Park Hopper + <OR> Base ticket w/Genie +

[WxKristin]

In the process of planning a week long trip for October for the family [DH, sons (8 and 5), and my mom (Nana)]. We will have 6 days available for activities and this will be the second trip for kids (last one was about 3 years ago). My mom and I are previous cast members from the 1990 to early 2000's era and have made plenty of trips across our lifetimes. One thing we realized on our last trip was that we always had a need to get as much use of FastPass as we could -- this generally resulted in a whole day of running from one open ride window to another to another to make the most of it, often going back and forth across the park multiple times. At the end of the week, we were all exhausted though everyone had "fun" (I found myself staring at my phone looking for and debating options for everyone nearly all the time). This time my mom suggested a few resort or waterpark/mini-golf days instead of all day in the parks each and every day, so we are considering adding the Park Hopper + option to our tickets.

Problem (or BONUS, depending on how you look at it) is as you move from 4 to 5 or to 6 day tickets the cost for an additional day at the parks is minimal (between $20-30 per person), so we really wouldn't save that much by doing a 4 day park hopper+ compared to a 5 or 6 day. I'm just worried that without Genie+ we will spend all of our park time in 1-2 hr+ lines, which my husband would definitely hate and frankly it would use all the battery in my phone while the kids played Pokemon. But honestly, as I watch cost multiply for this trip I have to choose one or the other -- we cannot as a family justify Genie + daily (an extra $75 per day) while also paying for park hopping and/or waterparks and mini-golf. Still very much a first-world problem, but I'm just not sure what to do.

I'm leaning towards skipping Genie +, but don't want to disappoint the kids by riding fewer rides and having to skip some entirely (I'm definitely not waiting 90 min for the 2 min on the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train). I think if we can get into the parks early for rope drop (also a stress, because our family are already not early risers and are coming from central time) we can do a few rides and duck out around 11 or noon as crowds build. Then have lunch at the resort with either pool, nap, and/or waterpark time. Maybe we go back to a park around for dinner a ride or two and/or fireworks? I just don't know how realistic this all is. I feel like everything is a trade off right now. Is it possible to go to Disney World and be relaxed anymore?

 

[GBRforWDW]

I personally prefer single park per day tickets. We always find something new to do or can take a longer break on a bench instead of leaving the park. We also prefer skipping lines as much as possible, so I'd definitely point you that direction, but the real question, since you mentioned water parks, etc, is that option a must have? If so I'd go for that. Otherwise, I'd pick Genie.

Not sure when your trip is, but they just announced a switch today that will go into August where one of the Individual Lightning Lanes is converting to Genie+, so that should open up availability a little more.

You mentioned not waiting for 7dmt, so wasn't sure if you were aware, that's not included in Genie+, but is an individual cost for that one. Totally worth the price imo, but wanted you to be aware.

I'd check out this thread, posts 1-7, to get a better understanding of Genie+ and see if it's something you want or can skip.


Enjoy your trip!

https://www.disboards.com/threads/e...lightning-lane-please-read-posts-1-7.3856734/

 

[WxKristin]

I personally prefer single park per day tickets. We always find something new to do or can take a longer break on a bench instead of leaving the park. We also prefer skipping lines as much as possible, so I'd definitely point you that direction, but the real question, since you mentioned water parks, etc, is that option a must have? If so I'd go for that. Otherwise, I'd pick Genie.

Not sure when your trip is, but they just announced a switch today that will go into August where one of the Individual Lightning Lanes is converting to Genie+, so that should open up availability a little more.

You mentioned not waiting for 7dmt, so wasn't sure if you were aware, that's not included in Genie+, but is an individual cost for that one. Totally worth the price imo, but wanted you to be aware.

I'd check out this thread, posts 1-7, to get a better understanding of Genie+ and see if it's something you want or can skip.


Enjoy your trip!

https://www.disboards.com/threads/e...lightning-lane-please-read-posts-1-7.3856734/

Thanks for your feedback. We won't be traveling until Oct so who knows what Genie+ will look like. I've just been so spoiled Park Hopping in the past -- if we were sick of crowds in confined areas in the morning at Magic Kingdom we could bounce to Epcot in the evening. I just don't know if I would regret not having it. On the flip side, we would all regret waiting 1-2 hr+ lines all day.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

You probably know this already, but you can actually buy Genie+ day-of - you wouldn't need to purchase it every day of your trip. Maybe you'll find you only want it some of the days. It wouldn't be a huge savings, but might be something to consider. The few times we have gotten to use G+, we have found we use it some days and not others. But we also found it most useful for us on park hopping days. We often booked in the morning for LL choices later in the day at the park we were hopping to. But you're also correct - no idea what Genie+ or ILL$ purchasing will look like come October. Things are just changing too darn fast right now!

 

[WxKristin]

You probably know this already, but you can actually buy Genie+ day-of - you wouldn't need to purchase it every day of your trip. Maybe you'll find you only want it some of the days. It wouldn't be a huge savings, but might be something to consider. The few times we have gotten to use G+, we have found we use it some days and not others. But we also found it most useful for us on park hopping days. We often booked in the morning for LL choices later in the day at the park we were hopping to. But you're also correct - no idea what Genie+ or ILL$ purchasing will look like come October. Things are just changing too darn fast right now!

That's a really good point that we could just get it for Magic Kingdom / Hollywood Studios. I'll have to think more about strategies for park hopping and Lightning Lane timing.