My thoughts after using the new system in Epcot, DHS and MK on 8/2-8/4.
We are not "stay in the park all day" people. Our usual plans are rope drop, rides until lunch (sometimes in the park, sometimes out), maybe a ride or two after lunch, then back to the resort by 1:30-2 for pool and/or chill time.
The system works better for all day park people than it did for us. After using our first LL, we had difficulty finding another LL that we could use before it was time to leave the park.
The system forces some amount of criss-crossing the parks, especially when you are using VQ for Tron or Guardians. In MK, we had boarding group 6 for Tron, so immediately after rope dropping Jungle Cruise, we had to go to Tron, then back to HM for our first LL. We didn't get to ride BTMR, as it's usually our second ride, after JC, and by the time we got back to the Frontierland/Liberty Square side of MK, the BTMR wait time was longer than we wanted to wait.
We had a 12:15 Kona lunch reservation; from 8:30 (early entry) to 11:45 we did Buzz, JC, Tron (VQ), HM (LL), Tiana (LL), WDW railroad, Mermaid (LL), Buzz (LL).
Epcot--But for getting a LL for Ratatouille (we call it the Rat Ride) and a shorter SE wait time, we didn't need LL. We did Soarin', LwtL, Nemo (LL--not needed), GotG (ILL), SE (LL--cut wait form 20 min to zero), Soarin' (LL), lunch at Via Napoli, Rat (LL).
DHS--early entry--ToT, MMRR, TSM, MFSR, Ronto Roaster quick breakfast, TSM (LL and my all time high score), 11 AM lunch at HBD Lounge, ToT (LL). We had a LL for Slinky but I got the Slinky and ToT return times reversed, so we missed Slinky and couldn't modify the time for later since Slinky was "sold out." We were able to get some LL's for Epcot rides for after dinner, but opted to not go to Epcot after dinner.
For our next trip, I'll be taking a hard look at how we do the parks in the morning then decide if we want to pay for the LL's. I do like the convenience of choosing the ILL return time for Guardians, because in our experience, the VQ line can get really long, and the ILL line has always been shorter.
We were not planning to use the system for AK, and we ended up getting rained out on our AK day due to Debby on 8/5.
Thanks for posting. I have never used Genie +, but considering a day of LL for our Oct trip. Currently, kids and I will probably only have 2 or 3 day tickets, and want to get as much stuff done as possible, and HS is the worst. Even w rope dropping. And they've decided they don't want to rope drop....so we may try it. I will likely buy the GotG ILL . have done that in the past, My issues are that DH has no intention of using LL, and doesn't want us to. and I don't ride the same stuff as the kids. So not sure how easy/difficult it'll be to pick different things.
