Has anyone been to the parks recently and NOT used Genie+?

[GatorChris]

We saw people glued to their phones, so distracted they were almost walking into people...sad as they are missing the entire point of being on vacation!

This! I realize that times, they are a changing. And tech improves, and it's supposed to improve our lives. I was just at DL last month and it seemed like I always had to look at my phone to get things done, and that PRE-Genie. What's going to happen when it finally rolls out? I truly miss the old days, but not so old, of when I'd walk into a park, grab a FP at Big Thunder as I was walking onto Splash Mt, then ride Big Thunder after. Then repeat that. Yeah, I put in a lot more steps. But do you know where those steps were at? Magic Kingdom. And I got to drink it all in with every step. Now, I get more of phone. Yippee.

 

[AnnabelleTheTalkingTree]

I agree with this 100%. I love having a good, flexible plan that has us enjoying a relaxing day at the parks. I don't want to arrive and have to sort out our day on the fly. That is not relaxing at all... too stressful.
And because of that, we will just arrive and wait in stand by and go with the flow.

I think I'd skip Genie+ entirely if I didn't have little kids.

 

[ZeeWP]

I think I'd skip Genie+ entirely if I didn't have little kids.

I agree.

We would get Genie+ for MK and HS regardless of busy-ness, and AK and EP when it's busy, because of the flexibility it brings. With younger children, I need to have as much flexibility as possible to deal with their moods, lost items and emergencies. That's what Genie+ really brings to the table for me.

 

[Sjm9911]

This is the problem I have when using it, you get to your G+ and then the next 9ne is so far out at HS and Epcott or across the park that its easier and faster to wait 45 minutes in standby. So , you will use it, but not as much as you think.

 

[AnnabelleTheTalkingTree]

This is the problem I have when using it, you get to your G+ and then the next 9ne is so far out at HS and Epcott or across the park that its easier and faster to wait 45 minutes in standby. So , you will use it, but not as much as you think.

So, I'm far from thrilled with the whole Genie+ thing, but to be fair, even if you'd be in and out of the attraction earlier by using standby, you're still spending that time waiting in line. Personally I'd rather spend 45 minutes doing something other than just waiting in a line. That standby time is time I could be shopping, grabbing a snack, knocking out an attraction with a short wait, or just meandering or enjoying the park atmosphere.

 

[Sjm9911]

Lol, but some of the times are 1.5 hours out. So you would be waiting longer. It will depend on demand, and if rides go down. But im just telling you how ots working out for me using it here and now. Your experience may be diffent. As I said works ok in MK , HS its basicly to get out of the SDD line. At epcot so far was only used on 1 ride both times there. So useless.

 

[mouschievous]

So, I'm far from thrilled with the whole Genie+ thing, but to be fair, even if you'd be in and out of the attraction earlier by using standby, you're still spending that time waiting in line. Personally I'd rather spend 45 minutes doing something other than just waiting in a line. That standby time is time I could be shopping, grabbing a snack, knocking out an attraction with a short wait, or just meandering or enjoying the park atmosphere.

Lol, but some of the times are 1.5 hours out. So you would be waiting longer. It will depend on demand, and if rides go . But im just telling you how ots working out for me using it here and now. Your experience may be diffent. As I said works ok in MK , HS its basicly to get out of the SDD line. At epcot so far was only used on 1 ride both times there. So useless.

When Molly and Quincy (All Ears) did their experiment, they pointed out that Quincy had nearly 3 extra hours to do things when Molly was standing in line. Quincy got to sit and relax, have 2 snack breaks, etc. and Molly did none of that. Molly said her back hurt, Quincy felt great. They were not doing any extra rides, but they did point out that Quincy had time to do some of the other rides had she wanted to. So yes, you're waiting longer, but you're not physically standing in that line so you're able to do other things - eat, ride other rides, catch shows or cavalcades, etc. Heck, when we used MaxPass at DL, we were home taking a nap between passes!

 

[Sjm9911]

Molly and quincy did not do the parks smartly. I watched that. Im here now. Im telling you it may not wotk how you think.

