Modifications Coming to Genie+ at Disney World & Disneyland
Walt Disney World will soon be making another change to Genie+ and it’s an unequivocally positive one! This post runs through recent changes to the paid FastPass service, explaining how this is an improvement for Lightning Lane power users and newcomers alike.
In the last several months, Walt Disney World has been making a ton of tweaks to Genie+ in an effort to balance supply & demand, improve guest satisfaction scores, and set expectations at a reasonable and realistic level. The biggest and most recent change was the move to date-based pricing for the Genie+ service.
As always, ‘changed to date-based pricing’ is Walt Disney World code for “price increase (most of the time).” That’s precisely what happened, with prices jumping to $20 almost overnight for many dates during the first month after the introduction of surge pricing. The cost ceiling went up further last month, maxing out at ~$31 after tax during the week of Thanksgiving. Thus far in December, most dates have actually dropped back to pre-increase territory (it’s again $15 today and was every day I looked last week, too).
Prior to this, Walt Disney World did a number of things to “load balance” the paid FastPass service. This included eliminating the Genie+ ticket add-on, adding character meet & greets to the service, “warning” guests that Genie+ essentially amounts to paid FastPass, and permanently moving one Individual Lightning Lane attraction per park to the Genie+ service.
Earlier this fall, Walt Disney World made a few user interface changes of varying usefulness (depending upon your perspective). First, during the high-demand window from the time Genie+ goes live in the morning at 7 am up until 7:30 am, guests are not able to see the Lightning Lane return window. Instead, My Disney Experience displays a “Check Availability” message that requires an extra tap to see the return window.
The second change made earlier this fall is that Genie+ now shows you that return time on the tip board rather than the current availability when you’re holding a Lightning Lane for that attraction (see above). This is good and bad. It’s nice to see your window when browsing other availability, but this also obfuscates what’s currently available in case you wanted to cancel and rebook. From Disney’s perspective, this change was probably a matter of killing two birds with one stone.
Third, Disney removed the rule that automatically adjusted return times to start at 2 pm when Park Hopping. Now, the system prevents you from booking a Lightning Lane if the current return time is before Park Hopping opens up. This means that if the ride you want to reserve has a current return time of 1 pm, Genie+ will not let you make that selection. You’ll be greeted with an error message that says, “select a new time that is included in your Park Hopper option.”
Finally, Walt Disney World added a banner to the Tip Board in My Disney Experience that prominently displays your next eligible selection time. This works pursuant to the 120 minute rule or the closing of your most recently-booked Lightning Lane return window, whichever is earlier. This is an unequivocally positive change, especially for novices who may have been otherwise unaware of the 120-minute rule (it happens much more than you might think).
All of the aforementioned changes have been in place for a few months at this point. We’ve largely gotten used to them, finding ways to work around these ‘impediments’ as necessary. From our perspective as power users, the biggest drawback is Park Hopper times not automatically shifting, but we’ve been able to work around that at EPCOT, DHS, and Magic Kingdom (the only places it’s relevant) without too many headaches. As always, it’s important to adapt.
While the recent changes have been hit or miss, the good news is that an unquestionably positive change is coming very soon. In fact, this was #1 on our Genie+ Wish List of Improvements for Walt Disney World and a “conspicuous omission” that we’ve complained about regularly and repeatedly since Genie+ launched last October…
According to journalist Scott Gustin, the Genie+ service will soon add the ability to modify Lightning Lane reservations without needing to cancel and rebook. You will also be able to make changes to your party size during modification of your Genie+ Lightning Lane selection.
(Note that this will not apply to Individual Lightning Lanes. Guests will not be able to modify those a la carte ride reservations–presumably because they had the ability to choose a time on the front end?)
You will only be able to modify Genie+ Lightning Lanes to other selections in the same park where original ride reservation was made. If you want to modify to a Lightning Lane at a different park, you will still need to cancel and rebook.
For example, if you currently held the highly-coveted Disney & Pixar Short Film Festival Lightning Lane, you could modify it to the equally important Journey into Imagination with Figment Lightning Lane since both are in EPCOT. However, you could not modify to select Na’vi River Journey or Space Mountain, since those attractions are not in EPCOT.
When the modify feature officially launches, you’ll notice a “…” on your Genie+ LL selection. You will tap “…”, “select “Modify Plan,” and you’ll see other available Lightning Lane return windows. From there, you can then select the new attraction and/or return time.
