The Commish
Footballguy
I'm not sure you need express passes. Everyone I talk to says there are basically no lines...been this way since beginning of summer apparently.
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums
Welcome to Our Forums. Once you've registered and logged in, you're primed to talk football, among other topics, with the sharpest and most experienced fantasy players on the internet.
Disney Vacation (4 Viewers)
- Thread starter DOVCommish
- Start date
The Commish
Footballguy
GroveDiesel
Footballguy
Would make sense. Can’t imagine Disney really is onboard anymore with making shooting guns fun (ray guns fine, realistic-ish guns nah).
Redwes25
Footballguy
So the wife just dropped the idea of visiting her great aunt and uncle in Orlando around Christmas as they are getting older. They are in North Orlando and thinking we try to make a run for parks for a couple of days. Actually leaning towards Universal as we can get into the Hardrock for two nights and feel like with unlimited fast passes we could do Universal in three days (understand can use unlmited fast pass on day of checkin).
Not sure I have the desire to go into Disney on a quick run as reservations, etc. will all be booked at this point. I haven't been too universal in a long time (like 15+ years) but with kids who will be 12, 9 and 9 seems like they will enjoy it. Though one of my 9 year olds isn't a huge thrill ride person.
Am I being crazy about this?
Not sure I have the desire to go into Disney on a quick run as reservations, etc. will all be booked at this point. I haven't been too universal in a long time (like 15+ years) but with kids who will be 12, 9 and 9 seems like they will enjoy it. Though one of my 9 year olds isn't a huge thrill ride person.
Am I being crazy about this?
Last edited by a moderator:
glvsav37
Footballguy
nope, I would prob do the same. Yes, the parks can easily be done (even at Christmas) in 3 days with ExpressPass.
As for the one whos not into thrill rides, are they not into roller coaster type rides or just anything scary?
If its just not coasters, there are a few good rides that they would enjoy:
• Men in Black
• ET
• Any of the Harry potter land experiences in both parks. Get him/her a wand and let them do the spell casting around those areas
• HP Forbidden journey*
• HP Hogwarts express
• Flight of the Hippogriff (kid coaster)
• Simpsons
• Kang and Kodos spinner ride
• King Kong*
• Race through NY w/Jimmy Kimmel
• Dispicable Me Minion Mayhem
• Shrek 4D
• Fast and the Furious
• Transformers*
• Spider Man 4D*
• Bourne Stunt show
• StromForce Accelerator
the items with a star after are somewhat on the thrill side, just not coasters. I didnt include water rides, b/c it will be December, but there are a few if the weather is warm enough.
Redwes25
Footballguy
Thanks super helpful. She is a no go on any coasters but I know she will love the HP stuff. Hopefully she likes the simulation stuff (she was iffy on that at Disney but that was like 2 years ago).
glvsav37
Footballguy
NP.
As for the simulators, I would start off with Simpsons. IDK if you remember from the last time you were there, but it was the Back to the Future ride. Unlike disney's simulators (I'm assuming you were talking about Star tours) where you are fully inside "the box", the Simpsons ride is an open car that rises into a big dome, so there is lots of space around you and you don't feel boxed in.
Then I would move to Spiderman. Its not an actual simulator, here you are in an open car that moves around and then parks in front of different big screens, and uses a mix of real props and settings and 3D films for the action. So again you are not inside a tightly closed environment. Transformers is the exact same ride technology, just a little more clearer b/c its newer, and slightly a little more scarier and louder b/c its the Michael Bay transformers, not our 1980's ones.
Minions, Escape from NY and Shrek are all 4D movies where you feel some motion, but are really in a big theater.
King Kong might be a no go b/c it is rather dark and scary with big fight scenes and oversized creepy crawlies.
If she likes HP, then you will get your money's worth right there. My all time fav ride (and thats saying a lot) is the HP Forbidden Journey. It is one of the most unique rides with the craziest ride system (look up Kuka Arm Rides, the HP one is not as fast or upside down) I've ever been on. It can be scary from a storyline but if she is familiar with the HP universe and characters (like the Dementors), then she might not be as scared. The downside of that ride is the seating system. You sit 4 across but in like individual cubbies. So if your daughter is like my son when he was that age and rode most things from inside my armpit, it is hard to get to them to comfort them if they get scared.
