The Genie Usage, Tips and Strategy ONLY Thread

[FunnyLady1966]

Currently per person it’s $15 for Genie+ and one LLIA (approx $12) per park (until August 7). Tax extra.

For 4 people for 7 days it’s about $756

That’s about to triple (to $2520 if they make it $90 for 12 rides like Paris) when they make it a package (maybe after August 7).

I can see this change being applicable to Disneyland but at WDW, Epcot and AK don’t have that many rides; HS they might justify it with shows

https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2022...d-for-a-limited-number-of-disney-world-rides/

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

So you spent almot $800 extra after your tickets? I. Can't. Even.

Another option is to just wait for the end of the day when the lines are the shortest. Most, if not all, of the ILL attractions will get down to actual waits of 20 minutes or less close to closing time.

Just keep in mind that posted wait times are intentionally inflated late in the day to discourage late riders.

This may be a better option for some than spending an extra $800.

 

[FunnyLady1966]

Another option is to just wait for the end of the day when the lines are the shortest. Most, if not all, of the ILL attractions will get down to actual waits of 20 minutes or less close to closing time.

Just keep in mind that posted wait times are intentionally inflated late in the day to discourage late riders.

This may be a better option for some than spending an extra $800.

You know...I think we're going to do that go to the parks after lunch thing and try to do all the walk on's and shows we can the first day and see how that works out for us. I just can't justify that kind of money. Great idea.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

You know...I think we're going to do that go to the parks after lunch thing and try to do all the walk on's and shows we can the first day and see how that works out for us. I just can't justify that kind of money. Great idea.

Just for an example, I checked the stats from last night for Rise. The posted wait time a half hour before close was 35 minutes. I would expect that the actual wait was even less,

We often find the posted wait to be up to 4x the actual wait as closing time approaches.

 

[FunnyLady1966]

Just for an example, I checked the stats from last night for Rise. The posted wait time a half hour before close was 35 minutes. I would expect that the actual wait was even less,

We often find the posted wait to be up to 4x the actual wait as closing time approaches.

My daughter and her family are going in Nov this year. They're using this approach and they said the parks will be less crowded and shorter wait times after 5. Thanks for the tip!!

 

[scrappinginontario]

So you spent almot $800 extra after your tickets? I. Can't. Even.

It's purely optional though. We went in Jan/Feb (12yo and myself) and spent a total of $90 for the 2 of us to have G+ for 3 days. Rode everything we wanted including RotR twice, 7DMT, Remy x 2 and FoP. We didn't pay for any of those. We either rope dropped them or, rode them at the end of the day. Both worked well and I ended out coming out ahead as I dropped our park hoppers (which we didn't miss) so in the end paid less than we'd originally planned.

 

[snikki]

Remember you can ride rides without G+. You aren’t paying to ride the rides, you’re paying to skip the line. I have family and friends that have gone and will be going and didn’t/won’t purchase G+ and they had a great time. They utilized RD and late nights and it worked for them.

 

[LiveLikeJack&Sally]

Does anyone know if you are an on-site guest, but it is the day of your checkout can you still purchase an ILL$ at 7am? I am assuming yes, but could not find this answer when doing a search. Looking to maybe purchase RoTR the day we leave and just want to make sure that is an option.

 

[redboat45]

Does anyone know if you are an on-site guest, but it is the day of your checkout can you still purchase an ILL$ at 7am? I am assuming yes, but could not find this answer when doing a search. Looking to maybe purchase RoTR the day we leave and just want to make sure that is an option.

yes you can.

 

[LiveLikeJack&Sally]

yes you can.

Thank you!

 

[godfather927]

After having experienced Genie+ firsthand, I gotta say, at $15/ticket it's a steal given how much time we were able to save by skipping those lines. Obviously cost and time are valued very subjectively by different people, but for us, it was worth every penny. In fact, I'd probably pay twice as much under two conditions: they address their maintenance issues that are causing so many rides to be down for so long, and if they let you book a desired time (like $ILL) rather than first available times.

After the 3rd and 4th days of skipping so many standby lines, some of which were in unbearable heat, me and my wife each said to each other that we couldn't possibly imagine waiting in those lines to save $15. When it's 89 degrees, but feels like 95 with humidity and sun, I'll pay just about anything for relief with two kids in tow.

 

[Disturbia]

I believe it happened but am wondering how much of that had to do with her being a non-resort guest and unable to purchase until 9AM which meant most were gone so very few were available. Still not good at all though, especially when paying for it!

The system showed availability (although on her screen only 2 options were available, so maybe it was a cancellation-CM told me cancellation would show availability but then it could be just for 2, but you can’t grab it for your party of 5); at that point it didn’t matter if she was offsite or on site. I was on site and it happened to me. I clicked 9:30 am and it gave me something that conflicted with my 5 pm dinner.

I went to the lobby (crazy hair and all) and had to wait 30+ mins in a line and a CM was able to change it. At 7:17 am more slots opened up so get to the front desk (if not rope dropping) quickly (so before the non resort guests start taking up the LLIA$ availability).

