Planning out G+, paid IAS, and rope drop - overwhelmed!

[Scooley01]

Hi all! We are booked for our very belated honeymoon at Pop Century in early June. We were originally booked for May of 2020, which obviously did not pan out haha! We will be there for five park days, and we currently have park reservations for one day in each park with a bonus day in MK.

Mon - EPCOT
Tues - DHS
Wed - AK
Thurs - MK
Fri - MK

We're starting the process of making rough plans for each day since we're almost to our ADR date, and I am overwhelmed to say the least. We're planning on getting Genie+ for the whole trip (not sure on park-hoppers yet), and we are open (albeit reluctant) to doing a paid IAS for a ride or two if it saves a substantial amount of time. We're also planning on rope-dropping each day to try to make the most of our time.

Is there a "best" plan/method for choosing which rides we rush over to at rope drop, which rides we try to nab first thing on G+, and which (if any) we try to get paid IAS for? For example, I don't want to spend money on IAS for RoR if we can zoom over there at rope drop for free. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[GBRforWDW]

Hi all! We are booked for our very belated honeymoon at Pop Century in early June. We were originally booked for May of 2020, which obviously did not pan out haha! We will be there for five park days, and we currently have park reservations for one day in each park with a bonus day in MK.

Mon - EPCOT
Tues - DHS
Wed - AK
Thurs - MK
Fri - MK

We're starting the process of making rough plans for each day since we're almost to our ADR date, and I am overwhelmed to say the least. We're planning on getting Genie+ for the whole trip (not sure on park-hoppers yet), and we are open (albeit reluctant) to doing a paid IAS for a ride or two if it saves a substantial amount of time. We're also planning on rope-dropping each day to try to make the most of our time.

Is there a "best" plan/method for choosing which rides we rush over to at rope drop, which rides we try to nab first thing on G+, and which (if any) we try to get paid IAS for? For example, I don't want to spend money on IAS for RoR if we can zoom over there at rope drop for free. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Yay for finally getting that trip in! We had a may 2020 trip planned as well, but have been back a few times since.

If the ILL$ rides, the extra cost ones, the 2 hardest to do at rope drop are going to be RotR and Remy, for different reasons. RotR still has some reliability issues, so you could rush over, be first in line, and it's down. Remy, if you can't us the International Gateway entrance, you're at a significant disadvantage, because that entrance is so close.

If you haven't seen the latest notification from Disney, they're now advertising that you can only expect 2-3 G+ passes per day. So you'll have to weigh whether that extra cost is worth the 45-60 minutes saved per ride for 2 or 3 rides. It's really just a rat race at this point. Get your top ride as an LL at 7am. Rope drop your second top must do and go from there. Parks are crowded nearly every day right now. Maybe that'll slow down soon, but most likely not until late summer. The parks are still fun, just have to manage expectations and enjoy what you can.

If you do park hop, you can stack your Genie plus selections at the park you hop to for afternoon ride times, which can be more exciting than having them spread throughout the entire day.

 

[Westerner]

Hi all! We are booked for our very belated honeymoon at Pop Century in early June. We were originally booked for May of 2020, which obviously did not pan out haha! We will be there for five park days, and we currently have park reservations for one day in each park with a bonus day in MK.

Mon - EPCOT
Tues - DHS
Wed - AK
Thurs - MK
Fri - MK

We're starting the process of making rough plans for each day since we're almost to our ADR date, and I am overwhelmed to say the least. We're planning on getting Genie+ for the whole trip (not sure on park-hoppers yet), and we are open (albeit reluctant) to doing a paid IAS for a ride or two if it saves a substantial amount of time. We're also planning on rope-dropping each day to try to make the most of our time.

Is there a "best" plan/method for choosing which rides we rush over to at rope drop, which rides we try to nab first thing on G+, and which (if any) we try to get paid IAS for? For example, I don't want to spend money on IAS for RoR if we can zoom over there at rope drop for free. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Congrats on your wedding/honeymoon!

Suggest you check out some of wisblue's recent posts on his experiences with EE and G+ in the EPTE thread, a lot of good info there.
link

 

[pens4821]

We watched the tip board in the app for weeks leading up to our trip. Saw which rides would sell out (or go later faster) for LL. Then we came up win our plan.

I would recommend the hoppers. Go to one park in the morning and ride some headliners. Start booking LL while you’re in that park and every two hours. Then take a break before heading to park two. That way you’ll have around 4 LL lines up for the evening (it will change the LL time automatically to after 2). You should be able to get another one and if you’re willing to stay in the parks latter MK you could probably get a couple more (although the later it gets the less high demand rides you’ll get).

 

[T'Lynn]

RotR at rope drop is risky…. It’s often down and when it reopens they’ll prioritize LL first so you can lose a LOT of time.

We got stuck on two rides that were down at RD - SDD and Remy and it cut into our plans but it wasn’t detrimental but RotR is rough if you get stuck…

Our HS morning we were lucky because 3 rides were down so with everyone stuck in line the other rides didn’t build as fast so we were able to get on MMRR even tho we had a 45 min SDD delay!

