Thanksgiving Trip Review and how that possibly changes Genie+ for us

[poptart90]

Hi Everyone!

First off, we had a great family trip and loved being back at DLR after a long absence, however we did not love every minute of it. I'll try and sum up what we learned on this trip by sharing how we changed our last three days in the Parks and the absolute difference it made. But first I'll explain how the first two days went.

We rope dropped DL two times. For us it was a semi-waste. First day we were able to walk on Rise. But it kind of sucked away the morning because by the time we finished and walked back to Fantasyland, everything was so crowded and the lines were so long (45+ for Dumbo) that we did only a couple more things before heading to the pool. Nice to see RoTR, but was a huge commitment of time to make that happen with a standby line only. If ILL had been available, we would've ponied up the $ to make more of our rope drop time.

So the next time, we skipped RoTR and split up: DH/DD to Fantasyland and Me/DS to the bigger attractions. Not what we wanted to do, but the crowds were so obnoxious by 10am, we wanted the kids to get some faves in early in case we left at noon-ish again. DD had a great time. Did all of Fantasyland (minus Peter & Snow White). DS was able to ride Space, Indy, Big Thunder and Matterhorn. That felt good, except that traversing the park so quickly from one big attraction to another seemed such a waste! Not what we were used to with MP where you could rope drop Space while booking Indy for the next hour, then hit Buzz, Star Tours, Orbiter, maybe even hit a few Fantasyland rides before Indy, etc. This time it was ride Space...RUN to Indy, wait, ride, RUN to BTMRR, wait, ride, RUN to Matterhorn. Lol. We were able to complete his 4 faves waiting in standby lines by 11:30am...but I didn't count that as necessarily a Win for rope drop. However my step count that day was impressive!

Now the CHANGE.

Switched every other reservation to a DCA opening and had a fantastic rest of the trip! Here's an example of our morning rope drop at DCA:

WEBSlingers
Midway Mania
5 times Incredicosster (DS)
Inside/Out and Jesse's Carousel (DD)
Zephyr
Goofy's
Silly Swings
Ariel
2 more times Incredicoaster
Tractors
Dancing Cars

Early lunch at Pym's (mobile order was awesome)

Monsters
Soarin'
4 times Grizzly

DONE and headed to the Pool at 1pm.

Unfortunately, RSR was down almost the entire time we were there. Never got to ride. DS and I waited over an hour right before closing one night. Went down and never came back. And nobody but DH likes Guardians. DD calls it the "felling down" ride. haha.

For me, 23 rides from rope drop to 1pm... now that's a WIN! We hit the pool, took a nap, then went back for the fireworks at 9pm. Thanks to @fly girl, we learned that the magic at DL is from 10pm-close. Yup! We rode everything we wanted from 10pm on...and all together this time! Barely anyone in the Park. Beautiful time to admire the decorations, Castle, Tree, etc. Had all the yummy treats and it was a great shopping time, too.

For the rest of the trip, this was our schedule. Rope drop DCA. Nap. Close DL.

Looking ahead to Genie+ after this experience is interesting. Not sure we'd need it if this kind of schedule is still available. Lot of money to fork out daily if the reality is that it affords only 3-4 selections a day? Instead, I'd definitely book ILL's at what ever cost, and simply try and utilize early morning and closing to do everything else.

I'm excited to hear the reviews of those trying Genie+ in the coming weeks, and if anyone else finds our type of schedule helpful or productive.

 

[Pluto468]

Thanks for the review! I'm glad you found a way to make it work better after your first couple of days. This makes me think I should switch some of my mornings to DCA. As of now they are all at DL. I wouldn't have thought of going after 10pm, but it sounds like this is the way to go. My kids are 11&15 so they should have no problem with that if we rest in the afternoon.

How were the DCA crowds on your mornings there?

 

[Geemo]

Hi Everyone!

First off, we had a great family trip and loved being back at DLR after a long absence, however we did not love every minute of it. I'll try and sum up what we learned on this trip by sharing how we changed our last three days in the Parks and the absolute difference it made. But first I'll explain how the first two days went.

We rope dropped DL two times. For us it was a semi-waste. First day we were able to walk on Rise. But it kind of sucked away the morning because by the time we finished and walked back to Fantasyland, everything was so crowded and the lines were so long (45+ for Dumbo) that we did only a couple more things before heading to the pool. Nice to see RoTR, but was a huge commitment of time to make that happen with a standby line only. If ILL had been available, we would've ponied up the $ to make more of our rope drop time.

