Today at HS (April 26) so many closures during morning hours - what to do?

[uandmfan]

I've been watching wait times to see how things go in the mornings. My current plan is to get a LL for SDD and try to RD ToT, RcR and then MMRR in that order.

However, at opening today, ToR and RnR seemed to be down. waits then built everywhere else. This would have destroyed my plan.

I have a few questions. First, is it likely we would have known those rides were down before we got there? If yes, how would you have redirected? If no, what would you do? Would SDD have been worth the wait at that point with an attempt to change the LL or would you have done MMRR then something else? Or a different plan?

From what I can see, today would have been a huge disappointment at the park
Thanks!

 

[acpalmer]

Your rope drop plan is also what we're planning when we are there this summer. I doubt you would know ahead of time, but you might find out at rope drop in time to turn a different direction.

For me, we'd probably go to Smuggler's Run first. After that, check on status of TOT and RNRC, but if those are still down or waits have already built, then I'd head to MMRR. At our first LL opportunity (after park open or after SDD if we luck out and get an early one), then I'd start looking for a TOT. RNRC we could either suck it up for the line or do single rider (my kids are young adults, so no worries about splitting up).

If you aren't into Star Wars, then I'd probably rope drop Slinky and drop that LL to get a TOT and then try for the RNRC at your next booking window.

This is all theoretical, of course, as I'm not there right now, but that would be how we would flex our morning if those two rides were down. So take it for what it's worth.

 

[JBelle19]

This is my plan for HS in July. Hopefully today was a fluke! I feel terrible for those who were there

 

[kc51570]

HS was our plan today. Complete bust. 3 rides down at open and you don’t know ahead of time. I bought genie plus, didn’t buy ROTR because we did it the other day. All we were able to do was MFSR, TSMM, and Star Tours. We also did movie shorts, called it a day and went to the pool. All other headliners were gone early and we couldn’t go for the evening times which were offered due to an existing dinner reservation. Genie + was not worth it today and for others who only had 1 day to visit HS were probably very frustrated. 6:30 and RnR is still down. Yes, we could have waited in line, but all lines were 60 minutes plus.

 

[godfather927]

I've been watching wait times to see how things go in the mornings. My current plan is to get a LL for SDD and try to RD ToT, RcR and then MMRR in that order.

However, at opening today, ToR and RnR seemed to be down. waits then built everywhere else. This would have destroyed my plan.

I have a few questions. First, is it likely we would have known those rides were down before we got there? If yes, how would you have redirected? If no, what would you do? Would SDD have been worth the wait at that point with an attempt to change the LL or would you have done MMRR then something else? Or a different plan?

From what I can see, today would have been a huge disappointment at the park
Thanks!

We were at HS today but got a little (or maybe a lot) lucky with some of the breaks.

First I booked SDD for 5pm and RotR for 11:30am. My plan was always to get a late start since we were drained from MK and AK from the previous two days, so the thought was to do a few rides from 10am to 12pm, then do RotR and head back for a pool break.

However my 9 yr old was hankering for an early morning shot at RnRC so we headed out earlier around 8:00 and as we boarded the skyliner, I checked MDE and saw both RnRC and ToT were down. So we had to make a decision, do we do any of the other rides with waits already building, or do we head down sunset and check to get an ETA from a cast member in the hopes of waiting until it opened. As we got there, we saw a cast member waving people over to ToT so we started to pick up the pace and do that instead. We still stopped and asked about RnRC for an ETA but they said it'll be down for a while so we walked right onto ToT which my 9yr old was not a fan of (her first ride with big drops like that.)

After that we headed over to TSMM which was about a 20 min wait even though the posted time was 60 min (thanks TP!) At 10am I booked MMRR for 4:30pm with the hopes of stacking a few rides between 4-6pm. Then I noticed RotR was down and started to get nervous. Seems like this day just wasn't meant to be. So then we waited for my wife and youngest and did some shopping until our ILL for RotR which was thankfully back up and running again. At 12pm I booked another TSMM for 5:20pm. After that we headed back feeling okay about everything so far.

