Where in the World Isn't Bob Saget?

[PUSH]

I liked the classic Mickey phone(ornament?), reminds me of the Pop. Is that where you got it?

Yep. It's a miniature version of the large statue at the resort.

 

[PUSH]

And that's all I got! Overall, I felt like the merchandise in the stores took a step up this year from the past couple. I did not like the 2024 line of merch, though. I actually hated it. I also wish they had more Epcot specific merch. There was a shirt or two that I really liked when Epcot first started going through their remodel, but they discontinued them before I could get down there, and they weren't available online.

They had this one in a short and long sleeve... I would have gotten both.

View attachment 794340

I have a Disney livestream on, and guess what? They literally just brought these back to the park! I missed out on them by a few days! I've been wanting one for years!

 

[PUSH]

I have a Disney livestream on, and guess what? They literally just brought these back to the park! I missed out on them by a few days! I've been wanting one for years!

I have a coworker who is flying in today for a Disney trip, so I asked if she could look for it for me. And the matching water bottle, too. So hopefully she can get them for me! Wish they would have had them a week ago.

 

[PUSH]

Just some thoughts from my Disney trip...

• The crowds were very manageable the first week of the trip. The later we got into June, the busier it got. If going in June, I recommend going as early as possible. This seems to be a constant from all the times I've gone in June. I'm assuming it has to do with more and more schools getting out. But early in the trip, I was surprised by how low crowds were. That possibly has to do with the rain we had earlier in the trip, too. Maybe locals weren't coming out as much in that weather.
• The Cast Members were just okay. They weren't bad, but it seemed like they were just doing their jobs. I'm not saying that's wrong, but there didn't seem to be too many who went out of their way to make the trip magical. There were a few, like the CM who checked us in at Riverside. He was some sort of manager, and he spent a long time with us to get us the exact rooms we requested. He moved multiple other groups around for us. I gave him a cast compliment. But overall, the quality of CMs seems to have gone down from past trips. I'm sure that has to do with how hard it is to fill positions in any job across the country. There were a few CMs who seemed like they hated to be there. They weren't rude, but they weren't friendly. You never used to see that.
• It seemed like a lot of rides were going down more frequently than before. I mentioned how Frozen and Mine Train were both down when we rope dropped them. Haunted Mansion was also down multiple times. When we had the lights on at Peter Pan, Small World and Haunted Mansion also went down. The morning Frozen was down, Nemo, Figment, Spaceship Earth, and Living with the Land were also down for parts of the morning. And Test Track had closed. That left Remy, Gran Fiesta Tour, Mission Space, and Soarin as the only rides with standby lines that weren't down at some point that morning.
• I mentioned that the merch took a step up. The past few trips, I struggled to find things to use my gift cards on. This trip, I could have bought a lot more than I did. I really disliked the design of all the 2024 merch, though, so I didn't get anything with the year. The ornaments are the Christmas shops also weren't as good. But everything else was pretty great. It seems like they had a little more park and ride-specific merch, which is what I love. I'd rather get that than generic Disney/Mickey/character merch.
