Disney Genie+ and ILL$ Details & FAQ - Launches 10/19 at WDW, Paid "FastPass" at WDW and Disneyland (date TBD)

[AnnabelleTheTalkingTree]

I looked just now and Slinky Dog is available at 6:10.... it's a long time to wait but I'm surprised there's availability at all.

ETA: I just looked back and now it's gone already!

 

[canyoncam]

We were in the parks Thursday-Saturday (10/21-23) and used G+ and the ILL$. We (2 adults) in only 3 lines the entire trip. We also park hopped as well.

Enjoyed not having to book rides 30 days out and feel that G+ allows for more flexibility. More like Max Pass at DL. On Friday we started in HS with a ILL$ for RoR and MMRR. Fairly early in the day our return time for RoR was extended to end day. This allowed us to also book at ILL$ for Remy.

How were you allowed to book 3 ILLs? Did you not get to ride RoR because of leaving HS and they allowed you to switch?

 

[monica9]

Here's my experience, we were down there the 17th-22nd, so we got a little before and after Genie launch.
The first few days we were down there, (pre genie), crowds were minimal, most things were walk ons, or a very short wait. Honestly it was one of the best ride experience days we've ever had there.

When Genie launched, crowd swelling was palpable, it seemed to be locals driving it up, just from what i was observing, i think a lot wanted to try it out.

I thought that Genie worked pretty well, definitely not the nightmare scenario many speculated about on these boards

IA$ was what I expected, for highly sought after rides, RoR in particular, it was sold out in minutes. It also had a snag in it, that wouldn't process your order the first few times you went to push an order threw, but would eventually take. It ended up costing us a wait time for 5 minutes into the future (not a big deal), but still cost us our original booking time for MMRR.

The free version was OK, but felt cumbersome, and we didn't end up utilizing it all that much, maybe to check on what time our next dining reservation was, but that was about it.

LL was good, and I would say mostly a positive, especially with a 2 year old, and the crowds swelling once Genie was launched. that being said i did have some problems
1. I was unable to book times for LL after 2PM in other parks, and we did have the hopper, unless we were physically in that park. (Maybe it was just something i couldn't find on the app, but even if it was, they should have made it easier to find/ more user friendly if that was the case).
2. I wasn't in love with the fact that I couldn't cancel an LL that i no longer needed, we booked one for Smugglers Run, but were able to walk on, so LL wasn't necessary. I can understand why Disney wouldn't allow you to do it, because unused LL work to their benefit, but I am not in love with it.
3. Some rides were booked way out in the day at 7am. One day, Slinky dog was available for LL at 5:15pm, and that was at 7:15am. Again, I understand why this happens, just not thrilled with it. I do think that, that in and of itself will start making 1/2day parks into full day parks, and that would be another win/ good thing for everyone, it would hopefully ease up pressure on MK, and Epcot.
Other than above, I really enjoyed it, and didn't even use it every day, we did Food and Wine an entire day, and didn't need it, and I liked the option of not having to pay for it on a day I didn't need it. I would wager in the future they offer it as a package for 1 flat rate for the length of your trip, kind of like memory maker now.

All in all, i give it a thumbs up

What would you do if you booked the 5:15 slinky dog at 7am? You don’t get anymore LL until after 5:15?

 

[Liquidice]

What would you do if you booked the 5:15 slinky dog at 7am? You don’t get anymore LL until after 5:15?

No there is an exception to the 1 LL at a time, if the park is open, after 120 minutes you can book a 2nd LL if you haven't used the 1st LL.

So at 7am when you book your first LL, if the park opens at 9am, you cannot book a 2nd LL until 11am (unless you've already used your first LL). So if you booked the 5:15pm Slinky Dog, you could book a 2nd LL at 11am (for a 9am opening).

 

[Liquidice]

AllEars.net did a comparison of riding the same 12 rides at MK with Genie+ and ILL$ versus not using Genie+ and amazingly not using Genie+ finished first because of the time gap between LL's. Quincy bought both Space Mountain & 7DMT ILL$s and selected Genie+ LL's for each ride, but still finished after Molly who only used the standby line (including 7DMT and Space Mountain). The big difference is that Molly waited in line a lot more time while Quincy had a lot of "down time" waiting for her LL's and was able to get snacks, etc.

