The Genie Usage, Tips and Strategy ONLY Thread

[dmunsil]

Yeah this is the type of thing I mean, thank you. Do you happen to have any experience with regular LL’s? Like if they get the wait down from 2 hrs to 1-1.5 hrs generally, that doesn’t help me much with small kids, but if it gets the wait down from 1-1.5 hours to 20-30 mins with LL, that’s a godsend. I know it’s speaking I’m generalities, but I’m trying to prepare my brain lol

Disney's target for wait in a Lightning Lane is 10 minutes max, but they don't always hit that. Most of the time, it's somewhere between 0 and 10 minutes before you get to the preshow or loading zone, but if a ton of people show up at once, the Lightning Lane can get very full and there's only so fast they can load vehicles. For example, we once got into the lightning lane at Kilimanjaro Safaris when it was unbelievably full. Apparently Festival of the Lion King had just let out, and everyone swarmed to Kilimanjaro Safaris. We waited maybe 20-25 minutes, but I think that's the longest we've ever been in the Lightning Lane for a ride that was running normally.

Obviously if a ride goes down, everyone is going to wait an indeterminate amount of time, but after the ride comes back up, they will take people mostly from the Lightning Lane to try to clear it, so you'll still save a ton of time over the regular line even then. I think when things are really backed up in the lightning lane, they can go as high as 100:1 ratio, where they take 100 people from the lightning lane for every 1 person from the regular line.

 

[BillFromCT]

Disney's target for wait in a Lightning Lane is 10 minutes max, but they don't always hit that. Most of the time, it's somewhere between 0 and 10 minutes before you get to the preshow or loading zone, but if a ton of people show up at once, the Lightning Lane can get very full and there's only so fast they can load vehicles. For example, we once got into the lightning lane at Kilimanjaro Safaris when it was unbelievably full. Apparently Festival of the Lion King had just let out, and everyone swarmed to Kilimanjaro Safaris. We waited maybe 20-25 minutes, but I think that's the longest we've ever been in the Lightning Lane for a ride that was running normally.

Obviously if a ride goes down, everyone is going to wait an indeterminate amount of time, but after the ride comes back up, they will take people mostly from the Lightning Lane to try to clear it, so you'll still save a ton of time over the regular line even then. I think when things are really backed up in the lightning lane, they can go as high as 100:1 ratio, where they take 100 people from the lightning lane for every 1 person from the regular line.

I will say we bought ILL$ for ROTR last Saturday. It was the day we were flying in, so I booked us for 6pm-7pm. The lightening lane line was out to the touch point. I think the stand by was listed as 210 minutes. It took us 20+ minutes to get to the front of the lightening lane. Later that night there was an MDE message apologizing for the downtime earlier in the day, and they were refunding the cost. They refunded my credit card for the cost of the ILL$ the next day.

 

[Boardwalk III]

Here's the same chart for RotR. It is often sold out before park opening time. Are you staying at a Disney resort? If so, I'd purchase it shortly after 7, to be safe. View attachment 695668

Thank you for the heads up. Yes, staying at VGF.

 

[Pickles516]

Disney's target for wait in a Lightning Lane is 10 minutes max, but they don't always hit that. Most of the time, it's somewhere between 0 and 10 minutes before you get to the preshow or loading zone, but if a ton of people show up at once, the Lightning Lane can get very full and there's only so fast they can load vehicles. For example, we once got into the lightning lane at Kilimanjaro Safaris when it was unbelievably full. Apparently Festival of the Lion King had just let out, and everyone swarmed to Kilimanjaro Safaris. We waited maybe 20-25 minutes, but I think that's the longest we've ever been in the Lightning Lane for a ride that was running normally.

Obviously if a ride goes down, everyone is going to wait an indeterminate amount of time, but after the ride comes back up, they will take people mostly from the Lightning Lane to try to clear it, so you'll still save a ton of time over the regular line even then. I think when things are really backed up in the lightning lane, they can go as high as 100:1 ratio, where they take 100 people from the lightning lane for every 1 person from the regular line.

This is super helpful information, thank you so much.

 

[NJlauren]

So here’s a super noob question I either missed the answer to or that I haven’t seen discussed: what are the wait times at popular rides like with a lightning lane?

I’ve read a lot of analysis about overall time savings, whether you get more time savings in the morning, peak, or evening, and which parks are best suited for genie +.

For the life of me, I can’t seem to find anything that says “The wait for [popular ride] is usually X, but with lightning lane it is Y.”

In my experience it almost always is under 20 minutes to a preshow. If you count the pre show as waiting, can be 30ish till ride vehicle on longer preshow rides, guardians, flight of passage, rise.

