My Day Using Genie+ Lightning Lanes in Peak Crowds at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Genie+ attraction availability goes quickly at Hollywood Studios, especially during peak season dates at Walt Disney World. With that in mind, I headed to DHS on a 10/10 crowd level day to see how much I’d be able to accomplish using Lightning Lanes to skip standby lines when the system was stressed by high demand and heavy attendance.
This photo report walks you through my step-by-step day using paid FastPass, with my Lightning Lane selections & return times, ride reservation screenshots, what I accomplished using Genie+ during peak crowd levels, and thoughts at the end about whether Genie+ is still worth the money at DHS. It also includes strategy and other useful advice, plus plenty of useless and random commentary.
This visit came after Walt Disney World moved Individual Lightning Lane attractions to Genie+. That improves the quality of the Genie+ experience, adding availability, and (maybe) how many standard Lightning Lane selections you can score in a day. We’ll also check out how that theory plays out in practice.
As quick background for those who are unfamiliar with it, Walt Disney World’s new Genie+ line-skipping service is the permanent replacement to free FastPass+ for select attractions in each park. Genie+ costs $16 per person per day and excludes the most popular ride per park. It’s a basically a digital version of the paper FastPass system from the “old days.”
For more info and answers to common questions, see our Guide to Genie+ at Walt Disney World & Lightning Lane FAQ. We’ve already updated that several times, and it’s a great jumping off point if you’re confused, overwhelmed…or fully understand the system, but want some next-level strategy to better leverage Genie+.
One thing I want to note up front is that this is my day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios using Lightning Lanes. It’s not a recommended itinerary, Genie+ touring plan, or universally-applicable day that I would suggest replicating. Simply what I did over the course of testing Genie+ during a busy day at DHS.
If you’re trying to accomplish just as much in a day without Genie+, an aggressive approach and savvy strategy are required at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. It’s the toughest park to tour at Walt Disney World. There’s no magical formula to sleeping in, rolling up to the park a couple hours after rope drop, not buying Genie+, enjoying the park in a leisurely way, and accomplishing everything. We have advice about how you can get as much as possible done in our 1-Day Disney’s Hollywood Studios Itinerary (No Genie+).
Anyway, let’s move along to my day using Genie+ and Lightning Lanes at Disney’s Hollywood Studios…
Let’s start at 6:50 am, which is when my alarm went off. I bought Genie+ in the My Disney Experience app, customized my Tip Board for strategic advantage (see below), and browsed around in Genie to see if anything had changed.
At 7:00:00 am, I refreshed the Tip Board.
My confirmed Slinky Dog Dash Lightning Lane ride reservation was for 9:05 am to 10:05 am.
If you’ve used Genie+ to book Slinky Dog Dash before, you’re no doubt aware that this is a “good” result, and that my return time could’ve been much, much worse. It’s incredibly common to see 9:00 am to 10:00 am on the first screen, but have it jump to 3:45 pm to 4:45 pm on the confirmation. This is a particularly pronounced problem with Slinky Dog Dash and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. Most other attractions do not have this issue.
For booking Slinky Dog Dash especially (but really whenever possible–it’s always good practice), we highly recommend following our Speed Strategy for Genie+ Selections.
Being able to book a second Lightning Lane attraction at DHS before 11 am is huge, because that’s the first possible time anyone subject to the 120 minute rule–which is many savvy guests–will be able to make another Genie+ ride reservation. Even though it’s a far longer window, not many people are booking between ~7:10 am and 10:59 am. Return times tend to move slower during that time frame.
Other headliner attractions move quickly, also hitting early evening return times by 7:05 am. The difference is that these will be replenished throughout the morning and early afternoon, with the clock “turning over” on them–meaning that you’ll see morning and midday times if you just wait a bit.
As always, Slinky Dog Dash Lightning Lane reservations via Genie+ go fast. It’s possible to get lucky with a refill or cancellation, but you’re strongly advised to make Slinky Dog Dash your first pick at Disney’s Hollywood Studios–and as close to 7 am as possible. It remains #1 on our Disney’s Hollywood Studios Genie+ Priorities & Lightning Lane Ride Ranks, even after the recent changes.
