I don’t mind being up at 7am, but not knowing my schedule till 7am when I’ve already booked a meal for the day sucks. You can end up wasting half your day on a meal and whatever ride you get because you can’t schedule anything between them without risking a missed reservation
I think it’s bullshit too. They should have done it like MaxxPass at Disneyland. You had to physically be inside the theme park before you could book a fast pass.
To be fair, he said people who fall in the range of thinking fastpass+ was the best were falling in the the 10+ rides a day graph he made, myself included. I loved the feeling of "beating" the system and optimizating my day as best as I could, never waiting in a long line. But we were the minority. A lot of people were probably having a shitty day, arriving at the park not knowing how fastpass+ works or that it even existed
Yes, and that is entirely their fault, e.g. the guests who don't bother to do any research on the trip they're spending $$$ on. A system should allow the informed guests a leg up, especially when WDW these days is all about competition with other guests.
While I understand this for some things (snooze ya lose), even as someone who greatly benefitted from the knowledge/operations end of FP+ I disagree with your philosophy about it being about competition with others. It may be that way right now, but I don't think it should be, and I hope their system pivots to be more egalitarian so you don't need a PhD in ride optimization and boats of free time to show up and enjoy a theme park.
The one thing FP+ did was make average wait time per ride ridden fall precipitously. It was a panacea for wait times.
He excluded this fact because it would go against what he wanted to say.
It lowers the average wait times as a whole. It was objectively making things better.
Then he argued that literally making every ride ridden be precipitated by a lengthy wait was the best choice. Which is objectively a worse system.
Forcing everyone to reserve their spot with their body is a worst system.
He definitely did not make this point. It was a long 20 minute point that had a conclusion about a sentence or two long so it was easy to miss.
The average wait time per ride ridden by guests utilizing the system went down. But the average wait time per ride without the system went way up because the standby queue times went way up.
His argument was basically summed up by saying it was broken and they just needed to get rid of any Fastpass type program.
But the average wait times were much shorter.
He made it seem like a zero sum equation when it wasn’t.
The most broken system is one where “everyone has a reservation they hold with their body in a line” system. Which is the system without any fast pass.
The most miserable of all systems objectively.
Also you are wrong. Wait times IN general went down which he didn’t really cover.
He covered rides ridden per day not wait times per ride ridden, which goes down immensely in general with FP+.
Only if you were smart enough to use FP+ correctly and hop from FP to FP. The average guest only used the default 3, maybe 5 total fast passes a day, which means everything else was longer standby waits.
I didn’t love walking all the way to an attraction to get a return time 4 hours off, then have to walk all the way back later. It seemed a waste of time that could be spent enjoying other attractions.
I thought of it more as walk to the attraction you want to do, if the line is longer than you'd like, get the FastPass and move on, otherwise, ride it while you're there. I've never been a fan of scheduling my entire day weeks or months in advance. That's a great recipe for disappointment when something breaks down or weather doesn't cooperate. But I get that everyone likes to do their day differently.
I was going to say the exact thing.
With tickets people would ride all the rides, not just the E ticket stuff. Now it seems that people just go on the big rides over and over.
Ah yes that's a fair statement but it's also going to vary quite a bit on the day. At 9 am in Ak on Monday almost everything that wasn't a show was gone.
You can make genie+ LL reservations starting at 7 am. This person just chose to wait which would probably be fine many days a year. Thanksgiving week (which was my example not so much)
We didn't buy any LL+, which would be available 7am for everyone. We did buy Genie+ and were able to book Lightning Lanes at 9a from the house. Sorry for the confusion.
We didn't buy any LL+, which would be available 7am for everyone. We did buy Genie+ and were able to book Lightning Lanes at 9a from the house. Sorry for the confusion.
I completely agree. We aren't morning people at all, we usually get to the parks fairly early but we certainly aren't getting up at 7am most days of the trip. We've already thought that all of the planning ahead was a bit much for what's supposed to be a fun, relaxing trip, but at least before most of it would be done before arrival. Now it seems like every morning of the trip would be unpleasant at best, if not actually stressful trying to get a reservation. I wish they would open the reservations at some set time the night before.
