Yesterday we returned from a combined Universal/Disney trip - here's what we did on the Disney portion.
A few notes about us - my husband and I are both in our 60s, DVC, have been to Disney a zillion times. Our priorities on our Disney vacations are sleeping in (no rope drop for us), riding all our favorite attractions, and eating better food than we can find in the college town in which we live.
On this trip we made use of both
Genie+ (LL) and Individual Lightning Lane (ILL) purchases, which for all days except Animal Kingdom worked well for us. As we don't rope drop, being able to reserve attractions for later in the day is great. By the end of the trip I was a master at stacking, although a few overlapping reservations were a little bit harrowing. I didn't keep track of times for every LL, but the schedule below should give you some idea of what we accomplished and our strategy, The numbers in brackets indicate the order in which I reserved each day.
Sunday 11/7, EPCOT - transfer day with late arrival so did not bother with Genie+.
9:47, leave Portofino Bay/Universal for Disney Springs
11:00, walk in Frontera Cocina lunch, seated right away
12:17, arrive Fort Wilderness, get golf cart, explore resort, cabin ready 3:14
3:57 arrive EPCOT
Test Track Standby (SB) (47 minutes)
Soaring SB (33 minutes)
Karamel Kuche (shortest line ever - 6 people ahead of us even though World Showcase was packed!)
5:48 arrive walk in Tokyo Dining (seated at 6:04)
Done for the day at 7:11
In park appr 3 hours 15 minutes; 2 rides SB, caramel corn, table service dinner
14,750 steps
Monday 11/8 Magic Kingdom
10:42, purchase Seven Dwarves
10:49, purchase Genie+
12:18 arrival at park
12:35 Haunted Mansion LL [2]
Liberty Square Riverboat SB (next boat)
1:30 lunch Liberty Tree Tavern (seated 1:52)
Big Thunder LL [3]
4:15 7 Dwarves ILL [1]
Pirates of the Caribbean LL [4]
Buzz Lightyear LL [5]
People Mover SB (12 minute wait)
6:27 Done for day
In park approx 6 hrs 15 minutes, 7 rides (4 LL, 1ILL, 2 SB), table service lunch
11,860 steps
Was just getting used to Genie+; if I had to do it again I would have booked Jungle Cruise first as it was gone for the day by the time I figured out what I was doing. Splash was available for most of the day, but we didn't want to get wet.
Tuesday, 11/9, Hollywood Studios
7:02 purchased Rise of the Resistance
7:04 purchased MMRR
7:09 purchased Genie+
11:30 Steakhouse 71 lunch (seated 11:34)
1:16 arrive Hollywood Studios
Skyliner to/from CBR just for fun as we had time
Toy Story LL [4]
Star Tours LL [5]
Slinky Dog LL [3]
3:40 Rise of the Resistance - down [1]
Muppets LL (unnecessary LL) [6]
Vacation Fun SB (next show)
4:40 MMRR ILL [2]
Rise of the Resistance ILL [1]
Star Tours SB 16 minutes
7:15 dinner Mama Melrose (seated 7:20)
8:13 done for the day
In park approx 7 hours, 8 rides (4LL, 2 ILL, 2 SB), skyliner, table service dinner
18,263 steps
Did better with stacking this day; the only thing we missed was Millennium Falcon - this one runs out fast as well, but I think Slinky is the priority.
Wednesday, 11/10 Animal Kingdom
8th day in a row in the parks and we were tired. It was rainy, cold, and we bailed after a couple of hours, so Genie+ was a definite fail on this day.
7:58 purchase FOP
10:50 arrival, line up for Nomad Lounge, table available 11:12
11:02 purchase Genie+ (was super undecided about this)
Safari LL [2]
Rainy walk through gorilla trail
2:05 FOP ILL [1]
3:40 Navi River, [3] bailed instead - went back to cabin took a nap
In park approx 3 hours, 2 rides (1 LL, 1 ILL) plus 1 trail and lounge lunch.
6:30 Dinner at Boma (seated 6:22)
9,072 steps
I'm thinking there are not enough actual rides that we enjoy at this park (we love the trails and exploring the park in general), so perhaps starting here and hopping to EPCOT would make Genie+ worth it (see Thursday for a similar strategy).
Thursday, 11/11, Hollywood Studios and EPCOT - a really crowded day but Genie+ worked well.
8:07 purchased MMRR
8:08 purchased Remy
8:14 purchased Genie+
11:02 arrival
11:15 Woody’s Lunchbox Mobile Order
Star Tours 2X SB (34 minutes, 12 minutes)
Toy Story LL [4]
1:30 MMRR ILL [1]
Skyliner to EPCOT, sit at international entrance 20ish minutes until break in rain
Try to ride test track SB but not yet reopened from rain
Earth Eats and Noodle Exchange Early dinner
4:05 Spaceship Earth LL [6]
4:35 Soaring LL [5]
5:24 Remy ILL [2] (only 11 minutes left in window)
Skyliner back to HS
6:28 Millennium Falcon LL [3] (only 12 minutes left in window)
Alien Saucers LL [7]
Churro and pretzel
7:16 Done for day
In parks approx 8 hours 15 minutes - 2 parks, 9 rides (5 LL, 2 ILL, 2 SB), skyliner 2 directions, QS Lunch, booth dinner and snacks
Best day ever, 22,261 steps
Stacked well on this day - maybe a little too well as we ended up near the end of our windows for both Remy and Millennium and if Soaring had taken much longer or if the skyliner lines on the way back to HS had been longer, we may have missed a ride. And I think if I had been up at 7:00 am rather than 8:00, I may have snagged Slinky Dog before it disappeared for the day.
Friday, 11/12
11:15 Boathouse (seated at 11:00)
Drive home
We found Genie+ and ILL to be useful for us for both HS and MK. We'll likely combine AK with EP (or either one with another park) to pick up the few rides we enjoy at those two parks. We really enjoyed being able to reserve late in the day; not thrilled that its not free, but happier with the whole Genie thing than we thought we would be.