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My first trip to Walt Disney World was as a wee child back in (gulp) 1972, the year after the park opened. I've been there many times since, trying to get there at least a couple of times per year in recent years.
I've always approached these visits as special occassions and would try to do as much as possible while I was there. There was always a plan to hit our favorite eating spots and as many E-ticket rides as possible. I visited more than most, so maybe this was less true with me than many—but the idea was to go for quantity, rather than quality, since I wanted to squeeze as much out of every minute that I was there.
I knew I'd be down in Orlando for at least a couple of months, so I decided to try a different tactic—to see Walt Disney World through the eyes of a local (a couple of months ago, I talked ahout some big changes happening in my life, including a for-now temporary move to the Orlando area). As opposed to running around all day trying to cram in as much as I could, I wanted to take my time and focus on a few of my favorites each visit, instead of trying to see it all at once. I wanted to take advantage of being here by making quick trips, maybe seeing a concert, grabbing something to eat and then heading home. I wanted to focus on new things as they opened without having to wait and get on a plane. Most importantly, I wanted to explore the place in ways I couldn't before with limited time by trying experiences that were new to me.
I know not everyone can do this. For some people, their Orlando visit is once a year or once in a lifetime, so obviously your goals will be different. It's just that seeing the place from this point of view has opened my eyes to a few things, and I think my experience can provide some ideas, whether you're planning that once in a lifetime trip or live down the street. I'm going to stray from my usual formula here and share these random thoughts that hopefully will get you to think as you plan your visits.
So come with me and my Florida resident Pixie Dust Pass (more on that later) and let's see what I found.
First, I'm going to tackle the elephant (or rather big blue Genie) in the room. Disney Genie, Genie Plus and seprately paid Lightning Lanes are here, for better and for worse. For those who don't know, Genie is the new app/system recently put in place to help guests plan their day at the parks.
For today, I'm going to focus on the Genie+ feature, which essentially replaces the old, free Fastpass system. For $15 per day, per guest, you can, through the My Disney Experience smartphone app, get assigned Lightning Lane times for one of a number of attractions at the park you are visiting. You can get one starting at the beginning of the day (7:00 for Disney resort guests, park opening time for the rest of us poor slobs—though I've tried and gotten them earlier a few times, even as a passholder). You can then get an addtional Lightning Lane time every two hours until park closing.
Is it worth it? In my humble opinion and experience, that depends on the park. As always, your mileage may vary depending on your personal tastes and goals. Below is my take park by park:
Magic Kingdom – Worth It
The Magic Kingdom has volume. By that, I mean it has a lot of rides and a lot of rides means people have many options of which Lightning Lane to go for. This spreads the Genie+ holders out, and as a result, most rides are available on the service until pretty late in the day. I've used Genie+ here several times, and each time, I got Lightning Lane passes for five rides, which is actually pretty good. These included the biggies (the mountains—Space, Splash and Big Thunder), Peter Pan, Buzz Lightyear, the Haunted Mansion, and Pirates of the Carribean. In between my Lightning Lane times, I went to the shows that have short waits, like Mickey's PhilharMagic and the Hall of Presidents. Because of Genie+, I got in a pretty full day.
A few of my favorites that might be worth your time:
- Mickey's Philharmagic – turn your head around to the back of the theater in the final moments of the show when Donald Duck goes flying.
- Carousel of Progress – dated, but a classic. Go if for no other reason than when the daughter talks about a time when people didn't have "car phones."
- Hall of Presidents – political leanings aside, it really is a moving show and provides an entertaining history lesson.
Epcot – Not Worth It
The situation at Epcot is the opposite of the Magic Kingdom in some ways. There aren't as many rides, so everyone who has Genie+ is gunning for spots on the same rides, namely Frozen, Soarin' and Test Track. Remy's Ratatouille Adventure has an individual Lightning Lane entrance you purchase with a separate cost (and doesn't require Genie+), so doesn't count, and this is being written ahead of the Guardians of the Galaxy opening, so not sure how that will impact the equation. I've tried several times, and always found myself able to grab one of these in the morning, but by the time my next two-hour window rolled around, the big rides either weren't available at all or only for very late in the day. The only rides left available for Lightning Lane passes were rides like Journey Into Imagination and Finding Nemo, which, while great, usually have fairly short waits anyway and the Lightning Lane isn't needed.
