The Genie Usage, Tips and Strategy ONLY Thread

[katyringo]

I'm really trying to think through HS day. No hopper.

I think my plan is going to be to buy individual LL for rise and MMRR- aiming for like the 12-2pm slots. I plan to use my early entry to head toward TT and rocking roller coaster. Im solo
So I can use single rider at RR. So right now my debate is do I go for SDD as my first genie or smugglers run. I think if I can get an earlier return time I would go for SDD.. I just don't know.. need to learn more.

 

[disneylover102]

https://allears.net/2021/10/21/how-can-you-stack-multiple-disney-genie-reservations/
Here's a good article on using Genie+. According to them, stacking LL is not recommended. To get the most out of it is take the next one available. IMO it's seems to best to rope drop the top Genie+ ride and use it for other rides the rest of the day.

That definitely makes sense. I do think if you have a hopper and start at AK, a good strategy could be to start stacking HS passes for rides like SDD and MFSR since FOP seems to be the only one really worth getting at AK and that’s separate. I also think right at 7 AM you can try to get the more popular ones. For example if you’re starting at HS you could get SDD at 7 and then do MFSR first or something like that

 

[Donna M]

Hi!

The WDW sites says the following about purchasing Genie + before your trip: "Before Your Visit: Available as an add-on to a ticket or vacation package for the duration of visit. Purchase via Disneyworld.com or authorized travel professionals."

So here is my question. If I book 8 nights, but only 6 days of tickets, do I have to buy 6 o 8 days of Genie +? I would think 6, but assumptions can be dangerous. Thanks for your help!

Its based on the length of your tickets, not resort nights

My understanding is that if you buy a package then you buy Genie+for the duration if you want to purchase the Genie+ early. If you are not on a package then you can buy Genie+ for as few or as many days as you want, but you would have to wait for it each day.

 

[jillinastoria]

We bought Genie+ for our April trip (8 resort days/6 park days) and can confirm we were only charged for the 6 park days.

 

[Rick195275]

Debating if we would like to add Genie+ for a few days in Feb. Anybody out there DVC and also an AP with any insight how it works? Mostly wondering if it has to be added for every day of your trip because of annual passes? We would only want it for a couple days. Trying to avoid having to stay up until midnight to buy it day of and then having to wake up early to set our first time and possibly purchase one for rise.

 

[LSUfan4444]

https://allears.net/2021/10/21/how-can-you-stack-multiple-disney-genie-reservations/
Here's a good article on using Genie+. According to them, stacking LL is not recommended. To get the most out of it is take the next one available. IMO it's seems to best to rope drop the top Genie+ ride and use it for other rides the rest of the day.

All depends on what your must do's are. It makes no sense to me to scramble all morning in a park on my phone, draining my battery when I can find standby lines 10 minutes or less pretty easily for the first 30 min - hour. I'd rather book that first one later in the day.

But again, if you're in the crowd that needs or wants to do everything, early as possible can work but you need to be willing to either go standby longer in the day for a popular ride or not do it at all. Booking one later in the day for a popular ride (like that article mentions) means you can lock in a low wait for one of the parks more popular attractions but maybe you have to wait a couple more minutes (compounded) on each other small attraction through the day or decide to just skip those altogether.

Length of stay. Arrival time. How late you will be in the park. Hopping or not. Need to do everything or not. Frequent guest. First time.

It all plays in...there is no best strategy. The key is to use it to save the most amount of time waiting. Either waiting in a standby line or just waiting to get in line for an attraction. if you're a family that plans to make time for Baseline taphouse anyway, waiting an hour or so for SDD isn't a change. If you're a family that has kids and needs to stay busy, that won't work very well.

 

[teachmedis]

We have a 9 night trip with 7 Park days at the end of June booked. 2 days Mk, 2 days has, one day each Epcot and Animal Kingdom. We will probably only use Genie+ at MK, and at that probably only 1 day. We are rope droppers so on a longer trip we have plenty of time to get everything done.

 

[Jrb1979]

All depends on what your must do's are. It makes no sense to me to scramble all morning in a park on my phone, draining my battery when I can find standby lines 10 minutes or less pretty easily for the first 30 min - hour. I'd rather book that first one later in the day.

But again, if you're in the crowd that needs or wants to do everything, early as possible can work but you need to be willing to either go standby longer in the day for a popular ride or not do it at all. Booking one later in the day for a popular ride (like that article mentions) means you can lock in a low wait for one of the parks more popular attractions but maybe you have to wait a couple more minutes (compounded) on each other small attraction through the day or decide to just skip those altogether.

Length of stay. Arrival time. How late you will be in the park. Hopping or not. Need to do everything or not. Frequent guest. First time.

It all plays in...there is no best strategy. The key is to use it to save the most amount of time waiting. Either waiting in a standby line or just waiting to get in line for an attraction. if you're a family that plans to make time for Baseline taphouse anyway, waiting an hour or so for SDD isn't a change. If you're a family that has kids and needs to stay busy, that won't work very well.

