Just back - and won’t be returning to Disney…

[Angel12]

HI
we are also going in August (mid august and leaving at the end). Hoping it will not be horrific in terms of crowds. We have fast passes for universal but relying on genie plus for disney. its our first trip. Wish us luck! any tips? we are not staying on site.

[muffa2308]

If your lucky rope dropping and genie + will work for you. We didn’t get lucky and it never worked. Missed ROTR. App crashed and by the time we got on all sold out. Same with slinky. Tried to rope drop slinky. The ride was down and not even letting people queue. Only half of Tower of terror seems to be working as queues always over 100 mins. Rope dropped FOP and Pandora 45 mins late opening. Did ride it but waited 45 mins and lost early entry advantage. The great thing about fast pass plus you could rest assured you had the rides you wanted and with rope dropping could get more. Used to be out by 2pm after riding 7 or 8 bangers. This has gone now and IMO much worse and the kicker you have to pay for worse. If it was a Paid for fast pass IE paid for 3 rides I’d happily do it but even paying no guarantee it’ll work.
In the hard rock now and the best perk they have is express pass which is the biggest perk available in Orlando. Walked in to universal studios last night @8pm and rode, Jimmy fallon, transformers, Simpsons, MIB and gringots. All in an hour with express pass. In the morning we rode. Spider-Man, HPFJ. Twice. Jurassic park and bluto. In the space of 2 hours and it was busy. We have done more excellent rides in a day than the whole of a week in Disney! (Almost)

[cornishfrogboy]

People on this thread make the very valid observation that Disney has more rides than Universal.

It doesn’t matter if they have a thousand rides to Universals 30, if you cannot get to ride all of them and that seems to be the case, even with Genie plus. It’s about what you get to actually ride and how often.

In addition, whilst I will want to ride practically everything in Universal (and generally achieve this), there are many, many rides in Disney that I have less than no interest in at all. They are thus irrelevant in calculating value of one against the other. The parades just get in my way and therefore I am not interested in them either. I am simply a rider!

All in all, I believe that when listing rides that I want to actually ride, then Universal beats Disney.. and with a night in a deluxe, then I expect to ride every single one of them.
That is why I generally buy a Universal (and a D.C. ultimate) for the price of a Disney.. using the rides, rather than simply listing them.

Needless to say, I have no interest in entering a Disney Park again. I have no interest in Universal either or D.C. ultimates, as I have ridden their rides so often… because with that night in a Deluxe.. you can! And because in SW or Busch, it is a doddle should you arrive early or leave late.

[MarkUK]

I’m a big ride fan too. Luckily bar two at universal, all my favourites are at Busch and SeaWorld.

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by cornishfrogboy

Needless to say, I have no interest in entering a Disney Park again. I have no interest in Universal either, as I have ridden their rides so often… because with that night in a Deluxe.. you can!

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Well, except for the two most popular rides at Universal. You can’t use your express pass on Velocicoaster and Hagrids. You have to join the standby queue instead.

And you can join the standby queue at Disney’s most popular rides too. Plus, you also have to option of buying an ILLS to skip the queue (subject to availability) if you don’t like queuing. Which you can’t do at Universal.

But I don’t know why this has to be an “either/or” thing. People can like both. I enjoy both Disney and Universal. Both have great rides and attractions. I have enjoyed both.

[cornishfrogboy]

Originally Posted by MarkUK

I’m a big ride fan too. Luckily bar two at universal, all my favourites are at Busch and SeaWorld.

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If I had to list my top 10 Florida rides, there is not a single Disney one.
Needless to say, Iron Gwazi, Manta and Hagrid come top!

In my second tier are Mako, Cheetah Chase, Hulk, Montu and Sheikra.

Third tier Rip ride Rockit and Kraken.

[Pep]

Originally Posted by cornishfrogboy

People on this thread make the very valid observation that Disney has more rides than Universal.

It doesn’t matter if they have a thousand rides to Universals 30, if you cannot get to ride all of them and that seems to be the case, even wiling Genie plus. It’s about what you get to actually ride and how often.

In addition, whilst I will want to ride practically everything in Universal (and generally achieve this), there are many, many rides in Disney that I have less than no interest in at all. They are thus irrelevant in calculating value of one against the other. The parades just get in my way and therefore I am not interested in them either. I am simply a rider!

All in all, I believe that when listing rides that I want to actually ride, then Universal beats Disney.. and with a night in a deluxe, then I expect to ride every single one of them.
That is why I generally buy a Universal (and a D.C. ultimate) for the price of a Disney.. using the rides, rather than simply listing them.

Needless to say, I have no interest in entering a Disney Park again. I have no interest in Universal either or D.C. ultimates, as I have ridden their rides so often… because with that night in a Deluxe.. you can! And because in SW or Busch, it is a doddle should you arrive early or leave late.

