So how much time do you devote to planning genie+, LL, and dinner reservations beforehand and while you are there?

[Bete]

To be honest I'm older and this just seems overwhelming to me. My last visit to Disney World was 2018. I have done many trips through the years: so, I'm not a newbie. But I am a newbie to the new system of genie+ and LL.

I hear at times it can be very frustrating with frozen screens and Disney requesting you to do a new password because it doesn't recognize your old password anymore. Whatever the reasons there seems to be a lot of glitches especially when the park is more crowded. Virtual queues are another obstacle for me.

I feel like I would be glued to my phone constantly for one reason or the other.

Also, I feel you just don't accomplish enough anymore to substantiate the park ticket costs due to rides being down or limited capacity on the rides or whatever. I just don't remember it being as bad in the past.

I might be just resisting change but it feels like such a chore now to go to Disney World.

Convince me it's not that bad, please.

 

[tentaguasu]

It can be a chore, but I think you can make it easier if you're willing to pay. This is not the most efficient way to do it, but if you want ease, I'd do this:

Buy $ILL for the "big" rides.

Buy Genie+ every day.

Know the order of priority for Genie+ reservations (i.e. which ones sell out first - easily found on Touring Plans among other places e.g. this one just posted recently, and also available for all parks: https://touringplans.com/blog/genie-priorities-at-epcot/)

Get up at 7:00 a.m. and book your first reservation in order of priority.

Rinse and repeat every two hours or once you've used a reservation.

I'd think that's enough to get you 85% of what a "power user" would get. Being more strategic can get you things more cheaply without relying on the paid options, but if you're willing to pay a bit more and know the basics, you should be fine.

I did a ton of planning, but I didn't really need to. I did Genie+ the whole way for Covid reasons (avoid queues to the extent possible). I just went to Remy early and to RotR and FoP at close and used Genie+. It worked out fine. Not perfect, but fine.

Others may disagree!

 

[3gr8boys]

To be honest I'm older and this just seems overwhelming to me. My last visit to Disney World was 2018. I have done many trips through the years: so, I'm not a newbie. But I am a newbie to the new system of genie+ and LL.

I hear at times it can be very frustrating with frozen screens and Disney requesting you to do a new password because it doesn't recognize your old password anymore. Whatever the reasons there seems to be a lot of glitches especially when the park is more crowded. Virtual queues are another obstacle for me.

I feel like I would be glued to my phone constantly for one reason or the other.

Also, I feel you just don't accomplish enough anymore to substantiate the park ticket costs due to rides being down or limited capacity on the rides or whatever. I just don't remember it being as bad in the past.

I might be just resisting change but it feels like such a chore now to go to Disney World.

Convince me it's not that bad, please.

We were in WDW (on site resort, six park days with hoppers and genie+) in early April 2022. Our last trip before that was April 2018.

The only plans we had set in place when we arrived was a TS meal each day, two Oga's reservations, Up Close With Rhinos and a Savi's reservation. My family does not like to follow touring plans and doesn't like to RD every morning. Each night the five of us would discuss the next day -agree on the LL I would get at 7:00 a.m. and what time we would meet at the bus stop to head out.

(I did a lot of Disboards reading ahead of our trip and played with the app every morning the week before our trip to see what LL availability looked like between 7:00 and 7:20. I did not go to the trouble to try and map out full days or figure out a LL order to follow.)

Once I booked that first LL each morning of our trip, I updated "my day" on the app so next time we could book a LL, the rides we were most interested in would show at the top. We just rolled with it from there.... filling in gaps between LLs with shows, snacks, cavalcades, low wait attractions etc. It was fantastic.

When we used mobile order for QS it went very smoothly. (Highly recommended cold brew and cinnamon sugar donut hole mobile order from Friar's Nook if you need a quick pick me up in MK!)

Happy to say I didn't experience any major glitches with the app.

I posted this after our trip....

Post in thread 'Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping' https://www.disboards.com/threads/h...-including-park-hopping.3807247/post-63923788

 

[Bete]

It's starting to sound better. Keep the comments coming. Thank you.

 

[_19disnA]

Our lives don't revolve around the use of cell phones regardless of the clever marketing from phone companies who always try to make it seem like we are missing out. Usually my cellphone is on the counter when at home. Rarely take it outside or to the store. Voice mail works great if someone calls and I don't happen to be near my phone....leave a message and I will call you back later. Going on vacation is no different and don't have a need to constantly have my nose stuck in my phone. When we last went to Disney in 2019 (before Genie), we made our ADR's for a few meals prior to traveling. FastPass only let you pre-reserve 3 rides per day. Someone in our party had their phone and while eating lunch we might check to see if any additional FastPasses were available. If not, we did rides that had shorter lines and thought it worked out well.

Not sure when we might go again, but doubt the whole Genie thing will change how we operate. We certainly won't get up at midnight (or whenever that starts) to buy Genie for the next day and typically are still asleep @ 7 am when something else opens for scheduling. Disney in general is too crowded and way too expensive compared to other places we like to vacation. No ride that lasts 2-3 minutes is worth standing in a 2 hour line. Not sure we would ever pay the extra cost to ride a specific ride, just don't see the value in that.

If none of that Genie stuff is still available when we chose to get up, then Disney won't get any extra $$$ from us that day. We already know the things we like to do at the parks, so we don't need our phones to tell us where to walk next. It mostly depends on how you enjoy doing the parks and has worked fine for us in the past.

Many posts seem to indicate that later in the day is a good time to ride the most popular rides without Genie since the lines tend to get shorter.

