The Genie Usage, Tips and Strategy ONLY Thread

[ICEMAN3205]

This is more for people in the parks all day, if you have an earlier time before the two hour window is up, you can ride the ride and then book another one right away. By stacking only for evening you miss out on that opportunity and can only book every two hours. So it's kind of a choice for what is important- riding more rides earlier in the day if you can get good times, or stacking a bunch for later.

For your situation you have the right plan.

This is correct. 3pm is kinda late so it probably woudn't matter because at say MK with current park hours you would already be able to book 4 LL by 3pm, the following is what I was talking about:

LL1- 7am book - Jungle Cruise at 1:15 pm
LL2- 11am (2hrs after MK opens) - Space Mtn. at 2:30
LL3 - 1pm book - Splash Mtn. at 4:30

Now you scan into Jungle Cruise at 1:15and Space at 2:30 you cannot book LL4 yet, you have to wait two hours after the LL3 at 1pm. so 3:00 is when you can book again. Now if you do it this way:

LL1- 7am book - Jungle Cruise at 4:30 pm
LL2- 11am (2hrs after MK opens) - Space Mtn. at 2:30
LL3 - 1pm book - Splash Mtn. at 1:15

now at 1:15 after you scan into splash you can book LL4. and whenever you scan into LL4 you can book again, or wait til 3:15. (of course this is a perfect scenario where you can find earlier return times, but depending on ride selection isn't impossible)

 

[Disturbia]

Actually we're wanting to go after Thanksgiving

Just avoid Dec 2-4 (see Dec thread for details)

https://www.disboards.com/threads/official-december-2022-thread.3870949/

 

[FunnyLady1966]

Just avoid Dec 2-4 (see Dec thread for details)

https://www.disboards.com/threads/official-december-2022-thread.3870949/

Good tip. We're only going for 5 nights because we're taking SIL and GS out of school and SIL is a teacher so they really can't take off too much time right before Christmas break.

 

[Disturbia]

This is correct. 3pm is kinda late so it probably woudn't matter because at say MK with current park hours you would already be able to book 4 LL by 3pm, the following is what I was talking about:

LL1- 7am book - Jungle Cruise at 1:15 pm
LL2- 11am (2hrs after MK opens) - Space Mtn. at 2:30
LL3 - 1pm book - Splash Mtn. at 4:30

Now you scan into Jungle Cruise at 1:15and Space at 2:30 you cannot book LL4 yet, you have to wait two hours after the LL3 at 1pm. so 3:00 is when you can book again. Now if you do it this way:

LL1- 7am book - Jungle Cruise at 4:30 pm
LL2- 11am (2hrs after MK opens) - Space Mtn. at 2:30
LL3 - 1pm book - Splash Mtn. at 1:15

now at 1:15 after you scan into splash you can book LL4. and whenever you scan into LL4 you can book again, or wait til 3:15. (of course this is a perfect scenario where you can find earlier return times, but depending on ride selection isn't impossible)

Problem I see is JC not going up to 4 pm. Some days it goes up to 11-2 pm at 7 am. The hardest to book was POC (had to refresh for over an hour to get that time; I had to cancel when the time jumped to late afternoon when I clicked noon; the cancellation button (3 dots on the right) didn’t show up for a good 10-15 mins.



The cancellation option is accessed by clicking the 3 dots next to the booking:

 

[NickC]

But GREAT times. That's when you could have an actual itinerary and follow it! Now you're just hoping to do a few of the main attractions in each park.

We were never big planners, but we did have a general plan for each day. It might be something as simple as splitting MK in half over two days. RD BTMRR, then Splash, then PotC, then have a FP+ for Jungle Cruise, followed by HM and lunch at Pecos Bills. Then the next MK day might be RD Space, Buzz, People Mover, FP+ for 7DMT, then Winnie the Pooh, then lunch at Pinocchios. After lunch, we would just go where ever the day took us.

We tried to keep this system on our trip last month, but it didn't always work out that way. First of all, RD wasn't the same. But, I guess that's for another thread. Short version is that it was much more crowded. With FP+, if we couldn't get the time we wanted, we had a few months to switch up our mornings and figure out a basic plan that worked. We rarely tried for other times. Once it was booked, we went with it. Genie+ was better than we thought it would be, but there are so many variables to consider. Some days, we would have to formulate a plan on the bus to the park. It was as if our day was re-arranged based on one ride. We kind of felt that if something like RotR popped up, we had to hit the 'book' button before we could even consider what we had planned around that time. Otherwise, we might not be able to book it. It all worked out, and we had a fun time, but it was certainly less ride oriented than our previous trips.

This trip, there were a number of newer rides that we haven't done. I think our next trip (whenever that would be) will be less stressful, since we really don't HAVE to go on RotR, Rat and MMRR again. We like to ride all the new stuff, but our favorites are mostly the older rides.

