Is it even "possible" to do Disney without being glued to your phone?

[DisneyMama811]

Yes, if you are not hardwired into the newer rides. We don't do G+ and we're willing to wait in a 20 minute line. We did wait 40 for Millennium Falcon ride (forget the real name). Our eldest with the 2 GC's did the MK without G+ without wait in long lines and was able to do all the coasters, which was the older GC's request. She checked the line waits and they'd head to the shortest line.

to me, at WDW a 40 minute is reasonable and to be expected, I've been reading reports of 2hrs or more which I know my kids won't be able to handle, they're only 6 & 8

 

[bakerworld]

to me, at WDW a 40 minute is reasonable and to be expected, I've been reading reports of 2hrs or more which I know my kids won't be able to handle, they're only 6 & 8

I agree but my back can't handle a 40 minute wait repeatedly - which doesn't mean that we haven't jumped into a 20 minute standby to have it become a 40 minute which is another reason we only enter a 20 minute line.

 

[lukemorenus]

Yes... even with Genie+ ... you're not actually on the phone all that much

 

[goofyernmost]

Every family is different. My family does not like lines. Using Genie+ allowed me to fill 6 days with rides/ attractions with very little waiting. We did not have a touring plan or set schedule aside from at least one table service reservation each day. Personally, the time I spent on my phone was totally worth all of the lines we "skipped." And, FWIW, I didn't feel glued to my screen. Early in the day it's easy to pick your next LL and move on. When the pickings get slim, you decide if you want to let it go or spend time refreshing to find a better LL.

The question was can you do it with having to spend time on the phone. The answer is yes there are standby lines for just about every attraction, however, it is likely that the big new ones will require planning and a lot of time spent on the phone otherwise the likelihood of seeing them is close to impossible. Pay the big bucks and spend time on the phone and it might speed things up a little, but they made it practically a requirement to see the headliners. The speed to me is not important as soaking it all in and not just running from one Genie location to another. But, as you said every family is different.

Personally I might spend some time on the phone to go to the Space 220 Restaurant just for the novelty of it. Or perhaps to experience the Rise of the Resistance. Other then that I'm not interested.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

The "being glued to the phone" angle is vastly over played. Walk around any park and you'll see thousands of people not glued to their phone.

Agreed. We feel the same. And many of those who are glued to their phone, it seems it has very little to do with Genie+, ILL, or dining. They're on their phones anyway, no matter where they are. Genie+ has not increased our need to be on the phones over what we were years past, including FP+.

 

[JCornell]

Our last two trips, where Genie was an option, we didn't use G, G+, or ILL at all. We've also been a lot though and figured we'd get on what we could and not sweat it. I would use the phone for mobile ordering or getting on a lounge waitlist or casually checking ride wait times occasionally but not often. We still did most of what we wanted including Everest, Slinky Dog, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Thunder Mountain, Tower of Terror, M&M's Runaway Railway, Remy, and others. I think the only ones we missed out on were Rise of the Resistance and Flight of Passage. I think Splash and Rock n Roller Coaster were down. Our longest wait was Slinky, only because it went down for 30 minutes but we decided to wait it out.

 

[3gr8boys]

The question was can you do it with having to spend time on the phone. The answer is yes there are standby lines for just about every attraction, however, it is likely that the big new ones will require planning and a lot of time spent on the phone otherwise the likelihood of seeing them is close to impossible. Pay the big bucks and spend time on the phone and it might speed things up a little, but they made it practically a requirement to see the headliners. The speed to me is not important as soaking it all in and not just running from one Genie location to another. But, as you said every family is different.

Personally I might spend some time on the phone to go to the Space 220 Restaurant just for the novelty of it. Or perhaps to experience the Rise of the Resistance. Other then that I'm not interested.

I agree that it is about soaking it all in... because we spent so little time in lines, we filled the time between LLs (no rushing from one to the next) with experiences we would likely have otherwise skipped. I got through a list of attractions that I had missed last trip because there just wasn't time. We finally walked through One Man's Dream, I enjoyed an iced coffee sitting and listening to the great HS music, we lingered in the AK aviary, I did Philharmagic twice, I watched the Dapper Dans, I finally experienced the Voices of Liberty..... there is just so much to enjoy!

ETA ...the juggler in Italy, multiple cavalcades with soft pretzel in hand, meeting Mickey at Town Hall, the F&G Festival Butterfly house....

ETA...the waterfall in Canada, the maze garden in England, the Awesome Planet movie in The Land, wandering Galaxy's Edge and Pandora after dark....

 

[meremac]

You would not be on your phone all day with Genie+. In fact, I found that I was on my phone considerably less than with FastPasses.

