Just got back. We only had 2 days on a quick weekend trip. 10 people total. 2 families with kids ages 15, 14, 14, 12, 9, 7. We are all experienced Disney goers (both families have been probably 8-10 times each).
It was a surprise trip, so we had the kids packed, grabbed them from school and took off. We stayed at the B resort but I do NOT recommend. The benefit was great price and it is a Disney hotel partner so early entry. But we arrived late, and half the hotel was closed due to a fire code violation so they downgraded our room with no notification and when we checked in at 10pm Thursday there were only 2 beds for 5 people per room so all they could offer was to throw a small portable mattress on the floor for our younger ones. It was Not good and we were promised a manager call the next day that never came. Also, they give you your Disney tickets at check-in and tell you all is good to go. We had park reservations already so thought we were set but when we got to MK to go in early the next morning our tickets weren’t linked in our accounts and CS blamed the “third party resort” but it wasted 15 precious min of early entry lining up time so we were further back in line. We bought the whole package through Disney, so I feel like if Disney is putting their stamp on it and selling the packages they should make sure that it works better. Overall not a great experience, but we were mostly in the parks and just slept there so just made do. We used Lyft to the parks and all went great with that. We arrived at MK at 7:45 Friday and HS and 7:45 Sat. and were there for the early extra time. If you are a rope-dropping family on property is a big benefit in my opinion. MK was not as beneficial because we had the ticket problems and then rushed to SDMT but it was down so we wasted time in line deciding how to proceed and whether to wait it out. HS was great with early entry though, the line was already flowing us straight through to ROTR at 7:50 so we were off of ROTR by 8:35 and loved it so much we stood in line again later in the day (posted time then was 70 min but we were completely off the ride by 70 min)
I was super excited to try out genie+ but honestly not a fan. I feel pretty Disney savvy, but the app is complicated, hard to navigate, very little flexibility or ability to choose any return times to fit in your day…only what is offered when you open the app. And the worst part for me was I just looked at my screen time and I spent 3 hours and 50 min on the Disney app on my phone my MK day and just over 3 on HS day. That truly sucks. I feel like I couldn’t just enjoy the decorations or look around, or just relax, and with my kids older this time I was really looking forward to just enjoying the quick trip and time with my kids and friends. It’s a ton of money to spend to be stressed about a stupid app all day. Unfortunately my head was just constantly down in the phone trying to order a meal, or check lightening lane times, or making the next pass, or trying to get it to populate correctly our current pass. The app was super glitchy…sometimes your LL would show, sometimes they wouldn’t when you went to “my day”. It’s clumsy to go back and find your plans. Also, if you choose your favorite rides it puts those at the top, but then the list isn’t in alphabetical order. It’s constant scrolling of the ride list really. I was overall disappointed in it. It worked to our advantage on HS day more because we rode several standby early and then used the LL later so the kids got to ride all their favorites twice. But I had to go to CS twice because the first Time we refreshed frantically at 7am to get slinky dog at a coveted early LL slot only to realize only half our party got the LL because the other family’s genie+ purchase didn’t show up. Then when we tried to add them back the reservation somehow deleted completely so couldn’t get a LL until 3 pm by that time (7:05 am). Which really screws up your day because instead of making your next pass as soon as you use your first, it pushes it to 11. The whole thing is overly complicated and makes you be second guessing your plans the whole day because you constantly have to change based on available LL times. Then later in the day we had 2 stacked (due to the way our times landed) and one completely disappeared. CS put it back on. BUT, another visit to CS so just SO much time just looking at the app and fixing things. Also, twice I was trying to make our next LL as soon as you swipe into you LL line and then you practically miss the first part of the ride you are getting on. But if you wait until you are off the ride you have missed precious minutes that those LL times are getting later and later in the day. We wanted to leave HS by 4 pm because we had an early flight, but if your first LL isn’t until 1 and you can’t make your next until 11, by that time several rides were already at a 4 pm return time and you are just out of luck. The kids had a blast, but I hate that I just couldn’t ENJOY watching them and it be more flexible. LL should give you several time options for returns. And I would prefer you just pick 3 one day ahead of your trip or something along those lines instead of morning of. If we hadn’t done a 7 am to choose all the early times the desired rides are gone or late in the day. I honestly just can’t imagine a Disney first-timer navigating it effectively without extensive research pre-trip. It DID allow us to wait less in rides, but at the expense of the primary planner in your group being online most of the day. Also, side note make sure to bring a power bank. My iPhone 12 Pro battery drained by noon each day so was glad to have it.
Do I still love Disney, yes. Did my kids have a total blast, yes. But I miss the old ways. I just don’t see the advantages, but I also would buy again because if you don’t you will spend significantly more time in standby lines. I would like a redo to just see the magic and not the phone. If I could design it I would say pay extra for LL, then skip scheduling anything. Let people choose which LL to use when, if it’s too long come back later at your leisure but I’d gladly wait a little bit in a LL line and not be scheduling all day.