Here’s an illustration of that, albeit not a great one. Note that almost three hours later, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway has a slightly earlier time, while Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run is exactly the same.
This isn’t because the latter held static that entire time or Runaway Railway had cancellations–it’s because availability was added and the clock was reset when that happened.
Here’s another example, from later in the day. Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith had been unavailable when I checked just a few minutes earlier, but had a refill (maybe at 1:45 pm?) shortly thereafter.
I wasn’t eligible to make another selection until shortly after 2 pm. By then, it was gone once again.
It’s difficult to offer any hard and fast strategy around this to first-time Genie+ users. Waiting for a lower return time is fraught with peril (who said Walt Disney World vacations aren’t true-life adventures?!), as it’s possible the clock won’t reset or you’ll waste valuable time getting the clock ticking on the next 120 minute rule or you’ll end up spending too much time on your screen.
Generally, I just book my first 3 selections of the day ASAP. No waiting, excessive screen time, or overthinking it. I just set an alarm for my next eligible time and book my highest priority as soon as I’m eligible.
The reason for this approach is a simple practical reality: you’re going to get stuck with evening return times at Disney’s Hollywood Studios regardless.
Given that and the incredibly low chances of a return time inside 120 minutes, on balance, the upside of booking quickly outweighs the upside of potentially earlier return times. Reasonable minds may differ on that, but it’s my preferred approach–and the easier one.
In this particular case, my next selection was Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. In a perfect world, I would’ve tapped into Slinky Dog Dash as soon I hit a wall with rope drop wait times, which would’ve been about 9:45 am.
In the real world, I was racing to get to the park, didn’t rope drop anything, and just barely made the tail end of my Slinky Dog Dash window. (That extra 15 minutes can be a lifesaver sometimes!)
This is already going to be a long step-by-step Genie+ day, so I’m largely going to leave the “regular” half of my morning out of this. It’s not anything you should replicate, anyway, as it involved a lot of wandering, criss-crossing the park, and getting photos to update other posts. A day in the life of a Disney blogger is incredibly unexciting, I assure you.
One thing I do want to note is that the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is currently receiving a “stealth” refurbishment, with one elevator shaft down. This is expected to be ongoing for several months, at which point it’s possible the other side will go down for the same. The whole process could last through summer, or perhaps beyond. This means the attraction is effectively operating at half-capacity.
It also means that the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is now our #3 Genie+ priority of the day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Wait times won’t be exactly double what they’d be in normal circumstances (due to guest balking points), but they are significantly elevated. (The sign in the photo above shows a wait time of 130 minutes.)
My return time here was 8:10 pm to 9:00 pm. I was not pleased with this because I like setting aside that last hour for doing Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance or other short standby lines. However, I feared that it was late enough in the day and crowds were heavy enough that holding off for a lower time was too risky. YMMV.
One of my top priorities was seeing Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular. Even arriving with (what I assumed was) sufficient time before the first performance, the theater was already full to capacity.
Props to the Cast Member holding the sign for posing and smiling. Being in photos or blogs has gotta be awkward and uncomfortable for some of them–it’s often equally uncomfortable for me.
As a consolation prize, I guess, I met Olaf at Celebrity Showcase.
He still doesn’t have a PhotoPass photographer and it’s still a sighting rather than a traditional meet & greet. Given the recent end of the indoor face mask rule, plus the entirety of the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser experience being normal, it’s likely we’ll soon see other awkwardly-modified entertainment and character interactions return to normal.
The middle of my day involved a lot of wandering around and taking photos.
For those who are curious for whatever reason, I focused on the performers and details of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge (Batuu is a treasure trove if you slow down and look up). Nothing exciting, but I had fun killing time.
The only ride I did was Star Tours: the Adventures Continue. My actual wait time for that was over 30 minutes, which was a pretty good indicator that actual waits were going to be long for literally everything.
