I’m someone who didn’t go to WDW for 15 years in my early adulthood and have now gone back with my kids a total of 3 times over 4 years (not counting the last 1.5 years of covid)
On our first visit back, I knew nothing about FP+ and barely had anything planned. I had only picked out some must-go rides for us that I remember liking and some I figured the kids would enjoy, being quite small at the time. This was also during the holiday season, so very busy. We had a great time. Never had the intention of doing all things/rides but instead picked some. Went for rope drop to catch the more popular ones. thats it. Oh and I reckon I booked a couple of FP’s upon arrival to some less popular rides because someone at our hotel adviced (I really didn’t know anything).
Going back for the 2nd visit, I obviously knew much more now including about FP+. I made bookings at the earliest possible time, got some high ticket rides, catched some by rope dropping, then just queued to some including a 2hr queue to 7DMT because my daughter wanted to go. Just a few days, 3 parks, 1 day each. Another great visit, never planned on seeing everything.
On the 3rd trip, I was getting quite obsessed with planning and staying CL, I booked FP’s 90 days in advance and got everything I wanted. Our trip was shortened because of flight changes and we had 2 days at WDW… We park hopped 2 parks per day but the CL FP’s and rope dropping helped us get to a lot of rides. This was by far my most stressful trip partly because of the very short time but also because of all the planning and scheduling involved, wanting to see more, stressing over making FP time slots etc. Still a great trip, but heavy.
Now here’s a shocker - I didn’t use a TP for any of these trips. I only used it to adjust and confirm some of my own scheduling but I didn’t have a strict TP to adhere to. Aside from the FP rides, we just winged everything else.
The point I guess I’m trying to make with this long story is that, I think, knowing more made the whole trip more exhausting and I’m not sure if catching the few extra rides is even worth it. I know I have a very different mentality than many here but I thought I’d share this view just for perspective.
For our next trip, I have no idea really how Genie will affect it but I’m kind of hoping I have less planning to do and can be more spontaneous and a bit less obsessed about schedules.