As I suspected, you don't technically save park time using Genie+ - it isn't like you can just run through all of the rides back to back in the LL and finish and have half a day to go to another park and maybe save money by eliminating a park day (and a park ticket) - Disney I'm sure was wise to this when they designed the system.

If you have a big gap between LL times, you might be able to ride all of the rides faster by waiting in the standby queue for another ride I guess?

However, you probably have a more relaxing day getting to wait outside the line until your ride time comes up if you use Genie+ and ILL$ exclusively. But it doesn't sound like currently Genie+ / ILL$ is a necessity - you can definitely manage just fine if you don't pay for either.

While I still think giving everyone 3 FP+ included in your ticket price is a more fair system to everyone (maybe Disney could have reduced that to just 1 or 2 and then pay for more) - I actually think Disney has struck a good balance between LL and Standby right now. It remains to be seen how this will change over time, I could easily see Disney respond to customer complaints about Genie+ and make more LL passes available and ILL$ passes available for rides that sell out. Crowd levels will obviously have a big impact too. But right now it seems like Disney has optimized such that the standby lines still move pretty well and you can still be successful in riding most rides in a park in 1 day using standby.

How were you allowed to book 3 ILLs? Did you not get to ride RoR because of leaving HS and they allowed you to switch?

If your ILL$ Pass is converted to a Multi-Experience Lightning Lane pass, then Disney doesn't recognize it as an ILL$ anymore and you can buy another ILL$.

 

[cakebaker]

The big difference is that Molly waited in line a lot more time while Quincy had a lot of "down time" waiting for her LL's and was able to get snacks, etc.

That's a huge difference. I'd much rather schedule out my rides and be able to enjoy other things in the parks between rides than spend all my time standing in line. One sounds fun, the other sounds miserable. I never thought FP or FP+ saved me time in that I had time to get more rides in, but that I could enjoy everything in the parks and still get the rides I wanted.

The more I read, the more I like Genie+.

 

[Liquidice]

That's a huge difference. I'd much rather schedule out my rides and be able to enjoy other things in the parks between rides than spend all my time standing in line. One sounds fun, the other sounds miserable. I never thought FP or FP+ saved me time in that I had time to get more rides in, but that I could enjoy everything in the parks and still get the rides I wanted.

The more I read, the more I like Genie+.

Ultimately it is up to you in terms of what to do, but I think you definitely have the option to not pay and still get a lot done including relax and not do attractions, grab a snack, etc without paying for Genie+.

In this comparison - they were trying to get everything done as quickly as possible to compare the two. A significant portion of Molly's wait time was for Peter Pan (82 mins IIRC) - What Molly said during the video was that in reality if she were doing this for herself, she would have spent that time doing other stuff, and waited until the evening when the wait times reduced and then rode Peter Pan.

If you watch the video (you can Fast Forward to the end to see the wait times), Molly actually didn't wait more than ~30 minutes in standby or so for any ride except Peter Pan. It was actually very reasonable. Even 7DMT the wait time was only 36 mins.

It isn't going to be like that every day obviously - the more crowded days it will probably be more difficult, but this didn't really seem like a Crowd Level 1 kind of day either, more like a Crowd level 4 or 5 that seems typical on most weekdays.

 

[cakebaker]

Ultimately it is up to you in terms of what to do, but I think you definitely have the option to not pay and still get a lot done including relax and not do attractions, grab a snack, etc without paying for Genie+.

In this comparison - they were trying to get everything done as quickly as possible to compare the two. A significant portion of Molly's wait time was for Peter Pan (82 mins IIRC) - What Molly said during the video was that in reality if she were doing this for herself, she would have spent that time doing other stuff, and waited until the evening when the wait times reduced and then rode Peter Pan.

If you watch the video (you can Fast Forward to the end to see the wait times), Molly actually didn't wait more than ~30 minutes in standby or so for any ride except Peter Pan. It was actually very reasonable. Even 7DMT the wait time was only 36 mins.

It isn't going to be like that every day obviously - the more crowded days it will probably be more difficult, but this didn't really seem like a Crowd Level 1 kind of day either, more like a Crowd level 4 or 5 that seems typical on most weekdays.