Overall, the best thing is that you will have the express passes. So you can do any ride 1st and then gauge how you think she would like it, vs waiting hours on line.
JaxBill
Footballguy
Off to a good start. Flew on Southwest direct from Providence to Orlando. Flight was on time/ no issues.
Checked into the Caribbean Beach Club for a week. My wife and mother in law did all the planning for everything.
Fingers crossed the kids get some sleep! (Ages almost 3.5 and 5.5)
Checked into the Caribbean Beach Club for a week. My wife and mother in law did all the planning for everything.
Fingers crossed the kids get some sleep! (Ages almost 3.5 and 5.5)
glvsav37
Footballguy
In honor of the 50th....here is the Grand Opening TV Special.
Entertainment was def different back then...lol. Enjoy!!
Entertainment was def different back then...lol. Enjoy!!
Glad to hear this. You must have been sweating it with all the cancelled flights last weekend from PVD-MCO. Think everyone on Sunday was cancelled. Do you plan on hitting Epcot for the Food and Wine festival?
We totally were. Ended up booking a second flight, which could be cancelled without fees, on JetBlue. We cancelled that flight on Friday night when things were looking better.
We are going to hit Epcot later this week. Having the skyliner from our hotel makes it easy. We'll still have to pack sandwiches for the kids, ha.
This definitely isn’t the case anymore. At least it wasn’t last Saturday.
I go to Disney 1 or 2 times every year, and I’ve never seen Disney as crowded as Universal was. Maybe it was just because it was Columbus, Indigeneous whatever weekend, but the crowd was insane. Could barely walk (especially the Harry Potter areas) and some of the Express lines were close to an hour wait.
This was my first time at Universal in about 8 years, and I have no desire to go back again now.
The Commish
Footballguy
Wow...good to know. You're the first to tell me this in quite a while. Was coming in here to post another anecdote of a friend who was just there this last Thursday that said it was empty again. Maybe it's on weekends (which wouldn't be all that surprising since all that's coming these days are people state side)??
glvsav37
Footballguy
I'm sure the holiday played a lot into it.
Universal is in a unique place right now thanks to Disney's (kinda) incompetence. The one big thing is that UO never suspended their annual pass sales—which to a local, having theme park AP's is almost like a birthright. On the other hand, Disney not only suspended AP sales, but also renewals (from what I remember) and didn't release new AP plans until just a about 2 months ago. So many people started going over to UO when they needed their theme park fix, and dare I say it, liked it better.
IMO, WDW is getting very bloated in terms of the hoops you need to jump through to visit a park now and its not appealing to a segment of locals.
AcerFC
Footballguy
Just curious if you used lightning lane for anything. My wife and I are debating how successful it will be.
glvsav37
Footballguy
I think you need to give it time to calibrate itself into place. Plus it needs a few heavy days (like thanksgiving and christmas weeks) to really see what it can do when the parks are at their max.
glvsav37
Footballguy
The new Disney Genie service started today, giving you paid access to certain rides. Either a blanket $15/pp charge to book (what were) fastpsses throughout your day, or for an individual up-charge, visit 2 e-ticket attractions per park—from $7-$15 each/pp.
As expected it was getting mildly heavy use as every Disney blogger was there testing it as well as guests. However note that it is generally not a guest heavy day in the parks. That said, both Slinky Dog Dash and Rise of the Resistance (the 2 upgraded purchase attractions) were both sold out by early this am. Now Disney does have control over how many slots are available for purchase, but if this is going to be the norm, then this is no different then the old boarding groups where you had to be up at 7am to have a hope in getting one....except now this carries a $15/pp fee as well.
As expected it was getting mildly heavy use as every Disney blogger was there testing it as well as guests. However note that it is generally not a guest heavy day in the parks. That said, both Slinky Dog Dash and Rise of the Resistance (the 2 upgraded purchase attractions) were both sold out by early this am. Now Disney does have control over how many slots are available for purchase, but if this is going to be the norm, then this is no different then the old boarding groups where you had to be up at 7am to have a hope in getting one....except now this carries a $15/pp fee as well.
jb1020
Footballguy
Its just a fast pass you pay for.glvsav37 said:
While at the time, I could see paying $75 for a family of 5 to hop on Rise, I wouldn't feel good about it. After paying $625 to walk in the park it would leave me feeling a little too dirty.