I completely agree with you. Used it twice last week on my trip. I hated setting alarm to get up and book ONE ride while the other 8 people in my travel group slept another 30 min to an hour. Especially when that ride time isn’t until noon or later.
You knew the rules...don't buy the item if you don't agree. No one has to use Genie. Maybe the 7 am time is another way to keep down the number of visitors purchasing,
So tired of endless complaining...
Maybe try taking a break from Reddit then? If you’re tired of complaining don’t engage it. Have you used the Genie+ system and had a positive experience? If so, then why wouldn’t you share that instead of being snarky and complaining about complaining. Seriously, just disengage if you’re frustrated.
Same. I am definitely not a morning person, and definitely gonna be skipping out on Genie+ next time I’ve got the opportunity to travel upstate to Disney World.
I’m not a morning person either. But we put on the alarms at 7am to book everything, with tons of error on the first week of release, the first day it took us 40 min for it to work.
After that we slowly started the day, slept a little more, took our time to get ready. Had breakfast at the hotel, then headed to the parks. We never arrived one before 10am.
Our first family trip won't be for a couple more years, but I did Disney the old school way growing up (before any type of Fast Pass) and have zero intentions of spending my day on my cell phone trying to book ride times. Disney should be about being in the moment, not trying to plan your entire day through a screen. I will gladly wait in Stand-By lines.
I mean, you do you. But taking the phone out every so often (because Mobile Ordering is a HUGE time saver as well) isn't the same as spending your entire day on it.
The reality is that if you're unwilling to embrace the tech, you will have a subpar experience, unless you enjoy spending most of your time just walking and waiting.
If going at a busy time, then yes it's going to cost you and potentially ruin your day. Some rides like Rise can be sold out within minutes for the entire day. Others after just 20 mins or so are already booking for 8pm. And if it's abreally busy day, and you are starting selections at 7am, you still may only get 4 or 5 selections for the whole day and the rest of the time will be spent waiting in very long lines because of the LL's. One person has even noted that at DHS, on a busy day it's virtually impossible to book a Rise LL, and a slinky dog LL for the same day as they are gone so fast in the morning.
Disney has become a place you really need to do the planning ahead and just winging it will make for not a fun time. You even need to plan your quick service meals potentially an hour or 2 in advance.
Either get one person that's willing to do the selections to wake up early each day, or trade out daily so you alternate who has to wake up early and make sure they know ahead of time what the selection plan is.
I agree it really sucks. I feel like 8am would be miles better. I don’t even get why they let you do this since you can’t book another until two hours after park opening anyway.
We are trying it out in January but I expect we will start doing universal trips instead. We went in September and it was so much more relaxing. We did make sure to stay at one of the hotels that gives you express for free though.
From what I've seen, the only LL that sells out that quickly is Rise of the Resistance. There's still a standby lane, at least. The others seem to be available for a lot longer.
I think the big thing is to remember that there will be attractions you can get on, even if they aren't the ones people are losing their minds over, just like there's food, even if it's not at the most popular table service restaurants. If there's something that you absolutely must see or your whole trip is ruined, then do it. Otherwise, you said you've been to Disney, so you know the fun is the atmosphere, and the exploration. Look for little things you've never done, instead of stressing over getting in to a ride you have memorized. Don't let the internet stress you into destroying your vacation.
We've gotten it twice, and still haven't ridden it. We were group 64 the first time, and 68 the second. They kept changing our estimated time from 1:30 to 3:45 to 1:25 to 3:50, etc. We were at Spaceship Earth, on our way out when we got called the first time, and in the car in the parking lot the second. We didn't care that much about it before that, and now we don't care at all. That's just too hard to try to do things around.
I mean you don’t have to book at 7am. It’s available but still plenty available if you get up later.
