Are ILL return times enforced?

[pixiedust2u]

This is related to a question I have. We are heading to Epcot on our arrival day. We plan to get to the park 1ish. So if we join VQ from airport at 7am, and get a spot… but say our boarding group is called mid flight, will we be able to ride upon getting to Epcot later in the day? These are circumstances where
FP+ made more sense to me.

 

[CarolynFH]

This is related to a question I have. We are heading to Epcot on our arrival day. We plan to get to the park 1ish. So if we join VQ from airport at 7am, and get a spot… but say our boarding group is called mid flight, will we be able to ride upon getting to Epcot later in the day? These are circumstances where
FP+ made more sense to me.

No worries. You can enter the line any time after your BG is called, no matter how long it’s been. They’re not enforcing any deadlines.

 

[Neverbeast]

We were significantly late to our Guardians ILL due to space 220 lunch taking much much longer than we expected. At least an hour late I think. I had the receipt in my pocket ready to show but when I started to explain the CM just said “it doesn’t matter if you’re late” and went back to their conversation with another Cm. Sure enough we all tapped in green. Ymmv obviously. I was nice and was willing to go to the blue umbrella if needed, but appreciated that it was easy and not necessary.

 

[nicksinger8]

C

 

[godfather927]

The G+ grace period is also more of a guideline than an actual rule. We’ve been late on several occasions, sometimes 4 or more hours, and have never once been denied entrance to an attraction.

Sometimes the light turns green and sometimes it is blue but can be overridden. I don’t consider it something worth worrying about.

We’ve never purchased a $ILL as we would rather wait until later in the day when the lines gets short and hit those 2 or 3 times each for free.

Wasn't a guideline for us. My family was literally 2 minutes past the grace period for Indy and got turned away. Could it be more strict there because they have to set up and tear down the lightning lane stand for each show? Possibly. But it legit happened and I was shocked they wouldn't allow for an exception in our circumstances. Mind you, this was the same day where RotR, ToT, and RnRC were down all morning so lines for everything else were extremely long, and needless to say, I was more than a bit frustrated with the entire situation.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Wasn't a guideline for us. My family was literally 2 minutes past the grace period for Indy and got turned away. Could it be more strict there because they have to set up and tear down the lightning lane stand for each show? Possibly. But it legit happened and I was shocked they wouldn't allow for an exception in our circumstances. Mind you, this was the same day where RotR, ToT, and RnRC were down all morning so lines for everything else were extremely long, and needless to say, I was more than a bit frustrated with the entire situation.

You are correct that regular Genie+ LL return times are enforced. Guests are allowed to enter the queue up to 5 mins early or 15 mins late. After that the LL is no longer valid and most likely will not be honoured.

 

[Disturbia]

Wasn't a guideline for us. My family was literally 2 minutes past the grace period for Indy and got turned away. Could it be more strict there because they have to set up and tear down the lightning lane stand for each show? Possibly. But it legit happened and I was shocked they wouldn't allow for an exception in our circumstances. Mind you, this was the same day where RotR, ToT, and RnRC were down all morning so lines for everything else were extremely long, and needless to say, I was more than a bit frustrated with the entire situation.

Genie+ you loose it (that’s true at DL and WDW); although with legitimate reasons some (not all) CMs can override a pass (they did at Big Thunder at DL reluctantly but at that time ride was a walk on) if it was missed by a couple of mins. I believe we were a few mins past our grace period for the small world at DL (just parking the stroller took a while) and we were allowed on (line was about 30 mins).

LLI$ it’s up to the ride CM to honor it or tell you to go to the front of the park (not any GeT) and get a refund. GET can change a Lli$ if it conflicts with dining (they can turn it into an anytime pass). The CM with an iPad at the ride don’t/can’t refund (accidental booked FOP for DS a tad too short) and can give you a multi experience pass instead (we had Genie+, but our son got to reride Navi).

Most of the time if you had a legitimate reason they honor the LLI$. That was our experience at Remy when it was LLI$ (insane crowds between France/Canada walkway); but one of us had scanned right before the 15 min grace period was up - had to request the people ahead of us to allow us to scan one person as we were cutting it short (14 mins past grace). The CM saw one of us scan green before the light turned blue and didn’t bat an eye changing everyone else’s pass. Now when we were past our 15 mins on another occasion the CM was not as kind but still let us ride.

