The Genie Usage, Tips and Strategy ONLY Thread

[ZeeWP]

I feel what happens in HS is that EE people try to get on Rise early but the line quickly climbs up past 30, 60, 90 minutes. So around 945, 950, these people grab up the last Rise in exchange for not waiting in line.

 

[RNTeacher]

I am doing the planning for husband and I. He has difficulty with some rides. If he does not ride some things (SDD, MFSR), could I ride then use his band and tap in?

 

[CarolynFH]

I am doing the planning for husband and I. He has difficulty with some rides. If he does not ride some things (SDD, MFSR), could I ride then use his band and tap in?

As long as he tapped into the park itself, that will work, no problem.

 

[Mango7100]

Have people had any luck with refreshing the tip board and getting genie+ reservations suddenly pop up for the time they want? I used to have a lot of luck doing that with FastPass+ and just wondering how this compares?

We have been using Genie Plus the last two days, and refreshing is not as fruitful with this compared to FastPass in our experience. I have seen a few things pop up, but the hard thing with Genie+ is you can’t modify an existing LL. You have to cancel and gamble that the better time is still available

 

[Mango7100]

Today we had a better day stacking with Genie for hopping to Hollywood studios. Went to Epcot for the morning and didn’t use Genie Plus. We booked at 7 am SDD for 525-625 and Rise for 505-605. At 11am booked Smugglers for 715-815. At 1 booked TSMM for 6-7. At 3 did Swirling Saucers for 740-840. At 5 we could have still pulled a TOT or Rock n Roll but DH had Done single rider for RnRC and we don’t do TOT

 

[mom2cinderella]

Does anyone remember when Genie was 1st announced and there was a thread about that and there was a person who was just adamant that LL would never run out and would always be available all day, and that you would be able to pick virtually anytime you wanted to pick all day? And that those of us who didn't love it were just nayayers who weren't giving it a chance and wed see how wrong we were... Are they here? Because it seems they were wrong...

Yes I am definitely curious if their enthusiasm has diminished with what we now know.

 

[lynzi2004]

Today we had a better day stacking with Genie for hopping to Hollywood studios. Went to Epcot for the morning and didn’t use Genie Plus. We booked at 7 am SDD for 525-625 and Rise for 505-605. At 11am booked Smugglers for 715-815. At 1 booked TSMM for 6-7. At 3 did Swirling Saucers for 740-840. At 5 we could have still pulled a TOT or Rock n Roll but DH had Done single rider for RnRC and we don’t do TOT

Question, something like this is part of my plan, but I would prefer to stack them from about 4-7pm if possible. Did the 7:40-8:40 saucers save you much time? I was thinking if I could get a slightly earlier “stack” of times, that maybe lines would die down enough towards the end of the night that maybe they wouldn’t be needing. I don’t want to stack from 6-9pm during what could be a “quicker” standby time and instead have to do standby from 3-6ish with long lines?Obviously, we are all just having to take what we get, but I was curious what your experience was! Thanks!

 

[Juventus]

I seems that by the time the parks open that most ILLs (well for 7DMR, FoP, MMRR) only med afternoon or later are offered, and this morning, ROTR was sold out before park opening. I am going in March, offsite, a busier time, and am assuming these trends will continue.

So staying offsite I see less incentive to ropedrope as these ILL will be later in the day....maybe try to stack a couple LL before heading into the parks.

Any tips for ROTR though?

 

[GBRforWDW]

I seems that by the time the parks open that most ILLs (well for 7DMR, FoP, MMRR) only med afternoon or later are offered, and this morning, ROTR was sold out before park opening. I am going in March, offsite, a busier time, and am assuming these trends will continue.

So staying offsite I see less incentive to ropedrope as these ILL will be later in the day....maybe try to stack a couple LL before heading into the parks.

Any tips for ROTR though?

For RotR, get in line later in the day. A lot are waiting until the final minute to 30 minutes to get in line as that will be the shortest wait.

Of course, if you get everything else done that you want to do, get in line regardless and wait it out.

 

[JStu]

I’m not sure I have my hands fully wrapped around generating the triple stack of letting the window expire, hitting the 2 hour window, and the tap in.

Does the sequence of the first two (window expire, 120 min window) matter? For example, assuming an 11am eligibility due to the 2 hour rule, does it matter if my window expires at before 11 (10:55 for example) or after 11? (let’s say 11:10).

I guess trying to get a sense for what range of return windows around that 2 hour mark would work for this? If it can be on either side I’m guessing it’s -15 minutes (well, less since Ned time to make LL selections) up to + whatever..?

yes. from what i have read, its the "last action"

so if you are at MK with an 8AM opening. say you get your first G+ from BTMR from 945-1045.

(1) if you tap in to BTMR at 945, you get to book another G+ selection. HOWEVER,

(2) if you wait until 10:01, you can book another G+ selection because you are now 2 hours after park opening. Then if you go tap into BTMR (say 1002) after you booked the G+ selection above, you have another "last action" (i.e., tapping in) that allows you to book another G+, thus you are stacked with 2 G+ selections going forward.

In example (1) you only get 1 "last action" - tapping in. you never get to the 120 minute (2 hour) last action because you tapped in PRIOR to 2 hours.

 

[DisneyKidds]

Today we had a better day stacking with Genie for hopping to Hollywood studios. Went to Epcot for the morning and didn’t use Genie Plus. We booked at 7 am SDD for 525-625 and Rise for 505-605. At 11am booked Smugglers for 715-815. At 1 booked TSMM for 6-7. At 3 did Swirling Saucers for 740-840. At 5 we could have still pulled a TOT or Rock n Roll but DH had Done single rider for RnRC and we don’t do TOT

So you quadruple stacked, and could have quintuple stacked, to be in HS from 5pm to close. Nice! The question remains…..during peak periods (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Summer) will anything close to that be possible? With return times that late on a comparatively slower time of year I wonder how many will be able to be stacked before availability is gone. I’m not a fan of having to pay now, but if we can still manage to stack three for a HS hop next summer I’d find sufficient value in that.

