Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[cjlong88]

@DisneyFive GotG is THE ride at WDW right now! So glad you were able to grab a boarding group! Enjoy.

 

[grannyminnie]

Question, please. How does one refresh the info when using Genie+ to see what times are available? Is there an actual refresh button? Going in a few days and I need to know this. Previous posters have mentioned this in their strategy.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Question, please. How does one refresh the info when using Genie+ to see what times are available? Is there an actual refresh button? Going in a few days and I need to know this. Previous posters have mentioned this in their strategy.

You go on the tip board and pull it down using your finger; there is no refresh button.

 

[Gary Stocker]

Man whenever someone takes great pics like that I really want to go..especially the ball. Hoping for spring break..if I can find some reasonable DVC points to rent.

 

[DisneyFive]

Question, please. How does one refresh the info when using Genie+ to see what times are available? Is there an actual refresh button? Going in a few days and I need to know this. Previous posters have mentioned this in their strategy.

You go on the tip board and pull it down using your finger; there is no refresh button.

Also, when you are on the Tip Board, it is very convenient to tap the “Edit Selections”link (circled in red below) and choose the rides that you want G+ for. After you do that they show up at the top of the list. That way when you swipe down with your finger to refresh you are able to see the times easier and more quickly. Throughout today I change my edit selections list to only those that I am still looking for.

 

[Gary Stocker]

Epcot today! Hours are 8:30am -9pm. Forecast is a measly 95 degrees, and probably something like 105% humidity because you know, it’s Florida..

Priorities are Guardians, Remy, TT, Soarin, Frozen and SE and the countries, and Harmonious, and…

Keeping with our trend we are getting some sleep and not getting to the park for rope drop. I decided to try for a Guardians boarding group and a Remy G+ on my own this morning to let the family get some good sleep instead of them logging on to another device to help. Planned to get GoTG boarding group first and then as early of a G+ for Remy as possible.

Here’s how it went. A few minutes before 7am I confirmed our party for the virtual queue. However when I went back into the virtual queue right before 7am it wasn’t confirming our party until literally the very last second so at 7am or maybe a couple of seconds later I finally saw the refresh button and hit that, then Join? I ain’t gonna lie, a bit of panic and chaos ensued. Anyway, scored boarding group 108. Heart was pumping. Immediately switched to tip board which wasn’t showing any G+ return times right at 7 am again! Ahhhh! So I manually clicked into Remy and it showed a return time of 10:25-11:25 am so I snatched it up!

I particularly wanted Remy before 10:30am to beat the other guests who can book then. We plan to tap into Remy 5 minutes early at 10:20am and scour our next G+.

We have two ADR’s today, Nine Dragons at 12:15pm and Via Napoli at 6:15pm. We also plan for an afternoon break at the resort. Might take some sort of kung fu mastery today to get our G+ times to work but we’re up to the challenge!!!

We plan to get to Epcot via monorail just in time to tap into our 10:25 Remy G+

Sorry for the long winded introduction, I guess I was feeling… wordy.

9:45am now and just stepped on the Epcot monorail from the TTC (we walked over from our Poly room)

Hello beautiful.
View attachment 686932

10:20 AM and tapped into Remy. Posted 70 minutes. On in 4 minutes. Our first time. Loved it! It’s a family favorite movie (we all love to cook) so the ride made it all the better.
View attachment 686939

Right after tapping into Remy, I booked a 6:55 PM Test Track which will work well with our 6:15 dinner at Via Napoli

At 12:20 will try for Frozen.

10:45 and heading to the Seas with Nemo and Living with the land both standby with shortish waits. Then we’ll see where Spaceship Earth waits are

11:05 and standby in line for Living with the land. Posted 15 minutes. On in 7 minutes, probably the longest we’ve ever waited for LWTL , but it’s HOT out today and this is perfect to cool off.
View attachment 686959


11:33 at the Seas with Nemo standby. Posted 20 minutes. On in 25 minutes. By far the longest we’ve ever waited for this ride but it is good filler before lunch and to gets us out of the heat right now
View attachment 686984

12: 40 now and refreshing my butt off to try and get a frozen G+. They are out currently. Wish me some pixie dust.