Same with Test Track. We had a CM pull us aside around 12 mins past our LL and give us the Rider Switch. When we got in line to scan, it took way longer to get to the scanners (another CM was issuing RS for a party of 10 and holding up the entire line) but the CM who had issued the pass was still standing there vouched that we were on time and the CM let us go.

I would highly recommend taking down the CM’s name or ask them if you can take a picture as we’ve been stopped and questioned when we had some ‘magic’ (TOT CM gave us 2 rider swicth passes because she had to cancel our ROTR rider switch to issue a new RS pass). We had to call her up to the line CM to prove we had legitimate passes as he wouldn’t let us through. She got yelled at for giving 2 and told the policy is only 1 Kid for RS. She didn’t even bother telling him why she issued 2. Just said ok or sorry.

I would honestly try not to overlap plans at Epcot. Soarin and Test track each took 30 mins to ride (we had to skip rider switch). Also, if any magic happens know the CM’s name. HS you will inevitably end up with dining conflicts, it’s easier to just do QS (we cancelled Topolinos on our second HS day).

 

[Jwaire]

Your mileage may vary.

We got stuck on Spaceship Earth for almost 30 minutes last week (It stopped not once but twice including a 15+ minute stint at the top) and we missed our Frozen lightening lane by over 30 minutes.

The MagicBand scanner still lit up green. I was prepared to argue, but the cast member didn't question it. It was a 70 minute wait for Frozen at the time.

So, 15 minutes is not a hard and fast rule. I wouldn't deliberately be late, but cast members (including the umbrella) have considerable authority to adjust the rules.

 

[Jwaire]

Wasn't a guideline for us. My family was literally 2 minutes past the grace period for Indy and got turned away. Could it be more strict there because they have to set up and tear down the lightning lane stand for each show? Possibly. But it legit happened and I was shocked they wouldn't allow for an exception in our circumstances. Mind you, this was the same day where RotR, ToT, and RnRC were down all morning so lines for everything else were extremely long, and needless to say, I was more than a bit frustrated with the entire situation.

In fairness, Indy is a show that requires the audience to be seated by a certain time. However, I think you just got a jerk. Not all cast members are a like. We encountered a few on this trip that had no business working there (at least in a guest-facing position).

 

[GoingSince1990]

In fairness, Indy is a show that requires the audience to be seated by a certain time. However, I think you just got a jerk. Not all cast members are a like. We encountered a few on this trip that had no business working there (at least in a guest-facing position).

A bit uncalled for IMO to call a CM a "jerk" for enforcing the rule, especially when there is already a 15 minute grace period (which had elapsed). I don't complain on the occasions a CM grants "pixie dust" which strictly speaking I am not entitled to, but I don't call them names when they simply enforce the rules as instructed.

 

[Jwaire]

A bit uncalled for IMO to call a CM a "jerk" for enforcing the rule, especially when there is already a 15 minute grace period (which had elapsed). I don't complain on the occasions a CM grants "pixie dust" which strictly speaking I am not entitled to, but I don't call them names when they simply enforce the rules as instructed.

We can have differing opinions. There’s very little difference between 15 minutes and 17 minutes as the OP states. I also don't think it's "pixie dust" to grant a guest access to a Genie+ line because they're 2 minutes late. They could have spent 2 minutes in line just waiting to scan or like me, be stuck on a ride for 30 minutes or got caught up waiting on their dining reservation, etc.

And in actuality, it's the Indiana Jones Stunt Show. That theater is huge and is never full. I've seen people come in and leave mid-show before. So, yeah, I think that cast member was just being a jerk.

If Disney wanted the 15 minute rule to be enforced universally, they'd tell you so right before you purchase Genie+ and make sure all cast members applied the rule evenly. However, you'll notice they don't bother to mention it. Most of what we know about Genie+ we've found out from bloggers and by asking cast members. Disney has been ambiguous about the terms around the service and that's by design I'm sure.

To each their own.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

That theater is huge and is never full.

