Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[kappyfamily]

dwonderz covered it but there are several times a day you’ll be waiting 15+ minutes for your ride to arrive - assuming you get connected at all. If you’re planning on using several times a day I don’t think it’s worth staying that far offsite, Swan Reserve sounds like an excellent alternative!

thank you for that! I actually just pulled the trigger and cancelled the offsite and keeping Swan Reserve. thank you!

 

[CampbellzSoup]

I’m honestly shocked how many of you guys are buying genie and the individual lanes I guess it is a big success then.

 

[twoolle]

Just got back from a 10-day trip, with a mix of onsite and off, G+ users and non, race weekend and hard ticket after parties, rain, cold, sun, heat - it was quite a trip!

First things first, staying onsite is a huge advantage for the free transportation if you don’t have your own car or intend to rent - rideshares were difficult to come by. We stayed the first weekend at Coronado Springs which is bus-only, middle of the week offsite which required rideshares, and last weekend at Caribbean Beach which was AWESOME for the Skyliner alone - Skyliner is such a game-changer and a vast improvement over the buses this time of year.

Onsite is also a huge advantage for the early entry if your touring style always includes rope drop - they hold offsite guests at the tapstiles, so you are physically further back than before and behind quite a few onsite guests for all attractions, especially the headliners. It felt so nice to breeze right past the crowds and on to the attractions.

Genie+ was a hassle - good for the people who have figured out how to game the system with it already, but we got so frustrated at MK and HS trying to secure spots that we eventually gave up and just stuck with standby, which was perfectly fine. Wait times were way overstated - Rise posted 110, we were at the preshow/drop shop in 50, Peter Pan posted 95 we waited 40, Mine Train posted 90 we waited 19 minutes, Slinky posted 70 we waited 45 - all with line pauses to allow LL guests, but from what I can tell they’re interspersing the same # of LL and Standby as compared to the old FP+ which makes the lines move better than the old system. It’s now much easier to judge accurate wait times visually based on where the line starts. For some reason to me it felt less crowded than Spring Break but that’s just my perception.

Genie+ also necessitated a lot of criss-crossing of the parks - my in-laws used it on different days and while they were able to figure it out in the app, this was their biggest complaint.

We did the Very Merriest After Hours on Friday night and it was WAY better than the Halloween After Hours! Having that extra hour to the event was great to get more done, plus the park felt probably 70% LESS crowded because there were more parades/shows/events to keep people out of the ride lines. Everything was a walk-on, Mine Train was a 10-minute wait in the middle of it. We got a great spot for the parade right as it came down Main St. standing in front of the Bakery. I ate 3 buckets of popcorn and washed them all down with the surprisingly palatable hot chocolate and I was loving my life.

Overall a really fantastic, magical trip and I’ll be happy to NEVER pay for Genie+ again lol.

Did you by chance rope drop HS using the skylines? How early did it start running?

 

[scrappinginontario]

Did you by chance rope drop HS using the skylines? How early did it start running?

Normally it starts running 60-75 mins before ETPE.

 

[twoolle]

Normally it starts running 60-75 mins before ETPE.

Thank you this is what I have been seeing as well but enjoy hearing all the actual reports as well!

 

[Sydnerella]

I remember back in the old fastpass days when there were 300 minute standby waits posted for FOP.

We waited 3.5 hours for FOP last Thanksgiving and paid rack rate at Riviera. There were no FPs in 2020 and we hadn’t ever experienced it before. So we bit the bullet and waited. And it was 3-4 years old. And we never waited more than 20 minutes for rides prior to that trip as FP system users…. I don’t think I would do it again but it was what we had to do in those circumstances if we wanted to ride it - rope drop got very messed up on our AK day.

Bottom line… I think 140 isn’t unreasonable for a brand new premium ride. Even if that’s a wait I wouldn’t do myself again.

 

[butterscotchcollins]

Did you by chance rope drop HS using the skylines? How early did it start running?

We did! We were in Aruba Building 56 right next to the Riviera station, so we took it from there and including transfer it was 12 minutes total from leaving our room to getting off at the HS station. They do start running quite early before early entry so you have PLENTY of time to make it there.

 

[TropicalDIS]

I’m honestly shocked how many of you guys are buying genie and the individual lanes I guess it is a big success then.

Im here now and it is busy. For MK it is a must. Personally, I wouldn’t buy it for EP or AK, and was lucky enough to snag a BG for Remy. Haven’t done HS yet so can’t comment.

