Genie+ Collapsing in Crowds at Disney World
As previously covered, it’s the busiest week of the year at Walt Disney World (so far). While we expected heavy crowds, the high attendance has come as a slight surprise even to us. Nevertheless, we’ve been in the parks a lot this week, working on strategy and touring tips.
Most of this has focused on Genie+ and Lightning Lanes. The first article resulting from our experiences is Speed Strategy for Genie+ Selections, advanced-level advice that would normally be “next level” and optional for getting more bang for your buck with the paid FastPass replacement. This week, it’s pretty much mandatory.
We’ve been enjoying low crowds at Walt Disney World over the last several months, so part of the goal in spending even more time in the parks during a busy week was to “stress test” our strategies. In particular, I wanted to put Genie+ through its paces with the goal of showing just how much time you could save on busy days. That largely has not happened. Instead, it has been one frustration after another.
There are several problems with Genie+ right now, but let’s start at the beginning–what we and other guests are encountering right at 7 am. As noted in the ‘speed strategy’ post, Slinky Dog Dash is booking up for the entire day before 7:01 am.
The same is also happening for the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance Individual Lightning Lanes. While we don’t purchase ILLs, we’ve heard from several readers sharing the problems they’ve had. Basically, it has been impossible to book both Slinky Dog Dash and purchase access to the Galaxy’s Edge headliner. Even on busy days, I never thought this would be an issue–clearly, I was wrong.
However, it’s not just Slinky Dog Dash and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance that are going fast. Headliners in every park are going quickly during these sold out days during Thanksgiving week.
Here are some screenshots from this morning showing return times within the first 5 minutes that Lightning Lane reservations were available:
At this rate, many popular attractions will be gone not long after park opening. The last several days, there have been virtually no (worthwhile) options by afternoon, meaning that even savvy users of Genie+ are likely only getting 3-4 “good” selections per day. Novices or those visiting parks other than Magic Kingdom could be doing worse.
Keep in mind that Genie+ is still new, and many guests don’t even learn about it until arriving at the park. In previous weeks, we saw many people purchasing it while in the standby line for an attraction, realizing they could save time. Anyone who did that today wouldn’t have a shot at anything on the above list.
In fairness, some attractions do have drop times throughout the day when their Lightning Lane allotments are refilled. It can be better to wait for an earlier time to appear rather than pouncing on a later one–unfortunately, there’s no “modify” feature, making canceling and rebooking fraught with risk of getting shut out completely, or stuck with an even later time.
To assist with this, I’ve been tracking when these refills occur and for which attractions. I put a decent amount of effort into this, and had a post planned, but this week has thrown a monkey wrench into that. Drop times have become more random, and some attractions don’t seem to be receiving refills at all. It’s understandable that Disney would switch things up and make this less predictable so it’s not as easy to ‘hack.’ Totally get that.
Speaking of hacks, remember our Tips for “Stacking” Genie+ Ride Reservations? That explained how to leverage the 120 minute rule in tandem with “last actions.” The normal 120 minute rule still works, as it’s an intentional feature of Genie+ that is there by design.
However, now stacking can only be done in the intuitive, one-at-a-time sense. It’s no longer possible to leverage the last actions in such a way that you can turn a single selection into multiple branches, and grow those exponentially. Again, the normal 120 minute rule still works and regular stacking is possible, just not the advanced hacks. This makes complete sense and we can’t fault Disney for closing what was possibly an unintentional loophole. Definitely a bummer for those who like to hack, but that’s how it goes.
On a related note, if you read the comments to our speed strategy post, you might’ve seen me tease an upcoming post with even more next-level, advanced hacking technique. There was a way to turn an expired Lightning Lane selection into 3 new ones, but that’s also gone.
I’ve been working on testing and researching that for a few weeks, and know I’m not the only one (I received multiple emails about it). I almost posted my strategy guide on Monday, but decided to compile a list of attractions with two tapstiles first. While I’m disappointed that I researched and wrote so much for nothing, I’m also relieved. I would’ve been “blamed” if I shared that on Monday and the loophole closed on Tuesday. (Travel hackers in general are very protective of ‘secret’ strategies and don’t believe they should be shared widely since that often leads to their demise. That’s an unrealistic expectation, but I digress.)