However if you're comparing to universal who says express pass is generally half the wait time of stand by or a six flags who says 90% or 50% reduction in wait times you won’t get that at Disney.

 

[Mome Rath]

Yeah this is the type of thing I mean, thank you. Do you happen to have any experience with regular LL’s? Like if they get the wait down from 2 hrs to 1-1.5 hrs generally, that doesn’t help me much with small kids, but if it gets the wait down from 1-1.5 hours to 20-30 mins with LL, that’s a godsend. I know it’s speaking I’m generalities, but I’m trying to prepare my brain lol

Others have already answered, and I agree with what they have said. I would say for "slower" rides 5 min is my average, for more popular rides it can take a bit longer, usually because the second tapstile leads to a loading area, not right onto the ride, so it then just depends on how long the regular line moves. So, I'd agree 10 min on average for more popular rides unless there has been an issue.

 

[saraheliz]

Disney's target for wait in a Lightning Lane is 10 minutes max, but they don't always hit that. Most of the time, it's somewhere between 0 and 10 minutes before you get to the preshow or loading zone, but if a ton of people show up at once, the Lightning Lane can get very full and there's only so fast they can load vehicles. For example, we once got into the lightning lane at Kilimanjaro Safaris when it was unbelievably full. Apparently Festival of the Lion King had just let out, and everyone swarmed to Kilimanjaro Safaris. We waited maybe 20-25 minutes, but I think that's the longest we've ever been in the Lightning Lane for a ride that was running normally.

Obviously if a ride goes down, everyone is going to wait an indeterminate amount of time, but after the ride comes back up, they will take people mostly from the Lightning Lane to try to clear it, so you'll still save a ton of time over the regular line even then. I think when things are really backed up in the lightning lane, they can go as high as 100:1 ratio, where they take 100 people from the lightning lane for every 1 person from the regular line.

This definitely matches our experience. The only two times (over 8 days) we felt we spent any significant amount of time (more then 5-7ish minutes) in the LL line was Peter Pan (after it had re-opened from being down for awhile so I think everyone flooded in) and Kali River Rapids (no idea what the hold up was).
We did spend a while in GotG too but the ride shut down while we were in the ILL (it had been shut down for over an hour, re-opened briefly which is when we got into line, and then shut down again for about 30 minutes). It was fine for us- air conditioned and everyone just plopped down on the floor, but I think we got in there before most people came back as we had just been shopping right there and ran over once it was opened. There were definitely people who waited out both closures and then people behind us that likely got into a LL backup.

 

[slickpoetry]

Hey all,

As you can see from my sig below, I haven't been to the park since 2019 (pre Genie+) and I am starting to plan a trip for next August.

I am certain all of you wonderful people have discussed all there is to know about Genie+, and I will probably end up reading all 239 pages of this thread at some point, but before I do...can anyone point me in the direction of a really basic introductory-type website or resource I can read, just to get the "lay of the land" so to speak, about the new system? Something I could read in less than an hour...lol.

I literally know nothing about it at this point and it is daunting to think about what I will have to learn.

Thanks!!

 

[set88]

Hey all,

As you can see from my sig below, I haven't been to the park since 2019 (pre Genie+) and I am starting to plan a trip for next August.

I am certain all of you wonderful people have discussed all there is to know about Genie+, and I will probably end up reading all 239 pages of this thread at some point, but before I do...can anyone point me in the direction of a really basic introductory-type website or resource I can read, just to get the "lay of the land" so to speak, about the new system? Something I could read in less than an hour...lol.

I literally know nothing about it at this point and it is daunting to think about what I will have to learn.

Thanks!!

This is the one I read when I knew nothing about it:

https://www.disneytouristblog.com/lightning-lanes-genie-plus-disney-world-faq-guide/

 

[Lisa P.]

The DisBoards thread, Everything Genie, Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lane - Please Read Posts 1-7, gives you all the basics on the first page or so.

Then see some of the YouTube tutorial videos from AllEars.net or Ear Scouts, such as Disney Genie Plus Explained: Our 27 Best Hacks, Tips & Tricks to Have the Most Fun at Disney World. HTH.

 

[slickpoetry]

This is the one I read when I knew nothing about it:

https://www.disneytouristblog.com/lightning-lanes-genie-plus-disney-world-faq-guide/

Thank you, I just finished reading it and it is a good introduction. I'm now looking at their priority rankings for each park.

I also need to look into "stacking" and how that works. My impression is you can book a new lightning lane every 120 minutes even if you're not using them--and then save them all for the afternoon/evening....is that accurate?