 

[Spunky946]

We used genie plus from offsite and used individual lighting lane a couple of times. We didn’t have any problems with the app itself and was able to ride a lot. We are not rope drop people, but used late nights at magic kingdom a couple of nights. That coupled with rain at Hollywood that chased people away, it worked great. I’d spend some time on my phone the night before looking for dining, and was usually able to snag something last minut. Honestly we had so much fun and hadn’t been since 2018. If you go in knowing that it will be busy, and decide if a ride was worth it or not, you will have fun.

 

[loves to dive]

It is possible to do it, still, without paying a penny for Genie+ or even making an ADR in advance. I've been 4 times since the parks have reopened and once since Genie+ (in April for 6 nights starting Easter Sunday) and not once made an ADR in advance and in April did not use Genie +. My circumstances: I have an AP, the trips before the AP I had park hoppers. Every trip but one was solo, one in Sept. was with my son, his SO and their 5 month old daughter. They had park hoppers as well. If a table service meal was wanted, we just got on MDE a few hours in advance and found what was available.

Now skip to April with Genie+ in play. Solo trip, I've been going to WDW for many years and know what rides I do and don't want to ride, I know I'll be back again if not during the current year, during the next so if I don't ride anything it's not the end of the world. I'm a 65 year old woman and do have a smart phone. There are no restaurants I have to eat at. Since I'm not young, I get up pretty early, even on vacation. I was on site so did have early entry and one night had late night available but didn't use it. I sort of used early entry, I got up plenty early but couldn't seem to motivate myself to get out the door so I was usually somewhere within the early entry window but never at rope drop for early entry. I don't mind standing in line if I want to ride a ride, and yes I stood in line for a hour a few times.

My days went sort of like this: got there Easter Sunday and at Epcot around 2 pm. went to LaCava where there was a 30 min. wait for a table. Rode the ride in Mexico with no wait. Got in line for Frozen, posted 60 min. wait, it was 60 min and the ride went down almost immediately, had to be evacuated. Off the ride 2 hours after getting in line. Rode LWTL no wait, rode Soarin the only wait being at the preshow gate, rode SSE no wait. Hopped the monorail to MK when the Easter rain storm happened. Rode Pirates with no wait, rode HM with about a 5 min wait, posted 13 min. ride stopped 3 times, once for about 10 min. Flooding everywhere, was going to ride Peoplemover but as I walked by heard them saying it was down. Gave up, hopped a bus back to my resort. Monday MK reservation booked. Got there about 5 min. into EE and walk to SDMT, 70 min wait and it was. Rode JC, posted 50 min. wait, was about 45. BTMRR posted 60 min. wait, was about 45. Peoplemover, posted 15 and it was. WTP posted 30 and it was. Back to room to rest and Epcot for booths to eat. Wanted to see the Tree of Life awakening so went to AK around 4. Walked in the park and hopped on the APP to see if anything available for Nomad Lounge, 10 min wait list, table was ready by the time I got over there. Hopped in line for Navi, posted 60 min. 50 min the ride went down (yes, 2nd day 2nd ride down after waiting in line) Rode Dinosaur posted 15 was walk on. Shopped around and watched 3 of the awakenings. Back to room. Next day was AK day, got to the park about 1 min. into EE went straight to Navi and it was a walk on. Wanted to do Safari next but it didn't open until 8:30 so got some breakfast and sat and people watched then got in line waiting for Safari to open. Once it opened, walk on (best Safari lions out walking about and roaring, baby rhino running and hopping) walked the Gorilla Trail. Walked the Tiger trail. Went and saw Lion King about 10 min. wait. Bird Show, just starting. Rode the train and petted some goats and the pig. Did it's tough to be a bug. Walked around the Tree of Life. Split stay so move day, got my car which was parked at resort #1 and drove to Dolphin and checked in. Room ready. Walked over to Epcot and did some booths. Back to room and pool. Walked over to HS and MMRR posted 45, it was 20. Got on app to see if anything open for HBD lounge, 10 min wait list, table ready by the time I got over there. TSMM posted 60 and it was. SDD posted 60 and it was. Note, no rides went down. Next day HS day. Got to park about 10 min. into EE. Got in line for RoTR, no posted time but looked to be about a hour line. 60 min. and ride went down. Left and went to ToT, posted 45, was 30. I had pretty much ridden everything I wanted to except RoTR so went to the Frozen show then the Indie show. Back to room to rest. Walked over to Epcot for booths and decided to ride Remy. Posted 70, 50 min ride went down, yes two rides in one day. Left and just walked around WS eating and shopping. Rode the land again. Back to room. Next day was Epcot reservation. I woke up with a sore throat so was taking it slow. Got to park about 15 min into EE. Got in line for Remy, posted 50 was 30. Went and got a big ole donut and cup of coffe (15 min wait for Joeffrys cart). Wandered around looking at F&G stuff and worked my way to the Living Seas. Wandered around there looking at all the fish. Wasn't feeling so hot so back to room. Walked over to Epcot and ate at some booths. Decided to stay and watch the FW so spread out my poncho on the ground close to the American stage and listened to the band and just chilled. Left after FWs. Friday had a full blown cold and felt like crap. I needed to get some things at MK so masked up and rode the bus over there. Wandered through some shops and found a spot for the parade where no one could be on one side of me so I turned that way and left my mask on. Watched the parade, bought what I needed and back to the room. Walked over to HS around 7:55 because I wanted a Wookie Cookie. Got there 1 min. after they stopped serving. Went to RoTR and posted 60 min. it was 30.

Both Thurs and Friday if I was out of my room I was masked up, even outside and used hand sanitizer before I touched anything. On the bus I double masked and turned my head to the window.

I rode every ride I wanted to ride, yes rides went down, yes I stood in line, no ADRs because I like to eat at lounges and at the booths most of the time. I either ate breakfast at QS in the hotel or in the parks. I had one to go meal from the Fountain at the Dolphin. One mobile order breakfast at Woodies.