The Genie Usage, Tips and Strategy ONLY Thread

[twodogs]

looks like you had good success with refresh. About how long did you find yourself refreshing before something popped up that worked?

Usually it took less than 5 minutes of refreshing, but some just would not pop up (I am talking to you, Soarin’). But we had better luck in the early afternoon and then at night when I think some people get too tired to stay and just start canceling LLs. I felt like I spent less time on my phone with G+ than I did with FP+ because once we were in the 2 hour lock out between LLs (which we often were since it was such a busy time and almost all returns were about 2 hours out, even with aggressive refresh), then I didn’t have to check anything on my phone for a while. While I would love a “modify” option to see if I could get a better time, that would have meant I was on the phone even more, refreshing to try to modify for an earlier time. I think the only LLs we booked at the “next available time” all day were the first ones in the morning. The rest of the day, we always refreshed for earlier times or refreshed to get LLs for rides that showed “out for the day” of LLs. A little refreshing can result in a much better day with G+.

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

Couple of questions. First, family lands in Orlando around 10 am on March 5 then plans on getting to MK around 1 PM. Can you make Genie+ reservations that morning before boarding the flight to Disney or do we have to physically check in to the resort first?

Second, I doubt there's going to be much rope-dropping this trip. What's the ride experience like for folks who use Genie+ but don't rope drop? Still able to hit most of the headliners?

Offhand, Genie+ seems like a complicated pain in the rear that isn't an upgrade from anything Disney previously offered, and just adds an extra layer of cost. I guess we'll know more after experiencing it in the Spring.

 

[GBRforWDW]

Couple of questions. First, family lands in Orlando around 10 am on March 5 then plans on getting to MK around 1 PM. Can you make Genie+ reservations that morning before boarding the flight to Disney or do we have to physically check in to the resort first?

Second, I doubt there's going to be much rope-dropping this trip. What's the ride experience like for folks who use Genie+ but don't rope drop? Still able to hit most of the headliners?

Offhand, Genie+ seems like a complicated pain in the rear that isn't an upgrade from anything Disney previously offered, and just adds an extra layer of cost. I guess we'll know more after experiencing it in the Spring.

First, yes, you can make G+ reservations - your first at 7am and again at 11am if it opens at 9, but you may need to refresh to let the rides get out past 1pm. I'd honestly shoot for 1:30-2 just to give yourself time to get adjusted in the park. Jungle Cruise or Peter pan should get out that far after awhile. If staying onsite, you should also be able to select ILL$ rides at 7 if you desire.

Last week, we didn't rope drop and mostly only used G+ for rides. Our experience may differ because of the different offerings in G+ Christmas week as well as extended hours. There were 2 additions to G+, space mountain coming off ILL$ and the parade. We had pretty good availability throughout our MK day, but didn't get as many rides as we could have due to time constraints, etc

G+ is difficult in that the popular rides that you want to use are spread throughout the park, so if stacking and grabbing, you're going to different parts of the park and walking long distances. Also, some rides have long lines even with LL passes, so that makes it difficult to hit standby lines in between LL usage. For example, Soarin' was the longest line I noticed, took me 45-50 minutes from the time I entered the building until I was off the ride, then I was rushing to get to the Candlelight Processional across the lake in the American pavilion.

Overall, G+ ensured we were able to do the rides and shows we wanted, most of the time.

 

[princesswahooey]

Also, some rides have long lines even with LL passes, so that makes it difficult to hit standby lines in between LL usage. For example, Soarin' was the longest line I noticed, took me 45-50 minutes from the time I entered the building until I was off the ride, then I was rushing to get to the Candlelight Processional across the lake in the American pavilion.

Yes! This exactly! We had to bail on 2 LLs to Soarin on two different days (21st & 24th) because even with LL, we were waiting so long to board after tapping in that we were worried about getting to our dinner reservations and Candlelight Processional across the park, especially since crowds were so thick that you had to move at a snail's pace to get around World Showcase.

