Trip without Genie+ ?

[AMartin767]

Hello everyone! My wife and I are planning a trip to Disney in January of 2023. With the increase in Genie+ we've decided we will not be buying the service during our trip. I do have a question for everyone: Can anyone provide a realistic experience of what it will be like to tour each park, with the expectation of riding attractions, without having purchased Genie?

Thanks!

 

[coasternut22]

The best advice I can give in this is to open the app on a day like today and look at all of the wait times and mentally prepare yourself to stand in those lines. Late Jan will be a little less crowded than now, but not much less. You may want to try Touring Plans free service which lets you hypothetically schedule a day of rides. This will give you the best idea of what you can fit in without G+.

As far as practical advice, if you are a resort guest, take advantage of early entry. Otherwise, try to hit the big rides at non-resort rope drop, and take advantage of low waits the hour before park closing. At AK and Epcot, you can get a lot done the first and last hour. HS is going to busy as soon as you walk in to close. MK takes some strategy but is doable.

 

[AMartin767]

The best advice I can give in this is to open the app on a day like today and look at all of the wait times and mentally prepare yourself to stand in those lines. Late Jan will be a little less crowded than now, but not much less. You may want to try Touring Plans free service which lets you hypothetically schedule a day of rides. This will give you the best idea of what you can fit in without G+.

As far as practical advice, if you are a resort guest, take advantage of early entry. Otherwise, try to hit the big rides at non-resort rope drop, and take advantage of low waits the hour before park closing. At AK and Epcot, you can get a lot done the first and last hour. HS is going to busy as soon as you walk in to close. MK takes some strategy but is doable.

Thanks coasternut22. My wife and I are long-time WDW travelers and are very well versed with normal wait times. My question was centered more around how regulars have found the trip to be in the parks now that Genie+ is the norm (we haven't been since Genie+ was instituted). i.e. Is G+ really worth it especially now with the price increases? I've seen thread after thread of people saying the availability of attractions on G+ has been very spotty and often wished they had not wasted the money.

 

[coasternut22]

Thanks coasternut22. My wife and I are long-time WDW travelers and are very well versed with normal wait times. My question was centered more around how regulars have found the trip to be in the parks now that Genie+ is the norm (we haven't been since Genie+ was instituted). i.e. Is G+ really worth it especially now with the price increases? I've seen thread after thread of people saying the availability of attractions on G+ has been very spotty and often wished they had not wasted the money.

People who complain about G+ availability don’t know how to use it to it’s full extent. A good planner will be able to easily squeeze 8-10 rides a day at MK or a park hop scenario. I myself can do it easily. The simple tricks are to be fast with the fingers at 7am to get an early return time. Set your first couple rides to appear at the top of the attraction list. Always refresh for better times and to avoid the 2 hour rule. Use G+ to knock out small rides like Under the Sea and Buzz with immediate return times while the standbys are 30 minutes. Stack for later in the evening if you take a break.

I suggest you watch the YouTube channel Earscouts. His videos are the best at explaining the G+ process. After watching and seeing him get a selection for every ride in the park, ask yourself if those complainers used any of his strategies. G+ is a game. If you don’t play the game well, you will lose.

As far as your question as to how the parks are now with G+ (I assume regrading queues and wait times), it is no different than with fastpass.

 

[sponica]

Thanks coasternut22. My wife and I are long-time WDW travelers and are very well versed with normal wait times. My question was centered more around how regulars have found the trip to be in the parks now that Genie+ is the norm (we haven't been since Genie+ was instituted). i.e. Is G+ really worth it especially now with the price increases? I've seen thread after thread of people saying the availability of attractions on G+ has been very spotty and often wished they had not wasted the money.

I will put in this disclaimer, I only took ONE trip with FP+ so most of my trips were in the paper fastpass era. Second disclaimer, we didn't do a ton of e-tickets. My tall enough kid for them hates them and our other kiddo was unticketed so too short for most rides with a limit. And we didn't always have a non rider.
I found it worked well in MK and for stacking rides at HS in the afternoon. The question I asked myself was this, was it worth x dollars to have a return time for rides like safari, jungle cruise, and other rides with a long queue. I have little kids, so it was worth every red cent. Now would my calculus change if it was an adults only trip? Possibly.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

My wife and I are long-time WDW travelers and are very well versed with normal wait times. My question was centered more around how regulars have found the trip to be in the parks now that Genie+ is the norm (we haven't been since Genie+ was instituted).

So, if you are well versed in pre-G+ wait times, you will be unpleasantly surprised by how much longer waits are. They are definitely inflating posted waits, but it's also true that what you are thinking of as a "normal" wait for a ride is now the low wait for that ride.

Will your late January trip overlap MLK on either end? That's become a hopping holiday of late. For that matter, all of January 2022 was much, much more crowded than folks were expecting, but who knows if that was a blip or the new normal?

Also, how many days are you going, how many days in each park, hoppers? Are you looking to hit all of the headliners or just have a leisurely visit? All of those factors would influence my decision as to which days to buy G+.

 

[RoseGold]

I think it really depends on what you are riding. If you're riding kiddie rides, it doesn't help much. If you just want the headliners, then ILL will be what you need.

But if you want to get on the popular stuff, it's a lifesaver.

You don't have to use it the whole trip. But it can be helpful to make sure you get your priority rides for a day or two.

 

[AMartin767]

So, if you are well versed in pre-G+ wait times, you will be unpleasantly surprised by how much longer waits are. They are definitely inflating posted waits, but it's also true that what you are thinking of as a "normal" wait for a ride is now the low wait for that ride.

Will your late January trip overlap MLK on either end? That's become a hopping holiday of late. For that matter, all of January 2022 was much, much more crowded than folks were expecting, but who knows if that was a blip or the new normal?