I'm interested in seeing what the stand by lines are like from here on out. It would be cool if everyone revolted and refused to buy this, but that wont happen.
I'm interested in this new toy, but still not interested in going to the parks.
AcerFC said:
My wife and in-laws used it for the new Mickey & Minnie runaway railway. Was $8 per person and well worth it.
We use a disability pass (my 5yo son has Autism) and got return times easily today on all 3 rides in Toy Story Land. You can now book them though the app which made things easier and quicker.
Tonight going to the boo bash. Let's see how the kids do being up so late.
GroveDiesel
Footballguy
Yes, they replaced Fast Passes with a 2 tiered system. You can purchase Genie+ for $15 per person per day and that allows you to reserve a timed spot in the Lighting Lane for one ride (only certain rides at each park) at a time basically. After you ride that ride or 2 hours has passed, you can reserve another times spot.
The second option is there are 2 rides at each park where you can buy a specific time to go ride the ride. Genie+ does not cover these rides. The price for these Lightning Passes is per person and will vary day to day and ride to ride. Pricing is anywhere from $6-15 per person per ride and you can only purchase 2 per day. So if you have a family of 4 and want to bypass the loooonnnngggg, line at Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, you’ll likely have to shell out $60 for the 4 of you to go ride just that one ride.
You can only start booking rides the day of. For on-site guests they can start booking earlier than non-on-site hotel guests, but I’m not sure exactly what those hours are (though I’m sure it’s out there).
Last edited by a moderator:
glvsav37
Footballguy
nice write up @GroveDiesel
To expand on it slightly: "Disney Genie" is the new system. Its basically the new My Disney Experience app on steroids. It is intended to be your 'guide' throughout the park day, giving you suggestions on what to ride based on wait times, where to eat, park information and as GD said, book and pay for the old fastpasses.
There are actually 3 levels to it.
1st is the free level.
It kind of acts like a mini concierge service. You can put into it the type of experience or interests you want to have that day, like a "thrill day" or if you have little girls you can pick a "princess day", etc. Then the service will build you a custom itinerary that suggests you do certain attractions at certain times to fulfill those experiences you were looking for. So for example, if you wanted your kid to have a "princess day" then the app would build you a schedule that may suggest you visit Enchanted tales with Belle at 9:45, then go see Cinderella at 10:10, then on to Little Mermaid ride at 10:50, etc. They claim to build these schedules off of years of data they have on wait times and best times to visit certain attractions.
Same if you wanted a thrill day, it would say Splash Mountain at 10:10, Big thunder at 11:15 and then space mountain at 4pm.
You'll still have to wait in the normal standby lines for these, but they claim it will be less b/c they are recommending the best times to go.
This free service also lets you pick dining. So if you say you plan on a Quick Service lunch at some point today, it my ping you and say "Pecos Bill's has a short wait time now, do you want to go order something?" I believe you can also reserve same day sit down dining through the service.
this is a pretty good overview of it (with pictures): https://allears.net/2021/10/19/how-to-get-the-most-out-of-the-free-version-of-disney-genie/
2. Disney Genie+ $15/pp/per day
This is the new fastpass system. As GroveDiesel explained, its kind of like the old paper fastpass where you can claim FP's (now called "Lightening Lane") for different attractions throughout the day. I say this is like the paper fastpasses and not the FP system we just had is b/c you get these day of as opposed to 60-30 days earlier. Also you can only get 1 LL (lightening lane) access for each ride. So you cant do Big thunder and then get off and book another Big thunder, any other rides need to be standby line only.
In addition to booking rides, the G+ service and has other features like special photo lenses (like snapchat) that activate in certain parts of the park, and additional A/V type things like walking tours, games, and trivia.
As GD also mentioned, there are certain attractions—2 per park—that are not in the Genie+ system, thats because getting LL access to them will be an al a carte up-charge.