As a tip, I remember “magical” drops that happen at 2:47 PM and at 4:47 PM for the headliners. The 2:27 drops times around 3pm and the 4:47 drops 5pm times. I remember verifying the from home and it’s legit.

Wow you guys are good. Pixie dust received! . Only refreshed 10 minutes and bam, a Frozen for 1:50-2:50pm. We’ll tap in at 1:45 and head back to the resort after.

Looks like our GOTG boarding group might get called around the same time we do Frozen, so we could do those back to back and then head back to relax and resort. Working out smoothly!

1:34 PM weather update: it’s hot

1:45 and doing a quick Gran Fiesta Tour before our Frozen G+. Posted 15. On in 4 minutes.
View attachment 687008
1:55pm and our boarding group, 108, was called.

2:08pm and in line for Frozen with G+. Posted 70 minutes. On in 8 minutes
View attachment 687010

2:33 PM and headed over to Guardians but it is temporarily closed. We are heading back to the resort and will do guardians later.

5 PM and heading back for Guardians and then dinner. We will definitely be able to confirm whether or not they let you in after your group has been called. We will be about 4-5 hours after we we’re called, but we did try during our window and it was down .
View attachment 687039
Been trying for a G+ but everything is not out the timeframe that we want yet which is sometime after 7pm. Plan on booking Soarin

Tapped into Guardians at 5:45 PM. It blinked blue meaning we weren’t supposed to go in but the cast member waved us in and said we were good to go. The ride broke down while we were on it so it took us one hour to get on.

Here we go!…

Fantastic. Thank you for sharing. My wallet is looking at me...."here we go again"! you almost got a pic of the hidden mickey in the gran Fiesta fireworks.

 

[Erica Ladd]

Also, when you are on the Tip Board, it is very convenient to tap the “Edit Selections”link (circled in red below) and choose the rides that you want G+ for. After you do that they show up at the top of the list. That way when you swipe down with your finger to refresh you are able to see the times easier and more quickly. Throughout today I change my edit selections list to only those that I am still looking for.
View attachment 687033

I believe that is only when in the parks now, correct? Or on your park days? Is it accessible if just testing things out? I know refresh is but not the edit selections option if not there….

 

[Smugpugmug]

I believe that is only when in the parks now, correct? Or on your park days? Is it accessible if just testing things out? I know refresh is but not the edit selections option if not there….

That is correct. I don't have a park reservation for today and this is what my tip board looks like:



Notice that the edit selections option is not there. When you set up Genie+ after buying it, it gives you the option of pinning attractions but you can do it whenever you want.

 

[Erica Ladd]

That is correct. I don't have a park reservation for today and this is what my tip board looks like:

View attachment 687077

Notice that the edit selections option is not there. When you set up Genie+ after buying it, it gives you the option of pinning attractions but you can do it whenever you want.

I have G+ associated with my tickets for September but haven’t seen the edit selections option since it went away for people not in the park or day of. Please lmk if I’m missing something as I’d love to pin my fave attractions at the top!

 

[Smugpugmug]

I have G+ associated with my tickets for September but haven’t seen the edit selections option since it went away for people not in the park or day of. Please lmk if I’m missing something as I’d love to pin my fave attractions at the top!

Oh, right I forgot that people had Genie+ on their tickets already. You can only do it day of now. But if you were to buy Genie+ day of, while you buy it you can pin attractions to the top of your tip board.

 

[Erica Ladd]

DisneyFive - what park tomorrow????

 

[DisneyFive]

DisneyFive - what park tomorrow????

Magic Kingdom again. Definitely need to get some good sleep so we will be getting a later start tomorrow probably setting up our first G+ selection for 10 AM to 11 AM and showing up towards the mid to end of that window. At least that’s the tentative plan

 

[lchicago]

@DisneyFive thank you for such detailed reports! I am loving them and carefully taking notes for our trip in a few weeks.

When you say you are refreshing, is it literally just constantly refreshing for 10 minutes straight like over and over again? I’m hoping to not be tied to my phone that much.

 

[DisneyFive]

@DisneyFive thank you for such detailed reports! I am loving them and carefully taking notes for our trip in a few weeks.

When you say you are refreshing, is it literally just constantly refreshing for 10 minutes straight like over and over again? I’m hoping to not be tied to my phone that much.

