4 was 2	4 was 2	3 was 2
Wed	Sept	6	2 was 2	4 was 2	3 was 2	3 was 2

 

[Nick6300]

I hope you are right about everyone keeping their trips - I have been tracking TP crowd calendar for awhile and the levels that they showed were unbelieveable for a holiday weekend, Wish I had been there. But I will be heading over this weekend and yes there has been a slight uptick at parks but hopefully it will be medium crowds.

Here is what TP posted for the week leading up to Labor day. 1st number is predicted and 2nd number is what they actually saw. If you can put stock in TP predictions

			MK	EPCOT	HS	AK
Mon	Aug	28	3 was 3	5 was 3	5 was 4	3 was 3
Tues	Aug	29	2 was 1	5 was 2	6 was 4	4 was 2
Wed	Aug	30	2 was 1	5 was 1	5 was 1	4 was 1
Thurs	Aug	31	2 was 2	6 was 2	5 was 2	4 was 2
Fri	Sept	1	2 was 1	4 was 1	5 was 2	4 was 2
Sat	Sept	2	4 was 4	6 was 5	6 was 4	5 was 2
Sun	Sept	3	4 was 4	6 was 8	7 was 6	6 was 4
Mon	Sept	4	2 was 1	5 was 3	6 was 2	5 was 3
Tues	Sept	5	2 was 4	4 was 2	4 was 2	3 was 2
Wed	Sept	6	2 was 2	4 was 2	3 was 2	3 was 2

Thanks - this is interesting. I would not have called MK 4 on Sat. We did a lot shows like Carousel and rides like Mermaid/Peoplemover because of the crowds. We normally do AK on this very Sat., but this trip prioritized Tron/Guardians with wife being pregnant on the prior trip and never riding these... it was just a different trip, because for instance, HS - with our baby, we can't ride anything but TSM and MMRR together, and who wants to ride ToT by themselves, it's just not the same. I guess me, because I still did. AK is not a whole lot better for being able to ride together.

Sun with EP being an 8, no way- it was a very decent day but we did PH in the afternoon, maybe they gauged in the evening with F&W.

I mean Wed and the day or two surrounding, certainly, I can understand with the storm people staying home. I do feel like this week was a tick down in crowds from normal, which is usually very low crowds outside of the wknd before labor day... but I sort of attributed that to a lower census more than the storm occurring the prior week. Some rumblings from people this summer, well before the storm, they were seeing lower crowds and have been citing the whole political backlash with conservatives boycotting. I don't know that I buy into that or care. The continued high prices can't help... dynamic G+ prices vs. $15. The previous cycle of "revenge vacationing" post COVID, with pent up demand has come and gone, so there's less vacationers relative to 2022 (channeling my inner Bob Iger). People feeling poorer due to inflation, the stock market in Aug and Sept (maybe reaching on that one). Record temps when it's already hot in FL. Maybe a combination of a lot of factors for less WDW guests.

Sorry for the rant! I think I'd plan on 7/10 crowds this weekend and be pleasantly surprised if it's more like 5. The days before the weekend and after should be ok if staying more than just the wknd. I hope you have a good trip! I'm jealous that I'm missing Soarin' over Cali.

 

[elittleton]

Beaches must be good to be so popular. Burger sundae sound like a good plan. Space mt, to me, is way more fun than Tron… but a lot of people hate Space. I’m amazed there aren’t more lawsuits for injuries on it. But that ride is like my chiropractic session. Space was broken on at least 2 of my MK days… the entire day to where they issued an apology on mde.

I talked to my friend I mentioned previously, today, and I forgot to ask if she’s going to Beaches when she goes back at end of this month. Her aim is to have Halloween decor, including a party, and by end of the trip see Christmas decor. We talk before each of our trips to run through park day selections, even before advent of reservations, genie selections, and after trips for any nuances or interesting things that occurred. We used to talk Disney every day as coworkers and now live in different states. Soarin over Cali and giant figment meet and greet are a few of objectives.

When we went last time it was right before Soarin changed over. We are very good at just missing new rides. We just missed Frozen then when we went back my daughter was at the age where she couldn’t stand it. We just missed Remy opening by about 2 days. There are several new rides, to us, that we are hoping to ride. I wasn’t sure about Tron for myself but did find out about an option with a seat that I will request.

 

[Nick6300]

When we went last time it was right before Soarin changed over. We are very good at just missing new rides. We just missed Frozen then when we went back my daughter was at the age where she couldn’t stand it. We just missed Remy opening by about 2 days. There are several new rides, to us, that we are hoping to ride. I wasn’t sure about Tron for myself but did find out about an option with a seat that I will request.

I’m not sure I know what you mean by a seat option for Tron but I hope it allows you to enjoy it. We’re starting to think about 2 trips from now with in laws who don’t love thrill rides, and they haven’t been on Tron. Mom in law surprisingly enjoys Guardians, but I believe it’s because of the music cool factor overriding her sense of terror for coasters. I like the ride so much that given a choice, I’d pick EP every single day to secure a BG, go to wherever park and then finish at EP every night to do guardians.

It is disappointing to just miss updates/new rides, like we just did with Soarin global going back to Soarin California temporarily and maybe never again, but on the plus side, you have the several new rides to look forward to on the upcoming trip.

I’m not disappointed with missing Moana. We caught glimpses from monorail with cm previews going on.