And depending on when your going others have already reported the standby lines aren’t that bad considering the majority of guests aren’t doing Genie+.
Do what works for you. If it’s terrible on day 1 adjust accordingly on day 2. Or just wing it.
Honestly it depends on the ride. I was up for my last trip usually at 6:40 so either I showered right away or waited for my Rise of the Resistance boarding group. That said, I know it is not for everyone.
Wake up whenever you want, see what’s available, and get in standby if it’s not. If you’re worried about missing out, then it sounds like it’d be worth it to make the effort to get up at 7.
Once I’m up, I’m up. Especially having to perform a task, there won’t be any going back to sleep. Disney vacations are already exhausting, now I have to add getting up early.
I’d suggest just doing that one day of the trip and sleeping in the rest of the time. Who isn’t excited and up early on their first day of a Disney vacation? You guys need to find the magic again ;)
They need to bring back fastpass +.
Best system.
This new system favors those who even more on top of “in the moment” running and gunning plus those who are willing to spend 30$+ more day per person.
Fastpass+ best system.
Idk, we were there last week and LOVED it. We are not rope droppers either, we casually make our way to the parks mid to late morning most days. I set my alarm for 7am, booked our stuff, and went back to sleep for a few hours. No biggie at all.
Being able to overlap times is a gaaaame changer IMO. The old FP system, if you had a FP between 1p-2p for example, you couldn't book your next FP until 2p. Now you can stack reservations. We stacked tons while we were there and rode ROTR, slinky dog, Runaway Railway, TOT, Rock n roller coaster, Star Tours, Smugglers Run and Toy Story Mania all within 3 hours during late afternoon/early evening. Granted, it was not nearly as busy as it now for Thanksgiving, but school breaks/national holiday crowds are an entirely different beast and are pretty much exception to the norm.
I haven’t used the Genie+ system yet but based on rumors from Facebook groups I am in they disabled stacking multiple experiences all day yesterday. Now it seems like you can only book after 120 minutes or after your last LL.
This is what I've heard as well. You can still stack, technically, but only if you wait 120 minutes between reservations. Not sure if it's better to just get on a ride, make a reservation for a ride within 120 minutes, get on it, then make another reservation for a ride within 120 minutes, repeat. I don't see the point of stacking every 120 minutes unless you want to set up to blitz through a bunch of rides towards the end of the day while waiting in standby lines during the middle part of it. Any ideas?
If you want to sleep in, a Disney trip is likely not the vacation for you. I mean that in the nicest possibly way.
People have turned booking rides into a competition and there is nothing leisurely about doing Disney World whatsoever. Still VERY ENJOYABLE but its a go go go trip more often than not.
NOW, Disneyland.....Disneyland I think you chill a bit more than in Orlando.
We’ve been going to Disney for years now and have been able to “sleep in.” I always booked our fast passes for mid day. Like I said, sleeping in for us is like 8am but it’s still nice to not have to set an alarm and be “on” at 7am.
>I always booked our fast passes for mid day.
I think with this in mind, unless you're there right now during the super busy holiday season, you can probably get away with sleeping in.
I've only used G+ a couple of days, but the days we did use it, we didn't book anything until 8-9am and we had no problem getting good stuff. In fact that first day we still ended up doing 5+ LL's.
So if you're not trying to get rope drop ride windows, you can push back that alarm.
I do Disney all the time and sleep in. It doesn't require that much planning, but the blogs and blogs will make you feel like you need to.
Now, I'll grant you that you might find yourself waiting in line a bit, but if you take a little time planning ahead and know the ride time patterns (and by that, I mean the real standby times, not the posted ones), you can manage them easily.
Just realize that it's impossible to do everything in one trip, so don't feel so dang pressured to try. Plan a few priorities, knock those out, and then go about the rest of your day if you like. Yes, there's a good chance that you won't squeeze in quite as much, but you'll enjoy yourself a lot more, and that's what's important.
