The Genie Usage, Tips and Strategy ONLY Thread

[Donna M]

Make sure you have your alternate plans for when nothing works the way you spent hours strategizing for. I watched tons of videos on how to get SDD and ROTR right at 7:00:00. No luck and we had two people working on it. The system wasn´t processing correctly and then it would release the time I had, or the time was too far out from when I tapped it originally, so frustrating.

So, alternate plan since we only got Toy Story Mania at 11:00 was to rope drop Rise. Not too bad, 20 min of walking, standing at the entrance listening to Rey and then it breaks down! They gave us a LL which worked out very well.

Interesting part of resort guests early entry. We got out of the car at 8:00 and were walking through the Rise line at 8:15. They didn´t hold us anywhere like they did at MK.

This is just a heads up for all the previous posters who have detailed plans of what they plan to get. Be ready for frustration, I used some words I don´t usually use! You may have to be flexible.

HS was packed on Feb 2 too!

Good luck everyone. I hope you get things better than we did.

 

[Brian4891]

Make sure you have your alternate plans for when nothing works the way you spent hours strategizing for. I watched tons of videos on how to get SDD and ROTR right at 7:00:00. No luck and we had two people working on it. The system wasn´t processing correctly and then it would release the time I had, or the time was too far out from when I tapped it originally, so frustrating.

So, alternate plan since we only got Toy Story Mania at 11:00 was to rope drop Rise. Not too bad, 20 min of walking, standing at the entrance listening to Rey and then it breaks down! They gave us a LL which worked out very well.

Interesting part of resort guests early entry. We got out of the car at 8:00 and were walking through the Rise line at 8:15. They didn´t hold us anywhere like they did at MK.

This is just a heads up for all the previous posters who have detailed plans of what they plan to get. Be ready for frustration, I used some words I don´t usually use! You may have to be flexible.

HS was packed on Feb 2 too!

Good luck everyone. I hope you get things better than we did.

So frustrating! If it went down for everybody and then came back at the same time for everybody, then fine I can deal with that. At least when it starts working again you have a chance at getting what you want.

The problem is when it works for some people and not others. The people who have problems sit there messing with the app for hours while all the times get taken by the people who are not having problems.

 

[Brian4891]

When Im using the genie plus up let’s say I book a selection in the morning for later in the day and I can’t book another until 11am. If I log on before that time does it show you what rides are still available so I have an idea what rides I can still get?

also is it in time order and each ride gets later and later until there all gone?

Yes even when you are not eligible to make a new booking, you can still view the next available time.

For your other question, I think you are asking if the available times get progressively later as they get booked up. Yes that is how it works. The app shows the next available time. For example, if the next available time is 4pm, it will show that until that time slot gets fully booked, and then it will show 4:10. This continues until all time slots are booked and then it will say none available. Occasionally if you check throughout the day you may see random times pop up due to cancellations or some other reason.

 

[jbish]

Maybe someone can help me reconcile this in my mind...

I'm reading a lot of first-hand accounts indicating that Genie+ selections get scarfed up pretty quickly and folks are only able to get a few LL selections throughout the day because by the time they can make their 3rd selection at 1 pm, nothing is available.

But I've also been reading a number of reports where people indicate hardly anyone using the LLs. So, if hardly anyone is in the LLs, then why are the LL slots selling out so much/quickly? If not many people are purchasing G+, shouldn't there be ample LL slots for those who do? Conversely, if a lot of people are purchasing it, then why are folks observing hardly anyone going through the LL?

I saw where someone speculated that Disney is rationing the number of LL slots given out (far fewer available than previously with FP+). Does anyone have insight into that? Understanding that offering too many LL slots would slow down SB further (one of the major complaints about FP+), are they simply making fewer LL slots available throughout the day while simultaneously NOT limiting how many people can purchase G+? If so, I predict it won't be long before there's a major backlash (can already see it forming now) if a significant number of people purchase G+, but it's not designed to offer an adequate number of LL slots to those purchasers to meet expectations.

I'm interested in hearing theories and observations on this too. As someone going the week before Easter, arguably one of the busiest weeks of the year, I'm worried I will spend $75/day on G+ only to get 2 maybe 3 rides booked. Is that worth it??? How quickly do these sell out during peak weeks?

 

[Orsino]

At Epcot and animal kingdom, I could see someone describing it as “hardly anyone using genie+”. But at MK and studios, no way. This week, which is busy but not super busy, we have reliably been able to get 5 LL using the two hour stack method. You could arguably be able to get more using the “book earliest” method. On busy days that might drop to 3 or 4(least efficient stack method) but you would also be facing longer lines on those days too so the time savings might be comparable.

