The Genie Usage, Tips and Strategy ONLY Thread

[cjlong88]

Okay, so we were able to skip line at a total of 8 attractions (2 ILL$ and 6 Genie+). We chose to spend the first half of our day at EPCOT enjoying F&W while we stacked at HS.

I attached the return time I got with the time I secured it in parentheses. Refreshing worked quite well when the app initially said nothing was left for a specific attraction. I was able to snag TSM and Test Track after some refreshing here and there.

 

[coolbrook]

Just back from a week using G+ every day except arrival evening. I'm sold. I loved it! I had that old "skating above the crowds" feeling I used to get with a good touring plan and strategic FP+ usage. It was fun! This thread was invaluable in pre-planning our approach.

Knowing which ride to choose at 7am was the first key in setting up the day for success. For us we would decide together each night, based on reports from this thread and our must-do's, what to get first. We did Slinky in HS, Jungle Cruise in MK, Test Track in EP, and Safari in AK.

Knowing when we were eligible for booking the next G+ was the second key. If you forget you can look by faking like you are trying to book a new one and it will tell you won't be eligible until _____ time. Super helpful. We did double and triple stacks some days. I walk slow with a walker and do not back track and we made this work for me.

Knowing that as soon as you ride a ride you should book the next G+ reservation (even if you need to cancel and rebook later to get a better time) is the third key. Just know that if you are eligible to book because you just used a G+ you should do that before cancelling and rebooking something else or you will loose a stack. I made that mistake once and another person in our group did as well.

Knowing that, although you don't absolutely need G+ for shows, it can be helpful is the fourth key. Our first full park day was AK, and I didn't think we would need G+ for shows, so I didn't get one for Lion King. Waited 20 minutes. Didn't make it in to the 2:00 show, got a snack and waited another 30 minutes and did make it in to the 3:00. Show. That didn't feel like a successful use of Disney time. So, we learned our lesson and went ahead and got G+ reservations for Disney Junior and Beauty and the Beast in HS. We did Frozen early in the day without G+ because we were not eligible for our second G+ yet. As we approached shows the CM were telling people the next show was full at Frozen and Disney Junior. They let al the G+ people in first, so at Disney Junior our family was able to sit front and center and I got a bench seat. This also meant I wasn't standing as long. Happy benefit for me.

A BIG Thank you to everyone who has been posting and sharing experiences and strategy ideas here! You helped make our extended family trip wonderful for myself and 5 Disney first timers.

 

[Luisfba]

Okay, so we were able to skip line at a total of 8 attractions (2 ILL$ and 6 Genie+). We chose to spend the first half of our day at EPCOT enjoying F&W while we stacked at HS.

I attached the return time I got with the time I secured it in parentheses. Refreshing worked quite well when the app initially said nothing was left for a specific attraction. I was able to snag TSM and Test Track after some refreshing here and there.


View attachment 622545

First, congrats! Glad you had such a great time and it worked so well. I actually am planning something similar for HS but was going to do it both for our travel day and for a day later on the trip where we can start at EC. In fact the order you just laid out is pretty much what I’m hoping I can pull off when I do it.

A question though. Does the 2 hour availability go off the park open time of the park you are starting from or the park you are pulling tickets from? Reason I ask is that I thought starting at EC may be a disadvantage since they’ve been opening later, but you show you were able to pick at 11am.

thanks!

 

[Stormtrooper mum]

Just back from a week using G+ every day except arrival evening. I'm sold. I loved it! I had that old "skating above the crowds" feeling I used to get with a good touring plan and strategic FP+ usage. It was fun! This thread was invaluable in pre-planning our approach.

Knowing which ride to choose at 7am was the first key in setting up the day for success. For us we would decide together each night, based on reports from this thread and our must-do's, what to get first. We did Slinky in HS, Jungle Cruise in MK, Test Track in EP, and Safari in AK.

Knowing when we were eligible for booking the next G+ was the second key. If you forget you can look by faking like you are trying to book a new one and it will tell you won't be eligible until _____ time. Super helpful. We did double and triple stacks some days. I walk slow with a walker and do not back track and we made this work for me.

Knowing that as soon as you ride a ride you should book the next G+ reservation (even if you need to cancel and rebook later to get a better time) is the third key. Just know that if you are eligible to book because you just used a G+ you should do that before cancelling and rebooking something else or you will loose a stack. I made that mistake once and another person in our group did as well.