3. Individual Lightening Lane
2 rides per park are designated "Individual Lightening Lane" (JFC Disney, with these names...really??) where in order to get a LL access you need to pony up $7-15/pp. The price will fluctuate based on the park volume and date, ie. Weekends and holidays will be more expensive (but they say $15 is max)
It is important to note that you do not need to buy the $15/pp Genie service in order to also buy the Individual LL experiences. If you only want to go to studios and ride Rise of the Resistance and thats it, you just need to pay the ILL price in the app and thats it.
As of right now, the attractions and prices are:
Magic Kingdom:
• Space Mountain: $7
• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train: $10
EPCOT:
• Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure: $8
• Frozen Ever After: $9
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
• Flight of Passage: $11
• Expedition Everest: $7
Disney’s Hollywood Studios:
• Rise of the Resistance: $15
• Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway $8
these prices could be higher depending on the day. Also, these ILL can sell out, I know that Rise was sold out by 10am yesterday.
You can begin making any Genie+ or ILL selections at 7am if you are a resort guest, or 9 am if not. You can also make selections for both at a second park if you plan on hopping after 2pm.
Like most stuff Disney introduces, it seems super confusing and you really need to test drive it a few times to get the most out of it.
To expand on it slightly: "Disney Genie" is the new system. Its basically the new My Disney Experience app on steroids. It is intended to be your 'guide' throughout the park day, giving you suggestions on what to ride based on wait times, where to eat, park information and as GD said, book and pay for the old fastpasses.
There are actually 3 levels to it.
1st is the free level.
It kind of acts like a mini concierge service. You can put into it the type of experience or interests you want to have that day, like a "thrill day" or if you have little girls you can pick a "princess day", etc. Then the service will build you a custom itinerary that suggests you do certain attractions at certain times to fulfill those experiences you were looking for. So for example, if you wanted your kid to have a "princess day" then the app would build you a schedule that may suggest you visit Enchanted tales with Belle at 9:45, then go see Cinderella at 10:10, then on to Little Mermaid ride at 10:50, etc. They claim to build these schedules off of years of data they have on wait times and best times to visit certain attractions.
Same if you wanted a thrill day, it would say Splash Mountain at 10:10, Big thunder at 11:15 and then space mountain at 4pm.
You'll still have to wait in the normal standby lines for these, but they claim it will be less b/c they are recommending the best times to go.
This free service also lets you pick dining. So if you say you plan on a Quick Service lunch at some point today, it my ping you and say "Pecos Bill's has a short wait time now, do you want to go order something?" I believe you can also reserve same day sit down dining through the service.
this is a pretty good overview of it (with pictures): https://allears.net/2021/10/19/how-to-get-the-most-out-of-the-free-version-of-disney-genie/
2. Disney Genie+ $15/pp/per day
This is the new fastpass system. As GroveDiesel explained, its kind of like the old paper fastpass where you can claim FP's (now called "Lightening Lane") for different attractions throughout the day. I say this is like the paper fastpasses and not the FP system we just had is b/c you get these day of as opposed to 60-30 days earlier. Also you can only get 1 LL (lightening lane) access for each ride. So you cant do Big thunder and then get off and book another Big thunder, any other rides need to be standby line only.
In addition to booking rides, the G+ service and has other features like special photo lenses (like snapchat) that activate in certain parts of the park, and additional A/V type things like walking tours, games, and trivia.
As GD also mentioned, there are certain attractions—2 per park—that are not in the Genie+ system, thats because getting LL access to them will be an al a carte up-charge.
3. Individual Lightening Lane
2 rides per park are designated "Individual Lightening Lane" (JFC Disney, with these names...really??) where in order to get a LL access you need to pony up $7-15/pp. The price will fluctuate based on the park volume and date, ie. Weekends and holidays will be more expensive (but they say $15 is max)
It is important to note that you do not need to buy the $15/pp Genie service in order to also buy the Individual LL experiences. If you only want to go to studios and ride Rise of the Resistance and thats it, you just need to pay the ILL price in the app and thats it.
As of right now, the attractions and prices are:
Magic Kingdom:
• Space Mountain: $7
• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train: $10
EPCOT:
• Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure: $8
• Frozen Ever After: $9
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
• Flight of Passage: $11
• Expedition Everest: $7
Disney’s Hollywood Studios:
• Rise of the Resistance: $15
• Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway $8
these prices could be higher depending on the day. Also, these ILL can sell out, I know that Rise was sold out by 10am yesterday.