 

[emilymad]

I think the key for us going Thanksgiving weekend is looking at availability of the LL in the days before our trips. We usually leave a park by noon and aren't back until 5-6pm. It seems on some of the busier days the LL are pushed out late really fast.

 

[White_Sox_Fan]

We just returned. We were there from the 10/30-11/4 and never used Genie, Genie + or individual LL. We did stay onsite and took advantage of early entry.

On 10/30 we went to DHS, it was listed as a 5 by Touringplans. Got there about 7:50 and immediately entered the park. Walked to RnR and waiting in the queue until 8:30. We were on the first car on RnR, went directly to ToT and rode that next. Then we went to Rise, arrived prior to park opening and waiting 15 minutes. We then did smuggler's Run, TSMM, M & M railway, Star tours, Muppets, lunch (not necessarily in that order) before heading back to the resort (2:30 ish). Never more that a 20-30 minute wait. We returned later and did Savy's Workshop.

10/31 was AK. A little slow start so arrived barely before opening, FoP (20 minute), Na'Vi River (15 Minutes), Safari (30 Minutes), Everest (15 Minutes), Jungle Trek, Everest single rider, Yak & Yeti lunch, Dinosaur and back to the resort. In the evening we hopped to DHS about 7:00 and rode Alien Saucer (5 min), Slinky (60 min) and back to rise (18 min).

11/1 Epcot, another slow start not getting in until just after the 10AM opening. Nemo (walk-on), Soarin' (15 Min), DVC Lounge, Space (10 Min), TT single rider (walk on), Eat our way around the World Showcase, Remy BG at 4:15 w/ 30 min line. Skyliner to Epcot More World showcase and Spaceship Earth. back to the resort before 7:30 dinner at Sanaa.

11/2 MK, in at 8AM. SM (5 Min), Buzz (walk on), Mad Hatter (5 min), HM (5 min), Cinnamon Roll at Gaston's, Little Mermaid (5 min), BTMRR (20 Min), Splash (10 Min), Jingle Cruise (50Min), Back to resort. back in the evening for Pirates (30 Min) and Enchantment.

11/3 DHS, more crowded but we didn't go as hard as all were repeats,

11/4 MK, In early again and did PP (5 min), SM (15 Min), BTMRR (10 min), Splash (5 Min), Pirates (10 Min), Laugh Floor before heading to Disney Springs were I grabbed an Lyft to the airport to get a rental car while the rest went thru the shops. We then went to visit relative for a couple days.

Overall I think a good plan and early entry on moderately crowded days will make Genie + and individual LL unnecessary. YMMV.

 

[cruisefortibet]

We were in the parks 10/25-10/29 and only used Genie+ our last day. The crowds were decent, but for most of the week (excluding Friday at MK) the waits were not long for rides, so that might factor into it. But I’ll just give a quick overview of each day’s strategy and what we accomplished.

10/25: AK day, we were at the bus @ 710, into the park by 7:40 for early entry. We did not get there early enough to go straight to FoP, so we skipped that bc only DH and DD wanted to ride this (they purchased ILL for that ride). We did Na’vi, Kilimanjari Safaris, a couple of trails, RotR ILL, Winged Encounters, Lion King show, lunch and shopping, break around 12pm. Headed back for Rainforest Café dinner at 430, then spent time in Dino Land before going back to Pandora to ride Na’vi one last time then viewed Pandora at night on our way out. My kids are little so many of the rides they did not like, but I saw short waits on bigger rides in the AM and after 4pm.

10/26: Epcot day, we did Skyliner over.. did Frozen, Soarin, Living with the Land, Gran Fiesta, Remy, Mission: Space, Nemo, Figment, etc. The only bad thing with Epcot was the World Showcase was insanely busy and we did more backtracking than we’d like, and it was an exhausting day. Definitely don’t need Genie+ though.