Also noteworthy is that modifications will not reset the game clock on the 120-minute rule. All the existing policies will still apply, and modifying does not trigger any of them. (At least, not to our knowledge. As always, things could change or quirks could emerge. After all, this is Disney IT we’re talking about!)
This change is expected to occur in the next week or so at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland, before the heart of the holiday season.
The modify button will roll out when the My Disney Experience and Disneyland apps are updated in the next week (for both iOS and Android).
This change is HUGE, and impossible to criticize. It’s an improvement for everyone, a big leap forward on the ‘quality of life’ front that makes Genie+ more intuitive and user-friendly. Obviously, it’s not a panacea for all that ails the app feature, but it’s good to see UI issues are being addressed.
Okay, it’s almost impossible to criticize this. This does disproportionately help power users who understand how cancellations and ride reservation refill rules work. First-timers are less likely to play the ‘refresh game’ so they are less likely to benefit from that–and will thus be disadvantaged to some degree.
However, I strongly believe that even first-timers will benefit from this change to some degree, as it makes the UI easier and more intuitive. This is the kind of feature the average user–even the average inexperienced user–likely expects to see, so it’s a big step forward, if you ask me.
To that point, here was my criticism about the lack of a modify button when adding it to my Genie+ Wish List: Genie has a number of user interface “quirks” that make it seem like it was thrown together quickly without much reference to its predecessor, and with next to no field testing. Without question, the most frustrating omission is the lack of a modify button on existing Lightning Lane ride reservations.
This oversight is particularly puzzling because the ability to modify a selection was present in the old FastPass+ system. How it worked is pretty intuitive. You would simply click on one of your existing FastPass+ reservations and then click a modify button, rather than cancel. That pulled up a version of the booking flow, allowing you to access the full list of attractions with FastPass+ availability, including different times for your existing attraction selection.
If that’s difficult to visualize, pull up an Advance Dining Reservation and click the modify button on that. It’s the exact same idea with ADRs or, you know, pretty much any other online reservation system!
The lack of a modify button is so significant because that one simple feature would provide a safety net. It would allow you the ability to lock-in a ride reservation and then continue searching, looking for better options. In particular, ride reservation refills and cancellations. If you’ve never used Genie+, this missing feature may not seem like a big deal. Just cancel and rebook instead, right?
In theory, that works. In practice, the process of searching for a new Lightning Lane, then cancelling your current one and rebooking is incredibly time-consuming and involves several clicks. I’d hazard a guess that, 9 times out of 10, by the time you cancel and get back to the booking screen, whatever you wanted is already gone. (I have literally never had success canceling and rebooking something better. I don’t even attempt it anymore.)
Beyond that, losing your original reservation can put you in a worse position, as you have to continue searching until you find a suitable replacement. Meanwhile, the clock has reset on the 120 minute rule. It really feels like having the magic carpet rug pulled out from under you.
Adding the modify button changes all of that.
While I call the lack of a modify button a conspicuous omission, it’s far more likely that it was a deliberate design choice. It’s not a bug, it’s a feature. Which is to say that the modify button was likely purposefully excluded from the original roll out of Genie+ as a way to throttle power users a little bit and reduce ‘problem behavior’ that Disney had identified under FastPass+ or MaxPass.
It’s easy to handwave this away as typical Disney IT ineptitude, but think about it–a modify button has been a common feature of previous ride reservation systems at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland, as well as Advance Dining Reservations, and more. It’s possible the modify button was glitchy and cut as a result in the rushed rollout of Genie–that definitely wouldn’t surprise me. But not remedying it for over a year until other changes were made that better ‘load-balanced’ the paid FastPass system? That suggests to me that this was by design all along.
We will likely never know for sure, but either way, we are incredibly happy that Walt Disney World and Disneyland are remedying this error or omission and adding a modify button to Genie+ Lightning Lane reservations.
Ultimately, Genie+ has a lot of problems. It’s convoluted, confusing, and counterintuitive in plenty of ways that are troublesome for first-timers and longtime fans. There’s still a lot of that to be resolved, but we have to give credit where credit is due. Genie+ has improved considerably in the last several months thanks to a variety of UI changes. This is far and away the biggest of the bunch, and will be a colossal leap forward.