See more...

Agree with everything you said and it is the advice I would give to somebody who likes the thrill rides you used to like no point in recommending disney over universal in that scenario.
Having three girls of varying ages we have done the fab five meet and Greets/breakfasts then the Princess and parades, fireworks and shows all more important to us than rides not to say I don't enjoy a good thrill ride.

[pyrrock]

Originally Posted by Angel12

HI
we are also going in August (mid august and leaving at the end). Hoping it will not be horrific in terms of crowds. We have fast passes for universal but relying on genie plus for disney. its our first trip. Wish us luck! any tips? we are not staying on site.

See more...

We've just got back (been back a week) and we're some of the fortunate ones who had a really good experience with Genie+. Obviously, there is an element of luck here and will vary depending on crowd levels, but here are some tips that helped us have a good time:

- We found Genie+ worked best in Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, but didn't feel it was worth the value in Animal Kingdom or EPCOT (EPCOT may be different now if Guardians opening causes crowds to be bigger).

- If you have not bought tickets which already include Genie+, make sure you buy this before 7am on the day you want to use it, so you don't waste valuable time.

- Have a plan going in to each day of which ride you will be aiming to get a LL for first. As you are offsite, you won't be able to get any ILL (Rise, Flight of Passage etc) until park opens, so you can focus first on your initial Genie+ pick. There are two methods that you can use here: either aiming to get your first LL for as close to park open as possible so you can make your next selection more quickly, or aiming to go for the most popular choice first in case it runs out of LL before you are able to make your next selection. I generally went for the second option as we were able to be flexible in the times we were in the parks for.

- Stacking (selecting later times for your LLs so that you have multiple prebooked to use for an afternoon/evening visit) works really well at Hollywood Studios. It can work at Magic Kingdom, but return times tend not to be taken as quickly as there are more attractions to choose from.

- In terms of most popular attractions for LL selection, when we went it was Slinky Dog Dash at Hollywood Studios, Jungle Cruise/Peter Pan at Magic Kingdom, Test Track/Frozen at Epcot, and Kilimanjaro Safaris at Animal Kingdom. Tower of Terror was also quite popular as it was running at 50% capacity due to maintenence work.

- Before 7am, make sure you go through the steps to set up the standard Genie recommendations (I think you can do this through the 'My Day' tab on the app). There, you can tell Genie which attractions you want to do that day. At 7am, only select the main attraction you want to focus on. All of them will still be visible on your tip board, but your selected attraction will be right at the top. This will make things much quicker when you are trying to get your LL booked. You can change your selection at any time, so I would recommend to keep updating your choice after you book your LL so that you have your next selection ready for when you become eligible to book your next LL.

- Patience and persistence is key, particularly if you are constrained on when your return time can be. Be prepared to refresh the app a few times until you get a time you are happy with - earlier times often do become available as other people change their plans or as Disney release additional LLs. This doesn't mean you have to be attached to your phone your whole trip - I spent maybe 1/2mins refreshing for each selection maximum, usually done whilst in the queue line of other rides. It's also helpful to have a backup plan in case your initial choice is unavailable or the return times don't work for you.

- If you're unable to get an ILL for the big rides, riding just before park close can keep the wait times down. However, I wouldn't recommend leaving a must do ride for park close on your last night in the park as they may 'go down' (break) meaning that you miss your chance to ride.

- A helpful little loophole (originally pointed out by another posted whose name I have forgotten!) is to book nearby LLs for rides which are CURRENTLY down (either for technical reasons or for weather). If a ride is unavailable during your LL slot, Disney will give you an Anytime/Any Ride (excluding some of the really popular attractions) LL. This can be really helpful, especially as it gives you a chance to ride a ride via LL multiple times, something that is not typically allowed under the new system.

- As mentioned, I don't really think EPCOT (although this may change now Guardians is open) or Animal Kingdom were worth buying single day Genie+ for as there were only 1 or 2 rides in each park which had queues long enough to justify paying to skip them. However, if you are planning to park hop, you can get really good value out of doing method 1 in Animal Kingdom/EPCOT as your first park, and stacking later rides in Hollywood Studios/Magic Kingdom for your second.

Just to give you an example of what is sometimes possible (again, with a bit of persistence and luck), here is one of our LL days:

7am, booked Test Track for 8:40 - 9:40
9:00, rode Test Track and booked Frozen for 13:00 - 14:00.
11:00 eligible for next LL and booked Tower of Terror for 17:35 - 18:35
13:00, eligible for next LL and booked Slinky Dog for 20:15 - 21:00
15:00, eligible for next LL and booked Millenium Falcon for 17:40 - 18:40
At 17:00, eligible for next LL and booked Mickey and Minnie RR for 19:00 - 20:00.
After we tapped in for Mickey and Minnie, booked Toy Story Midway Mania for immediate use.


