Hi TP Fam! Headed to WDW from July 9-12 with my mom, DD 17, and DD’s friend. Mom and I are touring seperately from the teens, and I’m thinking about foregoing Genie+ for our AK and maybe even Epcot days. Mom has neck problems, so we are stearing clear jerky rides. Looking through the list of attractions in each park, it makes complete sense to do Genie+ in MK. HS is our arrival day and we won’t make it to the park until after lunch. I’m hoping to stack Slinky, TSMM, MMRR, and ASS…the other attractions she won’t be able to do. I really want to get on Rise, but don’t want to cough up more money for the ILL.
For AK, she loves FoP, so I think I’ll do the ILL and skip Genie+ there. Although, we could probably just rope drop FoP. Ugh…so many decisions.
Would love to know what you smart folks would do and, if you are touring without Genie+, how you do so effectively!
Other than my 4p1d trip I don’t think I’ve used a LL at AK since the first trip after G+ started… RD is easy enough there. Epcot is a bit trickier, especially if both Frozen and Remy are priority… you’d have to choose which to RD, though riding the other one at the very end of the night is an option if you’re willing to skip Luminous (it’s throughly skippable, IMO). If you’re going to forgo G+ there then I’d prioritize that for your lowest CL day.
At AK if you will show up at AK at least 45 minutes before EE starts, you can hit Navi at least once or twice, then go to Safari, Everest, and Dinosaur easily. You can rope drop FOP but I usually just buy the ILL so I can hit Navi more than once.
At Epcot, I’ve always come in from the International Gateway since we stay on the skyliner. We are in line for the skyliner by 7:15 and I have pictures of us being held outside the France pavilion by CMs right at 8AM. We’ve always been able to ride Remy and then be in line for FEA before EE is over. There are times when we are off Remy before EE even starts. We can usually do Remy, FEA, Soarin, and then Spaceship Earth by 10:30.
If you are coming from the Main Gate at Epcot, then go to FEA first. Not sure about going to Remy after that. Someone else will have to chime in on that.
We have used G+ on two days total for our trips. One of those days we didn’t even enjoy how we used it (stacking). So, really only one day of G+ did we get any enjoyment from it.
Otherwise we just relax and expect to wait in standby lines. Rope dropping helps immensely, of course…as well as going in with lower expectations about getting it all done. But, since we typically go for several days, we can spread out hitting the rides we want.
It is also worth noting that very often (not always) and wait times for standby are artificially inflated, so you may wait considerably less than the posted times state. This is where making a TP will help gauge best plan of action.
Admittedly, we are increasingly less about getting in all the rides and more about vibe…but we still ride plenty.
I recommend rope dropping, hitting as many of the lesser rides as you can early, and then as crowds build switch to higher capacity attractions such as shows. Expect to wait a long time for the most popular rides…but typically you can save more time overall if you hit the lesser rides while everyone else is trying to rope drop things like FOP. The one caveat to that is if you manage to literally be at the very front of the pack. That has some added stress, though.
We just returned. Spent 6 days in the parks, and only used G+ twice. (Once stacking HS for a late afternoon arrival: it worked great! Just be ready to keep monitoring return times, because your first few LLs will be way earlier than you want given that they release them in chronological order. Just wait an hour or two and then keep modifying - but make sure to modify before the return windows open up!) (The other G+ day we did was MK)
Rode FoP 3 times mid-afternoon and near park close via standby. Lines were about 45-50 minutes long, but all of that was inside the air conditioning so it wasn’t really that bad.
Watch the LINES app for wait times. They really fluctuate throughout the day.
Heads up that some rides you might not think of jerky, are. TSMM for example can quickly spin you around and at the end of the ride the carts can stop very abruptly.
For non G+ days, pay attention to anytime rides you want close temporarily. We happened to be in France right when Remy reopened after being down for an hour or so. We waited only 25 minutes in the standby line, and saved ourselves from having to rope-drop it the next day.
We are staying at Port Orleans, so no skyliner for us. Womp, womp! I actually don’t love Remy, so we would most likely get a FP for Frozen and head over to Soarin and work our way back that way.
Y’all have given me hope that it can be done well without Genie+. I need to fire up my Liner app and re-familiarize myself with it so I can see wait times.
We were at Hollywood Studios Wednesday, with Genie+, but had written off ROTR because we weren’t coughing up for the ILL too. Around 7:30pm I noticed the wait time dropping then, around 8:00pm it was showing 25 minutes for standby so we hoofed it back to that corner again and wound up walking right on. Standby wait time stayed low until close.
Do you remember what time Fantasmic started that evening? I’m really hoping to watch that. I know RotR drops off in wait time at the end of the evening, and I’m hoping to ride it and make it to Fantasmic in enough time. I’m not sure if they shut the doors at Fantasmic or if you can walk in after the show starts.
For AK I would suggest RDing KS. Earlier in the morning the animals will be the most active. Then work your way around to Asia, Discovery Island and end in Pandora with your ILL. Especially if you’re skipping Dino you should be to pandora for after Lunch. My last stop would be Lion King- Nice doors for the hotter part of the day.
For Epcot RD Remy then hit FEA. It’s an indoor que.
Thank you everyone! This is very helpful information! I’m planning to watch wait times tomorrow on the app and on Lines to see just how low crowds might be this week. From what I’m hearing for others, it will hopefully be lower crowds than anticipated. Crossing my fingers!
It’s usually not open for EE entry though. I would RD Pandora and then head to KS. Granted, that’s what a lot of guests will be doing…
But with neck issues you cross off EE and Dino, so there’s not many waits to worry about. If you decide to get ILL for FoP, you could RD NRJ and then be in line for KS well before it opens. That really sets up for a relaxing day.
Ahhh, I never make EE at AK. Too early. Also, my RD is not everyone elses RD, lol. The wait in the first 30 mins of regular park open is very reasonable if it’s not high crowd times.
Everyone seems to head to Pandora lately at RD. Too peopley for my taste, lol.
Word of warning: we did this exact plan two years ago and the giraffes weren’t out yet that early on the safari, which was very disappointing. Don’t know if that was a random occurrence or if it is always that way, but just a heads up.
Quick update! We decided to buy the ILL for FOP rather than do Genie+. It worked great! We rode Na’vi twice, used our 8:05am ILL for FOP, then did KS, took a snack break, and walked into Festival of the Lion King for the first show. It was really a lovely start to our morning.
We opted out of Genie+ for AK and Epcot as well. Worked great for us and we were able to hit all the rides we wanted to with minimal waits. Give me more confidence in touring without LLs in the future.
I honestly could have toured without LLs at MK as well since the crowds were so low and we rope dropped, but I didn’t want to risk it…and there were only two of us, so the cost wasn’t as bad as if my entire family of 5 were with me!
Don’t know how long the trend will persist, but July crowds have been crazy low. Like September low…mostly CLs of 2s and 3s. Makes avoiding using LLs all the easier!