Kind of yeah. It’s not fun but it pays off. I tend to do it waiting in line if I can, or some other time when being “present” isn’t as important. 10-20 minutes can save an hour or more easily for the really popular attractions, which for us means doing them, or not. I wouldn’t refresh for secondary rides though.

Dan

 

[grannyminnie]

Also, when you are on the Tip Board, it is very convenient to tap the “Edit Selections”link (circled in red below) and choose the rides that you want G+ for. After you do that they show up at the top of the list. That way when you swipe down with your finger to refresh you are able to see the times easier and more quickly. Throughout today I change my edit selections list to only those that I am still looking for.
View attachment 687033

Thanks, that's very helpful.

 

[BK2014]

We’re alive! Today is Hollywood studios. We’ll see how today goes with a bit of a later start. Weather today is hot and sunny, high of 94F, which we’re perfectly happy with.

Hours are 8:30 AM until 9 PM. We needed to get some sleep so at 7am I booked our first G+ for TOT from 9:40 - 10:40 AM, hoping that we can tap in and book our next G+ before the crush of people at 10:30 AM. For these last two parks we have found out it is VERY beneficial to get that first G+ before the +2 hour time frame after the park opens, this allows you to get ahead of a lot of folks. That is tough at HS for people that want to do slinky dog though, which we don’t plan to do. Start refreshing right at 7am and grab that morning time slot when it gets to your desired time.

9:30 now and at the Poly bus stop. Priorities today are ToT, RNRC, MMRR, TSMM, MFSR, and then ROTR at park close. Slinky doesn’t do much for us so that helps us a little with G+ selection strategy.

We also would like to do Beauty and the Beast and Indiana Jones, maybe Frozen. The showtimes might be kind of tough because we like to do afternoon breaks and rides in the morning. We have a lunch ADR at Hollywood Brown Derby for Cobb salads so all these things kind of conflict with the morning through afternoon showtimes. We’ll see.

10:04 and tapped into ToT. On immediately. Posted 50 minutes.
View attachment 686653
After tapping into ToT snagged a G+ for RNRC 12:05-1:15. This is perfect right before our 12:25 HBD lunch.

10:27 now and we’re doing the 11am Beauty and the Beast show.
View attachment 686660

12pm and tapped into RNRC. Posted 55 minutes. Waited 15 minutes after tapping in to get into the actual ride vehicle. Was probably 4 minutes until the preshow with Aerosmith.
View attachment 686672
While in line for RNRC at 12:04 refreshed a bit and luckily snagged a 7:25-8:25pm G+ for Slinky Dog Dash! Wasn’t on our must do but not going to turn that gift down.

Will try for a MMRR at 2:04pm

12:25 and at Hollywood Brown Derby. Cobb salads and shrimp Mac’n Cheese didn’t disappoint
View attachment 686684


1:26 PM and done with lunch and still feel like doing another attraction before we head back to the resort to relax. We are in line for Star Tours standby. Posted 30 minutes. On in 13 minutes
View attachment 686687

2PM now and noticed that Toy story Mania “dropped” to a 35 minute standby. On in 41 minutes. Probably should’ve used a G+for this later. Oh well. Still fun!
View attachment 686709
2:07pm (2hr window) and booked a 7 PM G+ for MMRR. Now we have MMRR and SDD G+ stacked back to back for later

2:45pm and heading back to the resort now

At 4:07 spent 22 minutes refreshing and snagged a 6:15-7:15pm Millennium Falcon even though they kept showing sold out for the first 21 minutes of trying ! Awesome, a little persistence pays off!!

5:45pm now after resort rest time and heading back to HS. Plan is to eat dinner at ABC commissary then do our stacked G+’s, MFSR, MMRR and SDD, quite the lineup

6:51 PM now. At MFSR and using our G+. Posted 65 minutes. In preshow 4 minutes.
We survived despite our pilots (our daughters) trying to kill us all
View attachment 686836

7:27pm and just tapped into slinky dog. Weather in the area so hopefully we can get on before they shut down. Posted 80 minutes. On in 7 minutes. We made it!
View attachment 686791

7:43pm and tapped into MMRR. Posted 35 minutes. At the movie screen in 6 minutes
View attachment 686795

8:10 now and Just grabbed a G+ for Star tours with an immediate return, because, why not? It’s one of the few attractions left to G+.