Knowing that, although you don't absolutely need G+ for shows, it can be helpful is the fourth key. Our first full park day was AK, and I didn't think we would need G+ for shows, so I didn't get one for Lion King. Waited 20 minutes. Didn't make it in to the 2:00 show, got a snack and waited another 30 minutes and did make it in to the 3:00. Show. That didn't feel like a successful use of Disney time. So, we learned our lesson and went ahead and got G+ reservations for Disney Junior and Beauty and the Beast in HS. We did Frozen early in the day without G+ because we were not eligible for our second G+ yet. As we approached shows the CM were telling people the next show was full at Frozen and Disney Junior. They let al the G+ people in first, so at Disney Junior our family was able to sit front and center and I got a bench seat. This also meant I wasn't standing as long. Happy benefit for me.

A BIG Thank you to everyone who has been posting and sharing experiences and strategy ideas here! You helped make our extended family trip wonderful for myself and 5 Disney first timers.

Thank you for this. Would you mind sharing what you did at ak? I see a lot of people saying it’s not needed so I don’t see many strategies at that park and we plan on using it as we’ll be there on a busy Christmas Saturday

 

[ZeeWP]

the more I read the more it seems like G+ works great for park hoppers. take it easy in one of the parks in the morning, evening go to another park and do all the popular rides.

 

[DisneyKidds]

the more I read the more it seems like G+ works great for park hoppers. take it easy in one of the parks in the morning, evening go to another park and do all the popular rides.

That’s what I’ve been hoping. However, yesterday’s reports of all LL reservations being gone by 6:00, some earlier, only heighten my concern that G+ may not be all that useful during peak periods. Thanksgiving and Christmas should tell us a lot, and I already don’t like what I’m hearing….

 

[holyrita]

Genie+ doesn't let you pick from available times like ILL$, you get the 'next available'. I guess my question is, if you're trying to stack rides for late afternoon into the evening and are on the app at 7am, if there's nothing for your time frame later in the day.. do you just wait to book? Doesn't that delay your next eligibility window, where there will likely be more options in your timeframe?

 

[cjlong88]

First, congrats! Glad you had such a great time and it worked so well. I actually am planning something similar for HS but was going to do it both for our travel day and for a day later on the trip where we can start at EC. In fact the order you just laid out is pretty much what I’m hoping I can pull off when I do it.

A question though. Does the 2 hour availability go off the park open time of the park you are starting from or the park you are pulling tickets from? Reason I ask is that I thought starting at EC may be a disadvantage since they’ve been opening later, but you show you were able to pick at 11am.

thanks!

The 2-hour time starts when the park opens where you have your first LL booked. I had an Epcot reservation for the day, but because I booked my first LL at HS, the 120 minute countdown began at 9am because that’s when HS opened.

So I booked at 7am, 11am, 1pm, 3pm, and 5pm.

 

[Luisfba]

Very cool. And since ILLS is on a separate system, does it matter if you pick the rat before your 7am G+ LL?

 

[Simply Sue]

Planning on utilizing late after hours at MK on one day of our trip and will not be heading to the park until about 3pm. In theory, will I be able to lay in bed at the resort and stack up to 4 G+LL's?

 

[cjlong88]

Genie+ doesn't let you pick from available times like ILL$, you get the 'next available'. I guess my question is, if you're trying to stack rides for late afternoon into the evening and are on the app at 7am, if there's nothing for your time frame later in the day.. do you just wait to book? Doesn't that delay your next eligibility window, where there will likely be more options in your timeframe?

We waited until we saw the time we wanted. At 7am you will have until the park opens to book your first. The 120-minute rule won’t kick into effect until the park opens.

The order you book your LL’s is key. The most popular attractions will move to the evening earlier, so we booked in order from popular to less popular.

You can also strategically place your ILL$ that have earlier times, as they have zero affect on your LL attractions.

 

[mickey916]

A couple questions:
Has anyone seen anyone getting Slinky for a morning time? I haven't and that's odd. Who's getting the morning spots?
What are people's experience with booking Genie+ LLs with mixed ticket media? (I have an AP, rest of my family doesn't) Is that a problem?

 

[Tiggr88]

A couple questions:
Has anyone seen anyone getting Slinky for a morning time? I haven't and that's odd. Who's getting the morning spots?
What are people's experience with booking Genie+ LLs with mixed ticket media? (I have an AP, rest of my family doesn't) Is that a problem?

1. People who are just lucky at 7AM. They definitely distribute them.
2. I haven't done this, but as long as the media are all assigned properly to the correct people and all of the people are correctly in the friends and family, it shouldn't matter.

 

[Tiggr88]

Very cool. And since ILLS is on a separate system, does it matter if you pick the rat before your 7am G+ LL?