You can begin making any Genie+ or ILL selections at 7am if you are a resort guest, or 9 am if not. You can also make selections for both at a second park if you plan on hopping after 2pm.
Like most stuff Disney introduces, it seems super confusing and you really need to test drive it a few times to get the most out of it.
Capella
Footballguy
We went yesterday for my son’s birthday (can’t believe he’s 4) - there were guest services booths all over the park and they all had 20-30 people standing in line with their phones out. I had never noticed that before so I went and asked somebody what was up and they said the lightning lane thing wasn’t working 
Imagine spending 20 bucks per person for this thing and then it not working and then you’re waiting an hour in line to complain.
Imagine spending 20 bucks per person for this thing and then it not working and then you’re waiting an hour in line to complain.
Capella
Footballguy
apparently you just can’t walk on the rides either when you buy it. I could see walking by space mountain and seeing a long line and thinking ok that’s worth 7 bucks to ride it right now, but then it schedules you to come back later in the day. No thanks.
GroveDiesel
Footballguy
My bet is that rather than the times being “the best” times to go for individuals, Disney will use this system to help manage park flow and ride times across the parks and for everyone.
In other words as an example, Disney could conceivably save you 5 minutes per ride if they take what you want to do and truly optimize it for you specifically. But instead, they’re going to take everyone’s plans plus what their previous data shows (to include people who don’t use Genie) into consideration and setup an itinerary that save you 3 minutes per ride and save everyone else 2 minutes per ride as well.
glvsav37
Footballguy
Yea, I would assume thats the underlying motive (besides revenue).
I think another way to figure it, if you and I both wanted to do big thunder as part of our "Thrill ride" interest day, they will send you there at 10am and me there at 12:30, hopefully keeping the lines shorter by distributing the crowds. But I also think that it may start offering things like Carousel of Progress b/c there is nobody there.
Its going to be interesting to see how it works out. I think new guests will rely on it heavily while other more seasoned guests will just use it like a times guide.
fruity pebbles
Footballguy
At what point have they squeezed every last nickel out of most people?
shuke
Black Ice Skeptic
Capella
Footballguy
Parked was jammed yesterday on a rando Tuesday in October. Definitely not going to happen.
The Commish
Footballguy
Apparently, this new model was quite the contentious fight internally...a stark divide among those for and against.
glvsav37
Footballguy
Safe to say, not many people are happy with the job Bob Chapek is doing since he took over a CEO.
I'm not a fan of the mob getting people fired, or petitions, but if you want, have at it.
Fire Bob Chapek petition
and no, I didn't start this. lol
I'm not a fan of the mob getting people fired, or petitions, but if you want, have at it.
Fire Bob Chapek petition
and no, I didn't start this. lol
themeanmachine
Footballguy
Any other CEO would face the same challenges and likely make some of the same decisions.
Disney parks are an asset with way more demand than supply. How do allocate that scarce resource? How do you do it in a way that's fair, allows you to attract a broad cross-section of customers, and helps to maximize shareholder value? And yes, most Disney nerds hate that last part, but if the board of directors doesn't think Chapek is maximizing shareholder value, they'll replace him with someone who will.
So you have way more people who want to go do Disney parks that you have capacity to accommodate. What do you do?
You could double admission prices, include Genie+ for free and get rid of paid Lightning Lanes. I'll bet the parks would still be very crowded. But people would lose their minds over the price, and complain Disney is now just for the very well off - and they would be right. Not great for most parkgoers, and it hurts the broader Disney company to limit their audience to a small segment of society.
So instead they've opted to deliver tiered levels of experience. You don't have to buy any of the new stuff. It's still expensive just to enter the parks, sure - but it's moving towards a system where you can choose what level of experience you want to pay for. If this is your once-in-a-lifetime trip and you want to blow it out, you can choose to buy all the extras, or if you go once a year and need to do it on a budget, you can choose that. Granted, you can argue that the second option is becoming less feasible just based on raw ticket and lodging prices, but Disney still needs to manage capacity overall in some way.