I also arrived at an afternoon showtime of Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular with plenty of time to spare. I ended up taking over one hundred photos that I’ll probably never end up using, so might as well randomly insert a few here:
The rest of my midday at Disney’s Hollywood Studios was largely uneventful. It involved a stop at ABC Commissary for my tried and true favorite, the Buffalo Chicken Grilled Cheese Sandwich. (You can read all about the new-ish options in our latest ABC Commissary Review.)
Other stops included MuppetVision 3D, Mickey Shorts Theater, and Beauty and the Beast – Live on Stage. Came very close to also watching the Frozen Sing-Along, but Sarah wasn’t with me and that’s an awkward attraction for a solo male.
When it came time for me to make another selection, Toy Story Mania was my next best option.
I debated waiting for something higher priority (Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run before 7 pm would’ve been great), but the practical reality at this point was that I was staying until closing, and standby lines for everything would be shorter by then.
The reason for all these time-killers was because my Lightning Lane reservations via Genie+ at Disney’s Hollywood Studios were all backfilled into the evening.
My goal with DHS right now is not doing any rides (outside of Star Tours) via standby lines between ~10 am and ~4 pm. This is difficult, but if you do every single show, other entertainment, and eat twice, it’s doable. The midday wait times are why Disney’s Hollywood Studios needs to bring back streetmosphere more than any other park. I could’ve killed a lot of time watching the Citizens of Hollywood.
We make this recommendation elsewhere, but if you’re doing a full day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, consider two table service meals. Maybe the first seating at 50’s Prime Time Café, when everyone in your party is still in the spirit for shenanigans.
Then a late afternoon lunch at Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant, when you’re all wanting a dark respite from the sun and heat. Strategically, eating both meals early is ideal. Getting Advance Dining Reservations for both is the tricky part, as that’s about as “easy” as booking Lightning Lanes for both Slinky Dog Dash and Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway!
To quickly recap, this is what my evening would look like at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
The overlap is no big deal. It will require criss-crossing the park, but thankfully, DHS is no Animal Kingdom. Bouncing around doesn’t require nearly as much walking–and is definitely worth it for the time savings.
For my next selection, I chose Millenium Falcon: Smugglers Run. However, I did not get it.
This is where my screen time increased exponentially–I had been doing a pretty good job up until ~4:30 pm of staying off my phone. After failing to secure an available time for Smugglers Run, I became obsessed with getting it. I saw the above screen 3 different times, being just a little too slow each time. I could’ve booked Alien Swirling Saucers instead, which would’ve saved some time, assuming I wanted to do that.
I never succeeded in getting Millenium Falcon: Smugglers Run.
Can’t complain too much given my good luck earlier in the day, but it was still frustrating to “have it” only for it to vanish as I clicked through. Too bad there isn’t a temporary lock/guarantee for ~60 seconds from the time you first click through completion of booking.
High crowd levels persisted into the evening at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Expect this to be the case more and more as higher wait times and returning entertainment extend guests’ days at DHS. This will be especially true once Fantasmic returns.
I could have done Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance towards the end of the night, but its posted wait time was still 115 minutes when I headed over there and the overflow queue was in use. I hadn’t paid attention to downtime earlier in the day, so I wasn’t comfortable queueing up.
The end of the night is such a crapshoot with this attraction. Sometimes, the posted wait time is dramatically inflated and the actual wait ends up being 30 minutes or less. Other times, breakdowns make it an underestimate. From the overflow queue alone, I knew this would be much more than 30 minutes.
Since I’ve done this attraction many times, I had no interest in testing and timing the wait. (See our Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance Ride Guide for strategy, best & worst times to do the attraction.) I ended my evening with Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster as a near walk-on instead.
Ultimately, I ended up using Genie+ to secure 4 Lightning Lane selections during this 10/10 crowd day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios (plus one for Soarin’ that I didn’t/couldn’t use). For those wanting a little more insight into crowds, it was the 18th busiest day in the last 450 days, with an average posted wait time of 57 minutes.
Based on posted wait times at my return times, I saved 345 minutes with those 4 ride reservations. Even if 100 minutes were knocked off that due to the disparity between posted v. actual wait times at Walt Disney World, I still would’ve saved 4 hours of waiting in line. Given the $16 cost, that’s roughly $4 per hour, making Genie+ “worth it” in terms of the time v. money cost calculus.
