Doing Disney in 2022

My family and I just returned from a trip to Disney World and Universal Orlando, which was my first visit to the Florida parks in 6 years. In this post, which serves as a follow-up to How I Do Disney from last year, I will cover some of my experiences there.

Is Covid still a thing?

In Florida, apparently not. Disney lifted their mask mandate recently and the only time we were told to put one on was on the monorail and the park-to-park bus. There were a few people who put them on regardless, but I’d say that was less than 5% of tourists.

Was it packed?

Oh my god yes. Going to the parks during Mid-Winter Break (President’s Day week) has always been a busier than normal time because it is observed by the New York and Boston school districts. I’ve been there during this break three times before, but I’ve never seen the parks this busy. I’m assuming that the extra crowds were thanks to a number of tourists who had delayed their trips during the height of the pandemic (which includes my family).

Genie+ & Lightning Lanes

Disney’s new Lightning Lanes are significantly more complex than the old Fast Pass system.

First of all, there are two different types of Lightning Lanes. The stupidly named Individual Lightning Lanes can be purchased à la carte for $8–15 per person and are available for the top two rides at each park. If you’re staying at a Disney hotel you can buy these starting at 7:00am on the day of your visit, but if you’re not you can buy them starting at park opening. Rise of the Resistance, Disney’s most popular ride right now, was always completely booked before I had a chance.

Normal Lightning Lanes can be booked for most of the other attractions at each park if you pay for Genie+, which adds about $15 per day to the price of your ticket. Anyone can book these starting at 7:00am, and the most popular rides will book up quickly. I would typically see a time of 9:00am in the list of attractions, then 11:00am by the time I selected one, then 1:30pm by the time I actually booked it, and I was navigating the app very fast.

You are only allowed to book a LL every two hours (and this clock starts at park opening even if you booked at 7:00). At Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom I was only able to book one LL per day (these parks have fewer attractions but they are very popular). I had the most luck staying on top of this at Magic Kingdom which has lots of rides, none of which are in super high demand.

Not only does this new system cost me a lot more financially than the Fast Pass system, it also messes with my sleep because I’d set a daily alarm for 6:59am while the rest of my family slept until at least 8:00am. There wasn’t any reason for them to wake up earlier when most of the parks don’t open until 9:00am.

I won’t begrudge Disney’s efforts to monetize line skipping, we do live in a capitalist society, but the complexity of this poorly named new system is very confusing for guests. On top of that it feels very punitive to the sleep habits of anyone visiting from a more western time zone. I’ve promised myself that my next vacation will not require any alarms.

Universal has long offered the ability to skip lines (Express Pass) for a fee, but it is dead-simple to understand.

Visiting With Non-Disney People

My stepkids had never been to Disney before, so I was really excited to introduce them to something I enjoyed so much. They both really enjoyed finally seeing what Disney World is all about, though neither of them seemed to develop the same amount of love that my kids and I have and by the 5th day the both elected to sleep in and skip the first half of the day.

My fiancé on the other hand has been to Disney World before, but she’s definitely not a Disney fan. She’d much rather spend a vacation somewhere relaxing with a beach, and she suffers from motion sickness which really limits the number of rides she can enjoy.

Fortunately she did find a number of things to like about the parks, including some of the interesting food choices and water rides. I made sure to give her the opportunity to tap out at some point in the day while those of us who were more die hard kept at it.

Recommendations

1. Use a crowd calendar to avoid busy times. I’m guessing that for the next year or so the normally packed days will be extra packed.
2. Plan for a day off (or two) during your stay. Enjoy your hotel’s pool or go to the beach, but give yourself some time to sleep in and recover from the chaos.
3. Set expectations with your fellow travelers. Some of you may want to “go hard” all day and get in as many rides as possible, others may only want to hang out for half a day and then head to the pool, or at least take a break before returning for the evening fireworks.
4. Avoid doing long lines back-to-back, they can be very draining.
5. Do some googling about Lightning Lanes before you go to understand how they work. Read unofficial Disney fan sites which will give you recommendations on how to use them the most effectively.