Genie+ during Spring Break Crowds

[JPKanks]

Gearing up to go in the next month and I was going to buy Genie but it seems like way too much stress. We'll forgo, wait in line and hope for the best.

 

[NashvilleMama]

Gearing up to go in the next month and I was going to buy Genie but it seems like way too much stress. We'll forgo, wait in line and hope for the best.

It's way more confusing on paper than it is in practice, I promise! It really does make a huge difference.

 

[teach22180]

Gearing up to go in the next month and I was going to buy Genie but it seems like way too much stress. We'll forgo, wait in line and hope for the best.

Only you can decide what's worth the money. For me I found 18 or 20 or 22 or even $25 was worth having short lines for 4 or 5 attractions. I might have felt differently with a larger group or a cost of $35.

 

[Doingitagain]

We went last week with a group of 7 (five adults and two children) and had to pay $223 each day for the Genie Plus. Would I do it again? Yes, because of the crowds. I consider it a part of the ticket cost.

 

[DavidMagic]

We were there Easter Sunday at Hollywood Studios WITHOUT Genie+ and managed to do ToT 3 times, Rise twice, Slinky once, as well as Indy, Toy Story Mania, Star Tours, Mickey and Minnie's twice.

I've come to the conclusion for our group, it is only worth it if you plan to park hop.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Just back from WDW. We thought the crowds were pretty brutal, and are used to busy weeks. We bought G+, except for HS. In HS, we skipped Rise, and did NOT head directly to Slinky. On our HS day we arrived in the parking lot at 7:34, but it was slow getting into the park. By the time we were able to enter, it was almost 8am. The only consolation was that it was ALSO slow going for everyone else. We had a really great parking spot, so the time delay was not due to walking, it was due to terrible hold-up getting in the park.

It is very frustrating to be stuck in a line that doesn't move. Disney really needs to fix the hold-up problem. During peak rush, WDW should have 2 CM's at every station, so one can be there to address problems, and the other can supervise everyone else scanning while the problem is resolved., so they don't hold up the line.

We saw Slinky wait was horrible. It was NOT yet running at 7:58am. We went to TSM, which was walk-on. Total walk-on. After that, we went to MMRR which was posted as 30, but was only 16. After that came ToT, which was posted as 13, but nearly walk-on. When we got off though, posted wait had somehow jumped to 55min! After that we waited 31min to board MF as single riders. I think posted was 60? Then we waited a little for Storm Troopers.

That's when we made our way to Slinky. the line looked to be same length as it was at 8am. Posted was 120, we waited about 135. I knew it was going to be like that when we got in line. the trade-off was that we had very short waits for everything else before that.

When we got off Slinky, it was lunch o'clock. we did a mobile order just prior to boarding Slinky at Docking Bay 7.

On our way out of Galaxy's Edge, we got to see the Mandalorian! That was neat!

Next, we did Muppets; only waiting about 10 in the pre-show area. Last, was Lightning McQueen with maybe a 5 min wait to enter. We had not seen it before. It is a cute show, and the AC was welcome. We exited show at 2:35pm.

We left HS at 2:35pm. Technically, we stopped in a few gift shops on our way out, so it was probably more like 3pm when we were actually back at the car. It was pretty hot that day.

Given the crazy crowds, that was not too bad a morning with no G+.

Most days, we had fairly good luck using G+, and interspersing a few low-wait attractions.

My other observation is that people are not staying out as late as they once did. With G+ at 7am, people are wiped out at night. G+ was supposed to spread crowds out (around the park), but it ends up concentrating crowds time-wise more than ever to mid-day. In the days of pre-booked FP, people felt more relaxed about arriving when they wanted.

Tron was fun, but wow- short! We figured out though that the best way to ride is to lift your arms and 'fly' Superman style. Highly suggest it!

 

[DisneyDillyDally]

We were at AK on April 10, HS April 11, MK April 12.

We can’t handle lines longer than 30 minutes (and basically won’t get in them). Genie plus and early entry worked amazingly well at AK - we rode FOP (rope drop), Navi x 2, safari x 2, Kali River Rapids, EE, and Dinosaur all without waits.

For Hollywood Studios it worked less well because within one hour or so of rope drop everything had long lines and by the time we could book second Genie plus return times were mid to late afternoon and we were tired from the day before. We still managed to ride Rise of the Resistance (rope drop), Millennium falcon (Genie plus), Toy Story Mania (Genie plus), MMRR ( Genie Plus), ToT (Genie Plus), Alien Swirling Saucers. We didn’t ride Slinky because only return time I saw was for 5 PM before it sold out.

MK it worked well again - we had our first Genie plus around 10:30 am for Haunted Mansion. After a morning of tons of walk on rides we left the park around 1 PM. We then stacked Genie plus with return times starting around 7 PM for Pirates, Jungle Cruise, Big Thunder and Buzz Lightyear.

Based on our experience and our family’s low tolerance for lines I’d definitely get Genie Plus again for AK and MK. I think for HS it could work for us but I would probably change the strategy and not ropedrop the park. If I wasn’t ropedropping the park I’d be considering whether to buy an ILL for Rise. (These were all sold out shortly after 7 am on the day we went.) Using it did cause a bit of an anxiety spike at 7 am but after that it was fine.