The only problem with booking something late in the day is you run into the issue a poster on this board had. They booked SDD for later in the day but once the 120 min cool down period ended there was next to nothing left to book. In a case like that it's a waste of $15.

My plan would be to do SDD during early entry and use my first LL on what is available first thing. Go from there.

IMO the issue some are having is that they still have the FP+ mindset in that they need to book headliners

 

[wisblue]

Debating if we would like to add Genie+ for a few days in Feb. Anybody out there DVC and also an AP with any insight how it works? Mostly wondering if it has to be added for every day of your trip because of annual passes? We would only want it for a couple days. Trying to avoid having to stay up until midnight to buy it day of and then having to wake up early to set our first time and possibly purchase one for rise.

I have a DVC AP and, at least for now, the only option is to add Genie+ on each day that you want to use it. Adding it in advance for the whole visit, or for specific days, isn’t an option.

You don’t have to stay up until midnight to buy it because it will not sell out. Just buy it for the day when you wake up so that you’re ready to make a selection at 7 AM if that’s what you want to do.

One thing to keep in mind if anyone in your party does not have an AP. Those people would have to make their Genie+ purchases separately. For example, in my group of 4 I am the only one with an AP. I can buy the AP for myself, and one of the other 3 can purchase for them using her MDE account. Clunky, I know, but that seems to be the way it is because AP park reservations are in a separate pool.

I have been told by a CM in a chat that, once everyone purchases Genie +, the whole group will be treated as one party and can make G+LL reservations together.

 

[wisblue]

The only problem with booking something late in the day is you run into the issue a poster on this board had. They booked SDD for later in the day but once the 120 min cool down period ended there was next to nothing left to book. In a case like that it's a waste of $15.

My plan would be to do SDD during early entry and use my first LL on what is available first thing. Go from there.

IMO the issue some are having is that they still have the FP+ mindset in that they need to book headliners

It isn’t necessarily a waste depending on your preferences and objectives.

One of my objectives is to stay away from the stampedes to popular attractions, and SDD is one of those. Plus, SDD is one of the only rides at DHS that my wife likes to do so doing it is a priority.

By getting a LL for SDD and an IALL for ROTR we can use EE to start the day at RNRC and TOT where there will likely be less of a crush while my wife goes to Starbucks. After we do those 2 we can go to TSMM, which my wife will also do and which should still have a manageable line.

If we’re lucky enough to get an earlier SDD return time we can do that and be able to select another LL before 11 AM where there still might be something decent available.

By later in the morning I will be focusing on getting LL reservations for later in the afternoon or evening for whatever park we have decided to go to (which could be DHS after a break or something else). We won’t be in one park all day.

After I see how it works I’ll decide if I think what we got (and what we avoided) was worth $15. We will have gained knowledge and experience for future reference if nothing else.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

It's going to depend on what you want out of the Genie. Quick access to headliners, or fast entry to as many attractions as possible?

I think I may go for as many attractions as possible but I'm not terribly clear on whether to pick the more popular ones immediately or wait for them.

 

[wisblue]

BTW, on the subject of SDD, I logged in right at 7 ET this morning to see how quickly the return times for SDD would go up.

Obviously I couldn’t book anything but starting at a 9 AM return after one refresh the return time was 12:15 and after the second it was 2:10. That’s less than 30 seconds after 7 AM. Now an hour later it’s up to 7 PM.

It looks like getting an early LL for SDD is going to require our best ROTR boarding group skills. Even if you push the button that says 9 AM you might get something closer to noon or later.

For anyone who has actually booked anything, when you hit the purchase button does it preselect everyone in your party and you’d have to take someone off if they wanted something else, or do you have to add everyone from a blank slate?

 

[Ldisneygraham]

https://allears.net/2021/10/21/how-can-you-stack-multiple-disney-genie-reservations/
Here's a good article on using Genie+. According to them, stacking LL is not recommended. To get the most out of it is take the next one available. IMO it's seems to best to rope drop the top Genie+ ride and use it for other rides the rest of the day.

Trying to figure this out. So if I wake up at 7 am and the only SDD is for 3pm, and I select that...Do I have to wait until 9:00 am to select another lightning lane for an earlier time? If I wait until 9:00 AM then choose an unpopular 9:30 lightning lane for another attraction, when I have scanned in for that 9:30 attraction, can I then rebook another lightning lane and not wait until the 11:00 two hour window? And then keep rebooking as we scan in?

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

Trying to figure this out. So if I wake up at 7 am and the only SDD is for 3pm, and I select that...Do I have to wait until 9:00 am to select another lightning lane for an earlier time? If I wait until 9:00 AM then choose an unpopular 9:30 lightning lane for another attraction, when I have scanned in for that 9:30 attraction, can I then rebook another lightning lane and not wait until the 11:00 two hour window? And then keep rebooking as we scan in?

