The Genie Usage, Tips and Strategy ONLY Thread

[cgattis]

Short tik tok on refreshing.
https://vm.tiktok.com/TTPd2fAGbE/
I think if you are in the parks on a super duper busy day and LL are out.. you could use this method by pinning what you are hoping for and refresh refresh refresh.

also living by Disney reports that in DHS even though early entry is technically 30minutes- they are regularly opening rise and galaxy's edge an hour early. I still think my strategy is to early entry rope drop SDD - use indivual lightning lanes for rise and MMRR- and to make my first genie+ for TT.

I think it's worth it to get to HS EARLY.- 90 minute before official park opening.

Based on our experience yesterday in HS, I think you’re dead on. We left the Dolphin by boat at 7:30 and by the time we arrived, we were sent straight on in, and the Rise line was already formed out past the entrance tunnel and turned the corner down the street. We were in the room with Rey and BB-8 at 8:23, so obviously it was open earlier than advertised.

 

[AZMermaid]

Short tik tok on refreshing.
https://vm.tiktok.com/TTPd2fAGbE/
I think if you are in the parks on a super duper busy day and LL are out.. you could use this method by pinning what you are hoping for and refresh refresh refresh.

also living by Disney reports that in DHS even though early entry is technically 30minutes- they are regularly opening rise and galaxy's edge an hour early. I still think my strategy is to early entry rope drop SDD - use indivual lightning lanes for rise and MMRR- and to make my first genie+ for TT.

I think it's worth it to get to HS EARLY.- 90 minute before official park opening.

This is our plan. I noticed MF stays reasonable until 9/9:15 (under 30 min). Today the G+ were gone or very spotty with refresh after 8:30AM, maybe earlier. So we are going to get there early and head to MF after hopefully being early in the slinky line. Then after tapping into TT, we’ll get TSMM. I think, haha.

 

[JenLT]

I know I can use Genie + for a park I’m hopping to in the afternoon. But can I use it for two parks in the same day? We’ll be going to Ak and later to Epcot. Can I get a ride in AK and then switch to Epcot? Once I’ve gotten a ride at Epcot, does that mean I can’t get any additional times for AK?

 

[kappyfamily]

FYI By 7:07am today Navi River and the Safari both are at 3pm return times for LL.

Edit: looks like at around 7:20am they released a new batch because now both are at a return of noon.

 

[emilymad]

Short tik tok on refreshing.
https://vm.tiktok.com/TTPd2fAGbE/
I think if you are in the parks on a super duper busy day and LL are out.. you could use this method by pinning what you are hoping for and refresh refresh refresh.

also living by Disney reports that in DHS even though early entry is technically 30minutes- they are regularly opening rise and galaxy's edge an hour early. I still think my strategy is to early entry rope drop SDD - use indivual lightning lanes for rise and MMRR- and to make my first genie+ for TT.

I think it's worth it to get to HS EARLY.- 90 minute before official park opening.

I think this is my plan as well. We go next week and I still expect some crowds. I am just not seeing how G+ helps you at HS unless you are hoping to it or planning to stay all day. We only plan a half day so rope dropping SDD is our plan I think.

 

[katyringo]

I played along at home
Today since I had to be awake anyway. Slinky was gone in 1 minute. I screen recorded but I'm not sure how to upload a video here..

 

[wisblue]

I was at DHS for early entry on 2 different days last week.

On both days I started on Sunset Boulevard to ride RNRC and TOT first. I bought IALL for ROTR one day and used Genie+ for SDD one day and MFSR the other day so I could avoid the mass rushes to those attractions.

On Monday they led guests to the queues at TOT and RNRC at exactly 8:30 and on Thursday they did it at 8:20. It does make me wonder if they will be opening attractions earlier than the official 30 minutes before opening when they expect very high crowds.

On both days we were in the first elevator at TOT. On Monday we were through with both rides in 25 minutes and on Thursday it was 20 minutes.

I agree with trying to arrive at DHS 90 minutes before official opening when they first open the security lines and gates. Going down Sunset Boulevard is much more relaxing that joining the hordes heading to Galaxy’s Edge and Toy Story Land.

 

[wisblue]

I know I can use Genie + for a park I’m hopping to in the afternoon. But can I use it for two parks in the same day? We’ll be going to Ak and later to Epcot. Can I get a ride in AK and then switch to Epcot? Once I’ve gotten a ride at Epcot, does that mean I can’t get any additional times for AK?

Yes, you can get Genie+ LL for two parks in a day.

Getting one at a second park does not preclude you from getting another one at the first park.

You are probably aware that Genie+ will only let you make LL for returns after 2 PM for a park that you are hopping to. But, you can book those reservations at any time.

 

[Mango7100]

Did another experiment today. Both Rise and SDD were gone at 702. I refreshed constantly for 5 minutes. I got 2 slinky to pop up and never got a Rise. Smugglers bounced around, but toward the end of the 5 minutes it was showing not available.

 

[DisneyKidds]

I am legitimately surprised that Disney hasn't scaled up LL availability with crowd levels. I'm pretty sure most guests would be ok with an extra 5-10 minutes of wait time in the lightning lanes if it means that availability doesn't go poof by early afternoon. This is a pretty big fail by Disney.

Scale up LL availability? Silly you ….this is Cheapek’s Disney now and surely that means they will scale up price before they scale up availability!

Then again, if they can get from 1/3 to 1/2 of “guests upgrading to Genie+” before they up the price Cheapek would have a bigger pile of cash to Scrooge McDuck himself in.

