What a great trip report! So far things seem to be going fantastic. I saw your description of the rental car counter being the worst part of your trip so I wanted to chime in. We always rent a car and have stood in that horrendous line on more than one occasion. But for our last few trips, we used Thrifty’s skip-the-counter option. I signed up for their Blue Chip rewards program, which was free, and this is one of the perks. We get our luggage and walk right out to the Thrifty lot. There is a board that contains your name and the aisle number where you can go and pick out any car in that aisle. One time the sign wasn’t working but it was still a short wait at the outdoor booth in the lot to get the aisle number. They also give you a free second driver (in addition to your spouse who I think is always included at Thrifty).
I will definitely have to look into that for next time - thanks for that tip! I saw that Budget had a similar program but, from what I read, it seemed that bookings made through Undercover Tourist still required you to go to the desk. Instead of going with the cheapest option through UT, I might be better off doing what you suggest, even if it costs a little more money. That crazy line did not feel like it was worth the savings!
Day #4, Wednesday, August 10: rest day and Medieval Times
The kids enjoyed some pool time, and we all napped to recuperate from our two busy park days. We did plan a special dinner at Medieval Times. Our sons love knights, so we thought this would be a fun surprise. A few thoughts in case this is helpful to others who may be planning to go to Medieval Times – they suggest arriving an hour before showtime to get good seats and see everything there is to see. The reality is that there is no bad seat and that there really aren’t any real “exhibits”. You are essentially waiting in one big, expensive gift shop with a bar and marketing for other pricey add-ons. We had planned on letting the boys each pick out one souvenir. We showed up 15 minutes before showtime, which gave us just enough time for them to pick out one item each and then hear the instructions about getting seated. Any more time would have been too much waiting.
The food was surprisingly decent – I would even say good compared to other nearby chain restaurants. The show itself was great for our eight-year-old but too long for our five-year-old. The first hour is focused on announcing the knights and a series of smaller demonstrations while the waitstaff serves food. The last 45 minutes or so is the main event, with jousting and combat. Once the show picked up, the little guy got back into it. We ended up having a great time but, given the expense (even with a coupon code!), this was definitely a one-and-done for our family.
Day #5, Thursday, August 11: Hollywood Studios
Genie+ Booking Summary (booked all Genie+ through MDE because of update causing BG1 glitch)
7:00: Slinky Dog Dash (return time: 5:00-6:00)
10:30: Star Tours (return time: 10:40-11:40)
11:40: Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway (return time: 3:50-4:50)
1:40: Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run (return time: 7:35-8:35)
3:40: Alien Swirling Saucers (return time: 5:00-6:00)
5:00: Toy Story Mania (7:50-8:50)
Touring Plan (crowd level: 6, approx. 8.5 miles of walking)
8:30-10:45:
- Toy Story Mania (standby, 25 mins)
- Meet Sully (standby, 25 mins)
- Walk through Galaxy’s Edge
- Build light sabers at Tatooine Traders
- Meet Olaf (standby, 5 mins)
10:45: Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular
- Star Tours (G+ at 10:30, return time: 10:40)
12:00-4:00: Break
4:00-6:00
- Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway (booked G+ at 11:40, return time: 3:50)
- Alien Swirling Saucers (booked G+ at 3:40, return time: 5:00)
- Slinky Dog Dash with G+ (booked G+ at 7:00am, return time: 5:30)
6:10: dinner at Sci Fi
7:45-9:00: Galaxy’s Edge
- Star Tours (standby: 5 mins)
- Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run with G+ (booked G+ at 1:40, return time: 7:35)
- Toy Story Mania with G+ (booked G+ at 5:00, return time: 7:50-8:50)
- Rise of the Resistance (standby: 30 mins)
I was feeling most apprehensive about the planning for Hollywood Studios because of the crowds and the limited options for our youngest. The initial 7am reservation was a little bumpy because Disney updated the My Disney Experience app overnight, which impacted BG1. I switched over to MDE but had missed a morning Lightning Lane slot. Luckily, I had considered this possibility ahead of time and had built a second touring plan that included Slinky Dog after our break. So, I went with my Plan B, to do Toy Story Land in the afternoon.
