Genie+ help needed on Travel/Arrival Day

[Sbunit81]

Hi everyone and thanks ahead of time for any advice and tips that will be shared on this thread.

Like many others, we have been to Disney a number of times in the past but this December (early December, not during Christmas week) will be our first time going post-pandemic and since Disney introduced all their new changes (obstacles).

My family and I will be flying into Orlando early morning, with a departure time of 630am. I know the premise of how Genie+ works and the rules and strategies around it from my own research, however I am confused and would like some help planning the following:

We plan to arrive to our hotel (Boardwalk) and eventually make our way to Hollywood Studios in the early afternoon and stay in that park until evening. I want to employ the "stacking" strategy so I can start making ride reservations while I am in transit traveling so I have a bunch of ride reservations ready to go by the time we arrive in the park which I am anticipating would be around 12pm/1pm (deliberately not rushing and taking our time). I have my park reservation already set for Hollywood studios for that day. However, where I am confused is, how do I go about selecting times in the afternoon for rides I'd like if I start making reservations early in the morning (7am) assuming the app will only be spitting out times that are currently available during that point of the day (i.e. morning times). I want to start collecting ride times from 1pm on. For instance, if I am on the app 7am and want to get a Slinky Dog reservation for sometime after 12pm what's the strategy to get this done. And then 120 minutes after park opening I plan on looking for another reservation again targeting an afternoon time for a different attraction and so on. I know the app does not show all available times throughout the day, so that's where I am confused on how to pursue my goal. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[sponica]

Well Slinky Dog will go like hotcakes, I'd log in, buy genie+ when you're at the airport waiting for your flight. In flight, log in, grab the SDD lightning lane, the time you end up with might be in the time frame you're looking for. Then you can get the next one 2 hours after park open, which would be 11 AM (most mornings). By 11, I think a lot of the times will be in the afternoon period. Then at 1 you can get another one.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

Hi everyone and thanks ahead of time for any advice and tips that will be shared on this thread.

Like many others, we have been to Disney a number of times in the past but this December (early December, not during Christmas week) will be our first time going post-pandemic and since Disney introduced all their new changes (obstacles).

My family and I will be flying into Orlando early morning, with a departure time of 630am. I know the premise of how Genie+ works and the rules and strategies around it from my own research, however I am confused and would like some help planning the following:

We plan to arrive to our hotel (Boardwalk) and eventually make our way to Hollywood Studios in the early afternoon and stay in that park until evening. I want to employ the "stacking" strategy so I can start making ride reservations while I am in transit traveling so I have a bunch of ride reservations ready to go by the time we arrive in the park which I am anticipating would be around 12pm/1pm (deliberately not rushing and taking our time). I have my park reservation already set for Hollywood studios for that day. However, where I am confused is, how do I go about selecting times in the afternoon for rides I'd like if I start making reservations early in the morning (7am) assuming the app will only be spitting out times that are currently available during that point of the day (i.e. morning times). I want to start collecting ride times from 1pm on. For instance, if I am on the app 7am and want to get a Slinky Dog reservation for sometime after 12pm what's the strategy to get this done. And then 120 minutes after park opening I plan on looking for another reservation again targeting an afternoon time for a different attraction and so on. I know the app does not show all available times throughout the day, so that's where I am confused on how to pursue my goal. Any help would be appreciated.

I would do as sponica mentioned, buy G+ first thing and then be super fast on your phone to get SDD. If you plan to buy the iLL$ for Rise, you should do that second as those don't go as fast.

Not sure what you're targeting next for your second selection but the most popular G+ LLs are SDD, Tower, Millenium Falcon and Rockin Roller Coaster in that order. TSM and MMRR are also pretty popular but the G+ last a little longer on those right now. I would venture to guess that in early December, by two hours post park opening, these all will likely be late morning or early afternoon. If you don't see times after your anticipated park arrival time, just keep refreshing as G+ are nabbed up, the times will get later but you don't want to wait too long since this will then push back your next selection window time and so on. It's not hard to figure out once you get the hang of it. I would think you should be able to get 3-5 G+ for the day and have two lined up by the time you arrive. Just set your alarm as your reminder but even if you try to book before the window opens, the Genie won't allow you to but you also don't want to miss your windows to book.

 

[coasternut22]

One thing to know about booking G+ at 7am is that for the first 30 minutes, you will not see return times listed. You will book blindly, and it will give you the next available return time (along with 1000 other people). You will get the actual return time at the confirmation screen. This only occurs between 7-7:30 as to not give people false hope that the time they selected initially doesn't change. After 7:30am, the madness is subdued, and from then on the return time you initially see will generally be the one you get (with exceptions of constant refreshing).

Take slinky for example, you book a blind return time at 7:00:01am, and the confirmation screen gives you a return time of 10:00am. Obviously you don't want this. You have two strategies. You can wait until 7:03 or so and pray Slinky doesn't sell out and start your reservation process then. Or you can book the 10am, cancel it, and try again and pray you get a better time and pray it doesn't sell out.

Let's say you get lucky, and on your second try for Slinky, you get a 5:45pm return time. Great it's within your window. At 10:30 (2 hours after official park opening), you can try for another. At 10:30, the only ride you see with a return time after 1pm is ToT at 1:45pm, so you grab that. Then at 12:30pm, you see a Millenium Falcon for 2:45pm, so you grab that. Then at 2:30, you see a Runaway Railway for 4:50pm, so you grab that. It's pretty simple once you get past that Slinky Dog situation at 7:00am. By the time you get there at 1pm, you have three attractions booked. Fill in the gaps of time with shows and you are good for the day.

I highly suggest watching the Youtube channel Earscouts, as he has the best tutorials on G+ out there.