How to best navigate the rides/lightning lane

[Minnie1986]

Hey everyone!

It's been a while since I've been to WDW, so I'm unsure as to how to go about planning the rides for each park. Advance Fast Pass selection was still an option the last time I was there, and it obviously is not now. If I'm looking to do a day per park (with park hopping planned into some parts of the day), what's the best way to go about planning? We'll do our best to take advantage of early hours whenever available, but I definitely want to make sure that we can hit all of the major attractions for each park.

 

[k8einwdw]

If you’re planning on utilizing Genie+/Lightning Lanes, I highly recommend watching some YouTube videos - Mammoth Club has some great ones. There’s a bit of a learning curve when it comes to Genie+, so it’s best to do some research ahead of time.

If you’re staying onsite, you definitely want to take advantage of Early Entry for resort guests - it’s only 30 minutes, but it does give you a jump start on getting the major rides done before the huge crowds.

 

[Marionnette]

If you’re planning on utilizing Genie+/Lightning Lanes, I highly recommend watching some YouTube videos - Mammoth Club has some great ones. There’s a bit of a learning curve when it comes to Genie+, so it’s best to do some research ahead of time.

If you’re staying onsite, you definitely want to take advantage of Early Entry for resort guests - it’s only 30 minutes, but it does give you a jump start on getting the major rides done before the huge crowds.

I totally agree with all of this! Molly from Mammoth Club has excellent videos about using G+. Just keep in mind that she's a local and doesn't get in the parks for early entry. That can change a strategy slightly. Definitely study what she refers to as "fiddle-faddling". Now that G+ allows you to modify a reservation rather than having to cancel in order to make a change, it is so much easier to grab an earlier time or more desirable attraction.

You will want to be awake before 7 AM in order to try for any VQs and your first G+ selection of the day as well as purchase G+, which you cannot do before midnight of the day you will be in the park. And it helps to set up your top picks in Genie ahead of time so that those attractions bubble to the top of the list when you summon Genie+. Otherwise, they will be in alphabetical order and you will have to scroll through the list to see when the next available time is for your favorites. Don't put too many attractions on that list to start. Just your top must-do's. You can edit the list as you check off attractions and add others.

Don't waste G+ on filler attractions. Those would be shows like Monster's Laugh Floor or Muppets 3D. Using a G+ only gets you into the pre-show faster but then you end up waiting along with everyone else. However, use those filler attractions between G+ reservations by entering their standby lines.

You can take a couple of approaches to G+. One would be to target your must-do's even if it means criss-crossing the park multiple times. Another would be to concentrate on grabbing G+ for attractions that are close to where you are once your next chance to book occurs. The criss-cross method works better with small groups without kids.

Genie (not G+) is Disney's way of evening out the crowds. So if Genie suggests that you head on over to the TTA when you're in Adventure Land, it's not because the wait for the TTA is short. It's because Genie thinks that Adventure Land is too crowded and wants to relocate some bodies. Ignore Genie unless you like spending time traversing the park to ride a B-level attraction.

 

[Minnie1986]

If you’re planning on utilizing Genie+/Lightning Lanes, I highly recommend watching some YouTube videos - Mammoth Club has some great ones. There’s a bit of a learning curve when it comes to Genie+, so it’s best to do some research ahead of time.

If you’re staying onsite, you definitely want to take advantage of Early Entry for resort guests - it’s only 30 minutes, but it does give you a jump start on getting the major rides done before the huge crowds.

Thanks! In your opinion, would you say that Genie+ is worth the extra expense?

 

[k8einwdw]

Thanks! In your opinion, would you say that Genie+ is worth the extra expense?

We have a two-year-old, so it’s a must for us. There’s no way he’d wait patiently in a line for longer than 15-20 minutes. With older kids or adult-only parties, I don’t think it’s *as* necessary at Animal Kingdom or Epcot, since they have fewer attractions.

 

[Minnie1986]

I totally agree with all of this! Molly from Mammoth Club has excellent videos about using G+. Just keep in mind that she's a local and doesn't get in the parks for early entry. That can change a strategy slightly. Definitely study what she refers to as "fiddle-faddling". Now that G+ allows you to modify a reservation rather than having to cancel in order to make a change, it is so much easier to grab an earlier time or more desirable attraction.

You will want to be awake before 7 AM in order to try for any VQs and your first G+ selection of the day as well as purchase G+, which you cannot do before midnight of the day you will be in the park. And it helps to set up your top picks in Genie ahead of time so that those attractions bubble to the top of the list when you summon Genie+. Otherwise, they will be in alphabetical order and you will have to scroll through the list to see when the next available time is for your favorites. Don't put too many attractions on that list to start. Just your top must-do's. You can edit the list as you check off attractions and add others.

Don't waste G+ on filler attractions. Those would be shows like Monster's Laugh Floor or Muppets 3D. Using a G+ only gets you into the pre-show faster but then you end up waiting along with everyone else. However, use those filler attractions between G+ reservations by entering their standby lines.

You can take a couple of approaches to G+. One would be to target your must-do's even if it means criss-crossing the park multiple times. Another would be to concentrate on grabbing G+ for attractions that are close to where you are once your next chance to book occurs. The criss-cross method works better with small groups without kids.