We rope-dropped Hollywood Studies, arriving 30 minutes early. As offsite guests without access to early entry, this honestly wasn’t worth it. For our touring style, we only needed to give ourselves a few minutes before park opening to get through security and taps. Early Entry people were there in front of us anyway, and we weren’t up for pushing through crowds to get to the front of the pack.
In planning our day, I knew that we wouldn’t get a Lightning Lane for every big attraction. Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway at rope drop seemed like our best bet for minimizing standby waits. However, it was down when we got there. I asked the cast member for suggestions for another option, and she recommended Toy Story Mania because it had only a 25-minute wait. This was great. The queue is air conditioned and fun for kids. Our boys loved the ride, so it was a good start to our day. We met Sully and then walked through Galaxy’s Edge in hopes of seeing some Storm Troopers or other Star Wars characters. Unfortunately, none were out. The kids were hot, so they weren’t as wowed as we thought they would be. We had much more fun at night when it was cooler and everything was lit up.
We stopped at Tatooine Traders to build light sabers. We knew our boys would want a light saber, but the ones in Galaxy’s Edge were out of our budget and impractical given the way our boys play. Tatooine Traders worked out great. The cast member was engaging, the boys were able to customize, and it was more budget-friendly (and pack-able in our suitcases!). They were so excited to have their own light sabers, and we knew these would come in handy during their surprise Jedi Training session with Justin Aldridge on Saturday. We took a snack break in the shaded tables of Backlot Express, popped over to see Olaf, and booked a Star Tours Lightning Lane. At the time, this seemed silly because the wait was only 5 minutes, but we knew that we would be heading out of the park soon and there were no other rides with return times after our break.
We saw Indiana Jones – again, arriving at the last minute. It looked like we weren’t going to get a seat, but I asked a cast member if there were any seats available and she sent us down to the front row! After the show, we redeemed our Star Tours Genie+ reservation and were glad to have booked it – the wait time jumped after everyone hopped into the standby line after the show! This was one of our kids’ favorite ride at Hollywood Studios.
We took our break, and I stacked up Genie+ reservations. We had a 6:10pm reservation for Sci-Fi Dine-In, so the plan was to do Toy Story Land before dinner and Galaxy’s Edge after. This worked out well. My youngest didn’t want to do Slinky Dog Dash but was content to watch it go around. My oldest loved it and rode it twice with rider swap. We all did Alien Swirling Saucers, which my youngest thought was great, and then walked through Galaxy’s Edge to get to Sci-Fi.
Sci-Fi was my husband’s only dining request. I didn’t get it at our 60 day window and used both TP and Mousedining reservations finders. I also would periodically check MDE, which is how I stumbled upon the reservation. (It has been an ongoing joke since we started dating that I have the best luck, and that certainly proved true on this trip!) Neither of us had been to Sci-Fi before, and we thought it would be cool and relaxing. The kids thought it was cool but just weren’t as excited about it as we thought they’d be. We liked our burgers, but quick service would have been just fine. Luckily, we had another day in the park. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have wanted to use up so much time with table service, no matter how cool the theming (unless were planning to go without a break, in which case it would make a great midday break spot).
After dinner, we went back to Galaxy’s Edge and had a blast on Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run! The little guy and my husband were co-pilots (so my husband did double-duty to keep us on track), and my oldest and I were gunners. The theming was awesome, and my boys couldn’t believe that they actually got to fly the Millennium Falcon.
After the ride, we had about 45 minutes until park closing, and we had to make another parental decision. Rise of the Resistance had a 30-minute wait (you read that right – 30 minute posted wait! Thanks, Liners, for sharing the tip that Rise is often lowest in the hour before park close). We weren’t sure if it would be too scary for the boys. I had booked a Toy Story Mania Genie+ reservation as a back-up plan because they loved it so much, and we let them decide between the two. The kids picked TSM. My husband went by himself on Rise. I had hoped we’d have enough time to run back to Rise if he thought they could handle it.