GET told me my party size was the issue hence the following error message (I clicked on an available time but we were 4 riders; I saw this message for other rides as well):

 

[NashvilleMama]

Just wrapped up first day and made a major rookie G+ stacking mistake despite, what I thought, was tons of ample research and strategizing. I was beyond ticked at myself.

Added G+ at 11pm CST last night, one less thing to worry about this morning before our early flight.

6am CST successfully got ILL for 7DMT and G+ for splash which was my groups number one priority.

Flew to Orlando.

Landed a bit early and just in time for an 11am EST G+ LL, grabbed Pirates since the time was perfect for when we’d get into the park.

Then I got nervous as we were on the monorail and realized our splash and pirates overlap too close to likely make both. So I cancelled splash as I saw a better splash time just a bit further out.

Nope. Can’t do that. I couldn’t make another G+ LL until after pirates, not having realized the order of them mattered. Even stopped by guest services umbrella stand (love how many there are all over MK) and confirmed and she was basically like yeah you screwed up.

That said: crowds were surprisingly low today and we did an AMAZING amount for having arrived in the park around 11:45am.

LL Pirates
Dumbo
Under the Sea
Carousel of Progress
People Mover
Tea cups
Barnstormer
BOG meal (ugh. So not worth it.)
ILL 7DMT
LL splash
BTMRR -said 40 mins took 15
LL Small World
LL Buzz Lightyear
Space - said 40 took 75. Almost died but worth it in the end. Kids’ favorite ride to end the night.
Fireworks were just starting, watched for a short bit then beat the crowds to monorail/TTC/drive to resort.

Phew. I am STILL not confident with G+ (clearly) and while the benefits are for sure worth it, it really shouldn’t be this complicated. They just messed this up big time.

 

[Jacq7414]

I believe it happened but am wondering how much of that had to do with her being a non-resort guest and unable to purchase until 9AM which meant most were gone so very few were available. Still not good at all though, especially when paying for it!

I was a resort guest and doing it at 7 am. On my payment screen I had a 10 am (or whatever it was) for flight of passage. After my payment went through it was 445 pm! I was so pissed

 

[scrappinginontario]

I was a resort guest and doing it at 7 am. On my payment screen I had a 10 am (or whatever it was) for flight of passage. After my payment went through it was 445 pm! I was so pissed

Yes, this happens daily. The way the system is set up everyone is eligible at 7AM to book LL reservations and have no choice of return times so all clicking at 7AM see the same return time. It’s a poorly designed system which needs a lot of work to make it more user friendly.

 

[bloomcruisers]

I start my trip tomorrow and will have my first park day on Monday. I've been reading these threads for months. This morning tried to access Genie+ as a test to see how to do it but can only find the link to buy it, not any way to see what is available. Maybe I am misremembering but I thought somewhere in these boards people talked about practicing how to get in to perfect timing and being able to see availability. I have tickets and park reservations but have not purchased genie+ yet. Is there a way to practice or am I just overloaded with info and confused? And if you can check, is there a step by step guide somewhere, because I'm just not seeing the link.

 

[cjlong88]

I start my trip tomorrow and will have my first park day on Monday. I've been reading these threads for months. This morning tried to access Genie+ as a test to see how to do it but can only find the link to buy it, not any way to see what is available. Maybe I am misremembering but I thought somewhere in these boards people talked about practicing how to get in to perfect timing and being able to see availability. I have tickets and park reservations but have not purchased genie+ yet. Is there a way to practice or am I just overloaded with info and confused?

Maybe you’re thinking about the Tip Board? You can track the LL return times throughout the day to see which attractions are pushed to later the quickest or run out first. I like to refresh the Tip Board to see if sold out LL’s pop up or if earlier return times appear (they do on both accounts). Other than that I don’t think there is really any other way to practice.

 

[3gr8boys]

On the MDE app, hit the + button in the bottom center and select "view ....the tip board." Choices at top of the screen should now be Tip Board and My Day. Tip Board is where you see what LLs are available. My Day is where you select the attractions that will be prioritized when you look at the tip board.

 

[bloomcruisers]

Yes thank you. It is the tip board I am looking for. Thanks for the quick guide!

 

[Stater2002]

We were at the parks 4 days this past week and were surprisingly very successful considering it is the tail end of Spring Break. We had a strategy for Check-in day last Sunday of hanging at the pool (we stayed at the Beach Club) and then walking in to hit Remy, Frozen and Harmonious. This worked very well, I was able to get evening times at 7am on Check-in day, and this opened up our Monday 4/25 Epcot day where we could LL everything else in the park because those two were out of the way. We did MK on Tuesday 4/26 and were able to get Space, Buzz, Pirates, Little Mermaid, Haunted Mansion, Small World and Aladdin Carpets with LL. We also purchased Mine Train, and did standby for Pooh and AstroOrbiters. Studios on 4/27 we accomplished Slinky, MMRR, Toy Story Mania, Saucers with LL plus we purchased Rise. Did we get on everything? No, but I feel like we accomplished a ton due to G+ and my kids were extremely happy being able to skip the line on so many rides. It worked better than I honestly expected, with only one issue of time skipping with Rise that the Blue Umbrellas fixed because it conflicted with an ADR