Disneyland fans might be surprised by all of these issues. I don’t recall there ever being any such problems with MaxPass, which is the basis for Genie+ and Lightning Lanes. One of the reasons those loopholes are closing and Genie+ is unraveling under the weight of crowds even without them is because of the eligible attraction roster and capacity.
That’s the biggest difference between MaxPass and Genie+. It bears reiterating that Disneyland has many more attractions than even Magic Kingdom, and despite its reputation, DCA is a solid second gate. The two are also about a football field apart, meaning that Park Hopping is commonplace.
Combined, Disneyland’s two parks have close to the ride roster of 4 parks at Walt Disney World. On top of that, Disney has removed two popular attractions per park for Individual Lightning Lanes and there are no nighttime spectacular or parade viewing areas as possible selections, meaning Walt Disney World’s already thin roster for Genie+ was made even thinner.
Another thing we question is what the Lightning Lane-to-standby ratio is right now. There has been a lot of speculation about this, and the ‘phases’ for determining capacity allocation. Up until now, much of that has been theoretical–and it might still be, depending upon actual distribution levels.
As a reminder, the ballpark FastPass-to-standby ratio was 80:20. This meant that for every 10 parties boarding an attraction, 8 were pulled from the FastPass queue and 2 were pulled from standby. That’s why standby lines moved at a snail’s pace with FastPass, and constantly without it. That 80:20 ratio also meant that a lot of guests were taking advantage of FastPass, which should be no surprise given that it was free.
Anecdotally, I’ve yet to experience anything even remotely like this 80:20 ratio with Genie+ and Lightning Lanes. Everything seems to skew much more strongly in favor of standby. I’ve noted that the attraction with the highest capacity allocation appears to be–to me, at least–Toy Story Mania, which tracks with it having more Lightning Lane availability than most other attractions.
At Slinky Dog Dash, the attraction that has consistently booked up the fastest, I’d be shocked if even 50% of capacity is being allocated to the Lightning Lane. This appears to be a matter of distribution and not policy; Cast Members can only pull Genie+ guests to the extent that they are there. Based upon my firsthand experiences and observations, there’s seldom more than a slow trickle of guests into the Lightning Lane. That frees up more capacity to be allocated to the standby line.
One notable exception to this is when an attraction returns from a breakdown. Then, the priority is to process the backlog of guests with Lightning Lane ride reservations, which often amounts to a far greater allocation of guests coming from the Lightning Lane. This is nothing new to the Genie+ system; FastPass did the same thing.
The part that’s new is Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance being less reliable and more popular than a normal attraction, meaning that it’s possible to get really unlucky with the posted v. actual standby wait if your timing is off. (Conversely, you can get really lucky–it’s far and away the least accurate posted wait time, in both directions, at Walt Disney World.)
The thing about anecdotal observations is that they’re inherently limited and may not reflect broader trends or experiences. When it comes to Walt Disney World, I tend to not take them too seriously–even when they’re my own–because someone an hour later or earlier might encounter something dramatically different. That’s true here, too. The problem is that there’s no good data about Lightning Lane v. standby allocations as the system is still new and this week has been its first true stress test.
One thing I will note is that most of my Genie+ testing this week has been at Hollywood Studios and Epcot. Today was going to be Magic Kingdom day before I abandoned that plans out of futility and frustration. I’ve heard stories of things being different there, with slower standby queues for Peter Pan’s Flight and other rides. Since our experiences are limited and there’s no good data, we’d love to hear from other people who have been in the parks this week–you should have ample time to comment while standing in those long lines! 😉
Whether the current allocation is a problem or not is in the eye of the beholder. If you’re purchasing Genie+, you want as much capacity reserved for Lightning Lanes as possible. Otherwise, the service you paid for is less useful and you’re inclined to have buyer’s remorse, not purchase again, or even request a refund.
If you’re not using the pay-to-play line skipping service, you’re probably pleased to see Walt Disney World not reserve 80% of capacity for paid FastPass. Well, that might be a stretch–I doubt anyone is “pleased” with lines right now. Due to it being the busiest week of the year, standby wait times are also really high. The point is that a normal FastPass 80:20 allocation would make those posted waits so much worse.
It should go without saying, but allocation is subject to change–that all of the complaints thus far can be “fixed” pretty easily. Walt Disney World will almost certainly adjust that upwards to favor Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, because why wouldn’t they? More Lightning Lane capacity means higher satisfaction from guests paying more–and more sales of the paid FastPass service. There’s every reason to believe the allocation scales will tilt towards Genie+ more over time, and every reason not to believe the reverse will be true.
