Genie+ attraction availability goes shortly each single day at Hollywood Studios, particularly through the coronary heart of the vacations at Walt Disney World. With that in thoughts, I headed to DHS to check the paid FastPass service on what I anticipated can be a moderately-crowded Christmas season day.
However, if wait time knowledge is to be believed, it was truly one of many slowest days at DHS within the final two months, with a mean wait time of 38 minutes and a crowd degree of two/10. Conversely, if random experiences on our Facebook web page are to be believed, it might’ve been the busiest day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in years. Perhaps the worst day ever! So possibly it was a gradual day, possibly it was so insanely and crushingly crowded that it’ll make the subsequent version of Guinness…who’s to say?!
I assume as somebody who has spent method an excessive amount of time at DHS in the previous few years, I’m. Disney’s Hollywood Studios was not busy by present requirements. (Emphasis added as this half is essential–nobody has a time machine to revisit the great ole days of 2018, in order that’s not a related comparability.) Don’t make the error of assuming Genie+ was not essential on today as a result of every thing was a walk-on or had wait occasions of 20 minutes or much less. To the opposite, there have been rides with wait occasions exceeding an hour…or two!
On this 2/10 crowd degree day at DHS, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance peaked at 145 minutes, Slinky Dog Dash managed triple digits at 100 minutes, Tower of Terror topped out at 90 minutes, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster hit 85 minutes, and three different points of interest managed 75 minute maximums.
It looks as if Walt Disney World followers have unrealistic expectations for what “low crowds” means at DHS within the present period. It’s all relative, and a crowded day at DHS means 5 points of interest averaging triple-digit wait occasions (with Rise of the Resistance above 3 hours and Slinky Dog Dash between 2 and three hours), and plenty of others round 90 minutes.
So this wasn’t precisely a useless day–it simply wasn’t almost as dangerous as DHS can get through the vacation season.
In any case, this photograph report walks you thru my step-by-step day utilizing paid FastPass, with my Lightning Lane choices & return occasions, trip reservation screenshots, what I achieved utilizing Genie+ throughout low crowd ranges (by 2022 requirements), and ideas on the finish about whether or not Genie+ remains to be well worth the cash at DHS.
Despite the low crowd degree, Genie+ did assist me beat a number of of these hour-plus lengthy strains, which have been pretty widespread through the center of the day. Additionally, I used to be in a position to take a look at technique and see how the dynamic with Lightning Lanes has modified because the return of Fantasmic, which has altered attendance patterns at DHS.
Given the two/10 crowd degree, it must be unsurprising that Genie+ price “only” $16 per individual on this specific day. As a reminder, paid FastPass shifted to date-based pricing for the Genie+ service. As all the time, that is Walt Disney World code for “price increase (most of the time).”
Only a number of days earlier than my go to, Genie+ price ~$31 after tax. Thus far in December, most dates have truly dropped again to pre-increase territory, with solely the weekends being above $15. This is regardless of crowds trending up this week, too. I might hazard a guess that this weekend will probably be at or above $20 and subsequent week is not going to drop again to $15, as attendance is just prone to rise within the lead-up to Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Expect costs again within the $15 vary after January 9, 2023.
Before we get going, it’s vital to notice that that is merely my day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios utilizing Lightning Lanes. It’s not a beneficial itinerary, Genie+ touring plan, or universally-applicable day that I might counsel replicating. Simply what I did over the course of testing Genie+ throughout a day at DHS. For these, see the next:
If you’re attempting to perform simply as a lot in a day with out Genie+, an aggressive strategy and savvy technique are required at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. It’s the hardest park to tour at Walt Disney World. There’s no magical components to sleeping in, rolling as much as the park a pair hours after rope drop, not shopping for Genie+, having fun with the park in a leisurely method, and carrying out every thing.
Anyway, let’s transfer alongside to my day utilizing Genie+ and Lightning Lanes at Disney’s Hollywood Studios…
Let’s begin at 6:50 am, which is when my alarm went off. I purchased Genie+ within the My Disney Experience app and customised my Tip Board for strategic benefit. (We extremely advocate following our Speed Strategy for Genie+ Selections for why all of that is vital, and easy methods to rating an early return time for Slinky Dog Dash.)
