The Genie Usage, Tips and Strategy ONLY Thread

[Orsino]

I do think the lines were shorter in the LL than previously with FP

I think it varies. We had 20 minute waits in the PP LL twice last week. Once could be bad luck, but twice makes me think SOP. We noticed that Disney tracks the time spent between the first and second tap at PP, but what their data isn’t gathering is the 5 or so minutes we spent in line getting to the first tap point.

jungle cruise was also slow to load LL. But I think it comes down to down time. If a ride goes down, LL gets hammered later.

the rest, I think was pretty good.

 

[wisblue]

When you say that Disney is tracking the time between the first and second tap point, do you just mean that they are making you tap twice?

I‘m sure they could track and analyze those times, but I always thought that one reason they require two taps, and maybe the main reason, is to prevent line jumpers from slipping into the LL after passing the first tap point.

 

[KTwiegs]

Just back from our trip.
used genie + 4 out of the 5 days. I will say by the end of the week I got the hang of it,
Before the trip I watched every genie+ video on allears.net YouTube page which definitely helped.
the biggest things I learned
**avoid that first thing in the morning 120min rule at all costs. It sets you up for a lot of long waits inbetween lightning lanes. One day I only got 2 lightning lanes for the day because of a later Peter Pan LL… our last day I got 12 for the day and still got a LL for pan later in the day.

**lightning lanes keep popping back up through the day. (Even the hardest ones to get) If something looks sold out first thing in the AM it’s actually not. Keep pulling down refreshing.

** alway edit your selections of lightning lane preferences for the next ride you want. Example-after tapping into buzz lightyear I put Tomorrowland speedway as my only ride and kept refreshing till it popped up for only 10 mins later. I used the same strategy for Peter Pan around 4pm when we had used almost all of the others in the park.
KEEP PULLING DOWN AND REFRESHING!

*** you have to be smart with your next ride choice so you aren’t running all over the park. Try and finish a section of the park at a time. Get all those lightning lanes before moving on.

*** you can tap in 5 minutes before your actually LL time starts

***use the 120 min rule for your lunch break.

*** if doing a half day stack LL for later in the day. Make a new LL every 2 hours. I did this as my boys swam in the pool. We had 5 LL waiting for us in HS that night.

My over all thoughts on genie+ system is it is very flawed. So many ways it could be improved. That being said I do think we will get it for future trips.. BUT I do think we will consider not getting park hopper next time because of it. It was the most successful for me on the day I stayed at MK all day.

 

[Duck143]

The best way to refresh is to edit your selections to only include the ride you are interested in so it appears at the top of the tip board. Then just pull down on the tip board to refresh.

Can you tell me how you edit your selections? Is it on Tip Board or My Day?

 

[Grumpy by Birth]

**avoid that first thing in the morning 120min rule at all costs. It sets you up for a lot of long waits inbetween lightning lanes. One day I only got 2 lightning lanes for the day because of a later Peter Pan LL… our last day I got 12 for the day and still got a LL for pan later in the day.

So, you are in the camp of grabbing as many LLs as possible by picking ones that have the soonest return times rather than "stacking" them for later?

Am I understanding your recommendation correctly? What about the risk that LLs for popular rides will all be gone by the time you try to get a LL? As I understand it, refreshing still requires you to be lucky that someone cancelled a LL so it gets dropped back in the pool.

If it's still early and I'm already seeing afternoon times for a popular ride, so I instead book 2nd tier rides because the LL times are only a short time in the future, then the times are going to keep pushing later and later for that popular ride while I'm using LLs for the other stuff. It seems they might be completely booked for the day by the time you could get one that isn't 2 hours away (with the exception that you are able to pick up a cancelled one by refreshing).

It seems both schools of thought (stacking "quality" LLs for later in the day vs. getting the most "quantity" of LLs by booking ones that have the soonest return times) come with a bit of risk. Stacking risks having to wait in longer lines until later in the day when you can use the stacked LLs. Avoiding LL bookings that are further out risks not getting a LL at all for that ride if they're all gone by the time you try for one.

Thoughts?