Then we rested, booked saucers for 6pm, did an hour at the pool, more resting, and just as we were gonna head out, we got notified MMRR was down. I thought it wouldn't be a big deal since we got an anytime LL pass and we could do it after the Toy Story rides, but as we approached the skyliner, we were told the line to HS was down. So now we were a bit at risk of missing our SDD LL! We hoofed it to Art of Animation bus stop and luckily got on the bus right before it left (we were literally the last ones on.)

We got to HS with enough time to do SDD, TSMM, and while we were in line, I was able to book MMRR for 7pm. So now I had a spare anytime LL to use as we pleased. Which we ended using on MF:SR as a bonus. So all in all, it turned out to be a decent day after all. Kinda feels like God threw us a bone after a rocky start to our vacation with our youngest getting sick and missing almost all of MK and some of AK : (

But we made the best of it, and she was better enough today to do all of HS except for ToT. Hopefully RnRC is back up by Thursday so we can try it then. Fingers crossed. Moral of the story, improvising is key, and thankfully, with genie+, we can do that a bit more than we otherwise could've with FP+. I still prefer FP+ by far, but there are advantages to knowing how to roll with the punches by utilizing genie+ stacking.

 

[greeneyedchick]

Glad it worked out for you but sounds very stressful. Disney used to be known for their quality. To have all of these last-minute ride breakdowns and unexpected transportation closures is quite the opposite. Sadly, it's becoming the norm.

 

[jknc]

Glad it worked out for you but sounds very stressful. Disney used to be known for their quality. To have all of these last-minute ride breakdowns and unexpected transportation closures is quite the opposite. Sadly, it's becoming the norm.

Profit over guest experience/satisfaction is all that matters right now. Thank you.

 

[Stephy811]

Looks like RnRC is down again this morning..

 

[georgina]

We were at HS today but got a little (or maybe a lot) lucky with some of the breaks.

First I booked SDD for 5pm and RotR for 11:30am. My plan was always to get a late start since we were drained from MK and AK from the previous two days, so the thought was to do a few rides from 10am to 12pm, then do RotR and head back for a pool break.

However my 9 yr old was hankering for an early morning shot at RnRC so we headed out earlier around 8:00 and as we boarded the skyliner, I checked MDE and saw both RnRC and ToT were down. So we had to make a decision, do we do any of the other rides with waits already building, or do we head down sunset and check to get an ETA from a cast member in the hopes of waiting until it opened. As we got there, we saw a cast member waving people over to ToT so we started to pick up the pace and do that instead. We still stopped and asked about RnRC for an ETA but they said it'll be down for a while so we walked right onto ToT which my 9yr old was not a fan of (her first ride with big drops like that.)

After that we headed over to TSMM which was about a 20 min wait even though the posted time was 60 min (thanks TP!) At 10am I booked MMRR for 4:30pm with the hopes of stacking a few rides between 4-6pm. Then I noticed RotR was down and started to get nervous. Seems like this day just wasn't meant to be. So then we waited for my wife and youngest and did some shopping until our ILL for RotR which was thankfully back up and running again. At 12pm I booked another TSMM for 5:20pm. After that we headed back feeling okay about everything so far.

Then we rested, booked saucers for 6pm, did an hour at the pool, more resting, and just as we were gonna head out, we got notified MMRR was down. I thought it wouldn't be a big deal since we got an anytime LL pass and we could do it after the Toy Story rides, but as we approached the skyliner, we were told the line to HS was down. So now we were a bit at risk of missing our SDD LL! We hoofed it to Art of Animation bus stop and luckily got on the bus right before it left (we were literally the last ones on.)