At 7:00:00 am, I refreshed the Tip Board. Unfortunately, I used to be staying at All Star Sports and my room in “Home Run Hotel” was something however a homerun when it got here to web velocity (each WiFi and mobile). Consequently, the refreshing spun and spun for what felt like an eternity (it was extra like 7 seconds). I ended up with 12:35 pm to 1:35 pm as my return time. Not my most interesting work.
In order to “run the table” on headliner Lightning Lanes at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, it’s normally crucial to attain Slinky Dog Dash with a return time at or earlier than 10:30 am. Doing so allows you to e-book a second Lightning Lane attraction at DHS earlier than 10:30 am, which is the primary attainable time anybody topic to the 120 minute rule–which is most friends–will be capable to make one other Genie+ trip reservation.
Even although it’s a far longer window, not many individuals are reserving between ~7:10 am and 10:29 am. Return occasions have a tendency to maneuver slower throughout that time-frame. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make one other trip reservation till 10:30.
It was at this level that I made my first essential mistake of the day: following my very own recommendation.
According to my very own Lightning Lane rankings (on the time), Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway had climbed to the #2 precedence at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. This has been correct for the final a number of months, however isn’t when Tower of Terror is just working at half-capacity, which is the case proper now, but once more.
I actually ought to’ve identified higher, as this has been a difficulty and I noticed Tower of Terror with an abnormally excessive wait time whereas strolling round, however I didn’t join the dots. Don’t make this similar mistake.
Tower of Terror is often the #4 or #5 precedence when it’s working at full capability, however jumps to the clear #2 when at half-capacity. An straightforward method to inform it’s at half-capacity with out watching the elevators endlessly is trying out wait occasions. Currently, Tower of Terror has the third highest wait time (98 minutes) at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in December 2022 after Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance (109 minutes) and Slinky Dog Dash (103 minutes). If it’s within the high 3 (or 4) for wait occasions throughout your go to, it’s the #2 precedence. If not, it’s not.
As you may see from the screenshot above, Tower of Terror was already gone by the point I made my subsequent choice.
Normally, Toy Story Mania can be the #6 precedence at DHS, however I grew to become (maybe a tad overly) conservative after the Tower of Terror debacle. I seen Toy Story Mania had greater wait occasions all through the morning than the remaining alternate options, so I picked it, fearing downtime was plaguing TSM, too.
I tapped into Toy Story Mania at 2:20 pm.
As a reminder, it’s attainable to enter the Lightning Lane as much as 5 minutes early or quarter-hour late. There isn’t any have to ask for a Cast Member’s permission to do that–it doesn’t require a pc override. If something, asking a CM would possibly lead to confusion, because it’s attainable they won’t find out about this Lightning Lane “rule.” (No knock at them–there’s method an excessive amount of to maintain monitor of with Genie!)
As quickly as I tapped into the primary Lightning Lane touchpoint at Toy Story Mania (the second was disabled), I started looking for Lightning Lane availability. Still no Tower of Terror, however one thing arguably higher: Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run with a return time ~half-hour into the longer term.
This needed to have been a cancellation or refill, and I jumped on it instantly. Everything earlier than this had been topic to the 120 minute rule–a standard incidence at DHS and why it’s really easy to finish up with a backloaded day of Lightning Lanes–so I used to be actually happy to attain this.
Almost as quickly as I used to be executed with Toy Story Mania, my window for Millennium Falcon opened. Disney’s Hollywood Studios has a extremely small footprint as in contrast the opposite parks, so I don’t thoughts some backtracking, but it surely was however good to knock out two close by points of interest in fast succession.
