It's kind of awful this week.

[fly girl]

I agree Maxpass was far superior to Genie+. We rode our favorite rides over and over and skipped all those that didn't appeal to us (most of Fantasyland). The whole one ride per day thing really chaps my hide.

WORD!! Agree 10000%
I also dislike they only give you one time slot option. It stinks. MaxPass was fabulous, worth every penny.

 

[Aurora0427]

I agree Maxpass was far superior to Genie+. We rode our favorite rides over and over and skipped all those that didn't appeal to us (most of Fantasyland). The whole one ride per day thing really chaps my hide.

Yeah the one ride per day thing with Genie + is super irritating. We loved maxpass. I just do not understand why they had to go ruin and change everything!

 

[Aurora0427]

WORD!! Agree 10000%
I also dislike they only give you one time slot option. It stinks. MaxPass was fabulous, worth every penny.

Oh yeah…… I forgot with Maxpass you could pick your return window!

 

[greeneyedchick]

GOSH, I am so sorry to hear this and hope things improve and you can make the most of your trip. We are travelling from England next week and it's a really special trip for my parents' 50-year Golden Wedding Anniversary (they are huge Disney fans). I know 90% of our happiness will just be from being there and breathing it all in but the wait times and overcrowding sounds really worrying. Thanks for sharing, we will try to prepare ourselves for the worst and hope for the best.

One question I have, is what's the point of the "reservation" system for park entry when clearly there is no sensible cap on numbers? Most of the coming days are still wide open. If there are CM staffing issues they should really limit the numbers more, but I guess all they care about is $$$$$$$$$ these days. Really sad.

The point of the reservation system is to the keep the locals/AP holders out and encourage people to stay on property since they tend to spend more.

 

[Aurora0427]

I am right there with you on the frustrating and annoying park hopping restriction (why??????) and Genie+ is a horrible product. MaxPass was 100 times better (and was the same price as Genie+ so why did they have to change it???).

Why does the annoying park hopping restriction exist?

 

[DLgal]

Oh yeah…… I forgot with Maxpass you could pick your return window!

No you couldn't. It was the same return time that the machines were currently giving out. Although, you could sometimes get other peoples cancellations.

FP+ at WDW let you pick your time slot.

 

[Aurora0427]

The point of the reservation system is to the keep the locals/AP holders out and encourage people to stay on property since they tend to spend more.

LOL we are AP holders and we go all the time…. We eat in the parks, we do character meals, we buy crap we don’t need. We spend a ridiculous amount of money at Disney. We’ll even get a hotel room now and then. This idea that AP holders don’t spend money in the parks is crazy…. AP holder’s are the ones buying the $35 Pete’s Dragon popcorn bucket and every new Loungefly backpack that comes out.

Most people coming in from out of town don’t stay on property…..

 

[Aurora0427]

No you couldn't. It was the same return time that the machines were currently giving out. Although, you could sometimes get other peoples cancellations.

FP+ at WDW let you pick your time slot.

That must be what I’m remembering…. We went to WDW ALOT

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Why does the annoying park hopping restriction exist?

It's 100% my biggest complaint with Disney right now. It's horrible!

 

[fly girl]

That must be what I’m remembering…. We went to WDW ALOT

Me too! The FP+ and MaxPass is just a blurred mix to me. Oops!

But I do know I loved MP vs FP+ ... and now I would take either of them in a second over G+ and ILL.

 

[heathpack]

It's 100% my biggest complaint with Disney right now. It's horrible!

For me, it’s Genie+.

The fact that it sucks, forces you onto your phone all day, increases non Genie wait times, you pay for ILL on top of Genie+ AND it doesn’t inherently make sense (wait, I can only ride once? wait, I have to pay more for some other random rides? wait, the price of the other rides varies? wait, how long until I can book another ride?) so you have to research it.

I am pretty price insensitive and pay for upgraded experiences at Disney frequently. Genie+ is just one step too far for me!

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

For me, it’s Genie+.

The fact that it sucks, forces you onto your phone all day, increases non Genie wait times, you pay for ILL on top of Genie+ AND it doesn’t inherently make sense (wait, I can only ride once? wait, I have to pay more for some other random rides? wait, the price of the other rides varies? wait, how long until I can book another ride?) so you have to research it.

I am pretty price insensitive and pay for upgraded experiences at Disney frequently. Genie+ is just one step too far for me!

OK, you're right. Genie+ is worse! I hate Genie+ so much, especially what it's done to the standby lines.

 

[DLgal]

+1 on Genie+ being the WORST

It used to be the lack of parking trams. But Genie+ has claimed the #1 spot.

