Don’t give up on Genie+ availability

[LaurenT]

I’m preparing for my trip next week and have been studying availability of Genie+.
I’ve been refreshing Remy since available times showed up (it actually said check availability until about 7:18 - if I click on that it says I’m not eligible because I don’t actually have a park reservation today). It’s shown wildly different times each time I refreshed, and sometimes it has even said “currently unavailable”, but then if you keep refreshing, you’ll find slots. I found a 10:40 spot when I refreshed at 8:53 this morning, and then it went to unavailable again - and just now I got a 6:10 spot …
So, don’t give up if it says unavailable. Just keep refreshing.

 

[js]

I’m preparing for my trip next week and have been studying availability of Genie+.
I’ve been refreshing Remy since available times showed up (it actually said check availability until about 7:18 - if I click on that it says I’m not eligible because I don’t actually have a park reservation today). It’s shown wildly different times each time I refreshed, and sometimes it has even said “currently unavailable”, but then if you keep refreshing, you’ll find slots. I found a 10:40 spot when I refreshed at 8:53 this morning, and then it went to unavailable again - and just now I got a 6:10 spot …
So, don’t give up if it says unavailable. Just keep refreshing.

We arrive on Wednesday and THANK YOU! I appreciate your posting this!!
I'm packed and ready to go!

 

[DavidNYC]

We broke our record this past Sunday (and we've been going for decades). 3 parks - 25 rides (only a few done standby). The ability to modify a reservation on Genie+ really was a game changer. We got Remy, Frozen, Test Track, and Soarin all done by noon with Genie+ by just refreshing the times for a few minutes for each (note that you should always grab one first and try to modify and not just refresh before you book it so you get you 2 hour clock started just in case.)

 

[MousetersInc]

It wasn't even until like a couple days before my trip that I discovered thrill-data's ability to send alerts when certain things become available—Lightning Lanes, ADRs, etc. In my experience once I got an alert it was always too late to nab the LL/ILL, but proved they do happen.

And that's for cases of "sold out, but then one single one shows up" LLs. You're also talking about fluctuations in return time; you see a lot of that. You reserve something for 5 hours out; a minute later, you can get 10 minutes out. Maybe sometimes Disney "dumps" availability in, but it probably also has to do with other guests shifting or cancelling LLs. It makes sense, since most users will be making their initial reservations in "clumps" around park opening and then every 2 hours, so there could be a lot of action around those times. Or, if users are "stacking," there's little motion on a popular afternoon ride while they wait for other users to push the return times late enough, then everyone jumps on it, then maybe some alter it to something better, etc...

 

[DavidNYC]

It wasn't even until like a couple days before my trip that I discovered thrill-data's ability to send alerts when certain things become available—Lightning Lanes, ADRs, etc. In my experience once I got an alert it was always too late to nab the LL/ILL, but proved they do happen.

And that's for cases of "sold out, but then one single one shows up" LLs. You're also talking about fluctuations in return time; you see a lot of that. You reserve something for 5 hours out; a minute later, you can get 10 minutes out. Maybe sometimes Disney "dumps" availability in, but it probably also has to do with other guests shifting or cancelling LLs. It makes sense, since most users will be making their initial reservations in "clumps" around park opening and then every 2 hours, so there could be a lot of action around those times. Or, if users are "stacking," there's little motion on a popular afternoon ride while they wait for other users to push the return times late enough, then everyone jumps on it, then maybe some alter it to something better, etc...

Yes - the system is constantly recalculating based both on how the day is going as well as cancelled passes. And the Thrill Data notifications are bascially useless because when an early time pops up - it's rarely around more than a few seconds.

This gets a bit more complicated but here's my best tip . . . so when you see an early time pop up I'd say there's a 50/50 shot that by the time you click on the time and get to the confirmation screen, it's gone and it's brought you back to a later time. That's because the time is not held for you until you get to that second screen. What you should do in that case is do not refresh again - just cancel out back to the screen where that earlier time will still be listed and click on it again. What that will do is attempt to get that earlier time again (and if not available - another earlier time). And this way if it finds the earlier time you're already at the stage where it's held for you instead of having to click and hope. Rinse and repeat until a good time shows up. It's frustrating - but worked many times last weekend usually within 3-5 minutes of constant refreshing.

