The Genie Usage, Tips and Strategy ONLY Thread

[BridgetR3]

With both legacy FP and FP+, groups would sometimes not be able to get exactly the same return times. But it was almost always possible to get times that were overlapping so everyone could ride together.

Since the times for G+ will be "next available" like it was for legacy FP, I think there would only be a few extreme examples where the times wouldn't be really close to each other if you book the first 12 of your group and then book for the rest immediately afterwards. The return times would have to be getting taken at a frantic pace for it to advance more than an hour within the few seconds it will take you to book the first part of the group.

ETA: Alternatively, you could have two people managing G+ for each half of the group. That way, you'd be selecting the times practically simultaneously and would know they overlap before committing part of the group to that return time.

I know that everyone says it is the "next available" time that is offered but the times available seem to jump all over the place. I would be careful with choosing and assuming that they are close to each other by booking at the same time. Maybe make sure you are together when you book so you can see each other's times. Such crazy hoops we have to jump through to do what we have always been able to do.....

Where can I see the prices? I'm trying to figure out how much they will cost when we are there and didn't know any have changed yet. I'm in Canada so the app doesn't seem to give me all the options yet.

Unfortunately it seems that Disney is only publishing the prices each day in the app and can change it on whim as they want. In order to find out prices, it looks like you will have to log in on the day of your trip and see what price Disney decided it was worth that day.


So here's my question for this thread - Our family of four is made up of two VERY different groups of people - two are thrill ride junkies and and two love the slow rides/dark rides/Country Bear Jamboree. Do I have to make my G+ reservations for everyone in my party or can I choose for use to split up on the rides? In FP+, I would always pick 2 SDD and 2 Toy Story or whatever but I could split our choices.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

Is it true that you can **always** add another LL after you’ve tapped into a ride even if you’ve stacked? In other words, consider teh following scenario:

1. At 7 AM I book splash mountain at noon;
2. MK opens at 9 am
3. At 11 am I book IASW for 11:30 AM
4. At 11:30 AM I tap into IASW. Can I now add another LL notwithstanding my existing Noon Splash?
5. Assuming the answer to the above is yes, now at 11:30 I tap into IASW and add Buzz Lightyear for 1:00 PM;
6. I know have LL’s for Splash at Noon and Buzz at 1:00 PM.
7. I tap into Splash at noon. Can I now add another LL notwithstanding that I have an existing LL at 1:00 PM?

If the answer to all of the above is yes then there is a **huge** advantage to stacking early, regardless of what rides you stack, because it effectively gives you the ability to continue pulling two lightning lanes at a time for the rest of the day.

Does anyone know for sure the answers to the above questions? Has anyone been in the parks and reported back on this?

 

[Grumpy by Birth]

I know that everyone says it is the "next available" time that is offered but the times available seem to jump all over the place. I would be careful with choosing and assuming that they are close to each other by booking at the same time. Maybe make sure you are together when you book so you can see each other's times. Such crazy hoops we have to jump through to do what we have always been able to do.....



Unfortunately it seems that Disney is only publishing the prices each day in the app and can change it on whim as they want. In order to find out prices, it looks like you will have to log in on the day of your trip and see what price Disney decided it was worth that day.


So here's my question for this thread - Our family of four is made up of two VERY different groups of people - two are thrill ride junkies and and two love the slow rides/dark rides/Country Bear Jamboree. Do I have to make my G+ reservations for everyone in my party or can I choose for use to split up on the rides? In FP+, I would always pick 2 SDD and 2 Toy Story or whatever but I could split our choices.

To the bolded... that's what I was suggesting. Directly coordinating with someone standing next to you so you can see that both are getting overlapping return times.

 

[leeniewdw]

Is it true that you can **always** add another LL after you’ve tapped into a ride even if you’ve stacked? In other words, consider teh following scenario:

1. At 7 AM I book splash mountain at noon;
2. MK opens at 9 am
3. At 11 am I book IASW for 11:30 AM
4. At 11:30 AM I tap into IASW. Can I now add another LL notwithstanding my existing Noon Splash?
5. Assuming the answer to the above is yes, now at 11:30 I tap into IASW and add Buzz Lightyear for 1:00 PM;
6. I know have LL’s for Splash at Noon and Buzz at 1:00 PM.
7. I tap into Splash at noon. Can I now add another LL notwithstanding that I have an existing LL at 1:00 PM?

If the answer to all of the above is yes then there is a **huge** advantage to stacking early, regardless of what rides you stack, because it effectively gives you the ability to continue pulling two lightning lanes at a time for the rest of the day.

Does anyone know for sure the answers to the above questions? Has anyone been in the parks and reported back on this?

I have not been in the parks, but we know that you cannot select your times using G+/LL. The odds of having a Splash Mtn return time of noon at 7am seems unlikely. You could continue to monitor the return times to see if one eventually shows up for noon and as long as that happened before park opening, you are no worse for wear in getting the next LL at 11am.