8:33 and in standby line for ROTR, posted 95 minutes. On in 41 minutes!
View attachment 686822

Well, I feel like we maximized our day. Even with sleeping in a bit and getting to the park a bit later, and taking an afternoon break at the resort, we still were able to do all the headliners with very short waits even considering our ROTR with 41 minute standby. Another amazing day.!!

There is not even a remote chance that we could have been this successful without Genie+ the last two days. It has saved us a massive amount of time . Especially at Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios it is well well worth it. After the standby-only debacle of last summer, I’m starting to feel like we have our Disney parks back to some extent.

-Dan

You have taken some amazing photos. Are these taken on a cellphone? And if so, do you mind sharing what type?

 

[DisneyFive]

Our 2nd of 3 Magic Kingdom days today!

We had a last-minute change of plans. Our oldest is feeling a little under the weather and needed more sleep, so the rest of us four are heading into the parks and will do some rides standby while we stack rides for later this afternoon and evening once she is able to join us. I had booked a 10:45-11:45 am Space but canceled and will rebook for later. The plan was to tap into that and look for a another selection, beating the crowd that can book again at 11 AM .

This will be a test of the stacking strategy for those that want to stay at the resort in the morning and start your visit later in the day.

Again this morning, at 7am the dang G+ system was not showing wait times and you had to manually click into each ride to see when you could return. This is very annoying because you cannot make a judgment call if you’re trying to choose between multiple rides. Also, once you choose a selection you cannot see times for others even if you wanted to. The last few days it has taken about 30 minutes, or 7:30am for the times to show back up in the app and start working properly

It’s 10:20am now and none of the G+ Selections are late afternoon or evening yet except Jungle Cruise, but JC doesn’t do much for us. I know I know. . Lots of G+ selections (the mountains) are currently still early afternoon.

We have a 12:45 PM ADR at Jungle Skipper Canteen and looking forward to that also

10:37 AM and at Pirates. Posted 20 minutes now, and building I’m sure. On in 11 minutes standby.


Again today at 10:47 AM there was a drop for a lot of the headliners for return times only about 25 minutes from now. Unfortunately I cannot make use of it today, but maybe our last day, Tuesday the 26th, we can make use of that drop.

11:01 and heading to BTMRR standby. Posted 40 minutes. Waited 50 minutes


11:05am Still can’t stack anything yet because times are not far out enough. It looks like it will be Splash that we get first though, that is already out to 3:15pm

11:41am and finally booked our first G+ for Splash 4:30-5:30pm which we’ll use after our afternoon break. Will stack another when I can book again at 1:41. Will target G+ for BTMRR next so we can do those attractions back to back since they are right next to each other.

Booking G+ for an attraction close to park open and rolling from here is definitely the way to go at MK if you can. It is much more efficient, but that wasn’t in the cards that we were dealt today. We will make the most of it though.

12:13pm and watching the parade go by near Splash Mountain, then heading to lunch. Jungle Skipper was yummy as usual.


1:25 PM now and heading back to the resort. Will keep stacking G+

2:06 PM now and back at the resort enjoying Dole whips. I booked a G+ for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad for 4:40 to 5:40pm PM which overlaps nicely with our G+ for Splash at 4:30 to 5:30.

4:20pm. We’re baaaaack. We all had a nice nap.

At 4:11 PM I was looking to book my next G+. Pro tip: I saw that Winnie the Pooh is temporarily closed and there was a G+ for 4:30, only 19 minutes later so I grabbed it. I hoped that it is was still down at 4:30 which will then trigger it to turn into an anytime G+ for multiple attraction options. (A bit of a gamble, but this is a way to work the system to the max). Update! At 4:19pm already it did indeed turn into an anytime G+ selection! The only big rides it’s not good for is 7DMT, Space, PP and JC. I am also able to book another G+ now

4:35pm now and at the Poly monorail station. Booked a 4:55 Pooh. Since there is weather in the area we are going to focus on getting our Splash and BTMRR rides done as soon as possible

5:10pm tapped into Splash. Posted 70 minutes. On in 5 minutes



5:37 PM and just tapped into BTMRR. Posted 45 minutes. On in 7 minutes.

Just had to stop for a couple of Churros, our first time having them, one normal and one 50th (pictured). We liked the normal better.