• Magic Kingdom is still a really fun park, but they need something new. I think the "Beyond Frontierland" expansion will be great, and they need to start that construction soon. Tron was a good addition, but it's not something I need to ride more than once a trip. It's short, and even with the virtual queue, the line is a long wait with how long it takes to load (storing things in lockers, telling guests how to sit in the ride vehicle).
• Epcot's remake is complete, and it looks really nice, especially at night. I will miss the fountain, and I feel like they could have incorporated the existing fountain rather than tearing it down. I love all the greenery and the extra seating in the area behind Spaceship Earth. The Communicore Hall area is uninspired, though. The Encanto stage show ruins the entire ambience. I don't need a dance party in the middle of Epcot. The area music they chose is beautiful and perfect for Epcot (although, I will miss the old area music), so they need to stick with that. They wasted a lot of space with that area.
• Test Track was due for a makeover. The retheme was never as good at the original. Creating your own car grew old very quickly. I'm glad they're retheming it again.
• Hollywood Studios still needs a vision. It's a bunch of hodge-podge film franchises put into a park in random spots. Sunset and Hollywood Boulevard are still great, but everything else seems cut and pasted into a park with no theme. Toy Story Land is fun. Galaxy's Edge is well-themed. But they are just random lands placed into a park that is kind of Hollywood themed, and kind of IP themed.
• Animal Kingdom is the best themed park, but it needs more. There is so much open area, and it's a long walk to everything else. I know that's part of the "in the wild" theming, but there's not tons to do. We could have finished the park in a few hours. Retheming Dinoland will be a huge improvement. Dinosaur is an okay ride when it's actually working. I noticed they put some projectors in, where I believe real AAs used to be. It's a shame they couldn't have done more with the dinosaur theme. That could have been so good, but a South America area will be good. I just wish they could have kept the dinosaur theme, but reimagined it, PLUS added a South America land. That's what the park needs. Pandora is still a extremely detailed land that I love.
• My favorite meal was Homecomin.
• My favorite singular food item I had was the pretzel bread pudding.
• My favorite beverage was the Florida Crush from Homecomin.
• The After Hours is worth it for the amount you're able to get done at Hollywood Studios. I don't think it'd be as worth it at MK, or Epcot for sure. MK you could get Genie+ and accomplish most things, especially if you spend two days there. If you're only spending a 4 or 5 days at WDW, you could skip Hollywood Studios altogether if you do the After Hours. However, it's starting to get pricey and getting to the point where it's not worth it.
• Overall, I had a really good time! For the criticisms I have of WDW, there are so many more good things. There's a reason our family goes back so often.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Just some thoughts from my Disney trip...

