The Genie Usage, Tips and Strategy ONLY Thread

[Disturbia]

So if at 11 am you book a LL for 2-3 pm and then at 1 pm book a second LL for 2:30 -3:30 pm when does the cool off period end? In 120 minutes at 3 pm or when you scan into the 2 pm LL? This is what I'm trying to figure out.

ETA: I see you replied above to another poster.

I think in this instance you loose stacking ability due to the overlap. Hence the limited amount of stacking you can do.

So if you want to hold 3 passes, and get one at 11 am, 1 pm and 3pm, your first late afternoon/evening pass has to be 3:10 pm onwards (you can enter ride 5 min early).

If you want to hold 4 passes, you need to get one at 11 am, 1 pm, 3 pm and 5 pm for 5:10 onwards (rare to have that late availability at 11 am; not advisable as you spent most of your day without using Genie+)

edit: apparently if you don’t scan into your first pass around 11 am that ends after 11 am, the system sees no pass (2 hrs from park opening 9 am-11 am) and allows you to book a pass in the future at 11 am as long as you didn’t tap into the pass before 11 am.

 

[snikki]

I’m not going to assume that stacking the way it can be done now is always going to be allowed. It would be easy for Disney to change the system to prevent making a new LL if you use one but have another one outstanding, Your booking window could be established at 2 hours after you booked the other outstanding one or use it.

That aside, as long as the system is what it is, I can see how the stacking can work for almost anyone, regardless of their style: early entry resort guest, offsite rope dropper, later arriver, all day in one park, midday breaker, park hopper, or whatever.

The key just comes in getting the stack set up by getting a LL with a return time at least 2 hours out, making another LL before using the other one, and then going from there, booking another LL whenever you use or cancel one or let it expire.

I’ve been thinking about how we can take advantage of this over marathon weekend when travel and the races will prevent us from being at a park at opening.

We don’t go until November 2022 and I’m trying to keep with now because I know things will be different by then. I figure if I keep up now I won’t be as confused when they switch things up. Maybe I can keep up.

 

[2Gma]

The only issue I had with trying to stack (and something to be aware of) was during my days at MK and DHS this past week (Thurs/Fri) booking a higher popularity ride where time slots go fast (JC/PP or SDD/MFSR) early in the day is that then you're Genie+LL is tried up for quite a while and the other Genie+LL attractions times get later and later or gone. If you don't book a high popularity ride early then you chance missing it and having to wait longer in line.

One could certainly make a case for booking a close return window and riding shortly there after and then booking another but I didn't find that to be the case unless if it was something you usually don't wait that long for anyways. (for example Alien Saucers, Dumbo, IASW, etc.).

RotR is its own beast. As as offsite guest, I followed some social media and knew I had to book at exactly 0900 or miss out. I was able to grab one for 7:10-8:10 and in one minute they were gone. If you're onsite you have much better chance with starting at 0700.

 

[leeniewdw]

We don’t go until November 2022 and I’m trying to keep with now because I know things will be different by then. I figure if I keep up now I won’t be as confused when they switch things up. Maybe I can keep up.

We have a 6 person trip in Feb but we're thinking of making a quick trip down in early Dec for just the 2 of us. Presumably we'll learn best by using it, but I've found the posts about people's experiences the best explainers. I've book marked about 4 posts in the last few days and have gone back and re-read them. I feel like the actual is so much better than the theoretical. It also helps to read about hiccups and how those were handled.

 

[chicagodisneyguy]

Did you stack for the evening?

We stacked most things before out 6pm dinner. But we did stack Smugglers Run and Star Tours for when we got back

 

[Disturbia]

I think the easiest way is to just book a pass at 7 am and keep going. IF you really wanted to do the top 2, pay for some of them with known high waits (FOP; Everest has a single rider line and so does Space mtn). When you want to break, book your evening pass before you leave the park and just charge your and your phone's batteries.

Edit: ok fine, for all the time we spent thinking of stacking; at least do one stacking after your 2 hour cool down.

Edit: apparently Space Mtn doesn’t have a single rider line

 

[PepperjackDragon]

This is my favorite post and I'll be reading it over and over. We already talked about how the 1:35pms turned into 2:xx when getting booked because of the hopper time of 2pm, but I wanted to make sure that one of the Splash reservations was actually Thunder Mountain? I'm presuming the 11:00 grab was for the 2pm Splash and the 11:16 grab (once you tabbed into SDD) was 2:20pm BTMRR?

Oops yes sorry I’ll edit it.

 

[leeniewdw]

I think the easiest way is to just book a pass at 7 am and keep going. IF you really wanted to do the top 2, pay for some of them with known high waits (FOP; Everest has a single rider line and so does Space mtn). When you want to break, book your evening pass before you leave the park and just charge your and your phone's batteries.

I feel like the pendulum has swung back and forth! Which probably means, there are good options for you no matter your touring approach.

 

[PepperjackDragon]

I think in this instance you loose stacking ability due to the overlap. Hence the limited amount of stacking you can do.

