Here Now & Just Back - A Place To Share Your Recent Experiences

[DisTXMom]

We just returned from 6 days at the parks during peak spring break. We were a party of 4, except the last two days when we were a party of 2. We purchased Genie + each day of our trip- we hadn’t been in 5 years and won’t likely return for another 2-3 and were ok with the incremental cost given we go infrequently and wanted to be able to not stand in lines. We took 3-5 hour breaks each day and ate 1-2 table service meals per day. We opened the parks 2 of our 6 days and closed them nearly every night. A few examples of how our days unfolded:

- Found MK early entry to be hectic and chose to let our family sleep in a little after that first early entry there because we didn’t really feel like it got us much and since we were closing the parks, opening them as well was just too much. HS was better- we rode RNR, then MMRR.
- We did extended evening hours at MK and EPCOT. At MK, we were able to experience almost as much on other 11pm close nights but it was fun to be in the parks late. Trying to do 7DMT didn’t appear worth it during EE, wait times still around an hour and those folks didn’t get much out of the EE. EPCOT EE was fun as well- we did TT, Soarin and SE (we did Remy via ILLS)

-our All-MK days with hotel breaks midday: we were able to get LL for Jungle Cruise, Splash, Big Thunder, Buzz, plus Haunted Mansion or Pirates, sometimes Space or Peter Pan as well. We often picked up smaller rides such as Pooh or Speeday as well. We rode little mermaid, small world, peoplemover, CoP, laugh floor etc all with minimal standby waits. We averaged 7-8 LL per day on our MK days and 5-6 on our other parks/hopper days where we ended the day in MK. After the first couple of LL’s of the day, we booked in the 7-10pm timeframe working from those that were out the furthest (jungle cruise, big T, splash) to those that went more slowly (haunted mansion, pirates and then buzz)

- on our EPCOT/MK day, we got Test Track and Soarin at EPCOT, then Splash, Big T, jungle cruise at MK

-we went to AK yesterday for FoP, and was booking LL at HS, we got Tower, RnR, Toy Story, all to use in the 2pm-6pm timeframe

-We booked passes at 7 am and then set an alarm for when our next one was due. It was smoother when we could book an early pass for the first hour and then be on a 2 hour window that ended before the standard one (ie if most people were booking at 7, 11, 1, 3, 5, we’d try to book at 7,10, 12, 2, 4). There is a big rush on LL at those standard eligibility refresh times. However we had mostly the same success when we had to book at the standard eligibility times.

- overall LL let us bypass 3 lines of 90-180 minutes per day, plus several other 45-75 minute lines. For us, that made it worth it. The longer park hours helped keep availability up. It seemed like we did nearly everything via LL and very little standby

- I didn’t feel like I was on my phone more than normal.Setting alarms let me set it and forget it.

- the 7am booking requires patience/ if I was Unable to get what I wanted right at 7, I waited for things to refresh and reload and was able to get it in the 710-720 timeframe when things reloaded.

- I did some refreshing in the parks and was able to get an early return Peter Pan and tower of terror that way, but I didn’t do a lot of refreshing other than when we were up to book our next pass. It was very draining on my phone battery to keep refreshing

-the cast members were all great. Very positive and happy to be there. We did 2 days at Universal and some of their folks were borderline hostile. It was a marked difference.

- the parks and bathrooms were kept clean, although some people drop masks on the ground and we saw some of that

- we had a lot of great meals. Favorites were
steakhouse 71, Plaza and Skippers canteen.

- we loved enchantment. It didn’t have as much heart as some of the earlier shows but thought it presented the many years of films well and we liked the fireworks and the soundtrack. Harmonious was just ok- all of that metal projection stuff was awkward.

-I was excited to see festival of fantasy return!