• The crowds were very manageable the first week of the trip. The later we got into June, the busier it got. If going in June, I recommend going as early as possible. This seems to be a constant from all the times I've gone in June. I'm assuming it has to do with more and more schools getting out. But early in the trip, I was surprised by how low crowds were. That possibly has to do with the rain we had earlier in the trip, too. Maybe locals weren't coming out as much in that weather.
• The Cast Members were just okay. They weren't bad, but it seemed like they were just doing their jobs. I'm not saying that's wrong, but there didn't seem to be too many who went out of their way to make the trip magical. There were a few, like the CM who checked us in at Riverside. He was some sort of manager, and he spent a long time with us to get us the exact rooms we requested. He moved multiple other groups around for us. I gave him a cast compliment. But overall, the quality of CMs seems to have gone down from past trips. I'm sure that has to do with how hard it is to fill positions in any job across the country. There were a few CMs who seemed like they hated to be there. They weren't rude, but they weren't friendly. You never used to see that.
• It seemed like a lot of rides were going down more frequently than before. I mentioned how Frozen and Mine Train were both down when we rope dropped them. Haunted Mansion was also down multiple times. When we had the lights on at Peter Pan, Small World and Haunted Mansion also went down. The morning Frozen was down, Nemo, Figment, Spaceship Earth, and Living with the Land were also down for parts of the morning. And Test Track had closed. That left Remy, Gran Fiesta Tour, Mission Space, and Soarin as the only rides with standby lines that weren't down at some point that morning.
• I mentioned that the merch took a step up. The past few trips, I struggled to find things to use my gift cards on. This trip, I could have bought a lot more than I did. I really disliked the design of all the 2024 merch, though, so I didn't get anything with the year. The ornaments are the Christmas shops also weren't as good. But everything else was pretty great. It seems like they had a little more park and ride-specific merch, which is what I love. I'd rather get that than generic Disney/Mickey/character merch.
• Magic Kingdom is still a really fun park, but they need something new. I think the "Beyond Frontierland" expansion will be great, and they need to start that construction soon. Tron was a good addition, but it's not something I need to ride more than once a trip. It's short, and even with the virtual queue, the line is a long wait with how long it takes to load (storing things in lockers, telling guests how to sit in the ride vehicle).
• Epcot's remake is complete, and it looks really nice, especially at night. I will miss the fountain, and I feel like they could have incorporated the existing fountain rather than tearing it down. I love all the greenery and the extra seating in the area behind Spaceship Earth. The Communicore Hall area is uninspired, though. The Encanto stage show ruins the entire ambience. I don't need a dance party in the middle of Epcot. The area music they chose is beautiful and perfect for Epcot (although, I will miss the old area music), so they need to stick with that. They wasted a lot of space with that area.
• Test Track was due for a makeover. The retheme was never as good at the original. Creating your own car grew old very quickly. I'm glad they're retheming it again.
• Hollywood Studios still needs a vision. It's a bunch of hodge-podge film franchises put into a park in random spots. Sunset and Hollywood Boulevard are still great, but everything else seems cut and pasted into a park with no theme. Toy Story Land is fun. Galaxy's Edge is well-themed. But they are just random lands placed into a park that is kind of Hollywood themed, and kind of IP themed.
• Animal Kingdom is the best themed park, but it needs more. There is so much open area, and it's a long walk to everything else. I know that's part of the "in the wild" theming, but there's not tons to do. We could have finished the park in a few hours. Retheming Dinoland will be a huge improvement. Dinosaur is an okay ride when it's actually working. I noticed they put some projectors in, where I believe real AAs used to be. It's a shame they couldn't have done more with the dinosaur theme. That could have been so good, but a South America area will be good. I just wish they could have kept the dinosaur theme, but reimagined it, PLUS added a South America land. That's what the park needs. Pandora is still a extremely detailed land that I love.
• My favorite meal was Homecomin.
• My favorite singular food item I had was the pretzel bread pudding.
• My favorite beverage was the Florida Crush from Homecomin.
• The After Hours is worth it for the amount you're able to get done at Hollywood Studios. I don't think it'd be as worth it at MK, or Epcot for sure. MK you could get Genie+ and accomplish most things, especially if you spend two days there. If you're only spending a 4 or 5 days at WDW, you could skip Hollywood Studios altogether if you do the After Hours. However, it's starting to get pricey and getting to the point where it's not worth it.
• Overall, I had a really good time! For the criticisms I have of WDW, there are so many more good things. There's a reason our family goes back so often.

