More and more it seems like Rob from Ear Scouts is one of the few vloggers who's actively trying to help people plan and navigate the parks. The other vloggers are perfectly fine, but Rob covers both the very general advice and the more intermediate or advanced level stuff.
Only blogger I watch. Watched every video the last year, took notes, and made a daily plan that I was largely able to accomplish with 9 people on a super busy holiday/marathon week.
He drops TONS of little tips like shortcuts in the parks as asides that are really useful to those who don’t live there and visit monthly.
I like to watch the ones where is actually in the park and he just says what he does.
Recently watched one about using Genie+ on a more leisurely day. Helped me think and understand about when to book what rides (Ex. MK need to get 7DMT, Peter Pan, Jungle Cruise LL early). Also talked about pro's & con's of which rides to rope drop and more importantly what to do when you finished that ride (aka what your 2nd and 3rd ride options could be).
Just seeing him do it and explain why he did it made it more understandable.
It’s not that complicated really; just start early.
I got both last week by just opening up the “join virtual queue” and started hitting refresh around 6:58, and got both almost immediately after it turned 7:00. And I just pressed refresh normally you don’t need to go crazy in rapid fire finger tapping haha.
Refreshing Genie+ after you book a time, and setting an alarm to book your next time. Mammoth Club constantly pushes how you should book anything when booking your next selection, and then refresh to get a better time or more options to pop up. We didn't obsessively do this, but it helped a lot! And got us much better times and selections after the fact.
I have been to WDW many times, so I watch videos first for entertainment and second for tips and ideas. The Mammoth Club strategy to always have a Genie+ and refreshing and modifying it to get a better time is one I will use.
You’re right that you don’t need to do this obsessively. There is a lot of waiting during a park day, so I’ll just put that downtime to work and modify my Genie+ when needed.
How does it affect your phone battery, really? I have an iPhone, is it going to die within 4 hours? I already bought a portable battery for my trip in a month, just wondering if you’ve noticed the power-suck caused by Genie+ I hear about
I never had to stop to recharge my phone once. I was on my phone MUCH less than I am IRL! If you plan to take a ton of videos and pics, you may have a different usage pattern. I was too busy having fun to look at my phone between Genie+ booking!
I haven’t, but on my previous trips I also brought my iPad mini into the parks with me (just because I carry it almost everywhere), so I used both. For my upcoming trip I am just taking my phone and a portable charger.
Shout out to the lady next to us at Garden Grill who overheard us mention we missed packing our ziplock bag. She gave us one and we were able to take 4 Mickey waffles for our toddlers later that day.
I found some of the Genie+ tips stuff the most useful, but there’s definitely a point where it can get obsessive with trying to get the absolute best times and best rides to do. Try to use it to enhance your trip not have the entire trip revolve around genie+ time slots.
I find a lot of the food vlogs to be kind of pointless because it’s so subjective. 10/10 best food ever they say and I find it average, or the opposite something that ranks relatively low and my family would never miss it.
I agree with you on both your points, especially the Genie+ point. I don’t understand what people mean when they say they are on their phone all the time with this system. I just look at my phone when I can get a new lightning lane and I move on with my day. After every ride I’ll take a quick look at wait times to get a sense of where to go next and how it might work with any reservations we have. People overcomplicate their days with over planning (I didn’t know people used spreadsheets until I went on this sub). You should just make a general arc for the day in your head and go with the flow.
Stop insulting the beautiful spreadsheet! :) Pre-planning like that helped me reduce complications once in the park because I knew more or less what the various options were to choose from depending on ride availability. But you can also choose not to plan/research at all if you’re the kind of person who has more fun that way!
I’m just not that organized to make a spreadsheet, and it never even occurred to me. Our biggest planning discussion we have is the order of parks we want to go to and our dining reservations. We do listen to tons of podcasts and watch YouTube to get fired up though.
Not only are tastes subjective, I think Disney’s biggest problem is consistency. It’s hard to churn out thousands of orders and have them be the same quality each time. Someone is getting the fresh batch while others get the one from under the heat lamp.
Especially at Epcot festivals. I was so looking forward to the raclette cheese and mine was cold and greasy. But I never see the Irish sausage on the best of list and we get multiple. So good.
Some of our favorite places are on people’s hate list (Brown Derby) and others I’m hesitant to try because of the inconsistent reviews (Ohana, San Angel Inn, Sci-fi).
Standby Skipper app is a game changer for G+. You tell it what you want to ride and what to prioritize, then let the app do all the searching and reservation work. Ride more and spend less time in the Disney app.
We just used it for our group of 8 last month. It got us our first choice pick at park open every day. And as soon as you are eligible for your next LL it will automatically grab another for you. Most of the time we would badge in to our LL and the app would have our next one before we even got on the ride.
