I love Earscouts! His videos are really helpful.
@hartcruise is your trip before or after Jan 9?
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I should be clear it wasn’t JUST G+ that made it miserable. But our attempt to use G+ the way we did ended up impacting the other decisions and experiences negatively, which further compounded our feelings for the evening. So, while G+ wasn’t DIRECTLY responsible for why we weren’t really enjoying it, it was indirectly responsible for how we approached MK that evening. But the park was VERY crowded that evening (CL 8 when TP had predicted a very low CL), for example…so we found ourselves just shoving our way through crowds to get to our next ride. And, because it was so crowded, there were still relatively longish waits even for the LLs in a couple of cases. Space Mountain, which is typically one of my favorite rides in the park, was the last ride of the evening, and we were pretty much done. When we got to the merge point (where the LL and standby lines come together) I wanted to go to the right, because the right side is not nearly as rough as the left…but the CM wouldn’t let us and insisted they were the same. I told him they aren’t, and tried to stand to the side until he would direct people to the right, but he insisted we couldn’t and made us go to the left.
Earlier, when we were at Jingle Cruise, we were stuck behind this mother and her two kids who were, no joke, probably the worst behaved teenagers I had ever seen. Mother slapping her kids, her kids slapping back, mocking each other. We weren’t in line terribly long behind them…but then…when we went to use our LL at Pirates, we ended up in line behind THEM AGAIN!!!
So, there were all these unfortunate experiences compounding the fact that we were trying to get through our 5 stacked LLs which made the evening unenjoyable.
How would things have been different if we hadn’t stacked G+? Yes. We would have waited in longer lines…but we would have just settled in to each wait, and made choices based on the moment. We would have better prioritized what we actually wanted to do given the circumstances. Peter Pan’s Flight and IASW? We would have skipped instead because it was an almost literal madhouse in the area. But we had LLs…so, we kind of forced ourselves to stay. Without G+, we would have just pivoted and headed over to Frontierland or something instead.
When you DON’T stack, and just use your G+ as they come…sure, you might not get as many rides that way (perhaps), but you can really let your day flow more naturally and only take what makes most sense in the moment. That was more our experience using it at HS a few days later.
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Also, it’s the crowds. They bring out the worst in people. We normally RD, but on our recent trip decided to stack. This didn’t work for various reasons, but mainly because of the extra heat and crowds later. One evening we stayed for MK fireworks, and it was the worst part of the trip. Too stressful finding a spot, then the kids need the restroom, then at the end it’s a stampede for the rides before close and so on.
The absolute worst part was when we were asked by a CM to stop to let wheelchairs out of the dedicated viewing area - of course, absolutely fine and we stopped. The couple behind us then started having a right go at us - “are you going to let everyone out?” I (slightly stroppily) pointed out they were kids in wheelchairs, and the male half of the couple called me the c word and proceeded to deliberately step on my heels the whole way to JC.
Slightly off-topic but full-on crowds make everything worse!
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Oh my. 
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I have regretted buying G+. Too much money, too much time on the phone with a very frustrating app, and I personally don’t like skipping the fun stuff on rides like 7 dwarfs and Peter Pan.
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No regrets. I tried it on a very quiet christmas party day at MK and it still saved plenty of time as I was able to book LL’s with almost no wait and walk on vs short stand by lines that are still 15-30 minutes.
If I had more days I’d probably reconsider, but on trips that are only a few days and you want to get most out of your time, I’ll probably get it again regardless of CL.
Here’s some more discussion on G+ on slow days:
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Yes, I just book as we use them. We had EE, Rise was not up, so we went on SM, then came back and did Rise. Then went over to TSMM, rode twice. Had breakfast at Woody’s. Then used LL on SDD. After that we went to LL RnRC … got to ride twice as I was wearing an Aerosmith shirt. By the time we were done that, we were able to use LL for ToT. After that we hit up Star Tours (walk on), LL SM, and LL TSMM. I was then able to fiddle faddle (aka refresh, refresh, refresh) to get an earlier time for MMRR. (We could have rode A.S.S. but no interest)
…then we headed over to Epcot with a stop at Primo Piatto for lunch to get VQ for CR, and ride Ratatouille that I got on a drop.
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As others have pointed out, it depends a lot on differing factors. I didn’t regret it for a second when we bought it. But here are the factors for us:
- We had 4 day park hoppers, so limited days and also the ability to use G+ across parks. For example, we didn’t buy it the day we were starting at AK but we used it when we hopped there from a very slow MK day.