- overall I agree with the OP that you need to have realistic expectations and be prepared to change plans when needed. We altered our park hopping and/or meals and breaks to work around some of the craziest days (st patricks
day). I know people are unhappy about the upcharge for genie +, but for us, were already in on $$$ with flights,hotel, tickets and those were sunk costs. The G+ charge was worth the time and hassle it saved our family. We had a significantly better experience than what we expected based on everything I’ve read online.We definately had a magical and wonderful trip and did/saw everything we wanted. My daughter and I counted all we did on 3/18 in MK- it was 15 attractions, tom sawyers island, fireworks (from 7DMT area), plus we didn’t open the parks and we got in a long break that day. I didn’t expect to have days like that based on what we read ahead of time. Spring break was crazy, but it also brought a fun energy of attending a packed country bear jamboree - something we don’t encounter on slower times of year.


All in all, it was a great trip and the current structure worked for our family.

 

[DizneyMommy]

Rough day for HS today, so much dowtime. SDD hasn’t even opened yet and it is noon. RotR broke for a couple of hours at opening. RR has been down off and on. Alien was broken for 2 hours at opening. I feel bad for people who can’t hop or come back!

 

[neptuneflame]

Just back from our 3/12-3/19 trip! We stayed at POR, and my parents joined for 3 of our days. This was our second pandemic trip (first in May 2021). We had a great trip, with great weather for most of it and we did everything we wanted (except ToT) despite the super high crowds.

DH really resented G+ but we ended up buying it for 4 of 6 park days. If you buy G+, I highly recommend you also get park hopper, as the ability to stack and knock out headliners in multiple parks in one day is where most of the value is. The first day we used it crowds were not as bad and we got more accomplished than we ever would have under old FP+. The other days were more equivalent to FP. Due to the time change, we forewent RD in favor of late nights, where we had a lot of success, esp at MK. I agree with previous posters that the parks were clean and CMs friendly. The vibe was positive and magical and a great respite from the past two years. I saw a lot of warnings about mask compliance on transportation, but our experience was that 90-95% were compliant.

We plan to take a big break from Disney so I’m glad we had such a great trip. TBH with G+ and park hopper our next trip will likely be much shorter, and we plan to bookend it with a longer Universal trip.

 

[Westerner]

If you buy G+, I highly recommend you also get park hopper, as the ability to stack and knock out headliners in multiple parks in one day is where most of the value is.

I’ve been thinking this too. Can you give an example on how you got synergy out of G+ and PH?

 

[neptuneflame]

I’ve been thinking this too. Can you give an example on how you got synergy out of G+ and PH?

Sure! On Sunday, we bought $ILL for Avatar, and used G+ for Navi and Kilimanjaro (we did other rides standby). While at AK, we booked $ILL for Remy and LLs for Soarin, Test Track, AND Frozen all in the evening at Epcot. We had a lot of luck waiting just a couple minutes after the time everyone is eligible to refresh and grab LLs. Also, bc we were PH and MDE knew that, it gave us options for return times for Remy rather than forcing us to take the display time. Later in the trip, we started at DHS and stacked rides in MK for that afternoon. This combo worked esp well because G+ runs out of LLs at DHS by noon, so you would not have any options unless you were hopping.

 

[SLThomas318]

Sure! On Sunday, we bought $ILL for Avatar, and used G+ for Navi and Kilimanjaro (we did other rides standby). While at AK, we booked $ILL for Remy and LLs for Soarin, Test Track, AND Frozen all in the evening at Epcot. We had a lot of luck waiting just a couple minutes after the time everyone is eligible to refresh and grab LLs. Also, bc we were PH and MDE knew that, it gave us options for return times for Remy rather than forcing us to take the display time. Later in the trip, we started at DHS and stacked rides in MK for that afternoon. This combo worked esp well because G+ runs out of LLs at DHS by noon, so you would not have any options unless you were hopping.

Soarin, Test Track, and Frozen all in one day?! That is awesome... how big was your group and do you remember what time you booked and what return times you were given? It didn't seem like it was possible to get all 3 in one day... this gives me hope!

 

[EddieValiant]

Rough day for HS today, so much dowtime. SDD hasn’t even opened yet and it is noon. RotR broke for a couple of hours at opening. RR has been down off and on. Alien was broken for 2 hours at opening. I feel bad for people who can’t hop or come back!

That right there is why the 2pm park hopping rule needs to be eliminated.