30 minutes is my max wait time and I don't like doing even that length of time. I have no interest in wasting expensive time standing in line. $15 is really a minimal charge and if that allows me to ride what I want in the general time of day I want to ride, then it's well worth it. We were there in July and the lines were absolutely miserable. I swore then it was our last trip until they did something about the wait times and it looks like Genie + is doing just that. Our travel times are rarely during a time frame when the parks aren't packed. Perhaps if we could visit during a 1-5 crowd level, we'd look at it differently, but I don't recall the last time that happened.

 

[TioAdis78]

30 minutes is my max wait time and I don't like doing even that length of time. I have no interest in wasting expensive time standing in line. $15 is really a minimal charge and if that allows me to ride what I want in the general time of day I want to ride, then it's well worth it. We were there in July and the lines were absolutely miserable. I swore then it was our last trip until they did something about the wait times and it looks like Genie + is doing just that. Our travel times are rarely during a time frame when the parks aren't packed. Perhaps if we could visit during a 1-5 crowd level, we'd look at it differently, but I don't recall the last time that happened.

I begrudgingly agree with you. Thirty minutes for every ride, really adds up, and last thing you know, you spent four hours in line, except they were different lines, so it’s not so bad! (Sarcasm )
We are close to a year out so there’s plenty of time to see how different crowds behave during different times of the year, but I might just bite the bullet, save us the trouble

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

What would you do if you booked the 5:15 slinky dog at 7am? You don’t get anymore LL until after 5:15?

No they let you grab another one after 2 hours, so at 9am I could book a second LL, and still hold onto slinky dog

 

[Liquidice]

No they let you grab another one after 2 hours, so at 9am I could book a second LL, and still hold onto slinky dog

It should be 2 hours after the park is open, so if HS opened at 9am, you wouldn't be able to grab the 2nd LL until 11am even if you grabbed the first LL at 7am - this is the way it worked on the first few days at least, they could have changed something.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

It should be 2 hours after the park is open, so if HS opened at 9am, you wouldn't be able to grab the 2nd LL until 11am even if you grabbed the first LL at 7am - this is the way it worked on the first few days at least, they could have changed something.

Sorry, I believe you are correct, I wasn’t taking into account park opening

 

[shawthorne44]

The AllEars head-to-head test was a valid comparison, but that isn't how I and probably most people would use G+ in MK. We'd do short standby lines rather than sit around while waiting on the next G+ reservation. Maybe do rides twice.

The AllEars does show that G+ is unnecessary.

 

[monica9]

Sorry, I believe you are correct, I wasn’t taking into account park opening

So I wonder if it’s worth getting a LL so late in the day or just waiting in line for a ride like that so you can move on with your LL’s. Now if your slinky ride is scheduled for 5 and 11 rolls around and you are able to grab your second, how long after can you get your 3rd?

 

[ned911]

How were you allowed to book 3 ILLs? Did you not get to ride RoR because of leaving HS and they allowed you to switch?

The only thing I can think of is Rise broke down during our window which lead them to extend the window to end of day.

We were quite surprised at being able to book 3 ILL$ as well.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

So I wonder if it’s worth getting a LL so late in the day or just waiting in line for a ride like that so you can move on with your LL’s. Now if your slinky ride is scheduled for 5 and 11 rolls around and you are able to grab your second, how long after can you get your 3rd?

It would be 2 hrs after, but typically the wait for an LL for most rides was only about 45min from what i saw

 

[Datfan1]

At 7am I book my first LL for 6pm (with 9am Park opening) then I can’t book another LL until 11am? Or I can book my 2nd LL right after, say 7:01 with a return beginning at 11am? I’m getting myself confused.

 

[gerilyne]

At 7am I book my first LL for 6pm (with 9am Park opening) then I can’t book another LL until 11am? Or I can book my 2nd LL right after, say 7:01 with a return beginning at 11am? I’m getting myself confused.

Everything I've seen is you can't book your next one till 2 hours after park opening.

 

[Garyjames220]

Can I stack rides for late afternoon/evening with out been in the park to book them all

 

[Turksmom]

Everything I've seen is you can't book your next one till 2 hours after park opening.

Just to clarify- it's being reported that it's 2 hours after opening of the park where you booked your first LL. So if you booked an Epcot LL for after 2pm (park hopping) and Epcot has an 11am opening, you can't book the next until 1 pm, even if you go to MK before that.