I do not get the whole "stacking" strategy - help!

[barefootMom]

I swear I have a mental block trying to understand the strategies being explained about stacking. I will be staying offsite next week and going one day to MK and one day at HS. There are 4 of us and I am the only one who knows anything about Genie +, etc. and I am panicking that I will not use Genie + correctly and it will be a waste of my money (I already paid for us for both days). I swear I would pay someone to just spell out exactly what I should do for the start of each of those days to set myself up correctly and how to have as many LLs as possible. We do not plan to buy SM or SDMT at MK (have done them many times) and my kids are older so we are more into Pirate, Haunted Mansion, Splash, Big Thunder, etc. However, at HS, we are happy to buy RoR and Mickey/Minnies since we have not been on them. But now I am reading that RoR is not likely to even still be able to be purchased even if I try right at 9:00?? Ugh. Can anyone create a "stacking for Dummies" outline for me or some very simplified explanation of how I best plan for those two days when I know it will be crazy busy? thank you in advance if anyone can help

 

[GBRforWDW]

I swear I have a mental block trying to understand the strategies being explained about stacking. I will be staying offsite next week and going one day to MK and one day at HS. There are 4 of us and I am the only one who knows anything about Genie +, etc. and I am panicking that I will not use Genie + correctly and it will be a waste of my money (I already paid for us for both days). I swear I would pay someone to just spell out exactly what I should do for the start of each of those days to set myself up correctly and how to have as many LLs as possible. We do not plan to buy SM or SDMT at MK (have done them many times) and my kids are older so we are more into Pirate, Haunted Mansion, Splash, Big Thunder, etc. However, at HS, we are happy to buy RoR and Mickey/Minnies since we have not been on them. But now I am reading that RoR is not likely to even still be able to be purchased even if I try right at 9:00?? Ugh. Can anyone create a "stacking for Dummies" outline for me or some very simplified explanation of how I best plan for those two days when I know it will be crazy busy? thank you in advance if anyone can help

I won't say this is the end all be all plan, but the writer at Disney Tourist Blog provides great detail about getting the most out of your day. Here's his detailed Genie+ itenerary for both parks. Don't feel like you have to match everything he does exactly, but hopefully this gets you started.

Magic Kingdom:
https://www.disneytouristblog.com/1-day-magic-kingdom-lightning-lanes-genie-plus/
Hollywood Studios:
https://www.disneytouristblog.com/1-day-hollywood-studios-lightning-lanes-genie-plus/

 

[GBRforWDW]

So I was slightly distracted when I posted earlier. Looking at these articles closer, it looks like they were written as hypotheticals based on assumptions of how the old systems worked.

Most of the info is fairly close, however, the info to grab your next pass at 9 is not correct as we now know you either have to check into your first ride or wait 120 minutes after park opening to get your second pass.

As far as stacking goes, it generally works better if you're park hopping as you can't select a specific time for the Genie+ rides. Park hoppers can choose rides for their second park and they'll only get a time after 2pm, when park hopping begins. The idea being at 7 am, 11am, 1pm, and 3pm you're selecting rides for 3pm or later for the hopped to park.

There's another situation that allows you to sort of stack LL's. If you can luck out or plan well at 7am and grab a LL for a ride that overlaps the 2 hour after park opening window (if park opens at 9, 2 hours later is 11, get a LL that starts between 10:05 and 11am). Wait to go to that ride. At 11, get your second LL after your 120 minute window expires. Then check into your first ride. After checking in, you're then able to get another LL pass for checking into your ride, so then you have 2 passes for later in the day.

 

[DisneyKidds]

I’m no expert, haven’t yet used it, and primarily plan to stack for hopping with G+ when the time comes……but for single days in the MK and HS, trying to keep it simple, I’d probably try the following.

MK

Between 7am and 8am get Jungle Cruise G+LL (#1) with a return time 2 hours past park open. You may have to refresh a few times to get a suitable return time.

Arrive park early and do as many rides standby as you can.

Two hours after park open, before using JC, get another G+LL (#2) for ride of your choice. You now will have two LL stacked.

Use each LL when they come up, replacing with a new LL reservation once you have completed all tap ins for each ride.

Are there other things you could try, like trying to take advantage of grace periods to stack more….yes, but trying to do so may just complicate things more than you’d like.

HS

At 7am get SDD G+LL (#1) with a return time 2 hours past park open.

Arrive park early, at park open purchase RotR and MMRR as available, after that do as many rides standby as you can.

Two hours after park open, before using SDD, get another G+LL (#2) for ride of your choice. You now will have two LL stacked.

Use each LL when they come up, replacing with a new LL reservation once you have completed all tap ins for each ride.

Again, are there things you might be able to do to increase the stack in HS….yes, but you want simple.

I do think those two plans are the simplest combination of early arrival combined with a double stack. I’m sure if I’ve got anything wrong someone will chime in. I hope you work it out and have a good time!

 

[PepperjackDragon]

I’d recommend skimming the strategies thread and reading the lists that detail actual experiences. It’s really not that complicated. Just learn the basic rules, create a basic outline of what you hope happens and then just roll with it however it goes. It will work out well enough with fairly little prep I suspect, and if you read the main posts in the strategies thread it should work out very well. Of course you have to be flexible and can’t let it overwhelm you, just do the best you can and learn from it, the vast majority of people won’t have any idea what they are doing.