 

[holden]

Genie+ can be stressful. Take a deep breath and do your best.

I'd recommend doing the ILL for RoTR. It's a long attraction and always has a long standby line, so you feel like you're getting your money's worth. Also, you won't have to stress about running there for rope drop. We rope dropped TOT first and then RNRC. Both were walk ons.

FOP is another good one to ILL. That way you can rope drop EE (assuming it's reopened). EE also has a single rider line, so you can take advantage of that too.

Remy is cute, but I don't think it's a major disappointment if you happen to miss it. I'd rope drop that instead of spending $ on ILL. Enter via the International Gateway and turn right. I personally don't think Genie+ is worth it in EP. TT has a single rider line, so that helps.

In MK SDMT isn't worth the ILL in my opinion. However, Genie+ is.

I'd recommend hoppers. Also, staying in the park as late as possible is worth it. It's cooler and lines do die down as the younger kids to back to the resorts.

 

[Scooley01]

Thanks for all the info! Husband is really wanting to not do any paid ILL, but I'm leaning more and more toward paying for RotR just to make sure we get on. Here's our list so far:

EPCOT

• ILL - GotG, if it's on the ILL system
• Rope Drop - Remy
• 7am Genie - Frozen or Mission Space Orange
• We're OK with missing Soarin and Test Track if good Genie times don't pop up.

DHS

• ILL - RotR
• Rope Drop - M&MRR
• 7am Genie - SDD
• Hoping we should still be able to get ToT, RnR, and MFSR on Genie later (or standby worst case)

AK

• Rope Drop - FoP
• 7am Genie - Everest
• Then Na'Vi, Dinosaur, Kilimanjaro Safaris, and Kali River Rapids

MK

• Rope Drop - 7DMT
• 7am Genie - undecided. Not as much of a crunch because we're spending a second day in MK. There's also a lot of MK rides that we have ridden at Disneyland and so missing them won't be the end of the world (I'm looking at you, Small World!)

 

[T'Lynn]

Thanks for all the info! Husband is really wanting to not do any paid ILL, but I'm leaning more and more toward paying for RotR just to make sure we get on. Here's our list so far:

EPCOT

• ILL - GotG, if it's on the ILL system
• Rope Drop - Remy
• 7am Genie - Frozen or Mission Space Orange
• We're OK with missing Soarin and Test Track if good Genie times don't pop up.

DHS

• ILL - RotR
• Rope Drop - M&MRR
• 7am Genie - SDD
• Hoping we should still be able to get ToT, RnR, and MFSR on Genie later (or standby worst case)

AK

• Rope Drop - FoP
• 7am Genie - Everest
• Then Na'Vi, Dinosaur, Kilimanjaro Safaris, and Kali River Rapids

MK

• Rope Drop - 7DMT
• 7am Genie - undecided. Not as much of a crunch because we're spending a second day in MK. There's also a lot of MK rides that we have ridden at Disneyland and so missing them won't be the end of the world (I'm looking at you, Small World!)

This looks like a good plan. Yes, I HIGHLY recommend getting the $ILL for RotR. It's just such a complicated ride with so many moving parts it can go down at any time. The reservation gives you peace of mind.

I imagine that GotG will likely use the Virtual Queue system for most of the summer but may also be a paid LL for those that don't get it?

Some food for thought at DHS. Last week I rope dropped SDD and it was down for 45 minutes but I still went to MMRR and only waited 20 minutes in standby (it was posted 45 tho)... So you may want to follow that plan and then book the other headliners as your LL. Also, if you will be at DHS for park close, I rode RnRC with a 40 minute wait when I got in line at about 8:15.

Everything else looks good! At 7AM for MK it seems JC and PPF go the fastest because so many people try RD the Mountains.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

Hi all! We are booked for our very belated honeymoon at Pop Century in early June. We were originally booked for May of 2020, which obviously did not pan out haha! We will be there for five park days, and we currently have park reservations for one day in each park with a bonus day in MK.

Mon - EPCOT
Tues - DHS
Wed - AK
Thurs - MK
Fri - MK

We're starting the process of making rough plans for each day since we're almost to our ADR date, and I am overwhelmed to say the least. We're planning on getting Genie+ for the whole trip (not sure on park-hoppers yet), and we are open (albeit reluctant) to doing a paid IAS for a ride or two if it saves a substantial amount of time. We're also planning on rope-dropping each day to try to make the most of our time.

Is there a "best" plan/method for choosing which rides we rush over to at rope drop, which rides we try to nab first thing on G+, and which (if any) we try to get paid IAS for? For example, I don't want to spend money on IAS for RoR if we can zoom over there at rope drop for free. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Congrats on your wedding/belated honeymoon! Definitely do a little research on here and disney tourist blog and allears for recommended G+ priority/iLL$.