So if you want to hold 3 passes, and get one at 11 am, 1 pm and 3pm, your first late afternoon/evening pass has to be 3:10 pm onwards (you can enter ride 5 min early).

If you want to hold 4 passes, you need to get one at 11 am, 1 pm, 3 pm and 5 pm for 5:10 onwards (rare to have that late availability at 11 am; not advisable as you spent most of your day without using Genie+)

That’s not correct, you can stack them all within minutes of each other. It just shows you have overlapping plans but is not an issue.

 

[Disturbia]

That’s not correct, you can stack them all within minutes of each other. It just shows you have overlapping plans but is not an issue.

That’s not correct, you can stack them all within minutes of each other. It just shows you have overlapping plans but is not an issue.

You can stack them one on top of each other only if they're in the future, not now (as in within your 2 hour cool down). You can book 3:10-4:10 pm and 3:30-4:30 and 4-5 pm (if you were booking at 11 am, 1 pm and 3 pm)

 

[snikki]

Oops yes sorry I’ll edit it.

So your 120 minute cool off period was over once you checked into SDD?

11 am : book splash for 2 pm.

11:15 am : ride SDD that was booked at 7 am

11:16 am : book thunder for 2:20 pm

Is this how it went? That’s interesting because I would’ve assumed you would have to wait 120 minutes but I like this better if it’s the case.

 

[PepperjackDragon]

You can stack them one on top of each other only if they're in the future, not now (as in within your 2 hour cool down).

In sorry I’m not understanding what you are saying. I booked rides that overlapped all afternoon/evening without an issue.

 

[PepperjackDragon]

So your 120 minute cool off period was over once you checked into SDD?

11 am : book splash for 2 pm.

11:15 am : ride SDD that was booked at 7 am

11:16 am : book thunder for 2:20 pm

Is this how it went? That’s interesting because I would’ve assumed you would have to wait 120 minutes but I like this better if it’s the case.

Yes as soon as you check in to the ride you can book your second, there is no required cool down period. Anytime you ride a ride or cancel a ride you can immediately rebook. The cooldown isn’t only if you book a ride and then wait 2hrs, allowing you to create the second etc LL access.

 

[Disturbia]

In sorry I’m not understanding what you are saying. I booked rides that overlapped all afternoon/evening without an issue.

I think you started off with one Genie+ at park opening? so didn't have the first cool down period park opening to 11 am

 

[Disturbia]

Sorry: I need coffee and go hit my head in the wall

 

[leeniewdw]

Yes as soon as you check in to the ride you can book your second, there is no required cool down period. Anytime you ride a ride or cancel a ride you can immediately rebook. The cooldown isn’t only if you book a ride and then wait 2hrs, allowing you to create the second etc LL access.

Perfect. I actually understood, whew. Thanks again for the time spent explaining your day! I watched YT video where he was *trying* to stack, but was unsuccessful because of the order of things he did it in. Obviously that wasn't helpful (other than to attest to the complexity), but I also think seeing it written out is more helpful.

So if things don't change between now and 12/4, we're going to try my 3 park approach.

 

[snikki]

Yes as soon as you check in to the ride you can book your second, there is no required cool down period. Anytime you ride a ride or cancel a ride you can immediately rebook. The cooldown isn’t only if you book a ride and then wait 2hrs, allowing you to create the second etc LL access.

Good to know! I understand the whole cool down period not being only if you book a ride and all that. I just assumes that since you booked splash at 11 am for 2 pm your cool down period would be set for splash so you’d have to wait 120 minutes since you already did your cool down period for SDD. I didn’t know it would reset once riding splash. I thought it would reset at 1 pm because it would be going off of the splash LL. This scenario could work really well depending on which park you RD and which park you hop to!

I don’t know if I make any sense. It makes sense in my head. I’m with @Disturbia. Coffee and a wall. Lol

 

[leeniewdw]

I think you started off with one Genie+ at park opening? so didn't have the first cool down period park opening to 11 am

No, their 7am reservation was for a 10:45 SDD. But they didn't ride it until AFTER 11am, which allowed them to make a 2nd LL reservation AT 11am. Tapped into SDD at 11:15am and immediately g0t another LL, at which point their stack was 2 (Splash at 2pm, BTMMR at 2:20). Had they ridden SDD FIRST, they would have lost the chance to stack.

 

[2Gma]

@snikki I think what might be being said here is that your plans/return times can overlap. I held a RotR ILL for 7:10-8:10.
I also had Genie+LL for RRC from 6:55-7:55 and ToT from 7:25-8:25.

You will get a message telling you in app you have overlapping plans.

The 2 hour window is while trying to book if they are not being used immediately.

 

[Tom_E_D]

I think the easiest way is to just book a pass at 7 am and keep going. IF you really wanted to do the top 2, pay for some of them with known high waits (FOP; Everest has a single rider line and so does Space mtn). When you want to break, book your evening pass before you leave the park and just charge your and your phone's batteries.

Edit: ok fine, for all the time we spent thinking of stacking; at least do one stacking after your 2 hour cool down.

Since when has Space Mountain had a single rider line? I've ridden it many times over the years and only saw two lines: standby and what was then called the fastpass line.