By 'the rat' do you mean getting a ratatouille ILL$? if so, they are on separate systems so it doesn't matter.

keep in mind that if you are doing this at 7AM you may be able to save some $ by just choosing a BG for Rat which is free. If that doesn't work out, then you can purchase. So far they have been fairly available and don't sell out in a couple of minutes.

 

[kappyfamily]

Okay, so we were able to skip line at a total of 8 attractions (2 ILL$ and 6 Genie+). We chose to spend the first half of our day at EPCOT enjoying F&W while we stacked at HS.

I attached the return time I got with the time I secured it in parentheses. Refreshing worked quite well when the app initially said nothing was left for a specific attraction. I was able to snag TSM and Test Track after some refreshing here and there.


View attachment 622545

thank you for taking the time to not only keep track of all this but to then come on and post. Please know it is appreciated!

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Genie+ doesn't let you pick from available times like ILL$, you get the 'next available'. I guess my question is, if you're trying to stack rides for late afternoon into the evening and are on the app at 7am, if there's nothing for your time frame later in the day.. do you just wait to book? Doesn't that delay your next eligibility window, where there will likely be more options in your timeframe?

I apologize as this is probably already answered many times, but I'm looking for clarification, please. When picking attractions through G+, you get the 'next available' time, like the old FP system? But if separately purchasing an Individual Lightning Lane for one of the 8 ILL attractions, you can select any time that is available at that point, similar to the FP+ reservations used to be?

 

[Tiggr88]

I apologize as this is probably already answered many times, but I'm looking for clarification, please. When picking attractions through G+, you get the 'next available' time, like the old FP system? But if separately purchasing an Individual Lightning Lane for one of the 8 ILL attractions, you can select any time that is available at that point, similar to the FP+ reservations used to be?

Yes and Yes.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Yes and Yes.

Thank you. Just when I think I understand the system, I read a comment that confuses me and makes me 2nd guess what I thought I understood! Appreciate it. Looking forward to giving it a try in person in a few weeks.

 

[coolbrook]

Thank you for this. Would you mind sharing what you did at ak? I see a lot of people saying it’s not needed so I don’t see many strategies at that park and we plan on using it as we’ll be there on a busy Christmas Saturday

Sure, It was our first day to use G+ so we were newbies. We were planning to arrive at the park in time for the 2:00 Lion King show, but we missed it. Some of us got a snack while energetic ones walked the Gorilla Trail. Then tried for 3:00 Lion King show and got in. Had a G+ for Safari next. That alone was worth the price. I think standby was about an hour. Next was a G+ for Dinosaur with child swap. Then we had supper at Restaurant-O. An ILL was next at FOP. Afterwards 5 of us used a G+ to rive 'Navi while others did standby for Everest. Then it was 7pm closing time and we caught the Tree of life projections. We knew we wouldn't get many G+ that day because of the short time in the park, but it was worth it for us to do more and wait less.

I started stalking times that morning on the tip board for Safari first looking for around 3pm. When time got to that range I reserved it. The next one I got was for Dino, then 'Navi. I would have prioritized 'Navi but times were not booking far enough ahead for when we would arrive in Pandora. We bought the ILL right at 7am to have the best choice of available time slots.

If I had it to do over again I would have tried to get a Lion King G+ after I got the Safari one. I don't like to see the Lion King show right after Safari, because the Safari can take longer if animals stop in the road or something and it could delay our arrival for the show.

I also had never done child swap and underestimated how long that would take for the transition and getting through both rides.

Another thing I would do differently now that I understand more about cancelling and rebooking and stacking is I would try to get more G+ in the morning and then cancel and rebook as the time approached. What I would not try, especially during a busy holiday week, is making a park reservation for a different park than the one we are actually planning to arrive late to just so we can start stacking G+ reservations for the "after 2 hopping time" and then trying to change the park pass back to the park we are really going to. This caught me without a park pass to MK on Disney+ day this week and it took some Disney resort manager help to fix it.

Hope that helps. It is hard to plan ahead as much when we have to reserve the G+ day of, but we can plan an approach ahead of time.

 

[aeasterling]

Thank you. Just when I think I understand the system, I read a comment that confuses me and makes me 2nd guess what I thought I understood! Appreciate it. Looking forward to giving it a try in person in a few weeks.

One caveat. If the park you are making your LL is not where you have your reservation, it will give you available times after 2pm. This might be handy for hopping. We were there last week of October and were planning to hop to HS. I got online at 7am and was able to get my first LL at 2:30 for SDD.