A few of my favorites that might be worth your time:
- Journey Into Imagination with Figment – I know, I know—a controversial choice, but I still get a kick out of the little purple guy.
- Any of the films in World Showcase – they're funny, beautiful and give a good overview of the countries they represent. At worst, you're getting 20 minutes of air conditioning.
- World Showcase – along those lines, take your time walking around, The archtectural touches are incredible and many of the pavillions have small museums that give an interesting insight into the culture—and see above about air conditioning.
Hollywood Studios – A Qualified Yes (Worth It)
This park has a lot of the same issues as Epcot with Genie+. There are a few rides everyone wants that fill up in the system really quickly. You'll get one of the biggies in the morning (Tower of Terror, Toy Story Mania, Slinky Dog Dash, Smuggler's Run, Runaway Railway), and then maybe get one more in before they fill up. The reason for the qualified yes is that Genie+ may provide your only chance to ride some of these. The wait times in this park have become excruciating on a busy day. The Tower of Terror was always somewhat popular, but I've visited several times in the last couple of months, and I've seen wait times of up to three hours, which was previously unheard of. Ditto with some of the others. Hollywood has some of WDW's best rides, and if you're willing to pony up $15 to skip the line or one of two of them, it's likely worth it.
A few of my favorites that might be worth your time:
- Lightning McQueen Racing Academy – I caught this for the first time on my last visit. It's a must if you have little ones, and it's fun even if you don't, because the technology on the Lightning McQueen Animatronic is amazing.
- Walt Disney Presents – some great exhibits on the company history, models of the parks and sneak previews of what's to come. Worth your time.
Animal Kingdom – A Qualified Yes (Worth It)
I'm going to repeat my Hollywood Studios spiel here. Everyone wants Nav'i River Journey, Expediction Everest, Killamanjaro Safari, and the passes fill up fast. If you want to get to ride one of two of them without a wait, and are willing to pay $15 for the privilege, then it's worth it. That said, there are a ton of wonderful attractions at this park that don't have much of a wait and beautiful scenery, so if you want to skip Genie+, you can still have a great day. Wait the hour for the safari and skip the other E-ticket attractions.
A few of my favorites that might be worth your time:
- Feathered Friends in Flight – seeing this bird show never fails to choke me up - I'm not sure why - just something about seeing these beautiful creatures and hearing their stories).
- The trails around the Tree of Life – I've banged this drum before - the meandering trails around the tree have otters, kangaroos and other amazing creatures with no crowds, because no one knows about them). You also get an up close view of the beautiful carvings on the tree.
- Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail and Maharajah Jungle Trek – beatifully landscaped paths with no lines and no rush. The best place to get up close to gorillas and tigers amongst other wonderful creatures. I see people pouring off the safari and leaving without a second glace at the gorilla trail and it makes me crazy.
When visiting the Disney theme parks, we all have a tendency to do what I call a commando day. We go from dawn to midnight and run from one major attraction to the next, without stopping to see all the cool stuff in between that might not have quite as high a profile. In the last couple of months, I've tried to explore these a little more.
A tiger sleeps at Majarajah Jungle Trek. Photo by Gregg Jacobs.
Things Outside the Parks
Some things you could do outside the parks:
- Hotel pool – spend a day at your themed hotel pool
- Water park – hit a water park. Typhoon Lagoon is my favorite.
- Cirque du Soleil: Drawn to Life – the newest show. I had seen La Nouba (its predecessor) a couple of times many years ago and had forgotten how great these shows are. The acrobats are just incredible, and this one has a sweet story, with just enough of a Disney touch, to go along with it. We grabbed dinner at STK Orlando (was pricey, but food was amazing) and caught the 8:00 show, which made for a fun Saturday night.
- The Boardwalk – take a leisurely stroll. I hadn't done this in a long time and was glad I did. Had a great buffet breakfast at the Cape May Cafe and then walked around Crescent Lake, taking in the beautiful scenery, beaches, boat rides and carnvial games. Made for a nice morning. We were too full to stop at Boardwalk Ice Cream, but you should.