 

[Grumpy by Birth]

At Epcot and animal kingdom, I could see someone describing it as “hardly anyone using genie+”. But at MK and studios, no way. This week, which is busy but not super busy, we have reliably been able to get 5 LL using the two hour stack method. You could arguably be able to get more using the “book earliest” method. On busy days that might drop to 3 or 4(least efficient stack method) but you would also be facing longer lines on those days too so the time savings might be comparable.

There seems to be fairly consistent agreement that G+ is least effective/not needed for EPCOT and AK. I'll have to go back and re-read those reports to see if it was specified about what park they were seeing "hardly anyone" in the LL.

 

[Pookie9922]

I'm interested in hearing theories and observations on this too. As someone going the week before Easter, arguably one of the busiest weeks of the year, I'm worried I will spend $75/day on G+ only to get 2 maybe 3 rides booked. Is that worth it??? How quickly do these sell out during peak weeks?

If it's busy enough that you only get 2-3 rides with the G+, that may be 2-3 rides more than you'd get riding standby with very long lines. So "worth it" is subjective - only you can decide that.

 

[DisneyFive]

There seems to be fairly consistent agreement that G+ is least effective/not needed for EPCOT and AK. I'll have to go back and re-read those reports to see if it was specified about what park they were seeing "hardly anyone" in the LL.

Even though we pre-purchased G+ for our upcoming 8 night trip this summer, I do agree that AK and EP are on a drastically different playing field for G+, ESPECIALLY when you consider that the two highest demand attractions in each park aren't even available with G+ (Remy, FEA, FOP, and EE). AK and EP total are only 3 of our 8 park days, so that helps. That leaves very few attractions to make useful use of G+.

EP and AK just lack good attractions what G+ is good for.

Soarin, now that they've added the third theater, has short wait times a good portion of the day, especially the second half. That leaves Test Track as the only really good use of G+ at EP. Even so, with how long the lines at TT are standby, and the frequent breakdowns, it will be really nice to have a G+ for it. It will also be nice, with G+, to basically walk on Spaceship Earth, Mission Space, etc...

The same goes for AK. I think the only two things that will be nice skipping lines for will be the Safari (that can get LONG) and Dinosaur. Other than that, G+ really isn't needed for shows. (we showed up to Lion King 5 minutes early last summer and still got seated. No bad seat in that theater really.

So yeah, I agree about AK and EP, but G+ isn't pointless there, it's just that the value of it is greatly diminished versus HS and MK.

Dan

 

[jbish]

So yeah, I agree about AK and EP, but G+ isn't pointless there, it's just that the value of it is greatly diminished versus HS and MK.

Dan

Also think that G+ for AK/EP might work well for park hopping to HS/MK later. Snag that high priority ride first thing (say TT at EP) with a EP reservation, then start stacking at MK for later in the afternoon.

 

[HBGdancermom]

Happy Friday everyone!

On one of my park days, we would like to start in Epcot with Remy, but hop to HS for the afternoon to utilize the RoTR ILL and whatever genie + we can stack throughout the morning. I'm assuming that I would leave my park reservation at Epcot that day but would still be able to purchase the ILL and other genie + rides for HS.

Is that correct?

Thanks!

 

[Turksmom]

Happy Friday everyone!

On one of my park days, we would like to start in Epcot with Remy, but hop to HS for the afternoon to utilize the RoTR ILL and whatever genie + we can stack throughout the morning. I'm assuming that I would leave my park reservation at Epcot that day but would still be able to purchase the ILL and other genie + rides for HS.

Is that correct?

Thanks!

That's correct! Sounds like a good plan.

 

[Meglen]

I am sorry if this has been answered a bunch already. You can book a ILL$ for any park any day?. If its before 2pm it needs to be your PP park but if its after 2pm and you have hoppers it dosnt matter. Correct?

 

[Turksmom]

I am sorry if this has been answered a bunch already. You can book a ILL$ for any park any day?. If its before 2pm it needs to be your PP park but if its after 2pm and you have hoppers it dosnt matter. Correct?

Correct. Just as a reminder, there is a maximum of 2 ILL$ per day, not 2 per park.

 

[meghanmione]

I'm sorry also if this has been strategized before, there's A LOT in this thread haha. If we don't want to spend the ENTIRE day at HS, would it be better to wake up at 7, try to book the ILL's we want (assuming the times we get will be later anyways) and stack some rides with genie throughout the day with return times being for the afternoon/evening? I'm just wondering if rope drop is worth it at all if we're going to use Genie+ there anyways. So far this seems like the trickiest park and it is sadly making me not even super excited for it even though I am dying to see the new galaxy's edge.

 

[Sydnerella]

I'm interested in hearing theories and observations on this too. As someone going the week before Easter, arguably one of the busiest weeks of the year, I'm worried I will spend $75/day on G+ only to get 2 maybe 3 rides booked. Is that worth it??? How quickly do these sell out during peak weeks?