In the end, they need some way to manage allocation of this scare resource. I think the path they have chosen is a reasonable way to tackle it. The people signing this petition generally don't understand the constraints involved and have no better solutions.
glvsav37
Footballguy
I agree with a lot of your points. However a lot of the hate for Chapek runs deeper than the theme parks.
He's had a few pretty high profile issues in the last few months. One of which was the handling of the Black Widow/Scarlett Johanson situation. I'm not a movie guy, but apparently, one of your stars of a major franchise suing the company over breach of contract sends negative waves across the industry. Then there is the whole Lake Nona thing where they are moving the whole Imagineering dept from California to Florida and loosing a bunch of veteran Imagineers in the process. Also I hear that are a lot of issues internally with the way he is working with/against higher up personnel, Josh D'Amaro (who is pretty much loved by the WDW community and CMs) being one of them. IDK< I cant speak of internal issues personally, just what I read.
I know he is getting a bad rap for a lot of the issues in the parks right now, however much of that is optics and like you said, any CEO would be facing it, but Bob has always been known as a hack and slash guy when it came to expenses and right now, he appears to be living up to that opinion of him.
GroveDiesel
Footballguy
If you have a limited supply and excess demand, the other thing you can do is increase supply. Disney has pledged a huge amount of their land to conservation, but they’ve also purchased a whole bunch of land the last few years. The last park added was AK in 1998. They really haven’t had even any significant expansions of current parks since then. If they grew the number of rides and expanded the size of parks/added another park, that would also think crowds.
But obviously the issue is that doing it that way costs money while just increasing fees for guests costs them next to nothing. BUT, the flip side is that the former is probably more long term thinking and beneficial and the latter, IMO, will be a short term boost but ultimately hurt the brand more than help it in the long run.
GroveDiesel
Footballguy
Question on purchasing Genie+ that I’m not sure I’ve seen my answered yet:
My parents and my family booked our trips separately but I then linked us as a group online. So I was able to book dining reservations, park reservations, etc, together as a group and do it myself.
If I want to purchase Genie+ for our entire group the day of (rather than being forced to book for the entire trip if booked in advance) am I able to do that or will I only be able to purchase for my family and my parents have to purchase separately?
My parents and my family booked our trips separately but I then linked us as a group online. So I was able to book dining reservations, park reservations, etc, together as a group and do it myself.
If I want to purchase Genie+ for our entire group the day of (rather than being forced to book for the entire trip if booked in advance) am I able to do that or will I only be able to purchase for my family and my parents have to purchase separately?
AAABatteries
Footballguy
This - honestly until they do this I may be out for a while for our family of 6. Disney is great and we still love it and would go all the time if we were local but Disney has the same problem that many/most corporations in America (and other places) do - they try to squeeze every ####### nickel out of the budget for THIS year. There's no reason they couldn't add a new park to alleviate some of the demand.
rodg12
Footballguy
Yes, you can purchase for the group at the same time just like dining. You can also book the Lightning Lanes for everyone at once.
rodg12
Footballguy
It worked flawlessly for us. Used it Tues-Friday without issues. My wife and I are both used to using FP+ in the past, though, so maybe that was part of it.We went yesterday for my son’s birthday (can’t believe he’s 4) - there were guest services booths all over the park and they all had 20-30 people standing in line with their phones out. I had never noticed that before so I went and asked somebody what was up and they said the lightning lane thing wasn’t working
We started our trip on Sunday with a partial day at Epcot. Great day enjoying F&W dishes for lunch. Lines were great for Soarin. Snagged a virtual queue spot right at 1 PM for Remy’s Adventure. Great new ride. We were underwhelmed with Chefs de France for supper. We loved it four years ago, but it wasn’t as good this time. Cuts of meat (we both got the beef tenderloin) and service just weren’t as good as last time. Still good overall, but last time thought it was top tier.
Monday we went to Magic Kingdom. Place was PACKED. As busy as anytime I’m used to going in the summer. No Genie+, so it was a disappointing ride on the rides front. Long lines for everything. Ended up riding maybe 8 rides all day when we would ride two to three times that many in the FP+ days. Did have a great lunch at Crystal Palace, enjoyed the Tomorrowland Terrace dessert pre show and reserved spot in the gardens to watch the end of night show, and had a great meal at Be Our Guest. Ended up not finishing our meal until almost 11. Was cool to be in the park after close. They used to usher people out quickly after park close, but they weren’t doing that this time.