There was some sort of hold-up on TSM and we ended up waiting a long time to load. By the time we were done, it was after 9pm. I knew we were too late for Rise. My husband called to establish a meet-up point and was gushing over how amazing it was but also lamenting about how he wished we had just taken the boys on because he didn’t think they would be scared. Oh well. We had one more evening at HS, so there was a chance we’d get lucky at closing again (spoiler alert – Rise went down at the end of our second park day and our kids never rode). While my husband told them about the ride, we downplayed it to avoid possible disappointment. Instead, I decided to savor the moment. The boys and I strolled through an empty, beautifully lit Toy Story Land and got to enjoy the last of the projections and fireworks above the Chinese Theater. The kids were happy, so we were happy too!
This is 100% the best spot for viewing the fireworks if you don’t particularly mind missing the projections. As you experienced, it’s extremely uncrowded over there and you feel like you’re int he middle of the pyro! It’s awesome!
Were you parked at TTC? I find the Big Ferry is the fastest of any transport choices at end of night. For next time.
Do you know if I can sign up for the Blue Chip after the fact and apply my reservation number to the program to get direct-to-car option? I have that with Alamo and I love that option.
Thanks for this tip! Yeah - we were at TTC. The crowd at the ferry dock looked overwhelming, but a ferry can probably accommodate a lot more people than the monorail. We’ll remember that for next time! (Then, at TTC, people are all queued up for the trams to the outer reaches of the parking lot. We ended up walking to our car, which was parked pretty far back because they just parked us in the back when we came in late in the day after our break. After making the trek, with my husband’s injury, we decided to just get priority parking on any days when we’d be leaving and returning. It looked like, in some parks, they were filling in openings in the front late in the day. But this was a gamble we decided not to take as the trip wore on…)
I have not tried that but I feel like they should allow it. It might require a phone call.
It always does but those ferries eat an insane number of people with each crossing. I even use it to get back to Poly when I’m staying over there because it’s faster to do that and walk from TTC than anything else
I haven’t booked a rental car through UT but I do shop around for the best price. Typically Thrifty is the cheapest onsite option. But I wonder if I’m getting a better rate because I have the Blue Chip account. That said, I would pay a little more to avoid that line and all the paperwork to get on with my trip. Those wasted minutes are so painful when you just want to get to the fun!
Following alone! Thanks for posting your Genie+ times and then listing everything you got done. It’s very helpful.
I am following along and loving this trip report! We are taking our boys - 4 and 7 (turning 8 at WDW), and it has been great to see what your kids have loved AND how amazingly you laid everything out. I’m thrilled to see that they got excited with characters and loved hearing about Gaston’s for fireworks - that might be my plan for one night!
Tattoine traders question: do these light sabers fold down?! Do they make noise? We just got some from Shop Disney because DS7 is going to be Darth Vader for Halloween but the ones we bought are full sized and I just cannot fathom taking those to WDW lol
Also - did you ever take the Skyliner with your Bob stroller? Did it fit (if you did)?
I love how you were able to tour the park in a sensible order AND still use G+. My TP does not look this orderly so far. 
Did you feel like the immediate return times for smaller MK rides were still beneficial for line skipping? Did those rides have decent wait times for the evening?
You’re welcome! This was one of my favorite things about reading other peoples’ trip reports - seeing how things played out in real life. I took notes on my trip and got better as the days went on.
@NervousRex I think that’s such a magical age! What a fun way to celebrate a birthday!!! The light sabers collapse AND make noise! (I think my little guy thinks he can only swing it if he’s pushing the button it make noise 
) Because we stayed offsite, we did not take the Skyliner, so I’m not sure if a BOB would fit. We did love the BOB for everything else though! I have this awesome pool bag with detachable cooler, and the cooler bag fit nicely in the basket. Plus, with bigger kids, they fit more comfortably.
@Cgerres I definitely feel Genie+ was worth it at the end of the night. While the standby lines weren’t really long, it was still saving us 15-20 mins for many rides. We had a couple that were a wash - the Barnstormer and Dumbo come to mind. But, we did save time on most of the others (Small World, Little Mermaid, Winnie the Pooh, meeting Cinderella).