However, it’s not just return times, availability, and capacity that are causing complaints. The Genie system itself has been rife with glitches, errors, and problems…
Some of this is nothing new, and should come as no surprise to anyone who has experience with Disney IT. My Disney Experience is not exactly the gold standard; it’s been buggy for years. Upon launch, we used the free Genie itinerary builder and found it comically bad and totally worthless.
This week, the problems have gotten even worse and more frequent. We’re talking about the My Disney Experience app crashing, Genie system being slow or unresponsive, and sending a seemingly endless number of access codes via email. This last one is especially frustrating, as it always seems to happen at the most inopportune time, right as you’re trying to make a new Genie+ selection.
We’ve had this problem with codes since the beginning, and it’s further exacerbated by the propensity for Disney emails to be flagged as spam (in a way it makes sense–they’re spamming us with these codes). In some cases, we’ve received over a dozen of these codes in a day. One reader reported receiving 56 in one day. That’s the kind of claim you might assume is hyperbole unless you’ve actually used the system yourself. In which case, you believe it without any hesitation.
I’m likely missing some of the tech problems, but only because I’ve probably blocked them out for the sake of my own sanity or haven’t experienced them (yet). All of this is to say nothing about Genie’s absolutely abysmal UI and organization. This is nothing new, but almost nothing makes sense about the way it’s laid out or functions. It very much feels like Genie launched months–or perhaps years–before it was ready. That was more forgivable when it was working reasonably well to help save time. Now Genie+ is just a headache.
Ultimately, it’s very difficult for me to recommend Genie+ right now for any of the parks, even Magic Kingdom or Hollywood Studios. We expected that to go in the other direction, with recommendations for Epcot and Animal Kingdom only ‘kicking in’ once at a certain crowd level.
That threshold has been reached, but Genie+ has become so frustrating that the case could be made that you’re better off without it. While you will certainly wait longer in standby lines, most of them have been at least reasonably efficient, and don’t mean starting your day out with headaches at 7 am and spending the day glued to your phone dealing with bugs and other problems.
Personally, if visiting for “holistic enjoyment” and not just wait time minimization, I’d opt for a normal rope drop, midday break, late night strategy–pretending Genie+ doesn’t even exist. Again, this comes with the caveat that it’s the busiest week of the year at Walt Disney World. During times like these, there’s no ‘magic bullet’ approach that’ll totally beat the crowds (even some of the Genie+ woes are forgivable in light of attendance and strain on the system), but that should minimize headaches to the greatest extent possible during one of the worst weeks to visit.
From the beginning, we’ve sought to bring you the good, bad, and ugly with Genie, rather than sticking with preconceived notions or the popular sentiment. We were cautiously optimistic when it was mostly outrage, and now we’re in the other camp. We reserve the right to continue changing our minds as circumstances evolve–you know, how opinions should work. My guess is that Genie+ will continue to be tweaked throughout the holiday season, perhaps even this week. Walt Disney World has got to realize that this is unsatisfactory. For those who have used Genie+ this week, consider yourself an honorary Detroit Lions fan, because now you know how it feels! We’ll be in the parks this weekend and next week doing more Genie+ testing, if you want to be notified when we post more updates on Genie, crowds, news, and more–subscribe to our FREE email newsletter for instant alerts!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
If you’re at Walt Disney World for Thanksgiving week, what has been your experience with Genie+ or standby lines? Any success or failures making morning Lightning Lane selections? Have you had success in getting Slinky Dog Dash and/or Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance? What about headliners in other parks? Notice the closure of the stacking strategy or other hacks? Other problems or thoughts to share? 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!
We were at Disney World this past October. We go every two years and this was our 14th trip. Sadly I must admit as a diehard Disney fan Disney’s reputation for impeccable customer service has taken a major hit. Besides all the problems with their IT it is apparent they are drastically understaffed. I was told by a number of locals and an Uber driver who works in the area that Disney is paying considerably less per hour than other companies in the Orlando area including universal studios. If this is true it explains why they cannot get the people that were working for them before the pandemic back to work as they are now working at other venues. Never in all my visits to Disney World have I ever experienced a rude employee. Unfortunately that is no longer the case. While 98% of the front employees are doing an amazing job and in many cases pulling corporates butt out of the fire I did run into a few that were quite rude.
