The Genie Usage, Tips and Strategy ONLY Thread

[katyringo]

So if you feel your Genie+ skills are "high level" as in you understand it well and it won't be confusing to you..

if you never used Maxpass - go watch some old Disneyland maxpass videos. I do really think it will help you understand this system better because other than the no re-ride and the Individual lightning lanes- it works the same now. Replace the 90 minute window with 2 hours.

That being said- I was one who when it came
Out said I didn't feel they would completely run out even on busy days- I can admit when I'm wrong and I was wrong. I don't think DHS has enough rides for this system.

 

[leeniewdw]

the CMs said people entering that park that afternoon and were still buying G+ even though there wasn’t anything left to book… and the system let the purchase it. So they had been issuing refunds for many of those less informed guests…

Of all the issues with G+, this is truly ridiculous to allow. That should be item number one on the bug list. I suppose it might get tricky with park hopping and having people still want to purchase even if their park reservation has no LLs, but there has GOT to be a better way to warn people properly.

 

[GBRforWDW]

So if you feel your Genie+ skills are "high level" as in you understand it well and it won't be confusing to you..

if you never used Maxpass - go watch some old Disneyland maxpass videos. I do really think it will help you understand this system better because other than the no re-ride and the Individual lightning lanes- it works the same now. Replace the 90 minute window with 2 hours.

That being said- I was one who when it came
Out said I didn't feel they would completely run out even on busy days- I can admit when I'm wrong and I was wrong. I don't think DHS has enough rides for this system.

Agreed. The system would work, At least somewhat better, if the ILL$ didn't exist and instead they were tiers. Then people could only start with 1 instead of some getting up to 3. At least in theory, they passes might last longer into the day.

 

[lorenae]

So if you feel your Genie+ skills are "high level" as in you understand it well and it won't be confusing to you..

if you never used Maxpass - go watch some old Disneyland maxpass videos. I do really think it will help you understand this system better because other than the no re-ride and the Individual lightning lanes- it works the same now. Replace the 90 minute window with 2 hours.

That being said- I was one who when it came
Out said I didn't feel they would completely run out even on busy days- I can admit when I'm wrong and I was wrong. I don't think DHS has enough rides for this system.

I think you’re correct with DHS. There are 6(?) desirable rides, and two of them are ILL. So really not enough rides for the system. While the shows hold plenty of guests and can swallow some of the crowd, nobody will book a genie+ for them (unless Fantasmic! comes back as a +). MK has enough rides for all ages. AK has few rides as well, so I wouldn’t even try to buy Genie+ on those days.

 

[ssgtravel]

What happens if you get an anytime pass if a ride that you had a LL reservation for goes down? Can you just show up at anytime for another ride, without making a reservation Are you still allowed to book additional rides after 2 hours, then 4 hours? We have little children and were planning to visit the park only in the AM, then go back to the hotel for a nap, then hopefully go back into the park later with hopefully a couple of rides reserved, via the stacks.

 

[Luisfba]

I was going to disagree, but then I saw this post on another thread with a screenshot showing a 10 minute hold time:


Wonder if the Genie+ LLs also show that hold time.

what I wonder is if the selected times are really held for you when you are on the ‘being held for 10 minutes’. Meaning, on what screen are the times shown actually locked down for you.

 

[GBRforWDW]

what I wonder is if the selected times are really held for you when you are on the ‘being held for 10 minutes’. Meaning, on what screen are the times shown actually locked down for you.

Yeah, it's such a mystery. I don't like the stressful part of this especially the morning rush to grab what's essentially virtual queues all day

 

[wiggy500]

What happens if you get an anytime pass if a ride that you had a LL reservation for goes down? Can you just show up at anytime for another ride, without making a reservation Are you still allowed to book additional rides after 2 hours, then 4 hours? We have little children and were planning to visit the park only in the AM, then go back to the hotel for a nap, then hopefully go back into the park later with hopefully a couple of rides reserved, via the stacks.
[/QUOT

It cancels the lightning lane and gives you a multi experience lightning lane instead, which there will be options of rides in the park of the cancelled lightning lane. The multi experience lightning lane can be used at any time that day.

