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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Oh dear, I need a 101 on lightening lanes and genie plus.  Haven’t been since there were fast passes.  [/quote]

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.

[b]Bottom line[/b],

[b]Virtual queue[/b] lets you book your space in line virtually (obviously)...

[b]Standby line[/b] tells you how long the wait is if you show up to wait in line...

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

[b]LL Individual[/b] 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.[/quote]

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?![/quote]

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. [/quote]

Sounds like a job I dont want during vacation.  Hard Pass. [/quote]

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