Everything Genie, Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lane - Please Read Posts 1-7

[mickeyluv'r]

Have standby lines gotten any better than what they were because of Fastpass+ with this new Genie+ and lightning lane system? W

Is there any silver lining to this at all? Have standby lines gotten a little quicker at all because of this new system? Or are they just as long or even longer than ever?

No, if anything they are worse. Since people are booking G+ at 7am, I think a larger % of folks are starting the day earlier. So the parks were already crowded at rope drop. And I mean rope drop of the early entry. By the time the park officially opens, the park was very busy. If you happen to be going on a slow week, the situation might be slightly better.

The one option that = shorter waits and minimal hassle are the evening hours for deluxe WDW hotels. If you happen to be staying at a WDW deluxe hotel, then try to take advantage of those hours, usually offered twice/week. Though expect inflated wait time postings at park closing. (Actual waits were MUCH shorter!)


G+ worked okay in MK. I didn't try it in AK. It wasn't necessary in Epcot, though ILL for Rat was helpful, and the new ride hasn't opened. For us, HS was a mess. I tried to get G+ exactly at 7am, but the system jammed up. By the time I was able to look again, Slinky was gone for the day. I wasn't all that interested in MF, but that's kinda the best 2nd option. HS just doesn't have enough attractions for G+ to work well, but maybe that will shift a little when the new ride opens in Epcot. Using 2 phones we did get an ILL for Rise, but the times we were offered mucked up our plans for the day.

I also found it very frustrating that between looking-choosing- and booking G+ (just a few seconds), the return time of your actual pass was often very different from what we thought we were being offered. That never happened with FP+. WDW REALLY needs to fix that- PRONTO!

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Question....someone posted on wdwmagic forums that they booked a ILL for FOP late afternoon at 7am and their park pass for MK got changed to AK...is this a thing?

Normally, that should not happen. If you have a park reservation for MK, but book an ILL in one of the other 3 parks, the park reservation should not change. If you book an ILL for a different park, you should just automatically be offered a pass for 2pm or later.

This struck me as odd. I wonder if perhaps they made a mistake.

I did experience some odd glitches myself though. I kept having problems whenever I entered a park, for example. My magicband would not scan. I used a plastic card, and always had to scan it multiple times before I'd get the green Mickey light.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

No.

I interpreted it as the person couldn’t get a park reservation for the park they wanted so they booked an ILL$ for the park they wanted to go to and asked GS to move them.

There have been no reports on these boards that I’m aware of if a park reservation automatically being switched by Disney based on booking a ILL$.

Your interpretation is not what the other person reported.
They said they INITIALLY had a park pass for MK, but planned to hop to AK after 2pm, so they booked an ILL for FoP.
The system DID give them an afternoon FoP ILL return time, consistent with having MK.
When they went to leave the hotel though, they checked MDE and saw that their park reservation was now for AK.
They also said it was mostly okay, but they were glad they checked.

Mind, it is possible they made a mistake or something, but that is what they reported.

 

[hedg12]

I admittedly haven't read this entire thread so forgive me if this has been answered already - I've seen comments a few places that you can only book Genie+ for parties of up to 12 people, but I can't find anything official that addresses that. Does anyone know if that's the case? We're in early stages of planning a trip with 14 who will want to stay together at least a good part of the time, and I'm concerned that we'll be stuck in stand by lines if we don't split up.

 

[dcassetta]

How will Guardians affect the use of Genie+ and ILL for Epcot?

 

[elgerber]

How will Guardians affect the use of Genie+ and ILL for Epcot?

It will be an ILL. Will not affect genie +. They haven’t said what they will do with Remy yet I don’t think.

 

[closetmickey]

This!
I suggest going into "My Day" on MDE and making sure that Remy's (and nothing else unless important) is selected so she can refresh her tip board frequently and see Remy's right at the top. There can be openings that pop up during the day, but they need to be grabbed quickly when they appear.

Is this something that can be configured in MDE ahead of time or not until the day of?

Also, when looking to quickly purchase ILL$, Will only people who have a valid ticket for that day be highlighted? Or should I remove family members who are not traveling with us this time from my MDE so that I don’t have to select or deselect people?

