Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

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Gran Fiesta

Well-Known Member
MickeyLuv'r said:
Define "hop onto RotR?" When I most recently visited WDW - to give you a sample- Jungle Cruise was up to a 3-4 hours wait within 5 minutes of MK opening JC does not open early; actually, everyoen was held at the entrance of Adventureland. BTMRR was up to a 40 min wait inside of 10 min of MK opening.

It you are in the front of the crowd, you might get lucky and only wait a short time for Rise. If you are held up at all....just 3-4 minutes could easily = an hour for Rise or longer. When I tried to enter HS, my magic band did not work, and I was held up. Under EMH a few minutes didn't matter all that much, now it will.

I can't quite say if G+ is worthwhile for you, but I sorta lean towards saying - if you are thinking to spend $15, Rise - instead of G+ would be a decent option. When you buy an ILL for Rise at 7am -you at least have pretty good odds of actually getting a pass. If you opt to buy G+ and hope to get Slinky- it is a total crap shoot.

If you are lucky, then you get a good G+. If not, your HS day pretty quickly goes downhill.

7am: If you don't get Slinky, your next best option is MF/ToT. If MF/ToT is okay in your book, you can probably at least get that for your first G+.
10:30am: Come 10:30am, Slinky and MF are likely to be sold out. So, you are looking at RNRC, ToT, TSM, or Aliens. MMRR is supposed to revert back to ILL after 8/1, but that might also stay in the G+. You MIGHT get MF.
12:30pm: probably not much left to choose. You might get lucky if it is a slower day.

If you can hop to MK, then you should still be able to get decent options at 12:30 (for after 2pm return).

If do not have G+, watch G+ in June for a very rough idea of the kind of waits you might see. (From 6/2 until 6/30 is roughly the same pricing season as your dates). Just don't assume what you see for G+ in June is what you can actually book though when it comes to G+ passes/return times.

Right now, at 4pm on 5/25: Aliens = 40 min, Meet Olaf = 50min, MMRR = 55min, F= 55min, RNRC= 60, SDD=80min, Rise = 90min TSM= 30min, ToT = 110min.

So is G+ worth $15 - to you - if you get 2 passes that each save about an hour of waiting, plus 1 pass (maybe 2) that save 10-20min in HS?

When we went, the standby waits were all pretty miserable. So as bad as G+ was, no G+ = even more waiting.

But again I say, in Epcot if you aren't doing attractions- you can at least walk the WS/see gardens. In AK, you can always do the animal walk-throughs. In HS, other than attractions, there isn't much to do except maybe the shows.

I will also say, during the extended evening hours just about everything was walk-on. If you can go during those, do. We did more in those 2 hours, hassle-free, than we ever were able to cover during the AM hours - even after jumping through all of WDW's hoops.
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Yeah honestly from reading this board and taking in everyone's opinions, G+ seems to be worth it for Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom but not worth it for Epcot and Animal Kingdom. Therefore, I'm thinking about just purchasing it on the mornings of HS and Magic. I can definitely see the appeal for HS since there are so many attractions that all warrant long waits and not that many "hop on" attractions.
 
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Gran Fiesta

Well-Known Member
Is there anyone who has gone recently that did not purchase Genie+ at all and would care to share their experience with me? Still trying to sort through all the options. If it helps our trip is our going to have two people, just me and my wife.

On the flip side can anyone tell me their experience if it caused you to be on your phone a lot during the day with Genie+? I'm not too hung up on the $30 it would cost us, it's more so I don't want to have to be on my phone a lot. Call me old fashioned but I think that is really where my problem boils down to
 
mattpeto

mattpeto

Well-Known Member
PeopleMoverLover said:
Is there anyone who has gone recently that did not purchase Genie+ at all and would care to share their experience with me? Still trying to sort through all the options. If it helps our trip is our going to have two people, just me and my wife.