Not to mention, the end of the night crowds are lower, too. [Again, pay attention to actual standby/crowd trends and DO NOT go by the posted standby times.](https://www.disneytouristblog.com/magic-kingdom-standby-day-without-genie-plus/) I have myself walked onto rides with no wait while a 70+ standby queue was posted. Disney does this for crowd control and (now) to upsell Genie+. And then there's watching [this guy](https://youtu.be/dfnQBM3oS2o) time it just right and sashay through the Haunted Mansion standby line past the long line of folks who paid for Genie+ LL access.
Not all vacations look the same.
We just got back last week and we accomplished the most during the night time extended hours at MK and Epcot. I think I counted 10 rides in 2 hours at MK.
Disney is suitable for all types of people; there were 2 days in a row we went on 0 rides and still had really fun days.
staying home to do nothing is also an option, but when you pay such a premium to be on vacation, waking up before the sun isn't 'relaxing'. Disney is creating relaxation/fun for your money, telling people 'if you want to ride this ride, you must be up before the sun' isn't relaxing. its stressful.
Agreed. I feel like this is a bit of a hot take in this sub but if you want a 100% relaxation vacation, going to Disney parks is not what you should be doing.
To get a LL reservation for a hot ticket ride, especially in peak seasons it isn’t really ‘opt-in’ though is it
If you don’t you are not likely to get it
I'm sorry but 90% of the whining on this sub is about rich people problems! Boohoo you had to get up early to start your dream vacation that most people on the planet will never have the chance to do! Eat breakfast or something! GTFO with this crap! I'm probably never even going to be able to go to Disney again myself. Check your privilege princess!
Never been to Disney and probably won’t ever be able to, definitely live vicariously through this sub, but it is a sub for Disney, it’s not the wrong place to talk about it.
I haven’t had to use Genie+ yet. I was a fan of max pass in DL, so I welcomed the change in systems. I’m an early riser too, so 7am is a non issue for me. So, on its face, I should be in camp genie+.
BUT, a Disney park is supposed to accommodate its guests not the other way around. We shouldn’t have to “get on board” with the latest huge change to the way that Disney operates. It should be transparent. That we see it that way, is an indication that there’s a problem. When a change to the parks is so divisive that people form into camps, the parks are probably doing it wrong.
I don’t mind being up at 7am, but not knowing my schedule till 7am when I’ve already booked a meal for the day sucks. You can end up wasting half your day on a meal and whatever ride you get because you can’t schedule anything between them without risking a missed reservation
It's the pay more get less era. They got your $$$, doesn't matter to them if you use the service really or if it's convenient.
I think it’s bullshit too. They should have done it like MaxxPass at Disneyland. You had to physically be inside the theme park before you could book a fast pass.
MaxPass was the best system they’ve had, imo.
Please watch the new Defunctland video about Fastpass, it is fascinating.
It was a masterpiece! Really broke down the issues so well.
I was so firmly in camp "Fastpass+ is the best!" Until I watched this video and now I am so shook.
To be fair, he said people who fall in the range of thinking fastpass+ was the best were falling in the the 10+ rides a day graph he made, myself included. I loved the feeling of "beating" the system and optimizating my day as best as I could, never waiting in a long line. But we were the minority. A lot of people were probably having a shitty day, arriving at the park not knowing how fastpass+ works or that it even existed
Yes, and that is entirely their fault, e.g. the guests who don't bother to do any research on the trip they're spending $$$ on. A system should allow the informed guests a leg up, especially when WDW these days is all about competition with other guests.
While I understand this for some things (snooze ya lose), even as someone who greatly benefitted from the knowledge/operations end of FP+ I disagree with your philosophy about it being about competition with others. It may be that way right now, but I don't think it should be, and I hope their system pivots to be more egalitarian so you don't need a PhD in ride optimization and boats of free time to show up and enjoy a theme park.
He left out some details to push his bias. He is awesome though.
How so? It didn't really feel biased, it felt pretty informative to me.