 

[js]

Hi. Did I read on this thread or somewhere that there is another "dump" of LLs at a certain time?I know I read it somewhere and Im teying to find the time. We arrive on Saturday so it will still be very busy and thought this is good information to have.

Thanks.

 

[g-dad66]

Hi. Did I read on this thread or somewhere that there is another "dump" of LLs at a certain time?I know I read it somewhere and Im teying to find the time. We arrive on Saturday so it will still be very busy and thought this is good information to have.

Thanks.

You may be thinking of 7:10 am?

My theory is that many people are trying for their first LL at 7:00 am. If they haven't paid for G+ yet, they get 10 minutes to make their payment. If they are unable to get their payment to go through (for example, because they get numerous requests to enter a code sent to their email), then their selections go back into the pot.

I have observed that some earlier return times seem to pop up about 7:10 am, and for Slinky Dog Dash LLs which will run out by 7:01 or so, suddenly at about 7:10, some availability will pop up again for a short amount of time.

 

[GBRforWDW]

Hi. Did I read on this thread or somewhere that there is another "dump" of LLs at a certain time?I know I read it somewhere and Im teying to find the time. We arrive on Saturday so it will still be very busy and thought this is good information to have.

Thanks.

The only actual dump I came across while there last week was for Flight of Passage. Not saying it doesn't happen to others as it still could. And I have heard of it, but I think it's usually random so that the non experts have as much of a chance as the experts.

My experience was as an offsite guest. I was occasionally refreshing until the park opened, then about 2 minutes before 8am, when AK opened, the ILL$ ran out and were unavailable for an hour. At 9:05, I happened to reopen my phone and the tip board refreshed and to my surprise, FoP had a availability. I had several times across several hours to choose from, I think I could select 10am, 11am or 12pm as each had times available. A little while later, I did see some afternoon times available as well.

 

[mgarbowski]

Apologies as I expect this has been covered, but I did try searching and it’s needle/haystack time.

At 7am, can you make a Genie+ Lightning Lane reservation for a later time>? I have tried and cannot figure out a way except to wait until the available times keep moving later in the day and then snag it the time you want.

For example, Park opens at 8:30am. We plan to arrive later and want a LL for 10am. At 7am, I can grab a LL for 8:30. I have played with it and cannot find an option to pick a later time.
I think there is a way for individual purchase LL not part of Genie Plus, but if there is a way to do this for G+ lightning lane, it eludes me.

Manhy thanks.

 

[g-dad66]

Apologies as I expect this has been covered, but I did try searching and it’s needle/haystack time.

At 7am, can you make a Genie+ Lightning Lane reservation for a later time>? I have tried and cannot figure out a way except to wait until the available times keep moving later in the day and then snag it the time you want.

For example, Park opens at 8:30am. We plan to arrive later and want a LL for 10am. At 7am, I can grab a LL for 8:30. I have played with it and cannot find an option to pick a later time.
I think there is a way for individual purchase LL not part of Genie Plus, but if there is a way to do this for G+ lightning lane, it eludes me.

Manhy thanks.

You are correct that you can't select a later time than what is showing. You have to wait until the earliest available time moves to later in the day.

But be aware that for rides that get booked quickly (like Slinky Dog Dash), the time showing may turn into a substantially later time after you click on it to book it. For example, what was showing as 1:00 when you selected it may actually get confirmed as 2:00.

You are also correct that for ILL$, you can select your time (although early times for it may no longer be available).

 

[cubed]

The only actual dump I came across while there last week was for Flight of Passage. Not saying it doesn't happen to others as it still could. And I have heard of it, but I think it's usually random so that the non experts have as much of a chance as the experts.

My experience was as an offsite guest. I was occasionally refreshing until the park opened, then about 2 minutes before 8am, when AK opened, the ILL$ ran out and were unavailable for an hour. At 9:05, I happened to reopen my phone and the tip board refreshed and to my surprise, FoP had a availability. I had several times across several hours to choose from, I think I could select 10am, 11am or 12pm as each had times available. A little while later, I did see some afternoon times available as well.