In your example you could not choose a second attraction until 11am (assuming a 9am park opening) -- 120 minutes after the park opens. At 11am you can make your next selection and let's say you get something for 11:30. As soon as you tap into that attraction at 11:30 you can make another selection. Essentially the 4 hour window (7am-11am) is your "cool down" period as a tradeoff for having the placeholder LL booked in the afternoon.

 

[wisblue]

It's going to depend on what you want out of the Genie. Quick access to headliners, or fast entry to as many attractions as possible?

I think I may go for as many attractions as possible but I'm not terribly clear on whether to pick the more popular ones immediately or wait for them.

The challenge at DHS is that most everything is a headliner. Star Tours usually has a manageable wait, and the Alien ride isn’t too bad, but also not a priority.

It might be difficult to get a G+LL for all of the headliners at DHS that offer it unless you plan to be in the park all day, and even then it might be difficult unless you get an earlier LL for SDD.

At MK I can see us getting a couple of headliners early and then using G+ for other attractions like Small World that have a 30 minute wait time but a nearly immediate LL return time. We’ll be adapting in the fly. You can only pre plan so much.

 

[Dis Dragon]

Trying to figure this out. So if I wake up at 7 am and the only SDD is for 3pm, and I select that...Do I have to wait until 9:00 am to select another lightning lane for an earlier time? If I wait until 9:00 AM then choose an unpopular 9:30 lightning lane for another attraction, when I have scanned in for that 9:30 attraction, can I then rebook another lightning lane and not wait until the 11:00 two hour window? And then keep rebooking as we scan in?

If you book SDD at 7am, you won't be able to book your next one until 2 hours after whatever park you have your park pass for opens. So if if it's 9am - your window won't open again until 11am (4 hours later). If it's 8am (AK) it would be 10am, etc.

 

[TheMick424]

BTW, on the subject of SDD, I logged in right at 7 ET this morning to see how quickly the return times for SDD would go up.

Obviously I couldn’t book anything but starting at a 9 AM return after one refresh the return time was 12:15 and after the second it was 2:10. That’s less than 30 seconds after 7 AM. Now an hour later it’s up to 7 PM.

It looks like getting an early LL for SDD is going to require our best ROTR boarding group skills. Even if you push the button that says 9 AM you might get something closer to noon or later.

For anyone who has actually booked anything, when you hit the purchase button does it preselect everyone in your party and you’d have to take someone off if they wanted something else, or do you have to add everyone from a blank slate?

I noticed the same about SDD. Going to monitor until our trip, but this definitely creates some challenges if you want to hit all the headliners without paying for RoTR.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

Also, since you can't book LL in the park you are hopping to until you get there (again, staying offsite), then I can't see any benefit to G+ in the 2nd park either.

I don’t think this statement is accurate.

 

[Dis Dragon]

The challenge at DHS is that most everything is a headliner. Star Tours usually has a manageable wait, and the Alien ride isn’t too bad, but also not a priority.

It might be difficult to get a G+LL for all of the headliners at DHS that offer it unless you plan to be in the park all day, and even then it might be difficult unless you get an earlier LL for SDD.

At MK I can see us getting a couple of headliners early and then using G+ for other attractions like Small World that have a 30 minute wait time but a nearly immediate LL return time. We’ll be adapting in the fly. You can only pre plan so much.

You're definitely at the mercy of what the park goers are doing that day, it drives me nuts how this works over the previous iteration of line skipping. The planning is gone and to maximize G+ you have to keep crossing the park all day - not the way we tour the parks.

A mix of low wait headliners and reaching ahead for hopping seems to be the most logical use of G+ right now - as long as they keep allowing the ride stacking for the later park.

 

[DCJ]

Here now messing with Genie + since Tuesday. Booking Genie + you cannot choose what time you want, it is giving you a time. If it's 8:00am and you want something at 11, you can't pick it if the next available is 9:00. It shows you one time, take it or leave it. Frustrating. Couldn't change park reservations yesterday. Had to go to Guest Relations and have them do it. Called Disney and it was a 2 hour phone wait, tryed chat at about 7am, no reply from them until about 5pm. Trying to book attractions with other people has been horrible. I was able to cancel other people's park reservations on my friends and family list, but not my own. Saw many meltdowns yesterday. It's obvious Guest Relations has been overwhelmed with this rollout. Saw Chapek said there was so much positive response for this service. Don't know what he's drinking but I'll take some. They said the people who designed this system were roaming the park helping people.. Yeah. Didn't see that. Buying Genie + and Lightning Lane 3 days now is adding up fast. Good news is the merchandise is lame so saving money there. Finding better dining options off property is saving money also. Hopefully they figure this train wreck out sooner than later.
They seem to want to follow Universals lead, they should spend some time over there.
And don't get me started on Boo Bash..