- G+ was “only” $15, so not the varied pricing that exists now
- The only park I intentionally stacked was HS. We arrived midday with a few rides ready to go, and picked up LL as we went from there. It cut some lines without feeling rushed.
- We were off site so didn’t have early entry and kids didn’t want to rope drop, so having even one LL ready to go when we did arrive got things off to a good start each day.
Long story short, we made great use of it when park hopping. We didn’t force ourselves into a lot of park criss-crossing. I tried to book in a logical order whenever possible. But given the cost change now, I would be a lot more choosy about which parks.
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We used it very successfully on our June trip. We were in MK on July first when the park was making headlines for how empty it was. That was the one day we didn’t need it. It was low crowds with good timing with rides being down. Had LL for BTM and it was down so golden ticket. Booked HM Wanted to do pirates at open also down. Rose carpets and PoC just back up and rode walk on. Just then BTM came back up and we rode that as well walk on. HM was only 20 minutes SB when we used LL. The only useful think was SM with a 50 min posted wait.
I don’t regret it the rest of the trip.
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That is just so not ok. At least they didn’t have kids with them with that kind of behaviour modeling…
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If crowds are predicted to be moderate and we have a group member with DAS entry, is Genie+ necessary? Was thinking we would get it for all of the parks then thinking maybe DHS because on MK day, we’re actually staying for MVMCP.
Is Genie+ helpful at DHS in addition to DAS?
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You can use DAS and Genie+ together, and many people do! The two mouseketools together can only enhance each ones effectiveness, IMO.
Also, unrelated: my daughter’s name is Julia and one of our nicknames for her has always been jujube 
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Thank you, OBNurseNH!
My Dad gave me the nickname when I was a little girl. I was nicknamed for the Jujubes candy because he said I was sweet.
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++ @OBNurseNH DAS and Genie+ can be use in conjunction with each other but may require some mental gymnastics.
Setting aside DAS Advanced Selections, DAS reservation times are assigned by taking the current time of day and adding to it the prevailing wait time for the attraction. Other than not having to wait in the attraction’s queue, the benefit is that you can enjoy other attractions and amenities during the wait time. A Guest registered for DAS can only hold 1 DAS reservation at a time.
On the other hand, Genie+ reservations are not calculated based on the current time of day but instead are based on the number of reservations that have already been handed out. Also, a Genie+ party can hold more than 1 reservation at a time.
If the same people remain in a party, the party can switch back and forth between a DAS reservation and a Genie+ reservation with relative ease. Trying to time it so that a party with a DAS reservation can meet up with a party holding a Genie+ reservation is when the mental gymnastics come in to play. Both types of reservations have liberal but volatile grace periods so as long as your return times are reasonably close it should work out.
Some other things to consider …
- A DAS party typically has a max total of 6 Guests
- DAS is in effect during Hard Ticket events (i.e. MVMCP), Genie+ is not
- Both pull from your MDE Friends and Family lists, so have those ready in MDE before hand
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Thanks so much - this is very helpful!
Nope. Though it is a timesuck and getting up at 7am even on a sleep in day makes me angry at the system but I’ve successfully used it every time with BG1 additional drop times and my family calls me a genius just for knowing how to use the tools so you know that makes me smile. Lol. But the early morning and the having to set a timer on your phone which inevitably goes off while you’re on a ride etc and the constant checking for the right time for that Soarin LL time when it just won’t move fast enough for when I want it all suck tbh. But I don’t ever regret using it because we waited in some doozy of some lines like 60 min for space mountain and 60 for Peter Pan during Covid. And that never ever happens to me with G+
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Excuse the going OT a bit, but how does DAS work during MVMCP etc because - AIUI- there aren’t LL entrances? Is it more for character meet and greets or other things with long lines?
It works the same as during the day according to this recent article:
https://plandisney.disney.go.com/question/das-during-halloween-party-548670/
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Sounds like a great strategy for teens with lots of energy. Also a fun challenge for them might be to get through the stack as quickly as possible.
The crowds on our May trip that, looking back, we could’ve done without it on 1 or 2 days, but having it made things easier and less rushed for us. Also nice to get a MEP when a ride goes down and guarantee a ride later on.
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I find Genie+ to be mostly unnecessary at EP and AK, as someone already mentioned. Recently, I was able to secure a GoTG BG using MDE without the purchase of Genie+. The above has been especially true when I rope dropped the parks. I also find it unnecessary at AK when I stroll in late to the park, as people are starting to leave. MK has been hit or Miss, and I have definitely had days where I regretted the purchase. I am on a personal mission to get away from using it. 
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