 

[FunnyLady1966]

We were never big planners, but we did have a general plan for each day. It might be something as simple as splitting MK in half over two days. RD BTMRR, then Splash, then PotC, then have a FP+ for Jungle Cruise, followed by HM and lunch at Pecos Bills. Then the next MK day might be RD Space, Buzz, People Mover, FP+ for 7DMT, then Winnie the Pooh, then lunch at Pinocchios. After lunch, we would just go where ever the day took us.

We tried to keep this system on our trip last month, but it didn't always work out that way. First of all, RD wasn't the same. But, I guess that's for another thread. Short version is that it was much more crowded. With FP+, if we couldn't get the time we wanted, we had a few months to switch up our mornings and figure out a basic plan that worked. We rarely tried for other times. Once it was booked, we went with it. Genie+ was better than we thought it would be, but there are so many variables to consider. Some days, we would have to formulate a plan on the bus to the park. It was as if our day was re-arranged based on one ride. We kind of felt that if something like RotR popped up, we had to hit the 'book' button before we could even consider what we had planned around that time. Otherwise, we might not be able to book it. It all worked out, and we had a fun time, but it was certainly less ride oriented than our previous trips.

This trip, there were a number of newer rides that we haven't done. I think our next trip (whenever that would be) will be less stressful, since we really don't HAVE to go on RotR, Rat and MMRR again. We like to ride all the new stuff, but our favorites are mostly the older rides.

I probably did wayyy too much research...but I always had a great itinerary for each park assuring that we would ride and see all the attractions that were a must do for us. But those days are gone now. You made a great point in that there are rides I don't NEED to do each trip. It's been 6 years for me so a LOT has changed and been added so who know with this next trip

 

[NickC]

Our mindset with this trip was that we were OK with missing some stuff. RotR was on our to-do list only because it was new. We missed it entirely on our first DHS day (wrong credit card stored in MDE) and missed it at 7am on our second day. We were able to get it on the bus to the park 10-15 minutes later. When it was our ILLS time, it went down. It worked out well since then we were able to get an anytime LL. It was originally scheduled very close to our ADR at Sci Fi, which, is honestly much higher on our list than RotR. We were able to take our time with lunch, and wander over on our own schedule.

 

[Disturbia]

I don’t know if this has been discussed, but you need to go through the Genie setup to have your preferred rides ‘pinned to the top’ of the tip board.

The day you’re in the park and refreshing the tip board to get an earlier time, you can click on a ride and then hit ‘LL’ and it takes you back to the tip board and each time it refreshes it will automatically scroll down to say Tower of Terror

 

[MinneTinK]

Just back from a week, staying at YC, park hopping. Family of 4, kids 3 & 6. We are fortunate enough to visit quite often so the we don’t feel the pressure to do every single attraction. I was hesitant to purchase G+ but after looking at wait times & reading the boards I added it to our tickets and was SO glad I did. Our touring style is early AM entry/RD, return to resort for lunch/pool/nap, hop to a different park for dinner. Here is our first day at HS, hopping to MK later on:
Wednesday 4/27:
HOllywood studios early entry
7am-booked slinky while walking into park(9:15 return)
7:25-mickeys runaway railroad walk on
Toy story midway mania walk on
Aliens flying saucers walk on
Starbucks & snack break
One man’s dream
9am-met sully
9:15-tap into slinky
Booked smugglers run
Met Pluto
Met doc mcstuffins
Met fancy Nancy
10:30-tap into smugglers run
Booked jungle cruise @ magic kingdom for tonight (7:30)
11:00-left Hollywood studios
By the pool:
12:30-booked Peter Pan (7:15)
2:30-booked Cinderella meet (7:00)
4:30-booked Winnie the Pooh (7:05)
6:30-got to magic kingdom, watched adventure cavalcade
6:45-picked up mobile order dinner
7-Winnie the Pooh
7:15-Cinderella & Elena
7:45-Peter pan
8:15-jungle cruise
8:45-started walking out of park
9-fireworks by exit

 

[Erica Ladd]

Just back from a week, staying at YC, park hopping. Family of 4, kids 3 & 6. We are fortunate enough to visit quite often so the we don’t feel the pressure to do every single attraction. I was hesitant to purchase G+ but after looking at wait times & reading the boards I added it to our tickets and was SO glad I did. Our touring style is early AM entry/RD, return to resort for lunch/pool/nap, hop to a different park for dinner. Here is our first day at HS, hopping to MK later on:
Wednesday 4/27:
HOllywood studios early entry
7am-booked slinky while walking into park(9:15 return)
7:25-mickeys runaway railroad walk on
Toy story midway mania walk on
Aliens flying saucers walk on
Starbucks & snack break
One man’s dream
9am-met sully
9:15-tap into slinky
Booked smugglers run
Met Pluto
Met doc mcstuffins
Met fancy Nancy
10:30-tap into smugglers run
Booked jungle cruise @ magic kingdom for tonight (7:30)
11:00-left Hollywood studios
By the pool:
12:30-booked Peter Pan (7:15)
2:30-booked Cinderella meet (7:00)
4:30-booked Winnie the Pooh (7:05)
6:30-got to magic kingdom, watched adventure cavalcade
6:45-picked up mobile order dinner
7-Winnie the Pooh
7:15-Cinderella & Elena
7:45-Peter pan
8:15-jungle cruise
8:45-started walking out of park
9-fireworks by exit

We are thinking of doing MK after HS. Sounds very doable!!

