MK close at 4:30 PM & Genie+ Strategy

[MakiraMarlena]

MK doesn't close early on 5/16, they don't close until 11 pm so I don't think there is a cast event that day.

Thanks for the 5/3 update, I have 5/15 booked and intend to do a monorail bar crawl after closing rather than hop to another park. Not using Genie but it looks like we will get to do a few things. The rest can be saved for extra evening hours 5/17

 

[bloomcruisers]

We were there for the the 4:30 PM MK close yesterday and then hopped to Epcot.

Overall, MK was very light. Space and Big Thunder often had waits around 25-30 minutes. We did all of Fantasyland in a couple of hours with only a LL for PP. We even showed up for a parade as it appeared and got an easy spot on the curb on Main Street. By 3:30 PM lots of rides were walk ons. We rode Big Thunder twice in a row without any wait at all. The big exception was Jungle Cruise. It's wait built steadily as park close approached, exceeding 65 minutes at 4 PM. Cast members closed the line around 4 PM, which I didn't think they did. (I'd read that you can get in line until closing.) I didn't walk by 7DMT to see if they closed that line too, but it was listed as a 25 minute wait.

To add to this..yes they also closed 7DMT at 4pm with no warning. We got there at 4:10 and they were turning people away saying it was closed. A group eventually pressed for why because we could see it was running so no mechanical difficulties and we had 20 minutes till park close. The first couple of CMs just basically said No, we're closed, go away. People continued asking why since that isn't park policy. Someone then asked to speak to a manager and a CM wearing a different uniform came over and said they received a phone call that they had to close the line at 4 due to the special event and they had to follow that. She said there was nothing they could do. So people should apparently not count on doing JC or 7DMN anywhere near park close on early closing days.

 

[pfeifer1990]

Our strategy for the Magic Kingdom on Sunday, May 15 ia a little different than most. We haven't been to WDW in over 23 years (9 days and counting). Our first park is going to be Magic Kingdom (always has been our strategy and I see no reason to change after all this time.) We will do early morning and hit Space Mountain and Buzz for our son who has only been to WDW once. After that we'll wonder around and enjoy being back. We have Memory Maker for the first time and will take advantage of getting lots of pictures. We will probably to standby for Jungle Cruise at park open if the line isn't too long. We will get ILL for Mine Train in the am and Remy in the evening plus stack Genie+ for EPCOT starting with Frozen (we of course Hoppers). We are park hopping every day and will use Genie+ plus at MK later in the week.

 

[Stephy811]

Our strategy for the Magic Kingdom on Sunday, May 15 ia a little different than most. We haven't been to WDW in over 23 years (9 days and counting). Our first park is going to be Magic Kingdom (always has been our strategy and I see no reason to change after all this time.) We will do early morning and hit Space Mountain and Buzz for our son who has only been to WDW once. After that we'll wonder around and enjoy being back. We have Memory Maker for the first time and will take advantage of getting lots of pictures. We will probably to standby for Jungle Cruise at park open if the line isn't too long. We will get ILL for Mine Train in the am and Remy in the evening plus stack Genie+ for EPCOT starting with Frozen (we of course Hoppers). We are park hopping every day and will use Genie+ plus at MK later in the week.

Our strategy for the same day is similar…early entry do whatever we can with short waits, head to Disney springs around lunch time for Chef Art’s Homecoming…all while hopefully stacking LLs for Hollywood Studios for the evening. We will have another opportunity to visit MK and use deluxe hours so I’m not too worried and just want the first day there to be enjoyable!

 

[planplanplan]

Our strategy for the Magic Kingdom on Sunday, May 15 ia a little different than most. We haven't been to WDW in over 23 years (9 days and counting). Our first park is going to be Magic Kingdom (always has been our strategy and I see no reason to change after all this time.) We will do early morning and hit Space Mountain and Buzz for our son who has only been to WDW once. After that we'll wonder around and enjoy being back. We have Memory Maker for the first time and will take advantage of getting lots of pictures. We will probably to standby for Jungle Cruise at park open if the line isn't too long. We will get ILL for Mine Train in the am and Remy in the evening plus stack Genie+ for EPCOT starting with Frozen (we of course Hoppers). We are park hopping every day and will use Genie+ plus at MK later in the week.

Buzz was practically a walk on (or at most a 15-20 minute wait) much of the day. If it's not clear that you'll make it through Buzz before park opening, I'd skip it and walk around so you're ready to rope drop Jungle Cruise. It was an aggressive rope drop crowd and the Jungle Cruise line was long instantly, jumping to over 100 minutes almost right away.

If you use Genie+ for a Frozen LL at 7 am, you can easily pick up a Space Mountain LL at 11 am (likely with an 11:30 AM or Noon return time) or 1 PM (likely with a 1:30 or 2 PM return time). You could then get a use-right-way LL for Buzz making it almost no wait, before switching back to Epcot LL stacking. You're better off prioritizing rope dropping Jungle Cruise or Peter Pan if you'd like to ride those.

 

[Feberin]

We're planning to be at Epcot on 5/15 so knowing World Showcase got crowded is helpful. Perhaps we'll plan to do that earlier in the day.

 

[EBM1228]

We were there for the 4:30 early close. In the end I believe it was definitely the right choice for us! Was able to utilize genie plus and never had a wait. Many times we could get a genie plus for immediate use- even on the big rides. We accomplished a lot more than we have done in full days in last years.