Thumbs-Up in the Parks
- Single rider lines are awesome and getting more plentiful. I've tended to avoid these for some reason, but since I was alone at the parks a few times during this run, I tried them out. Test Track had a posted 70 minute wait - i was on in less than 10. Smuggler's run had a posted 120 minute wait - I was on in 15 (cast member told me she's never seen people wait more than 30 minutes). If you're willing to split up your party, it's the way to go (I wasn't alone for Smuggler's - we just decided it was worth being on separate space ships to save an hour).
- Disney ticket offices at the Magic Kingdom (in Liberty Square) and Disney Springs (in Town Center) are also awesome. If you're having trouble with your tickets, you can visit the helpful cast members at these newish centers and they can generally take care of your issue without a long wait at guest relations or heaven forbid, a two-hour wait on the phone.
- Guest Relations – along those lines, you now see Guest Relations umbrellas manned by helpful cast members all over the parks. They can answer questions and handle the basics for you without having to walk to the main offices at the front of the parks.
- 50th anniversary merchandise –I had to stick something about merchandise in hear somewhere, so will give Disney the thumbs up in that they've made good on their promise to keep rolling out new 50th anniversary merchandise over the course of the celebration. I've seen new shirts, shoes, watches and both basic and high end merchandise continually popping up. I'm usually in a park at least once every week or two these days, and I'm almost always seeing something new. Also love the new 50th Coke bottles.
- Trackless rides – I love the new breed of rides with trackless technology. Remy's Ratatouille Adventure (yes, it's been in Paris for a while), Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway and Rise of the Resistance, with increasing complexity, all blew my expectations away (Railway, in particular, puts a smile on my face every time). Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is next, and I can't wait.
- Character meet-and-greets – I know I'm old, but I stil love the character greetings. I applaud Disney for finding a way to bring the characters out during the pandemic (selfie anyone?), but am glad the hugs are returning.
- Kevin – a shoutout to Animal Kingdom and the Kevin animatronic. The movements and noise she made were terrific.
It's Kevin! Photo by Gregg Jacobs.
Thumbs-Down
- Generic park merchandise – my very first article for Mouseplanet, way back in 2016, was about how Disney was finally moving away from generic park merchandise and making more interesting items, especially those that pertained to specific attractions. All I can say is what happened? There are still some great items, but more and more I'm seeing the same things over and over again at every shop. I rode Dinosaur in Animal Kingdom the other day, and didh't see an single dinosaur item in the gift shop. Even worse, I went to the shop in Chester and Hesters and again, not one dinosaur item, just a bunch of generial WDW merchandise. No theming at all. The shops should be part of the theming and overall experience. You're going backwards on this one Mickey.
- Kite Tails/ampitheater space – you need to do something with that giant ampitheater you built in front of Expedition Everest. Kite Tails? Really? I so wanted to like it, but it was 10 minutes long and involved three kites pulled by cast members on jet skis. They should have just had half an hour of the guys on the barge playing the drums, who were great. You can do better, Mickey.
- Nighttime parades – I am so happy the Festival of Fantasy Parade is back (the fire-breathing Maleficent dragon is amazing). Time to bring back the nightime parades (loved Spectromagic).
- Annual passes – open up the other annual passes. My Pixie Dust Pass has come in handy (weekdays only), but ready to be able to visit on a Saturday. I know the pass freeze and park reservations are part of crowd control, but they're inconvient for your guests, so as things continue to normalize, please bring your admission media back to normal.
- Upkeep and maintenance – this last one is going to be a diatribe and needs more than a bullet point…
…The lack of upkeep and maintenance in the parks is getting to be noticable and is not OK. I've had roughly a dozen park visits over the last couple of months, and there wasn't a single day where several attactions didn't go down for extended periods of time. I waited over an hour for Remy to have it break down when I reached the front of the line. Same with Frozen and Test Track. My first Rise of the Resistance experience was getting up at 7:00 am to book a 7:00 pm Lightening Lane, only to have it break down when I arrived (I also loved the cast member who told me there were no Genie+ refunds if the ride breaks down—not true, but still).
Even when I do make it on to the ride, a lot of the time some of the effects aren't working. I rode Rise again to find the lightsaber effect where the top of the ship is cut open wasn't working. I rode Splash Mountain, and the audio was out for the back half of the ride. I know I said that the rides are getting increasingly techologically complex, and you can argue that's why this keeps happening, but I suspect it's something else.