 

[neptuneflame]

Soarin, Test Track, and Frozen all in one day?! That is awesome... how big was your group and do you remember what time you booked and what return times you were given? It didn't seem like it was possible to get all 3 in one day... this gives me hope!

There were 4 of us. All of our return times were after 5 and we had TT and Soarin’ double booked at 7:20. Refresh and waiting till xx:32 or xx:33 really worked to get these spots on Sunday which was a 6-7. Later that week, when crowds were 8-9, refresh didn’t work as well.

 

[DizneyMommy]

That right there is why the 2pm park hopping rule needs to be eliminated.

Yup. And it didn’t even open until sometime after 4ish, we kept checking. We had an Advance DAS pass for it but we gave up waiting and left.

 

[pens4821]

I’ve been thinking this too. Can you give an example on how you got synergy out of G+ and PH?

I was also there this last week and agree that genie+ and ph should go hand in hand.
Sunday we went to HS and rode tot,rnrc,mmrr, and sdd. We stacked for MK at night. We rode hm,potc,btm,splash,buzz all stacked from the day using LL.
Thursday we went to HS in the morning. Booked tot right at 7 so rode sdd,tsm,rnrc, then used our tot. At night we had stacked soarin,ms,se,nemo.
Friday we went to MK in the am. Just relaxed, rode splash, and ate. We used LL for tot,rnrc,as2,mmrr,Mfsm.

the reason the PH is a great help is because you know when your LL return times will begin (2). So you can take a couple hour break every day. If you just stay in one park, you could still get the same done but would probably have to stay open to close (or be more likely to have to stay without a break atleast).

 

[holyrita]

That right there is why the 2pm park hopping rule needs to be eliminated.

The last time I was in HS during my February trip, I rope dropped with EE and was one of the first in line for SDD. Slinky magically opened 15 minutes before EE even began so I was able to do Slinky, TSM, MMRR and RNRC without G+ and all before breakfast. I had done ROTR and the rest of the rides in HS on a previous day that trip, so I thought I would head to Epcot to try some new food and browse the Festival of the Arts booths. Was just about to get on the Skyliner when I realized I'd be 4 hours too early for for the 2pm park hopping. Mad at Disney for this incredibly irritating limitation, I left and drove to Universal. I had a fantastic day of rides, 2 meals, and a bit of shopping.

 

[acarsme123]

Just got back home today from a March 13-19th trip. Wow. That was nuts. I’m absolutely exhausted and sore. This is our 3rd, week long trip over the last 7 years. I never remember being this tired and sore…some of that I attribute to getting older…but I mostly blame the new Genie+ system and the weather being brutally hot compared to our past trips.

To maximize riding, we did early entry every day except one (rest day). We were up to catch the busses 90 minutes before the early entry time. This actually seemed to be key, as we were almost always near the front of the early entry crowds every day. But getting up that early sure does take a toll, especially if you’re not used to it. Using early entry, and being near the front of the crowd, we were able to knock out 2-3 attractions fairly quickly before the crowds really started to build. And build they did! I’ve never seen the parks this crowded before. It was shoulder to shoulder in some sections! The only exception to this was our first day in the parks, last Sunday at MK. It was in the 30s to start the day. I think the chilly weather kept some of the early entry folks away until mid day. I was starting to get a false sense that the crowd issues were overblown as the MK was not really congested from about park open until 11am…..then it got nuts! And it stayed nuts the rest of the week!

Genie+ seemed to have good value at Magic Kingdom and Epcot I felt, especially if you utilize early entry and can be near the front of the pack. HS and Animal Kingdom not so much. HS has too many headline attractions that we were only able to really use Genie+ to secure a LL for one good ride each day we were there.

I have a lot more I want to say about Genie+. I’ll probably write up something in a seperate post. I’m exhausted. We literally just got back an hour ago (two day drive).
I’ll probably write up a full trip report when I have time to gather more of my thoughts.

Overall, we had fun, but it’s not the same Disney trip as in the past. This was grueling. I’m not sure I’ll be rushing back anytime soon

 

[pens4821]

The only exception to this was our first day in the parks, last Sunday at MK. It was in the 30s to start the day. I think the chilly weather kept some of the early entry folks away until mid day. I was starting to get a false sense that the crowd issues were overblown as the MK was not really congested from about park open until 11am…..then it got nuts! And it stayed nuts the rest of the week!