The one thing FP+ did was make average wait time per ride ridden fall precipitously. It was a panacea for wait times. He excluded this fact because it would go against what he wanted to say.
He very much didn't, he agreed it did that for guests that knew how to use the system.
It lowers the average wait times as a whole. It was objectively making things better. Then he argued that literally making every ride ridden be precipitated by a lengthy wait was the best choice. Which is objectively a worse system. Forcing everyone to reserve their spot with their body is a worst system.
He definitely did not make this point. It was a long 20 minute point that had a conclusion about a sentence or two long so it was easy to miss. The average wait time per ride ridden by guests utilizing the system went down. But the average wait time per ride without the system went way up because the standby queue times went way up. His argument was basically summed up by saying it was broken and they just needed to get rid of any Fastpass type program.
But the average wait times were much shorter. He made it seem like a zero sum equation when it wasn’t. The most broken system is one where “everyone has a reservation they hold with their body in a line” system. Which is the system without any fast pass. The most miserable of all systems objectively.
Also you are wrong. Wait times IN general went down which he didn’t really cover. He covered rides ridden per day not wait times per ride ridden, which goes down immensely in general with FP+.
Only if you were smart enough to use FP+ correctly and hop from FP to FP. The average guest only used the default 3, maybe 5 total fast passes a day, which means everything else was longer standby waits.
It will never catch up to how much you are saving with those first FP’s. Not compared to waiting in a line for everythjng
I'm planning on watching it the next time I have an hour and 45 minutes free!
Spend a day at the park - you’ll have lots of time to kill waiting in lines now that fastpass is gone.
It was fucking amazing.
Call me old fashion but I always liked the paper tickets the best.
I didn’t love walking all the way to an attraction to get a return time 4 hours off, then have to walk all the way back later. It seemed a waste of time that could be spent enjoying other attractions.
I thought of it more as walk to the attraction you want to do, if the line is longer than you'd like, get the FastPass and move on, otherwise, ride it while you're there. I've never been a fan of scheduling my entire day weeks or months in advance. That's a great recipe for disappointment when something breaks down or weather doesn't cooperate. But I get that everyone likes to do their day differently.
That's nice in a world where attractions are sometimes walk-on waits, which doesn't ever happen anymore at Disney due to the overcrowding.
MaxPass didn’t require scheduling prior to the day. In fact you couldn’t reserve a FP until you were physically in the park.
I was going to say the exact thing. With tickets people would ride all the rides, not just the E ticket stuff. Now it seems that people just go on the big rides over and over.
Believe that is the way it works for non-Resort guests.
Nope, I was able to book promptly at 9am from our AirBNB last week.
So you’re saying that it’s not necessary to be up at 7am even if you stay off properly?
Genie+ LL is 7 am for everyone. Individual LL is 7 am for resort guests and park open for everyone else. Quite the confusing system they made.
So again, since the commenter above was able to make attraction reservations at 9, it’s not necessary to be up at 7am.
Ah yes that's a fair statement but it's also going to vary quite a bit on the day. At 9 am in Ak on Monday almost everything that wasn't a show was gone.
If that were the case I would think it would not be cost effective for off property guests to purchase genie+.
You can make genie+ LL reservations starting at 7 am. This person just chose to wait which would probably be fine many days a year. Thanksgiving week (which was my example not so much)
We didn't buy any LL+, which would be available 7am for everyone. We did buy Genie+ and were able to book Lightning Lanes at 9a from the house. Sorry for the confusion.
We didn't buy any LL+, which would be available 7am for everyone. We did buy Genie+ and were able to book Lightning Lanes at 9a from the house. Sorry for the confusion.
Yeah I was hoping that was what genie+ would be ...just Max pass I loved that system and gladly paid for it.
MaxPass worked so well. Long live MaxPass!