I’m hoping Disney gets their act together because my young granddaughters still want the experience and unfortunately I am going to be forced to go. My hope is that things turn around the time for our next trip.
I wish the Genie+ system would truly crash and burn. We are going next week and I can’t even get excited about it. Buy it or not seems you’re screwed.
Tom and Sarah
We are back and overall it was a terrific trip.
Thank you for your research and for sharing. Though we stumbled a few times, I cannot imagine if we did not have your guidance.
Some thoughts on our overall experience and just wondering if others feel something is lacking or that Disney is missing the mark in many areas.
Genie + and paid lightening lanes. Hate them and miss fast passes. Liked the option to change if rode a ride and something was available. Also, the idea of Disney nickeling and dining is all is ridiculous as I would rather have spent that money on merchandise.
However, when I stumbled or needed help the cast members working at the guest experience umbrellas were huge. Shout out to Meghan at HS as she helped me twice. Do not hesitate to go get help or guidance or if you need to change anything. I think I checked into guest experience at 3/4 parks.
Did the very merry party. The 9pm start time is no fun even though you can go in earlier and the crowds were less by 7pm ish. Have done Halloween event in the past that started at 7pm. More enjoyable for families earlier and let the adults and older students stay late. Overall fun but cost was huge.
Did the Be Our Guest dinner. Dinner was good but we were expecting a fuller experience not just the Beast coming in and waving. Our server was amazing as were the others he was working with. In many areas of the park there were long lines for (example crepes) because there would be one cashier, however the people working at Be Our Guest were incredibly kind and helpful. The food was good and we covered the whole menu. Dessert was just ok. Chip cup with the gray stuff was delicious just wishes we could have asked the dishes.
We really expected something more. Not necessarily a character meet and greet but something.It is the magic kingdom for goodness sake. We will not do again. It seems we were on a beauty and the beast theme it seems as we went to the sing along in “France”. Again we thought it would be more than just a video. Place was only 1/4-1/3 full . I bet that theater could be filled if they had characters leading the sign a long. Again not a meet and greet but maybe belle on stage …..something more than a video.
We know there is a pandemic but we did miss the students or cast members from other countries and missed the shops that were closed. The ones that carried items from their countries. When our children we appreciated the wooden figures in Norway and Germany and seeing items from other countries now those shops are closed or filled with the Disney merchandise you can buy anywhere else.
Again, we had a wonderful weekend of laughing together and loving Disney. I hope some of the ways return and that the powers that be listen to some feedback but not sure how to even give it.
I have not only appreciated this blog and those who share their own experiences.
Happy thanksgiving
Sorry for all the babble.
Chris- Can you explain this strategy more? For example I book SSE at 9:00 get on it and immediately book Mansion for 4pm. Then at 11 book Living with the Land ride it and then book BTMR for 3:30 at 1 book Nemo & then ride it & book Splash for 5? Am I correct?
That’s the thing with genie. When it’s slow, you don’t need it. When it’s busy, it’s not worth it
It’s really all about the timing of your visit. We were at Disney World the week before Halloween. Just to be safe, we bought Genie + and purchased LL’s for Rise of the Resistance and Ratatouille. We had the best, most relaxing time ever, went on every ride we wanted, including 2x each on Rise and Ratatouille, and never waited longer than 15 minutes for anything. We also stayed on property and took advantage of early park entry. You couldn’t pay us to go during crowded times of the year.
I try really hard not to be the kind of person who whines when things change. And I know FastPass windows gave priority to some visitors over others. But I really loved getting my fast passes set, aligning rope drops around that and knowing we’d get to ride our favorites once. The stress of trying to do it that day on Genie + then being glued to my phone fighting their terrible UI all day sounds miserable and not how I want to vacation – but also missing out on key rides due to huge wait times doesn’t sound great either. I hope they improve things prior to out summer trip.
We will be in the parks 12/22-12-26. I was planning on purchasing Genie+ for all 4 of our park days to help deal with the crowds. This post has me second guessing. Would you recommend Genie+ for Christmas week? I don’t see us purchasing Individual Lightning Lane passes as we are semi-locals (2 hour drive) so we’ll have plenty of opportunities, if annual pass sales come back.
Disney must be aware at the level of dissatisfaction guests are having. One would think they would take steps to make things better.