As far as when you can book again, the multi experience pass should be outside of determining that. The system keeping track should just be aware that you cancelled a lightning lane.

 

[Sydnerella]

Have we confirmed that the expiration window hack no longer works?

It worked for us Saturday and Sunday but have not used it since.

I see posts about conflicting reports on FB and here.

Or was that related to another change?

So the answer is, “Yes, we have confirmed that the grace period hack NO longer works” - regarding my question above.

I tried today at 10:09 after our 10:05 expired BTMRR and no dice. I did book at 10:05 when it said my window opened.

On the plus side we scanned in more than 5 minutes into the grace period and it was green.

 

[Disturbia]

No more stack throughout the day

https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2021...e-change-if-youre-going-to-disney-world-soon/

 

[katyringo]

No more stack throughout the day

https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2021...e-change-if-youre-going-to-disney-world-soon/
View attachment 625804

This is confusing because you can still have more than one booking at a time, you just have to follow the "use my selection or wait 120mins- whichever comes first" rule.

let's say MK opens at 8am.

if I book at 7 for a return time of 3-4pm
I can book again at 10am. - I get a 5-6pm time
I can book again at 12- I get a 6-7 time
I can book again at 2- I get a 7-8 return time

its 2pm and I am now holding 4 bookings. I just entered the park for the day..

alternatively

I book at 7am and I get a 8-9 return
I enter my ride at 830- I can book another. I get 9-10 return time.
I enter my ride at 9- I can book another- I get a 1-2 return time.

I've used 2 genie+ without stacking and now I can book another one at 11.

at 11 I book with a 3-4 return time.
im now holding one for 1-2 and one for 3-4

at 1pm I would be eligible to book another. I do and I get a 5-6 return time.

I use my 1-2 return time one.
I use my 3-4 time one and I'm eligible for another because it's been 2 hours since I booked my 5-6 one.

you can still stack.. you just Have to follow the "use the LAST one I booked or 120 mins- whichever comes first"

 

[princesswahooey]

Of all the issues with G+, this is truly ridiculous to allow. That should be item number one on the bug list. I suppose it might get tricky with park hopping and having people still want to purchase even if their park reservation has no LLs, but there has GOT to be a better way to warn people properly.

Right? For every person that asked for a refund, there were probably at least 2 or more who just ate the cost, either not knowing what went wrong or not wanting to bother with the hassle. Disney should not be selling LL when there is no availability. That's ridiculous.

 

[DisneyKidds]

We’ll folks, I wasn’t able to test out which of my LLs would allow me to book another LL because by the time we got to our riding there was nothing left to book for the night despite my refreshing. We were able to grab one for pirates at 4 and Buzz at 6 so we were fine with having our 5 set up when we arrived at the park at 6:30. We rode from 7:10-9 on our LLs and then we started standby. We didn’t want to see enchantment, but we did catch the fireworks part from BTMRR which was cool!

Stinks you couldn’t further gauge the system since additional LL reservations were all gone….but hero work! A quintuple stack, with holiday week crowds. A nice morning (hopefully) in Epcot, a little midday break (that’s our style), followed by hop to the MK with 5 good rides in hand. If I can accomplish that kind of thing next summer I’d be ok with paying the $15.98 pp.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

Of all the issues with G+, this is truly ridiculous to allow. That should be item number one on the bug list. I suppose it might get tricky with park hopping and having people still want to purchase even if their park reservation has no LLs, but there has GOT to be a better way to warn people properly.

This is a feature, not a bug. Disney doesn’t care. Some of those people who bought it and are unable to use it won’t go thorugh the trouble of waiting in a 45 minute guest relations line to get their money back. That is pure profit for Chapek’s Disney.

