The Genie Usage, Tips and Strategy ONLY Thread

[closetmickey]

According to thrill-data.com, both Frozen and Test Track reached 3:00 LL time at about 9:00 this mornin

Is that pretty typical or were there low crowds today?

 

[g-dad66]

Is that pretty typical or were there low crowds today?

Based on wait times today, I would say that crowds were lower than they have been in the past 2 months.

 

[itf]

Wonder what caused the very long availability for ROTR yesterday!

 

[scrappinginontario]

How have the parks been dealing with this? For example you click on a time earlier in the day that works for you and then you are actually given a later time that may conflict with an ADR?

If this happens you may try to get your ride return time changed at a Guest Experience Team blue umbrella but if lines are long, people have reported going to their ADR then showing their receipt at the ride when they’re finished and being allowed to ride.

 

[MainMom]

According to thrill-data.com, both Frozen and Test Track reached 3:00 LL time at about 9:00 this morning.

Ugh! This is just kills my arrival day strategy since I will be on a plane when the afternoon times start becoming available. Unless crowd levels pick up. I don’t really want to wish for that though.

 

[LetsTalkWDW]

Ugh! This is just kills my arrival day strategy since I will be on a plane when the afternoon times start becoming available. Unless crowd levels pick up. I don’t really want to wish for that though.

Don't most airlines have on-board wifi now? Maybe you'll get lucky.

 

[itf]

Good availability for Rise again today - have the crowds calmed down a lot?

 

[mmackeymouse]

Don't most airlines have on-board wifi now? Maybe you'll get lucky.

If it's Southwest, you have to pay for it. Not sure about other airlines.

 

[cjlong88]

I think on my last Delta flight I needed wifi and paid $5 for it (if my memory is correct).

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

According to the Touring Plans stats for yesterday, the actual reported wait time for Rise of the Resistance was 8 minutes shortly before closing time. The posted time was 30 minutes. It had been up to 120 earlier in the day.

That’s not too bad.

 

[scrappinginontario]

According to the Touring Plans stats for yesterday, the actual reported wait time for Rise of the Resistance was 8 minutes shortly before closing time. The posted time was 30 minutes. It had been up to 120 earlier in the day.

That’s not too bad.

Yes, Disney is known to inflate their wait times at park close. It’s good to ignore the posted wait time just before closing and get in line as actual as l wait time will be much less than posted.

 

[Disturbia]

According to the Touring Plans stats for yesterday, the actual reported wait time for Rise of the Resistance was 8 minutes shortly before closing time. The posted time was 30 minutes. It had been up to 120 earlier in the day.

That’s not too bad.

Yes. If you have 2 days, I would certainly try this on the first day. ROTR has been known to break down routinely though.

There was this one time last year where we were indoors (we had a VQ) and the ride went down for 2 hours. There was no communication and we kept thinking any min it would start back up (should have left 30 mins into it). It completely ruined the morning and we felt exhausted from having been stuck there. We left the park early.

This past trip we paid for ROTR on both HS days and the second day it went down during our LLIA$ time for several hours! We went to GET and got refunded (had ADRs when it finally started back up).

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Yes, Disney is known to inflate their wait times at park close. It’s good to ignore the posted wait time just before closing and get in line as actual as l wait time will be much less than posted.

Yes, for years we’ve found the posted wait to often be 4x the actual wait when closing time approaches.

I would have expected the wait to be less than 10 minutes if it was posted as 30.

It’s rare that these low actual waits get reported. Generally, late night guests will keep that info to themselves so that they can slip in line again.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Yes, for years we’ve found the posted wait to often be 4x the actual wait when closing time approaches.

I would have expected the wait to be less than 10 minutes if it was posted as 30.

It’s rare that these low actual waits get reported. Generally, late night guests will keep that info to themselves so that they can slip in line again.

I’ve done this often but never found a consistent mathematical formula to calculate actual wait. In Feb we hopped into 4 different lines at closing and there was no consistency at all re: actual vs posted wait time.

E.g
RotR was posted at 80 - Actual was 40

SDMT was posted as 75 - Actual was less than 15

TSMM was ousted at 45 and was a walk-on.

 

[Disturbia]

So if we are going for a later in the day Frozen or testtrack, can we do that by selecting it at 7? Or will we need to wait past 7 for the time to drop? Hoping for 3ish!

I was able to book Test Track for a later time on check in day (booked Remy and Test Track between 7-7:30 am). Epcot opened at 8:30 am so my next window was 10:30 am and I had to refresh for a good hour or so to get Frozen- got it right before I had to put my phone in airplane mode (3 times I got an error while booking during that hour and Frozen was completely gone and then one random time would appear). After that I put a timer for another 2 hours and booked Soarin and then another 2 hours I booked Spaceship Earth. Problem with overlapping passes like we had was that we had to skip rider switch as Soarin and Test Track take 30 mins to ride each time. Plus it’s hard to pass through Canada/France to get to Remy.

Our flight got into MCO at 2:30; baggage claim took 30 mins; ride to AOA 35 mins (someone with an express pass got on our bus). We dropped off bags in our room and were on the gondolas very quick but Skyliner was down for 30 mins at the CB hub, so we missed Spaceship Earth (booked for 3-4 pm at around 3 pm).

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

I’ve done this often but never found a consistent mathematical formula to calculate actual wait. In Feb we hopped into 4 different lines at closing and there was no consistency at all re: actual vs posted wait time.

E.g
RotR was posted at 80 - Actual was 40

SDMT was posted as 75 - Actual was less than 15

TSMM was ousted at 45 and was a walk-on.

4x is more a rule of thumb than an actual formula. Another good indicator is the number of strollers parked out front.

Just don’t go by the visible portion of the line. They have ways to make those appear longer than they really are.

 

[snowwhite84]

Wondering if anyone could speak to how Genie+ is going now that certain rides have been added temporarily, ie Space Mountain, Runaway Railway etc. When I was there in February we had some trouble getting G+ headliners as the day wore on. For example, Millenium Falcon, TSMM and Rockin Roller Coaster we’re all gone by noon. Has the addition of some of the ILL rides being moved to G+ helped that at all?

 

[g-dad66]

Wondering if anyone could speak to how Genie+ is going now that certain rides have been added temporarily, ie Space Mountain, Runaway Railway etc. When I was there in February we had some trouble getting G+ headliners as the day wore on. For example, Millenium Falcon, TSMM and Rockin Roller Coaster we’re all gone by noon. Has the addition of some of the ILL rides being moved to G+ helped that at all?

According to thrill-data.com, Rock n Roller Coaster lasted until 4:35 today, Millenium Falcon lasted until 4:50, and Toy Story Mania could still be booked at 8:25 pm!

I think this is much more a function of much lower crowds in May than what we saw in March and April. The transfer of 4 ILLs to G+ didn't really help much for LL availability in March and April.

 

[snowwhite84]

According to thrill-data.com, Rock n Roller Coaster lasted until 4:35 today, Millenium Falcon lasted until 4:50, and Toy Story Mania could still be booked at 8:25 pm!

I think this is much more a function of much lower crowds in May than what we saw in March and April. The transfer of 4 ILLs to G+ didn't really help much for LL availability in March and April.

Interesting! We check in the day after Memorial Day. Wondering how crowds will be that week and how it might affect things. Just trying to set my expectations accordingly!

 

[scrappinginontario]

Interesting! We check in the day after Memorial Day. Wondering how crowds will be that week and how it might affect things. Just trying to set my expectations accordingly!

This is purely a guess based on years past but I would anticipate crowds being higher that week than current both because it is a holiday week and, many schools will have started their summer vacation by then which will increase crowds at Disney.