However, the argument could be made that a strong itinerary, arriving for rope drop (or better yet, Early Entry) and staying until park closing would’ve yielded similar–or better–results. I wouldn’t disagree with that. I probably could’ve done better following my own strategy for the beginning and end of the day.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios remains the most difficult park for Genie+ from my perspective. While I could’ve done better and scored another Lightning Lane reservation for Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run (or even Alien Swirling Saucers), I also could’ve done much worse. Less tech-savvy guests won’t be able to book Slinky Dog Dash so early (even when following our speed strategy), which could then close the door on Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, too.
That’s the tough and sad thing about Genie+ and Lightning Lanes. “Success” with the system comes at the expense of tech novices or less knowledgeable guests, many of whom will drop $16 per person for next to no advantage. This isn’t just theoretical–we’ve received feedback from literally hundreds of guests at this point who have reported exactly that.
This was also the case with FastPass+, but at least that wasn’t directly monetized and moved at least some of the stress to 30 or 60 days before vacation. There’s no perfect solution, but I certainly hope Walt Disney World is paying attention to guest satisfaction and feedback. Even though Genie+ works well for me (and can for you), it shouldn’t require being a power user who has taken a crash course in the system’s strategy to have a good day in the parks.
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Your Thoughts
Thoughts on my day in Disney’s Hollywood Studios using the Genie+ service after the Lightning Lane changes? Are you planning on buying Genie+ or sticking to free standby lines at DHS? Do you agree or disagree with my assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Tom,
Will you have updated advice for evenings at DHS? For our upcoming trip, we’re planning to do Epcot and hop to DHS on our first day (I’m figuring we’ll be jet-lagged). I’m trying to figure out when to arrive at DHS and what is feasible for the evening. I’m hoping for maybe 3 or 4 rides, including (fingers crossed) ROTR.
Today we woke at 6:45am (while on hecking vacation!) and the best ride we could secure with G+ Right at 7am was a 2:25pm Smugglers. We locked it in. We arrived 30min before rope drop today, raced to Rise and weren’t on the ride until 10:45am. After this, the wait times for the top 6 rides were all over 100min with slinky and rise clicking in at 150 and 180min respectively.
I have been going to Disney parks multiple times a year my whole life, and I’m a tech-savvy under-40 entrepreneur who knows how to get stuff done…heck I even grew up in Burbank and attended Walt Disney Elementary school all 6 grades…and I have NEVER felt so uncomfortable in a park like I did today. It was so crowded, the majority of people were grumpy, and there was no way to leverage G+ to make the day better. We literally left a few hours ago at 12:30pm because we didn’t see how the day could result in fun.
WDW has some serious balancing issues. There is a lack of basic economic principles afoot, namely creating scarcity for the sake of quality. Entry should cost more as should G+, and the latter also needs to have a limited amount of reservations per day to be useful. Said differently, Disney simply needs to charge substantially more to balance out the trifecta of profits, cost to guest, and guest satisfaction. By not addressing the former the latter has suffered.
My family is fortunate enough to have the means to hit a Disney park multiple times a year, but today was heart wrenching thinking about those around us at HS who are on their “once in a lifetime” disney vacation with things so out of whack.
Frustrated. I feel like my love for Disney took a major blow this trip and today especially.
As always Tom, what would we do without you? Thanks for researching, but ugg not gonna lie when I say I am dreading this at least for HS.
Good stuff as usual. Not sure you’ll be able to answer this but …
We’re going in April, arriving the day before Easter. Our flight gets in at 8:45 a.m. (hopefully!) and we were planning on going to Disney Springs for a bit, then Hollywood Studios around, say, 3:00 and staying till closing. I’m considering purchasing G+ for this day. I wouldn’t be able to make my first selection at 7:00 since we’ll be in the air but assuming I book something once we land, I’d like to be able to stack a few reservations for the afternoon/evening.