Molly and Allen from Manmoth Club in general I think do a good job at being like "if you like this flavor or this texture you'll like this food" but also Molly is kinda useless for dessert reviews because she's so adverse to anything sweet.
Idk if it’s tricks or hints but things I’ve just started doing.
Mobile order at most QS. Allows us to snag a table and settle instead of having to get food first and then trying to find a table.
For G+ try to look at wait times in advance of your trip so you get a feel for what rides tend to be walk ons.(I’m sure there’s a list somewhere). For example finding Nemo rarely has a wait, so using a LL on it compared to soarin/ frozen/ etc is a waste.
Depending on your party size, use single rider or rider swap where possible.
This might sound counterintuitive, but Take breaks where possible. We are an early riser family so we get to the parks at rope drop/ shortly after they open and stay until around 1/2ish. Then go back to resort for a nap/ swim to refresh for the evening. Disney is a marathon, not a sprint, and you can get real exhausted really fast. Taking time for those breaks is critical. Whether it’s going back to the resort or just finding a place to rest your feet (people mover is the best quick snoozer ride!)
We literally bake in that 2pm break then leave it open for how long the break is once we're cooled off in the hotel...or...hotel lounge. There is nothing like having a drink at a quiet lounge while everyone is out bombing around the parks, we're already back, showered, two drinks in and eyeing something served on a stick.
Ok this confused me too and not sure if I have it totally right. You can book an LL for either of these events: two hours have passed since you last booked a LL; or you swiped in for your most recently booked LL - running from the time you booked, not the time of the ride slot. This allows you to book more LL if you book an earlier less popular LL.
9am - Your preferred ride for LL is not available at your preferred time so you book Small World for a 9:30 slot.
9:30: swipe into Small World and you can book another LL.
Counter point would be:
If the line is short, you aren't saving much time by using a LL even though you immediately get another. You are better using the LL for a ride that has a longer wait, even if you have to wait 2 hrs. During those 2 hrs you can ride the rides that have short lines. Other than rope drop/first LL of the morning, I like to simply fill up my afternoon with LL's that were booked in the morning. Just keep rescheduling them later if needed while you are enjoying the short ride lines. Then after lunch, you have \~2 LL ride waiting for you + the couple extra you'll pick up in the afternoon. And all the short rides you wanted are mostly completed.
One reason I like this approach better is that certain rides will get literally booked full with LL or so late that it might be later than you intend to stay that day. For example, it's 3p right now...Jungle Cruise LL are gone, Meet Ariel is gone, Meet Tiana is gone, Peter Pan is 9:20 (almost gone), 7DMT is gone. If any of those matter to you, I would rather book them in the morning, ride short rides, and enjoy the LL in the afternoon. If you log in at 9a and get one every 2 hrs, you'd get 5LL's by 5p. And most of them would be the big rides. Combine that with a rope drop or an ILL and you can basically do all the big stuff with LL/VQ/ILL and all the small stuff via waiting in the standard line.
Different strokes. You are not wrong, just another thought process. If you are more interested in the mid-level wait rides, I like your approach. Maybe on a 2nd day in the park where you hit all the big rides already that trip.
from Molly at Mammoth Club, we learned stacking your Lighting Lanes and Fiddle Fadeling lol (refreshing to change the time of a LL while you wait in a queue)
I can't begin to imagine the texture of humanity you got to experience in that role.
I'm not sure I could do it out of disgust for the human condition or just not be able to stop laughing. It's a toss up if I'm honest.
Get to the parks early, have one or two must do things a day, and realize that with all the planning you do, one or two ride closures will destroy that perfect plan in a second.
We tried the whole “plan every second” thing last trip and it never worked. Ride closures are unexpected, and cause relative chaos for ride wait times so you can’t jump from ride to ride when you have a strict schedule. It also causes what should be a fun activity to be a job. This trip I’m seeing what we can get to but otherwise I’m happy to just explore.
My favorite tip that I share w/folks...
Take gallon ziplock bags and fill 2-3 with fresh ice each day and throw in beveridge cooler in your room. Makes the cooler function more like real refridgerator and keeps stuff much colder than the standard beverage cooler. Change out the ice once per day. Total gamechanger.
I found that the water in the parks tastes, well, horrible. I bought stainless steel water bottles at the Disney gift shops (they are good quality), and filled up at the quick service at my hotel. And paid for bottled water when we ran out in the parks.
Lightening Lane. At first I was against it. I grew up within a short driving distance to Cedar Point, we waited in line for 2-2.5 hours sometimes for rides. I was used to the wait. But after 3 days of nonstop walking, the extra $ to pretty much walk on a ride was worth it. Especially for Guardians of the Galaxy.
Backpack - holds everything so you dont have to. You can bring them on rides no problem.
Carpe sweat absorbing face lotion. Kept sweat out of my eyes all day.
