Hello! I am looking for some advice for my first MK day on March 1st. Group of 7, four adults and 3 kids (4,7,10).
I need to decide between buying ILL for SDMT and then rope dropping PPF? Or buying genie+ and drop dropping SDMT. I guess the third option is rope dropping SDMT and not buying genie+ but not sure that is wise.
My thought on buying the ILL for SDMT is that I was hoping it would be a less stressful start to our day. I have read that the rush to get to SDMT can be a little stressful.
Magic Kingdom has SO MUCH that you can do with Genie. If you are deciding between the two, I would get Genie for the day and just plan to wait in the long SDMT line. If you rope drop, if the 4 year old is in a stroller, it will set you back as you find stroller parking.
The first hour of park opening will hopefully yield a shorter wait for you. The waits also dip a little in the evening, so that could be an option for you.
I’ve rope-dropped SDMT and it is indeed stressful, even going solo as I did. I wouldn’t recommend it with a group that large with younguns and a stroller.
But I agree with @NervousRex that I’d take Genie+ over the ILL, and suck up the long wait for SDMT.
The good news, in my opinion, is that even if you aren’t in the front of the pack, the line should move relatively quickly in the first 30 minutes because they aren’t taking any lightning lanes. Additionally, there is a lot of stuff to touch and see once you get to the inside part of the queue.
That’s a good point. Last time we went to WDW was in 2019 and we had a fast pass for SDMT. So we have actually never gone through the stand by queue before! Now I am excited to see it.
One more note - it looks like the ILLs are usually open (not always) until 9am-ish. You could always try to rope drop and then if it doesn’t go your way, you could purchase. Although - that is obviously an extra cost!
I have rope dropped 7DMT twice (once with a stroller and once speed walking/holding hands with a 5 and a 7 year old), and agree it’s a stressful experience. After the second time, I decided that this is just not how I want to start my MK day with kids, so I have switched to rope dropping PPF. Not just is it much less stressful, but it also means you can knock out PPF + one other short FL ride (like WtP) before regular park open, when you can line up for your second rope drop in Frontier/Adventureland (when you can knock out 1-2 additional popular rides like JC, BTMR and/or PotC/HM) with little to no wait before you need to start using LLs, and then get LL to re-ride favorites that you rope dropped too!
Your solutions are throwing money at the problem (e.g. buying both G+ and ILL for 7DMT later in the day) or accepting a longish wait for 7DMT later in the day (for example, when crowds dip before or during fireworks, or at the end of the day depending on park hours/kids energy).
If I had to choose between ILL and G+, I join others above in saying I would definitely go with the latter: there are so many G+ rides in MK, many with short/immediate return times, so the minutes saved in those LLs will be well worth it with young kids. If you do have to suck up a longish wait for 7DMT, as others have commented at least there are some fun things to do/look at in the queue, and you could grab a nice snack from Storybook Treats or Cheshire Cafe to eat in line.
I agree with others advice about the value of G+ at MK. Touring Plans did an experiement a few years back and found that if you weren’t in the front of the Rope Drop pack, it was better to get in line at the end of EE, before the 2nd wave comes in.
There are still very few LL at the beginning of park opening, so a bug chunk of the rope drop xrowd has processed through and the line is still moving well.
That also lets you see both queues and have some LL stacked up for the day.