As of late, DHS is the park that is very hard to navigate even with G+. There are a variety of strategies that help but imo, rope dropping helps a ton and/or staying until park close. Keep an eye on your park hours so you know what time you should arrive for early entry and at DHS, plan to arrive as early as you can and play with G+ and iLL$ before you get to disney so you're familiar with the app and not trying to learn how to use it while booking LLs. Slinky is the G+ that will be gone ASAP. If you want to pay for Rise and also book slinky, my recommendation is book slinky first then rise or if you can, one of you books slinky and one of you books Rise so you're booking simultaneously on difference devices.

At MK, for some reason that I cannot explain, Jungle Cruise has been a hot G+....I love JC but I don't get it. There are so many other tier 1 rides but hey, I guess more G+ for me For MK EE, it's not a huge advantage unless you get there 45 min or more before the park opens to onsite guests. Keep in mind it's only Fantasy Land and Tomorrowland that are open for EE. The other lands open at park opening.

At Epcot, Frozen and TT are hot. Remy is iLL$ and if you RD Epcot, you should be ok, however do keep in mind that guests coming in from the international gateway for EE have an advantage getting to France.

I haven't done AK using G+ but keep in mind it's not really a huge perk at AK or Epcot given the fewer rides at these parks.

Have a good trip.

 

[Scooley01]

Congrats on your wedding/belated honeymoon! Definitely do a little research on here and disney tourist blog and allears for recommended G+ priority/iLL$.

As of late, DHS is the park that is very hard to navigate even with G+. There are a variety of strategies that help but imo, rope dropping helps a ton and/or staying until park close. Keep an eye on your park hours so you know what time you should arrive for early entry and at DHS, plan to arrive as early as you can and play with G+ and iLL$ before you get to disney so you're familiar with the app and not trying to learn how to use it while booking LLs. Slinky is the G+ that will be gone ASAP. If you want to pay for Rise and also book slinky, my recommendation is book slinky first then rise or if you can, one of you books slinky and one of you books Rise so you're booking simultaneously on difference devices.

At MK, for some reason that I cannot explain, Jungle Cruise has been a hot G+....I love JC but I don't get it. There are so many other tier 1 rides but hey, I guess more G+ for me For MK EE, it's not a huge advantage unless you get there 45 min or more before the park opens to onsite guests. Keep in mind it's only Fantasy Land and Tomorrowland that are open for EE. The other lands open at park opening.

At Epcot, Frozen and TT are hot. Remy is iLL$ and if you RD Epcot, you should be ok, however do keep in mind that guests coming in from the international gateway for EE have an advantage getting to France.

I haven't done AK using G+ but keep in mind it's not really a huge perk at AK or Epcot given the fewer rides at these parks.

Have a good trip.

Thank you! The info I read in a thread on here suggested being in line for transportation at the resort 90min before Early Entry. So 9am park opening means 8:30 EE, which means in line at the resort (for bus or skyliner) at 7am. We're normally early risers for our jobs anyway, so we hopefully won't have any issues going Rope Drop to Close each day...I know it will be a lot 5 days in a row haha!

Current plan is to have one of us go to get in the transportation line while the other grabs a small breakfast to share from the Pop dining area. I think we should both be able to be logging in to get rides booked at 7am, him on G+ and me going for ILL, or the other way around.

We're staying at Pop Century, and my understanding is that the Skyliner takes us to the International Gateway at EPCOT, so hopefully we'll be able to cash in on that advantage to knock out Remy quickly! Luckily we're not that excited to do TT, so if we miss it we'll be fine, but if there happens to be a good Genie time later in the day we might grab it.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

Thank you! The info I read in a thread on here suggested being in line for transportation at the resort 90min before Early Entry. So 9am park opening means 8:30 EE, which means in line at the resort (for bus or skyliner) at 7am. We're normally early risers for our jobs anyway, so we hopefully won't have any issues going Rope Drop to Close each day...I know it will be a lot 5 days in a row haha!

Current plan is to have one of us go to get in the transportation line while the other grabs a small breakfast to share from the Pop dining area. I think we should both be able to be logging in to get rides booked at 7am, him on G+ and me going for ILL, or the other way around.

We're staying at Pop Century, and my understanding is that the Skyliner takes us to the International Gateway at EPCOT, so hopefully we'll be able to cash in on that advantage to knock out Remy quickly! Luckily we're not that excited to do TT, so if we miss it we'll be fine, but if there happens to be a good Genie time later in the day we might grab it.

Sounds like you're getting it all planned out. Yes, the skyliner will drop you at the IG entrance so that's perfect. I don't think it makes a huge difference on who books what from their phone, just make sure you have your card info saved and ready to go for your purchases.

 

[Scooley01]

Sounds like you're getting it all planned out. Yes, the skyliner will drop you at the IG entrance so that's perfect. I don't think it makes a huge difference on who books what from their phone, just make sure you have your card info saved and ready to go for your purchases.

Yes, thanks to all the info here on DIS, plus the more recent YouTube videos, I'm feeling much less overwhelmed haha!

 

[TiggerBouncy]

Congratulations on your wedding and belated honeymoon!

You seem to have done your research, and your plan sounds like a good one. The only thing I want to interject is - take a deep breath. You won't be there until June and things are changing fast these days. What might be the right choices for G+ now may not be in 2 months.