Touring Plans has a schedule of additional drop times and they are usually 1-5 minutes every half hour. We are in AK now as offsite guests and got FoP at 9:03am for a return time of 11:15am!

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Apologies as I expect this has been covered, but I did try searching and it’s needle/haystack time.

At 7am, can you make a Genie+ Lightning Lane reservation for a later time>? I have tried and cannot figure out a way except to wait until the available times keep moving later in the day and then snag it the time you want.

For example, Park opens at 8:30am. We plan to arrive later and want a LL for 10am. At 7am, I can grab a LL for 8:30. I have played with it and cannot find an option to pick a later time.
I think there is a way for individual purchase LL not part of Genie Plus, but if there is a way to do this for G+ lightning lane, it eludes me.

Manhy thanks.

I'm probably over-thinking it, but we look at G+/LL as working like the original paper FP - you get the next available time slot. The purchased ILL works like the old FP+ where you can select an available time slot.

 

[Spaghetti Cat]

Thank you everyone for your reports on here. It really helps to see when things run out and the like.

 

[wisblue]

You may be thinking of 7:10 am?

My theory is that many people are trying for their first LL at 7:00 am. If they haven't paid for G+ yet, they get 10 minutes to make their payment. If they are unable to get their payment to go through (for example, because they get numerous requests to enter a code sent to their email), then their selections go back into the pot.

I have observed that some earlier return times seem to pop up about 7:10 am, and for Slinky Dog Dash LLs which will run out by 7:01 or so, suddenly at about 7:10, some availability will pop up again for a short amount of time.

When I have played around at home, some additional times for SDD pop up every day around 7:10 and times remain available for a few minutes (and definitely longer than they are available at 7:00 sharp).

The very early times don’t last long, but if you aren’t fussy about the time, or are looking for something for an afternoon arrival, it might be easier to get what you want if you start looking at 7:10 and couldn’t get what you want at 7:00.

This week might be skewed a little by the addition of MMRR to the G+ mix, but the crowds are also at peak levels. I intend to try this next week Tuesday when we arrive for the Marathon Weekend activities.

 

[Mome Rath]

Apologies as I expect this has been covered, but I did try searching and it’s needle/haystack time.

At 7am, can you make a Genie+ Lightning Lane reservation for a later time>? I have tried and cannot figure out a way except to wait until the available times keep moving later in the day and then snag it the time you want.

For example, Park opens at 8:30am. We plan to arrive later and want a LL for 10am. At 7am, I can grab a LL for 8:30. I have played with it and cannot find an option to pick a later time.
I think there is a way for individual purchase LL not part of Genie Plus, but if there is a way to do this for G+ lightning lane, it eludes me.

Manhy thanks.

The only exception is if you are park hopping; in your hopped to park, any time you pick that is listed with a return time earlier than 2pm will automatically jump ahead to 2pm.

 

[wisblue]

On the 7:10 phenomenon for SDD described a few posts above, today was a good example of what I seem to see every day that I have tested this.

The way I test this is that when I see a G+ time available for SDD I click on it as if I was going to book a time. That takes me to a screen that tells me (correctly) that nobody in my family has a valid admission and park reservation.

Then I back out of that screen to see if times are still available. If I see the “Not Currently Offered” (NCO) message, that tells me that I probably wouldn’t have been able to book that time. But, if that time, or something close to it, is offered, I expect that I could have gotten something in that time range if I had proceeded to booking.

Today I logged in right at 7:00:00 EST and saw a time of 8:30 AM, the earliest possible. But as I went through the book and back out process, the available times quickly went to about Noon, then 3 PM, then to evening, then to NCO. It only took about five cycles and less than a minute to get to the NCO status.

At 7:11, times started showing up again, starting with some as early as 8:40 AM. Those times then gradually went later in the day, with an occasional earlier one popping up. I didn’t get another NCO message until 7:16.