Appreciate this is very long, but hopefully you found it useful! Hope you have a wonderful trip

[sha9]

Originally Posted by pyrrock

We've just got back (been back a week) and we're some of the fortunate ones who had a really good experience with Genie+. Obviously, there is an element of luck here and will vary depending on crowd levels, but here are some tips that helped us have a good time:

- We found Genie+ worked best in Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, but didn't feel it was worth the value in Animal Kingdom or EPCOT (EPCOT may be different now if Guardians opening causes crowds to be bigger).

- If you have not bought tickets which already include Genie+, make sure you buy this before 7am on the day you want to use it, so you don't waste valuable time.

- Have a plan going in to each day of which ride you will be aiming to get a LL for first. As you are offsite, you won't be able to get any ILL (Rise, Flight of Passage etc) until park opens, so you can focus first on your initial Genie+ pick. There are two methods that you can use here: either aiming to get your first LL for as close to park open as possible so you can make your next selection more quickly, or aiming to go for the most popular choice first in case it runs out of LL before you are able to make your next selection. I generally went for the second option as we were able to be flexible in the times we were in the parks for.

- Stacking (selecting later times for your LLs so that you have multiple prebooked to use for an afternoon/evening visit) works really well at Hollywood Studios. It can work at Magic Kingdom, but return times tend not to be taken as quickly as there are more attractions to choose from.

- In terms of most popular attractions for LL selection, when we went it was Slinky Dog Dash at Hollywood Studios, Jungle Cruise/Peter Pan at Magic Kingdom, Test Track/Frozen at Epcot, and Kilimanjaro Safaris at Animal Kingdom. Tower of Terror was also quite popular as it was running at 50% capacity due to maintenence work.

- Before 7am, make sure you go through the steps to set up the standard Genie recommendations (I think you can do this through the 'My Day' tab on the app). There, you can tell Genie which attractions you want to do that day. At 7am, only select the main attraction you want to focus on. All of them will still be visible on your tip board, but your selected attraction will be right at the top. This will make things much quicker when you are trying to get your LL booked. You can change your selection at any time, so I would recommend to keep updating your choice after you book your LL so that you have your next selection ready for when you become eligible to book your next LL.

- Patience and persistence is key, particularly if you are constrained on when your return time can be. Be prepared to refresh the app a few times until you get a time you are happy with - earlier times often do become available as other people change their plans or as Disney release additional LLs. This doesn't mean you have to be attached to your phone your whole trip - I spent maybe 1/2mins refreshing for each selection maximum, usually done whilst in the queue line of other rides. It's also helpful to have a backup plan in case your initial choice is unavailable or the return times don't work for you.

- If you're unable to get an ILL for the big rides, riding just before park close can keep the wait times down. However, I wouldn't recommend leaving a must do ride for park close on your last night in the park as they may 'go down' (break) meaning that you miss your chance to ride.

- A helpful little loophole (originally pointed out by another posted whose name I have forgotten!) is to book nearby LLs for rides which are CURRENTLY down (either for technical reasons or for weather). If a ride is unavailable during your LL slot, Disney will give you an Anytime/Any Ride (excluding some of the really popular attractions) LL. This can be really helpful, especially as it gives you a chance to ride a ride via LL multiple times, something that is not typically allowed under the new system.

- As mentioned, I don't really think EPCOT (although this may change now Guardians is open) or Animal Kingdom were worth buying single day Genie+ for as there were only 1 or 2 rides in each park which had queues long enough to justify paying to skip them. However, if you are planning to park hop, you can get really good value out of doing method 1 in Animal Kingdom/EPCOT as your first park, and stacking later rides in Hollywood Studios/Magic Kingdom for your second.

Just to give you an example of what is sometimes possible (again, with a bit of persistence and luck), here is one of our LL days:

7am, booked Test Track for 8:40 - 9:40
9:00, rode Test Track and booked Frozen for 13:00 - 14:00.
11:00 eligible for next LL and booked Tower of Terror for 17:35 - 18:35
13:00, eligible for next LL and booked Slinky Dog for 20:15 - 21:00
15:00, eligible for next LL and booked Millenium Falcon for 17:40 - 18:40
At 17:00, eligible for next LL and booked Mickey and Minnie RR for 19:00 - 20:00.
After we tapped in for Mickey and Minnie, booked Toy Story Midway Mania for immediate use.


Appreciate this is very long, but hopefully you found it useful! Hope you have a wonderful trip

See more...

I appreciate that you made a success of Genie plus but I think you’ve basically explained why it doesn’t work for everyone. You used the phrase “patience and persistence”, you talk about stacking and booking LL every two hours to make that happen. For me, I can’t be bothered doing that on holiday. Sitting at home one morning two months before I went choosing my 3 FP was a lot less work and a lot less stressful for me than what you’ve described. If I wanted to do a bit of “tap and grab” on the day I could but I also didn’t have to. Genie plus requires some sort of masters degree in MDE to really get the most out of it. Remembering what you can book when, what goes quickly, when you can try again cos they might have loaded more. It’s exhausting.