So the next time, we skipped RoTR and split up: DH/DD to Fantasyland and Me/DS to the bigger attractions. Not what we wanted to do, but the crowds were so obnoxious by 10am, we wanted the kids to get some faves in early in case we left at noon-ish again. DD had a great time. Did all of Fantasyland (minus Peter & Snow White). DS was able to ride Space, Indy, Big Thunder and Matterhorn. That felt good, except that traversing the park so quickly from one big attraction to another seemed such a waste! Not what we were used to with MP where you could rope drop Space while booking Indy for the next hour, then hit Buzz, Star Tours, Orbiter, maybe even hit a few Fantasyland rides before Indy, etc. This time it was ride Space...RUN to Indy, wait, ride, RUN to BTMRR, wait, ride, RUN to Matterhorn. Lol. We were able to complete his 4 faves waiting in standby lines by 11:30am...but I didn't count that as necessarily a Win for rope drop. However my step count that day was impressive!

Now the CHANGE.

Switched every other reservation to a DCA opening and had a fantastic rest of the trip! Here's an example of our morning rope drop at DCA:

WEBSlingers
Midway Mania
5 times Incredicosster (DS)
Inside/Out and Jesse's Carousel (DD)
Zephyr
Goofy's
Silly Swings
Ariel
2 more times Incredicoaster
Tractors
Dancing Cars

Early lunch at Pym's (mobile order was awesome)

Monsters
Soarin'
4 times Grizzly

DONE and headed to the Pool at 1pm.

Unfortunately, RSR was down almost the entire time we were there. Never got to ride. DS and I waited over an hour right before closing one night. Went down and never came back. And nobody but DH likes Guardians. DD calls it the "felling down" ride. haha.

For me, 23 rides from rope drop to 1pm... now that's a WIN! We hit the pool, took a nap, then went back for the fireworks at 9pm. Thanks to @fly girl, we learned that the magic at DL is from 10pm-close. Yup! We rode everything we wanted from 10pm on...and all together this time! Barely anyone in the Park. Beautiful time to admire the decorations, Castle, Tree, etc. Had all the yummy treats and it was a great shopping time, too.

For the rest of the trip, this was our schedule. Rope drop DCA. Nap. Close DL.

Looking ahead to Genie+ after this experience is interesting. Not sure we'd need it if this kind of schedule is still available. Lot of money to fork out daily if the reality is that it affords only 3-4 selections a day? Instead, I'd definitely book ILL's at what ever cost, and simply try and utilize early morning and closing to do everything else.

I'm excited to hear the reviews of those trying Genie+ in the coming weeks, and if anyone else finds our type of schedule helpful or productive.

Interesting schedule... Thank you

I have three weekdays (M-W) in the parks at the end of January.
My hopper is scheduled for DL every morning.

I may have to re-think where to start each day.
One draw-back I see is the parks generally open later in the mornings and close earlier in the evenings.

I'm not sure I want to pay $20 for Genie+ if you can only use it one time on each ride offered.
I hope to learn a few Genie+ tips from those in the parks the next few weeks.

 

[poptart90]

How were the DCA crowds on your mornings there?

They were fantastic. Far less than the crowds starting at DL. Also seemed that those peeps starting after rope drop came later in the morning compared to DL. More like 11am. So the first three hours were golden.

Something else to note was that the first morning we chose to aim for WEBSlingers (figuring everyone was going in that direction) but interestingly, it was really 50/50. Half running for WEB, half running for RSR. By the time we were done at WEB, RSR was down (but it was obvious that most people stayed in line) so we went to the Pier which was EMPTY for hours. DS and I walked on Incredicoaster 5 times in a row. So if you like the big line attractions (WEB, RSR, Guardians) perhaps consider just rope dropping one each morning then bomb through the rest of the Park while everyone is focused on only those rides. You could definitely suck up the morning trying to get those three back-to-back.

The night time was really the way to do DL for us. The longest we waited for anything was maybe 10-12 minutes for Space. Everything else (minus Peter, which we did not attempt) was a complete walk-on. We did Jungle Cruise, Indy, Pirates, BTMMRR, Haunted Mansion and Pooh in record time then had a great meal at Bengal BBQ, after which we went on to complete Tomorrowland and a few in Fantasyland. We rode everything so quickly the kids were kind of "done" so we spent the rest of the time taking it all in without the crowds. I'm curious to see if this remains possible. It was so stress-free!

 

[poptart90]

Interesting schedule... Thank you

I have three weekdays (M-W) in the parks at the end of January.
My hopper is scheduled for DL every morning.

I may have to re-think where to start each day.
One draw-back I see is the parks generally open later in the mornings and close earlier in the evenings.

I'm not sure I want to pay $20 for Genie+ if you can only use it one time on each ride offered.
I hope to learn a few Genie+ tips from those in the parks the next few weeks.

Not sure if this can be considered a trusted source (many are new these days) but a CM shared with us one evening that most locals who frequent the Parks don't stay until close which usually means the hours right before are typically the lowest attendance hours. If you combine that with the fact that parents visiting with really little ones (speaking from experience) are most likely tucked in for the night, it makes sense, especially for a weekday when anyone local may work the next day, etc.

Looking forward to hearing about Genie+. It'll be interesting to see if that changes the dynamics!

 

[DLgal]

We are locals and at this point, barely make it into the parks before 1pm. Late night is where it's at! But my kids are older teens so it is easy.