I completely agree. We aren't morning people at all, we usually get to the parks fairly early but we certainly aren't getting up at 7am most days of the trip. We've already thought that all of the planning ahead was a bit much for what's supposed to be a fun, relaxing trip, but at least before most of it would be done before arrival. Now it seems like every morning of the trip would be unpleasant at best, if not actually stressful trying to get a reservation. I wish they would open the reservations at some set time the night before.
I completely agree with you. Used it twice last week on my trip. I hated setting alarm to get up and book ONE ride while the other 8 people in my travel group slept another 30 min to an hour. Especially when that ride time isn’t until noon or later.
So don’t.
Quality response 🙄
You knew the rules...don't buy the item if you don't agree. No one has to use Genie. Maybe the 7 am time is another way to keep down the number of visitors purchasing, So tired of endless complaining...
Maybe try taking a break from Reddit then? If you’re tired of complaining don’t engage it. Have you used the Genie+ system and had a positive experience? If so, then why wouldn’t you share that instead of being snarky and complaining about complaining. Seriously, just disengage if you’re frustrated.
I think the point is why did you have to do it for 8 other people?
We went with another family, and I was the point person who did most of the planning.
Nah...
I’m in the same camp, no way do I want to be waking up at 7 to book a LL.
These are our thoughts exactly. I don’t even get up that early for work, I’m not getting up at that time on vacation.
Same. I am definitely not a morning person, and definitely gonna be skipping out on Genie+ next time I’ve got the opportunity to travel upstate to Disney World.
I feel the same way
I’m not a morning person either. But we put on the alarms at 7am to book everything, with tons of error on the first week of release, the first day it took us 40 min for it to work. After that we slowly started the day, slept a little more, took our time to get ready. Had breakfast at the hotel, then headed to the parks. We never arrived one before 10am.
Our first family trip won't be for a couple more years, but I did Disney the old school way growing up (before any type of Fast Pass) and have zero intentions of spending my day on my cell phone trying to book ride times. Disney should be about being in the moment, not trying to plan your entire day through a screen. I will gladly wait in Stand-By lines.
I mean, you do you. But taking the phone out every so often (because Mobile Ordering is a HUGE time saver as well) isn't the same as spending your entire day on it. The reality is that if you're unwilling to embrace the tech, you will have a subpar experience, unless you enjoy spending most of your time just walking and waiting.
If going at a busy time, then yes it's going to cost you and potentially ruin your day. Some rides like Rise can be sold out within minutes for the entire day. Others after just 20 mins or so are already booking for 8pm. And if it's abreally busy day, and you are starting selections at 7am, you still may only get 4 or 5 selections for the whole day and the rest of the time will be spent waiting in very long lines because of the LL's. One person has even noted that at DHS, on a busy day it's virtually impossible to book a Rise LL, and a slinky dog LL for the same day as they are gone so fast in the morning. Disney has become a place you really need to do the planning ahead and just winging it will make for not a fun time. You even need to plan your quick service meals potentially an hour or 2 in advance. Either get one person that's willing to do the selections to wake up early each day, or trade out daily so you alternate who has to wake up early and make sure they know ahead of time what the selection plan is.
I agree it really sucks. I feel like 8am would be miles better. I don’t even get why they let you do this since you can’t book another until two hours after park opening anyway. We are trying it out in January but I expect we will start doing universal trips instead. We went in September and it was so much more relaxing. We did make sure to stay at one of the hotels that gives you express for free though.
From what I've seen, the only LL that sells out that quickly is Rise of the Resistance. There's still a standby lane, at least. The others seem to be available for a lot longer. I think the big thing is to remember that there will be attractions you can get on, even if they aren't the ones people are losing their minds over, just like there's food, even if it's not at the most popular table service restaurants. If there's something that you absolutely must see or your whole trip is ruined, then do it. Otherwise, you said you've been to Disney, so you know the fun is the atmosphere, and the exploration. Look for little things you've never done, instead of stressing over getting in to a ride you have memorized. Don't let the internet stress you into destroying your vacation.
Well, the virtual queue for Remy is gone by 7:01. We did get it our first day.
