**DISNEY THREAD** Share your favorite time and money-saving tips, tricks, hacks, etc here

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, refresh the Genie + often for rides that you already have. Slots open up all the time and may be able to get earlier/better times than you have booked.

Club level concierge tipped me off to this. I got up at 7 to try to get LL for rise of the resistance. I guess I was too slow and they only had times available in the evening. The concierge told me to keep refreshing the page because they will release new times throughout the day. 10 min later I had a LL booked for 8:35am!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are going in a few months and I am already overwhelmed at the whole dining situation. Unless you want quick service, everything is by reservation but reservations open 60 days in advance and book up same day. So if we want to have one sit down meal per day I have to clear my schedule to be on the app for five days straight at the set “opening bell” time to try to snag a spot two months in advance?

You can make reservations for your entire stay on the first day reservations open up to you. It’s not one day at a time. I set my alarm for 6am the day ours opened and had reservations for all 4 days done by about 6:10. Then I went back to bed!

So if you’re going for say June 20-25 you can book for the whole stay from 60 days out of the first day or the last day of the trip?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are going in a few months and I am already overwhelmed at the whole dining situation. Unless you want quick service, everything is by reservation but reservations open 60 days in advance and book up same day. So if we want to have one sit down meal per day I have to clear my schedule to be on the app for five days straight at the set “opening bell” time to try to snag a spot two months in advance?

You can make reservations for your entire stay on the first day reservations open up to you. It’s not one day at a time. I set my alarm for 6am the day ours opened and had reservations for all 4 days done by about 6:10. Then I went back to bed!

So if you’re going for say June 20-25 you can book for the whole stay from 60 days out of the first day or the last day of the trip?

First day but only if you're staying on site

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are going in a few months and I am already overwhelmed at the whole dining situation. Unless you want quick service, everything is by reservation but reservations open 60 days in advance and book up same day. So if we want to have one sit down meal per day I have to clear my schedule to be on the app for five days straight at the set “opening bell” time to try to snag a spot two months in advance?

You can make reservations for your entire stay on the first day reservations open up to you. It’s not one day at a time. I set my alarm for 6am the day ours opened and had reservations for all 4 days done by about 6:10. Then I went back to bed!

This sounds like the old fast passes…. Can anyone how fast passes worked vs genie and lightening lanes and why I need both, what’s the difference?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh dear, I need a 101 on lightening lanes and genie plus. Haven’t been since there were fast passes.

We are here now and I thought I was plussed up on Genie+ and LL but we really had to learn along the way.

First thing you have to do is get the MyDisneyExperience app. From there, you can buy Genie+ at 12:01am on the day of your park visit, and then populate your TipBoard on the MyDisney Experience app with the rides and experiences you want for that particular day at that particular park. Note that when you buy the tickets, you must reserve your space in a particular park for each day. If you buy three days worth of tickets, you get a range of dates (5 days?) to use those tickets and if you pick three, you have to designate which park you want for whichever three days you choose in that range. You can change which park you reserve, but you then lose anything experiences you book in the former park.

If you stay at a Disney property, you may get earlier access to Genie+ and you definitely get earlier (7:00am day of) access to booking LLs.

We are off property, so we buy Genie+ at 12:01 on the day of our visit to each park, populate the TipBoard and at 7:00, book any LL we are able to for the ride we want most. Then we monitor the app ALL FREAKING DAY LONG to see what the wait times are and which other LLs we can get. YOu can't get a new LL until you do the ride you're already booked for.

You can pay $$ for "individual LL" rides, but that looks to be later in the day (or I could be wrong)...

One thing that surprised me (and before anyone calls me an idiot, believe me, I feel like one...) is that certain experiences that you pay for in advance, like the Star Wars LightSabre building or Droid building, you ALSO pay to actual build the damn things too. You pay at the time of the reservation just for the pleasure of being there, and then you pay like another $266 just to build the LightSabre. I didn't expect it and didn't expect it to be so much. But hey, it's Disney, so I should expect to break the bank. The good news is the LightSabre is legit good quality, not cheap plastic. But OMG...

Best thing we did is go to the parks first thing in the morning and then head back to our condo mid-afternoon to rest, eat dinner, etc, and then patrolled the app for LL opportunities later in the evening. This worked well for us in Magic Kingdom when we got onto a few other rides at night that were booked solid earlier in the day, plus we saw the fireworks.

I would be sure to have snacks on hand--granola bars, cheese sticks, etc. After a while, all those hotdogs and cheeseburgers are YUCK.

Bottom line,

Virtual queue lets you book your space in line virtually (obviously)...

Standby line tells you how long the wait is if you show up to wait in line...

Lightning Lane is booked in advance IF you have Genie+ and you can only do one at a time.

LL Individual is an extra charge ($7-15/person) and is usually for the rides that are most in demand.

Every ride does NOT have all of these options. Some are standby only; some have several options.

Honestly, while our trip has been fun, it's sorta stressful because you're constantly hustling to line up your next LL, whereas with Fast Pass, you could book three of those in advance.

Also, we constantly had our phone out to check the app and ride status, and it really does encourage constant cell phone use. I felt like my phone was in hand the entire day. Not great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not time or money related, but if your kid isn’t a gamer, don’t let them pilot the Millennium Falcon on Smuggler’s Run. They’ll just ruin it for everyone if they’re crashing the entire time. Same goes for adults, actually. Let someone who plays games be the pilot.