 

[leeniewdw]

Im here now and it is busy. For MK it is a must. Personally, I wouldn’t buy it for EP or AK, and was lucky enough to snag a BG for Remy. Haven’t done HS yet so can’t comment.

We've restructured our early Dec 2-day trip to add the MK AH party and now have EP and AK on the same day (we're using our arrival day to stack LL at HS). I'm really wondering if it's worth it for an AK/EP day. We'll purchase FOP and Remy and think we can just work around the rest of the rides based on SB times. When I've checked evening rides at EP, nothing (aside from Frozen) seem long enough to bother with a LL. We've already spent so much on tickets (and will add G+ for day 1, plus use 4 $ILL) that I guess "what's another $32" but on the other hand, that's a few drinks and/or food at EP, so why pay for something unnecessary on those days.

 

[persnickity]

Has anyone noticed if Safaris is really closing at 4:45? That's what is listed on the website and seems really early.

 

[CarolynFH]

Has anyone noticed if Safaris is really closing at 4:45? That's what is listed on the website and seems really early.

Probably has to do with sundown - it gets dark really early in January so the safari shuts down early.

 

[persnickity]

Probably has to do with sundown - it gets dark really early in January so the safari shuts down early.

True, I would expect that for January, but they have it listed that way right now when sunset is 5:30ish. I was hoping we could ride around sunset.

 

[SkyGuy]

Has anyone noticed if Safaris is really closing at 4:45? That's what is listed on the website and seems really early.

I was in AK on Saturday morning and rode Safari around 9:30, and our driver announced to make sure to get in line no later than 4:30 if you wanted to ride one of the last safaris of the day.

 

[persnickity]

I was in AK on Saturday morning and rode Safari around 9:30, and our driver announced to make sure to get in line no later than 4:30 if you wanted to ride one of the last safaris of the day.

Thanks so much, we'll make different plans. I wonder if they changed it recently, we were actually given a DAS return of 5:15 when we signed up at the beginning of the month.

 

[NileNellie]

I’m trying so hard not to get discouraged, but am finding it difficult. We’re AP & usually go twice a year & LOVE Disney. But I’m think the whole Genie +, LL, ILL is so confusing & annoying (not to mention the cost sucks). We have a trip booked for January, so I’m trying to read everyone’s opinions and experiences. I’m just struggling. And I know no one cares if we don’t like it, understand it, or never go back, heck I don’t think Disney even cares any bit if they lose people like me & my DH. But the truth is I don’t want to give up on Disney. So is dealing with the new system that confusing, annoying, exasperating as most reviews say. Really needing some positive feedback. TIA

I'm with you on all of this. I just can't bring myself to pay for Genie +/LL when it used to be a 'free' service. We just returned from a few days at WDW and waited standby for everything. With the exception of ROTR (quoted 120 min but ended up being 250!!!!) it really wasn't all that bad. The longest we waited besides ROTR was around 55 minutes for Test Track. I found that wait times were inflated about 85% of the time so keep that in mind too.

 

[HollyMD]

I’m sure this has been asked and answered a million times, so I apologize. Do you have to buy Genie + for everyone in your party or can you buy it for just a couple to use? We have a couple of teenagers in our group and I wouldn’t mind buying for them, but the rest of us don’t mind waiting.

 

[BillFromCT]

I’m sure this has been asked and answered a million times, so I apologize. Do you have to buy Genie + for everyone in your party or can you buy it for just a couple to use? We have a couple of teenagers in our group and I wouldn’t mind buying for them, but the rest of us don’t mind waiting.

If you buy it the day of you can select individual people for purchasing. If you buy it attached to a Disney resort package ahead of time you need to purchase it for every day and every person in your room.

 

[HollyMD]

Perfect, thank you, @BillFromCT!

 

[gottalovepluto]

Has anyone noticed if Safaris is really closing at 4:45? That's what is listed on the website and seems really early.

There were physical signs out at the safari Mon saying that.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I’m honestly shocked how many of you guys are buying genie and the individual lanes I guess it is a big success then.

I tried to give Disney money for ROTR ILL at 7am Sat and couldn’t get it. Dang app wanted my password again, then a code, then errored out for kicks and grins and by then 3 mins had passed and the return times were 3pm or later which didn’t work for us.

On the bright side all together in our group we saved like $60 that day