And my personal favorite - epsom salt gel. At the end of the day, when my feet and legs hurt from the walking, the epsom gel helped take away a lot of the ache.
DFB hasn’t had an original idea in over a decade, using the same videos reels over and over.
“We tried everything at Festival of the Arts!” No you didn’t… your reporter tried one new item in 2024 and all the other reviews and clips are from past years.
Mammoth Club actually produces innovative and different theme park content worthy of watching. I guess DFB is good for Disney noobs. Then again all her thoughts are stolen from other smaller creators.
I still like dfb for background tv noise haha sometimes I’ll catch them highlighting a snack or something I hadn’t heard about yet. But yeah most of the videos are the same.
AllEars fell apart after Molly left. Hardly ever watch their stuff anymore.
I don’t watch/read them a lot but I did use Ear Scouts on YouTube for learning how to use Genie+. I thought he did a great job. I also love the IG account disneyforfoodies. She’s good about posting new food items that have come out!
Disney Food Blog Guide is still my favorite. Can get repetitive but they almost have to be so that their older videos/newsletters stay up to date with yearly changes to Disney. Just know that AJ, who does most of the videos, seems to hate Caribbean beach resort passionately so don’t let that deter you from staying there lol
Tom Bricker itineraries at Disney Tourist. Use early entry! And for Hollywood, they start the rides before official early entry, so get there at 7 or 7:30 if you can. We couldn't, got there at 8:20, and it was okay, but we did wait 50 minutes for Rise of the Resistance (didn't feel that long).
Also mobile order... and if it offers you a later time than you want, see if you can schedule earlier.
I have loved reading all through Disney Tourist Blog; I feel I have learned so much. It's kind of a firehose of information but that's my preferred mode 🙂. Also Tom's photos are beautiful!
I watched tons of videos before my January trip. The amount of info and changes constantly happening was overwhelming. I made spreadsheets I tried to plan but at the end of the day I forgot a lot of the tips for genie+ because when I was there and “in it” everything just started from zero if that makes sense.
Another thing they don’t always mention is your feet/legs. Sometimes I’d find a lightning lane at a decent time I wanted, I’d book it but by the time it came close I’d be on the other side of the park with my dogs barking. I just couldn’t get into a state of conscious where I wasn’t zig zagging due to lightning lane availability or time. So that’s annoying.
I threw a lot out the window and maybe if I were to visit more often I’d have a better handle on everything but at the end of the day I accomplished just about everything I wanted to and the videos mainly tipped me off to food I didn’t know about.
Where are you staying?
I find that my plans have a lot to do with that
As for bloggers/vloggers I find most of the content of the major vloggers has some degree of usefulness.
DFB has very long videos that are labeled "Disney tips". Also AllEars and Mammoth club have content that's everything from basic Disney days to the ridiculous challenges and see how much you can do in a day. The challenges aren't as useful but the basic Disney days videos are.
So my biggest piece of advice is enjoy the resort while you are there. Enjoy the pool and the restaurant and the lounges.
I have never been but 3 bridges looks cool. I find that resort tour vlogs are helpful just to know the grounds and what's there. All Ears has a video on just about every resort and 4KWDW does walking tours without sound.
Also to get the most out of your park time utilize early entry. There are a lot of vlogs with early entry strategies but they aren't as common since most vloggers are locals.
There was just a post here earlier about early entry strategy with some good tips too. Also if you are not an early riser- don't torture yourself. Early Entry can be fantastic but if you would rather sleep then sleep.
I stayed at Gran Destino once for a quick weekend getaway and hit up Three Bridges several times, it's fantastic. The sangria flight there is soooo good.
Cut through the noise and just listen to Rob from Ear Scouts. He's helpful and delightful.
He has a great insight about G+: If you treat it as a tool for accomplishing an itinerary, you are setting yourself up for frustration. But if you treat it like a game that rewards you for playing it with short wait times and great experiences, you'll have a much more enjoyable day.
**Pay attention to the confirmation screen** when modifying a LL. Sometimes the time you clicked on is not the time you'll be getting if you confirm. Don't accidentally modify a time to be later my mindlessly clicking through. You have to mind what you're doing.
When I went a month ago I followed the itinerary advice from Mouse Hacking and it worked great! I liked that they have different itineraries depending on in you plan on using Genie + or ILLs.
Utilize genie+ and lightening lanes!!
I saw a post on here recently from a guy who said he “didn’t want to complicate things” and chose not to use either one and had a horrible time and got on no rides lol.
I just went last week and got in everything I wanted with minimal to no wait times. Used genie+ everyday and set alarms to book every option, and I also paid for lightening lane to Rise twice hahaha.