Genie (not G+) is Disney's way of evening out the crowds. So if Genie suggests that you head on over to the TTA when you're in Adventure Land, it's not because the wait for the TTA is short. It's because Genie thinks that Adventure Land is too crowded and wants to relocate some bodies. Ignore Genie unless you like spending time traversing the park to ride a B-level attraction.

Thanks so much for the breakdown; I really appreciate. May I ask what VQ stands for?

 

[Minnie1986]

We have a two-year-old, so it’s a must for us. There’s no way he’d wait patiently in a line for longer than 15-20 minutes. With older kids or adult-only parties, I don’t think it’s *as* necessary at Animal Kingdom or Epcot, since they have fewer attractions.

On this particular trip, it'll be myself and my niece. I think it will be worth it, since it's her first trip, and I want to make it as seamless and enjoyable for her as possible. Again, thank you SO much!

 

[Marionnette]

Thanks so much for the breakdown; I really appreciate. May I ask what VQ stands for?

Sorry. I was away from the boards for a while. VQ = virtual queue, also known a Boarding Groups.

 

[Minnie1986]

Sorry. I was away from the boards for a while. VQ = virtual queue, also known a Boarding Groups.

Thanks! I've been watching some of the suggested Youtube videos, and am now fully versed on the lingo

 

[Weather_Lady]

Thanks! In your opinion, would you say that Genie+ is worth the extra expense?

Sorry to pipe in as I know I wasn't the person you were asking, but here's my two cents...

In my opinion, Genie+ is really only worth it for HS and MK. Even then, factors militating against it would be: (1) if you have 6 or more days in the parks, meaning you don't need to pack things in as quickly; (2) if you are entitled to early entry and/or extended evening hours, and are willing to come early and/or stay late to make the most use out of them; (3) if you are visiting during a time of year with lower-than-normal crowds, when you won't be saving much time in line; (4) if your traveling party is small, nimble, and well-versed in parks touring strategy, meaning they don't mind doing some criss-crossing of the parks to hit the popular attractions at optimal times of day.

We used Genie+ for our MK and HS days when we visited last month. (We did not buy any individual lightning lanes: we used VQ for Tron and Guardians, and rode 7DMT, Rise of the Resistance and Flight of Passage in standby during early entry.) Genie+ "worked" in the sense that it turned HS into a 2/3-day park instead of a full day, and turned MK into a 1-day park instead of the usual 1.5-2 days. On the other hand, that meant that I ended up wishing we'd cut a night and day off of the end of the trip (or spent them at Universal), to recoup the cost and because we were sort of twiddling our thumbs at the end. Plus, I'd spent half the vacation tapping away at my phone to obtain and modify G+ return times instead of engaging with my family, and could have used that extra day to do something more relaxing. YMMV.

 

[Minnie1986]

Sorry to pipe in as I know I wasn't the person you were asking, but here's my two cents...

In my opinion, Genie+ is really only worth it for HS and MK. Even then, factors militating against it would be: (1) if you have 6 or more days in the parks, meaning you don't need to pack things in as quickly; (2) if you are entitled to early entry and/or extended evening hours, and are willing to come early and/or stay late to make the most use out of them; (3) if you are visiting during a time of year with lower-than-normal crowds, when you won't be saving much time in line; (4) if your traveling party is small, nimble, and well-versed in parks touring strategy, meaning they don't mind doing some criss-crossing of the parks to hit the popular attractions at optimal times of day.

We used Genie+ for our MK and HS days when we visited last month. Genie+ "worked" in the sense that it turned HS into a 2/3-day park instead of a full day, and turned MK into a 1-day park instead of the usual 1.5-2 days. On the other hand, that meant that I ended up wishing we'd cut a night and day off of the end of the trip (or spent them at Universal), because we were sort of twiddling our thumbs at the end (and because I'd spent half the vacation tapping away at my phone to obtain and modify G+ return times instead of engaging with my family, and could have used that extra day to do something more relaxing). YMMV.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated, so no apologies necessary

It’ll just be two people, me (a park hopper pro) and my niece (a Disney newbie), so for now, I’m thinking I’ll get it for HS and MK for sure. I’m on the fence about AK (will likely do so just to streamline the process for her as much as possible), and am leaning towards no for Epcot.

 

[Weather_Lady]

Any feedback is greatly appreciated, so no apologies necessary

It’ll just be two people, me (a park hopper pro) and my niece (a Disney newbie), so for now, I’m thinking I’ll get it for HS and MK for sure. I’m on the fence about AK (will likely do so just to streamline the process for her as much as possible), and am leaning towards no for Epcot.

I really don't know that you'll need it for AK, if you're able to do Flight of Passage during early entry. After that, it's super quick to hit Na'Vi River Journey, Safari, Kali River Rapids, Expedition Everest, and Dinosaur, in that order. We did it that way when we visited, and were done with the aforementioned attractions within 2.5 hours of official park opening. After that, we could could do the shows, trails, and remaining attractions at our leisure. Then we sat down to lunch at Yak & Yeti, and were back at our hotel by 2pm. (We did have G+ that day, but I used it for HS, and was able to show up to HS at 5pm with 5 G+ reservations for its top attractions already in hand.)

That's an option, anyway.