*note: people (myself included) have had success playing with the Tip board and seeing return times vary, but that doesn't seem to be the case in the early morning. It seems to be the case when return times are, say 5:00pm and you refresh and the time move earlier, say 4:00 (because people have canceled). Let me find the post where this is described. BUT, I don't think that is going to help you at 7am.

Hope this wasn't more confusing.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

I have not been in the parks, but we know that you cannot select your times using G+/LL. The odds of having a Splash Mtn return time of noon at 7am seems unlikely. You could continue to monitor the return times to see if one eventually shows up for noon and as long as that happened before park opening, you are no worse for wear in getting the next LL at 11am.

*note: people (myself included) have had success playing with the Tip board and seeing return times vary, but that doesn't seem to be the case in the early morning. It seems to be the case when return times are, say 5:00pm and you refresh and the time move earlier, say 4:00 (because people have canceled). Let me find the post where this is described. BUT, I don't think that is going to help you at 7am.

Hope this wasn't more confusing.

My example might have been too extreme you’re right, but the scenario still works if you can grab, lets say an 11:30 AM Splash Mountain (or insert whatever the most popular LL attraction in MK is these days) at 8:55 AM (5 minutes before opening), and then add a 12:00 PM BTMRR at 11. The point is, if the rules are that you can always get a new LL after tapping in regardless of whether or not you are stacked, then for MK at least the goal should always to figure out a way to be stacked early on, as that enables you to pull twice as many LL’s the rest of the day.

 

[leeniewdw]

Here is an example of what return times were looking like this morning at 8:50am. Obviously it's going to depend on the day/crowd etc. But today, you could have grabbed Splash at 8:50am for a return time of 10:55am. Then you can still grab your next LL at 11am.

8:50 am, Fri Oct 22, TP crowd level 4,
G+ return times: BTMR 12 pm, Haunted Mansion 11:05, Jungle Cruise 11:50, Pooh 10am, Peter Pan 12:20, Pirates 10:25, Splash 10:55, Speedway 9:45 am

 

[leeniewdw]

My example might have been too extreme you’re right, but the scenario still works if you can grab, lets say an 11:30 AM Splash Mountain (or insert whatever the most popular LL attraction in MK is these days) at 8:55 AM (5 minutes before opening), and then add a 12:00 PM BTMRR at 11. The point is, if the rules are that you can always get a new LL after tapping in regardless of whether or not you are stacked, then for MK at least the goal should always to figure out a way to be stacked early on, as that enables you to pull twice as many LL’s the rest of the day.

There's another theory that you could grab an early LL (9:30 say) for _______ and then at 9:30 when you tap in to that ride you (maybe even after riding a RD headliner) open up another LL slot and so on and so on. Eventually I guess they'll return times will be later, but I see that value in that as well!

 

[rmclain73]

I wonder if Touring plans will be keeping track of what expected crowd levels will be in relation to how far out LL's are booking out. It would be a great source to know if its even worth the cost. On a busy day like today the LL's are booking out so far its faster to wait in standby.

 

[Disturbia]

Stacking is not an advantage due to the 2 hour wait between securing one: allears-how can you stack multiple Disney genie reservations

https://allears.net/2021/10/21/how-can-you-stack-multiple-disney-genie-reservations/

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

There's another theory that you could grab an early LL (9:30 say) for _______ and then at 9:30 when you tap in to that ride you (maybe even after riding a RD headliner) open up another LL slot and so on and so on. Eventually I guess they'll return times will be later, but I see that value in that as well!

Yeah but that’s just describing the normal system that lets you pull LL’s after tapping in. You’re still only ever going to be able to pull one at a time that way. If you stack early my point is that you should be able to stay stacked the rest of teh day effectively pulling twice as many LL’s.

 

[rmclain73]

In the other long thread, posters have said that if you have a hopper ticket and indicate on Genie that you intend to hop to another park, you will be offered LL return rimes at the other park after 2PM, even if other guests are seeing return times before 2.

I tried a little experiment today. Because park reservations were not sold out, I used my AP to make a reservation at DHS and entered into Genie a plan to hop to Epcot at 3 PM.

As I have gone to the Tip Board, starting at 7 AM and a couple more times since, I have not seen LL return times after 2 PM yet, except for Test Track which is already out to 7 PM, probably for everybody. The wait times for the G+LL attractions at Epcot are all pretty short; even Test Track is only 35 minutes and that is the longest.

Anyway, unless they only show if you have already purchased Genie+ or have tapped into your first park, the statements that later return times are offered to people with hopper tickets may not be accurate.

Others who are there and have tried this have said that it works. The only difference is they said they were park hopping at 2:00pm. Not sure if that is the difference. It is also possible that Disney has made this longer an option. Also these people did purchase Genie+ with no LL's scheduled for the first park.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

Stacking is not an advantage due to the 2 hour wait between securing one

https://allears.net/2021/10/21/how-can-you-stack-multiple-disney-genie-reservations/

It is an advantage though if it lets you pull a new LL after every one you use regardless of whether you are stacked. Yes you’re not going to be able to do LL’s those first few hours, but the rest of teh day you’re going to be pulling twice as many. This is a bigger advantage the later the park is open.