Appreciate your well-informed post Tom. My family get together coming this Thanksgiving weekend for a party of 10, we had been contemplating getting the Genie+ to save time but after reading your post there is absolutely no way we’re spending that kinda of money for a day filled with anxiety, frustration and headaches. I’d rather arrive for rope drop & just hang in standby lines. I don’t want to be glued to my phone all day either only to be disappointed over and over again. Being a former Disneyland Passholder with MaxPass added it was such a great option and so useful. WDW really needs to rethink this whole thing because it’s causing such a nightmare for so many.
Maybe if enough people request a refund it’ll get them on it? But, I’m not holding my breath on that one.
We are at MK now. Booked Jungle at 0700 and got it for 1005-1105 ride time. We waited until 1100 and got BTM for 1735 to try and stack after tap in on Jungle cruise at 1101. The system went down, I assume this is because everyone is taking advantage of the 120 rule. Even though we tapped in at 1101 the system DID NOT register that last action. Thus we can’t book again until 1300. Anyone else seen this issue? Maybe we need to wait a little longer between booking and tapping?
What you experienced should reflect what everyone is experiencing–they closed the last action “loophole” yesterday.
One last thing, I have been on my phone the entire trip. Hate genie+.
We have been here since Sunday and I would it has been an unmitigated disaster. Just having to get up at 6:50am every morning is terrible to begin with. Then had to have 3 of us book rides because they are gone so quick. Not being able to “hold” your selected time results in times 5-6 hours after your selected time. App glitches caused us to miss rise 2x and fop. Having to cancel instant of replace to get a different time caused us to lose one genie. This system is terrible for park hopping as you can’t pick your return times or you might get a late time for an ILL and not be able to use it. Never mind that this all costs money. I’ve never been more frustrated with Disney in my life. Worst trip we have had.
I originally used “unmitigated disaster” to describe using Genie+ this week in the summary, but didn’t want to be accused of exaggerating (even though it is not an exaggeration). Suffice to say, I totally agree with you. I really wish I didn’t.
I hope you’re able to salvage the trip and have some good experiences. 🙂
Tom we’re arriving later this week. Could you please clarify which loophole(s) were closed: The 5 minute early ,15 minute late entry allowance? The ability to have more than 1 G+ reservation open at a time? The ability to overlap reservations? The ability to get 2 G+ reservations within the 15 minutes after a previous G+ reservation expires (by using the 120 minute rule plus tapping into the expired reservation)? Or something else? I don’t want to waste time trying to do something that’s disallowed, so I’d appreciate your advice.
“The ability to get 2 G+ reservations within the 15 minutes after a previous G+ reservation expires (by using the 120 minute rule plus tapping into the expired reservation)?”
This.
The other ones you listed are not loopholes, they are deliberate features/guest courtesies (which we know because they are “inherited” from prior systems).
What is the point in even going to Disney World if you cannot ride any of the rides you are going there to ride in the first place?
Why does Disney not just do like Universal? You purchase for a little extra the fast lane for one price for (basically) all rides in the park(s). Done. No app checking every five minutes and driving yourself crazy. Plus, regular (standby) lanes are ALWAYS open.
I am here right now, been here since 11/16 before crowds got so bad. I was a Fast Pass+ master and Tom, I have followed all of your suggestions and tips, even your recent post on how to make your number one must do populate at the top of my tip board… still unable to get SDD at 7:00am, it’s gone in seconds. We have still ridden it at night, it’s just the point of it. Also very aggravating to choose a time for a Genie+ LL that is around an ADR, but in the time it takes to make a few clicks, you are given a time that is later than what you chose, so have to cancel because it does not fit around the ADR, and search again. We have rope dropped ROTR twice very successfully, so that was amazing. It’s the glitches with Genie+ that are maddening. I’m happy to pay for it, but I want to be able to plan in advance and get the times I actually chose. This has been so stressful, I’ve had anxiety induced dizzy spells several days. If they don’t make adjustments, I’m canceling a Spring Break trip I have booked for April. I can’t do this again during a busy time. Super bummed because I love Disney during the holidays. Waaaaaaaay too much time on the phone, constantly planning on the fly, Genie+ glitches… not doing this again.
Wow! Thanks for the updated info and your advice.
Disney should raise prices! Demand during the holidays far outstrips the fixed supply of lightning lanes, and the solution to shortage is to increase prices. Genie+ should be significantly more expensive on busy days, double, triple, x10 if need be (Express Pass pricing).