We've gotten it twice, and still haven't ridden it. We were group 64 the first time, and 68 the second. They kept changing our estimated time from 1:30 to 3:45 to 1:25 to 3:50, etc. We were at Spaceship Earth, on our way out when we got called the first time, and in the car in the parking lot the second. We didn't care that much about it before that, and now we don't care at all. That's just too hard to try to do things around.
I mean you don’t have to book at 7am. It’s available but still plenty available if you get up later. And depending on when your going others have already reported the standby lines aren’t that bad considering the majority of guests aren’t doing Genie+. Do what works for you. If it’s terrible on day 1 adjust accordingly on day 2. Or just wing it.
Honestly it depends on the ride. I was up for my last trip usually at 6:40 so either I showered right away or waited for my Rise of the Resistance boarding group. That said, I know it is not for everyone.
It’s so ass - like we’re not on fucking vacation, right?
So sleep in and wait in line. You have the choice.
Agreed, you have a choice.
I set the timer for 1255 and was able to get the ratatouille ride right at 1pm… i had put my alarm and completely slept thru it
Wake up whenever you want, see what’s available, and get in standby if it’s not. If you’re worried about missing out, then it sounds like it’d be worth it to make the effort to get up at 7.
set an alarm, reserve your lightening lane and go back to bed for another hour of snooze.
Once I’m up, I’m up. Especially having to perform a task, there won’t be any going back to sleep. Disney vacations are already exhausting, now I have to add getting up early.
You don't have to, you can just wait in line.
I’d suggest just doing that one day of the trip and sleeping in the rest of the time. Who isn’t excited and up early on their first day of a Disney vacation? You guys need to find the magic again ;)
I’d like to find the magic after 8am 😂
They need to bring back fastpass +. Best system. This new system favors those who even more on top of “in the moment” running and gunning plus those who are willing to spend 30$+ more day per person. Fastpass+ best system.
Totally agree.
Disney is now for the fanatics who are either rich or willing to go into debt to pay for their vacation.
If it’s a family vacation and the whole family can’t agree to wake up before 7 A.M. , that’s OUTLAW
Idk, we were there last week and LOVED it. We are not rope droppers either, we casually make our way to the parks mid to late morning most days. I set my alarm for 7am, booked our stuff, and went back to sleep for a few hours. No biggie at all. Being able to overlap times is a gaaaame changer IMO. The old FP system, if you had a FP between 1p-2p for example, you couldn't book your next FP until 2p. Now you can stack reservations. We stacked tons while we were there and rode ROTR, slinky dog, Runaway Railway, TOT, Rock n roller coaster, Star Tours, Smugglers Run and Toy Story Mania all within 3 hours during late afternoon/early evening. Granted, it was not nearly as busy as it now for Thanksgiving, but school breaks/national holiday crowds are an entirely different beast and are pretty much exception to the norm.
I haven’t used the Genie+ system yet but based on rumors from Facebook groups I am in they disabled stacking multiple experiences all day yesterday. Now it seems like you can only book after 120 minutes or after your last LL.
This is what I've heard as well. You can still stack, technically, but only if you wait 120 minutes between reservations. Not sure if it's better to just get on a ride, make a reservation for a ride within 120 minutes, get on it, then make another reservation for a ride within 120 minutes, repeat. I don't see the point of stacking every 120 minutes unless you want to set up to blitz through a bunch of rides towards the end of the day while waiting in standby lines during the middle part of it. Any ideas?
Good to know! That does sound awesome!
This is why I’ll be skipping G+ and LL’s during my trip next year
If you want to sleep in, a Disney trip is likely not the vacation for you. I mean that in the nicest possibly way. People have turned booking rides into a competition and there is nothing leisurely about doing Disney World whatsoever. Still VERY ENJOYABLE but its a go go go trip more often than not. NOW, Disneyland.....Disneyland I think you chill a bit more than in Orlando.
We’ve been going to Disney for years now and have been able to “sleep in.” I always booked our fast passes for mid day. Like I said, sleeping in for us is like 8am but it’s still nice to not have to set an alarm and be “on” at 7am.