Some good feedback there. I know a lot of people like to criticize a lot at Disney parks but I think there is just a lot of fun to be had. I don’t think I’m a pixie duster of the parks but I try to look at all the positive. If I go in looking for the negative that is just a big waste of money.

 

[PUSH]

Some good feedback there. I know a lot of people like to criticize a lot at Disney parks but I think there is just a lot of fun to be had. I don’t think I’m a pixie duster of the parks but I try to look at all the positive. If I go in looking for the negative that is just a big waste of money.

Agreed. I feel like I view things in a pretty realistic way. I also realize that I am not the only person they are targeting. There are a lot of different types of guests who are looking for a lot of different types of things when they come to a Disney park. Just because I don't like it, doesn't mean someone else doesn't.

 

[PUSH]

I just saw they're changing the Lightning Lane system to be like the old FastPass+, where you book 3 rides in advance. Obviously, you will have to pay. I don't like this. The issue I had with it in the past is it takes away flexibility in your vacation. I don't like things that lock your plans in place. There are some days we decide to not buy lightning lanes because we've already done everything. You can't know that a week in advance. Also, I am able to get a lot more than three lightning lanes in a day with the current system. I know with the new version you can book more once you've used all three, but I still think I'd get less than I do now.

 

[PUSH]

Here is my attraction count from the trip:

Magic Kingdom
Space: 3
Peter Pan: 3
Tron: 3
Big Thunder: 2
Haunted Mansion: 4
Pirates: 4
Jungle Cruise: 2
Happily Ever After: 2 (once from the Contemporary)
Winnie the Pooh: 1
Little Mermaid: 2
Dumbo: 1
Peoplemover: 4
Mine Train: 1
Carousel of Progress: 1
PhilharMagic: 1
Riverboat: 1
Tom Sawyer's Island: 1
It's a Small World: 1
Magic Carpets: 1
Treehouse: 1

Epcot
Test Track: 2
Guardians: 4
Ratatouille: 2
Soarin': 2
Living with the Land: 4
Spaceship Earth: 4
Nemo: 2
Moana: 1
Gran Fiesta Tour: 2
Luminous: 1
Figment: 1

Hollywood Studios
Tower of Terror: 5
Rise: 4
Slinky Dog: 2
Runaway Railway: 4
Star Tours: 1
Muppets: 2
One Man's Dream: 1
Fantasmic: 2
Smuggler's Run: 1
Toy Story Mania: 2
Alien Swirling Saucers: 1

Animal Kingdom
Flight of Passage: 2
Na'vi River Journey: 1
Everest: 2
Dinosaur: 2
Kilimanjaro Safari: 2
Festival of the Lion King: 1
Nemo Musical: 1
Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail: 1
It's Tough to be a Bug: 1

 

[JenniferS]

I just saw they're changing the Lightning Lane system to be like the old FastPass+, where you book 3 rides in advance. Obviously, you will have to pay. I don't like this. The issue I had with it in the past is it takes away flexibility in your vacation. I don't like things that lock your plans in place. There are some days we decide to not buy lightning lanes because we've already done everything. You can't know that a week in advance. Also, I am able to get a lot more than three lightning lanes in a day with the current system. I know with the new version you can book more once you've used all three, but I still think I'd get less than I do now.

You don’t have to use all three before booking more. The second you use the first, you can book a fourth; so ideally, you could have 3 stacked all day long.

 

[PUSH]

You don’t have to use all three before booking more. The second you use the first, you can book a fourth; so ideally, you could have 3 stacked all day long.

Oh, I didn't see that part. I just hope that this isn't like the previous system where the top rides were already booked before you could even have access to booking them. That's my biggest reservation. And the fact that you have to pay in advance, even though you might not actually end up wanting them that day.

 

[Tiggerish]

You don’t have to use all three before booking more. The second you use the first, you can book a fourth; so ideally, you could have 3 stacked all day long.

If we have to pay extra, I don't care about any of that. I won't be having it.

 

[JenniferS]

If we have to pay extra, I don't care about any of that. I won't be having it.

And that’s fair.

I haven’t been back to WDW since COVID, so I never experienced any of the hot mess that was Genie+, ILL, or VQ’s there.

When Bestie and I went to DL in 2022, she handled all the Genie+ stuff. I had FastPass+ down pat, but the new system was beyond my ken.

Mike is vehemently opposed to paying for something that used to be free, which is a big part of why we haven’t been back since September 2019. He feels personally slighted.

 

[King Capybara 77]

And that’s fair.

I haven’t been back to WDW since COVID, so I never experienced any of the hot mess that was Genie+, ILL, or VQ’s there.

When Bestie and I went to DL in 2022, she handled all the Genie+ stuff. I had FastPass+ down pat, but the new system was beyond my ken.

Mike is vehemently opposed to paying for something that used to be free, which is a big part of why we haven’t been back since September 2019. He feels personally slighted.

To be honest, that is one of the reasons we haven't returned.

 

[FutureCEO]

Disney is not forcing you to use it. You can just wait in line.

Well, technically they are by artificially making the standby line longer. But that's one of the reasons why I haven't ridden rides like Peter Pan since forever.

I'm also not a huge fan of the ride.

 

[MinnieM123]

Disney is not forcing you to use it. You can just wait in line.

