Lines and express lines (genie+)

The last time I was at the Magic Kingdom was 5-6 years ago. It has been almost 20 years since I went to the rest of Disney Orlando Parks. I am concerned because we are planning a trip in the beginning of November 2023. I have no problem with purchasing Genie+ passes to get the shorter lines. I have the Disney app downloaded that shows wait times and Genie pass options. My big concern is that we are still going to have very long lines. Everything seems to be at least a 30 min wait. You can only reserve one Genie+ pass at a time. Which makes it even harder. For instance, I can either wait in a 50 min line to ride Jungle Cruise or get the next Genie pass which isn't until 4:30 pm. If I do this, then I cannot reserve any other Genie passes the rest of the day. So I can forget about the Jungle Cruise. Plus having to run all around the park to meet the reserved passes is a waste of time. I guess my question is, what has your experience been with Disney Parks and wait times. I always try to go on the low season and have found the beginning of November to be one of the best times for lines and weather. Should I even bother with Disney. I usually go to Universal Parks, I get the express passes. They are much easier and I can go to what ever ride I want at any time. The most I have ever waited was 20 min. Sorry for the long post, please let me know what I would be in for waiting in lines at Disney
Thanks

Disney's website about Genie + states "On average, guests can enter 2 to 3 attractions or experiences per day using the Lightning Lane entrance". My own thoughts on this system is that you almost need to plan to be in the park from opening to close to take full advantage of the Genie Lightning Lane service though, to be honest, I have never purchased this option myself so can't speak from personal experience. In addition to the Lightning Lane option, you can also purchase a couple of individual rides in each park but, again, that costs even more than the per person daily cost Since the paid Lightning Lane system was put into place, it is my observation that standby lines for most rides have increased significantly. Unless the system changes between now and your planned trip, you can likely expect to wait in standby lines that are longer than what you remember from prior trips. Unexpectedly, some days seem to have lower than usual crowds and we've been able to get on quite a few rides without extended waits on those days - however, there is no way we can ever predict when those days might be.

We have relatives who visit annually and usually, we spend a few nights over at Disney. Last spring, we skipped Disney entirely and spend a couple of nights at Universal instead. Our hotel stay included front of the line access. We had a wonderful time.

You'll have to weigh the pros and cons of your planned visit.

You can book a second genie + reservation 2 hours after the one you have on hand, so you don't have to wait until you use your (theoretical) 4:30 Jungle Cruise reservation.

I haven't been the parks since they instituted Genie +, but I wanted to make sure you realized you only need to wait 2 hours.

Planning a Disney trip can seem very overwhelming, especially with how much things are changing these days.

Although we LOVED the old FP+ system, we used Genie+ on our last trip and it was fine. To get the best value, we booked our first attraction before entering the park, and then either booked the next once we were done with the first, or two hours later, whatever came first. We also go at a low crowd time (end of August) but some waits still seem to spike and be longer than we want to wait.

It wasn’t perfect, but it did shorten the waits for some attractions, or let us wait in one line while our Genie+ time also counted down. Did we HAVE to get it for a good trip? No. Am I glad we got it, yep, since it did save us some line time.

We also tried to limit the criss-crossing of the park. Once you have a Genie+ booked, we found things to do in the same area.

But, this is supposed to be a fun vacation. If you’re already dreading it, maybe plan for less Disney days and more Universal and other things days?

We used it last January. Going back in 8 days. Unless it was something special or I won the lottery, I really can't see myself using it again. If you have 3-4 people the cost really adds up quickly, and you only get to use it 2-3 times per day. Like someone else said, you have to basically stay in one park all day to make it worthwhile, and we really never do that. If you have lots of money laying around, or this is a once-in-a-lifetime trip, go ahead and fork it over. Otherwise, park that money to something more useful later. Just my opinion.

We didn't find it worth it. We would much rather pay for the individual LL for the really popular rides and skip other long lines. Of course, if we were with a large group, that would be a lot less palatable. My DW and I are going to Walt Disney World for a three day weekend next weekend, and our plan is to pay to ride ROTR, and maybe Slinky Dog Dash. We'll wait for something if it has a 30 min wait time, but not much longer than that. Otherwise we'll just wander and people watch.

When we went for a day last year, we did not pay for it either. I just did not see where it was worth it. We went to Universal a couple of days and used the express pass which came "free" with our room. It was much, much easier to use and more convenient.

I am heading to WDW in a few weeks for the first time in several years, so I am trying to wrap my head around all the Genie+ and ILL rules too. Based on what I have read, you can make another Genie + LL reservation when after you check in on your current one or two hours after you make the previous one (as long as the first LL time is at least two hours later). So, in theory you should be able to hold more than one Genie+ LL pass at a time, but it would probably involve making your first one very early in the day. For example, at MK my plan is to reserve my first Genie+ LL pass at 7 a.m. (probably for Peter Pan's Flight), then at 9 a.m. for Jungle Cruise? I should clarify that those are the times I intend to make the reservations, not the return time. I am hopeful that I will be able to make another LL reservation for later in the day too. You're right in that the potential for having to constantly crisscross the park is there. It is not all that appealing, especially having been a regular at the parks "back in the day" when one could still be fairly spontaneous with the help of Fastpass, but I hope that I am pleasantly surprised.

Of course, Disney could change things up entirely by November of 2023, you never know. ;)

Yeah as it seems that at times that you want to wait until the price goes down if they do. But hope that they can really lower the prices. But it seems really high and would not blame you all if you choose not to go there.