Obviously I’m ruling out Slinky for this day, but would it be possible to get both Smuggler’s Run and Runaway Railway (booking at, say, 9:00 and 11:00)? Even if I could only get one of these, I’m thinking maybe a combo of that, plus Toy Story Mania, Star Tours, etc, might be worth it, since we’d be arriving at the park at the worst time of day and would be able to just blow through reservations we’ve stacked. I guess my question is – worth it? Would I be able to get three or four attractions before everything ran out?
You can’t stack anything. You book something, and then 2 hours later you are allowed to book something else. I may be wrong, but my guess is that by mid day most times are usually filled for anything that Genie+ would be able to help you. You best bet is, if you plan on going at 3…. don’t get Genie+… just go and try to get what you can get. If you are in line at close you are guaranteed to get on whatever you are on. Go with the idea that you won’t go on a ton, but you should be able to get on some stuff… as long as you don’t mind waiting some.
I did this on my last trip (New Years 2021). Spent the morning and afternoon booking late in the day Lightning Lanes at MK for after I arrived. You can absolutely have multiple Lightning Lanes booked for later in the day, you will likely just not get as many because of travel and if you’re anything like me you might forget to set your 120 minute alarm. I think not having to wait in several lines at the end of a travel day is worth it, personally. The only thing that was annoying is that delays at the airport made me miss my first selection and I couldn’t rebook it later.
We tried this strategy twice last week (a very busy one), but on both mornings ROTR was not open at park opening (or for Early Entry). The cast members said they were sorry, but couldn’t tell us when it would be operating. By the time we tried again (both times), the line exceeded 120 minutes. No ROTR for us during “Presidents’ Week”! Thanks for all your info, Tom.
We’re done with WDW. Unless they bring back the old Fast Pass system, we’ll be spending our vacations elsewhere. No way are we spending the $$ to go to WDW without even knowing whether or not we’d get on a favorite ride/attraction. Getting up at 7am to “hope” we get lucky is just not happening.
A Hawaii trip is in the near future. No, we’re not going to Aulani. We actually want to see the real Hawaii and not the
Disney version.
From what I have heard from some, is that you are constantly on phone and then your battery dies and only 2 places to charge phone in park. We did not renew for the first time in 20 years. I keep up with your blog, hoping things will change. Disney doesn’t want the locals coming as we don’t spend money on merchandise and other extras.
Bring back the old system and I’ll pay for it. I would much prefer to give Disney my $16 to choose 3 rides 30 or 60 or 180 days out. Make the purchase opportunity a benefit for staying in the bubble. We bubble people need perks.
Totally agree! It’s ridiculous to try and do this the morning of.
My family of 5 stayed at CBR last week and went to HS on 2/22 and 2/24. On Tuesday we were able to get SDD for 9:50 by having all the adults in our party try for it right at 7 while we were waiting for the Skyliner to start up. That day the park started letting people in around 7:50 but, Rise was down and they weren’t even letting people line up so we did Smugglers and RRR with very little wait during Early Morning Magic. Throughout the day we also got LL’s for ToT, Star Tours and ASS. We also went to the stunt show (which was at standing room only all day – the cast members said that hardely ever happens). On Thursday we had the same strategy (but didn’t get Genie+) and by the time we got to the park at 7:45, they had already been letting people in. We walked through security and onto Rise and then walked onto Smugglers Run and were able to get in line for TSMM before 9. I think the key is really to plan a couple days at HS and make sure you arrive well before early entry starts, that can make all the difference.
We are staying at Universal and adding a day at Hollywood Studios….any advice on how to score this ride for people staying offsite???
Dont go……Do another day at UO or Volcano Bay……..It s just not worth it……..By the time you get in all the popular rides will be 100+ minutes…..You will get in 3-4 rides while waiting hours…..
The more I read about Genie+ the more angrier I get at Disney and pulls me further away from them and going to visit the parks. I am infuriated at how they have made the park visit so technologically advanced so that you are tied to your phone should you choose to go the Genie+ LL route. In my opinion they are taking away from the “magic” and environment of Disney by tying us to our phones more and more. I can’t stand being in the park and having to constantly pull out my phone more than usual, when I just want to get away and enjoy and not use my phone as much. I love Disney very much but it seems like now with Genie+ it is becoming even more of a “competition” trip and more stressful trying to get ride times so you don’t have to wait 2+ hrs on 1 line for a ride. Very disappointing.