Tuesday was Hollywood Studios and the debut of Genie+. We actually added it at the hotel before we went to bed. Then got up early for rope drop and booked our Lightning Lanes right at 7 AM. Snagged paid rides for Rise of the Resistance and Mickey’s Train Ride. Had never ridden either before so we wanted to make sure we could ride them. Also booked a Slinky Dash for 9-10. Went to Rise of the Resistance at rope drop. Stood in line maybe 40 min still to get one. Just a great ride. Not even really a ride. More an experience. Tied for my second favorite ride at the parks with Remy. Used Genie+ all day to ride all the big rides and mix in the smaller ones as well. Place was packed, but didn’t have to wait in line more than 15 min after that initial wait for Rise. Great meals at 50s Prime Time Diner and Brown Derby that day too.
Wednesday was Animal Kingdom. Lightning Laned Flight of Passage right at 7 AM. Decided to not get one for Expedition Everest since wait times hadn’t been high the day before. That was the right decision as wait times were low all day. Went to Flight of Passage at rope drop. Maybe 15 min wait to get on the ride. Rode Safaris after that through Standby. Booked a lightening lane for it after lunch. Was able to ride Flight of Passage 4 times total. Rope drop, Lightning Lane, standby twice. Standby waits were 30-45 min most of the day. Made us wonder if we should have paid for the Lightning Lane, but eh, still worth it since that’s my favorite ride at any of the parks. Great lunch at Flame Tree BBQ. Then had dinner at Tiffins. Extremely impressed with them. Great steaks and atmosphere.
Thursday was my birthday. Went to Magic Kingdom. Rode everything with Genie+. No wait longer than 15 min. Meals at Liberty Tree Tavern and Cinderella’s Royal Table. Watched the fireworks from our table next to the windows at the back. Outstanding day.
Wrapped up the trip with a return to Epcot. Rode everything with Genie+. It was busier than Sunday. Lots of people out enjoying F&W on a Friday night. At pastries and sandwiches from France for lunch. Le Cellier for Supper.
Overall a fantastic trip. Genie+ was awesome. The trip just wouldn’t have been the same for us without it. We were questioning what we were doing after Monday and waiting in all those lines.
The Commish
Footballguy
glvsav37
Footballguy
The Commish
Footballguy
These give me a whole new perspective on this matching T-shirt stuff. The possibilities are endlesslol, no...but I've always wanted to wear this one around the parks.
glvsav37
Footballguy
jb1020
Footballguy
Thats cool. You knew after TS land was built that wasn't the end of the content.
Man, I just had some old photos from 2015 pop up and its depressing to look back and see how much fun it was for us. Maybe it was the age the kids were at that made it "magical." We were riding all the rides, meeting all the characters, ending the day at Epcot doing the food and wine thing and watching fireworks. Somehow we worked in Akershus house and met all the ladies too this day. No picture looks overly crowded. Kids would have been 5 and 3.
I never kept firm notes on budgeting these trips, but I remember thinking we could drop $800-$1000 per day and live like royalty for a week. Just feels like we've been squeezed out now.
I do consider us very fortunate to have had all the fun times there. Wish it could have lasted a bit longer for us.
AAABatteries
Footballguy
Yep - and I know we've talked about it before. Definitely is different and you have to lower your expectations. I got my run with my kids and we have tons of great memories and there's no doubt we may/will do it again but what I fear is that we will never get to do those things with our grand-kids down the road and that makes me a little sad.
Capella
Footballguy
My wife is just white-hot mad that she couldn’t get the Christmas processional dinner reservations. Never used to be a problem - she was up at 6 yesterday to book it and never even got the option.
She actually said “#### it I’m done with Disney” which is like me saying I’m done with Tampa sports, but she actually may have meant it.
Plus Tampa sports are better than Disney
She actually said “#### it I’m done with Disney” which is like me saying I’m done with Tampa sports, but she actually may have meant it.
Plus Tampa sports are better than Disney