 

[Orsino]

I’m not a slot machine type person, but a day of successful refreshing this past Thursday made me understand the appeal. It was so thrilling to get LL that were less than an hour away! I was usually able to get what I wanted while waiting in line.
There was also the slow creep modify process where I’d get a better LL by 20 minute increments and slowly creep towards our goal. I wonder if I could have done even better with more refreshing, but I stopped when I was within an hour or so.
I did make a mistake and accidentally confirmed a worse time, so do be careful and check that the time didn’t change before confirming. In the excitement it is easy to tap too quick. But also, don’t be too dismayed if you do. Just refresh more.

 

[disneylover102]

I’ve discovered that they always release new times for Remy at exactly 1:47 for about 2:00 and at 12:47 for about 4:00. And then at 3:47 they release more for Slinky for about 4:00. They also release more for Frozen at 11:47 and 6:47 I think (I haven’t tried for those as much). So basically always try refreshing but especially at 47!

 

[Davey Jones II]

We will be closing the parks every night, so we have no intention of being up before 7 a.m. And since I have little faith in G+ and virtual queues, my focus will be on getting ILL for the superstar rides. My question is the following: how fast do the ILLs sell out each day? Is it possible to get them without waking up at the crack of dawn?

 

[sjlogghe]

We will be closing the parks every night, so we have no intention of being up before 7 a.m. And since I have little faith in G+ and virtual queues, my focus will be on getting ILL for the superstar rides. My question is the following: how fast do the ILLs sell out each day? Is it possible to get them without waking up at the crack of dawn?

That depends on what time you think waking up NOT at the crack of dawn is! If you're thinking 10 am? I'd say the possibility of purchasing ILL is significantly decreased - and there's a good chance you won't get any. If your focus is to get ILL each day, I'd suggest having someone get up at 7 am to grab them. You only need one person who's connected to everyone to get up, grab them, then roll over and go back to bed!

 

[MousetersInc]

We will be closing the parks every night, so we have no intention of being up before 7 a.m. And since I have little faith in G+ and virtual queues, my focus will be on getting ILL for the superstar rides. My question is the following: how fast do the ILLs sell out each day? Is it possible to get them without waking up at the crack of dawn?

You can check thrill-data.com; you’ll see some pretty big differences between rise of the resistance and other rides, and between the highest attendance days and other days.

One other point to consider: If an ILL is still available later, in the day, chances are the return time is for the late evening; will the standby line be short enough by then that it’s not worth the investment? if you’re closing out the park, you can always make that one ride be your last. on the other hand, that came back to bite us on our trip as rise of the resistance was “partially down“ at park close, and we missed the preshow.

If you’re dealing with “must-rides,” the ILL can be insurance. If the day is low-attendance and you don’t mind gambling on missing the ride, the ILL might “buy” you little.

 

[wdw&sonny]

That depends on what time you think waking up NOT at the crack of dawn is! If you're thinking 10 am? I'd say the possibility of purchasing ILL is significantly decreased - and there's a good chance you won't get any. If your focus is to get ILL each day, I'd suggest having someone get up at 7 am to grab them. You only need one person who's connected to everyone to get up, grab them, then roll over and go back to bed!

Don't you have to be IN the park to get an ILL$?

 

[Kerr84]

Don't you have to be IN the park to get an ILL$?

Not for ILL. Disney hotel guests can make them at 7am. Other guests can make them at the time the park opens, but you don’t have to be scanned in. You just have to have valid tickets and park reservations.

 

[disneylover102]

Don't you have to be IN the park to get an ILL$?

That’s how it is at Disneyland but not at WDW

 

[CarolynFH]

We will be closing the parks every night, so we have no intention of being up before 7 a.m. And since I have little faith in G+ and virtual queues, my focus will be on getting ILL for the superstar rides. My question is the following: how fast do the ILLs sell out each day? Is it possible to get them without waking up at the crack of dawn?

I bought ILL$ for GotG for two of us just before 10 AM today. I had a choice of return times between 2 and 8 PM

 

[Davey Jones II]

I bought ILL$ for GotG for two of us just before 10 AM today. I had a choice of return times between 2 and 8 PM

Thanks for this, and thanks to everyone who answered my query.

So it seems that ILLs sell out later than everything else?