 

[leeniewdw]

Yeah but that’s just describing the normal system that lets you pull LL’s after tapping in. You’re still only ever going to be able to pull one at a time that way. If you stack early my point is that you should be able to stay stacked the rest of teh day effectively pulling twice as many LL’s.

I guess the thought is that you are gaining LLs early as opposed to being locked out for the first 2 hours. I have no idea what makes the most sense

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

I guess the thought is that you are gaining LLs early as opposed to being locked out for the first 2 hours. I have no idea what makes the most sense

I mean if you’re a rope dropper who tries to knock stuff out early and isn’t shutting the park down, then yeah, it doesn’t make sense. If you’re like me though with young kids who can’t possibly get there at park open or anything near park open, then it’s a huge advantage. Especially since I’m going Christmas week when the parks are open till midnight some nights. What I’d really like is confirmation that this actually works though. I haven’t seen reports of people stacking and then trying to continuously pull LL’s after swiping into each stacked LL.

 

[dmunsil]

I mean if you’re a rope dropper who tries to knock stuff out early and isn’t shutting the park down, then yeah, it doesn’t make sense. If you’re like me though with young kids who can’t possibly get there at park open or anything near park open, then it’s a huge advantage. Especially since I’m going Christmas week when the parks are open till midnight some nights. What I’d really like is confirmation that this actually works though. I haven’t seen reports of people stacking and then trying to continuously pull LL’s after swiping into each stacked LL.

It works. It has been tested, multiple times by multiple people, including me. Once you have two, you can keep having two for the rest of the day, provided you always book another as soon as you tap in.

 

[persnickity]

Stacking is not an advantage due to the 2 hour wait between securing one: allears-how can you stack multiple Disney genie reservations

https://allears.net/2021/10/21/how-can-you-stack-multiple-disney-genie-reservations/

That particular use case might not be an advantage. The use case pp mentioned, of pulling an FP around 2.5 hrs after park open still seems viable to me. I'm not sure that it's necessarily better than just being quick on the draw and pulling LL's from 9 on. Either way, you'll get to the end of the bottom of the bucket of readily available LL's pretty quickly, so I'm not sure it matters a lot which is better.

(Ok, I still think having two could be better, because then you could still use one to book something that's gotten pretty far out without losing the ability to pull rides that are available sooner with your other slot.)

 

[DisneyFive]

Is it true that you can **always** add another LL after you’ve tapped into a ride even if you’ve stacked? In other words, consider teh following scenario:

1. At 7 AM I book splash mountain at noon;
2. MK opens at 9 am
3. At 11 am I book IASW for 11:30 AM
4. At 11:30 AM I tap into IASW. Can I now add another LL notwithstanding my existing Noon Splash?
5. Assuming the answer to the above is yes, now at 11:30 I tap into IASW and add Buzz Lightyear for 1:00 PM;
6. I know have LL’s for Splash at Noon and Buzz at 1:00 PM.
7. I tap into Splash at noon. Can I now add another LL notwithstanding that I have an existing LL at 1:00 PM?

If the answer to all of the above is yes then there is a **huge** advantage to stacking early, regardless of what rides you stack, because it effectively gives you the ability to continue pulling two lightning lanes at a time for the rest of the day.

Does anyone know for sure the answers to the above questions? Has anyone been in the parks and reported back on this?

I think you are good all the way up until step 7. I think your next G+ attempt will not be available until you tap into the 1 PM IASW, because that is the G+ that you have not exhausted the 120 minute window for yet. I could be wrong though and maybe that’s a loophole?

Dan

 

[wisblue]

Others who are there and have tried this have said that it works. The only difference is they said they were park hopping at 2:00pm. Not sure if that is the difference. It is also possible that Disney has made this longer an option. Also these people did purchase Genie+ with no LL's scheduled for the first park.

Yeah, there are a variety of reasons why my offsite test with no Genie+ purchase wouldn‘t work.

 

[wisblue]

I think you are good all the way up until step 7. I think your next G+ attempt will not be available until you tap into the 1 PM IASW, because that is the G+ that you have not exhausted the 120 minute window for yet. I could be wrong though and maybe that’s a loophole?

Dan

I would think you are right.

My expectation would be that the eligibility time for making another selection is established by your most recently made selection, which in this example would be the 1 PM Buzz.

It couldn’t hurt for someone to try this because the worst that would happen is the message that “this guest is not eligible to make another selection“.

 

[g-dad66]

8:45 am, Fri Oct 22, TP crowd level 4,
SDD G+ return time at 7:35 pm, Smugglers Run 3:05 pm, RNR 11:25 am, ToT 11:10, TSMM, 11am Star Tours 9:50

A few more data points --

7:45 am, Fri Oct 22
SDD G+ return time at 6:35 pm, Smugglers Run 2:25 pm, RNR 11:00 am, ToT 10:35, TSMM 10:40, Star Tours 9:30