What would a day at WDW look like if you showed up with no plan? Scenario 1: you have only Genie and you basically do everything it suggests. Scenario 2: you have Genie+ and you grab whatever the next LL is.
What about food? You have no ADRs. You start to feel hungry. You look to see what last minute ADRs are available? Are there enough quick-access snacks and quick-service locations to ensure you won’t starve or have to wait too long to eat?
Would you have a fun day? Or be stuck in lines all day?
One of the best days we had was on the 2nd trip with my kids - we rope dropped MK, I booked early FPPs so we hit those plus a few other favorites. Then we just rode whatever looked fun after that, took an early lunch to go the other direction as latecomers arrived. (Boat to WL for Geyser Point burgers.)
In the afternoon, we did more of the same, played some side games of SOTMK and just checked out relatively minor stuff. Was so relaxed we had a blast.
I think it is easy to do the same in EP and AK, probably a lot more difficult in HS now - but I haven’t been there since Galaxy’s Edge or Toy Story yet.
You’ve so much experience under your belt now, you can do a day like that with your eyes closed, I suspect.
With scenario 1 you’ll likely wait in some lines or just end up in shows.
Scenario 2 is the best way to use Genie+ — take whatever short line is there and go for it. As long as you aren’t worrying about what might run out or mind crisscrossing the park, it’ll work great.
As for food, mobile order in advance and try not to eat at the typical times. Picnic on the hub grass is always awesome. You can’t help but have fun sitting on hub grass, eating ice cream and listening to Disney music. If it’s the music from Up, even better.
You can absolutely have fun without a plan as long as part of your fun isn’t accomplishing a “plan” and even with that, if you change your frame of mind, you’ll be fine.
No, you don’t need a plan. We did a day with no real plan the last day of our trip at the beginning of December and did not use Genie or G+. We did have one ADR planned at 12:15pm, because it was Toppolinos. I had chosen HS to start with ahead of time. The day before that park day, we decided to do our 3 favorite parks. So we did start out at HS, went to Toppolinos, then did MK and hopped to Epcot. We skipped super long lines, did some attractions we hadn’t been on in a long time, saw some entertainment and ate plenty of food. It was a really great day. (At HS, we rode SDD, MMRR, ST, TSMM,and MFSR. No G+. We did RotR earlier in the week.)
Of course, I wouldn’t rely on Genie’s suggestions since on day 1 it wanted me to mobile order lunch at Pinocchio Village Haus at 8:00AM and then go climb Swiss Family Robinson.
It can be fun, but only if you really have 0 expectations of doing anything. I kinda have a hard time doing that and I feel like you would be the same.
That said, some of the best days on my last trips were days I had little to no plans except maybe an adr.
Exactly. If you’re mentally comparing what you’re doing to what you’d have done with a plan, you’ll be miserable and kick yourself all day. Instead, appreciate the freedom and flexibility to enjoy the atmosphere more and just a few favorites.
I’m floored at how bad Genie was! I mean, I didn’t expect it to be as good as Touring Plans, but I thought that its flaws would be more insidious / less obvious. It sounds like Genie is so terrible that people wouldn’t bother using it at all. Disney can only use Genie to try to spread out the crowds if people actually use the tool.
I mean, how hard is it for an algorithm to check if an attraction is open before directing people there?
We have had many days of just meandering around the parks doing whatever we feel like. Some of the most memorable of our trips.
I would not rely on that evil Genie…It has a motive.
Snacking around the parks is an excellent way to experience many of the items we never usually eat. It is a great way to find a new favourite.
As for lines, we still used our learned experiences to navigate around and know when or when not to get into a line. We just didn’t rely on technology to tell us when to do so.
You do have a plan. You are not gonna show up at the MK train station, freeze, and look like a deer staring at headlights. You are either doing Genie or Genie+!
To me, it sounds like you are ride and ADR oriented when you are at WDW. Go for scenario 2. You can pick up ADRs at the “last minute”. I was able to score dinner at Topolino and Narcoossee’s less than a week out. Most of the lounges don’t need reservations and you can get food from the main menu. I saw in park ADRs popping up less than a week out. Or you can select from the excellent choices of QS at each park and enjoy snacking around the parks. The beauty of QS and snacks is that you are not tied to reservation time.