While power users will undoubtedly benefit disproportionately from the addition of a modify button, this is such an important–and expected–feature that it’s an across-the-board upgrade. Adding a modify button will be an unequivocal improvement for everyone who buys the paid FastPass feature.
Honestly, I’m a bit surprised Walt Disney World and Disneyland aren’t waiting until 2023 to introduce the modify button. Not just because the weeks of Christmas and New Year’s Eve are busy, making it a “risky” time to test a feature change, either. More importantly, that’s when most of the Genie+ ticket add-ons will be gone, meaning that utilization will (presumably) be lower starting in January 2023. Even beyond this, I’m really curious how the demand-dynamic with Genie+ Lightning Lanes changes (or doesn’t) in the new year.
If you have questions about the basics of using–or not using–the paid FastPass service, see our Guide to Genie+ at Walt Disney World & Lightning Lane FAQ for all of the foundational need-to-know info. This whole system is confusing and convoluted, so you might have a question or two-dozen. That answers all of the most common ones we’ve been receiving from readers.
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
Pleased to hear that Genie+ will soon have a modify button to change Lightning Lane selections without losing them? What do you think of the recent UI changes to Genie+ at Walt Disney World? Do you consider this a meaningfully positive improvement to the paid FastPass service? Will you purchase Genie+ or does this all sound like too much of a headache? 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!
I LOVE DisneyWorld. I really do. After reading your update/explanation, my head is spinning. I took the family to WDW is May, stayed at the AKL. My 41 year old daughter took over the Genie+ and LL duties for our group. She was brilliant. (BTW – Those two extras cost us $900+ for the the seven of us on the 4-day pass.) We got on everything we wanted to.
I returned in September with two friends (we are all 70-somethings), and didn’t even bother. And it wasn’t that the lines were short….they were just shorter. For us, the Genie+ and LL is just too complicated for us old souls, who travel to WDW for relaxation, and just don’t need the stress. We decided that the next time we go, we’ll get the two-day pass, park hop, and spend the rest of the week doing other activities off-site.
“For example, if you currently held the highly-coveted Disney & Pixar Short Film Festival Lightning Lane, you could modify it to the equally important Journey into Imagination with Figment Lightning Lane”
ok – I can type emoji’s but the don’t appear. the gist: I found this line highly amusing.
Can you help me understand how people simultaneously complain about park pass reservations and sing the praises of Fastpass+? I just don’t get it. It was essentially a park reservation. You don’t pick your FastPasses and then go to a different park. (That said, I do understand first timers’ or last minute bookers’ frustration if the park they want is not available.) I also regularly get significantly more “FastPasses” with Genie+ (and I also did with legacy FastPass) than FastPass+. I for one (and maybe I’m the only one!) am glad to see the end of FastPass+! The only change I’d like to see to Genie+ is a price reduction/back to free. I’ve never had the experience that it caused me to be on my phone all day either, just when I was eligible to make a new selection, which only takes a minute or two. Am I crazy?!
You’re not crazy – to each her own. I will say the MAIN thing I liked more about FP+ was the ability to use it on the same ride multiple times (once you used the first three of course). I also liked that I didn’t have to wake up at 7 am each day of my vacation. I liked being able to book the Fastpasses weeks ahead of time. It gave me some comfort to know that even if the park was insanely crowded, I was at least getting on my three favorite rides without having to wait for hours. That’s just me. As Tom says, YMMV 🙂
Part of it is that reservations don’t actually get you anything (and because they’re used to re-distribute crowds, you’re way more likely to be blocked from getting reservations than you were to be kept out of a park due to capacity).
Also as a non-early riser, it was great to be able to choose the first few a little later in the day. Also i prefer setting an alarm on a day months before my vacation than every day of my vacation.
Tom the issues I had over my stay this Thanksgiving have left such bad feelings that not sure we will return anytime soon to Disney world. As I have three girls that were not going to get up early to rope drop and average wait time on the popular rides was 2-4 hours we paid for lightning lanes. To me $25/ person to ride on star wars was not worth it. We liked guardians enough that we paid on two separate times but $16/person was high, The joke was charging that for Mine train which is a 10 year old coaster that is not even as exciting as Space mountain or Big Thunder. (my opinion) My bigger issue was that the internet in my room in Aruba was spotty at best so I had to get up each morning at 6am so i could be in the lobby of CB to book the genie + at 7am. If it was not for your strategies it would have been failures each day. I would usually pick our first Genie + and then go back to pay for the LL, did not work for Pandora which sold out in 30 seconds for the day. I wish that you could pick your time frame for the + like you do when you pay. We had park hopper and every time we hopped the genie + was not available for rides in the second park so (PH) was a waste of money. Still frustrated about trip, as the Disney Fan of the family its hard see us going back anytime soon.