Well, technically they are by artificially making the standby line longer. But that's one of the reasons why I haven't ridden rides like Peter Pan since forever.

I'm also not a huge fan of the ride.

True, standby will always be available, but people are understandably annoyed when there used to be a FREE (Fast Pass system) and now the parks charge for it.

 

[Goofyernmost]

If we have to pay extra, I don't care about any of that. I won't be having it.

And that’s fair.

I haven’t been back to WDW since COVID, so I never experienced any of the hot mess that was Genie+, ILL, or VQ’s there.

When Bestie and I went to DL in 2022, she handled all the Genie+ stuff. I had FastPass+ down pat, but the new system was beyond my ken.

Mike is vehemently opposed to paying for something that used to be free, which is a big part of why we haven’t been back since September 2019. He feels personally slighted.

To be honest, that is one of the reasons we haven't returned.

True, standby will always be available, but people are understandably annoyed when there used to be a FREE (Fast Pass system) and now the parks charge for it.

Well, would you look at that. Here are at least five, counting myself, that have been long time, obsessed fans, that are so upset by the money grabs that Disney now seems to excel at, stating a reluctance to go back because of the cash grab. It makes me wonder how many others that aren't posters or even follow any Disney oriented discussion forum feel the same way. Apparently, Disney doesn't care if we go back ever again. Interesting isn't it? They want the new people that have no knowledge of the history of the place, so they just think it was always that way. It will work to a point. It will work until they reach that point where even those with the money to throw away find a different place to spend it.

In my mind the worldwide situation right now is unrest and uncertainty and therefore it has become a desire for people to pay whatever is necessary to escape the rampant stupidity that seems to be everywhere. It can even be found in Disney parks. Did you see the situation at the Mission: Space Restaurant where two drunks entered with no shirts, no shoes and one pulled a metal stanchion out of the ground and started swinging it at people. There is no class left and almost no place to go to get away from the ignorance. For the time being a Disney Park still has less of the outside world within its boundaries, but that won't be forever. The day of reconning will eventually get here and Disney will have big problems and those with a lot of cash to spare will find new places to spend it.

 

[Songbird76]

And that’s fair.

I haven’t been back to WDW since COVID, so I never experienced any of the hot mess that was Genie+, ILL, or VQ’s there.

When Bestie and I went to DL in 2022, she handled all the Genie+ stuff. I had FastPass+ down pat, but the new system was beyond my ken.

Mike is vehemently opposed to paying for something that used to be free, which is a big part of why we haven’t been back since September 2019. He feels personally slighted.

We only paid for Genie+ for one day last Summer and it turned out to be a complete waste of money, so we didn't use it again. I much prefer making my plans in advance and knowing where I'm going to be, so the change would work out really well for me. Do you happen to know if you can make selections for more than one park in a day? That was the one thing I didn't like about the old fastpass system...all your advanced selections had to be in the same park. That and that you couldn't select more until you used ALL of your selections, so if you selected a fastpass for the evening show, you never got to make more selections. When you have to PAY like with Genie+, then that's really not worth it if you have to wait.