Your article says it’s $16 per person per day, but everything I’ve read online says it’s $15, including on the Disney site. Did they change that??
Tom insists on including the taxes in the daily price, which brings it to $16, not $15. It’s Tom’s act of civil disobedience.
Makes sense. I didn’t see anything saying that was the price with tax so I was curious. It wouldn’t surprise me if they already upped the cost. Everything seems to be jumping higher and higher all the time lol
The price is $15 plus tax which is why Tom reports it as $16.
My wife loves Frozen Sing-A-Long as much as I do, but I’d go alone if I had to. Funniest stage show in WDW!
I am taking my grandkids for their first time in a couple weeks and am already stressed about all this. I am an avid Disney fan and have gone nearly every other year and keep up with all the blogs but I feel I still may not be able to obtain much in the way of rides for this trip. I was not able to get any of the advanced dining reservations either. I don’t know how often I’ll go in the future because this is getting to be too stressful.
I totally feel the same way. Very disappointing and it is becoming too much of a stressful trip now trying to get ride times.
Thanks for the detailed write up Tom. I was there either the day before or the same day as you, using G+ at HS. I think its important to emphasize that your experience is essentially a best case scenario, with an early boarding time for Slinky Dog Dash. Getting that ride at all is hard, and getting it early enough to grab your next selection before 11am is magical pixie dust level luck.
Even knowing the app and being tech savvy is not enough when its gone in milliseconds. In fact the clunkiness of the app works against you because its so slow to show that you didn’t get your first selection and move on to your second. By the time you get to choose something else several good options are gone. My app has been giving me the “starting at 7am Genie will help you….” alert until at least 7:10am (I have screen shots of this) and that takes an extra pause to remove before I can move on. In this situation that pause is enough to mess up the entire day.
I knew it would be a busy week and planned to buy G+ for our first day at each park, and also use early and evening hours and good strategy to cover everything. I really can’t handle lines longer than an hour (too much on my anxiety and my feet), but will wait if its 60 minutes or less. What I’m finding is that I need G+ it every day, because its taking 3 days of G+ at HS to get through all the headliners.
Our HS days had the additional challenge of TSMM going down several times (really? that ride is decades old) and the stealth refurb of ToT making the line over an hour during early entry and 95+ at park close. I think the ride ecosystem at HS is so fragile that either of those situations affect wait times throughout the park. The middle of the day at HS has become a fairly miserable place this week with every shady seat take while people kill time in between meals and shows.
I want to second Amy’s comments and add the importance of a fast internet connection that Tom has mentioned in his “Speed Strategy” Posts. I used G+ for DHS on 2/14 (when hopping from Epcot) and 2/15 (starting at DHS), which were supposed to be 2-4/10 crowds but would up 8-9/10. The fastest connection I could get either from my phone or the Grand Floridian Wifi was less than 25 Mbs and it really killed me. Even refreshing when time.gov hit 7:00.00 showed times in the evening for SDD, and those were gone by the time I tried to click through. Surprisingly, they did a SDD refill a few minutes later and around 7:20 I was able to get a 2pm return on my hopping day. I’m not sure how often that happens and whether it’s worth rolling the dice waiting twenty minutes versus booking your second choice.
Matt – same happened to me at Poly the first day. I’ve never had an issue getting virtual queue spots, but wifi on G+ slowed me down.
Now I’m at Boardwalk and if I go outside (above the boardwalk) my cell signal (or wifi) is slower than if I’m inside in the bathroom, closer to the middle of the building with wifi off. Its a difference of 20 to 70 Mbps which will make or break the morning. I would encourage everyone to do a SpeedTest on their phone first in different spots and with/without wifi on just to make sure you have the advantage.
Of course then if the clunky app gets glitchy there’s little you can do. That’s just the fun part of the hunger games Tom mentions.