Sorry to hear all of that–doesn’t sound like a great trip.
I had a similar problem with the internet in building 8 at All Star Sports last week–both my cell signal and the WiFi were slow.
I still hate having to be so tied to my phone on a family trip. I am still disgusted by the unending money grabs and disappointed by Disney. I can’t wait to sell my DVC.
I’ve been to Disney World multiple times, but I had the hardest time trying to figure out Genie+, skipped it, and then waited in standby lines for so long it was a horrible experience (in EPCOT, of all places). Genie+ feels like if Ikea directions put together an app.
I’m so excited about this! I’ve literally been begging for this since day 1 of Genie+. It only took 14 months to get something that should have been there from the start.
We were at WDW for the week of Thanksgiving. We hadn’t been since January 2020 for various reasons; overbearing Covid restrictions housekeeping/dining issues, etc. That being said, I absolutely HATE Genie+. Disney should prioritize Deluxe resort guests on that system. Give them 2 ride selections in advance and allow an add the morning of the park visits.
We purchased MVMCP tickets so we were able to ride everything we wanted to at Magic Kingdom 2-3 times. However, we didn’t have that same luxury at any other park. We paid for lightning lane at DHS for ROTR because we didn’t want to miss out on it. We skipped Flight of Passage because it’s not worth additional $ and the standby lines were 2 hours long.
Needless to say, if they don’t make some major improvements, I don’t know that we’ll return for another visit. As a die hard Disney fan, I never thought I’d say that.
I’m sorry but I think it’s sad that you feel that deluxe resort guests should get priority for genie +. So much of these changes at Disney are drawing a serious line between the haves and have nots. It’s great for you that you can afford to stay in a deluxe resort, but why should that mean that you get better options for other paid services? You are already getting nicer accommodations. Your comment just reeks of “I’ve got more money and therefore deserve more privileges”.
I love this change. I would also like Disney to remove the “One Genie+ Lightning Lane per attraction per day” restrictions after a certain time, say 3 hours before park closing. That would allow Genie+ purchasers to book their favorite rides twice or more.
This seems entirely reasonable. I’d think that any time after 2 pm would be fine for it, as the high-headliners are usually gone by then, anyway.
The only problem with adding more rules or quirks like this is it makes the whole system even more overwhelming to novices. Disney should be trying to simplify and make Genie+ more intuitive.
The entire Genie+ thing is absurdly and unforgivably complicated. I’ve been to Disney World 9 times under the old Fast Pass system and all they had to do was keep the system intact (three a day and can book in advance) and make a charge for it! I get that they want to make more money, but this simple change to the Fast Pass system would have accomplished that with minimal change. Plus, I’ll bet that WAY more than the 50% they say buy Genie+ would go for this. Not only would they make far more money, but the good will generated would far surpass the added revenue.
It’s disappointing that Disney wasn’t smart enough to figure this out for themselves.
The biggest annoyance still for me in my last experience Genie+ was not being able to book another ride once we had booked the initial experience. Once you are in the park… and there is availability… if I choose to spend my Genie+ time riding one experience, why shouldn’t I be able to do that? I think the limitation to one time is kind of lame. :/ Time spent in line is time people aren’t spending shopping or eating or spending money elsewhere in the park….
This is great – I’m glad it happened. That said, it feels a bit like Disney creating a problem, fixing that problem, and then saying, “Look at this new feature we’re giving you!” It’s like renting a house without windows and the landlord finally adds windows: that’s great, and it makes life better for sure, but they should’ve been there all along.
To be fair, it’s not Disney publicizing this change via press release or blog post–it was leaked to one journalist and is being reported on by third party blogs like this one.
It definitely annoys me that this wasn’t there from day 1 and I don’t think Disney deserves a huge round of applause here, but they aren’t exactly asking for one, either.
Where is this when I needed it, half an hour ago?! My “2:15” reservation for Frozen had jumped to 4:00 in the time it took to tap it, but no recourse is available to modify. I’m glad they’ve made the change, but today’s $18 isn’t feeling very well-spent.