 

[Disneychick13]

I think it really depends on what rides you like and what your goals are. My family likes all the big rides and hates to stand in line. So I find myself using my phone about the same amount of time as with fastpass, maybe just a smidge less. If You are stacking for the afternoon then you don’t need to be on the phone much, but if you are starting in the morning then I think you really do. Especially If you want all the big rides and want to do then in a certain order with little wait in between. But I know not everyone tours that way.

 

[Pinnochio]

no

 

[disneyseniors]

I just had to chime in here, as I am elderly (though I don't feel like it) LOL!
We just have an old flip phone, so we would wait in line with early entry or later in the day entry. As for food, we would go to the register and order since we don't have a phone. It's not up to date and I don't have it on only to make emergency calls, which is almost never
So if we ever go back, that will be the case for us. I know we are not the mainstream who were raised on technology, but still feel there is a place at disney for people like us. At least I hope so.

 

[hildarumpole]

For the 1st time in forever we did not rely on any sort of line wait mitigating system during our May trip and found it to be less stressful. I'm a super-planner, and was more stressed before the trip about NOT having set plans, but things turned out surprisingly well. We used Touring Plans to generate a basic plan for each day and to check wait times, but only looked when a ride went down to see what had a reasonable wait and when a ride was back online. We rope dropped, left midday, then returned in the evening, riding everything we wanted without ridiculous wait times. We didn't realize what we had been missing with FP and skipping some fantastic queues. Worst wait (and terrible queue, btw), was Remy one evening. Ride went down briefly, plus had been down multiple times that day, so LL's flooded the line late, leading to an hour wait instead of 35 min. Many of us bonded over the misery of a sweaty stalled line with good humor.

 

[Jennasis]

I'm a superplanner and had FP+ down to a science. I hated HATED using Genie+ and found I was on the phone all the time, and still unsuccessful with it. So our last trip we went old school and didn't use any line mitigation other than buying in iLL$ for Rise and we had a blast.

 

[Jrb1979]

Reading this thread makes you realize how complex Disney has made things. The amount of hoops one must go through to have a good time is mind blowing. I was just at Cedar Point last week and never had to use my phone for anything there. No reservation needed, didn't have to book when to ride a ride or use it to mobile order.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

I'm a superplanner and had FP+ down to a science. I hated HATED using Genie+ and found I was on the phone all the time, and still unsuccessful with it. So our last trip we went old school and didn't use any line mitigation other than buying in iLL$ for Rise and we had a blast.

It’s interesting how everyone’s experience is different. Last week, we used G+ nonstop but didn’t purchase any $ILL.

Of the $ILL attractions available to purchase, Rise had by far the shortest standby wait times and there’s no way that we could have justified the cost for it.

 

[Jennasis]

It’s interesting how everyone’s experience is different. Last week, we used G+ nonstop but didn’t purchase any $ILL.

Of the $ILL attractions available to purchase, Rise had by far the shortest standby wait times and there’s no way that we could have justified the cost for it.

There are only 2 of us, so the cost of an iLL$ is of no significance to us (in the grand scheme of the cost of a WDW vacation).

I am staunchly opposed to G+ just for the fact they change your return time often (and it happens with iLL$ purchases too, but since I'm typically only going for Rise only, I am willing to risk it for one ride, not every dang ride we do).

Our DHS day was a perfect day....walked on or waited less than 15 min for about every ride from park opening to 12:30 (ToT, RnRC, Slinky Dog, TSMM, MMRR, food at Ronto's, Smuggler's Run, did our iLL$ for Rise, then Star Tours). Done at 12:30 and in the pool at our resort by 1:30pm.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

There are only 2 of us, so the cost of an iLL$ is of no significance to us (in the grand scheme of the cost of a WDW vacation).

I am staunchly opposed to G+ just for the fact they change your return time often (and it happens with iLL$ purchases too, but since I'm typically only going for Rise only, I am willing to risk it for one ride, not every dang ride we do).

Our DHS day was a perfect day....walked on or waited less than 15 min for about every ride from park opening to 12:30 (ToT, RnRC, Slinky Dog, TSMM, MMRR, food at Ronto's, Smuggler's Run, did our iLL$ for Rise, then Star Tours). Done at 12:30 and in the pool at our resort by 1:30pm.

I get it. We’re just the opposite as I would rather pay for G+ and skip 6 to 9 lines per day than pay the same price for 1 ride when I can wait until later in the day and find a very short wait. We rode Rise twice in less than an hour and could have done a 3rd time but opted for Tower instead.

I’ve read a lot about the G+ times shifting, but I didn’t experience that at all last week with over 35 G+ reservations. I was surprised how little time I spent on the phone compared to FP+ and only used refresh twice, for Frozen and Test Track which took about 5 minutes each.

This was for a family of 6 plus a toddler, so we had to use Rider Switch a lot which does eat up a ton of time.