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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?!

PP to whom you are responding and I agree 100%. I can say that we've had fun and the kids have enjoyed it, but it felt to me like a business trip with multiple meetings and events where you can't let your guard down. It's not relaxing at all. I had no idea what we were getting ourselves into when I booked this trip. There is no "go with the flow" about this, and it sucks...Even worse, Disney is nickel and diming you left and right so you're paying top dollar and then some for the pleasure of all this stress. It's true what everyone says -- you have to grab a quick Masters Degree in Disney before you leave for Orlando.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?!

I'm not the PP but it's actually not all that much. I'll grab the passes at 7am, but then once we scan into a Genie+ ride, literally as we scan in, I'll open the app as we're walking through the line, finding the next ride. By the time we're on the next ride I've got another booked. If I'm "stacking" the reservations then I'll just set a timer on my watch and when that goes off I'll find another ride. I'd guess it literally takes maybe 5 minutes total out of my day booking rides. It's hardly any time at all. It sounds like it takes a lot longer than it does. I also don't sit there and stalk rides (unless we're in a longer wait for whatever reason).

Our last trip to AK we hit every single ride (several multiple times), 2 shows, 2 characters meets plus lunch and were done by 1pm. We also weren't running around the park, we interacted with other random characters (Kevin was out), snacked on popcorn watching dancers and musicians. Then we spent the afternoon at the resort pool (Kidani has a great pool/slide). I'm very type A, super organized and greatly enjoy this type of planning and what not. If you don't, then don't do it! Simple as that. We go to WDW once a year typically. We don't stress about plans/rides as we know we'll be back. If you're a one and done I could see it being a bit more stressful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?!

I'm not the PP but it's actually not all that much. I'll grab the passes at 7am, but then once we scan into a Genie+ ride, literally as we scan in, I'll open the app as we're walking through the line, finding the next ride. By the time we're on the next ride I've got another booked. If I'm "stacking" the reservations then I'll just set a timer on my watch and when that goes off I'll find another ride. I'd guess it literally takes maybe 5 minutes total out of my day booking rides. It's hardly any time at all. It sounds like it takes a lot longer than it does. I also don't sit there and stalk rides (unless we're in a longer wait for whatever reason).

Our last trip to AK we hit every single ride (several multiple times), 2 shows, 2 characters meets plus lunch and were done by 1pm. We also weren't running around the park, we interacted with other random characters (Kevin was out), snacked on popcorn watching dancers and musicians. Then we spent the afternoon at the resort pool (Kidani has a great pool/slide). I'm very type A, super organized and greatly enjoy this type of planning and what not. If you don't, then don't do it! Simple as that. We go to WDW once a year typically. We don't stress about plans/rides as we know we'll be back. If you're a one and done I could see it being a bit more stressful.

Sounds like a job I dont want during vacation. Hard Pass.

[Anonymous]

I am a Type A, super planner, never go-with-the-flow type traveller and Disney was the worst trip I've ever experienced. Yes, we had "fun" and the kids enjoyed themselves but even they admitted they wouldn't choose to go back over another lovely destination anytime soon. There is no magic to anyone over 10. They see the work and planning involved. You can't hide your phone all day and the extra battery chargers ding the security machines at every park so they got used to waiting for me to have my bag checked because of the electronics each day! I did see some people conquer that by holding things in their hands in the air as they cleared security but everyone was stocked up on battery power!

[Anonymous]

Here is what we did:
-grocery delivery to hotel with breakfasts, snacks, water
-particularly if you have young kids, make lunch your big sit-down meal of the day. We had reservations between 12-1:30 every day but quickly figured out that our kids needed a break and a meal around 11am so we showed up at the restaurants at 11 and had no wait time
-dinner was back at the hotel in the casual outdoor restaurant
-definitely do genie+ and lightning lane, plus take advantage of the single rider lines when you can
-work with an independent Disney travel agent (it's free for you, they make their commissions from Disney)

[Anonymous]

We went to universal for the first time a couple months ago. It is SO much easier to plan. I doubt we will go back to Disney now that the kids are old. It is not a vacation at all.

My Disney tip, which saves neither money nor time - book another Orlando hotel with a great pool to relax for a couple days after Disney. Or maybe you could do the same on property. We at least came back feeling relaxed because the end of the trip wasn’t crazy.

[Anonymous]

you know that new star wars thing?
Get there first thing and use the singles line. You are welcome.

[Anonymous]

One thing I learned is that the reservation restaurants also take walk-ins. I was too frazzled to make restaurants reservations in advance (we didn't care about character experiences), so I thought we were out of luck. But we were able to walk up and put our name on a wait list, and would get a table within 45 minutes. It was super hot when we were there, so it was important to us to eat inside at lunch and cool down a bit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One thing I learned is that the reservation restaurants also take walk-ins. I was too frazzled to make restaurants reservations in advance (we didn't care about character experiences), so I thought we were out of luck. But we were able to walk up and put our name on a wait list, and would get a table within 45 minutes. It was super hot when we were there, so it was important to us to eat inside at lunch and cool down a bit.

We had the same experience. Finding food was not stressful at all. Unless you're talking about Disney Springs which was was freakin' chaos.

[Anonymous]

Utilize mobile ordering for the QS restaurants! Have one person grab a table with the kids while the other goes to collect the food. The lines during lunch can get insane. If it's a very busy time you can also pre-order your meal an hour plus in advance.

Hollywood Studios - Backlot Express has a lot of covered seating with ceiling fans. It's not centrally located which is why it always seems to have tables open. The food is decent for theme park food as well!