HS park passes sold out - best strategy to make the day enjoyable

[jenna1212]

Looking at the park pass availability calendars for July (2nd week), HS is sold out for most days. Early Entry is the obvious way to go, but do I need Genie+ on top of that to get the most out of the park on those “sold out” days on top of EE? We’re a family of 6 with young kids in tow; also worth noting that we have 2 full days scheduled for HS with at least one hopping day (to HS) planned as well.

 

[wiggy500]

It depends what attractions you're planning to do and if you want to do them on more than one of the days. If you want to do several rides that Genie+ would help with in a day then I would imagine you'd want it to get it and wait in lines less.

 

[Miffy]

OP: You've already booked your park reservations, right? Just checking, since purchasing G+ or ILL$ doesn't give you an automatic park reservation.

So, assuming you already have park reservations . . . do you need G+ at DHS? It all depends on how many rides you want to do there, how long you plan on staying in the park that day, and how much standing in line you can put up with in the heat.

Early Theme Park Entry at DHS will get you multiple rides only if those rides don't include RotR, SDD, or MMRR. If you get in early and get in line for one of these rides, that is the end of your ETPE advantage. By the time you get off, the park will have opened for everyone and there will be lines for nearly everything.

But if you're going to ride TT and RnR, you can do both--assuming everything's working--at ETPE and then get in in line for whatever you'd want to do next. TSM would probably still not have a long line at that point, but the big 3 rides listed above will.

The lines for SDD and MMRR have major portions outdoors with little to no shade. That's something else to take into consideration.

We always get both G+ and ILL$ (for RotR) for DHS, but there are only 2 of us. There are 6 of you, so it's an extra $95.88 (I've included the tax here), which is significant.

If you use ETPE, get a certain number of things done, then take a midday break--it's July and you'll need it--and come back in the evening, you'd probably be able to get a decent amount done. As it gets closer to park closing time, ride wait times are usually inflated and it can be a good time to catch the attractions you weren't able to do earlier.

If you don't mind buying G+ and you want to have a relatively relaxing day, you could just skip ETPE completely, start booking your G+ attractions at 7 a.m., and stack your rides for the late afternoon and evening. It'll take some "work" on your part, since you'l have to monitor what times are available when and you'll have to be on your phone's app every 2 hours to do the stacking, but that can work really well.

Even if you use ETPE you can still make a stack for the late afternoon/early evening and use that stack when you come back from your midday break.

But . . . money. I get it. Only you can know if this is worth it for you and your family.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

I have three kids (8 years) and don't plan to buy G+ most days of our upcoming trip. HS is my one exception.

I've been really watching the wait times. Within an hour of regular park open, nearly everything except Star Tours and Muppets is over or pushing an hour wait and shows haven't started yet. At every other park, you can go from high- to low-demand attractions as waits build and have a nice morning starting with a good plan during the 30 minute early entry. I don't see that at HS, so I'm going to pony up the $75 at least one of those park days.

 

[CynBeth]

One thing to point out is that ROTR tends to break down a lot so I would pay the extra fee for that because if that happens you can come back at any time that day and get in the special line to ride. With standby you could have a long wait and then if it goes down they break up the line you can’t stand in that same order and have to come back and the same thing could happen which wastes time. You do not need Genie+ for that. As far as whether you should pay for Genie+ I would see how your first HS day goes and can decide if you want to purchase it around midnight on your second HS day.