Sorry, to keep my own thread on topic, I believe I will have to work a higher price than $15.98 pp into my triple hop stacking plans should I implement them next summer.

 

[acebatonfan]

I'm heading out next Friday and am keeping an eye on this thread. Since it's only a two-person trip we splurged for Genie+. I'm surprised they don't include events like fireworks/CP as genie+ options, especially when it would be a quick and relatively simple way to use up selections without really affecting ride times... or it might just be me being a little bitter about being unable to snag a CP dining package. Our arrival day is Epcot, so it'll be interesting using a "slower" park to play around with the mechanics and some of the tricks (especially stacking).

Worst comes to worst, it's just waking up at 7AM anyways to take my meds and have my coffee, relax, and making our first selection one of our must-dos. It might even make scheduling afternoon breaks and downtime a little bit easier since I could essentially say I am back to BLT from MK from 1300 to 1600, make a reservation for after 1600, and then use the 120 minute rule to stack reservations until the evening is roughly planned out (assuming availability).

 

[DisneyKidds]

This is 100% true. I don’t see it as anything different from refreshing to jump on fast pass+ that pops up. Just, you know, super expensive

Except FP+ you could modify the existing reservation, whereas with G+ you have to cancel. As wisblue pointed out above, at least in the afternoon, cancelling for a pop up reservation seems like folly because you are likely to walk away empty handed….and still super expensive.

 

[TropicalDIS]

Slinky and Rise are insane. Just back from the World on Sunday and did two days at HS.

Day 1: Went for Rise first, got it no issues. Then tried to get SDD, gone by 7:04. Kept refreshing, at 7:10, more times popped up, and I was able to grab 3:30-4:30.

Day 2: Went for SDD first, got it for 3:15-4:15, completely gone by 7:02.

I'll continue to say this, but Genie is a must for HS. Also paid for Rise and MMRR, which made HS an expensive park day, but we nailed everything we wanted in about 6 hours, made it a very pleasant day.

 

[DisneyKidds]

Day 1: Went for Rise first, got it no issues. Then tried to get SDD, gone by 7:04. Kept refreshing, at 7:10, more times popped up, and I was able to grab 3:30-4:30.

Isn’t that how everyone wants to start a day of their vacation…..waking up at the crack of dawn so they can spend the first 10 (or more) bleary eyed (no time for coffee yet) minutes of their day staring at their phone to hopefully (but maybe not) get G+LL reservations that suit their “Magical “ Disney day?

Note to self…Summer usage strategy updated. Wake 6:30, throw on clothes, procure coffee, LL dance 7:00 to 7:15.

 

[TropicalDIS]

Isn’t that how everyone wants to start a day of their vacation…..waking up at the crack of dawn so they can spend the first 10 (or more) bleary eyed (no time for coffee yet) minutes of their day staring at their phone to hopefully (but maybe not) get G+LL reservations that suit their “Magical “ Disney day?

Note to self…Summer usage strategy updated. Wake 6:30, throw on clothes, procure coffee, LL dance 7:00 to 7:15.

Haha. Too true. Mine was more of a wake up at 6:50 plan. Coffee would have been helpful for sure!!

 

[OhDannyBoy]

I hope availability is better in February. Or at least lines are a bit shorter.

 

[MGD2007]

On my arrival day, I plan to arrive at HS (my actual first park of the day) around 4pm. I thought it would be smart to schedule another park reservation that day, so Genie would only show me LL return times after 2pm and I wouldn't have watch the LL times as much while I'm enroute to the airport. But now I'm thinking I won't be able to "park hop" to HS if I don't scan in to my first scheduled park that day, correct? My brain is fried!!

 

[katyringo]

On my arrival day, I plan to arrive at HS (my actual first park of the day) around 4pm. I thought it would be smart to schedule another park reservation that day, so Genie would only show me LL return times after 2pm and I wouldn't have watch the LL times as much while I'm enroute to the airport. But now I'm thinking I won't be able to "park hop" to HS if I don't scan in to my first scheduled park that day, correct? My brain is fried!!

correct.
You would be better to just watch the times on genie+ then deal with having to scan into your first park.

 

[570traveler]

Here now. At AK. Tried the refresh. Even if times would reappear, once you click to book, they are no longer available. So don’t assume because a time appears for a sold out LL or $LL you can get them
And lines are very long at Safari and FOP

 

[Luisfba]

Slinky and Rise are insane. Just back from the World on Sunday and did two days at HS.

Day 1: Went for Rise first, got it no issues. Then tried to get SDD, gone by 7:04. Kept refreshing, at 7:10, more times popped up, and I was able to grab 3:30-4:30.

Day 2: Went for SDD first, got it for 3:15-4:15, completely gone by 7:02.

I'll continue to say this, but Genie is a must for HS. Also paid for Rise and MMRR, which made HS an expensive park day, but we nailed everything we wanted in about 6 hours, made it a very pleasant day.

When doing an ILL$, about how much time does it take to go through the process before we can get on and try to grab a regular G+? Asking because if I'm going for both a Rise and an SDD.. wondering if it's better to do SDD first, then Rise since SDD is selling out within less than a minute it seems (30 seconds?).

My other issue is on arrival day I would love SDD but it would have to be 6pm or later for it to work. My strategy was going to be to wait some time (15 seconds?) to refresh and grab whatever shows then. Then if I get shut out then just get MFSR. Then move on to ROTR.