On the flip side can anyone tell me their experience if it caused you to be on your phone a lot during the day with Genie+? I'm not too hung up on the $30 it would cost us, it's more so I don't want to have to be on my phone a lot. Call me old fashioned but I think that is really where my problem boils down to
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Do you have Park Hopping?
 
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dreday3

Well-Known Member
PeopleMoverLover said:
Is there anyone who has gone recently that did not purchase Genie+ at all and would care to share their experience with me? Still trying to sort through all the options. If it helps our trip is our going to have two people, just me and my wife.

On the flip side can anyone tell me their experience if it caused you to be on your phone a lot during the day with Genie+? I'm not too hung up on the $30 it would cost us, it's more so I don't want to have to be on my phone a lot. Call me old fashioned but I think that is really where my problem boils down to
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I wasn't on the phone any more than I was for fast pass +. In the morning when I made initial reservations, then either 2 hours later or when I tapped in at a ride to see what else I can get.

Honestly, I was using the phone more for my mobile orders!
 
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Gran Fiesta

Well-Known Member
mattpeto said:
Do you have Park Hopping?
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Yes, we do. We usually do Disney as going to one park until about 2:00 and then hop to another park for supper. So we usually do 2 parks in one day every day. That's another thing I'm wondering about with Genie+ because I don't want reservations for later in the day since we will be in a different park by then.
 
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Gran Fiesta

Well-Known Member
dreday3 said:
I wasn't on the phone anymore than I was for fast pass +. In the morning when I made initial reservations, then either 2 hours later or when I tapped in at a ride to see what else I can get.

Honestly, I using the phone more for my mobile orders!
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Interesting, thank you! So it would be very similar to fass pass+ in terms of how much you are on your phone trying to get the next lightning lane?

Also, my wife and I went in August of 2021 before Genie+ had come back and I honestly was dreading mobile ordering (because of the phone thing) but it honestly wasn't bad at all and we got our food a lot faster. So maybe my same initial reservations about Genie+ are wrong as well?
 
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dreday3

Well-Known Member
PeopleMoverLover said:
Interesting, thank you! So it would be very similar to fass pass+ in terms of how much you are on your phone trying to get the next lightning lane?
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I mean, for us! But we are pretty easy-going on vacation, so we weren't really stressing about getting good times or anything. We saw what we could get, booked it and then decided later if we wanted to go on it or not. That's the beauty of longer trips. 😂

I think other people are constantly refreshing, etc., to get the best times.
 
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Gran Fiesta

Well-Known Member
dreday3 said:
I mean, for us! But we are pretty easy-going on vacation, so we weren't really stressing about getting good times or anything. We saw what we could get, booked it and then decided later if we wanted to go on it or not. That's the beauty of longer trips. 😂

I think other people are constantly refreshing, etc., to get the best times.
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Yeah, see we are the same way, we are going for 8 days in the park this time which is the longest we have ever gone and we are hoping to be able to go much slower and relax more than when we went for 4 and a half days in the park in August. We are still going to rope drop every morning and stay until close every night because its Disney and that's what we have always done and its fun for us 😂

But since we are going for this long this time, we are thinking about having a resort day in the middle to just refresh and explore Port Orleans while going to Disney Springs that night. Still debating on that as well.

But yeah if we do decide to purchase Genie+ I will definitely take your approach and not sit there and be constantly refreshing, etc.
 
MickeyLuv'r

MickeyLuv'r

Well-Known Member
PeopleMoverLover said:
Yeah honestly from reading this board and taking in everyone's opinions, G+ seems to be worth it for Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom but not worth it for Epcot and Animal Kingdom. Therefore, I'm thinking about just purchasing it on the mornings of HS and Magic. I can definitely see the appeal for HS since there are so many attractions that all warrant long waits and not that many "hop on" attractions.
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SQUIRREL!

People tend to want to visit the newest big ride at WDW. Two months ago, parkgoers were focused on getting Rise. Now they will be focused on GGCRewind. CCRR is the new 'lottery' item the masses are trying to 'win.' every day.

HS might be better. In which case, Epcot might now be like HS was. So I'd keep watching what people are saying about Epcot.

