DisTXMom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 3, 2013
Just back from 2.5 day trip 12/2-12/4. Stayed at DLH. Few observations:
- monorail for early entry was way to go for sure. We lined up for security at 640am to get in BeRY long line at security, security opened at 700am, monorail Opened at 715/720, in Tomorrowland by 730. A lot of waiting in line, so 12/4 we left DLH at 720, breezed through security with no line, boarded monorail with no line and were in Tomorrowland by 735. So waking up early to be in line by 640 only saved us about 5 minutes and cost us 30 minutes of sleep
-12/2 early entry did Snow White, toad, Alice and Peter Pan (at end of EE). 12/3 early entry did space twice, Alice and Pinocchio
- genie+ was totally worth it for our party of 4. We did everything, most of it multiple times which was great for our ride junkie group. We booked Matterhorn as our first lightening lane 8am and then kept booking it until it was open and we could ride it (it breaks a lot so we gained top tier anytime passes to use in either park- it seemed consistently down at 8am every day). We didn’t do that as a “strategy” but those anytime passes sure helped. We booked quick returns all morning (big Thunder, splash, haunted mansion, buzz, then booked DCA rides from furthest out to quickest return (guardians, Toy Story, then soarin and incredicoaster). Rode pirates and jungle cruise in the mornings before wait times were really high, so did those with 10-20 minute waits. While it was busy, we didn’t wait in any long lines.
- I bought our group rise and radiator springs ILLS because it was a super short trip and we wanted to ride those together. Radiator springs is very doable in single rider lane so we’d likely do that next time. I hate to spend $18 for radiator racers, but it was 120 minute wait, so we basically each paid $9/hr to not wait in line and be able to all ride together. If it has been a 60 minute wait we would have just done standby.
- genie+ refresh helped a ton. Was able to pick up quick returns on several attractions (such as 1pm Toy Story when it was booking for 3:30pm). Every lightening lane I stalked I got
- cast members were all awesome- happy, courteous and helpful.
- parks were clean
- visitors were all pleasant- people seemed in a good mood and happy to be there. Didn’t observe any ugly visitors.
- many key holders being blocked during the weekend helped a lot I think
- Fantasmic! was awesome- forgot how good it was!
This is the shortest Disney trip we’ve done but it really was perfect. Best of luck to the rest of the December visitors
- monorail for early entry was way to go for sure. We lined up for security at 640am to get in BeRY long line at security, security opened at 700am, monorail Opened at 715/720, in Tomorrowland by 730. A lot of waiting in line, so 12/4 we left DLH at 720, breezed through security with no line, boarded monorail with no line and were in Tomorrowland by 735. So waking up early to be in line by 640 only saved us about 5 minutes and cost us 30 minutes of sleep
-12/2 early entry did Snow White, toad, Alice and Peter Pan (at end of EE). 12/3 early entry did space twice, Alice and Pinocchio
- genie+ was totally worth it for our party of 4. We did everything, most of it multiple times which was great for our ride junkie group. We booked Matterhorn as our first lightening lane 8am and then kept booking it until it was open and we could ride it (it breaks a lot so we gained top tier anytime passes to use in either park- it seemed consistently down at 8am every day). We didn’t do that as a “strategy” but those anytime passes sure helped. We booked quick returns all morning (big Thunder, splash, haunted mansion, buzz, then booked DCA rides from furthest out to quickest return (guardians, Toy Story, then soarin and incredicoaster). Rode pirates and jungle cruise in the mornings before wait times were really high, so did those with 10-20 minute waits. While it was busy, we didn’t wait in any long lines.
- I bought our group rise and radiator springs ILLS because it was a super short trip and we wanted to ride those together. Radiator springs is very doable in single rider lane so we’d likely do that next time. I hate to spend $18 for radiator racers, but it was 120 minute wait, so we basically each paid $9/hr to not wait in line and be able to all ride together. If it has been a 60 minute wait we would have just done standby.
- genie+ refresh helped a ton. Was able to pick up quick returns on several attractions (such as 1pm Toy Story when it was booking for 3:30pm). Every lightening lane I stalked I got
- cast members were all awesome- happy, courteous and helpful.
- parks were clean
- visitors were all pleasant- people seemed in a good mood and happy to be there. Didn’t observe any ugly visitors.
- many key holders being blocked during the weekend helped a lot I think
- Fantasmic! was awesome- forgot how good it was!
This is the shortest Disney trip we’ve done but it really was perfect. Best of luck to the rest of the December visitors