 

[Aquagirl]

Are return time windows still 1 hour like with the old system?

 

[coolbrook]

Are return time windows still 1 hour like with the old system?

Yes, with the same grace periods of 5 min. before and 15 minutes after.

 

[coolbrook]

I’m no expert, haven’t yet used it, and primarily plan to stack for hopping with G+ when the time comes……but for single days in the MK and HS, trying to keep it simple, I’d probably try the following.

MK

Between 7am and 8am get Jungle Cruise G+LL (#1) with a return time 2 hours past park open. You may have to refresh a few times to get a suitable return time.

Arrive park early and do as many rides standby as you can.

Two hours after park open, before using JC, get another G+LL (#2) for ride of your choice. You now will have two LL stacked.

Use each LL when they come up, replacing with a new LL reservation once you have completed all tap ins for each ride.

Are there other things you could try, like trying to take advantage of grace periods to stack more….yes, but trying to do so may just complicate things more than you’d like.

HS

At 7am get SDD G+LL (#1) with a return time 2 hours past park open.

Arrive park early, at park open purchase RotR and MMRR as available, after that do as many rides standby as you can.

Two hours after park open, before using SDD, get another G+LL (#2) for ride of your choice. You now will have two LL stacked.

Use each LL when they come up, replacing with a new LL reservation once you have completed all tap ins for each ride.

Again, are there things you might be able to do to increase the stack in HS….yes, but you want simple.

I do think those two plans are the simplest combination of early arrival combined with a double stack. I’m sure if I’ve got anything wrong someone will chime in. I hope you work it out and have a good time!

This all sounds good except the return time for Slinky, even if you get it right at 7am, could be in the evening. We were there last week and we got a return time around 6pm when we got our Slinky G+ right at 7am. The plan will still work, just get the second G+ 2 hours after park open.

 

[GBRforWDW]

This all sounds good except the return time for Slinky, even if you get it right at 7am, could be in the evening. We were there last week and we got a return time around 6pm when we got our Slinky G+ right at 7am. The plan will still work, just get the second G+ 2 hours after park open.

Yeah slinky is the one that appears to be flying off the shelf. Gone within minutes, so if you want that as a LL, you gotta take what you can get.

If you want something that would actually be 2 hours after park opening, I'd go for TSMM. If you can get that to overlap the 2 hour park open window, you could essentially rope drop Slinky, hit AS2, grab your next LL at 11am (2 hour window), check into TSMM, then grab your next LL for using the TSMM LL.

 

[KristaZ]

So here's the example of how we stacked at MK this past weekend.

7am - grabbed Jungle Cruise (this is the one that disappears first from MK) - we got an 11am return time - no refreshing needed, that was the time we were offered right at 7.

11am - used the 120 minute rule to book Peter Pan's Flight for around 3 (this is the 2nd one likely to disappear, so important to grab it early on) - We were leaving for lunch at Steakhouse 71 around 12:30, so this worked for us.

11:05 - tapped into Jungle Cruise and grabbed one for Buzz Lightyear around 11:45.

11:45 - tapped into Buzz, grabbed Haunted Mansion for again around 3 after we would return to the park.

1:45 - used the the 120 minute rule to grab Winnie the pooh around 3:30. At this point we had 3 rides stacked for when we returned to the park.

At that point we were able to keep having three reservations by tapping into a ride and making a new one for a time pretty close to immediately. We hit Little Mermaid, Dumbo, Tea Cups, Big Thunder, and Pirates pretty easily that way. We chose not to do Splash (too chilly for us), Tomorrowland Speedway, Magic Carpets, or Barnstormer, but easily could of gotten those with immediate times. We also did Pirates, Small World, and Philharmagic as walk ons in the morning before our Jungle Cruise time.

 

[sarabguerra]

So here's the example of how we stacked at MK this past weekend.

7am - grabbed Jungle Cruise (this is the one that disappears first from MK) - we got an 11am return time - no refreshing needed, that was the time we were offered right at 7.

11am - used the 120 minute rule to book Peter Pan's Flight for around 3 (this is the 2nd one likely to disappear, so important to grab it early on) - We were leaving for lunch at Steakhouse 71 around 12:30, so this worked for us.

11:05 - tapped into Jungle Cruise and grabbed one for Buzz Lightyear around 11:45.

11:45 - tapped into Buzz, grabbed Haunted Mansion for again around 3 after we would return to the park.

1:45 - used the the 120 minute rule to grab Winnie the pooh around 3:30. At this point we had 3 rides stacked for when we returned to the park.

At that point we were able to keep having three reservations by tapping into a ride and making a new one for a time pretty close to immediately. We hit Little Mermaid, Dumbo, Tea Cups, Big Thunder, and Pirates pretty easily that way. We chose not to do Splash (too chilly for us), Tomorrowland Speedway, Magic Carpets, or Barnstormer, but easily could of gotten those with immediate times. We also did Pirates, Small World, and Philharmagic as walk ons in the morning before our Jungle Cruise time.

OP, I was/am so confused as well. Thank you for asking!

This is exactly what I needed to see broken down! And it doesn't feel too overwhelming. Btwn G+ and the kids DAS, we should have a pretty relaxed visit at MK. DX needs to go slowly and take lots of breaks, so this loophole/strategy is still available come Feb.