After that there were still some pop up times, and another similar, but shorter, series of times at around 7:20 that lasted for a couple of minutes.

Obviously there are no guarantees that this pattern will repeat every day or continue as crowd levels change and MMRR goes back to ILL status. But it seems like it’s worth a try if you can’t get a time for SDD that works for you at 7AM, but still would like to get something for SDD before going to a backup.

I will report on how this works for me next Tuesday when we expect to be arriving at DHS in early afternoon and I’ll be looking for a return time around 3PM. My additional challenge is that our departing flight is scheduled for 7:05 EST, and I may be dealing with boarding and trying to connect to Southwest WiFi to pull this off unless I can enlist a non traveling family member to help me.

 

[kalista]

On the 7:10 phenomenon for SDD described a few posts above, today was a good example of what I seem to see every day that I have tested this.

The way I test this is that when I see a G+ rime available for SDD I click on it as if I was going to book a time. That takes me to a screen that tells me (correctly) that nobody in my family has a valid admission and park reservation.

Then I back out of that screen to see if times are still available. If I see the “Not Currently Offered” (NCO) message, that tells me that I probably wouldn’t have been able to book that time. But, if that time, or something close to it, is offered, I expect that I could have gotten something in that time range if I had proceeded to booking.

So I can’t help but wonder how many people do this and lock up potential slots for folks who are actually eligible? Then those folks panic and schedule something else thinking their second choice may sell out too?

 

[Luisfba]

So.. after a little over a week of only having 1 ILL, as compared to Thanksgiving week, do folks think that move helped the LL availability significantly? I wonder if this is here to stay and what the chances May be it’ll come back later (specifically, I’m going the week after Easter).

 

[GBRforWDW]

So I can’t help but wonder how many people do this and lock up potential slots for folks who are actually eligible? Then those folks panic and schedule something else thinking their second choice may sell out too?

I don't think the time is locked up until you select your party, at least from what I experienced actually using G+ last week. The screen where wisblue says he has no eligible family members, if you do have eligible f&f, you can edit on this screen then click next to finish booking. That's where the time locks in. So wisblue just clicking the time doesn't take the time out of availability.

 

[wisblue]

I don't think the time is locked up until you select your party, at least from what I experienced actually using G+ last week. The screen where wisblue says he has no eligible family members, if you do have eligible f&f, you can edit on this screen then click next to finish booking. That's where the time locks in. So wisblue just clicking the time doesn't take the time out of availability.

This is how I think it works. I’m pretty sure a time wouldn‘t be allocated to someone who hasn’t purchased Genie+ and doesn’t have a valid park reservation or ticket for that day.

I also suspect that the number of people doing this kind of testing on any given day is pretty low.

I do wonder if sites like Thrill Data or Touring Plans are bombarding the system to get data on return time availability. That would account for a lot more traffic than a few individuals.

 

[GBRforWDW]

So.. after a little over a week of only having 1 ILL, as compared to Thanksgiving week, do folks think that move helped the LL availability significantly? I wonder if this is here to stay and what the chances May be it’ll come back later (specifically, I’m going the week after Easter).

So, in several parks, not only did you have the 1 ride that came off ILL$ availability to G+, you also had another show/ride available on G+ for various reasons, so 2 extra selections in Genie.

Animal Kingdom saw Kali River Rapids come off refurbishment - refurb started Nov 1 before G+ was rolled out, I believe, or just after it started. Either way, it wasn't there for Thanksgiving crowds.
Magic Kingdom offered the parade
DHS brought back Indiana Jones
I don't think EPCOT had anything besides frozen.

In almost all parks, I felt like there was availability for everything I wanted and sometimes return times too soon that I didn't want to select or at 7 had to keep refreshing to get a later time that worked better for us. I also saw availability for top rides, other than SDD, at the 2 hour mark. I definitely felt like I got better use than those that went at Thanksgiving.