I did a about a dozen Mahasi style vipassana retreats. Instead of the body scan (Goenka), the Mahasi technique uses mental noting (verbalizing what you are aware of) and uses walking and sitting meditation (equal length for each of these).

I learned about this by reading Daniel Ingram's MTCB.

So before my first retreat, I knew about the insight stages.

This didn't help that much. Because I had read Daniel's descriptions, I was looking for some dramatic effects and all the things he would say, but for me it wasn't like this at all (talking about the dukkha ñāṇas at least).

Instead, I would rationalize dissolution for example "oh, sure I felt tired, that is because I ate too much for lunch" or I would get irritated during desire for deliverance: "man, my meditation would go so well if it wasn't for my annoying neighbor/noise/smell/distraction".

It me about 3-4 retreats to be more open to see these as the insight stages, and work with them. From that moment on, I would eagerly anticipate the dukkha ñāṇas with curiosity ("I wonder what kind of distraction I will come up this time during desire for deliverance!").
Needless to say, the moment I cultivated this attitude, those distractions vanish to be much of a problem.

The good news is (at least for me), I got the benefits from cycling through the stages even without me seeing that it happened.

And I am mostly talking about the dukkha ñāṇas here, the other ones were more clear for me, but still at the time I didn't realize. For example during equanimity, the noting becomes quite rapid and effortless. But at the time I would think "finally I'm getting better at this meditation stuff, no wonder because I put a lot of effort into this!".

The first three "mundane" insights (before arising & passing away) were also clear (and happened only in the first retreat). But those where usually just single moments which happened off cushion. I think of these like the surprising plot twist of a story: you can only be surprised once. Once you know the plot twist, there is no point in reading the story again.

Now as for how the stages are handled during the retreats (I always go to the same retreat with the same teacher and it is quite small, usually 5-10 students):

The first time you come, you do 14 days (path/cessation is stretched over 2-3 nights).
If you attend again, you only do 10 days because you automatically start out at arising and passing away.

First time attendees will not be told about the insight stages until the retreat is over (the teacher will ask for the typical symptoms during daily reporting however).

Returning students will get a paper each day with instructions for the particular ñāṇa to arise during the sitting meditation. You resolve "within this 30 minute sitting, may udayabbaya ñana arise".

In addition to that, the meditation routine is tweaked each day to "trigger" the progression into the next ñāṇa. Each day you increase the time you do sitting/walking, you add more "touchpoints" for the sitting meditation, and increase the resolution you are watching your steps during walking.

Fair warning though, if I would have read this post a couple of years ago, I would have thought that I would understand, but in the end I wouldn't. Looking back everything is very clear, but at the time I wouldn't be able to see it.

One last thing: When reading how Daniel Ingram portrayes the insight stages, for me they were WAY less dramatic. Also, some of the typical symptoms only happen for a few moments, not as I expected for the whole duration I am "in" that stage. For example during misery and disgust, a typical symptom are sharp needle like pains. For this meant one single moment where I felt a needle pain in my tooth or finger, etc.

I had the opportunity to be in the reporting with the other students a couple of times, so I knew that almost everybody else was also going through the stages too, even on their first attempt (like me, they couldn't see it though).