Wait occasions have been “finally” beginning to drop by round 2-3 pm (wait occasions peaked earlier than midday previous to Fantasmic returning–not anymore), which can be good for Genie+ customers. Based on what I’ve noticed over the past yr, Lightning Lane availability and return occasions are dynamic to a point. Meaning that if wait occasions drop or spike, Lightning Lane stock adjusts accordingly, additionally going up or down, and pushing return occasions later or transferring them ahead. At least, that is my concept–corroborated by dozens of days of use (and plenty of extra of statement).
Nevertheless, the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror remained unavailable. It additionally nonetheless had a 90 minute wait time, whilst different headliner points of interest fell under an hour.
My subsequent decide was Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster because of this. With this choice, I had all the ‘best’ or helpful DHS Lightning Lanes, save for Tower of Terror and Alien Swirling Saucers. I didn’t need precedence entry, or any entry for that matter, to A.S.S.
Throughout the afternoon and early night, I periodically checked Genie+ for Tower of Terror refills, however no such luck. I gained’t fake that I used to be diligent about this–I met up with a pal and we had an early dinner, so I didn’t test in any respect between round 4 pm and 6 pm.
One factor to notice is that every thing else–minus Slinky Dog Dash on the Genie+ aspect and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance on the ILL aspect–continued to have Lightning Lane availability previous 6 pm. The significance of that is that even for those who have been topic to the 120 minute rule your entire day, you might have scored each attraction within the high 7 simply by following our Lightning Lane trip rankings.
That’s actually one of many large variations between a low crowds and busy day at DHS. While each are going to have hour-plus wait occasions for the headliners, the crowded day goes to have even worse wait occasions. No shock there. However, that turns into much less pronounced by mid-afternoon, when many points of interest will fall below an hour on the gradual day. That gained’t occur on a day that’s actually busy.
More vital from the Genie+ perspective is that the majority points of interest gained’t run out of Lightning Lane trip reservations till very late on a gradual day. There’s a ‘tipping point’ of types on less-busy days the place energetic customers of Genie+ falls under the general allotted capability for Lightning Lanes, and makes it very easy for many points of interest. This was a kind of days. (In my expertise, the tipping level for DHS is a 6/10 crowd degree day. That degree or under is fairly straightforward as long as you don’t screw up the order. Anything above that and it’s a bit more difficult.)
To that time, I used to be not on my cellphone a lot in any respect all through the day. (Check out the development of my battery life within the screenshots above–at no level did I take advantage of my exterior charger, and I arrived again at All Star Sports with over 50% remaining.) When topic to the 120 minute rule, I set alarms when it was time to make my subsequent choice.
When topic to the tap-in rule, I made new reservations upon getting into the Lightning Lane. I didn’t play the refresh sport in any respect. In truth, I spent much less time on my cellphone than I might have if I weren’t utilizing Genie Plus, as I might’ve in any other case been checking wait occasions much more usually and modifying my itinerary on the fly. That wasn’t essential since I had Lightning Lanes–and in addition as a result of decrease wait occasions by mid-afternoon made the entire day simpler, even what I did by way of standby.
I might have executed Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance after the primary displaying of Fantasmic, as its posted 40 wait time most likely was inflated. On gradual days when downtime isn’t dangerous, a posted wait time below an hour usually means close to walk-on standing.
The finish of the night time is such a crapshoot with this attraction. Sometimes, the posted wait time is dramatically inflated and the precise wait finally ends up being 20 minutes or much less. Other occasions, breakdowns make it an underestimate. (See our Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance Ride Guide for technique, greatest & worst occasions to do the attraction.)
It was the very same story with Slinky Dog Dash. This had a posted wait time, however one take a look at the queues led me to consider the wait time was about half of that.
The standby line right here later within the night advantages from Genie+ customers leaving, doing dinner, or choosing Fantasmic as an alternative of their Lightning Lane reservations–ones made at 7:00:10 am are much less prone to go as deliberate than ones made solely a few hours upfront.
Regardless, we needed to benefit from the low nighttime crowds at Disney’s Hollywood Studios by catching the second displaying of Fantasmic. This was extremely straightforward–regardless of solely displaying up ~10 minutes earlier than the nighttime spectacular began, we have been nonetheless seated within the Sorcerer Mickey part. It was an ideal view.