We are going this weekend for a quick trip, already purchased Genie+. I’ve told the kids to expect lots of shows and long hotel breaks… and frankly they couldn’t be happier. I’m trying to borrow their positive attitude! Will use your “quick fingers” technique and a watered down version of your itineraries, and will report back.
Happy Thanksgiving, all!
We are here now and have been since 11/20. Genie+ is awful. Nothing is ever available and if by chance you get something it’s at an inopportune time. Backtracking all around the parks to hit your pass times is a waste of time. But waiting in 2 or 3 hour long lines is a waste also. After waiting almost 3 hours for Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway when all the signs said 70 minutes did us all in. Do not trust the posted wait times. They have all been way off. I love Disney and have been here dozens of times and never encountered lines like this new LL fiasco is causing. On a side note, the 50th merchandise is not impressive either.
I’m sad I spent a fortune for my adult family of 6 to spend the week here and the experience is less than normal. Maybe it’s LL. Maybe it’s the week of Thanksgiving. Maybe it’s just me. But I’ve never been disappointed with a Disney trip before now.
“On a side note, the 50th merchandise is not impressive either.”
Can’t disagree with anything else, but to this point, keep checking. Due to supply shortages, so much is sold out at any given store at any given moment. We’ve found that Marketplace Co-Op at Disney Springs tends to be the best option, but even that is hit or miss.
Hope you’re able to salvage the trip and have a good time! 🙂
What do you think would happen if we collectively stopped buying Genie+? We were there this past March and really enjoyed the flexibility and ease of just waiting in lines as posted. We have gone three times during March and were avid FP+ users, so I was certainly concerned about our last trip, but it turned it to be so much more laid back – the way Disney trips were in my childhood. Of course, we are rope drop/stay to close people, which certainly helped. We also loved mobile ordering and felt that was a good trade off for waiting in lines. Anyhow…just my thoughts.
“What do you think would happen if we collectively stopped buying Genie+?”
They’d stop selling it?
The problem is that level of coordinated action will never happen. As soon as sales dipped down, it would become tremendously valuable for those willing to spend the $16, and people would buy.
We just got back from a 5 day trip (16-21 Nov) and the difference between Wed-Thu-Fri and Sat-Sun was ENORMOUS. We ended up getting ILL’s for Rise of Resistance on the morning we were going to Hollywood just to make sure we got on (standby times were 120+ min when we were in park). Worth it, because we didn’t see a standby time under 70 min the entire week we were there except at immediate rope drop… we had 7 people total (3 kids, 2 parents, 1 gramma, 1 aunt).
Now I will say we ended up taking advantage of the Extended Evening Hours at MK and that PAID OFF BIG TIME. We got into park around 9 am (so missed early entry), but basically focused on doing all the low wait rides during the day (taking advantage of a morning low wait time on Big Thunder Mtn, and a weird pre-dinner 20 min standby time on Space Mountain) at all lands except Tomorrowland. When after hours hit, we were able to do Peter Pan, Haunted Mansion, Pooh, Small World all with walk-up waittimes. We were planning on doing Jingle Cruise that night too, but for whatever reason that is not open on ExEveHrs. So when we came back to MK two days later, we focused on Tomorrowland, Snow White Mine Train, and Jingle Cruise with Genie+, were out of MK by 2p, which we also used to Park Hop to Hollywood Studios that evening.
Even with that we didn’t get to ride: Splash Mtn (down for almost whole day on our full MK day), Buzz Lightyear, Slinky Dog Dash (the whole Toy Story area needs one more high volume ride… the lack of additional amenities like restaurants or shows mean even Alien Saucers gets waittimes over 40 min), Epcot Frozen, or Test Track. To be fair, we only did Epcot at nights.
Overall, we purchased Genie+ for one day (1/2 @ MK, 1/2 @ Hollywood Studios), and purchased ILL for Rise of Resistance, Mine Train, and Runaway Railway. If I was more aggressive in pushing our party, we probably wouldn’t have needed to get ILL for Mine Train and Runaway Railway, but my wife broke her foot 3 days before we left, so she was in a ECV for the whole trip and that slowed us down in mornings and around the park.
Thanks for the extensive report on your experience. Totally agree about Extended Evening hours–good to hear you were able to take advantage!