WDW last minute questions

[devonpow]

We are (hopefully - I believe nothing with travel these days until I’m on the plane and it has taken off) leaving on Thursday for a super quick trip to WDW. Random questions:

- we are staying at Poly but my sister will also be there staying at POP. I’m assuming Uber is going to be her fastest way of meeting up with us? You can do regular Uber there, right? I know the Minnie Vans aren’t back until summer… Both mornings will be early starts so I think buses will be too long of a wait…

- I’m stressing over genie plus lol. We only want it for the first day we are there, and apparently because we are only using it on one day I can’t purchase it until after midnight that day, and then obviously can’t book anything with it until 7 AM that day? I’m very type A and this is stressing me out! I guess my question is, is it pretty user friendly? I don’t like the idea of using something brand new to me to quickly book things at 7 AM….

[mrsslocombe]

Yes you can take Uber-we used it several times, there was usually a driver within 5 minutes. To get from one resort to another was about $9, plus tip. You can also schedule them ahead of time, which I did and it worked perfectly. They will ask for the guest name at the resort gate, so your sister should give your name at the Poly so they let her in.

Yes, Genie + is relatively user-friendly, just make sure you have a clear list of priorities, along with 2nd/3rd/4th choices ready in your mind in case you need a backup plan for your first reservation. You can look at screenshots and videos of the app ahead of time so you know what to expect.

[meganew]

Apr 19, 2022 12:12:38 GMT -5 mrsslocombe said:

Yes, Genie + is relatively user-friendly, just make sure you have a clear list of priorities, along with 2nd/3rd/4th choices ready in your mind in case you need a backup plan for your first reservation. You can look at screenshots and videos of the app ahead of time so you know what to expect.

I agree with all of this- especially looking at what the screen will look like ahead of time. I'm like you and the Genie+ thing was stressing me out a lot because I like having a game plan for what we'll hit and when and how the day will go, and this definitely threw that off. I would wake up at 6:45 to buy Genie+, then fill out your Genie day (it will ask you what park you're going to, what rides are most important, characters, parades, etc.) and this will determine which Genie+ rides come up in what order when the window opens up at 7. So then at 6:59 I'd make sure to have my Genie Day tab open and then pull down to refresh right at 7, and then all the available times would pop up. If you want to buy a LL for something like ROTR or FOP, then I would do that first and then book your other LL. My strategy was to take the earliest one for something we definitely wanted, and then as soon as we swiped in for the ride I would pull up the app right away and book another literally as we were walking through the ropes. I was able to stack quite a few that way. 

[huskymom]

I have some tips! I was also stressing about this but I had no problems. I had to do our first day while at HS in line since we were rope dropping but it went fine. DH had the world clock up on his phone so I could refresh instantly at 7:00:00 and I got a Slinky for 8:20.

What park/ what is your first priority ride and are you also aiming for an individual LL?

Here’s a good video demo:
youtu.be/JoOOHDTVels

Definitely set up My Genie Day first and make sure you are connected to your sister too BUT only choose the first ride you want to book so it’s at the very top (you can change this later before you go to book other rides). Once you’ve booked it, figure out when your next booking time should be (2 hours after official park open, it will also tell you when you can book again if you try to book a random ride), and set a reminder on your watch/phone for a min or so before that. You can then change your genie day to only have that ride selected.

[sent]

We used MEARS taxis a few times. They may have them waiting at the front of the resorts (they did pre-COVID) or you can call one from their app and it will tell you the approximate cost before tip.

I would recommend using the app so you can be familiar with it before going. I didn't do Genie+ because it stressed me out too. If I had bought it, it would have been a waste because I was fumbling with the app until about day 5 of our trip.

[huskymom]

Oh and we used regular Uber a bunch of times when the bus looked like it wasn't coming soon (on the Disney app, under Resort Hotel, there is a bus times section - sometimes it says unavailable though). But at least last week, you could only have 3 people in an UberX so we always had to book an UberXL. We ubered to HS and AK. Don't Uber to MK bc it can only drop you at the TTC.

I found the app pretty user friendly - if you click on the location symbol on the bottom of the screen, you can select it to show wait times, dining, restrooms, etc - i used that a lot when looking for a bathroom or somewhere to grab a quick bite. Just play around with it a bit!