Though if you can't get in GGCR, at least at that time of year- I think you said late November- at least you'll be able to see all the holiday stuff Epcot has.
 
MickeyLuv'r

MickeyLuv'r

Well-Known Member
PeopleMoverLover said:
Is there anyone who has gone recently that did not purchase Genie+ at all and would care to share their experience with me? Still trying to sort through all the options. If it helps our trip is our going to have two people, just me and my wife.

On the flip side can anyone tell me their experience if it caused you to be on your phone a lot during the day with Genie+? I'm not too hung up on the $30 it would cost us, it's more so I don't want to have to be on my phone a lot. Call me old fashioned but I think that is really where my problem boils down to
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Semi-recent.

We did not buy G+ for Epcot. I did buy ILL for Rat in Epcot. My experience might not match others though...it took over an hour to get my ticket at GS for some reason, and that was a mid-day arrival. That was also during Flower Fest though, so I accepted sampling of a few foods was going to be part of our day. The park looked nice, but the topiaries weren't quite as exciting as prior years.

Rat, TT, and Soarin' had solid waits. Next day, we arrived for EE- but Epcot opened a few min before it was officially supposed to open- AND my ticket did not work, so we got held up a bit. By the time we got to Rat on 2nd day, wait was pretty long. I think we waited about 45-50, which is not something we'd normally do. Curiously, that was also extra hours night in Epcot. So we rode Rat a third time that night and only waited like 5-10minutes! Again, say the PM 2 extra hours were the best part of going to WDW right now. (Only stayed deluxe the min nights we needed.)

Otherwise, Imagination had some wait, but probably only 10-15min. Soarin' had a decent wait during reg park hours. For TT, we now mostly do single rider. I don't care about designing a car. In the morning, SE had a wait, but nothing when we went on it. Nemo was walk-on. the first day, we made a point of seeing Harmonious. I agree with what others have said. Illuminations was long-overdue for an update, but Harmonious is not a great replacement. The prior fireworks could be seen form whole lagoon and beyond. Now much of the show is like the one at Universal in that if you can't see the screen, you miss most of it. The music also isn't as cohesive. It was okay, but not a must-see like prior shows were. (Illuminations/Wishes/HappilyEA)


When we did use G+, I did a little refreshing. Taking the first G+ you see is often a mistake- except if you get SDD or GGCRewind. If you get either of those, book INSTANTLY.

Before your visit, play around with G+. That will give you a baseline of how G+ offerings jump around, and trends of how quickly waits grow. Though you can't really trust what you see, it at least gives you a baseline. when you actually go to book, times jumpt way more than that.

With FP+, you could book, then modify. So it paid to keep looing. With G+, if you don't book, refreshing sometimes = watching times slip further and further away from you. It is a bit of a sinking feeling
 
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crazy4disney

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
PeopleMoverLover said:
Is there anyone who has gone recently that did not purchase Genie+ at all and would care to share their experience with me? Still trying to sort through all the options. If it helps our trip is our going to have two people, just me and my wife.

On the flip side can anyone tell me their experience if it caused you to be on your phone a lot during the day with Genie+? I'm not too hung up on the $30 it would cost us, it's more so I don't want to have to be on my phone a lot. Call me old fashioned but I think that is really where my problem boils down to
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I used it this past November. I felt i was on my phone more than i was with FP+. With FP+ after our 3 or even the 2nd to try & move up the 3rd etc. The phone times were quick a few refreshesto see what was available & choose. Genie to me is nothing like that seems like you are constantly looking for something worthwhile or closer to your next time slot.
 
Jrb1979

Jrb1979

Well-Known Member
Chi84 said:
That’s not very clear since Universal’s Express Pass is free for certain deluxe resort guests. Did the survey mention any free version or state what the cost would be?
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My guess is how it's used. If Disney went to Universal's system I highly doubt resort guests would get it free as there as too many rooms to do that.

Personally I would love Express pass over Genie+ mainly due to the simplicity of it.
 
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