6:02pm and tapped into Pooh G+. Posted 40 minutes. On in 7 minutes.


6:16 now. We might try for secondary G+ rides back to back with almost immediately return windows. This can add up to a lot of time savings, maybe 10-30 minutes per ride. Then I will book our Space Mountain which right now is sitting at around 9 PM.

6:08 PM and just booked a G+ for Buzz at 6:10, pretty much immediately.

6:25 and tapped into Buzz. Posted 55 minutes. On in 3 minutes.

6:35pm now and refreshed and Bam! Lucked out with a 7:00-8:00pm for Space Mountain!

We were going to do a quick service dinner now but we went to Starbucks and it took so long but I’m worried about missing our Space G+. So I canceled our mobile order and we are enjoying our drinks and doing Space, then re-Mobile order our QS dinner at Pecos Bills.

After dinner we’ll probably do our anytime G+ for Haunted Mansion and then decide if we’ve done enough or head back to the resort for pool time and multiple adult beverages.

Even with the curveball this morning and not getting to the parks as a full family until 5pm things are going great. No way it would be possible without G+ though. I’ll say it again, but it’s night and day better than last year when it was standby only. We can actually enjoy ourselves by having rides booked ahead of time and filling the other time with secondary rides, shopping or just sight seeing the parks.

7:51pm and tapping into our Space G+. Posted 45 minutes. On 12 minutes


8:14 and Heading to Pecos Bills for dinner

8:53 PM now. While at dinner booked a G+ for Haunted mansion from 9pm-10pm.

8:57 and tapped into HM. Posted 35 minutes. On in 13 minutes


9:38 and calling it a day, just beating the 9:20 Enchantment crowd out of the park. We just got on the monorail back to the Poly.

Despite the late start we did everything we wanted, plus some!! Another successful day.

Hollywood Studios tomorrow, will be another late start I think.

-Dan

 

[DisneyFive]

You have taken some amazing photos. Are these taken on a cellphone? And if so, do you mind sharing what type?

Thank you! It is an iPhone 13 (not pro). I always have my flash off, and I do not use “live photo” ever.

1. My typical process for editing photos is to click on the photo, hit edit, then I typically Crop as needed
2. hit the little magic wand which is Apples way to “intelligently” enhance the picture.
3. Then increase exposure if it needs it,
4. and sometimes I reduce the Blackpoint (make the blacks blacker).

All this ends up making a more dynamic photo with better contrast Sometimes I will enhance the highlights as well. It all depends on the picture.

Also, I find myself wiping the lenses on the back of the phone with my shirt quite often. Finger smudges and other smears on the lenses will make your picture turn out hazy.

…it’s always best to hold your camera is still as possible while taking the picture

Low light photos are always the hardest, but using the flash almost always makes it look worse than without a flash in my experience.

Hope this helps!

Dan

 

[GBRforWDW]

Again this morning, at 7am the dang G+ system was not showing wait times and you had to manually click into each ride to see when you could return

Hi Dan, you may not have seen my post over in the Genie thread, but I found out yesterday through another thread that the 7-7:30 thing is a new "feature"

Fyi, something I found posted on another thread:

https://www.orlandoparksnews.com/2022/07/enhanced-disney-genie-features-now.html?m=1

1. As part of the latest update, booked Lightning Lane entrance selections were given a new look on the Tip Board. In addition to the recent enhancement to display the booked arrival window, booked experiences are now highlighted for even greater visibility.

2. Now, during periods where there are many Guests attempting to book experiences with Lightning Lane entry, the Tip Board will show "Check Availability" instead of an arrival window that could change, reducing the number of different arrival windows being displayed to a Guest. At this time, "Check Availability" will appear between 7 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. each day for all experiences offering Lightning Lane entry

This probably helps explain the times not visible until 730

Latest update is dated July 7, 2022 and is build 7.11

 

[DisneyFive]

Hi Dan, you may not have seen my post over in the Genie thread, but I found out yesterday through another thread that the 7-7:30 thing is a new "feature"

Wow, just wow. Clearly an IT issue with Disney and they are definitely putting their spin on it. Enhancement? Now that’s funny

I really appreciate the heads up because now I know it will be the same way for the rest of our trip, three more full days.

-Dan