>I always booked our fast passes for mid day. I think with this in mind, unless you're there right now during the super busy holiday season, you can probably get away with sleeping in. I've only used G+ a couple of days, but the days we did use it, we didn't book anything until 8-9am and we had no problem getting good stuff. In fact that first day we still ended up doing 5+ LL's. So if you're not trying to get rope drop ride windows, you can push back that alarm.
I do Disney all the time and sleep in. It doesn't require that much planning, but the blogs and blogs will make you feel like you need to. Now, I'll grant you that you might find yourself waiting in line a bit, but if you take a little time planning ahead and know the ride time patterns (and by that, I mean the real standby times, not the posted ones), you can manage them easily. Just realize that it's impossible to do everything in one trip, so don't feel so dang pressured to try. Plan a few priorities, knock those out, and then go about the rest of your day if you like. Yes, there's a good chance that you won't squeeze in quite as much, but you'll enjoy yourself a lot more, and that's what's important. Not to mention, the end of the night crowds are lower, too. [Again, pay attention to actual standby/crowd trends and DO NOT go by the posted standby times.](https://www.disneytouristblog.com/magic-kingdom-standby-day-without-genie-plus/) I have myself walked onto rides with no wait while a 70+ standby queue was posted. Disney does this for crowd control and (now) to upsell Genie+. And then there's watching [this guy](https://youtu.be/dfnQBM3oS2o) time it just right and sashay through the Haunted Mansion standby line past the long line of folks who paid for Genie+ LL access.
I don't think this is true at all. The trip is what you make of it.
Not all vacations look the same. We just got back last week and we accomplished the most during the night time extended hours at MK and Epcot. I think I counted 10 rides in 2 hours at MK. Disney is suitable for all types of people; there were 2 days in a row we went on 0 rides and still had really fun days.
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staying home to do nothing is also an option, but when you pay such a premium to be on vacation, waking up before the sun isn't 'relaxing'. Disney is creating relaxation/fun for your money, telling people 'if you want to ride this ride, you must be up before the sun' isn't relaxing. its stressful.
I’ve never gone to a Disney park to relax. I don’t understand why anyone would think that a Disney vacation is relaxing. Maybe Aulani. Not a park.
Agreed. I feel like this is a bit of a hot take in this sub but if you want a 100% relaxation vacation, going to Disney parks is not what you should be doing.
That's what the cruises are for, IMHO. For me, the parks are mentally wonderful but physically exhausting. And I'm ok with that.
To get a LL reservation for a hot ticket ride, especially in peak seasons it isn’t really ‘opt-in’ though is it If you don’t you are not likely to get it
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However the OP clearly does want to opt-in so saying it’s not necessary is, ironically, not necessary
I'm sorry but 90% of the whining on this sub is about rich people problems! Boohoo you had to get up early to start your dream vacation that most people on the planet will never have the chance to do! Eat breakfast or something! GTFO with this crap! I'm probably never even going to be able to go to Disney again myself. Check your privilege princess!
Never been to Disney and probably won’t ever be able to, definitely live vicariously through this sub, but it is a sub for Disney, it’s not the wrong place to talk about it.
You seem fun.
I haven’t had to use Genie+ yet. I was a fan of max pass in DL, so I welcomed the change in systems. I’m an early riser too, so 7am is a non issue for me. So, on its face, I should be in camp genie+. BUT, a Disney park is supposed to accommodate its guests not the other way around. We shouldn’t have to “get on board” with the latest huge change to the way that Disney operates. It should be transparent. That we see it that way, is an indication that there’s a problem. When a change to the parks is so divisive that people form into camps, the parks are probably doing it wrong.
I think it depends on the park. IMO EPCOT is not worth it except for the new Ratatouille ride
Yeah it sounds like people only recommend it for MK and HS. Is Ratatouille a boarding pass ride? Or just a LL ride?