 

[mab2012]

Right? For every person that asked for a refund, there were probably at least 2 or more who just ate the cost, either not knowing what went wrong or not wanting to bother with the hassle. Disney should not be selling LL when there is no availability. That's ridiculous.

But where do they draw the line? What, exactly, does it mean to have "no availability"? 10% capacity? A number of users eligible to book that is greater than or equal to the total number of LLs remaining across all parks? No current availability in one particular park (even if other parks have availability?) No availability anywhere for the last X minutes?

Is a customer going to be any happier if they buy G+ and only manage to book a single LL for Figment than if they bought it and got nothing at all?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not really disagreeing with you. Selling a useless product is terrible look and will lead to a great deal of customer dissatisfaction. But they either have to cap sales at something that will leave enough availability that those who do buy have at least a somewhat positive experience, or they take a "caveat emptor" approach, dumping the responsibility onto the buyer, with all that implies.

So far they've chosen the latter.

 

[StarrySkye21]

Goodness, it just gets more confusing every day. We had decent success last week, but it still took a lot more effort than it should have. Now I’m reading things have again changed.

Why couldn’t they do what a lot of theme parks do, such as you pay $15 for any 5 rides any time. Or charge $30 for unlimited lightning lanes that you can choose to use whenever and however? Why in the world complicate what’s supposed to be a magical time with 7 am wake-ups, faulty apps, fleeting return times, and complicated rules? Just dumb.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Goodness, it just gets more confusing every day. We had decent success last week, but it still took a lot more effort than it should have. Now I’m reading things have again changed.

Why couldn’t they do what a lot of theme parks do, such as you pay $15 for any 5 rides any time. Or charge $30 for unlimited lightning lanes that you can choose to use whenever and however? Why in the world complicate what’s supposed to be a magical time with 7 am wake-ups, faulty apps, fleeting return times, and complicated rules? Just dumb.

I'm guessing they can't do this due to the number of people in the parks. Allowing 'unlimited' options even for a higher price would mean the LL lanes would be full and the standby lines wouldn't budge. It's finding the balance that allows both those paying the upgraded cost plus those not, to ride. It's why to me, the old FP system that was free to all, was a better system. When you're not paying extra you can't really complain if the options are gone but, once they charge there is an expectation that for the price I will be able to ride at least 'x' number of things.

 

[StarrySkye21]

I'm guessing they can't do this due to the number of people in the parks. Allowing 'unlimited' options even for a higher price would mean the LL lanes would be full and the standby lines wouldn't budge. It's finding the balance that allows both those paying the upgraded cost plus those not, to ride. It's why to me, the old FP system that was free to all, was a better system. When you're not paying extra you can't really complain if the options are gone but, once they charge there is an expectation that for the price I will be able to ride at least 'x' number of things.

Why is Universal able to do it?

 

[princesswahooey]

I'm guessing they can't do this due to the number of people in the parks. Allowing 'unlimited' options even for a higher price would mean the LL lanes would be full and the standby lines wouldn't budge. It's finding the balance that allows both those paying the upgraded cost plus those not, to ride. It's why to me, the old FP system that was free to all, was a better system. When you're not paying extra you can't really complain if the options are gone but, once they charge there is an expectation that for the price I will be able to ride at least 'x' number of things.

Yes, I thought with all the data they had collected over the past years with the magic band system they would leverage that information to make an improved system where they could make this a true virtual queue system that would actually be maximized if *every* guest used it, allowing them to spread guests evenly through the parks and making it a better experience for all.

Instead it seems they replaced their civil and statistical engineers with marketing and merchandising execs. When I saw how completely useless the regular Genie was (essentially directing all guests, regardless of their preferences, to under-utilized, unpopular attractions) I lost any faith in an improved fastpass experience.

They are selling us the emperor's new clothes--a commodity that doesn't exist (at least not enough of it.)

 

[princesswahooey]

Why is Universal able to do it?

Universal charges a lot more, titrating the price based on crowd levels, and puts a cap on it.