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

[DisneyMama811]

Say you decide to go to Disney, not buy Genie +, not buy ILL, and stay unplugged from your phone as much as possible... does that make it MORE stressful or LESS stressful? is it possible to get on more than one or two rides without planning every single footstep you're gonna take?

we are interested in some of the more popular rides (Slinky Dog, 7D's, Runaway railway, Rat) but we will probably skip everything Star Wars.

I just want us to have fun as a family, I want to watch my kids light up as they discover Disney for the first time ever, not have my eyes glued to a screen

 

[kanerf]

If you have G+, the only time you need to look at your phone is when your reservation windows open every few hours.

 

[emilyann704]

I had great luck with Genie+ a few weeks ago and never felt stressed about it. I was able to get on ALL the major rides I wanted to and wasn't on my phone any more often than usual. I did look up wait times which is very helpful but that takes a couple seconds to decide where to orient yourself.

If you're going to stress out about HAVING TO HIT A CERTAIN RIDE AT THIS CERTAIN TIME then yes, you'll be checking Genie+ constantly to see what times are available and stressing yourself out that you still have more time to wait before you can reserve. But I don't enjoy spending my time in the parks like that.

Edited to add I only used my phone to order food once (at Docking Bay 7) and one other time to book a same daylunch reservation at Epcot (Le Creperie de Paris) to get a break in air conditioning.

 

[carbonF1]

For rides, yes. I only looked at my phone out of curiosity and not feeling like I needed to out of necessity. No Genie or LL here. When it comes time for meals or dining reservations though, that's a different story...

 

[DisneyMama811]

For rides, yes. I only looked at my phone out of curiosity and not feeling like I needed to out of necessity. No Genie or LL here. When it comes time for meals or dining reservations though, that's a different story...

for meals we are going to do mainly QS (I know you have to use mobile ordering) and book 1 or 2 character meals but I can't deal with trying to secure several ADR's for 6 days

 

[DisneyMama811]

I had great luck with Genie+ a few weeks ago and never felt stressed about it. I was able to get on ALL the major rides I wanted to and wasn't on my phone any more often than usual. I did look up wait times which is very helpful but that takes a couple seconds to decide where to orient yourself.

If you're going to stress out about HAVING TO HIT A CERTAIN RIDE AT THIS CERTAIN TIME then yes, you'll be checking Genie+ constantly to see what times are available and stressing yourself out that you still have more time to wait before you can reserve. But I don't enjoy spending my time in the parks like that.

Edited to add I only used my phone to order food once (at Docking Bay 7) and one other time to book a same daylunch reservation at Epcot (Le Creperie de Paris) to get a break in air conditioning.

I had great luck with Genie+ a few weeks ago and never felt stressed about it. I was able to get on ALL the major rides I wanted to and wasn't on my phone any more often than usual. I did look up wait times which is very helpful but that takes a couple seconds to decide where to orient yourself.

If you're going to stress out about HAVING TO HIT A CERTAIN RIDE AT THIS CERTAIN TIME then yes, you'll be checking Genie+ constantly to see what times are available and stressing yourself out that you still have more time to wait before you can reserve. But I don't enjoy spending my time in the parks like that.

Edited to add I only used my phone to order food once (at Docking Bay 7) and one other time to book a same daylunch reservation at Epcot (Le Creperie de Paris) to get a break in air conditioning.

I'm generally very "type A" and stress excessively about things being perfect... I'm really trying to let go of that though so I cam enjoy myself

 

[3gr8boys]

Say you decide to go to Disney, not buy Genie +, not buy ILL, and stay unplugged from your phone as much as possible... does that make it MORE stressful or LESS stressful? is it possible to get on more than one or two rides without planning every single footstep you're gonna take?

we are interested in some of the more popular rides (Slinky Dog, 7D's, Runaway railway, Rat) but we will probably skip everything Star Wars.

I just want us to have fun as a family, I want to watch my kids light up as they discover Disney for the first time ever, not have my eyes glued to a screen

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.

 

[Aimeedyan]

Sure. My elderly mom visits often and doesn't even have a smart phone. She has a lovely time. She doesn't care about big headliners, and just looks at the digital boards for wait time updates. She orders her food at a register when she's hungry. Gets in line if she wants to ride.

I like looking at wait times, show times, and I use my phone for photos. I don't use it anymore than I did pre-Genie+ and mobile ordering. Actually, I use it the same amt of time when I buy Genie and when I don't. Genie+ doesn't add any extra time, IMO, if you're already checking MDE.

I enjoy myself more when I can look at a wait time on my phone vs walking over there. Others want to pocket their phone and just walk over and look. Same w mobile order vs register. Either works! Thankfully, there are options for everyone.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I set alarms every 2 hours, hopped on then back off again. If anything I was on my phone less this trip.

 

[Mango7100]

We have used Genie for 3 trips now, and I feel like I was on my phone less than with FP because I would always try to refresh and modify with FP. For Genie I would set an alarm for every 2 hours if stacking. Whenever I was able to make my next selection I would spend maybe 5 minutes refreshing if I didn’t like what was first available. once my selection is in, I stop.