I had a similar experience with Genie+ telling me that it wasn’t yet 7am until 7:05, even with repeated refreshes. At that point several headliners were completely gone. We calculated that given the extremely long wait times we still saved a couple of hours of lines with the less valuable picks we did get, but we also had to use our knowledge of the parks and the early entry to ride the attractions we wanted. Just because you purchase Genie+ does not mean you will be able to get by without a park strategy. We had much more relaxing days at Epcot and Animal Kingdom without Genie+ at all.
We were there in peak crowds a week ago. We followed your strategy and couldn’t get a slinky dog ll at 7:00.00am. Lines were insane. We were very frustrated with the genie plus system overall. It definitely made our trip more stressful.
We were there in early January and like Laura our trip was very stressfull and we were all disappointed with our
Genie+ experience. Univesal Studios is looking better all the time. We have been to Walt Disney World 15 times in the past10 years, but may not ever return.
My family of 5 just got home from a week long Disney stay. We used early entry at Hollywood Studios 3 of our 7 days because we wanted to be sure to ride Rise. Since it was down for early entry both Tuesday and Wednesday, we were thankfully able to ride it Thursday. Early entry is the best strategy for Hollywood in my opinion. On Thursday, we walked over from Boardwalk and arrived at 6:50. We were second in line for security. We were let into the park by 7:45 and walked right onto Rise. Then we walked onto Smugglers. Crossed over the park and walked onto Rockin. This was only possible because we arrived early enough to be ahead of the crowd on all 3 rides. The key is to get as many rides in before lightning lanes begin. We actually left the park at 9 having done the 3 rides we wanted with literally zero wait time. Had we stayed we easily could have accomplished Mickey’s Railway or Tower with a slight wait. The only ride that we would have had to wait for over 60 minutes would have been Slinky. Since we were already paying (gulp) rack rate for Boardwalk, I refused to pay for Genie+ or ILL. Glad I didn’t cave as we were able to do every ride we wanted utilizing early entry and evening magic hours.
It’s great that you had a successful day at HS on your third try. But I’m wondering what you did on the other two days when you used Early Entry. Did you just opt for other rides and hang around HS until you could hop to another park at 2:00? I can feel my blood pressure rising just reading about everyone’s frustrating experiences there!
I miss the old fastpass system something fierce. It let me lock in at least 3 priority ride choices each day, and if I wasn’t able to get a specific fast pass, I’d have room elsewhere in my trip to try again without having to worry about park hopping or lucking out at the last minute.
It also seemed to have a lot less glitches and I could put down my phone and take in the experience of being at Disney.
I’d be willing to pay to have it back but the new system is not one I’m willing to drop the cash for, It’s too unreliable and frustrating to deal with.
Totally agree with you! I would love to just have the ability for the 3 fast passes back and then if I didn’t get anything after that I’d be ok, we had to do that back in 2018 when we went the week before XM. I want to be able to put my phone down and enjoy the parks not have my face looking at the screen all day refreshing it! So frustrating!
You and me both. I absolutely hate not being able to plan my day around my LL times. Let us book them in advance, or at least offer multiple times when booking!
When there was a virtual queue only for RoR, I felt it was unfair to non-tech people. I would often see people complaining that they could never get it when others would come on and say they were 10 for 10. At least there is now a standby line, but I feel sorry for those who don’t have the knowledge or quick reflexes to get the times quickly. It’s especially unfortunate now because they are paying extra for it.
Hi Tom!
I have been a lurking follower for so long…but this is my first post. I was at DHS on December 28th 2021. I had been following every post you made about maximizing the Genie+ app and made a strategic plan based on your tips. We followed everything from 7.00 a.m. Slinky Dog Dash to the end of the day. THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I am from Europe and was only at WDW for 2 days: DHS and Epcot…with no park hopping. We had an amazing time thanks to you. We even got lunch reservations at Space 220. I don’t know how it would have been without your knowledge and experiences. Undoubtably disappointing. We got ROTR quite early…which was my “bucket list” attraction. It was a perfect day. Thank you.