My background is in financial planning and analysis. That makes me the accountant-ear in my industry (banking). For the last 30 years, I've been the finance guy the business people hated, the one who kept reminding them about budgets and to keep their spending in check. I was also the bad guy who sometimes had to tell them to cut costs and that they couldn't always do everything they wanted. The point is that I understand the need to make a profit and make investors happy. But it also means I can smell budget cuts a mile away—and my strong suspicion is that Disney has cut its maintenance budget in a big way.
My increased visits of late have shown me that a down attraction wasn't just me having bad luck, but have rather, an everday experience. Rides break down, trash cans overflow and shows are cancelled at the last minute.
Disney is a premium experience with a premium price tag, so we have a right to expect a certain level of service. Again, I can go back the next day, but the Star Wars fanatic who saved all year and spent thousands of dollars to visit Galaxy's Edge has a right to be angry if Rise or Smuggler's Run goes down for the day. If that person starts spreading the word and doesn't come back attendance drops and that's not good for the bottom line, either.
Disney has been through these periods before and has seen the light and come back. I believe they will again. And there's still so much to love here, and I'm glad I'm getting this opportunity to explore Walt Disney World in ways I haven't been able to before.
I hope you've enjoyed my slightly different perspective, and I've given you a few tips that will help you on your visit. See you real soon!
Comments
Just wanted to say great article, Gregg. Thoroughly enjoyed it!
1) Nice article, so please don't take any of my below comments that might veer into the slight negative as too much criticism!
) Maybe since this isn't a trackless ride prone to operational challenges like RotR or Remy, it will not suffer and can process a lot more guests. (speaking of which, I was a little surprised you lumped this under your "Trackless rides" bullet later on - editing "oops"? - there is definitely a track for this roller coaster 
)
) at DAK: Definitely! (Make that two Treks if you go down the path of Special Tours, (Wild Africa Trek), but I know that's quite outside the focus of this article)
In general, I agree with your opening premise.
When the WDW bug first bit me ~10 years ago (I started doing one trip a year for probably 4-6 days to hit the old Star Wars Weekends and Flower and Garden during their short overlap in the late spring), I was probably for the most part the constantly in motion "run from this to that" park goer. I didn't even explore a single sit down (ADR) restaurant for the first couple of trips. The sit down restaurants were just another time eater to me in my early days since I was not familiar with them and had so much else to explore without them.
But as my visits grew to 2 (or some years 3) similar length visits per year, I evolved into becoming an Annual Passholder (for me, 2 such visits combined with the small discounts made that seem at least a financial neutral, so was worth it for the potential benefits), and I also spent more time looking for the little things like you mention (and doing at east one or 2 ADRs per trip). It was probably a few years before I knew that museum in the back of the Japan pavilion or the beautiful waterfall scenery behind Canada even existed! Heck, I think it was only on my most recent trip that I finally wandered into the shop with all the beautiful clocks in Germany.
But as you state for people who are doing a once in a lifetime or once every 5 years type of trip, it's just not always practical when trying to get the most bang for the buck. Of course some of the "new ways" that came about initially due to COVID (but seem to be here to stay) also detract from the effort to get the most bang for the buck (looking at you, Park Reservations, and No Park Hopping until 2 PM!).
Genie/Genie+/ILL was not yet operating during my first trip back since the COVID changes. I think it started literally the day I flew home. So I don't have a first hand experience to reflect on, having never had the opportunity to decide to pay up and try it. My impression from everything I read/watch (your article and many others, here on MP and elsewhere) is that I could only think the Genie + part might be "worth it" for MK with all the variety of rides spreading out the demand. For every other park, the service we are getting is no where near as good as the previously free FP+ system. Of course we can't go back in time to that, so perhaps using that as an "is it worth it" measuring stick is not valid. But it's far less benefit to a system we now pay for that it's similar predecessor used to deliver a better experience for free.
