Can a visit be successful WITHOUT using G+/LL?

[Explorewithethan2021]

Hi all

I'm new here and I am in the thick of Orlando planning and it is blowing my little UK mind.

I'm travelling with my husband and little boy who will turn 3 during our trip. We're visiting 17-27th April.

I am considering not using the G+/LL. Simply to keep costs down. We will likely visit MK twice, Tuesday and Saturday then spend one day at Epcot, AK, HS and both Universal parks.

My son should be 40" (I'll double check before we leave) so he might be able to go on some of the bigger rides. Whilst we'd love to hit lots of rides, I will prioritise 'must do' rides and 'nice to do'. I want us to have fun and not be in lines all day.

Planning plenty of time to watch parades and play in parks etc.

We will also consider utilising the rider swap and/or single rider for bigger rides when/if little one naps.

Do you think we can have an enjoyable time without G+/LL?

I planned to go to the back of each park at opening time and walk forward, hoping that will help with the lines. I also have a rule of not joining lines with wait times of more than 30 minutes.

Does this sound do-able and any tips please?

 

[DisneyHead123]

My plan would be:

- Plan on skipping a few rides altogether if you are committed to not waiting more than 30 minutes (my son just can’t do hour long lines so I get it.) Peter Pan can easily be two hours at rope drop. Mine Train is probably similar although my son doesn’t like roller coasters so not sure.

- For the most popular rides below this level, prioritize 2 that you will do at rope drop. Pirates, Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion, Buzz Lightyear, Thunder Mountain, maybe Dumbo (depending on crowd levels - and they have a play area so it’s a bit different.) You can check the lines for the others throughout the day but might have to skip them. You’re going right after spring break season though so you may well get a lull in lines.

- There are a surprising number of rides with pretty good lines - Tomorrow Speedway, Little Mermaid, carousel, Pooh (not at peak times), the train, Philharmagic, People Mover, Astro Orbiter, Barnstormer, the steamboat, teacups, Small World. If it’s a crowded day anything and everything will have an insane wait between noon to around 3 so you might plan on a meal, rest at the hotel, or shopping at those times. The frigging steamboat doesn’t open until certain times some days (have stood at the gates with a screaming toddler), just fyi. 11:00, I think.

Honestly, last time I ended up caving and buying Genie+ mid morning, but my son is not a chill kid and we were headed for a stage 5 meltdown if he had to ride Little Mermaid instead of the speedway and Barnstormer during mid day crowds. That’s the other thing, be prepared to see new sides of your child as he will be more overstimulated than he has ever been in his three years of life, lol. You may be high fiving your husband about scoring a 15 wait for Pirates when he develops a sudden inexplicable fear of them and won’t go near the ride. Or you may be rope dropping and hauling it to the back of the park when he decides his entire future happiness depends on him riding the train, which means you’ll miss 20 minutes of prime short line time for a ride that literally never has a line, any time of day. Just throwing it out there. The best laid plans often go out the window!

 

[Explorewithethan2021]

I absolutely love the reality of your reply @DisneyHead123 You literally nailed life with a toddler.

Thanks so much for all the tips. I think I'll figure out our 'must do' rides soon and then maybe pop back for some more advice.

We're going through a skipping nap stage but I'm hoping jet lag will make him want a nap so after lunch will be nap time in the pram and then hopefully we can ride a couple of bigger rides if the lines allow it.

 

[DisneyHead123]

I absolutely love the reality of your reply @DisneyHead123 You literally nailed life with a toddler.

Thanks so much for all the tips. I think I'll figure out our 'must do' rides soon and then maybe pop back for some more advice.

We're going through a skipping nap stage but I'm hoping jet lag will make him want a nap so after lunch will be nap time in the pram and then hopefully we can ride a couple of bigger rides if the lines allow it.

The train thing just killed me lol… right at the front of the park so there’s no way to avoid it. And it’s a looooong ride, as all the rope droppers go rushing past you. But even with all the craziness, I love going to Disney with my little guy. Best of luck on your trip!