It was a surprise trip, so we had the kids packed, grabbed them from school and took off. We stayed at the B resort but I do NOT recommend. The benefit was great price and it is a Disney hotel partner so early entry. But we arrived late, and half the hotel was closed due to a fire code violation so they downgraded our room with no notification and when we checked in at 10pm Thursday there were only 2 beds for 5 people per room so all they could offer was to throw a small portable mattress on the floor for our younger ones. It was Not good and we were promised a manager call the next day that never came. Also, they give you your Disney tickets at check-in and tell you all is good to go. We had park reservations already so thought we were set but when we got to MK to go in early the next morning our tickets weren’t linked in our accounts and CS blamed the “third party resort” but it wasted 15 precious min of early entry lining up time so we were further back in line. We bought the whole package through Disney, so I feel like if Disney is putting their stamp on it and selling the packages they should make sure that it works better. Overall not a great experience, but we were mostly in the parks and just slept there so just made do. We used Lyft to the parks and all went great with that. We arrived at MK at 7:45 Friday and HS and 7:45 Sat. and were there for the early extra time. If you are a rope-dropping family on property is a big benefit in my opinion. MK was not as beneficial because we had the ticket problems and then rushed to SDMT but it was down so we wasted time in line deciding how to proceed and whether to wait it out. HS was great with early entry though, the line was already flowing us straight through to ROTR at 7:50 so we were off of ROTR by 8:35 and loved it so much we stood in line again later in the day (posted time then was 70 min but we were completely off the ride by 70 min)
I was super excited to try out genie+ but honestly not a fan. I feel pretty Disney savvy, but the app is complicated, hard to navigate, very little flexibility or ability to choose any return times to fit in your day…only what is offered when you open the app. And the worst part for me was I just looked at my screen time and I spent 3 hours and 50 min on the Disney app on my phone my MK day and just over 3 on HS day. That truly sucks. I feel like I couldn’t just enjoy the decorations or look around, or just relax, and with my kids older this time I was really looking forward to just enjoying the quick trip and time with my kids and friends. It’s a ton of money to spend to be stressed about a stupid app all day. Unfortunately my head was just constantly down in the phone trying to order a meal, or check lightening lane times, or making the next pass, or trying to get it to populate correctly our current pass. The app was super glitchy…sometimes your LL would show, sometimes they wouldn’t when you went to “my day”. It’s clumsy to go back and find your plans. Also, if you choose your favorite rides it puts those at the top, but then the list isn’t in alphabetical order. It’s constant scrolling of the ride list really. I was overall disappointed in it. It worked to our advantage on HS day more because we rode several standby early and then used the LL later so the kids got to ride all their favorites twice. But I had to go to CS twice because the first Time we refreshed frantically at 7am to get slinky dog at a coveted early LL slot only to realize only half our party got the LL because the other family’s genie+ purchase didn’t show up. Then when we tried to add them back the reservation somehow deleted completely so couldn’t get a LL until 3 pm by that time (7:05 am). Which really screws up your day because instead of making your next pass as soon as you use your first, it pushes it to 11. The whole thing is overly complicated and makes you be second guessing your plans the whole day because you constantly have to change based on available LL times. Then later in the day we had 2 stacked (due to the way our times landed) and one completely disappeared. CS put it back on. BUT, another visit to CS so just SO much time just looking at the app and fixing things. Also, twice I was trying to make our next LL as soon as you swipe into you LL line and then you practically miss the first part of the ride you are getting on. But if you wait until you are off the ride you have missed precious minutes that those LL times are getting later and later in the day. We wanted to leave HS by 4 pm because we had an early flight, but if your first LL isn’t until 1 and you can’t make your next until 11, by that time several rides were already at a 4 pm return time and you are just out of luck. The kids had a blast, but I hate that I just couldn’t ENJOY watching them and it be more flexible. LL should give you several time options for returns. And I would prefer you just pick 3 one day ahead of your trip or something along those lines instead of morning of. If we hadn’t done a 7 am to choose all the early times the desired rides are gone or late in the day. I honestly just can’t imagine a Disney first-timer navigating it effectively without extensive research pre-trip. It DID allow us to wait less in rides, but at the expense of the primary planner in your group being online most of the day. Also, side note make sure to bring a power bank. My iPhone 12 Pro battery drained by noon each day so was glad to have it.
Do I still love Disney, yes. Did my kids have a total blast, yes. But I miss the old ways. I just don’t see the advantages, but I also would buy again because if you don’t you will spend significantly more time in standby lines. I would like a redo to just see the magic and not the phone. If I could design it I would say pay extra for LL, then skip scheduling anything. Let people choose which LL to use when, if it’s too long come back later at your leisure but I’d gladly wait a little bit in a LL line and not be scheduling all day.
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awful. So disappointed. I mean these are Disney IT people, should have been So Much Better!! . … 
. Not feeling confident right now