When it comes to the entire new system -- G+, Boarding Groups, ILL -- my expectations are extremely low. In fact, I expect the whole damn mess to royally let us down. From everything I`ve read, FP+ has been replaced by a crappy, overly complicated tech rabbit hole. I hope to be proven wrong.

Sure, I will TRY to make it work for us, and I plan to shell out the $$ to try to maximize it. But I won`t be at all surprised if we get shafted by this byzantine, buggy mess. That`s why our insurance policy will be to stay until closing time -- at least then, the wait times go down, and it becomes more feasible to use standby lines.

 

[MousetersInc]

So it seems that ILLs sell out later than everything else?

Sure; aside from Rise of the Resistance, people will always prefer to use a free option (e.g. Guardian's or Tron's virtual queue), or get the most use out of the flat-rate option. Getting an optimal return time out of an ILL can be tricky, but it has to be a pretty busy day to entirely miss a chance to ride FoP or Seven Dwarfs.

When it comes to the entire new system -- G+, Boarding Groups, ILL -- my expectations are extremely low. In fact, I expect the whole damn mess to royally let us down. From everything I`ve read, FP+ has been replaced by a crappy, overly complicated tech rabbit hole. I hope to be proven wrong.

Sure, I will TRY to make it work for us, and I plan to shell out the $$ to try to maximize it. But I won`t be at all surprised if we get shafted by this byzantine, buggy mess. That`s why our insurance policy will be to stay until closing time -- at least then, the wait times go down, and it becomes more feasible to use standby lines.

Well, maybe low expectations are the way to be pleasantly surprised! Yes, the current implementation is not very fun, and yes, for sure overcomplicated. But then (controversial opinion) FP and even paper-FP had their drawbacks too. You couldn't "stack" fastpasses; you had to actually ride a ride before making a new reservation. And of course "there's always standby." But I have a very low threshold of how long I'll stand in line, and if the alternative is a 3-hour wait—or even an hour—I'll take what I can get. The calculus changes a bit based on how often someone visits, too. We made our first WDW visit in 2019, our second just now, and might never come again. For us, if we missed Galaxy's Edge or Guardians on this trip, there was no "we'll get it next time." We were pretty ready to jump through whatever hoop Disney wanted to set. If we were DVC holders, then on the one hand I'd have a bit more relaxed attitude toward missing a ride—but on the other hand, I'd be pretty steamed at having bought into years of a certain experience, and then having major portions of that experience get "surcharged" away.

Anyway, you probably know the drill—you "only have as much fun as you let yourself have," so try not to let it preemptively rain on your parade; expect it to be a pain, but you might find it still delivers.

 

[Love Tink]

Yes, the current implementation is not very fun, and yes, for sure overcomplicated. But then (controversial opinion) FP and even paper-FP had their drawbacks too. You couldn't "stack" fastpasses; you had to actually ride a ride before making a new reservation.

You could most definitely stack the original fastpasses.

 

[CarolynFH]

Thanks for this, and thanks to everyone who answered my query.

So it seems that ILLs sell out later than everything else?

When it comes to the entire new system -- G+, Boarding Groups, ILL -- my expectations are extremely low. In fact, I expect the whole damn mess to royally let us down. From everything I`ve read, FP+ has been replaced by a crappy, overly complicated tech rabbit hole. I hope to be proven wrong.

Sure, I will TRY to make it work for us, and I plan to shell out the $$ to try to maximize it. But I won`t be at all surprised if we get shafted by this byzantine, buggy mess. That`s why our insurance policy will be to stay until closing time -- at least then, the wait times go down, and it becomes more feasible to use standby lines.

We’ve used Genie+ on 2 trips now, last July and this past week, and it has worked well for DH and me. However, we are older, don’t have kids to please, have been many times and expect to return, and therefore don’t feel we have to ride everything. And we rarely enter a park before lunchtime now, frequently not until late afternoon.

In comparison to FP and FP+, being able to overlap Genie+LL return windows and to modify Genie+LL is amazing. Our MK days are the ones when we maximize Genie+, because I can start in the morning booking and modifying, and I’ve been able to get us on everything we wanted to ride that evening. So we have liked Genie+. We don’t need a runner to get us FP for Toy Story before they run out for the day at 11 AM, and we don’t have to book rides an hour apart when they’re a 5 minute walk from each other.