Also, how many days are you going, how many days in each park, hoppers? Are you looking to hit all of the headliners or just have a leisurely visit? All of those factors would influence my decision as to which days to buy G+.

We are going the week after MLK (23rd - 27th) with hoppers. We don't have to hit EVERY headliner but looking to hit up most in MK.
Thanks to Coasternut for the recommendation of Earscouts which I will definitely check out.

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate everyone's input and will revisit the possibility of using Genie.

 

[BrianL]

It might depend on when you go, but I recently did a shorter trip and we didn't use G+ at all. We did use one planned ILL and, well, decided to also use it to ride Guardians again, but that's just because it was so awesome. I know, I know - I was bad. If it's not too busy though, as it was not during our September trip, I think it's manageable.

 

[AMartin767]

It might depend on when you go, but I recently did a shorter trip and we didn't use G+ at all. We did use one planned ILL and, well, decided to also use it to ride Guardians again, but that's just because it was so awesome. I know, I know - I was bad. If it's not too busy though, as it was not during our September trip, I think it's manageable.

So, you can purchase ILLs without having purchased Genie+?

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

So, you can purchase ILLs without having purchased Genie+?

Correct. They are separate.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

We are going the week after MLK (23rd - 27th) with hoppers. We don't have to hit EVERY headliner but looking to hit up most in MK.

Assuming there end up being any slow weeks in January, I'd guess you picked one of them. MLK crowds should be firmly out, Mardi Gras is nice and late this year.

G+ is most effective at MK because it has so many good rides to choose from. If that's your goal, I'd at least budget to do an MK G+ day and then you could use another MK day to standby things you didn't G+, ideally lines with more manageable waits.

 

[BrianL]

So, you can purchase ILLs without having purchased Genie+?

Yes, that is correct.

For us, because we only had two days and thus park reservations at Epcot (for Guardians) and AK, we didn't have reservations or rope-drop time at HS, so our plan was to buy Rise and that was all. We rode Guardians on the VQ first, but on the next day, as we were considering hopping, well, we decided to swing through Epcot and ride Guardians again. This was my first time riding it and it's, well, it's pretty good!

 

[Dotluvsdisney]

Hubby and I went in late April on a weekend to Epcot and Animal Kingdom. Rides were not our goal and we did not have G+. If the wait was 40 minutes or less we’d consider it. At Epcot, we rode Remy, the Gran Fiesta, Soarin, and Journey with Figment. We would’ve added Living with the Land but it was down. We also caught lunch at the Coral Reef by the aquarium, a drum show in Japan and the juggler in Italy. Plus, went back to our room after lunch and rested! We had a great time!

 

[Dotluvsdisney]

AK was more crowded. We were only there for the morning and rode the Safari and had an early lunch at Flame Tree. The kite show was happening across the water for lunch and we caught the characters floating down the river! We had 1 1/2 fun days without Genie.

 

[Husker Mike]

I think it comes down to (a) how many days you plan to be in the parks and (b) how many rides you want to do. Some rides (Slinky Dog Dash, Remys) almost are a requirement to have Genie+, while many others are a "meh".

We spent 4 days at the parks last week (2 MK, Epcot and HS) and found Genie+ to be well worth it because we were trying to cram as much into our days as we could. If you take a more relaxed approach and leave the parks during the afternoon crush/heat, you might feel differently.

 

[Funfire240]

We went last Thanksgiving week - so things may be different since then. We did not buy Genie +. We did but ILL for Flight of Passage and Rise but that was it. We were able to ride everything. Of course, we don't mind waiting in some lines. Some of our favorite times are waiting in lines as we enjoy being together and find fun ways to pass the time.
Remy was virtual que so we did that for free - and I can't recall how that works now and of course Guardian's wasn't open yet. We had 5 park days. 2 at MK and then 1 each for the others.

 

[disney gym mom]

We want to know of those who have had enjoyable trips to Disney without the headache of purchasing Genie+. Even though this is our first trip in 2 years (possibly one of our longest breaks between trips), we have been more times than we can count, know the lay of the land, have our favorites (many being obscure and not always "headliners") and simply don't want to spend the extra $$$ ($ that could be easily spent on snacks or other things). I know many will say whats the extra money spent in the overall cost...yada yada. We are not looking to be convinced to buy genie+, more want reassurance from others that have had successful and enjoyably relaxing trips without the extra purchase. This isn't our first trip, wont be the last...usually we have a good attitude of if we don't get on something now, there's always next time. Thoughts?

 

[Tess]

We want to know of those who have had enjoyable trips to Disney without the headache of purchasing Genie+. We have been more times than we can count, know the lay of the land, have our favorites (many being obscure and not always "headliners") and simply don't want to spend the extra $$$ ($ that could be easily spent on snacks or other things). I know many will save whats the extra money spent in the overall cost...yada yada. We are not looking to be convinced to buy genie+, more want reassurance from others that have had successful and enjoyably relaxing trips without the extra purchase. This isn't our first trip, wont be the last...usually we have a good attitude of if we don't get on something now, there's always next time. Thoughts?

Never felt the need to purchase Genie+ nor IL$ and don't plan to start now. We are always able to ride what we wish and have not had ridiculous wait times. If the queues are long, we will give it a pass and check later. We are rope droppers and afternoon pool break people who visit in May and October with the odd/occasional trip at other times.

On another note, not sure why my ticker shows 6 days on this post and 2 on my signature. We are there tomorrow!

 

[imbelle]

I'm able to get in everything that I want to do sans Genie+. I utilize rope drop, resort guest early entry, and stay until park closing (just my usual MO even before Genie+). But my WDW vacations are usually about 10 days or so.