[Joshie1]

Originally Posted by pyrrock

We've just got back (been back a week) and we're some of the fortunate ones who had a really good experience with Genie+. Obviously, there is an element of luck here and will vary depending on crowd levels, but here are some tips that helped us have a good time:

- We found Genie+ worked best in Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, but didn't feel it was worth the value in Animal Kingdom or EPCOT (EPCOT may be different now if Guardians opening causes crowds to be bigger).

- If you have not bought tickets which already include Genie+, make sure you buy this before 7am on the day you want to use it, so you don't waste valuable time.

- Have a plan going in to each day of which ride you will be aiming to get a LL for first. As you are offsite, you won't be able to get any ILL (Rise, Flight of Passage etc) until park opens, so you can focus first on your initial Genie+ pick. There are two methods that you can use here: either aiming to get your first LL for as close to park open as possible so you can make your next selection more quickly, or aiming to go for the most popular choice first in case it runs out of LL before you are able to make your next selection. I generally went for the second option as we were able to be flexible in the times we were in the parks for.

- Stacking (selecting later times for your LLs so that you have multiple prebooked to use for an afternoon/evening visit) works really well at Hollywood Studios. It can work at Magic Kingdom, but return times tend not to be taken as quickly as there are more attractions to choose from.

- In terms of most popular attractions for LL selection, when we went it was Slinky Dog Dash at Hollywood Studios, Jungle Cruise/Peter Pan at Magic Kingdom, Test Track/Frozen at Epcot, and Kilimanjaro Safaris at Animal Kingdom. Tower of Terror was also quite popular as it was running at 50% capacity due to maintenence work.

- Before 7am, make sure you go through the steps to set up the standard Genie recommendations (I think you can do this through the 'My Day' tab on the app). There, you can tell Genie which attractions you want to do that day. At 7am, only select the main attraction you want to focus on. All of them will still be visible on your tip board, but your selected attraction will be right at the top. This will make things much quicker when you are trying to get your LL booked. You can change your selection at any time, so I would recommend to keep updating your choice after you book your LL so that you have your next selection ready for when you become eligible to book your next LL.

- Patience and persistence is key, particularly if you are constrained on when your return time can be. Be prepared to refresh the app a few times until you get a time you are happy with - earlier times often do become available as other people change their plans or as Disney release additional LLs. This doesn't mean you have to be attached to your phone your whole trip - I spent maybe 1/2mins refreshing for each selection maximum, usually done whilst in the queue line of other rides. It's also helpful to have a backup plan in case your initial choice is unavailable or the return times don't work for you.

- If you're unable to get an ILL for the big rides, riding just before park close can keep the wait times down. However, I wouldn't recommend leaving a must do ride for park close on your last night in the park as they may 'go down' (break) meaning that you miss your chance to ride.

- A helpful little loophole (originally pointed out by another posted whose name I have forgotten!) is to book nearby LLs for rides which are CURRENTLY down (either for technical reasons or for weather). If a ride is unavailable during your LL slot, Disney will give you an Anytime/Any Ride (excluding some of the really popular attractions) LL. This can be really helpful, especially as it gives you a chance to ride a ride via LL multiple times, something that is not typically allowed under the new system.

- As mentioned, I don't really think EPCOT (although this may change now Guardians is open) or Animal Kingdom were worth buying single day Genie+ for as there were only 1 or 2 rides in each park which had queues long enough to justify paying to skip them. However, if you are planning to park hop, you can get really good value out of doing method 1 in Animal Kingdom/EPCOT as your first park, and stacking later rides in Hollywood Studios/Magic Kingdom for your second.

Just to give you an example of what is sometimes possible (again, with a bit of persistence and luck), here is one of our LL days:

7am, booked Test Track for 8:40 - 9:40
9:00, rode Test Track and booked Frozen for 13:00 - 14:00.
11:00 eligible for next LL and booked Tower of Terror for 17:35 - 18:35
13:00, eligible for next LL and booked Slinky Dog for 20:15 - 21:00
15:00, eligible for next LL and booked Millenium Falcon for 17:40 - 18:40
At 17:00, eligible for next LL and booked Mickey and Minnie RR for 19:00 - 20:00.
After we tapped in for Mickey and Minnie, booked Toy Story Midway Mania for immediate use.


Appreciate this is very long, but hopefully you found it useful! Hope you have a wonderful trip

See more...

Thank you for taking the time to type that up. I have most of it in my head from watching Molly from Allears but it is great to have it written down - will be bookmarking.
Glad you had a positive experience with it.