10/27: MK day one of two. We arrived at 9am, so didn’t get there super early to utilize EE. Did Pooh, Under the Sea, Dumbo, Speedway, Buzz, People Mover, Teacups, carousel, all before 1pm. Wandered over to Adventureland and did Magic Carpets, had some ice cream, then left for a break. Back at 5:30pm and did more rides like PotC and It’s a Small World, but saved Peter Pan for last as it was busy all day. Skipped HM and Jungle Cruise (JC was the only ride I Saw that always had long wait when I checked), saved those for our 2nd day. Since we stayed at a Deluxe resort, MK was having extended evening hours and so we got to ride lots of rides from 9pm-10:30pm, probably more than my kids cared to ride honestly (DH remarked that we were riding so many rides this day that they were getting less magical with each ride). My kids didn’t quite feel this way though

10/28: HS day, got there late bc bus was so slow to this park. Think we got there at like 920am and it was raining hard, so we made the terrible decision to do TSM and wasted 40 min in line for it, everyone seemed to be doing this ride to get out of the rain. I’d recommend doing shows and such if you can’t get there early enough to take advantage of short waits, as when we returned around 5pm, TSM, Swirling Saucers, even Slinky Dog was not a super long wait. We waited until nearly closing time to jump in line for MMRR and there was zero wait. DH and DD paid ILL for RotR which broke down and so it ended up being a 40 min wait for them.

10/29: MK day part two. We DID use Genie+ this day and while it was nice, we did lots of backtracking and I was on my phone way more than previous days. We were able to ride rides during the busiest times with short waits, so I can see Genie+ being helpful if you never get to the park early enough or stay late enough. Or if the crowds are bad and you want to do all of the popular rides like JC, HM, PP, etc, probably could save you time.

Overall though, for the crowd level during our trip and the planning we already had in place, we had no issues not using Genie+. We had a great time without it, even getting there 20 min behind other people.

 

[Moonwolf]

Just got back from a trip where my friend and I got genie+ for one day (MK day), purchased 1 lightning lane for Rise and then did 5 full days without any purchased upgrades.

It was useful on the day we got it but didn’t feel like it was necessary on any other day. We actually finished our day at MK at 6PM so theoretically if we didn’t have genie+ we could have just stayed in the park longer and still done everything. And we hit a majority of the rides at the other 3 parks in the span of 2 days. So the last 3 days were spent re-riding and doing 2 or 3 new things. So genie+ is good if you are short on time but it’s not necessary to accomplish everything.

In the end for us a good touring plan and taking advantage of rope drop was still the most useful thing in planning a park day.

 

[VAlegacy]

What a really important point. That is one thing I'm really starting to hate about the whole thing. The phone.... and as the Mom and planner of the whole group, I'm the only one glued to my phone and the one most desperately in need of the vacation....hmmm...that makes me think I may have to delegate this to one of the kids that won't mind as much and just sit back and enjoy the day. Thank you for the thought!

I wonder how people ever enjoyed Disney before cell phones?

 

[jvalic33]

I wonder how people ever enjoyed Disney before cell phones?

Life in general was much better before cell phones. Now we have no way of ever getting away and while yes, maybe we spend less time lost in our travels, we can't afford the time to get lost any longer!

 

[goofy4prez]

I'm about your age and WDW still appeals to me but in different ways than before. The rides are less important than before but I am finding the experiences and details more important to my now. I've looked at ride through videos of Remy and RotR and though they look interesting it wouldn't affect my enjoyment of my vacation if I don't ride them.

In some ways going slower is better. On the last trip I did the standby line at Big Thunder. By the time I got to the loading area I actually wished it had taken longer - there was a fantastic amount of fun detail in the ride queue and I wish I had stopped and explored it more. We often forget that Disney parks are Theme parks and this is where they truly excel at and you will be rewarded if you take the time do explore the details.

I actually do slow it down when visiting. Playing park commando is well in my past and not something I do today. But with that said, at my age now, there is no way I could stand in a line for two hours for an attraction without having to get out of the line and go find a restroom.

 

[kanerf]

I alternated paying for Genie+ sometimes and other times not. I have an AP, so I have to book it every day any way.