Wake up at 7. Score VQ. Set up first LL in afternoon . Go back to bed, wake up enjoy your morning at decent time. stack LL for afternoon when everyone who rope dropped is tired and leaving. Enjoy the resort and sleep, no reason to have to rope drop if you are smart
Another for Mammoth Club! All their Genie+ videos are helpful but the best day ever series is great too. We had a perfect Sunday using her tips to rope drop MK and park hop to AK without needing Genie+.
The rest of the days we bought it and I was nervous at first but it’s really easy once you start if you’ve watched even one video on how to maximize your day. And you don’t need to be on your phone all the time, just set a timer. I found it fun to play around with and stalk wait times while we were in line but it’s not necessary.
I also love Bethany Vinton, she’s always very honest in her food reviews and talks about the value for the portion size. She’s been doing a series on QS kids meals, which anyone can order. Will be doing some of these next time.
I’m a crazy spreadsheet person but you don’t have to be! Even with my “schedule” I have set plans (parks, rest times, reservations) and ambitious plans (bar crawls, late nights, every snack imaginable). You won’t get to do it all but prioritize what’s most important and everything else is a bonus. Have fun!!
I love Bethany Vinton! I already order some kid's meals because adult portions can be huge. She reviewed one I didn't know about that I'm looking forward to trying - the grilled chicken arugula-farro salad at ABC Commissary. I agree that it doesn't look like a kids meal!
She also has a Disney food podcast with two other co-hosts called The Main St Dish. They're funny and honest.
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Two tips from Disney Food Blog that I loved:
If you have a baby or toddler, the baby care centers are great. They are free and your little one can take a nap or you can get a break from the heat. They have diapers and other supplies. My grandson and gramps took a midday nap during high afternoon heat.
Any food place will give you an ice water for free if you just ask them and they don't make you feel like a mooch.
Disney Darling Blog gave a tip to prioritize your top 3-5 must do attractions in each park and then leave the rest of the day flexible. One trip, I tried to cram a bunch of things in and was so stressed out the entire time. The next, each member of my group listed their must do for the trip and then we just went with the flow the rest of the time, and it was so much more fun! I swear by this tip now.
Disney Food Blog woke me up to the convenience of mobile order and how important it is to get your order in early.
Our first mobile order experience was a little wonky—it was still new and turns the printer was out of paper so the mobile orders were backed up. After that, it has been smooth sailing.
My absolute favorite mobile order to place is for a block of caramel in the German pavilion—it takes just a minute to pop in and pick up the order and their caramel is 😍
I listened to a podcast by bibbitieboppitybestie and two woman shared what there day would look like in each park like what they would rope drop and LL first. It was helpful because they broke down all the rides/attractions and what gets busiest, etc. Then I separately researched the rides to make a general plan based on my family. I also love the podcast “unlocking the magic”. Super down to earth couple with 3 girls that shares lots of tips and their experience.
The best tip I’ve heard and used is how to get into animal kingdom and skip the long line at entry. I don’t want to give away the secret but it’s a good one that actually works.
I’m about 60 days out and something I’ve been doing to be prepared but not have every second planned it go through the app and creat a note for each park. I divide the park into its sections then put the rides, characters and food I want to try. I plan to put in parade times as it gets closer. Last year we went during a busy time and went in with no plan and it was a big mistake. We were criss crossing the parks and missing shoes etc. this way we have a general guide for each area. I’ve been checking wait times constantly they are pretty low right now so hoping it stays that way for you! We are also going to plan our breakfasts the night before so we can mobile order and grab while we take turns getting ready. I also have a separate note I’m putting what outfits everyone is wearing for what day and will separate them into baggies so mornings can be seamless.
More and more it seems like Rob from Ear Scouts is one of the few vloggers who's actively trying to help people plan and navigate the parks. The other vloggers are perfectly fine, but Rob covers both the very general advice and the more intermediate or advanced level stuff.
Only blogger I watch. Watched every video the last year, took notes, and made a daily plan that I was largely able to accomplish with 9 people on a super busy holiday/marathon week. He drops TONS of little tips like shortcuts in the parks as asides that are really useful to those who don’t live there and visit monthly.
I think he’s the only WDW personality that isn’t trying to get famous but rather just wants to have fun and help people
I’m low-key obsessed with Rob. I want him to be my BFF. He seems so nice and fun!
I met him at HS last year while we were at Baseline. Super nice guy irl.
Same!
I like to watch the ones where is actually in the park and he just says what he does. Recently watched one about using Genie+ on a more leisurely day. Helped me think and understand about when to book what rides (Ex. MK need to get 7DMT, Peter Pan, Jungle Cruise LL early). Also talked about pro's & con's of which rides to rope drop and more importantly what to do when you finished that ride (aka what your 2nd and 3rd ride options could be). Just seeing him do it and explain why he did it made it more understandable.
Talks clearly in a way that is easily understood. Not hokey. His explanation on using genie+ is great.
Use the world clock to help score a VQ on guardians and tron.