It's been full before or at least very very packed. It was when we were there in May shoulder to shoulder and shuffling and taking a while when leaving just due to the amount of people and that's not a one off.

Does that translate into an issue with LL access IDK but just speaking to the comment. The theater is quite large and can hold a lot of people but it can be very busy too.

 

[raidermatt]

A bit uncalled for IMO to call a CM a "jerk" for enforcing the rule, especially when there is already a 15 minute grace period (which had elapsed). I don't complain on the occasions a CM grants "pixie dust" which strictly speaking I am not entitled to, but I don't call them names when they simply enforce the rules as instructed.

I probably wouldn't go so far as to say anyone is a jerk without actually seeing the interaction. For me, the jerk part comes from how the message is conveyed more so than the message itself. That said, I have seen a few CM's truly pushing the "jerk line", but fortunately they are few and far between. But "pixie dust"? That should be a term saved for something you would truly expect only Disney to do. Letting a customer/guest in 2 minutes late when there is no practical impact, and there is a very good chance they are late because of some other company caused issue, is something many customer service organizations would do. So I would hardly call that pixie dust.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Please get back on topic of sharing actual experiences without judging or name calling.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

You are correct that regular Genie+ LL return times are enforced. Guests are allowed to enter the queue up to 5 mins early or 15 mins late. After that the LL is no longer valid and most likely will not be honoured.

I can just go by personal experience and have never been denied entry for a late arrival. I’m sure we’ll change our pace and move around a little quicker if it ever happens.

On our most recent trip, we hit Pooh about 4 hours after our return time. If they had asked, we were delayed due to monorail issues but the ride attendant didn’t bat an eye and waived all 7 of us through. The G+ line was the longest I had ever seen it that night.

They do have a screen at the entrance that displays your first name and how far outside you are from the return window.

I just assumed they did it for everyone.

 

[Disturbia]

Your mileage may vary.

We got stuck on Spaceship Earth for almost 30 minutes last week (It stopped not once but twice including a 15+ minute stint at the top) and we missed our Frozen lightening lane by over 30 minutes.

The MagicBand scanner still lit up green. I was prepared to argue, but the cast member didn't question it. It was a 70 minute wait for Frozen at the time.

So, 15 minutes is not a hard and fast rule. I wouldn't deliberately be late, but cast members (including the umbrella) have considerable authority to adjust the rules.

CMs do have authority but at HS we were told they will only change our dining conflict this one time as a huge favor (it was a crazy change for Genie+ as well; MMRR clicked 11:30 am and got 7:40 pm conflicted with Steakhouse71 at 8 pm). TOT also conflicted and we had to go again to GET again (same thing, we will only make this change one time-after that I sent a letter to WDW guest services). Lines at GET were 15-30 mins.

We were in the mindset, good if we can change it, otherwise we will go back to our resort. We were very specific and not emotional when we conveyed the issue. Stay cool headed and don’t let it ruin your entire day.

 

[DisneyOma]

Went a few months back and purchased ILLs for ROTR. My brother's family purchased their ILLs for ROTR separately from us and their return time was about 2 hours later than us. My kids and his kids wanted to ride together so we inquired with guest services if we could somehow change our times to better align with each other. The CM told us to just miss our return time and instead just show up for my brother's return time later in the day. She told us that paid ILLs don't actually expire in their system since you paid for it. She made sure to emphasize that G+ will expire 15 minutes after, but she did assure us that the paid ILL didn't expire until close of business.

You pay for Genie+ access as well, so this doesn't make sense.

 

[Disturbia]

You pay for Genie+ access as well, so this doesn't make sense.

The Genie+ system is like a rolling pass. You can continuously use a pass and book a different pass throughout the day. It’s designed differently. Maybe that’s why they don’t want to regularly reinstate passes but a CM can let you in at their discretion.

If everyone was allowed to be flexible then it defeats the purpose of assigning a time frame. We’ve left passes many times when we were at the other end of the park or the Skyliner broke down. I believe it was the same with the FP+ system.

We have 3 kids and it is sometimes hard to make the time and navigate crowds with a double stroller, but 99% of the time we make the time.

It is stressful and I’d rather do an after hours event, but crowds at parties have been crazy even before the pandemic