Pack your big suitcase of patience and ponchos! Feb 14 - 18 | President's Day Weekend

[Ohiostatefan606]

 

[Ohiostatefan606]

That's 3 non-stop days!
We headed to MCO at 8:00 am for our flight.
We have TSA pre-check and we honestly, walked through security. They were actually yelling at the TSA passengers to move over to an open lane.

Back home to Ohio, where it was cold and had snowed. But home in time to pick up our dog from the kennel.

I was off work for President's Day and my son didn't have school, so sleeping in and laundry. Yep, hubby had to go to work!

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this report. And yes, you can make Genie work on a super busy weekend!

 

[disneyAndi14]

I enjoyed reading along! Sounds like you made great use of your time and had a wonderful trip!

 

[Counting Stars]

Very impressed- you seem to have had a great trip and you were able to make wonderful use of the time, even with so many ride outages... Thanks for taking the time to share. (Haven't had the pleasure of Genie + yet, coming up this spring and not looking forward to it.) You seem to have done really well on a busy weekend- love to hear any tips you have to share.

 

[Ohiostatefan606]

Very impressed- you seem to have had a great trip and you were able to make wonderful use of the time, even with so many ride outages... Thanks for taking the time to share. (Haven't had the pleasure of Genie + yet, coming up this spring and not looking forward to it.) You seem to have done really well on a busy weekend- love to hear any tips you have to share.

Hey Counting Stars, if you haven't used Genie+ yet, I recommend starting here: WDW Prep School, and reading her info first. I like the info here on the boards, but sometimes it is too much and I just want straight info. That site also breaks down which rides to book first, etc.

But here is what I know and what works for us.
We use the "stacking" method. I book my Genie+ plus selections for the afternoon when the parks are the busiest. We use the morning to knock out rides that tend to have shorter wait times. Keep in mind buying Genie+ is completely optional. But yes, we buy Genie+ multi-park experience each day. We are family of 3, only going to the parks for a few days. We aren't there for a week or 10 days where you can just spread out what you do. We also buy the paid lightning lanes ($LL), think Tron, Guardians, 7DMT.... We buy those and use them to fill afternoon slots.

I do modify my Genie+ selections to get them to the time slots I want. This is the key to booking that first Genie+ option at 7:00 am. You can't pick your time, you get what you get. But you CAN modify. You just have to watch the times. It might feel like you are on your phone a lot, but I'm using my phone to take pictures, so yep, I'm already on it.

At 7:00 am my hubby is helping with booking. Depending on your park that day you have Virtual Queues you are trying to get and you want to buy your paid LL and book your first Genie+ selection.
7:00 am - Virtual Queue for Tron or Guardians - all hands on deck!
Then my husband buys our $LL's depending on the park - these you can pick your time window.
I am booking our first Genie+ selection

If the park opens at 8:00 (not early entry time, official park opening), you can book your next Genie+ selection at 10:00 am. I set alarms on my phone to go off every 2 hours. The MDE app will also tell you what time you can book. The alarms helped me to not miss my next selection time. I also don't stress if I don't get the perfect time slot. You have a 1 hour window to redeem your Genie+ selection.

Always happy to help and answer questions!

 

[Jsharp13]

That's 3 non-stop days!
We headed to MCO at 8:00 am for our flight.
We have TSA pre-check and we honestly, walked through security. They were actually yelling at the TSA passengers to move over to an open lane.

Back home to Ohio, where it was cold and had snowed. But home in time to pick up our dog from the kennel.

I was off work for President's Day and my son didn't have school, so sleeping in and laundry. Yep, hubby had to go to work!

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this report. And yes, you can make Genie work on a super busy weekend!

thanks for sharing your report. I know it takes time to track these details. Others really enjoy reading and learning!

 

[Counting Stars]

Thanks so much for the tips Ohiostatefan606! I appreciate your taking the time to respond- I am bookmarking helpful info on Genie +, and have added this page and the link you provided. Very helpful
We avoided using Genie + the last trip but I have lately become more open to trying it.... I am curious if it will improve the experience.

 

[cassidy57]

Great Report! You all packed a lot in on your trip. I would need a week to recover when I got home, lol

 

[Ohiostatefan606]

Great Report! You all packed a lot in on your trip. I would need a week to recover when I got home, lol

There is no tired like "Disney tired".

 

[footballmouse]

Looks like you guys had a fun time, great use of Genie+ . You sound like our family. My kids and I are go-go-go people at the park and we definitely would have riden BTM in the rain. Beautiful pictures by the way!

 

[jrmint427]

One of the many reasons we love CBR is the Skyliner and not having to take a bus. Not battling buses every day, makes it easier when you have to!

Enjoying your trip report! After staying on the Skyliner, it would be difficult to go back to a resort that only has buses. The buses take so much longer and are a pain!

To be honest, the fast walking, some running, people now trying to get into the queue line outside, appears to be a safety issue. Personally, letting people all the way to the line and entering the queue line is safer and for those that were there first, you get in line first. We really didn't have to wait that long, but it's the massive crowd walking together, that I just don't understand.

This is so true. We experienced this as well with a SM rope drop. We saw some people trying to run around the crowds and heard others cheering when they were blocked by CMs! It would be so much nicer if we could have lined up earlier.

We are convinced they toned down the animatronic dinosaur.

I wondered about that! It had been a long time since I actually looked at the one at the end. I could have sworn 10 years ago it was blowing fire or something, but my husband thought it was the same as always. I remembered it being much scarier.