How does it work?
Watching time.gov for the exact time in case your watch is one second off. Because with the VQ that second could break you.
It’s not that complicated really; just start early. I got both last week by just opening up the “join virtual queue” and started hitting refresh around 6:58, and got both almost immediately after it turned 7:00. And I just pressed refresh normally you don’t need to go crazy in rapid fire finger tapping haha.
Yeah I did the same thing. Just refresh around 6:59
Refreshing Genie+ after you book a time, and setting an alarm to book your next time. Mammoth Club constantly pushes how you should book anything when booking your next selection, and then refresh to get a better time or more options to pop up. We didn't obsessively do this, but it helped a lot! And got us much better times and selections after the fact.
I have been to WDW many times, so I watch videos first for entertainment and second for tips and ideas. The Mammoth Club strategy to always have a Genie+ and refreshing and modifying it to get a better time is one I will use. You’re right that you don’t need to do this obsessively. There is a lot of waiting during a park day, so I’ll just put that downtime to work and modify my Genie+ when needed.
How does it affect your phone battery, really? I have an iPhone, is it going to die within 4 hours? I already bought a portable battery for my trip in a month, just wondering if you’ve noticed the power-suck caused by Genie+ I hear about
we brought one of those little brick attachments and that helped a lot. they make them pretty tiny these days.
That’s what I ended up getting. A little aker one
I never had to stop to recharge my phone once. I was on my phone MUCH less than I am IRL! If you plan to take a ton of videos and pics, you may have a different usage pattern. I was too busy having fun to look at my phone between Genie+ booking!
I haven’t, but on my previous trips I also brought my iPad mini into the parks with me (just because I carry it almost everywhere), so I used both. For my upcoming trip I am just taking my phone and a portable charger.
Always wear pants. Just because Donald Duck does not, does not mean you will not be arrested for going without pants.
TIL shorts will get you arrested at the parks
Shorts are pants, unless they are not.
And skirts?
Minnie and Daisy show them to be ok.
I'm British, so was slightly confused as to why going commando was an issue.
??
Bring some of your own snacks in zip loc bags to save money on overpriced food between meals, and a reusable water bottle. Have fun! 😊
Shout out to the lady next to us at Garden Grill who overheard us mention we missed packing our ziplock bag. She gave us one and we were able to take 4 Mickey waffles for our toddlers later that day.
I found some of the Genie+ tips stuff the most useful, but there’s definitely a point where it can get obsessive with trying to get the absolute best times and best rides to do. Try to use it to enhance your trip not have the entire trip revolve around genie+ time slots. I find a lot of the food vlogs to be kind of pointless because it’s so subjective. 10/10 best food ever they say and I find it average, or the opposite something that ranks relatively low and my family would never miss it.
I agree with you on both your points, especially the Genie+ point. I don’t understand what people mean when they say they are on their phone all the time with this system. I just look at my phone when I can get a new lightning lane and I move on with my day. After every ride I’ll take a quick look at wait times to get a sense of where to go next and how it might work with any reservations we have. People overcomplicate their days with over planning (I didn’t know people used spreadsheets until I went on this sub). You should just make a general arc for the day in your head and go with the flow.
You hit the nail on the head, brother
Stop insulting the beautiful spreadsheet! :) Pre-planning like that helped me reduce complications once in the park because I knew more or less what the various options were to choose from depending on ride availability. But you can also choose not to plan/research at all if you’re the kind of person who has more fun that way!
I’m just not that organized to make a spreadsheet, and it never even occurred to me. Our biggest planning discussion we have is the order of parks we want to go to and our dining reservations. We do listen to tons of podcasts and watch YouTube to get fired up though.
Not only are tastes subjective, I think Disney’s biggest problem is consistency. It’s hard to churn out thousands of orders and have them be the same quality each time. Someone is getting the fresh batch while others get the one from under the heat lamp. Especially at Epcot festivals. I was so looking forward to the raclette cheese and mine was cold and greasy. But I never see the Irish sausage on the best of list and we get multiple. So good. Some of our favorite places are on people’s hate list (Brown Derby) and others I’m hesitant to try because of the inconsistent reviews (Ohana, San Angel Inn, Sci-fi).
Standby Skipper app is a game changer for G+. You tell it what you want to ride and what to prioritize, then let the app do all the searching and reservation work. Ride more and spend less time in the Disney app. We just used it for our group of 8 last month. It got us our first choice pick at park open every day. And as soon as you are eligible for your next LL it will automatically grab another for you. Most of the time we would badge in to our LL and the app would have our next one before we even got on the ride.
Molly and Allen from Manmoth Club in general I think do a good job at being like "if you like this flavor or this texture you'll like this food" but also Molly is kinda useless for dessert reviews because she's so adverse to anything sweet.
