The Genie Usage, Tips and Strategy ONLY Thread

[ZeeWP]

A couple questions:
Has anyone seen anyone getting Slinky for a morning time? I haven't and that's odd. Who's getting the morning spots?
What are people's experience with booking Genie+ LLs with mixed ticket media? (I have an AP, rest of my family doesn't) Is that a problem?

A friend got one at 950. I haven't seen anything earlier than that. Just a luck of the draw.

 

[mickey916]

A friend got one at 950. I haven't seen anything earlier than that. Just a luck of the draw.

Good to know. All the Vloggers I've watched have ended up with times 4 pm and later.

 

[Sjm9911]

Ours was like 1130.

 

[acarsme123]

Okay, so we were able to skip line at a total of 8 attractions (2 ILL$ and 6 Genie+). We chose to spend the first half of our day at EPCOT enjoying F&W while we stacked at HS.

I attached the return time I got with the time I secured it in parentheses. Refreshing worked quite well when the app initially said nothing was left for a specific attraction. I was able to snag TSM and Test Track after some refreshing here and there.


View attachment 622545

Wow….so even right at 7am return times are already pushed out into the evening hours??

 

[g-dad66]

Wow….so even right at 7am return times are already pushed out into the evening hours??

No, only Slinky Dog Dash pushes out to evening hours quickly, and on November 6, it took until 7:05 am for that to happen.

 

[rmclain73]

the more I read the more it seems like G+ works great for park hoppers. take it easy in one of the parks in the morning, evening go to another park and do all the popular rides.

if you are not park hopping it’s also great if you just want to stay in the room or hit the pool in the morning and do the parks in the late afternoon.

 

[Tiggr88]

Wow….so even right at 7am return times are already pushed out into the evening hours??

It appears that they were also deliberately trying to get later return times for a park hop, so they probably waited a few minutes to get a later return time and then chose rides that had later return times to fit into their park hopping timeframe.

 

[boop0524]

A couple questions:
Has anyone seen anyone getting Slinky for a morning time? I haven't and that's odd. Who's getting the morning spots?
What are people's experience with booking Genie+ LLs with mixed ticket media? (I have an AP, rest of my family doesn't) Is that a problem?

There’s a great blog on Touring Plans that shows return times and at 7 am for SDD it shows right into the afternoon. Also liked the helpful bit here about holding times for 10 minutes, so check back at 7:11, 7:20, and 7:29. I felt it was too risky on our busy week, but maybe it will work for others

https://touringplans.com/blog/fluctuation-in-lightning-lane-return-times/

 

[mickey916]

There’s a great blog on Touring Plans that shows return times and at 7 am for SDD it shows right into the afternoon. Also liked the helpful bit here about holding times for 10 minutes, so check back at 7:11, 7:20, and 7:29. I felt it was too risky on our busy week, but maybe it will work for others

https://touringplans.com/blog/fluctuation-in-lightning-lane-return-times/

I always love the Touring Plans analysis. I will take a look!

 

[evilqueenmindy]

So as far as the individual LL+ for purchase, I can book those at 7am with a resort reservation and at park opening as a day guest.

my question- can I book one at 7am on my arrival day? Or do you have to be checked in?

 

[nurseberta]

It appears that they were also deliberately trying to get later return times for a park hop, so they probably waited a few minutes to get a later return time and then chose rides that had later return times to fit into their park hopping timeframe.

When you try to book G+ times for a park other than the one you have reserved, you will only be able to book times after 2pm, even if you chose 10am slot. Genie knows you can’t hop until after 2pm

 

[cjlong88]

When you try to book G+ times for a park other than the one you have reserved, you will only be able to book times after 2pm, even if you chose 10am slot. Genie knows you can’t hop until after 2pm

Correct. If you select, say, a 10am LL for the park you plan on hopping to, It will automatically change the time to another one past 2pm.

 

[JeffBDisney]

Can I ask. With this, it says you got millennial falcon at 11am. But you went to Epcot first. I assume Epcot opened at 10am. I thought 2nd G+ couldn’t be used until 2 hours after park open of park you are at?