Can’t we just ELIMINATE ALL TOGETHER THIS CONVOLUTED GENIE + SYSTEM?? Charge more to get in- fine, but NOBODY but the “cell phone” generation likes this….
“….this rule and that rule and this button and this AP…BLAH BLAH BLAH!!” Its just not at all what I want to do when I am on vacation! I just do not want to deal with all this…………
Genie+, Lightning Lane and all the WOKENESS is why we have been staying away!
Disney Corp RIP 2019……….
Okay, boomer.
“Finally, Walt Disney World added a banner to the Tip Board in My Disney Experience that prominently displays your next eligible selection time.”
I missed this or forgot this, because this might technically be even better. While the modify button clearly improves functionality, it was technically* there before with cancel/replace. Maybe there’s some alarm functionality twenty screens away in MDE somewhere, but that’s useful even if you’ve been to the MK 30+ times.
* It’s still a great improvement! Both of these feel like things that had to be pulled out of the requirements to make some arbitrary deadline for releasing Genie+.
What do foreign guests with phones covering their own countries do when required to rely heavily on phones when in Disney World? We use pay as you go phones when in Europe for texting and such but I am guessing that upgrades to International plans with all the data required for Genie is a painful expense?
Ok cool. Now let onsite guests book 3 at, say, 60 days in advance, and we’ll really be on to something
Amen! The only thing that will actually move the needle for me and many others.
Yes, but I’d take it one step further to delegate by resort tier. 1 for value, 2 for moderate, and 3 for deluxe. There’s a huge difference in rates paid and not much of an incentive to choose deluxe other than the room quality and noise levels.
I absolutely agree! Let us have at least a week or two in advance to order Genie+. While we are home.
Give us a break Disney. I see nothing good about this change – guests are still stuck on their phone while ON VACATION!!!
Why not allow us to set up Genie+ in advance? Give us 3 per day and then if we want more we can play with our phones at the park.
At 7am, in WDW, I am on my way to the park! The people who designed this stupid program, obviously, never went on vacation to the parks with families!!!!
Kim, I disagree with settingnpreferances on who gets to select first. We all pay the same amount as far as getting into the parks. Some just pay more for basically the bed they are going to sleep in. Unless on it going to spend a lot of time at the resort, the Moderate resorts are great or with younger children, the value resorts.
I wish they would get rid of the Genie+ and Lighting Lanes and go back to the fast passes they had. We all live our daily lives by scheduling. Going on vacation shouldn’t have to be run by a schedule too.
Truth! The 7am is ridiculous and a total mood killer!
My wish is that they would just raise the ticket price and get rid of the Genie+ altogether. It is a pain in the behind. I can deal with a paid lightning lane, but Genie+ is bust. I totally agree with Michael C. that Disney does not have the best and brightest in their IT.
I have experience as a consultant for applications in this category, working with major reservation systems such as ticket sales for Comic-Con, a Mexico City taxi booking app, and numerous class scheduling apps. They are deceptively difficult to make work at scale and judging by the clunkiness of the user interface, I’m guessing that Disney is not attracting the best and brightest in the software design field.
Perhaps the biggest issue is how to display availability. If you guarantee that every available slot displayed to a user stays available, then they all quickly get locked up as each user would have viewed a dozen or more different time slots and the app has no idea which slot they’ll pick. Instead, the apps have to allow concurrent availability viewing, and users are left madly clicking to get the booking before they all are nabbed.
Personally I greatly preferred being able to book Fastpass admissions months in advance, as it allowed me to schedule the rides along with the dining reservations. The idea that everyone has to bend over backward to accommodate guests who don’t plan seems backward. Who spends thousands of dollars on a vacation without doing advance planning?
First, thanks for the insight on your experiences–very interesting and insightful.
“The idea that everyone has to bend over backward to accommodate guests who don’t plan seems backward. Who spends thousands of dollars on a vacation without doing advance planning?”
Second, I personally totally agree with you. I’ve long wondered why Walt Disney World seems so beholden to visitors the company itself identifies as ‘one-and-done’ rite of passage visitors. If they’re unlikely to return, who cares if they think the 50th Anniversary has nostalgia for things they didn’t experience or if the Haunted Mansion Holiday is displayed. Some of the internal reasoning I’ve heard for certain decisions feels like ex post facto rationalizing a decision that would’ve been made a certain way for other reasons.