We got to HS with enough time to do SDD, TSMM, and while we were in line, I was able to book MMRR for 7pm. So now I had a spare anytime LL to use as we pleased. Which we ended using on MF:SR as a bonus. So all in all, it turned out to be a decent day after all. Kinda feels like God threw us a bone after a rocky start to our vacation with our youngest getting sick and missing almost all of MK and some of AK : (

But we made the best of it, and she was better enough today to do all of HS except for ToT. Hopefully RnRC is back up by Thursday so we can try it then. Fingers crossed. Moral of the story, improvising is key, and thankfully, with genie+, we can do that a bit more than we otherwise could've with FP+. I still prefer FP+ by far, but there are advantages to knowing how to roll with the punches by utilizing genie+ stacking.

Sounds like the flexibility and some good luck worked for you in the end, the post before yours had dinner plans so it didn't work for them. Our May trip I have HS reservations 2 days, one of them is flexible and the other we too have dinner reservations, so we will hope it works out.

 

[kc51570]

It also really depends on how quickly the LLs disappear. We arrived Saturday and had some good luck with stacking for the evening, and i was still able to add rides around 1,3,5, etc.. It would have been even better if you could modify a time. I lost a ride when our flight was delayed and I cancelled and went to rebook a later time, but wasn’t eligible because I had just booked a new LL. Yesterday headliners were mostly gone before noon time. The only ride I could add at 12 that worked with our schedule was Star Tours. HS is a gamble depending on crowds, how many rides are down, and if you have other plans.

 

[poppinspenguins]

For people there that day, did you go to customer service or call etc? I know the wait would be crazy either way. If so, did they do anything?

I am not for running to refund immediately everytime something goes wrong, things happen. But say you have a quick 2 or 3 day trip, only day HS, and you bought genie for the whole group? They would hear from me. Lol

 

[kc51570]

For people there that day, did you go to customer service or call etc? I know the wait would be crazy either way. If so, did they do anything?

I am not for running to refund immediately everytime something goes wrong, things happen. But say you have a quick 2 or 3 day trip, only day HS, and you bought genie for the whole group? They would hear from me. Lol

I thought about it but didn’t. My husband‘s one request was to ride RnR coaster. He missed it last summer when we rope dropped and it was also down at open and we tried to group our Saturday LLs all in the same area so he was out of luck. I essentially purchased genie plus for MFSR yesterday. We didn‘t need it for Toy Story Mania or Star Tours, but that is what was left at our 2nd and 3rd picks. They really need to find a better way of letting you choose your times. It might even minimize congestion at the parks. If their goal is to make more $ in addition to the cost of genie plus while people are waiting for their next LL, I didn’t spend a cent at HS yesterday, although we did go back to our Disney hotel for lunch. We’ve had far less TS restaurants overall. Normally it would be 1 per day, but so far it’s been 2 out of 5 days. Again, if we didn’t have a reservation last night maybe we would have been able to get a better second LL selection.

 

[planplanplan]

For people there that day, did you go to customer service or call etc? I know the wait would be crazy either way. If so, did they do anything?

I am not for running to refund immediately everytime something goes wrong, things happen. But say you have a quick 2 or 3 day trip, only day HS, and you bought genie for the whole group? They would hear from me. Lol

I'd be surprised if they did anything. We visited MK three times during our 5-day 2019 trip and had major issues with ride outages each time. The first visit nearly every ride in the park was down from 2-8 PM because of thunderstorms. The storms were over by 4 PM, but it took hours and hours for the rides to come back on line. Then our next two mornings all the mountains (Space, Splash and Thunder) plus 7DMT were down from pre-opening until noon or 1 PM. Guest relations was entirely unsympathetic. Because the outages affected so many people, they told us their hands were tied. They couldn't do something for everyone.

 

[poppinspenguins]

I'd be surprised if they did anything. We visited MK three times during our 5-day 2019 trip and had major issues with ride outages each time. The first visit nearly every ride in the park was down from 2-8 PM because of thunderstorms. The storms were over by 4 PM, but it took hours and hours for the rides to come back on line. Then our next two mornings all the mountains (Space, Splash and Thunder) plus 7DMT were down from pre-opening until noon or 1 PM. Guest relations was entirely unsympathetic. Because the outages affected so many people, they told us their hands were tied. They couldn't do something for everyone.

