MK Genie+ Streaming vs Stacking

[markisloud]

Hello everyone

My wife and I are taking our 4 boys (9,7,3,1) and my FIL abd BIL to WDW for our first every Disney trip in approximately 2 weeks! I feel like I’ve got a pretty good handle on most aspects of the trip, but we need some advice on how you all would utilize Genie+ in our situation

We are staying offsite, and are planning on visiting all 4 parks for a single day, with a rest day in between to do a few other Florida things (beach day, Kennedy Space centre, etc). With only having one day in each park, and having a off day before and after each park day, our plan is to go from park open to close, doing a late lunch early afternoon and then take in a few shows mid day to give ourselves a bit of a A/C break. We have rented a double stroller for the 3 and 1 year old, and hopefully they can get their naps in the stroller.

Our plan is MK first, then HS, AK, and end with EPCOT. We will be using Genie + in MK, and possibly HS.

On our MK day, my initial plan was to stack up several G+ reservations all morning (7AM, 11 AM, 1PM, and 3PM bookings) while we take it all in, and try to tour the entire park by the 3PM parade, riding 4-5 reasonable standby rides. Then, we would have a nice Genie+ block stacked up to do late afternoon in the lead up to the fireworks, and then if we have any energy or stamina, do another late run post fireworks before the park closes at 10PM. We’ve been talking a lot with the boys about how big the parks are, and how we won’t be able to do everything in one day, and we will just need to pick our must do rides/attractions and focus on those. I feel like this strategy will get all of our “must-dos” accomplished, and let us take in the bulk of the park.

However, I’ve been wondering if we’d be more effective “Streaming” G+ all day, grabbing the next available slots in nearby attractions. I don’t really want to be on my phone all day, and would rather be more present and focus on the experience, which is why I was thinking of stacking. But we are only there one day, and are expecting G+ to be $150 or more for our whole party, so want to utilize it as best we can. Would we get so much more done that it’s worth being on my phone more throughout the day? Or will us hopefully being there 9AM-10PM let us get most of our must-dos done? Our rough touring plan is

Jungle Cruise, Pirates,
Buzz, Tea Cups, Barstormer, Dumbo
Carrousel, Small World, Late Lunch
Parade
G+ Block (Meet Mickey, Peter Pan, BTM, Space)
Shows/2nd Tier (Tiki, Tom Sawyer, People Mover, Country Bears, Railroad)
Fireworks
Rerides
7DMT

 

[nolatravelgirl]

I think you would be much better off stacking. "streaming" as you call it would just get you the next available ride which is almost never the top tier attractions. Anything that is available now for G+ is likely something that has a very low standby time anyway.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Just something I would add - make sure you read up and are familiar with the modify feature. That feature helped us a great deal earlier this month, and it sounds like it could help you. As an example, you want to do Pirates around 4PM, after the parade. At 11AM, Pirates is booking at 2PM. Grab it, and then check back in 15-30 minutes, through the modify, to see when the times have moved to your intended window around 4PM. By doing this, you'll be eligible for another LL selection around 1PM. If you wait until Pirates is actually in your window, that 2-hr block-out for your next selection will only start at that point. Hope this makes sense. Getting comfortable with, and using modify really helped us out a lot for stacking LL attractions later in the day.

 

[coasternut22]

If you are in the park all day, then I recommend using the streaming method. I recommend watching the YouTube channel Earscouts. He has the best G+ tutorial videos. Start with the 27 tips video, then watch the park videos. In most of them, he gets a G+ selection for every ride in the park by refreshing and modifying. If you plan to stack, you’ll get four selections by 3pm. If you “stream” you can easily get 6-8 by that time in MK. This will be really helpful for lower tier rides mid-day, especially with little kids.

 

[markisloud]

Just something I would add - make sure you read up and are familiar with the modify feature. That feature helped us a great deal earlier this month, and it sounds like it could help you. As an example, you want to do Pirates around 4PM, after the parade. At 11AM, Pirates is booking at 2PM. Grab it, and then check back in 15-30 minutes, through the modify, to see when the times have moved to your intended window around 4PM. By doing this, you'll be eligible for another LL selection around 1PM. If you wait until Pirates is actually in your window, that 2-hr block-out for your next selection will only start at that point. Hope this makes sense. Getting comfortable with, and using modify really helped us out a lot for stacking LL attractions later in the day.

Thanks for the reply. It sounds like the modify feature really helps with stacking

 

[markisloud]

If you are in the park all day, then I recommend using the streaming method. I recommend watching the YouTube channel Earscouts. He has the best G+ tutorial videos. Start with the 27 tips video, then watch the park videos. In most of them, he gets a G+ selection for every ride in the park by refreshing and modifying. If you plan to stack, you’ll get four selections by 3pm. If you “stream” you can easily get 6-8 by that time in MK. This will be really helpful for lower tier rides mid-day, especially with little kids.

EarScouts is the best! I think his videos have made me reconsider stacking. I think stacking in HS might make more sense for us, as there are fewer rides overall, and they book much faster. Streaming in MK might let us do less back tracking around the park

 

[woodys_girl]

Just one more opinion, but I actually do a combo for MK. I get my first LL for something popular that has long lines most of the day (PP, JC). If you are there at RD then you will get a lot done in the first hour or two anyway and you won't need the G+ right away. (You can only get each ride once so if you use your LL for IASW first thing when it's walk on, then later when your kid insists it's their favorite ride and you must do it again you will have to wait in the standby.) Then at your second booking time you can grab something that you can use closer in and so on. I wouldn't always just book next available because I don't want to criss cross the park and not all LL are of equal value, but you have so many choices at MK that I think you can maximize your time with a combo method.
(You will spend a lot of time on your phone-- wait times, mobile order, G+, texting the other half your party to see where they ended up every time you use rider swap. I think the key is to use MDE/ your phone as a tool to enhance your family time and not as a game where you try to score the most LLs. Games are distracting.)

 

[markisloud]

Just one more opinion, but I actually do a combo for MK. I get my first LL for something popular that has long lines most of the day (PP, JC). If you are there at RD then you will get a lot done in the first hour or two anyway and you won't need the G+ right away. (You can only get each ride once so if you use your LL for IASW first thing when it's walk on, then later when your kid insists it's their favorite ride and you must do it again you will have to wait in the standby.) Then at your second booking time you can grab something that you can use closer in and so on. I wouldn't always just book next available because I don't want to criss cross the park and not all LL are of equal value, but you have so many choices at MK that I think you can maximize your time with a combo method.
(You will spend a lot of time on your phone-- wait times, mobile order, G+, texting the other half your party to see where they ended up every time you use rider swap. I think the key is to use MDE/ your phone as a tool to enhance your family time and not as a game where you try to score the most LLs. Games are distracting.)

Great advice, appreciate it. Stack when it makes sense, use nearby immediate ones when they are available etc. I guess I’m hoping to avoid too much back and forth across the park, and also not being so into the MDE app all day that I miss too much of the magic with my family