 

[SLThomas318]

Just back from our trip.
used genie + 4 out of the 5 days. I will say by the end of the week I got the hang of it,
Before the trip I watched every genie+ video on allears.net YouTube page which definitely helped.
the biggest things I learned
**avoid that first thing in the morning 120min rule at all costs. It sets you up for a lot of long waits inbetween lightning lanes. One day I only got 2 lightning lanes for the day because of a later Peter Pan LL… our last day I got 12 for the day and still got a LL for pan later in the day.

**lightning lanes keep popping back up through the day. (Even the hardest ones to get) If something looks sold out first thing in the AM it’s actually not. Keep pulling down refreshing.

** alway edit your selections of lightning lane preferences for the next ride you want. Example-after tapping into buzz lightyear I put Tomorrowland speedway as my only ride and kept refreshing till it popped up for only 10 mins later. I used the same strategy for Peter Pan around 4pm when we had used almost all of the others in the park.
KEEP PULLING DOWN AND REFRESHING!

*** you have to be smart with your next ride choice so you aren’t running all over the park. Try and finish a section of the park at a time. Get all those lightning lanes before moving on.

*** you can tap in 5 minutes before your actually LL time starts

***use the 120 min rule for your lunch break.

*** if doing a half day stack LL for later in the day. Make a new LL every 2 hours. I did this as my boys swam in the pool. We had 5 LL waiting for us in HS that night.

My over all thoughts on genie+ system is it is very flawed. So many ways it could be improved. That being said I do think we will get it for future trips.. BUT I do think we will consider not getting park hopper next time because of it. It was the most successful for me on the day I stayed at MK all day.

12 in one day sounds awesome... did you rope drop and take advantage of early entry as well? I thought about the tap and go strategy for MK, but the day we used it everything was walk-on the first hour or so (smaller rides... buzz, speedway, tea-cups, pooh, barnstormer, dumbo, and ariel). With small kids we also like just finishing one area before moving on...

 

[wisblue]

Just back from our trip.
used genie + 4 out of the 5 days. I will say by the end of the week I got the hang of it,
Before the trip I watched every genie+ video on allears.net YouTube page which definitely helped.
the biggest things I learned
**avoid that first thing in the morning 120min rule at all costs. It sets you up for a lot of long waits inbetween lightning lanes. One day I only got 2 lightning lanes for the day because of a later Peter Pan LL… our last day I got 12 for the day and still got a LL for pan later in the day.

**lightning lanes keep popping back up through the day. (Even the hardest ones to get) If something looks sold out first thing in the AM it’s actually not. Keep pulling down refreshing.

** alway edit your selections of lightning lane preferences for the next ride you want. Example-after tapping into buzz lightyear I put Tomorrowland speedway as my only ride and kept refreshing till it popped up for only 10 mins later. I used the same strategy for Peter Pan around 4pm when we had used almost all of the others in the park.
KEEP PULLING DOWN AND REFRESHING!

*** you have to be smart with your next ride choice so you aren’t running all over the park. Try and finish a section of the park at a time. Get all those lightning lanes before moving on.

*** you can tap in 5 minutes before your actually LL time starts

***use the 120 min rule for your lunch break.

*** if doing a half day stack LL for later in the day. Make a new LL every 2 hours. I did this as my boys swam in the pool. We had 5 LL waiting for us in HS that night.

My over all thoughts on genie+ system is it is very flawed. So many ways it could be improved. That being said I do think we will get it for future trips.. BUT I do think we will consider not getting park hopper next time because of it. It was the most successful for me on the day I stayed at MK all day.

Good points.

Several of them highlight the “different strokes, for different folks” aspect of this based on priorities and touring styles.

A lot of posters don’t like the idea of spending too much time on their phones and, from my experience, the “keep refreshing” strategy requires a lot of patience, and/or a lot of luck, to be successful in grabbing a LL for the most popular attractions.

I have tried refreshing to get a LL a few times when I was somewhere with nothing much else to do, like waiting in a line at an attraction or sitting on the resort balcony taking a break. After 5-10 minutes of refreshing I often found that no times ever popped up or the one or two that did were gone by the time (a fraction of a second later) that I clicked on the time to try to book it.

Your day of stacking at DHS for later in the day is what some people do on most days of their trips.

 

[wisblue]

So, you are in the camp of grabbing as many LLs as possible by picking ones that have the soonest return times rather than "stacking" them for later?