 

[g-dad66]

Is this something that can be configured in MDE ahead of time or not until the day of?

Also, when looking to quickly purchase ILL$, Will only people who have a valid ticket for that day be highlighted? Or should I remove family members who are not traveling with us this time from my MDE so that I don’t have to select or deselect people?

Only people with tickets will show so you won't have to deselect others.

Yes, the attraction can be pinned to the top of the Tip Board ahead of time.

 

[DisneySyd]

I admittedly haven't read this entire thread so forgive me if this has been answered already - I've seen comments a few places that you can only book Genie+ for parties of up to 12 people, but I can't find anything official that addresses that. Does anyone know if that's the case? We're in early stages of planning a trip with 14 who will want to stay together at least a good part of the time, and I'm concerned that we'll be stuck in stand by lines if we don't split up.

I don’t have firsthand experience but have seen mixed reports. One person who went recently reported 10 as the max:

The app will give you a warning that you cannot have more than 10 people in your Genie party. We thought it was up to 12 but learned that our first day of trying to use the app.

 

[CeeCee101]

Ok so we have already purchased Genie+ for our whole time. But on ILLs, how do I pay for those? Do I set something up in advance? We are doing split stay-Swan for 5 and Contemp for 2. I don’t want to be online at 7 am first morning at Swan trying to get ILLs to ROTR and not know how this gets billed or if I have to spend precious seconds putting CC info in. Sorry if this is dumb, haven’t been to WDW in 12 years, trying to figure all this new stuff out. Thanks

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Pretend you're in the parks right now. Go into the My Disney Experience app. Start a mobile order at a quick service restaurant. Go all the way through the process until you enter and save your payment information, then cancel the order.

You can also go to your profile and edit payment information.

 

[Smugpugmug]

You can attach a credit card onto your account beforehand so you don't waste precious seconds doing it day of. If you go to your Disney account online, you go to your profile and click on Payment Method where you can add a card. When it is time to purchase a ILL the system will automatically use the card that is on file.

 

[soniam]

It will be charged to the card in MDE. It's possible that if the system is acting wonky, like sometimes when booking ADRs, it may ask for your credit card.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Ok so we have already purchased Genie+ for our whole time. But on ILLs, how do I pay for those? Do I set something up in advance? We are doing split stay-Swan for 5 and Contemp for 2. I don’t want to be online at 7 am first morning at Swan trying to get ILLs to ROTR and not know how this gets billed or if I have to spend precious seconds putting CC info in. Sorry if this is dumb, haven’t been to WDW in 12 years, trying to figure all this new stuff out. Thanks

This is just one more aspect of MDE/Mobile Order/G+ and ILL's that is a bit of a pain, IMO. The fastest way to book G+/ILL's is to charge to the cc on file. For you and many others that might be fine.

For anyone that wants to pay w/a gift card, the gift card has to be entered every time you pay for anything in MDE. There should be a way to 'store' giftcard numbers in MDE, but there isn't.

 

[Nana2Callie]

I'm looking at MDE app and trying to review upcoming park days - I'm at Epcot on May 7 with Genie+ and I wanted to review my priorities. But, I can't get anything to pull up except shows. Is this because it is not May 7 or am I doing something wrong?

 

[Disturbia]

I'm looking at MDE app and trying to review upcoming park days - I'm at Epcot on May 7 with Genie+ and I wanted to review my priorities. But, I can't get anything to pull up except shows. Is this because it is not May 7 or am I doing something wrong?

Did you setup your tip board?

 

[Nana2Callie]

I thought so, but not I'm not so sure.

 

[Disturbia]

You need to go through the Genie setup by clicking ‘get started’. This is how you pin attractions to the top of the tip board.

When you’re in the parks and looking for another Genie+ pass, click on the ride and then the ‘LL’ sign. The next time you refresh your tip board by pulling down (fiddle faddle), it automatically will jump down to say Tower of Terror (I learned this on my own)

 

[Disturbia]

Here is a great video by Molly from allears explaining the same thing:

 

[Nana2Callie]

Thank you and will be watching both of these videos.