I don’t think this is one of those occasions, though. For whatever reason, Disney was incredibly sensitive to complaints from non-planners about FastPass Plus. Meanwhile, they’ve implemented a ton of other cumbersome and convoluted systems that confound and confuse…so clearly the company is not THAT serious about removing or reducing barriers to entry/enjoyment.
“Who spends thousands of dollars on a vacation without doing advance planning?”
Rich people. Part of what you are paying for in an actual luxury experience is to not have to worry about anything because someone is taking care of things for you.
The problem is Disney is not a luxury experience, but the prices are high enough they *feel* like luxury prices for middle class families. Years of working in hospitality taught me this is a recipe for a customer service disaster. That category of customer is spending what is undeniably a lot of money for them, but not enough money to actually bump you into the “get whatever you want” category. They don’t realize this though, and so when they don’t get what they want they complain incessantly and are a huge headache.
The actually wealthy folks who go to Disney and don’t find it worth the price probably roll their eyes and say “never again,” but they aren’t taking the time to stand in guest services’ lines or email customer service for refunds. The $10-$20k they spent for their family vacation is actually not that much money to them. But the middle class folks who scrimped and saved to spend that amount on a “treat yourself” vacation sure as heck are going to fight to get some kind of refund or accommodation because they can’t afford to just write that money off. I’m not saying it is the right choice, but I am guessing Disney puts so much effort into accommodating people who don’t plan because it ultimately makes their lives easier by stemming drawn out customer disputes.
While I am a long time Disney veteran and love planning everything in advance, I can understand why Disney strives to accommodate first-time clueless visitors. There is just nothing else in their experience that would prepare them for the level of research and planning involved in a Disney trip. It’s an avalanche of knowledge and details that I can’t even imagine how someone would begin to process if they hadn’t been to Disney before. So for a lot of first time visitors it ends up being an exploratory mission … there is a lot they’ll miss or do “wrong”, but if it’s manageable and they can see how things could improve next time, they’ll wade in again with better knowledge and planning. But if just everything is inaccessible and completely beyond understanding, they’ll have a lousy time and will never come back. It’s a good investment for Disney to do what they can to make it workable for the first-timers. even at the expense of us veterans. We’ll keep finding the loopholes and keep reading Tom’s posts. (Thanks, Tom!)
Good insight. My 2c, coming from a place of less direct ticketing experience, Disney Parks are in the business of creating *new* repeat customers. Prioritizing the experience of a first-timer is the most lucrative thing they can do, and I think it’s easy for a lot of us DTB followers to forget how planning for a first-time Disney trip compares to other vacations. It’s…a lot and easy to goof up. I don’t necessarily believe lack of planning is exclusive to the wealthiest visitors.
I totally understand and agree with everyone that advanced FP+ was overwhelmingly preferable to Genie+, but I just don’t think it matters that we’re inconvenienced. Maybe? But, they have world-class analytics fine-tuning how much they can squeeze out of Disney loyalists without significantly impacting churn. Attendance numbers in recent earnings calls suggest they’re performing okay. Speaking personally, I don’t know what they could reasonably change or implement that would keep me from returning, and with that, I apologize for being part of the problem. 🙂
Stacking lightning lanes for a park youre hopping to in the afternoon (notably Hollywood Studios) was a pretty tried and true method to make afternoons manageable.
Any suggestions on how to overcome this new no reservations before 2pm for park hoppers rule?
Example, I’d rope drop a park, say magic kingdom, and starting at 7am (slinky) and onward through the morning only book Hollywood Studios lightning lanes…this would almost always give me a stacked lineup from 2pm to 6pmish at Hollywood Studios to avoid those massive lines
The simple answer may be your 7am reservation has to go to your first park and stack for the afternoon onwards from there but curious to hear your thoughts since I inherited the strategy from you
That rule was actually implemented back in August or September, so it’s not really new.
It’s pretty easy with DHS as return times ‘naturally’ are pushed out to later in the day, so booking Slinky Dog Dash at 7:00:30 am will usually get you a return time after 2 pm, anyway. Other attractions may not be as easy, but Tower of Terror reliably has return times after 2 pm, too. From there, it gets pretty easy.
It’s a Christmas miracle!