Am I understanding your recommendation correctly? What about the risk that LLs for popular rides will all be gone by the time you try to get a LL? As I understand it, refreshing still requires you to be lucky that someone cancelled a LL so it gets dropped back in the pool.

If it's still early and I'm already seeing afternoon times for a popular ride, so I instead book 2nd tier rides because the LL times are only a short time in the future, then the times are going to keep pushing later and later for that popular ride while I'm using LLs for the other stuff. It seems they might be completely booked for the day by the time you could get one that isn't 2 hours away (with the exception that you are able to pick up a cancelled one by refreshing).

It seems both schools of thought (stacking "quality" LLs for later in the day vs. getting the most "quantity" of LLs by booking ones that have the soonest return times) come with a bit of risk. Stacking risks having to wait in longer lines until later in the day when you can use the stacked LLs. Avoiding LL bookings that are further out risks not getting a LL at all for that ride if they're all gone by the time you try for one.

Thoughts?

I am definitely an advocate of quality over quantity when it comes to Genie+. Getting 12 in a day sounds good, but I suspect that some of those involve using the LL for attractions with relatively short standby waits, either because it’s early in the morning or the attractions don’t have long standby lines for most of the day. MK is the only park where that is even an issue.

My comments about refreshing are in my previous post. The risks of stacking for later in the day can be managed pretty well if you have a good idea of which attractions to book first based on which “sell out” first.

 

[Runnsally]

Can you tell me how you edit your selections? Is it on Tip Board or My Day?

You have to have a park pass and then customize genie through My Day and select attractions you are interested in. Once you do this, you can edit your selected attractions on the tip board. Confusing I know.

 

[wisblue]

Can you tell me how you edit your selections? Is it on Tip Board or My Day?

The previous poster beat me to it.

 

[Duck143]

You have to have a park pass and then customize genie through My Day and select attractions you are interested in. Once you do this, you can edit your selected attractions on the tip board. Confusing I know.

Ok! That makes sense. I couldn't find anywhere to do this because I don't have a Park Pass until October. I went in and edited a day in October. Is it quickest to refresh right in "My Day"?

 

[KTwiegs]

Can you tell me how you edit your selections? Is it on Tip Board or My Day?

It’s on the tip board just to the right near the top. Doesn’t look like a button just the words

 

[Duck143]

It’s on the tip board just to the right near the top. Doesn’t look like a button just the words

I was able to edit my selections and now I can edit them for today's date just to try it out. It's so helpful not having to sort through all the experiences.

 

[KTwiegs]

So, you are in the camp of grabbing as many LLs as possible by picking ones that have the soonest return times rather than "stacking" them for later?

Am I understanding your recommendation correctly? What about the risk that LLs for popular rides will all be gone by the time you try to get a LL? As I understand it, refreshing still requires you to be lucky that someone cancelled a LL so it gets dropped back in the pool.

If it's still early and I'm already seeing afternoon times for a popular ride, so I instead book 2nd tier rides because the LL times are only a short time in the future, then the times are going to keep pushing later and later for that popular ride while I'm using LLs for the other stuff. It seems they might be completely booked for the day by the time you could get one that isn't 2 hours away (with the exception that you are able to pick up a cancelled one by refreshing).

It seems both schools of thought (stacking "quality" LLs for later in the day vs. getting the most "quantity" of LLs by booking ones that have the soonest return times) come with a bit of risk. Stacking risks having to wait in longer lines until later in the day when you can use the stacked LLs. Avoiding LL bookings that are further out risks not getting a LL at all for that ride if they're all gone by the time you try for one.

Thoughts?

All good points and of course crowds are an unknown factor in all of this. My experience HS was best from stacking and MK I did extremely well grabbing next available.
the only popular one in MK we missed was jungle cruise but I was so close snagging it twice later in the day.
What it took me all week to truly realize is that even if at 730 am they are only showing 5pm plus times does not me anything before that is gone for the day. They add earlier ones back all day. I’ve even seen it with rise.

HS is hard to do at all. Sooooo many popular rides..

 

[KTwiegs]

12 in one day sounds awesome... did you rope drop and take advantage of early entry as well? I thought about the tap and go strategy for MK, but the day we used it everything was walk-on the first hour or so (smaller rides... buzz, speedway, tea-cups, pooh, barnstormer, dumbo, and ariel). With small kids we also like just finishing one area before moving on...