Day #6, Friday, August 12: Magic Kingdom
Genie+ Booking Summary:
- 7:00am: Space Mountain (return window: 9:10-10:10)
- 9:35am: Jungle Cruise (return window: 1:10-2:10)
- 11:35am: Splash Mountain (return window: 1:40-2:40)
- 1:35pm: Peter Pan’s Flight (return window: 2:20-3:20)
- 2:50pm: Haunted Mansion (return window: 3:10-4:10)
Touring Plan (crowd level: 1, park closed early for MNSSHP, purchased Genie+, approx. 8.5 miles of walking)
8:30-9:30: Fantasyland
- SDMT (standby, posted wait: 40 mins, actual wait: 20 mins)
- Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (standby, posted/actual wait: 5 mins)
9:30-11:00: Tomorrowland
- Buzz Lightyear’s Ranger Spin (standby, posted wait: 5 mins, actual wait: walk on)
- Space Mountain (G+ booked at 7am, return time: 9:10)*
- Tomorrowland Speedway (standby, posted wait: 0 mins, actual wait: 10 mins)
- Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor (standby, posted / actual wait: 10 mins)
- PeopleMover (standby, actual wait: walk on)
*Big guy rode twice with little guy’s G+ reservation while youngest child took second ride on Tomorrowland Speedway and Buzz Lightyear’s Ranger Spin
11:00-11:30: Storybook Circus in Fantasyland
- Meet Dale (5 mins)
- Barnstormer (standby, posted wait: 5 mins, actual wait: walk on)
- Casey Jones Splash and Soak Station
11:30-12:45: Lunch at Skipper’s Canteen
12:45-2:00: Adventureland
- Swiss Family Tree House
- Pirates of the Caribbean (standby, posted / actual wait: 5 mins)
- Jungle Cruise (G+ booked at 9:35, return time: 1:10-2:10)
1:45-2:45: Frontierland
- Splash Mountain (G+ booked at 11:35, return time: 1:40-2:40)*
- Big Thunder Mountain (standby, posted wait: 15 mins, actual wait: 5 mins)
*Big guy rode twice with little guy’s G+ reservation while little guy did Magic Carpets of Aladdin, Enchanted Tiki Room, and Country Bear Jamboree
2:45-3:30: Fantasyland and Liberty Square
- Peter Pan’s Flight (G+ booked at 1:35, return time: 2:20-3:20)
- It’s a Small World (standby, posted / actual wait: 5 mins)
- Haunted Mansion (G+ booked at 2:50, return time: 3:10-4:10)
We had magical moments throughout our trip, but this day felt like the absolute, quintessential Disney magic kind of day. We had a park reservation for Magic Kingdom before Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party Dates were announced. Once the party calendar was released, I almost panicked and moved our reservation because of the shorter park hours. Thanks to the forums, I discovered that party dates typically had lower crowds so I kept our reservation and changed our touring plan. We decided to go all day without leaving the park and opted for a table service lunch for an air conditioned in-park break. This strategy worked unbelievably well – thanks Liners!
My husband really wanted to buy Genie+. It had been so helpful for maximizing our time on previous days, he liked having the assurance that we wouldn’t get stuck in long waits. I told him that I didn’t think we’d need it but agreed to give him the peace of mind. This fell in the category of “We’re not coming back anytime soon so what’s another $60?” The reality was, Genie+ wasn’t necessary (especially with all that we had done on our first MK day), but we did get our money’s worth. We used it to do second rides on favorites from our first day that still get long waits (Jungle Cruise, Splash Mountain, Peter Pan, etc.).
From the moment we pulled into the parking lot, we could sense that crowds were much different than our first day. We were attempting to rope drop Mine Train but, four park days in, were running a bit slower. On our first day, we were parked three lots back, but, on this day, we were parked directly behind Preferred Parking. On our first day, the ferry was packed but, on this day, it was about two-third full. We were on the ferry as the park opened, so we headed straight to 7DMT. It was a 40-minute posted wait but turned out only to be 20 minutes. As ridiculous as it sounds, my kids would have liked to stay in that queue and play with the water, gems, and barrels even longer, but we counted ourselves lucky and enjoyed the ride. We planned to go straight to Tomorrowland. However, we got off Mine Train and saw that Winnie the Pooh was a walk-on so we walked right on…
As we headed to Tomorrowland, I could see that wait times everywhere were unbelievably low. We had a Lightning Lane for Space Mountain but decided to ride Buzz first because it was a walk-on. When we got off Buzz and redeemed the Lightning Lane – Space was also a walk-on! Tomorrowland Speedway literally posted a “0 min” wait. We did basically all of Tomorrowland without a wait and headed back to Fantasyland to meet Chip and Dale (only Dale was out). They are my little guy’s favorite characters, so this was an important diversion. We ran out of time for Teacups and Carousel of Progress but could have done these if we hadn’t needed to go all the way back to Storybook Circus. While there, we took a final spin on the Barnstormer – without a wait!, cooled down in an empty Splash n Soak Station, and headed to our lunch reservation.
