Where would you do Genie+?

[Dulcee]

If it was just up to me we’d use early entry every day and skip genie+ entirely but with the parks opening earlier then I had originally planned I need to pick one day to consider genie+ so that my family doesn’t revolt at 5:30 alarms all week

We’ve used genie+ two or three times on prior trips but I’m still torn on which park day to add it to. We have park hoppers and will take an afternoon break of 3-4 hours every park day. Where would you utilize it?

Day 1 - MK morning (will use early entry) to do Peter Pan. Epcot evening, no headliner rides on the agenda. Guardians VQ hopefully.

Day 2 - Hollywood Studios, had planned on early early entry (Disney tourist blog plan) to try for Rise before official opening and then heading to Slinky at official opening time. Animal Kingdom in the evening, no headliner rides on the agenda. Early night to bed.

Day 3 - MK morning (park closes early this day but has a 7:30 am EE time), gameplan was Space Mountain followed by Jungle Cruise at official opening. Tron VQ? Hollywood Studios in the afternoon, MMRR and ToT on the agenda. Late night with Fantasmic.

Day 4 - Epcot early opening at 8:30, gameplan is Remy followed by Frozen. MK in the evening, planning to purchase ILL for 7DMT.

Day 5 - no parks, sleeping in

Day 6 - Animal Kingdom early entry @ 7:30 for FOP and the Safari. Epcot in the evening, no headliners aside from Guardians VQ

Day 7 - Hollywood Studios, Millennium Falcon and MMRR at the top of the list. Evening at Magic Kingdom, repeats as needed with Tron VQ(?). Leaving the park around 8 for dinner reservation.

My thought is to either do Genie+ day 7 (kids would love another round at Slinky) or day 3 because MK/HS days seem to be the best overall use? Idk… I am far from a genie pro and just want to feel like I’m getting value from it since I need to buy it for 4 people.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Day 3 gets my vote because your crew will have more energy to make the most of it and will probably be rebelling at the idea of a 3rd 5:30am alarm anyway.

 

[neverlandsky]

Day 3 also. Especially if kids want to ride SDD again. You can stack in the afternoon/evening for DHS.

 

[Dulcee]

Day 3 also. Especially if kids want to ride SDD again. You can stack in the afternoon/evening for DHS.

That’s a good idea. And will probably make the later night waiting on fantasmic easier. This is why I ask, thanks!

 

[Ratpack]

In our upcoming trip, we have two days that mimic your Day 3 and Day 7, those are the two days I am leaning towards to use Genie+. Like you, I am hoping Early Entry will take care of EPCOT and AK.

 

[livingwiththeland]

We love using genie+ when we do HS in the morning and MK in the afternoon/evening. I’d vote for Day 7 over Day 3 as there are a lot more genie + options at MK so it is better as the 2nd park for stacking. Also since it is your last day you can prioritize things you want to be sure to ride one last time.

 

[tom1944]

If it was just up to me we’d use early entry every day and skip genie+ entirely but with the parks opening earlier then I had originally planned I need to pick one day to consider genie+ so that my family doesn’t revolt at 5:30 alarms all week

We’ve used genie+ two or three times on prior trips but I’m still torn on which park day to add it to. We have park hoppers and will take an afternoon break of 3-4 hours every park day. Where would you utilize it?

Day 1 - MK morning (will use early entry) to do Peter Pan. Epcot evening, no headliner rides on the agenda. Guardians VQ hopefully.

Day 2 - Hollywood Studios, had planned on early early entry (Disney tourist blog plan) to try for Rise before official opening and then heading to Slinky at official opening time. Animal Kingdom in the evening, no headliner rides on the agenda. Early night to bed.

Day 3 - MK morning (park closes early this day but has a 7:30 am EE time), gameplan was Space Mountain followed by Jungle Cruise at official opening. Tron VQ? Hollywood Studios in the afternoon, MMRR and ToT on the agenda. Late night with Fantasmic.

Day 4 - Epcot early opening at 8:30, gameplan is Remy followed by Frozen. MK in the evening, planning to purchase ILL for 7DMT.

Day 5 - no parks, sleeping in

Day 6 - Animal Kingdom early entry @ 7:30 for FOP and the Safari. Epcot in the evening, no headliners aside from Guardians VQ

Day 7 - Hollywood Studios, Millennium Falcon and MMRR at the top of the list. Evening at Magic Kingdom, repeats as needed with Tron VQ(?). Leaving the park around 8 for dinner reservation.

My thought is to either do Genie+ day 7 (kids would love another round at Slinky) or day 3 because MK/HS days seem to be the best overall use? Idk… I am far from a genie pro and just want to feel like I’m getting value from it since I need to buy it for 4 people.

I was wondering what the benefit to park hopping is rather than just doing 2 full days at certain parks. I am new at this (only second year) so I am interested in all the different plans. I try to gather as much information as possible.

We had park hoppers last year and my granddaughter was too young to handle 2 parks in one day, so it did not work for us. This year we decided to do a split stay. When we are at BLT we will do 2 days at MK, 1 day at AK and 1 day at Epcot. We will leave Epcot and go to BWV and do 1 day at HS and a second day at Epcot.
I am hoping that at least one of the days at both MK and Epcot we go back at night.

I think I will overpay and use Genie+ every park day to just get a handle on it. Future trips may be different.