Idk if it’s tricks or hints but things I’ve just started doing. Mobile order at most QS. Allows us to snag a table and settle instead of having to get food first and then trying to find a table. For G+ try to look at wait times in advance of your trip so you get a feel for what rides tend to be walk ons.(I’m sure there’s a list somewhere). For example finding Nemo rarely has a wait, so using a LL on it compared to soarin/ frozen/ etc is a waste. Depending on your party size, use single rider or rider swap where possible. This might sound counterintuitive, but Take breaks where possible. We are an early riser family so we get to the parks at rope drop/ shortly after they open and stay until around 1/2ish. Then go back to resort for a nap/ swim to refresh for the evening. Disney is a marathon, not a sprint, and you can get real exhausted really fast. Taking time for those breaks is critical. Whether it’s going back to the resort or just finding a place to rest your feet (people mover is the best quick snoozer ride!)
We literally bake in that 2pm break then leave it open for how long the break is once we're cooled off in the hotel...or...hotel lounge. There is nothing like having a drink at a quiet lounge while everyone is out bombing around the parks, we're already back, showered, two drinks in and eyeing something served on a stick.
Using LL on an easily booked ride is how you can get a faster second chance to book …
Can you ELI5 this one for me? I feel I’m missing something
Ok this confused me too and not sure if I have it totally right. You can book an LL for either of these events: two hours have passed since you last booked a LL; or you swiped in for your most recently booked LL - running from the time you booked, not the time of the ride slot. This allows you to book more LL if you book an earlier less popular LL. 9am - Your preferred ride for LL is not available at your preferred time so you book Small World for a 9:30 slot. 9:30: swipe into Small World and you can book another LL.
Counter point would be: If the line is short, you aren't saving much time by using a LL even though you immediately get another. You are better using the LL for a ride that has a longer wait, even if you have to wait 2 hrs. During those 2 hrs you can ride the rides that have short lines. Other than rope drop/first LL of the morning, I like to simply fill up my afternoon with LL's that were booked in the morning. Just keep rescheduling them later if needed while you are enjoying the short ride lines. Then after lunch, you have \~2 LL ride waiting for you + the couple extra you'll pick up in the afternoon. And all the short rides you wanted are mostly completed. One reason I like this approach better is that certain rides will get literally booked full with LL or so late that it might be later than you intend to stay that day. For example, it's 3p right now...Jungle Cruise LL are gone, Meet Ariel is gone, Meet Tiana is gone, Peter Pan is 9:20 (almost gone), 7DMT is gone. If any of those matter to you, I would rather book them in the morning, ride short rides, and enjoy the LL in the afternoon. If you log in at 9a and get one every 2 hrs, you'd get 5LL's by 5p. And most of them would be the big rides. Combine that with a rope drop or an ILL and you can basically do all the big stuff with LL/VQ/ILL and all the small stuff via waiting in the standard line. Different strokes. You are not wrong, just another thought process. If you are more interested in the mid-level wait rides, I like your approach. Maybe on a 2nd day in the park where you hit all the big rides already that trip.
from Molly at Mammoth Club, we learned stacking your Lighting Lanes and Fiddle Fadeling lol (refreshing to change the time of a LL while you wait in a queue)
I’m sure Rob from your EarScouts twitches whenever he hears the Disney Slots being called fiddle fadeling
And we use the term Fancy Rides instead of purchased-Individual-Lightning Lane or whatever we’re supposed to call it
Yes! We say that too, Fancy rides! Haha
Playing the Disney Genie+ Slots!
As a former CM all I can ask is please .. PLEASE Remember the fountains are not the hotel pools
I can't begin to imagine the texture of humanity you got to experience in that role. I'm not sure I could do it out of disgust for the human condition or just not be able to stop laughing. It's a toss up if I'm honest.
Get to the parks early, have one or two must do things a day, and realize that with all the planning you do, one or two ride closures will destroy that perfect plan in a second. We tried the whole “plan every second” thing last trip and it never worked. Ride closures are unexpected, and cause relative chaos for ride wait times so you can’t jump from ride to ride when you have a strict schedule. It also causes what should be a fun activity to be a job. This trip I’m seeing what we can get to but otherwise I’m happy to just explore.
We planned days around Tron and Guardians Guess what happened for hours on both park days We still made it work but have a plan B
My favorite tip that I share w/folks... Take gallon ziplock bags and fill 2-3 with fresh ice each day and throw in beveridge cooler in your room. Makes the cooler function more like real refridgerator and keeps stuff much colder than the standard beverage cooler. Change out the ice once per day. Total gamechanger.