Yup we rope dropped storybook circus (I’ve got barnstormer loving boys) got in I think 3 ride before 9am and then had my earliest LL.
I tried to use each of my LL as soon as my window opened so I had more time to grab another.
But I LL rides we rope dropped later in the day too. You know little ones they just want to ride over and over again.
I know so much of this is down to timing and luck but any time saved in line helps with littles.

 

[KTwiegs]

Good points.

Several of them highlight the “different strokes, for different folks” aspect of this based on priorities and touring styles.

A lot of posters don’t like the idea of spending too much time on their phones and, from my experience, the “keep refreshing” strategy requires a lot of patience, and/or a lot of luck, to be successful in grabbing a LL for the most popular attractions.

I have tried refreshing to get a LL a few times when I was somewhere with nothing much else to do, like waiting in a line at an attraction or sitting on the resort balcony taking a break. After 5-10 minutes of refreshing I often found that no times ever popped up or the one or two that did were gone by the time (a fraction of a second later) that I clicked on the time to try to book it.

Your day of stacking at DHS for later in the day is what some people do on most days of their trips.

Yup my way definitely doesn’t work for everyone. But with a 3 year old even waiting for 30 mins can be tough so I tried to maximize genie+ my last day. That is a weirdly good thing with genie+ is you can change it to fit your touring style day to day.
earlier in the week I went for quality but that last day I was getting my moneys worth!

 

[MikeandReneePlus5]

**avoid that first thing in the morning 120min rule at all costs. It sets you up for a lot of long waits inbetween lightning lanes. One day I only got 2 lightning lanes for the day because of a later Peter Pan LL… our last day I got 12 for the day and still got a LL for pan later in the day.

I assume you mean you got Peter Pan for later in the day and then couldn't book another pass until 11am?

 

[Orsino]

HS is hard to do at all. Sooooo many popular rides..

We must have been lucky with our HS days. We got all the LL that we wanted to do. The first time we did 5 LL: Slinky, MFSR, RnRC, TSMM, Tower
Second time 6LL: Slinky, MFSR, RnRC, TSMM, Star Tours** and Alien Saucers. We opted not to do Tower since once a trip is enough for us. I think we could have gotten Tower if we wanted it, but our evening was pretty packed as it was (2PM arrival, leisurely dinner at Brown Derby).

Another possible strategy is to split G+ and ILL onto separate days if you go to Studios on more than one day. We did a short visit to HS on a third day and got Rise and MMRR ILL. I think ILL make more sense on a short morning visit to a park (we hopped to Epcot which doesn't benefit from G+ much).

** didn't really need it, standby was short

 

[wisblue]

We must have been lucky with our HS days. We got all the LL that we wanted to do. The first time we did 5 LL: Slinky, MFSR, RnRC, TSMM, Tower
Second time 6LL: Slinky, MFSR, RnRC, TSMM, Star Tours** and Alien Saucers. We opted not to do Tower since once a trip is enough for us. I think we could have gotten Tower if we wanted it, but our evening was pretty packed as it was (2PM arrival, leisurely dinner at Brown Derby).

Another possible strategy is to split G+ and ILL onto separate days if you go to Studios on more than one day. We did a short visit to HS on a third day and got Rise and MMRR ILL. I think ILL make more sense on a short morning visit to a park (we hopped to Epcot which doesn't benefit from G+ much).

** didn't really need it, standby was short

I think the only real luck with the DHS attractions is being there on a day with low enough crowds to make all of those things available AWhen your windows open.

I assume you got your 6 by getting SDD first. By 11 AM (or two hours after opening) MFSR might or might not be available. That would force going to a backup plan (RNRC or TOT) at 11, and maybe the other one of those or TSMM at 1. But, on a less busy day, the combo of SDD, MFSR, RNRC, and TOT at 7, 11, 1, and 3 is doable. Star Tours and Alien Saucers usually aren‘t hard to get later in the day.

On a busier day you might not get all of those LL, but you’ll still be getting in a lot more attractions without waiting than you would without Genie+.

 

[KTwiegs]

I assume you mean you got Peter Pan for later in the day and then couldn't book another pass until 11am?

Yes that first day I got pan for sometime I think around 11 so I was in that 120 min window. I found that didn’t work for our touring style.