 

[Smrtalec33]

I was wondering what the benefit to park hopping is rather than just doing 2 full days at certain parks. I am new at this (only second year) so I am interested in all the different plans. I try to gather as much information as possible.

We had park hoppers last year and my granddaughter was too young to handle 2 parks in one day, so it did not work for us. This year we decided to do a split stay. When we are at BLT we will do 2 days at MK, 1 day at AK and 1 day at Epcot. We will leave Epcot and go to BWV and do 1 day at HS and a second day at Epcot.
I am hoping that at least one of the days at both MK and Epcot we go back at night.

I think I will overpay and use Genie+ every park day to just get a handle on it. Future trips may be different.

Hoppers have many benefits. I like starting a day with a rope drop at AK or Epcot while doing Lightning Lanes for a 2nd park, then hopping to that park with a handful of rides already reserved. Maybe you like to eat at Epcot. You can hop there for dinner every night, or to MK for fireworks or HS for Fantasmic. It gives you more flexibility for reservations. And, if you just feel like doing a certain ride, you can hop to that park on the spur of the moment.

My feeling is, we are taking a break in the middle of the day usually, at least when it’s hot like it is now, so it’s just as easy to hop to a second park as it is to return to the first one. If you wanna spend the day, you can certainly do that too, but hoppers give you options.

 

[tom1944]

Hoppers have many benefits. I like starting a day with a rope drop at AK or Epcot while doing Lightning Lanes for a 2nd park, then hopping to that park with a handful of rides already reserved. Maybe you like to eat at Epcot. You can hop there for dinner every night, or to MK for fireworks or HS for Fantasmic. It gives you more flexibility for reservations. And, if you just feel like doing a certain ride, you can hop to that park on the spur of the moment.

My feeling is, we are taking a break in the middle of the day usually, at least when it’s hot like it is now, so it’s just as easy to hop to a second park as it is to return to the first one. If you wanna spend the day, you can certainly do that too, but hoppers give you options.

But in terms of maximizing the number of rides you can get on does it add to that? Since we are new, we are trying to ride everything.

We are using the split stay to be close to certain parks for an evening return.

We will most likely try park hopper again when my granddaughter is older.

 

[kwdw]

Day 3 - but I'd buy the multi park version of Genie - and I'd buy ILL's that day, too.

Though - I admit - your plan would kill me from exhaustion. I can't sleep during an afternoon break - so wouldn't be getting enough sleep with EEH and staying to the end each day.

 

[Dulcee]

I was wondering what the benefit to park hopping is rather than just doing 2 full days at certain parks. I am new at this (only second year) so I am interested in all the different plans. I try to gather as much information as possible.

For us we like park hoppers because we prefer mornings/evenings in specific parks. For example, we only need 1 evening in Hollywood Studios to see Fantasmic but two mornings if we’re going to get to all the attractions we’d like to do there. AK we can manage in a day and a half so that other half day becomes more MK time. And I’ll do as many nights as I can wandering World Showcase and watching Epcot fireworks, that just never gets old for me.

Day 3 - but I'd buy the multi park version of Genie - and I'd buy ILL's that day, too.

Though - I admit - your plan would kill me from exhaustion. I can't sleep during an afternoon break - so wouldn't be getting enough sleep with EEH and staying to the end each day.

I can’t sleep midday either but pool and a book does it for me. My husband and our youngest kiddo though will happily nap through the worst heat of the day. We’ve learned over past trips that a break (ideally from noon to 5) each day works best for us. Also one full nonpark day to recover mid trip

 

[Smrtalec33]

But in terms of maximizing the number of rides you can get on does it add to that? Since we are new, we are trying to ride everything.

We are using the split stay to be close to certain parks for an evening return.

We will most likely try park hopper again when my granddaughter is older.

It depends. Animal Kingdom, for example, doesn’t have that many rides. so if all you’re trying to do is get on as many rides as possible, you might run out of rides at Animal Kingdom before your AK day is over, so you could hop to Magic Kingdom or elsewhere.

It also depends how long your trip is. if you designate one day for each park, and something is not running on your day for whatever reason, or you just don’t get there, if you don’t have hoppers, you would be out of luck.

But generally speaking, you could maybe do just as many rides or even theoretically more without Park hoppers. There are just a lot of variables, so it’s tough to say.

 

[sponica]

I was wondering what the benefit to park hopping is rather than just doing 2 full days at certain parks. I am new at this (only second year) so I am interested in all the different plans. I try to gather as much information as possible.

We had park hoppers last year and my granddaughter was too young to handle 2 parks in one day, so it did not work for us. This year we decided to do a split stay. When we are at BLT we will do 2 days at MK, 1 day at AK and 1 day at Epcot. We will leave Epcot and go to BWV and do 1 day at HS and a second day at Epcot.
I am hoping that at least one of the days at both MK and Epcot we go back at night.

I think I will overpay and use Genie+ every park day to just get a handle on it. Future trips may be different.

Honestly I just include the park hopper because the first tickets we bought 20+ years ago were park hoppers. Now that the 2 PM start time is gone they make more sense for us. We like eating dinner in Epcot, so we have hoppers just for that. And my kids like Epcot the most.

But we're taking a break from the parks until my youngest is tall enough for all the rides. Rider swap just eats too much into the day.

 

[Ratpack]

​	Though - I admit - your plan would kill me from exhaustion. I can't sleep during an afternoon break - so wouldn't be getting enough sleep with EEH and staying to the end each day. Sleep at Disney? Do people actually do that? ​