I was also there last week and agree. we went to HS. I think not only the cold but also the time change really helped. We got tot, rnrc, mmrr, and sdd was about an hour wait after that. I got happy thinking we would be able to get that much done every morning. Not the case. Two rides with the third being longer wait seemed the norm after that. Then the waits were just too much.

It was more crowded than it’s ever been while we were there. Actually the wait times weren’t that much higher than when we were there for MLK week in 2019 I don’t think. They did seem to build faster though. But just the massive amounts of people everywhere was horrible trying to around.

I will say that the LL moved MUCH faster than the FP lines did our trip in 2019. We waited in many 20+ minute lines to use our FPs that trip. I think between LL and ILL we had 17 attractions. The only time we waited a bit was once on TOT (other times there were ok). And it was maybe 10 minutes.

 

[bambialways4ever]

Is anyone who is there or has been recently able to tell me if the lantern photo op by the rapunzel bathrooms is back? Hearing mixed reports

 

[joy13]

Is anyone who is there or has been recently able to tell me if the lantern photo op by the rapunzel bathrooms is back? Hearing mixed reports

.

I really hope so, my daughter and I plan to Disney Bound Rapunzel and Mother Gothel one day at MK. So I’ll be interested in the answers you get.

 

[kcool]

Is anyone who is there or has been recently able to tell me if the lantern photo op by the rapunzel bathrooms is back? Hearing mixed reports

I saw it was there in March 17th in a you tubers video. No personal experience.

 

[neptuneflame]

Is anyone who is there or has been recently able to tell me if the lantern photo op by the rapunzel bathrooms is back? Hearing mixed reports

I saw it on March 17th! Long lines. Right after the fireworks.

 

[pens4821]

Is anyone who is there or has been recently able to tell me if the lantern photo op by the rapunzel bathrooms is back? Hearing mixed reports

It was last week. We didn’t get a picture in there. We did take one outside of it and a photographer was in there with people.

 

[sequoia 14]

We just got back from two days at the parks. First day was this past Sat at MK and then yesterday was DHS. We had my mom and my two DDs, 5 and 7.

I tried to come in with the most positive outlook possible as this trip was for my girls.

For the most part, we had a really good time. I used a lot of the tips I learned from these boards and was able to use Genie pretty well. I got early morning LLs for populat rides in the AMs both days (Peter Pan and Slinky Dog, respectively). I also was never frozen out when trying to book. I was using a tablet on an offsite hotel wifi. I was very surprised by that. I was also surprised that I could still purchase a ILL for Seven Dwarfs at park opening.

Both parks were super busy. The only standby lines we waited in at MK were the Little Mermaid and Dumbo. At DHS it was Alien saucers (posted 60, waited 40). I used a LL for the Mad Tea Party because it was so hot that day and it had a consistent 30 minute wait.

Yesterday at DHS was a bit nuts. When we arrived Rise, SDD, Aliens and something else I dont remember was down. I decided that meant it was a good time to get a pretzel and watch Chip and Dale have a picnic on the lawn. We then saw Olaf (no wait), Mickey and Minnie (20 min wait) and then did standby for Aliens when it opened. We got LLs for Toy Story and a MMRR popped up for the afternoon after refreshing for a few minutes. Slinky open up for the day around 3. We still had our LL for it and waited in that line for about 20 mins. I felt absolutely horrible for those in the standby line. I dont see how they would ever move. We watched a few shows and called it a day.

The Disney magic is still there but it is just a frustrating experience now trying to make Genie reservations and the standby lines are insane.

The cast members were wonderful and went above and beyond for us more than once. We also saw a ton of charachters and loved watching the regular parade again at MK.

We had a pretty good trip, but will be taking a break from Disney for 2-3 years so the kids are a little older and we can stay later in the evenings which seemed to be a better way to tour.

 

[bambialways4ever]

Yay!!! Thanks to everyone who responded the Rapunzel photo is back. I'm so thrilled