Lol. Good advice

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are going in a few months and I am already overwhelmed at the whole dining situation. Unless you want quick service, everything is by reservation but reservations open 60 days in advance and book up same day. So if we want to have one sit down meal per day I have to clear my schedule to be on the app for five days straight at the set “opening bell” time to try to snag a spot two months in advance?

Don't do that. If you don't care about *where* you sit down, ie character meal or MUST eat at this exact spot, then don't worry about it. Reservations open all the time once you're there because people cancel for all sorts of reasons. Seriously do not stress about it if you aren't completely invested a specific theme.

PP who is currently at Disney. We didn't do the Meal Plan and didn't book anything in advance, and still had a pretty easy time with meals. The mobile food order part of the app allows you to see find wait times and order in advance. We were able to pick an arrival window, order food in advance and then show up and click "I'm here" when we arrived. Finding a place to sit isn't always easy so you may want to do meals at off-times.

[Anonymous]

Personally I’d stay at either the Four Seasons or somewhere extremely low priced and off the property. If you’re traveling with kids the just want to visit the park anyway. The mid-priced hotels are a ripoff and almost every property is full of people. Save your money for a true luxury hotel nowhere close to Disney.

[Anonymous]

We loved using mobile order but usually ate lunch at like 11am or 2pm to avoid crowds.

[Anonymous]

Why book Genie at 12:01am? Why not 6:55am? I will be passed out by midnight!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why book Genie at 12:01am? Why not 6:55am? I will be passed out by midnight!

Doesn't have to be 12:01 AM, but you may want to allow more time because of Disney App glitches. I booked ours when I would wake up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. Sucks that they don't allow you to buy it upfront as they did last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why book Genie at 12:01am? Why not 6:55am? I will be passed out by midnight!

they only sell a certain number per day so if you go when it's busy they may sell out by 6:55

[Anonymous]

Sleepy Hollow has tasty waffles. It's the best quick service at Magic Kingdom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh dear, I need a 101 on lightening lanes and genie plus. Haven’t been since there were fast passes.

We are here now and I thought I was plussed up on Genie+ and LL but we really had to learn along the way.

First thing you have to do is get the MyDisneyExperience app. From there, you can buy Genie+ at 12:01am on the day of your park visit, and then populate your TipBoard on the MyDisney Experience app with the rides and experiences you want for that particular day at that particular park. Note that when you buy the tickets, you must reserve your space in a particular park for each day. If you buy three days worth of tickets, you get a range of dates (5 days?) to use those tickets and if you pick three, you have to designate which park you want for whichever three days you choose in that range. You can change which park you reserve, but you then lose anything experiences you book in the former park.

If you stay at a Disney property, you may get earlier access to Genie+ and you definitely get earlier (7:00am day of) access to booking LLs.

We are off property, so we buy Genie+ at 12:01 on the day of our visit to each park, populate the TipBoard and at 7:00, book any LL we are able to for the ride we want most. Then we monitor the app ALL FREAKING DAY LONG to see what the wait times are and which other LLs we can get. YOu can't get a new LL until you do the ride you're already booked for.

You can pay $$ for "individual LL" rides, but that looks to be later in the day (or I could be wrong)...

One thing that surprised me (and before anyone calls me an idiot, believe me, I feel like one...) is that certain experiences that you pay for in advance, like the Star Wars LightSabre building or Droid building, you ALSO pay to actual build the damn things too. You pay at the time of the reservation just for the pleasure of being there, and then you pay like another $266 just to build the LightSabre. I didn't expect it and didn't expect it to be so much. But hey, it's Disney, so I should expect to break the bank. The good news is the LightSabre is legit good quality, not cheap plastic. But OMG...

Best thing we did is go to the parks first thing in the morning and then head back to our condo mid-afternoon to rest, eat dinner, etc, and then patrolled the app for LL opportunities later in the evening. This worked well for us in Magic Kingdom when we got onto a few other rides at night that were booked solid earlier in the day, plus we saw the fireworks.

I would be sure to have snacks on hand--granola bars, cheese sticks, etc. After a while, all those hotdogs and cheeseburgers are YUCK.

Bottom line,

Virtual queue lets you book your space in line virtually (obviously)...

Standby line tells you how long the wait is if you show up to wait in line...

Lightning Lane is booked in advance IF you have Genie+ and you can only do one at a time.

LL Individual is an extra charge ($7-15/person) and is usually for the rides that are most in demand.

Every ride does NOT have all of these options. Some are standby only; some have several options.

Honestly, while our trip has been fun, it's sorta stressful because you're constantly hustling to line up your next LL, whereas with Fast Pass, you could book three of those in advance.

Also, we constantly had our phone out to check the app and ride status, and it really does encourage constant cell phone use. I felt like my phone was in hand the entire day. Not great.

I am sure this is all excellent info, but JFC. This all sounds SO stressful to me! Especially monitoring the app ALL DAY as you say. My kids are too young, but as a "go with the flow" kind of person who tries to build the same in kids, I struggle to see how this is fun. People do this every year?!

[Anonymous]

Don't plan to leave immediately after fireworks. Either stick around and let the crowd dissipate, or leave just before they begin. We had a nice view from the TTC and got to our car before the crowd.