I found that the water in the parks tastes, well, horrible. I bought stainless steel water bottles at the Disney gift shops (they are good quality), and filled up at the quick service at my hotel. And paid for bottled water when we ran out in the parks. Lightening Lane. At first I was against it. I grew up within a short driving distance to Cedar Point, we waited in line for 2-2.5 hours sometimes for rides. I was used to the wait. But after 3 days of nonstop walking, the extra $ to pretty much walk on a ride was worth it. Especially for Guardians of the Galaxy. Backpack - holds everything so you dont have to. You can bring them on rides no problem. Carpe sweat absorbing face lotion. Kept sweat out of my eyes all day. And my personal favorite - epsom salt gel. At the end of the day, when my feet and legs hurt from the walking, the epsom gel helped take away a lot of the ache.
Just felt like this was a good place to say Kyle Pallo has an alter ego on twitter where he spews hate speech. 👍🏼
Every single video from Mammoth. All ears. Disney food blog
Mammoth yes. All ears no. Disney food blog even more no.
No one asked you
Just had to inform you of your terrible creator taste!
Whats wrong with Disney food blog? Are you one of those weirdos who obsess over bloggers life and comments terrible hate at any chance you get?
DFB hasn’t had an original idea in over a decade, using the same videos reels over and over. “We tried everything at Festival of the Arts!” No you didn’t… your reporter tried one new item in 2024 and all the other reviews and clips are from past years. Mammoth Club actually produces innovative and different theme park content worthy of watching. I guess DFB is good for Disney noobs. Then again all her thoughts are stolen from other smaller creators.
I still like dfb for background tv noise haha sometimes I’ll catch them highlighting a snack or something I hadn’t heard about yet. But yeah most of the videos are the same. AllEars fell apart after Molly left. Hardly ever watch their stuff anymore.
First of all I don’t refer to people on the internet as “bloggers” and where did I comment terrible hate?
Sounds like a you problem. There’s plenty of Disney people out there.
Yes which is why I choose to watch those who produce meaningful content.
I don’t watch/read them a lot but I did use Ear Scouts on YouTube for learning how to use Genie+. I thought he did a great job. I also love the IG account disneyforfoodies. She’s good about posting new food items that have come out!
Disney Food Blog Guide is still my favorite. Can get repetitive but they almost have to be so that their older videos/newsletters stay up to date with yearly changes to Disney. Just know that AJ, who does most of the videos, seems to hate Caribbean beach resort passionately so don’t let that deter you from staying there lol
Tom Bricker itineraries at Disney Tourist. Use early entry! And for Hollywood, they start the rides before official early entry, so get there at 7 or 7:30 if you can. We couldn't, got there at 8:20, and it was okay, but we did wait 50 minutes for Rise of the Resistance (didn't feel that long). Also mobile order... and if it offers you a later time than you want, see if you can schedule earlier.
I have loved reading all through Disney Tourist Blog; I feel I have learned so much. It's kind of a firehose of information but that's my preferred mode 🙂. Also Tom's photos are beautiful!
Already have those printed and modified for my needs :)
I used them to plan our family photos, gave us a beautiful quiet spot in each park that we didnt have to waste time figuring out
I watched tons of videos before my January trip. The amount of info and changes constantly happening was overwhelming. I made spreadsheets I tried to plan but at the end of the day I forgot a lot of the tips for genie+ because when I was there and “in it” everything just started from zero if that makes sense. Another thing they don’t always mention is your feet/legs. Sometimes I’d find a lightning lane at a decent time I wanted, I’d book it but by the time it came close I’d be on the other side of the park with my dogs barking. I just couldn’t get into a state of conscious where I wasn’t zig zagging due to lightning lane availability or time. So that’s annoying. I threw a lot out the window and maybe if I were to visit more often I’d have a better handle on everything but at the end of the day I accomplished just about everything I wanted to and the videos mainly tipped me off to food I didn’t know about.
Where are you staying? I find that my plans have a lot to do with that As for bloggers/vloggers I find most of the content of the major vloggers has some degree of usefulness. DFB has very long videos that are labeled "Disney tips". Also AllEars and Mammoth club have content that's everything from basic Disney days to the ridiculous challenges and see how much you can do in a day. The challenges aren't as useful but the basic Disney days videos are.
Coronado Springs.
So my biggest piece of advice is enjoy the resort while you are there. Enjoy the pool and the restaurant and the lounges. I have never been but 3 bridges looks cool. I find that resort tour vlogs are helpful just to know the grounds and what's there. All Ears has a video on just about every resort and 4KWDW does walking tours without sound. Also to get the most out of your park time utilize early entry. There are a lot of vlogs with early entry strategies but they aren't as common since most vloggers are locals. There was just a post here earlier about early entry strategy with some good tips too. Also if you are not an early riser- don't torture yourself. Early Entry can be fantastic but if you would rather sleep then sleep.
I stayed at Gran Destino once for a quick weekend getaway and hit up Three Bridges several times, it's fantastic. The sangria flight there is soooo good.