At some level, Walt Disney World goes to determine attendance and crowd dynamics and never schedule two showings of Fantasmic on days when crowds are this low. It looks as if the addition of second showtimes was very reactionary, as they–for some odd cause–didn’t notice Veterans’ Day weekend can be so busy and demand would nonetheless be excessive.
As a end result, they added second showings for a bunch of weekdays through the vacation season, even ones which have been traditionally slower. Point being, don’t count on two showtimes on gradual days for those who’re going someday in 2023. They’ll determine this out ultimately.
Ultimately, I ended up utilizing Genie+ to safe 5 Lightning Lane choices throughout this 2/10 crowd day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. I might have run the desk and gotten all 7 had I merely booked Tower of Terror with my second choice and had I cared about A.S.S. In truth, I most likely might’ve scored 10 Lightning Lanes had I additionally booked the pointless ones for stage reveals and Olaf.
Going by posted wait occasions throughout my return home windows, I saved roughly 6 hours ready in line, and possibly might’ve saved one other 1-2 had I booked extra Lightning Lanes. That’s sufficient to make Genie+ well worth the cash to me on this specific day. Of course, that assumes posted wait occasions are correct (they aren’t) and that I might’ve waited in standby strains at their peak through the center of the day (I might not).
In actuality, I might’ve executed every thing by way of standby had I arrived for Early Entry or Park Hopped to DHS after ~3 pm and began doing points of interest then (whereas additionally skipping the second displaying of Fantasmic) and saved about the identical period of time versus noon posted waits. For the Genie+ haters on the market (who however have learn this 2,000+ phrase publish), this would possibly sound like candy success, vindication of your pre-existing viewpoint. Hold your horses.
What you gained’t like to listen to is that using Early Entry or Park Hopping to Disney’s Hollywood Studios and doing every thing by way of standby would have required extra planning, higher technique, and even elevated backtracking. Aside from the 7 am wake-up (not that large of a deal to me, and I say this as somebody who handled a 17-hour time change one week earlier and 3-hour time change two days earlier), utilizing Genie+ throughout today at DHS was the laid-back possibility this specific day!
It allowed me to not fear about posted wait occasions, stress over carrying out every thing in an environment friendly order, and it allowed me to see the second Fantasmic once I in any other case would’ve possible wanted that point to knock out Slinky Dog Dash. It could not appear to be it because you’ve simply learn a prolonged publish–a few of which might be complicated for those who don’t have firsthand expertise with Genie Plus–however this was the best strategy to this specific day at DHS.
It gained’t all the time be the case that Genie+ is less complicated than the alternate options. On busier days, my choice is Early Entry or staying late and doing standby as soon as the crowds begin to subside. But the purpose is that there are a number of “solutions” to beating crowds at Disney’s Hollywood Studios (or any park, for that matter) and no one-size-fits-all reply.
Genie+ doesn’t essentially have to contain extreme display time, frantic refreshing, or criss-crossing the park a number of occasions. Hopefully today illustrates that Genie+ could be a good device to have in your ‘park touring kit’ to be used when essential or acceptable.
For extra information and solutions to widespread questions, see our Guide to Genie+ at Walt Disney World & Lightning Lane FAQ. We’ve already up to date that a number of occasions, and it’s an incredible leaping off level for those who’re confused, overwhelmed…or absolutely perceive the system, however need some next-level technique to raised leverage Genie+.
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Learn about inns on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To get monetary savings on tickets or decide which sort to purchase, learn our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets publish. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips publish takes a novel take a look at intelligent objects to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, the most effective place to start out is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for every thing it’s essential know!
Your Thoughts
Thoughts on my day in Disney’s Hollywood Studios utilizing the Genie+ service through the Christmas 2022 season? Are you planning on shopping for Genie+ or sticking to free standby strains at DHS? Prefer Early Entry, Genie+, or finish of day at DHS? Do you agree or disagree with my evaluation? Any questions we might help you reply? Hearing your suggestions–even whenever you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!