 

[maryj11]

I’m not sure how to work this on our Epcot day. We have been trying to get a Topolinas breakfast forever. Finally got one for 11:00am. I was hoping for an earlier one.
So if I book a LL at 7:00 will there be times available later in the day like 1:00-2:00? We wanted to ride Test Track, Soarin, and Spaceship Earth. Then at 11:00 we can book another LL for later? So when we arrive we will have 2 LL? We are also are going to book a paid LL for Remy. Do I get to pick a later time for that at 7:00am. So we would actually have 3 LL when we arrive after breakfast.
Am I understanding this correctly?

 

[DisneyKidds]

I’m not sure how to work this on our Epcot day. We have been trying to get a Topolinas breakfast forever. Finally got one for 11:00am. I was hoping for an earlier one.
So if I book a LL at 7:00 will there be times available later in the day like 1:00-2:00? We wanted to ride Test Track, Soarin, and Spaceship Earth. Then at 11:00 we can book another LL for later? So when we arrive we will have 2 LL? We are also are going to book a paid LL for Remy. Do I get to pick a later time for that at 7:00am. So we would actually have 3 LL when we arrive after breakfast.
Am I understanding this correctly?

Remy ILL$ you can pick your time. For Test Track, Soarin, and Spaceship Earth you book the next available offered time. You can go back/refresh if the time offered doesn’t suit your needs. Keep on that routine until a time that suits you comes up. Based on recent experiences it seems like a good bet that sometime between 7am and 9am you could get an afternoon Test Track return. Then at 11am (assuming Epcot opens at 9am) you should be able to get an afternoon Soarin return.

While I haven’t used Genie yet, I think your plan is workable.

 

[Mango7100]

Question, something like this is part of my plan, but I would prefer to stack them from about 4-7pm if possible. Did the 7:40-8:40 saucers save you much time? I was thinking if I could get a slightly earlier “stack” of times, that maybe lines would die down enough towards the end of the night that maybe they wouldn’t be needing. I don’t want to stack from 6-9pm during what could be a “quicker” standby time and instead have to do standby from 3-6ish with long lines?Obviously, we are all just having to take what we get, but I was curious what your experience was! Thanks!

740 Saucers saved about 10-15 minutes, so not a lot but still something. The 505 ROTC saved about 90 minutes. The 525 SDD saved about 60 minutes. The 600 TSMM saved about 30-35. The 715 Smugglers saved about 25-30. We also did MMRR standby at the end of the night (it broke down so it ended up taking 45 minutes).

 

[Mango7100]

So you quadruple stacked, and could have quintuple stacked, to be in HS from 5pm to close. Nice! The question remains…..during peak periods (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Summer) will anything close to that be possible? With return times that late on a comparatively slower time of year I wonder how many will be able to be stacked before availability is gone. I’m not a fan of having to pay now, but if we can still manage to stack three for a HS hop next summer I’d find sufficient value in that.

I agree that I’m not sure this will be possible for peak times. There is a benefit to doing the afternoon stack at HS. We went in a morning and we were only able to do SDD and TSMM as LL pulls. times pushed out into the evening by about 12. If we were going to stay at HS all day that would have been fine, but we wanted to go to Epcot by early evening so ended up booking Test Track and Soarin before we got to Epcot

 

[fireman1]

I'm debating on purchasing genie +. I almost hit confirm payment a few minutes ago, but thought I'd get thoughts from here first. It's an extra 95 for two of us. Worth it?

 

[DisneyKidds]

I'm debating on purchasing genie +. I almost hit confirm payment a few minutes ago, but thought I'd get thoughts from here first. It's an extra 95 for two of us. Worth it?

That’s a difficult question to answer, especially without know both your plans AND your tolerance for lines! Two of you for three days each it looks like? When are you going, what parks, will you hop, will you have early entry or evening Extra Magic Hours?

 

[maryj11]

Remy ILL$ you can pick your time. For Test Track, Soarin, and Spaceship Earth you book the next available offered time. You can go back/refresh if the time offered doesn’t suit your needs. Keep on that routine until a time that suits you comes up. Based on recent experiences it seems like a good bet that sometime between 7am and 9am you could get an afternoon Test Track return. Then at 11am (assuming Epcot opens at 9am) you should be able to get an afternoon Soarin return.

While I haven’t used Genie yet, I think your plan is workable.

Ok. By what I have seen on the genie test track runs out first. So that will be my first LL booked.

 

[ckelly14]

Not heading to WDW until April so maybe things will change by then but:

I have hoppers and plan to hop to Epcot most evenings for drinks/dinner. Only attraction I am really interested in is Remy. Can I make ILL or get a VQ for Remy at 7AM on that day or do I have to wait until I'm in the park after 2?

 

[GBRforWDW]

Not heading to WDW until April so maybe things will change by then but:

I have hoppers and plan to hop to Epcot most evenings for drinks/dinner. Only attraction I am really interested in is Remy. Can I make ILL or get a VQ for Remy at 7AM on that day or do I have to wait until I'm in the park after 2?

Virtual Queue you need a reservation for Epcot to enter at 7, so yes, you would need to wait until you enter to try, but they'll typically be gone by 2pm.

ILL$ - if you're staying onsite, you can get one at 7am. Otherwise, you can get one when the park opens