I was thinking the same… not great to “waste” it or your really paying 15 to ride slinky.
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I would agree with this…in the past you want a 9am, 10am, and 11am FP+ so you can secure more FPs earlier in the day. And then either RD what you couldn’t get for 9-11am or ride it in the last hour or during fireworks. I bet this is still the case.
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Post with anecdotal-based strategies coming out this morning
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Info on Genie+ usefulness in each park and which return times to book first.
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From the article, Becky’s personal preference on only buying G+ if the crowd level is at this level or higher:
AK: 10
EP: 7
MK: 5
HS: 4
My thoughts on some factors that would change/affect buying G+ are: (probably others)
- Staying offsite and can’t enter early
- Visiting WDW infrequently
- Late risers not taking advantage of ETPE
And confirmation of the correct 7am strategy:
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So my next trip is over MLK weekend. Friday through Tuesday.
For Saturday and Sunday I had originally planned to start w/ AK and DHS respectively and hop over to EPCOT both afternoons.
After watching the video of the head to head TP test at DHS the other day, I am now rethinking the plan to start at AK on Saturday and use Genie+ to stack return times for later in the day at DHS. Leaving me a full day at EPCOT on Sunday.
Which do you think would be better?
Note that the partial days for AK and DHS would be my only time in those parks this visit. I did almost all the things w/ dd earlier this month so my must do list is smaller. Although the list will include tours (at least Wild Africa Trek) if they return, but I won’t worry too much unless that happens.
Here are the predicted CLs if that makes a difference:
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This plan looks terrific.
As far as the crowd predictions go, I don’t think they will be that high. Those are normal time numbers. The pandemic effects are still dragging on and affecting plans. I could be wrong. But if we don’t see 9’s and 10’s around Christmas, I wouldn’t expect 8’s and 9’s during MLK weekend.
In 2020, it appears peak crowds happened on Sunday. So good call to do HS on Saturday.
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Mr. Moneybags 
- Are you a high income individual/family? If you have a high enough income, then you may have a “money is no object” attitude about vacations. Go ahead and buy all the ILLs, Mr. Moneybags.
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Right on - completely agree. I add to bullet number 3, arrival day late park entry.
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We watched three separate YouTubers (Mickey Views, Prince Charming [aka P.C. Dev], and DFB).
First, I wish the Mickey Views video was required viewing any anyone going to WDW and considering using G+. His viewpoints are so spot-on, I felt like going, “Amen! Preach it, brother!” as I watched it. It also reaffirmed our stance that we really plan to avoid buying Genie+ for our trip on principle alone, unless Disney makes some serious changes between now and then.
P.C. Dev, who usually is quite pleased with Disney, found Genie+ and ILL to be a negative experience and confusing, as did several people he spoke with during the day. The only place that it appears to have worked well was MK. Even DFB Guide, which is generally nothing but rainbows and roses had a bit more “balanced” views on it.
I’ll reiterate what I’ve said before (and echoes what Brayden from Mickey Views was saying)…I just wish people would boycott this product and tell Disney they won’t put up with this any longer. Disney is still artificially inflating wait times to convince you to buy a product,. And if you buy an ILL and it goes down, they won’t refund you UNLESS the ride never comes back up for the day. Some of the LL lines grew extraordinarily long so that even though you are PAYING to skip the line, you still had a relatively long line in some cases. Devon noted that the Standby lines were noticeably slower, which means, as I’ve said from the get-go, this pay-to-play service is STEALING time away from other guests by making their wait times longer…and yet the money goes to Disney, NOT to the guests from whom the time is being taken.
I am seriously more angered by this whole situation now more than ever, and yet…I keep seeing people HERE posting about getting the service and how to use it best. (Honestly, I get it…I don’t blame you…but it is frustrating that Disney has turned it into this…it is captive audience selling, not actually because it is a good product!)
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can you share a link plz?
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Thank you!
After reading TP’s article yesterday, we are probably not going to purchase. Maybe for 1 day at HS, but I don’t know that we will need it for the current crowd predictions for when we are there.
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Mickey Views is one of my favorite channels to follow. I loved this video from him. He does not hold back at all. It really helps to balance out the All Ears and DFB’s of the world. And the end of the PC Dev video was really great too. Since he’s usually pretty happy and optimistic, seeing him rant like he did made a great impact.
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Oh, yeah. At the end? He seemed restrained, but downright furious. I’ve never seen him like that in a video before!
I get the anger. But a couple of comments.
I am waiting for the TP data on this. “Noticeably” doesn’t work for me because I have heard a lot of different accounts. Not saying it isn’t true. Just interested in data.
I am going on a CL 10 week and absolutely will use some of these tools. But I admit I am surprised when people ask “what is the best strategy for…” and people go straight for purchasing ILL x 2 and G+ plus as the answer. Even on a 10+ week I can’t imagine there will ever be a day Disney gets $40 per person from me.
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TP has no data for this. They measure wait times, not “speed of line” times.