As someone who was there 11/19-28, before, during and after Thanksgiving - we bought it everyday for our 9-day park hoppers. So similar crowds to you. If you see many of my posts you will notice that there were many issues and complaints that trip with G+/ILL, but things would only have been worse line-wise without it. At minimum we had 3 G+ rides booked in one day, and one day we actually were refunded because we focused on FOTH and the few rides we did book broke down. Breakdowns Happened a ton on our trip. We typically got many more than 3 more following guidance here - especially MK 7-8, HS 6 was probably the max plus ILLs.

There seems to be fairly consistent agreement that G+ is least effective/not needed for EPCOT and AK. I'll have to go back and re-read those reports to see if it was specified about what park they were seeing "hardly anyone" in the LL.

It depends if you have a trip during a peak time or not. Or if you want flexibility during less crowds to avoid lines, arrive later, don’t want to worry about the rope drops or other line beating strategy, end of the night, etc…

As I said above we had it for our whole trip and it was more useful than not due to the crowds even at Epcot and AK. That said, it was incredibly stressful and I am not a fan.

I'm sorry also if this has been strategized before, there's A LOT in this thread haha. If we don't want to spend the ENTIRE day at HS, would it be better to wake up at 7, try to book the ILL's we want (assuming the times we get will be later anyways) and stack some rides with genie throughout the day with return times being for the afternoon/evening? I'm just wondering if rope drop is worth it at all if we're going to use Genie+ there anyways. So far this seems like the trickiest park and it is sadly making me not even super excited for it even though I am dying to see the new galaxy's edge.

A late arrival as you describe with stacking is a nice plan if you can get good times later in the day to hit things consecutively - from what I have read here. I have not tried this myself. But its often recommended and I can see benefit. Especially if it is not a huge crowd day. Sorry to sound like a broken record, but again it depends what season you are traveling in. And touring preferences - It seems that it is considered average busy right now - crowd calendar five for Hollywood studios. My offsite friend still arrived at rope drop today to get TOT & RNRR out of the way in standby before their first real line. SDD G+ was booked for 2 at seven but return time was 4 PM. MFSR Was booked for the other two at seven with return time of 11. They had to wait standby for ROTR since they were offsite it was sold out. Otherwise had pretty minimal waits using G+ and standby and left by 630 as they were wiped out.

 

[MikeandReneePlus5]

I'm sorry also if this has been strategized before, there's A LOT in this thread haha. If we don't want to spend the ENTIRE day at HS, would it be better to wake up at 7, try to book the ILL's we want (assuming the times we get will be later anyways) and stack some rides with genie throughout the day with return times being for the afternoon/evening? I'm just wondering if rope drop is worth it at all if we're going to use Genie+ there anyways. So far this seems like the trickiest park and it is sadly making me not even super excited for it even though I am dying to see the new galaxy's edge.

Yes that can work but after your ILL$ (assuming you buy them) you will only be able to book 1 Genie+ before park open (assuming Sslinky Dog) and then the next one at 11am (2 hours after park open).

And at 11am times will be further out. But that may be just fine for your plan. I think that is what we will do next week.

Another way to do it is do the exact same thing at 7am but still get there at park open and go ride, say, Millennium Falcon with a short wait and move on to RNRC and TOT and TSMM with short waits while still booking Genie+ for re-rides.

There are other plans also.

 

[meghanmione]

Yes that can work but after your ILL$ (assuming you buy them) you will only be able to book 1 Genie+ before park open (assuming Sslinky Dog) and then the next one at 11am (2 hours after park open).

And at 11am times will be further out. But that may be just fine for your plan. I think that is what we will do next week.

Another way to do it is do the exact same thing at 7am but still get there at park open and go ride, say, Millennium Falcon with a short wait and move on to RNRC and TOT and TSMM with short waits while still booking Genie+ for re-rides.

There are other plans also.

That’s a good idea! I wonder if that would allow for a midday break in that case but I guess it’s dependent on what return times I actually get.

 

[moorish]

I used to just tap the "Tip Board" button on the actual tip board page in order to refresh the times, instead of having to pull down from the top. I notice tapping that button isn't refreshing the times anymore.. I tap it and nothing happens. I'm wondering if this is a temporary bug or if they did something to stop people from refreshing so much?

I just noticed this too after months of being able to just tap “Tip Board” to refresh. I have to pull down from the top each time and it’s very annoying!

 

[Donna M]

I just noticed this too after months of being able to just tap “Tip Board” to refresh. I have to pull down from the top each time and it’s very annoying!

Same here for Wed. I had to pull it down this time.

 

[GBRforWDW]

I just noticed this too after months of being able to just tap “Tip Board” to refresh. I have to pull down from the top each time and it’s very annoying!

Same here for Wed. I had to pull it down this time.

If you are further down the Tip Board page, click a ride to go to the ride details page, then click on the LL logo. It'll take you right back to where you were while also refreshing.