Oh my. That is not good. Can you imagine that being your first (and prob only!) visit?

Their hands werent tied, they were firmly in the pockets. Lol.

A make good doesnt have to be a refund. They could have given fp for future days (if applicable), memory maker etc.

I had an issue with disney and some of my gift cards, it ended up in a 3 hr phone call qith at least 3 transfers to different lines. The last lady said there was no reason the first person couldn't have fixed this and gave us a free memory maker (didnt ask for anything). Little things like that, that cost them nothing in the grand scheme of things, go a long way.

 

[poppinspenguins]

I thought about it but didn’t. My husband‘s one request was to ride RnR coaster. He missed it last summer when we rope dropped and it was also down at open and we tried to group our Saturday LLs all in the same area so he was out of luck. I essentially purchased genie plus for MFSR yesterday. We didn‘t need it for Toy Story Mania or Star Tours, but that is what was left at our 2nd and 3rd picks. They really need to find a better way of letting you choose your times. It might even minimize congestion at the parks. If their goal is to make more $ in addition to the cost of genie plus while people are waiting for their next LL, I didn’t spend a cent at HS yesterday, although we did go back to our Disney hotel for lunch. We’ve had far less TS restaurants overall. Normally it would be 1 per day, but so far it’s been 2 out of 5 days. Again, if we didn’t have a reservation last night maybe we would have been able to get a better second LL selection.

We just did our first post covid trip last week. We only got genie plus twice. I just didnt see the enough value for our family. I found the whole process frustrating. The days I did use it, I would click to get something and the return time would change by 4 or 5 hours. I also found we criss crossed the parks way more than we used to. I really miss the ability to plan my day out. Rides, food, break etc. To your point about congestion, maybe genie plus is part of that. You used to be able to plan the day, somewhat, around the park. That is out the window now and I think most people are criss crossing.

 

[godfather927]

Sounds like the flexibility and some good luck worked for you in the end, the post before yours had dinner plans so it didn't work for them. Our May trip I have HS reservations 2 days, one of them is flexible and the other we too have dinner reservations, so we will hope it works out.

Yeah I purposefully avoided ADRs on my HS days because I was determined to do SDD at all costs, which meant taking any available LL window I could get. I saved my ADRs for a non-park day and for my EPCOT day.

 

[godfather927]

Glad it worked out for you but sounds very stressful. Disney used to be known for their quality. To have all of these last-minute ride breakdowns and unexpected transportation closures is quite the opposite. Sadly, it's becoming the norm.

It honestly wasn't stressful with the exception of the skyliner breakdown, otherwise I had contingency plans for everything else. Getting on the bus at AoA just in time was a lucky break. We aren't the biggest star wars fans so we would've been okay with missing RotR, and we have a second HS day to hit anything we missed on our first day, which helped put me more at ease. But I definitely agree that the number of ride breakdowns is super disappointing for a company that's supposed to be the gold standard of efficiency and smooth operation.

 

[godfather927]

Aaaand RnRC looks like it's down again this morning. Or at least they aren't offering LL return times. So frustrating.

 

[Pink Partridge]

HS was our plan today. Complete bust. 3 rides down at open and you don’t know ahead of time. I bought genie plus, didn’t buy ROTR because we did it the other day. All we were able to do was MFSR, TSMM, and Star Tours. We also did movie shorts, called it a day and went to the pool. All other headliners were gone early and we couldn’t go for the evening times which were offered due to an existing dinner reservation. Genie + was not worth it today and for others who only had 1 day to visit HS were probably very frustrated. 6:30 and RnR is still down. Yes, we could have waited in line, but all lines were 60 minutes plus.

And it's not like you can just hop to another park. They have you at the broken down park until 2pm.

 

[godfather927]

Officially reporting as down now in the app. Booooooo!