 

[closetmickey]

Yes, this happens daily. The way the system is set up everyone is eligible at 7AM to book LL reservations and have no choice of return times so all clicking at 7AM see the same return time. It’s a poorly designed system which needs a lot of work to make it more user friendly.

How have the parks been dealing with this? For example you click on a time earlier in the day that works for you and then you are actually given a later time that may conflict with an ADR?

 

[LetsTalkWDW]

Question: Do you have to actually be in the Park for the 120 minute rule to apply?
I'm wondering, for example, at MK. If I book a LL+ reservation for Jungle Cruise at 7:00pm and we decide to stay at hotel for the morning. If MK opens at 9:00am, will I be able to book an additional LL+ at 11:00am from the hotel without ever entering the park?

 

[DisneySyd]

Question: Do you have to actually be in the Park for the 120 minute rule to apply?
I'm wondering, for example, at MK. If I book a LL+ reservation for Jungle Cruise at 7:00pm and we decide to stay at hotel for the morning. If MK opens at 9:00am, will I be able to book an additional LL+ at 11:00am from the hotel without ever entering the park?

You do not have to be in the park. Yes, you can book additional LL from your hotel. We did it all the time (stacked) and entered the parks in the afternoon with 4/5 rides lined up.

 

[DisneySyd]

How have the parks been dealing with this? For example you click on a time earlier in the day that works for you and then you are actually given a later time that may conflict with an ADR?

If you go to the blue umbrellas (guest experience team) they will either adjust the specific time or give you a ride anytime pass. Some people have also had success getting this done at the front desk of their hotel. Finally, the CMs at the ride will normally let you on AFTER (usually not before) your ride window if you show your ADR reservation/bill. Definitely don’t miss your ADR (harder to fit you into a full restaurant vs a ride)

 

[piccolopat]

We're just back and made good use of Genie+. I booked our first Genie+ and ILL at or shortly after 7 in the windows noted on these boards. We had to refresh a number of times to get our ILL for RotR and Remy but it was easier for FOP. We didn't bother with 7DMT. I didn't want to be glued to my phone all day and so every time I booked a Genie+ I set an alarm on my phone for 5 minutes before my next window would be open. I used that 5 minutes to see what times were available for rides we were interested in and then booked the one that worked best for us at the time. We did a LOT more walking this trip - over 80 miles. Most of that was the crisscrossing that now happens with Genie+. We were always able to group our 3 preselected FP+ around dining and that cut down on walking quite a bit.

Oh, and I only put 1 or 2 rides pinned at the top at any time. Once I booked a Genie+ for one, it was deleted and replaced with my next priority. Saved a lot of scrolling.

 

[orangecuse]

So if we are going for a later in the day Frozen or testtrack, can we do that by selecting it at 7? Or will we need to wait past 7 for the time to drop? Hoping for 3ish!

 

[g-dad66]

According to thrill-data.com, both Frozen and Test Track reached 3:00 LL time at about 9:00 this morning.

 

[SLThomas318]

So I saw in another thread someone was only allowed to book a group of 10 for genie, not 12. They mentioned it could be a glitch.... anyone else able to do a larger group recently? We have 11 in November and I can't imagine trying to coordinate 2 groups of genie+ bookings...

 

[orangecuse]

According to thrill-data.com, both Frozen and Test Track reached 3:00 LL time at about 9:00 this morning.

Oh wow thats a lot later than I was expecting! I am guessing waiting until 9 would mess up my ability to book again at 10:30 and Id need to wait to 11. I will have to think about that!

Does anyone know if I had to delay my first selection to say 8:15 if I could atill book at 10:30 (2 hours post park open)? It seems like I should be able to but I just want to confirm

 

[g-dad66]

Oh wow thats a lot later than I was expecting! I am guessing waiting until 9 would mess up my ability to book again at 10:30 and Id need to wait to 11. I will have to think about that!

Does anyone know if I had to delay my first selection to say 8:15 if I could atill book at 10:30 (2 hours post park open)? It seems like I should be able to but I just want to confirm

Yes, if park opens at 8:30, and if you book first LL by 8:30, then you will be eligible to book LL#2 at 10:30.