We only got it in HS. Our strategy was to rope drop Rise, and we booked a lightning lane for Smuggler's Run as soon as possible, then hop over to Tower of Terror, and as soon as we could book another LL, we'd have booked Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway. But we were some of the first people on Rise that morning, our LL for Smuggler's wasn't for another hour, Tower of Terror was down, and we weren't eligible to make another selection yet. So we ended up going to MMRR right away after Rise and got that knocked out with a short wait time and still had more than half an hour before Smugglers. ToT was still down. We hit TSMM, then went and grabbed some breakfast at Woody's, then went to our Smuggler's LL only to be turned away because it was down and we weren't even allowed to remain in the area. ToT was still down, our LL never changed to multi-experience one, so we still couldn't book anything new. We had already done everything else we had wanted to do there, and hadn't even used our first LL selection. We headed to a kiosk to have them manually change it to a Multi one, but we could ONLY use it in HS, and there was nothing we wanted to ride in HS except the 2 rides that were still down. And we couldn't hop back then until 2pm...we still had like 4 hours before we could go to a different park, and we had an ADR at 50s. So we killed time by doing Frozen sing-along a couple of times, then went to Prime Time and asked if we could check in early, which they graciously allowed. When we left just before 2, Smugglers and ToT were both still down, and we went to Epcot where we didn't need a LL for anything. It was a waste of $27 per person. I think we did end up making a LL for Soarin' once, but that was the only LL we used all day. It really wasn't worth the price we paid, but we had anticipated needing LLs for MMRR, Smuggler's, and TSMM, and possibly also using it once for ToT before heading to Epcot in the afternoon. Since we had already done all the rides that we would have used it for except the ones that were down, we didn't get to use it in HS at all, and you don't really need it in Epcot if you aren't planning on doing the Rat ride or TT, which we weren't. So we won't be doing that again. We'll rope drop the must dos and pay attention to standbys for everything else.

 

[JenniferS]

We only paid for Genie+ for one day last Summer and it turned out to be a complete waste of money, so we didn't use it again. I much prefer making my plans in advance and knowing where I'm going to be, so the change would work out really well for me. Do you happen to know if you can make selections for more than one park in a day? That was the one thing I didn't like about the old fastpass system...all your advanced selections had to be in the same park. That and that you couldn't select more until you used ALL of your selections, so if you selected a fastpass for the evening show, you never got to make more selections. When you have to PAY like with Genie+, then that's really not worth it if you have to wait.

We only got it in HS. Our strategy was to rope drop Rise, and we booked a lightning lane for Smuggler's Run as soon as possible, then hop over to Tower of Terror, and as soon as we could book another LL, we'd have booked Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway. But we were some of the first people on Rise that morning, our LL for Smuggler's wasn't for another hour, Tower of Terror was down, and we weren't eligible to make another selection yet. So we ended up going to MMRR right away after Rise and got that knocked out with a short wait time and still had more than half an hour before Smugglers. ToT was still down. We hit TSMM, then went and grabbed some breakfast at Woody's, then went to our Smuggler's LL only to be turned away because it was down and we weren't even allowed to remain in the area. ToT was still down, our LL never changed to multi-experience one, so we still couldn't book anything new. We had already done everything else we had wanted to do there, and hadn't even used our first LL selection. We headed to a kiosk to have them manually change it to a Multi one, but we could ONLY use it in HS, and there was nothing we wanted to ride in HS except the 2 rides that were still down. And we couldn't hop back then until 2pm...we still had like 4 hours before we could go to a different park, and we had an ADR at 50s. So we killed time by doing Frozen sing-along a couple of times, then went to Prime Time and asked if we could check in early, which they graciously allowed. When we left just before 2, Smugglers and ToT were both still down, and we went to Epcot where we didn't need a LL for anything. It was a waste of $27 per person. I think we did end up making a LL for Soarin' once, but that was the only LL we used all day. It really wasn't worth the price we paid, but we had anticipated needing LLs for MMRR, Smuggler's, and TSMM, and possibly also using it once for ToT before heading to Epcot in the afternoon. Since we had already done all the rides that we would have used it for except the ones that were down, we didn't get to use it in HS at all, and you don't really need it in Epcot if you aren't planning on doing the Rat ride or TT, which we weren't. So we won't be doing that again. We'll rope drop the must dos and pay attention to standbys for everything else.

Now step into your time machine and backdate that entire experience to the pre-Genie+ days where you would probably have just shrugged it off as "one of those things"... because FP+ was FREE!

Free takes the sting out of a lot of situations.