View attachment 622545
[/QUOTE]

 

[Casey LC]

I’m reading a lot about stacking, but it seems to really only benefit people who are park hopping or arriving later to a park. My family doesn’t hop, and always rope drops. It seems to me, the best strategy for someone like myself would be to skip the stacking and use Genie+ reservations as early as I can get them?

 

[Tiggr88]

Can I ask. With this, it says you got millennial falcon at 11am. But you went to Epcot first. I assume Epcot opened at 10am. I thought 2nd G+ couldn’t be used until 2 hours after park open of park you are at?

View attachment 622545

[/QUOTE]
I believe the rule is 2 hours from park open of the park you made the first G+ reservation. In this case that would be SDD at HS so he could make another 2 hours after HS opened.

Rat doesn’t count since it is an ILL and not G+.

 

[princesswahooey]

I’m reading a lot about stacking, but it seems to really only benefit people who are park hopping or arriving later to a park. My family doesn’t hop, and always rope drops. It seems to me, the best strategy for someone like myself would be to skip the stacking and use Genie+ reservations as early as I can get them?

There's probably less benefit to choosing a later LL to use the 120 rule stack, but if you pick the earliest return time on your first ride and are willing to wait until the end of your return window, you can try the "tap in after expire" hack method, which would give you two LL selections you could then roll with all day. If you are rope dropping, you probably won't need to use that first LL until the end of the return window anyway, since that first hour in the park is usually great for doing standby. Then if you can do the "hack-stack" you'd be pretty set just leapfrogging your two LLs all day.

 

[ssgtravel]

Just back from a week using G+ every day except arrival evening. I'm sold. I loved it! I had that old "skating above the crowds" feeling I used to get with a good touring plan and strategic FP+ usage. It was fun! This thread was invaluable in pre-planning our approach.

Knowing which ride to choose at 7am was the first key in setting up the day for success. For us we would decide together each night, based on reports from this thread and our must-do's, what to get first. We did Slinky in HS, Jungle Cruise in MK, Test Track in EP, and Safari in AK.

Knowing when we were eligible for booking the next G+ was the second key. If you forget you can look by faking like you are trying to book a new one and it will tell you won't be eligible until _____ time. Super helpful. We did double and triple stacks some days. I walk slow with a walker and do not back track and we made this work for me.

Knowing that as soon as you ride a ride you should book the next G+ reservation (even if you need to cancel and rebook later to get a better time) is the third key. Just know that if you are eligible to book because you just used a G+ you should do that before cancelling and rebooking something else or you will loose a stack. I made that mistake once and another person in our group did as well.

Knowing that, although you don't absolutely need G+ for shows, it can be helpful is the fourth key. Our first full park day was AK, and I didn't think we would need G+ for shows, so I didn't get one for Lion King. Waited 20 minutes. Didn't make it in to the 2:00 show, got a snack and waited another 30 minutes and did make it in to the 3:00. Show. That didn't feel like a successful use of Disney time. So, we learned our lesson and went ahead and got G+ reservations for Disney Junior and Beauty and the Beast in HS. We did Frozen early in the day without G+ because we were not eligible for our second G+ yet. As we approached shows the CM were telling people the next show was full at Frozen and Disney Junior. They let al the G+ people in first, so at Disney Junior our family was able to sit front and center and I got a bench seat. This also meant I wasn't standing as long. Happy benefit for me.

A BIG Thank you to everyone who has been posting and sharing experiences and strategy ideas here! You helped make our extended family trip wonderful for myself and 5 Disney first timers.

 

[ssgtravel]

Were they seating fewer people (social distancing) in the Lion King show? Typically we have always gotten into the show by waiting 20 minutes or less. Was it a very crowded day you were there?

 

[DisneyPanthersFan]

Were they seating fewer people (social distancing) in the Lion King show? Typically we have always gotten into the show by waiting 20 minutes or less. Was it a very crowded day you were there?

Not sure about then, but yesterday they were NOT doing social distancing at the show. We were told more than once to move to the right as much as possible, every inch counts, etc.

 

[coolbrook]

Were they seating fewer people (social distancing) in the Lion King show? Typically we have always gotten into the show by waiting 20 minutes or less. Was it a very crowded day you were there?

No social distancing, "everyone slide down so we can seat more people" kind of situation like the old days. The Africa and Pandora sections of the park were pretty crowded/ hard to walk through at times.