Maybe some of that lack of LL availability is due to the big crowds you mention. A lot of people (myself included) seem to think some of the seemingly almost continuous high crowds lately are pent up demand from trips that were either cancelled or postponed due to COVID. It will be a while before we can tell if it's permanent or that pent up demand that may eventually go back down a bit. If the crowds start to go back down to pre-COVID dynamics to some extent in the next year or so, maybe Genie+/ILL will seem like a better value than it is right now. But at 6 months into it, I see it as a loser (IMO, for me at least).
I'm really curious what they will end up doing for GotG, Mission Rewind when it opens (if there's been an updated announcement, I missed it). A long time ago (when they were still high on the Virtual Queues, before Paid ILLs were known to be so widely accepted by visitors), I think they had suggested that Guardians would be a virtual queue, like they used to do for RotR or Remy before they went to Paid ILL. I am wondering if they will still do that, or will GotG open immediately as a Paid ILL, or even as the worst of both worlds a Paid ILL for the benefit of entering a Virtual Queue (or maybe a Virtual Queue that you can then pay additional for to lessen the line). With the Paid aspect being so widely bought into by the guests, I can't see Disney not trying to extract additional money from guests for this new ride. It seems to be the wave of the future for them. (OK.... that was one of those negative comments I referred to above....
Other stuff:
Mickey's Philharmagic: I agree that is a neat little detail. I always try to help people "discover" it (indirectly) by making sure I am really obvious about turning my head back to look. I think at least a few times it's worked and I've heard people mention the effect after they turn around too.
The World Showcase Films: Agree they are a nice break, but for some people, the standing might be a bit much, considering their length. It's a balance, I suppose.
Lightning McQueen Racing Academy : This is one I forgot about on my last trip or two (I forget exactly when it opened). I had it in the back of my mind when I went in October, but I ended up forgetting to check it out. Something for my next trip, though I'm not sure when that may be.
Walt Disney Presents: I always try to wander through here for a few minutes. While I've seen it many times, It's a great break and not constrained by time (unless you see the movie too). I did find it odd that they removed the focused Epcot area, but this attraction evolves like all others, I guess.
The two Trails (and one Trek
Single Riders: Great for most places where it's offered. Used to be an exception for Rock N Roller Coaster. (was not always much better than Standby time posted). I always found Expedition Everest to be one of the best offerings of single Rider (noted that wasn't on your list?)
Kite Tails/ampitheater space: Agree. I actually really liked Rivers of Light, but I guess many did not so it got canned. The kites are maybe(and I do mean maybe) cute as a side show, but not worthy of being the sole attraction for this area.
Nighttime parades : YES! Still can't believe they kicked off (and most likely will even conclude) the MK 50th celebration with no night time parade. Unless there is something that was broken or extremely problematic, it would have been cool to even bring the Paint the Night parade that existed at DL for a little while to MK.
Annual passes: Yes, specifically the Reservations as I alluded to in one of my earlier comments. Also need to bring back the Hopping flexibility for both Annual Passes and Park Hopper Tickets. Since I let my Pass expire (took the partial refund) during COVID, I was fully OK with purchasing a regular multi-day park hopper as my admission for my trip in October. I felt extremely limited by the 2 PM park hopping rule, though. So for me, the Reservations and Hopping rules going back to "pre-COVID" rules are more important to me than my ability to purchase an AP again.
I don't have first hand knowledge if this is true, but a friend of mine suggested he had heard/read that some aspects of this ride may be turned off to help with processing more riders sometimes (sort of a "mode B" type of thing that some other rides seem to have). So that may be one of those effects if true. The one time I rode, I was lucky it was working.
Thanks Carolina!!
Hi Dave!
Hey, any comments are good. Love to get everyone's perspective. It's how we learn from one another.
All you say is true. When I write these, I always say "your milage may vary" because everyone has different goals for a vacation and different likes. My goal here was just to share how my point of view has changed since I've gotten to spend so much time here in the last few months and make some suggestions.
Like you, I'm curious to see how things continue to evolve as we come out of COVID and new things continue to open (and I'm a two time loser - D23 and Passholder - on the Galaxy previews - hoping I get to ride before I have to move on).
Gregg,
Good luck in your quest to ride GotG before it's time for your big move. I hope it works out for you. I've got a friend who is going right when it opens on Memorial Day weekend. I'm not sure I like his odds for success the first weekend (or if he is successful, I imagine it will either involve paying for an ILL(if they go that route), or a very long line).