 

[PUSH]

We only paid for Genie+ for one day last Summer and it turned out to be a complete waste of money, so we didn't use it again. I much prefer making my plans in advance and knowing where I'm going to be, so the change would work out really well for me. Do you happen to know if you can make selections for more than one park in a day? That was the one thing I didn't like about the old fastpass system...all your advanced selections had to be in the same park. That and that you couldn't select more until you used ALL of your selections, so if you selected a fastpass for the evening show, you never got to make more selections. When you have to PAY like with Genie+, then that's really not worth it if you have to wait.

We only got it in HS. Our strategy was to rope drop Rise, and we booked a lightning lane for Smuggler's Run as soon as possible, then hop over to Tower of Terror, and as soon as we could book another LL, we'd have booked Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway. But we were some of the first people on Rise that morning, our LL for Smuggler's wasn't for another hour, Tower of Terror was down, and we weren't eligible to make another selection yet. So we ended up going to MMRR right away after Rise and got that knocked out with a short wait time and still had more than half an hour before Smugglers. ToT was still down. We hit TSMM, then went and grabbed some breakfast at Woody's, then went to our Smuggler's LL only to be turned away because it was down and we weren't even allowed to remain in the area. ToT was still down, our LL never changed to multi-experience one, so we still couldn't book anything new. We had already done everything else we had wanted to do there, and hadn't even used our first LL selection. We headed to a kiosk to have them manually change it to a Multi one, but we could ONLY use it in HS, and there was nothing we wanted to ride in HS except the 2 rides that were still down. And we couldn't hop back then until 2pm...we still had like 4 hours before we could go to a different park, and we had an ADR at 50s. So we killed time by doing Frozen sing-along a couple of times, then went to Prime Time and asked if we could check in early, which they graciously allowed. When we left just before 2, Smugglers and ToT were both still down, and we went to Epcot where we didn't need a LL for anything. It was a waste of $27 per person. I think we did end up making a LL for Soarin' once, but that was the only LL we used all day. It really wasn't worth the price we paid, but we had anticipated needing LLs for MMRR, Smuggler's, and TSMM, and possibly also using it once for ToT before heading to Epcot in the afternoon. Since we had already done all the rides that we would have used it for except the ones that were down, we didn't get to use it in HS at all, and you don't really need it in Epcot if you aren't planning on doing the Rat ride or TT, which we weren't. So we won't be doing that again. We'll rope drop the must dos and pay attention to standbys for everything else.

LLs only really benefit you if you ride all the rides. Otherwise you can strategically plan rope drops, etc. The only park I would say differently is MK. MK has tons of attractions that you can get LLs for all day long, and it saves a lot of time.

I tried to plan our park visits based on which we could benefit from LLs. For example, I'd do Epcot in the morning to snag a Frozen or Remy LL, then maybe use a couple on Soarin, SSE, or LwtL before leaving. Then I'd stack several for MK in the afternoon.

If you do AK in the morning, planning for Epcot at night would be good, since rides like Soarin, LwtL, and SSE are typically walk-ons past 5 pm.

MK, LLs are beneficial all day long. Epcot, they are good for one of the headliners in the mornings, then the smaller rides mid-day when the lines get long, but it's not worth it in the evenings. DHS is good for one headliner in the morning, but then the times get backed up, so you can stack LLs for the evenings. AK is really not worth it. It may save you a total of 30 minutes.

As far as getting a multiple experience pass when a ride goes down, we've had that happen a couple times at DHS. And like you, we didn't really have anything else to ride there (that shows the lack of rides they have at the park). I went to guest relations, and both times they were able to change it to the park we were going to the next morning. This year we switch it to AK. Last year we switch it to Epcot.

 

[PUSH]

Now step into your time machine and backdate that entire experience to the pre-Genie+ days where you would probably have just shrugged it off as "one of those things"... because FP+ was FREE!

Free takes the sting out of a lot of situations.

I'm honestly surprised they kept FP for free as long as they did. Covid was a convenient excuse to add another upcharge. Disney was not the only company to take advantage of covid.