The Genie Usage, Tips and Strategy ONLY Thread

[Turksmom]

Good morning,

We are arriving this Sunday for 4 nights for Food and Wine. We are going to try to get Remy that day at 7am and if not at 1 PM . So far ,we are just planning on buying FOP if we don't want to get up that early for our AK day. We will do the early EMH for HS and Epcot to get on some rides, we will hop to MK maybe one time. We will also do the evening EMH at MK on our last night. The rest of the time just enjoy Food and Wine, eat eat at some resorts or DS. Our party is 19 and over, not crazy about getting on all the rides, so we feel Genie plus is not needed during this trip, plus we will be back in March.

Just playing with the Genie app. I saw that I could choose our preferences for our first day and it listed my whole party, but when I tried to choose the next day from my genie day, it tells me that none of us are eligible in our party .

Is this normal ? or should I contact them ? I don't want to run into this issue once we there.

thank you

Be sure you are selecting the park where you have a reservation

 

[vinmar4]

Be sure you are selecting the park where you have a reservation

Huh!
I could see that it said HS at the top , but then I double checked when I read your post, and I had to again choose HS at the bottom, and there it was !
Thank you so much

 

[wisblue]

Be sure you are selecting the park where you have a reservation

Yes, this issue was discussed in detail in the thread titled “Error Using Genie (Free Version)”. I bumped that thread so the PP can see that if still having problems.

The simple problem is that when you plan for your first day the app makes you select a park. When you click on a second day, the app seems to auto fill the park you selected for the previous day and, since you don’t have reservations at that park, you get the “not eligible“ message.

People like me have been tripped up by that because when you select that second day, the place to select the park is hiding below the visible part of the screen. You have to scroll down to change the park selection.

 

[snikki]

How will G+ and the tip board work when I am actually there and park hopping?

Will the tip board automatically populate to park 1? Will it automatically populate to park 2 at the time I tell the genie I am arriving?

 

[vinmar4]

Yes, this issue was discussed in detail in the thread titled “Error Using Genie (Free Version)”. I bumped that thread so the PP can see that if still having problems.

The simple problem is that when you plan for your first day the app makes you select a park. When you click on a second day, the app seems to auto fill the park you selected for the previous day and, since you don’t have reservations at that park, you get the “not eligible“ message.

People like me have been tripped up by that because when you select that second day, the place to select the park is hiding below the visible part of the screen. You have to scroll down to change the park selection.

Wow, yes, that's exactly what happened, better that I found out today than when we are actually there!
thank you for the explanation

 

[PepperjackDragon]

How will G+ and the tip board work when I am actually there and park hopping?

Will the tip board automatically populate to park 1? Will it automatically populate to park 2 at the time I tell the genie I am arriving?

On iPhone you can easily change parks at the top of the page

 

[leeniewdw]

I had to go and plan out my day for park 1 before that showed up.

I started a chat in MDE and they didn't admit to doing anything, but I went back to the same place and suddenly I could see the 2 people traveling in Dec available to say they were going to MK after 2pm.
Thanks again!

 

[HappyPrincessGlee]

If I book a Genie+ ride at 7:00 am with a return time right after park open at 9:00, and I don’t ride, when the return time expires, can I make another selection right away, or will it be 2 hours after park open? Does Genie treat an expired return time the same as a tap in or not? TIA!

 

[amylevan]

If I book a Genie+ ride at 7:00 am with a return time right after park open at 9:00, and I don’t ride, when the return time expires, can I make another selection right away, or will it be 2 hours after park open? Does Genie treat an expired return time the same as a tap in or not? TIA!

You can make another one when time expires. Note that as things stand now, you will not be able to make another one for the one you missed - it’s treated as used.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

You can make another one when time expires. Note that as things stand now, you will not be able to make another one for the one you missed - it’s treated as used.

This is why you are much better off cancelling it before the return time starts.

 

[wisblue]

You can make another one when time expires. Note that as things stand now, you will not be able to make another one for the one you missed - it’s treated as used.

In addition, if you know you aren’t going to use that first ride you can cancel it and make a new reservation immediately. You wouldn‘t have to wait until the first one expires.

 

[Disturbia]

Allears did good detailed (with screenshots) review of how to park hop

https://allears.net/2021/10/21/what-is-park-hopping-like-now-with-disney-genie/

Some Park Hopping Issues
While Genie is smart with park hopping in some ways, it can also experience some issues. For example, during one trip, Genie kept telling one of our reporters that they needed to go to Disney’s Hollywood Studios from EPCOT, even though the reporter had already scanned into Hollywood Studios and was there. For some reason, the free planning service never seemed to recognize that the hopping had taken place.

But, that never had a practical effect on their ability to book Genie+ selections in the park they had hopped to, so don’t let those technical issues concern you unless they affect your ability to make selections.

 

[Newbie500]

I think to clarify how many G+ you can have, we need to stop thinking about it as "how many I am holding" and start thinking of it as:

You can get another G+LL when:
1) The clock of 120 min runs out OR
2) When you tap into a ride/attraction
Whichever is first

That's how it works.

Nah, that sounds too easy.

 

[MrsHammer]

Is the system allowing resort guests to buy the individual lightning lane attractions at 7am on their check in day? So, for example, on our arrival day, we won't get into Orlando until maybe 3pm. We would check into AKL shortly thereafter. Would I be able to purchase the ILL for Rise at 7am from home before we board our plane for maybe a return time of after 6pm? It would be nice to hit HS on our arrival night and get that one ride under our belts. I'm just worried that it won't recognize us before we actually check in.

 

[Disturbia]

Is the system allowing resort guests to buy the individual lightning lane attractions at 7am on their check in day? So, for example, on our arrival day, we won't get into Orlando until maybe 3pm. We would check into AKL shortly thereafter. Would I be able to purchase the ILL for Rise at 7am from home before we board our plane for maybe a return time of after 6pm? It would be nice to hit HS on our arrival night and get that one ride under our belts. I'm just worried that it won't recognize us before we actually check in.

https://touringplans.com/blog/genie-testing-questions-we-got-on-day-two/
Answer seems to be yes and you can add Genie+ to your entire package ahead of time. Definitely do online checkin beforehand.

Keep an eye on when SDD changes into evening passes and then book (if getting Genie+ as well):

7-8 am book 6:00-7:00 SDD and ROTR$$
11 am book 6:30-7:30or 3:10-4:10 MFSR
1 pm book 7:00-8:00 or 3:30-4:30 TSMM
3 pm book 7:30-8:30 or current

 

[Disturbia]

On page 12, there was a posting regarding times available:

Also these are pretty close to the same for both days:
At 11:00 on October 22
Millenium Falcon return time: 4:25
Toy Story Mania return time: 12:10

At 11:00 on October 23
Millenium Falcon return time: 4:15
Toy Story Mania return time: 12:35

 

[Disturbia]

Does anyone have data points for HS availability at 1 pm and 3 pm?

 

[ZeeWP]

I have always thought that Park hopping was not for lazy people like me, but maybe that is the strategy for G+ if you can stack. But that seems like a lot of work when we can be having fun lol

 

[Disturbia]

I have always thought that Park hopping was not for lazy people like me, but maybe that is the strategy for G+ if you can stack. But that seems like a lot of work when we can be having fun lol

You can stack within one park. We are not doing park hopping and will use the variable night hours for pool/rest/ADRs

 

[Disturbia]

Touring plans has a great summary:

https://forum.touringplans.com/t/the-genie-thread-all-wdw-info-here/81599/1