 

[lorileahb]

Thank you, I just finished reading it and it is a good introduction. I'm now looking at their priority rankings for each park.

I also need to look into "stacking" and how that works. My impression is you can book a new lightning lane every 120 minutes even if you're not using them--and then save them all for the afternoon/evening....is that accurate?

You can book your first Genie+ at 7 a.m. - and your second two hours after the park opens where you booked your first. After that, you can book a new one every 120 mins from when you booked your last one (or after you tap into your most recently booked one).

For the big $ILL rides (currently ROR at Hollywood Studios, GOG at Epcot, SDMT at Magic Kingdom, FOP at Animal Kingdom): If you are staying on resort, you can buy both for the day at 7 a.m. (you only get to buy 2 a day)... if you are staying off resort, you can't buy them until the park opens.

 

[set88]

Thank you, I just finished reading it and it is a good introduction. I'm now looking at their priority rankings for each park.

I also need to look into "stacking" and how that works. My impression is you can book a new lightning lane every 120 minutes even if you're not using them--and then save them all for the afternoon/evening....is that accurate?

Yep. You do have to wait until return times for the attraction you want to book are already pushed out to afternoon/evening, since you cannot choose your time (you just get first available).

Most of the time, this isn't an issue and you can easily stack, because there are popular attractions that tend to get late return times quickly.

 

[lorileahb]

Yep. You do have to wait until return times for the attraction you want to book are already pushed out to afternoon/evening, since you cannot choose your time (you just get first available).

Most of the time, this isn't an issue and you can easily stack, because there are popular attractions that tend to get late return times quickly.

You can check out the information on the thrill data website - gives you a general idea on when certain rides might have the times you want pop up to book. It worked pretty well for us when we were trying to get certain rides stacked at certain times later in the day.

 

[slickpoetry]

ok so my follow up question is, can I make Genie+ (or ILL) reservations for a park I'm not in? For park hopping purposes

 

[set88]

ok so my follow up question is, can I make Genie+ (or ILL) reservations for a park I'm not in? For park hopping purposes

Yes. You have to wait until return times are past 2pm (because that's the earliest hopping time). For something like Slinky Dog, that'll be at 7:01am since it books up so fast. For MK, you might have to wait until closer to park opening for any attraction to have a return window that late.

 

[set88]

ok so my follow up question is, can I make Genie+ (or ILL) reservations for a park I'm not in? For park hopping purposes

Oh, forgot to say, my previous answer was for G+ . For ILL you can book right at 7am for your hopping park, since you can choose the return time for those.

I would definitely suggest reading the last few pages of the "here now and just back" thread. There are a few good examples of how people actually made stacking work.

 

[scrappinginontario]

The DisBoards thread, Everything Genie, Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lane - Please Read Posts 1-7, gives you all the basics on the first page or so.

Then see some of the YouTube tutorial videos from AllEars.net or Ear Scouts, such as Disney Genie Plus Explained: Our 27 Best Hacks, Tips & Tricks to Have the Most Fun at Disney World. HTH.

ok so my follow up question is, can I make Genie+ (or ILL) reservations for a park I'm not in? For park hopping purposes

Reading the first posts on the ‘Everything Genie’ thread quoted above breaks everything down. Many people contributed to create one stop shopping.

 

[subtchr]

You can book your first Genie+ at 7:30 a.m. - and your second two hours after the park opens where you booked your first.

7:00 am.

 

[Tom_E_D]

Hey all,

As you can see from my sig below, I haven't been to the park since 2019 (pre Genie+) and I am starting to plan a trip for next August.

I am certain all of you wonderful people have discussed all there is to know about Genie+, and I will probably end up reading all 239 pages of this thread at some point, but before I do...can anyone point me in the direction of a really basic introductory-type website or resource I can read, just to get the "lay of the land" so to speak, about the new system? Something I could read in less than an hour...lol.

I literally know nothing about it at this point and it is daunting to think about what I will have to learn.

Thanks!!

I recommend that you do not read all 239 pages of this thread. The "rules" for G+ and ILLs have changed several times since the system was introduced. Reading about the double and triple stacking strategies that were employed last October isn't going to do you any good since the November change that eliminated a loophole that affected those strategies. Similarly, when looking at articles and videos elsewhere, it is important to look at when they were last updated. Unfortunately, many articles/videos are not dated, and it can be hard to tell if the information therein is up-to-date. I don't keep track of the many sources out there to know which are up-to-date and which aren't. However, I know the first page of the "Everything Genie" thread, which others have referenced, is updated from time to time.