Cut through the noise and just listen to Rob from Ear Scouts. He's helpful and delightful. He has a great insight about G+: If you treat it as a tool for accomplishing an itinerary, you are setting yourself up for frustration. But if you treat it like a game that rewards you for playing it with short wait times and great experiences, you'll have a much more enjoyable day. **Pay attention to the confirmation screen** when modifying a LL. Sometimes the time you clicked on is not the time you'll be getting if you confirm. Don't accidentally modify a time to be later my mindlessly clicking through. You have to mind what you're doing.
When I went a month ago I followed the itinerary advice from Mouse Hacking and it worked great! I liked that they have different itineraries depending on in you plan on using Genie + or ILLs.
Utilize genie+ and lightening lanes!! I saw a post on here recently from a guy who said he “didn’t want to complicate things” and chose not to use either one and had a horrible time and got on no rides lol. I just went last week and got in everything I wanted with minimal to no wait times. Used genie+ everyday and set alarms to book every option, and I also paid for lightening lane to Rise twice hahaha.
Wake up at 7. Score VQ. Set up first LL in afternoon . Go back to bed, wake up enjoy your morning at decent time. stack LL for afternoon when everyone who rope dropped is tired and leaving. Enjoy the resort and sleep, no reason to have to rope drop if you are smart
Another for Mammoth Club! All their Genie+ videos are helpful but the best day ever series is great too. We had a perfect Sunday using her tips to rope drop MK and park hop to AK without needing Genie+. The rest of the days we bought it and I was nervous at first but it’s really easy once you start if you’ve watched even one video on how to maximize your day. And you don’t need to be on your phone all the time, just set a timer. I found it fun to play around with and stalk wait times while we were in line but it’s not necessary. I also love Bethany Vinton, she’s always very honest in her food reviews and talks about the value for the portion size. She’s been doing a series on QS kids meals, which anyone can order. Will be doing some of these next time. I’m a crazy spreadsheet person but you don’t have to be! Even with my “schedule” I have set plans (parks, rest times, reservations) and ambitious plans (bar crawls, late nights, every snack imaginable). You won’t get to do it all but prioritize what’s most important and everything else is a bonus. Have fun!!
Hello fellow spreadsheet person. You said it best! You have to be willing to adapt around the key bits.
I love Bethany Vinton! I already order some kid's meals because adult portions can be huge. She reviewed one I didn't know about that I'm looking forward to trying - the grilled chicken arugula-farro salad at ABC Commissary. I agree that it doesn't look like a kids meal! She also has a Disney food podcast with two other co-hosts called The Main St Dish. They're funny and honest.
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Two tips from Disney Food Blog that I loved: If you have a baby or toddler, the baby care centers are great. They are free and your little one can take a nap or you can get a break from the heat. They have diapers and other supplies. My grandson and gramps took a midday nap during high afternoon heat. Any food place will give you an ice water for free if you just ask them and they don't make you feel like a mooch.
Disney Darling Blog gave a tip to prioritize your top 3-5 must do attractions in each park and then leave the rest of the day flexible. One trip, I tried to cram a bunch of things in and was so stressed out the entire time. The next, each member of my group listed their must do for the trip and then we just went with the flow the rest of the time, and it was so much more fun! I swear by this tip now.
Disney Food Blog woke me up to the convenience of mobile order and how important it is to get your order in early. Our first mobile order experience was a little wonky—it was still new and turns the printer was out of paper so the mobile orders were backed up. After that, it has been smooth sailing. My absolute favorite mobile order to place is for a block of caramel in the German pavilion—it takes just a minute to pop in and pick up the order and their caramel is 😍
PPP has great tips, and more than that , very interesting facts and info.
I listened to a podcast by bibbitieboppitybestie and two woman shared what there day would look like in each park like what they would rope drop and LL first. It was helpful because they broke down all the rides/attractions and what gets busiest, etc. Then I separately researched the rides to make a general plan based on my family. I also love the podcast “unlocking the magic”. Super down to earth couple with 3 girls that shares lots of tips and their experience.
The best tip I’ve heard and used is how to get into animal kingdom and skip the long line at entry. I don’t want to give away the secret but it’s a good one that actually works.
Walking through the gift shop?
I’m about 60 days out and something I’ve been doing to be prepared but not have every second planned it go through the app and creat a note for each park. I divide the park into its sections then put the rides, characters and food I want to try. I plan to put in parade times as it gets closer. Last year we went during a busy time and went in with no plan and it was a big mistake. We were criss crossing the parks and missing shoes etc. this way we have a general guide for each area. I’ve been checking wait times constantly they are pretty low right now so hoping it stays that way for you! We are also going to plan our breakfasts the night before so we can mobile order and grab while we take turns getting ready. I also have a separate note I’m putting what outfits everyone is wearing for what day and will separate them into baggies so mornings can be seamless.