Our reservation was at Skipper’s Jungle Canteen, which was another great Liner recommendation. We sat in a quiet room in the back, soaked up all the air conditioning we could, and had a filling meal to get us through the afternoon. We all enjoyed the food and were on our way! At this point, I was able to stack up Lightning Lanes for some favorite rides from our first day. We cycled through various combinations of Splash Mountain / Big Thunder with our oldest while taking our youngest back to Country Bears / Enchanted Tiki Room. We also climbed the Swiss Family Tree House, which my boys really wanted to do (and then discovered “it’s just stairs”) and finally got to ride Pirates – which was also a walk-on!
We closed out the day by re-riding some Fantasyland favorites using Genie+ and standby lines. Lines were so short that, when Haunted Mansion was posted as a 20 minute wait, we got out of the standby line and booked a Lightning Lane for 20 minutes later and rode Small World while we waited for the return time. We headed out of the park as the party crowds rolled in (and beat storms again, which popped up later that evening). In about 7 hours of park time, we were able to do everything we wanted to and then some. If we hadn’t stopped for a sit-down lunch or stopped for characters, we probably could have done all attractions. When we pulled up the “actual crowd level” on Touring Plans the next day, I got to bask in my husband’s praise for planning our Magic Kingdom day on a date with a crowd level of 1! If we were to do it all again, I realized that we probably could have avoided the crowds and saved a little money on Genie+ by doing our two Magic Kingdom days on party days only and then having a dining reservation for a restaurant at a monorail resort and watching fireworks from there. However, we ended up getting so much done and our evening at Magic Kingdom on our first day was so magical that this was absolutely the best way for us to do Magic Kingdom!
Day#7, Saturday, August 13: rest day – Jedi training with Justin Aldridge
Family came into town – grandparents on Friday night who would be doing some park days with us and local family on Saturday morning who just came for a visit. They rented a condo at Windsor Hills on the floor below us, which worked out perfectly for gathering and visiting. We decided to use Saturday as a rest day to avoid crowds and have a little downtime together. We spent most of the day at the Windsor Hills pool and on the water slides, but a highlight of the day was Jedi Training. Before the trip, I joined the Ear for Each Other Facebook group (a group for cast members who were impacted by the pandemic and started their own businesses) to see if there were any special activities for our trip. I kept reading reviews for Justin Aldridge, a former cast member who did the Jedi training show at Hollywood Studios and will now come to your resort or vacation rental to do a private session. We thought our Star Wars-loving boys would love it and surprised them and their cousins with a lesson – they’d learn to use those recently built light sabers like Jedis! Justin was so fun and had a good sense of humor. Our group consisted of four kids, ages 3-8, and I was so impressed with how patient and flexible he was. He quickly got the kids in on the action and included each of them in ways that were appropriate for their interest and skill levels. They really did learn some good maneuvers and how to train safely with each other (and we use Justin’s words to remind our boys about these moves when they start to wildly wield their light sabers at home!). Jedi training was definitely a cool addition to our trip!
I don’t know about a Bob, but we’ve taken a regular sized infant/toddler stroller on the skyline no problem.
COLLAPSE AND MAKE NOISE!? 
looks like I’ll need to budget for new lightsabers! Thank you!
I have a lot of these thoughts when considering G+/ILL
What luck that you found Chip & Dale!
Considering my DS just accidentally whacked his dad in the head with his new light saber - my kids could use these skills lol
Thanks! We have a city mini at home and are debating flying with it or renting
You had some amazing standby waits on your MK party day! We’re going on one of the Christmas party days in early November, so I’m hoping we get this lucky! DH and I are buying park hoppers so we can still see the MK fireworks on another night, but I think DS6 and 3 will be worn out by 6 pm anyway.
Your private jedi lesson looks so fun! Love this idea!