 

[Weather_Lady]

With a visit length of over a week, you can absolutely forego G+/LL and get everything you want to done, plus revisit favorites.

FWIW, our last visit was 7 days (6 nights) in length, but with only 5 days in the parks (parkhopper tickets). We bought no ILLs, and invested in G+ only on the days we were visiting HS and MK, and found it helped only a little, and was a giant pain to use (having to constantly be on the phone, to make reservations and modify them to convenient times). Had we had a couple more days in the parks (meaning, a couple of additional days of early entry to knock out an extra headliner or two), we wouldn't have bothered with G+ at all.

So my opinion is yes, a visit can absolutely be successful without G+/ILL, and there are far better ways to direct that money if you want to enhance your vacation.

 

[NelleBelle]

I’ll just add that we have yet to use genie+ and have no plans to start. When my kids were 3, we had little activity books for them to play with as well as little “surprises” to whip out in line if it was a bit of a wait. Our kids were great at taking naps in the stroller and we never left specifically for nap time. We would often leave for the pools or water parks in the afternoon. We’d also bring pj’s to change into after dinner and stay until close. Kids would just nod off in their strollers.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

Hi all



Do you think we can have an enjoyable time without G+/LL?

I planned to go to the back of each park at opening time and walk forward, hoping that will help with the lines. I also have a rule of not joining lines with wait times of more than 30 minutes.

Does this sound do-able and any tips please?

Define "successful." I don't mean that as a sarcastic comment, I mean the answer to your question is going to be highly subjective. After a great many visits to both WDW and Universal, I can tell you just about every visit has both some wow moments and some frustrations/disappointments.

One of the biggest tips is to keep your expectations modest, bring lots of patience, but also allow your group some freedom to just wing it. some of the time. Just if you are having fun doing one thing, don't fret over some other thing you maybe thought you'd do. Easier said than done, but missing a parade because you are having fun doing something else, or taking a nap is not a bad thing. Sometimes it is easy to get caught up in things you thought you would do.

If what you are doing isn't working, stop, assess, and change your plan. We just had to do this on a recent visit. On our Epcot day, we had not gone to the Japan gift shop and a member of my group was worried we would not get to go. So we took a moment to figure out where to make a swap.

You can try a day without G+ and if it is fun, you don't have to buy it. We don't buy ILL's. But then I'm also willing to skip Rise and 7DMT. The line for 7DMT is often a bit shorter at night, so if it is short, we go. Though sometimes you have to just make a guess. The posted waits are often inflated at night. If you get into a queue though, and the wait looks bad/isn't moving, you can always bail.

If you buy G+ any of your days, buy it for HS. IMO, that's the park that is most miserable without it. Also, the value of G+ goes up if you can hop to MK later in the day, and stack MK G+ passes. We tend to buy the G+ that includes all parks if we are thinking of hopping. If you decide G+ would help, you might be able to cut your budget elsewhere, like not buying souvenirs. Again, that's what we do, even after many visits. We keep our options open. On my most recent visit, we decided we didn't need to buy G+ every day, but we have bought it on many days.

WDW also has a ton of fun, non-thrill ride things to do. It will all be new to you, so well worthwhile. Just visiting the hotels is a lot of fun, especially the deluxe resorts that are close to the parks/easy to visit. Riding the new Skyliner is also pretty neat if it is a nice day. Very pretty at dusk. The monorail and free shuttle boats (both WDW and Universal) are also fun. Yet these are not always talked about on this forum as fun things to do.

At Universal, it depends where you are staying. I would not buy Express Pass out of pocket, but we often choose to stay at the hotels that include it. If we don't have it though, just like WDW, it isn't essential. It is a handy perk though.

Back of the park, so to speak sorta works, but not if you are in the parks for Early Entry. During EE, only some rides are open. In some parks, like AK, everyone heads to FoP. It is decent strategy to head to another ride that is open for EE. There isn't really a 'back' of MK. At Universal, everyone heads to Hagrids, which is back of the park. Few rides are open. You will do fairly well to head to one of the other popular rides that is open.