 

[alohaholly]

Sorry that you got sick. Since you tested positive on the second day, you must have picked it up at some place other than Disney. We had Covid right after the fourth of July and it took two days after symptoms started and four days after being exposed before we tested positive. This new variant is no joke. Highly contagious. We made it two and a half years without getting it including traveling on four cruises and multiple trips to DL during this time. Hope that you’re feeling better.

Thanks. It was a very mild case, only like allergies, but I would never want to infect others. There are so many infants there! My kids never got it, we are going to try again in October.

I was at the Disneyland Hotel and the construction was really bad. It was noisy, it was loud at the pool and definitely was a negative.

 

[wassily]

Not really new. Weekends have been less busy than weekdays (particularly in the summer) for a while. I think you primarily go on weekdays, right? Might wanna switch that up. It's one of the main reasons we got Dream Keys. Saturdays are less busy than Sundays, in my experience, but Sunday MORNINGS have long been slow. Up until about 11 or so. I have fond memories of Sunday mornings with my toddler boys and we were sometimes the only people around on many walkways. The oldest is now 18. We joke that DL is our "church."

Our family used to always go Sundays but about a year ago we switched our family days to Saturday and Saturdays are usually very pleasant!

Summer right now, until school is back and all magic keys are unblocked..... Sundays are less crowded than Saturdays at least from a "big ride" wait time standpoint.
Crowds also leave earlier on Sundays so you can almost walk on to the big rides in the last 2 hours.
Friday is actually the best time to go for ride wait times during this July- early Aug season.
I've checked my experiences with "wait time data mining" sites... and they match up pretty well.
The Crowd Calendar sites are much less accurate.

 

[greeneyedchick]

Looks like Disneyland isn't alone in rides breaking down. Why did Disney make these people sit in the boat for an hour?
Small World ride breaks down for an hour

https://www.tiktok.com/video/7125969519410990382

 

[kristensideaoffun]

Looks like Disneyland isn't alone in rides breaking down. Why did Disney make these people sit in the boat for an hour?
Small World ride breaks down for an hour

https://www.tiktok.com/video/7125969519410990382

I’ve been stuck in a boat on IASW at DLR for close to an hour. That was 10 years ago and my husband refuses to step foot on that ride to this day.

 

[greeneyedchick]

I’ve been stuck in a boat on IASW at DLR for close to an hour. That was 10 years ago and my husband refuses to step foot on that ride to this day.

That's awful! Isn't there a walkway next to the boat? I would think there would have to be in order to evacuate during a fire. I don't understand why they wouldn't just evacuate everyone rather than make them sit there. What did people with crying babies or kids who had to go to the bathroom do? Definitely not a magical experience!

 

[KPeterso]

I’ve been stuck in a boat on IASW at DLR for close to an hour. That was 10 years ago and my husband refuses to step foot on that ride to this day.

We were stuck about 30-45 minutes about 8-10 years ago. We were just about to exit the building. And the walkway on the side there had a small set of stairs that went up and down. Those stairs prevented us from being evacuated. All the boats around us were otherwise evacuated. Honestly, with my Mom's knees, I think she would have had trouble making the step to get out, so probably ok we could not get off. We were on a boat flagged as handicap to avoid the stairs. When we finally got moving again and were able to exit, the family behind us asked if they could stay on and go around again.... We practically ran off!!!

That said, we still love Small World. We have been using the wheelchair boat the last few months (don't want doing too much pulling herself up to exit the boat after her surgery a few months ago) and every time, they ask if we want to go around again as there is no one waiting for the wheelchair boat. So typically, we have been going around twice each time and then exiting.

 

[kristensideaoffun]

We were stuck about 30-45 minutes about 8-10 years ago. We were just about to exit the building. And the walkway on the side there had a small set of stairs that went up and down. Those stairs prevented us from being evacuated. All the boats around us were otherwise evacuated. Honestly, with my Mom's knees, I think she would have had trouble making the step to get out, so probably ok we could not get off. We were on a boat flagged as handicap to avoid the stairs. When we finally got moving again and were able to exit, the family behind us asked if they could stay on and go around again.... We practically ran off!!!

That said, we still love Small World. We have been using the wheelchair boat the last few months (don't want doing too much pulling herself up to exit the boat after her surgery a few months ago) and every time, they ask if we want to go around again as there is no one waiting for the wheelchair boat. So typically, we have been going around twice each time and then exiting.

We were also in a flagged boat as my husband was in a wheelchair at the time. It was awful.

We also got stuck on Screamin for over an hour on that trip. It was during that perfect time period where it was still early enough in the morning to be overcast. That changed 15 minutes into it and we were stuck on the ride in full sun with our sweatshirts on. My husband was in a boot and kept insisting they let us off and he would just take his time hobbling down the stairs. I’m not sure how they planned to evacuate him or why it took so long, but he finally convinced them to let us off and they helped him slowly walk down the stairs.