 

[cjlong88]

Using G+ on my last three trips, I was on my phone less than any prior visit with FP+. If you create an evening stack you only need to look at your phone for a minute or so every two hours. That left the mornings and afternoons for us to enjoy the attractions with short waits and explore all of the resort amenities.

 

[john7994]

I echo what most are saying, I did not feel tied to my phone at all - can't really speak to people that complain that they need to be on their phones constantly.

 

[k5xs]

Say you decide to go to Disney, not buy Genie +, not buy ILL, and stay unplugged from your phone as much as possible... does that make it MORE stressful or LESS stressful? is it possible to get on more than one or two rides without planning every single footstep you're gonna take?

we are interested in some of the more popular rides (Slinky Dog, 7D's, Runaway railway, Rat) but we will probably skip everything Star Wars.

I just want us to have fun as a family, I want to watch my kids light up as they discover Disney for the first time ever, not have my eyes glued to a screen

As others have posted, sure, it's possible.

But Disney is now starting to do dumb stuff, like requiring a passholder to have MDE loaded on a smartphone to get their merchandise discount. My DW (71) would be lost if I weren't an aging geek to help her. Now I'll have to escort her in every shop.

Disney was in the past focused on guest service. Now it seems they're about squeezing margins at every opportunity, guest be darned.

 

[DisneyMama811]

I echo what most are saying, I did not feel tied to my phone at all - can't really speak to people that complain that they need to be on their phones constantly.

I appreciate your feedback, the problem with message boards really and not having actually experienced it myself is that you have to take everything at face value and reading complaints from others seems to make things appear worse than they actually are?? because of course you don't actually know the person who is complaining and what type of personality they've got and whether they tend to focus on the negatives in life in general

 

[john7994]

I appreciate your feedback, the problem with message boards really and not having actually experienced it myself is that you have to take everything at face value and reading complaints from others seems to make things appear worse than they actually are?? because of course you don't actually know the person who is complaining and what type of personality they've got and whether they tend to focus on the negatives in life in general

Thank you and what you are saying is relatable and understandable. I was actually expecting a literal disaster after reading some of the feedback on here. After spending some time watching some bloggers actually do Genie + challenges in the the various parks, I was able to mirror their results. This allowed me and the wife to enter the parks at a leisurely time ~10AM, spend about 4 hours, hit the major rides, and head back to the resort for some relaxation, cocktails and dinner reservations. I could not have been more pleased with the flow of things. I literally felt weird because I felt like I should have been on my phone more, but didnt really need to be!

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

I spent way less time on the phone last week than I ever did with FP+. We got 6 to 9 Lightening Lanes each day and never purchased any ILLs. We hit many of the headliners 3 times each and only had 2 waits of over 20 minutes.

G+ was much better than I had anticipated.

 

[01Sweetpea]

We’re here now, and I was VERY concerned about the crowds being Memorial Day weekend, but I have found with a good plan and early start we’ve done everything we have wanted to do so far. We had 1 night on site, to give us early entry for Thurs & Friday.

Thursday - Hollywood studios, we were the first car to pull into the parking lot (we did sit on a side of the road for a few minutes until we were waived to line up). Our goal was all things Galaxy Edge. We were let in the park @ 7:30, Headed straight to RoTR, off by 8:15 and straight to MFSR, and off that by 8:45. Had a quick bite to eat, headed to MMRR and off that by 9:45. Walked around until our 10:50 Oga reservation, and by then we did everything we wanted to do. Walked around a bit more and left by 12:30.

We’re not big roller coaster people so SDD,RnR & ToT were not on our to do list.

Friday - Magic Kingdom, again not roller coaster people, so none of the “mountains” nor SDMT were on our to do list. Caught the 7:30 ferry, we were let onto Main Street at 8, got a great pic of the castle with no-one in the picture.

Headed to Tomorrowland, waited until 8:30 to be let in, everyone headed to Space, and we headed to Buzz, second people let on. From there we joined the line for adventure land to hit jungle cruise. From 9am on we rode Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, IASW, Little Mermaid (cause we were walking by it ) we walked the entire park, ate a bit and were walking out of the park around 1:30. The longest we waited for anything was 30 minutes.

I did use my phone to check wait time, but didn’t find myself glued to it like I did during my December trip when I was using Genie+.

 

[OKW Lover]

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.

 

[sheilafri]

As others have posted, sure, it's possible.

But Disney is now starting to do dumb stuff, like requiring a passholder to have MDE loaded on a smartphone to get their merchandise discount. My DW (71) would be lost if I weren't an aging geek to help her. Now I'll have to escort her in every shop.

Disney was in the past focused on guest service. Now it seems they're about squeezing margins at every opportunity, guest be darned.

Try to set it up to be as easily accessible to her as possible. Stay outside and have her text you if she can’t find it. The people behind her can just wait for you to come in to help her. Maybe after Disney loses a bunch of sales they will make the info accessible to cashiers through magic bands or the AP card. Their IT is ridiculously bad.

 

[bakerworld]

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.