Yesterday was our first park day and time to use
Genie+. Had no issue purchasing Genie+ for a combination of non-expiring and complimentary park hoppers at midnight (which I've been worrying about). My son's ticket was purchased recently for this trip and already included Genie+.
Plan for yesterday was to start at Epcot and hop to the MK.
6:45am got on the app and was trying to make sure I knew what to do. Thank goodness for the Disboards and this sticky because it was NOT intuitive for me and I had to actually take another look at my notes.
6:55am was on the Tip Board feeling panicked lol
6:59am started refreshing for Cosmic Rewind virtual queue
7am got Cosmic Rewind virtual queue Boarding Group 101 (estimated time was 5:17p but actually got the notification we could ride around 1:55p)
Immediately Booked 1st Genie+ for Remy got 10:50a-11:50a return time (guessing it was booked around 7:03a)
7:05am or so booked $LL for SDMT for 7p-8p.
Left for Epcot an hour later than planned and got there at 8:50am
Rode Spaceship Earth, TT single rider, and Nemo, walked around to see the fish tanks
10:30am Booked 2nd Genie+ for Soarin at 10:45am
10:40am Tapped into Soarin
11:30am Tapped into Remy, started trying to get FEA while on line. Was offering FEA at 7pm at that point which was too late for us. Saw some earlier times pop in but when I clicked it, it would show up as the 7p+ return times. At 12p while eating in Morocco I saw a 12:30p FEA return time and was successful!
12:55p Tapped into FEA (had taken the ferry from Morocco to Canada)
I don't remember what time it was, I waited a little bit to book another Genie+. I wanted to start stacking them for the MK and selected the Jungle Cruise with a 6:05p return time.
Got the notification we could ride Cosmic Rewind around 1:55p. Said estimated wait was 60 minutes but only took 28 from tapping in till we were on the ride.
Tried a couple times to book the 2nd Genie+ for the MK but it was still too early. Eventually booked Genie+ for Buzz which I ended up canceling and rescheduling a couple of times since we stopped for milkshakes and took Photopass pictures and left Epcot later than expected.
Got to the MK around 5p. Went on Buzz, booked next Genie Plus for Pirates right away. Went straight to Pirates. While on Pirates booked Genie+ for the Magic Carpets. Could have gone straight there after exiting Pirates but the crazy rain started.
Missed the Carpets and Jungle Cruise because of the rain. Went into the TIki Room for the bird show then used the anytime LL replacement at the Haunted Mansion (had to wait a bit there since they had temporarily closed it as well). While on line there booked Genie+ for IASM. Went straight there from HM and rode.
After this everything was a bit messed up because all the outdoor rides were still closed. Even though the rain was stopped and it seemed to be clearing the CM said they had to wait to reopen because of the lightening risk. By now it was time for our SDMT $LL and since the skies looked okay we waited on line there expecting the ride to reopen. Wasted some time there when we should probably have just headed to Philharmagic. Eventually gave up when the ride didn't reopen and went to Columbia Harbour House and then tried to see the fireworks (crowd was BANANAS for the fireworks). Booked a new JC Genie plus for 9:30p.
After fireworks we were able to ride SDMT, Jungle Cruise, used replacement LL for a 2nd ride on Buzz, went on the Peoplemover and my son and brother did standby on Space Mountain around 10:40p. Took a bunch of photopass pics on the way out of the MK.
All in all we had a great day and found Genie+ to work much better than I had expected. If we didn't have the lightening storm we probably would have been able to go on three more rides and get a better spot for the fireworks (the plan had been to ride SDMT by 8p and then head over to get a spot).
If we weren't hopping we probably didn't need Genie+ just for Epcot. We walked right onto Spaceship Earth, Test Track single rider, and Nemo. Was nice to have for Soarin but the posted 30 minute wait wasn't bad. If we arrived early like originally planned could have done FEA and then Remy at closing. Would have definitely been doable without. Was nice to have so we could get on everything we wanted before hopping to the MK. We'll be back in Epcot another evening to enjoy more time in the countries and sampling from the food and wine booths, as well as try for another turn on Cosmic Rewind!
