The Genie Usage, Tips and Strategy ONLY Thread

[scrappinginontario]

I’m glad to see this thread still active after all this time!

Chiming in with my best tip/strategy. We’ve had good experience with booking G+ LLs for rides that show as down. It’s like a golden ticket, having a LL for a closed attraction converted to an Anytime LL, so I’m always in the lookout for opportunities to book rides that are down for some reason!

We successfully did this at DL. Good tip to know for WDW too.

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Chiming in with my best tip/strategy. We’ve had good experience with booking G+ LLs for rides that show as down. It’s like a golden ticket, having a LL for a closed attraction converted to an Anytime LL, so I’m always in the lookout for opportunities to book rides that are down for some reason!

I’ve never used Genie+ so I’m not sure how this works. If you see a ride that’s down does it still allow you to book a LL? Then does it automatically convert to an anytime LL even if you haven’t tapped in? Do you then get to book another attraction and come back later to use the originally booked ride? Sorry if I’m sounding a bit dim just trying to check I’ve got this straight in my head. I wouldn’t want to rebook a different ride if it meant I lost the original if it was something I really wanted to do if that makes sense.

 

[Disneytrippin']

What is the going rate for Genie+ each day for each park? We have some first timers coming and I know prices have nearly doubled. We are trying to gently explain the added price of convenience.

We leave in two weeks. I am trying to see if we can skip using Genie+ on a day or two. I think with early entry to Animal Kingdom that is doable that day?

 

[Disturbia]

What is the going rate for Genie+ each day for each park? We have some first timers coming and I know prices have nearly doubled. We are trying to gently explain the added price of convenience.

We leave in two weeks. I am trying to see if we can skip using Genie+ on a day or two. I think with early entry to Animal Kingdom that is doable that day?

The prices during holidays (closer to Memorial Day) will be $25-39 range per person. Genie+ does sell out.

https://www.thrill-data.com/lightning-lane/wdw/price-history

If you’re going to AK on a weekday away from Memorial Day weekend you can get away with riding FOP and Navi during early entry. You need to be at the gates 30-40 mins early and transportation can take the same time depending on where you’re staying (AK lodge transportation is quickest but buses will have long lines in the morning).

If staying at a deluxe resort AK (and HS) sometimes has extended evening hours (select dates in Nov/Dec)

https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2023...g-hours-are-coming-to-disneys-animal-kingdom/

 

[Disneytrippin']

The prices during holidays (closer to Memorial Day) will be $25-39 range per person. Genie+ does sell out.

https://www.thrill-data.com/lightning-lane/wdw/price-history

If you’re going to AK on a weekday away from Memorial Day weekend you can get away with riding FOP and Navi during early entry. You need to be at the gates 30-40 mins early and transportation can take the same time depending on where you’re staying (AK lodge transportation is quickest but buses will have long lines in the morning).

If staying at a deluxe resort AK (and HS) sometimes has extended evening hours (select dates in Dec)

https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2023...g-hours-are-coming-to-disneys-animal-kingdom/

Thank you. You're the best! Just when I think I know enough I find some tidbit of information from somebody else. We are probably going to just take an uber that day. I booked us an early breakfast that day before I knew about the hours. We can probably rope drop Pandora and then go to breakfast for sure.
That day we plan on leaving in the afternoon to get some rest before going to MK after hours. Ak opens at 7:30 early entry. It is going to be quite the day.
We watch both of those Vlogs all the time. I didn't see the new one from Park Prodigy. We will watch that during breakfast today.
Thanks again!

 

[Tom_E_D]

I’ve never used Genie+ so I’m not sure how this works. If you see a ride that’s down does it still allow you to book a LL? Then does it automatically convert to an anytime LL even if you haven’t tapped in? Do you then get to book another attraction and come back later to use the originally booked ride? Sorry if I’m sounding a bit dim just trying to check I’ve got this straight in my head. I wouldn’t want to rebook a different ride if it meant I lost the original if it was something I really wanted to do if that makes sense.

Sometimes, but not always, MDE will allow future bookings of an attraction that is then down. I think it allows it more often than it doesn't. It may depend on how long they expect the attraction to be down for. If the attraction remains down when your return time comes, it should automatically convert the LL for that attraction to an anytime LL (also known as an MEP and by other terms). Sometimes, it will convert it even before the return time begins. If that was your most-recently-booked LL attraction, you will also then be allowed to book another LL right away. The anytime LL can always be used for the attraction that went down, as well as other attractions. It will tell you which ones it can be used for. It won't be all attractions though. Booking another LL attraction will not remove your anytime LL. Tapping into the lightning lane for another ride that accepts that anytime LL, and for which you do not have a LL for that ride would, however, use up the anytime LL, So, the potential problem isn't with booking another LL; it's with tapping into one. If you are careful about tapping in to the lightning lane only for those rides that you have a LL for that ride, you should be able to hold onto your anytime LL until you can use it for the ride of your choice.

Edit: I'm using LL to mean Genie+ lightning lane reservation, not the lightning lane itself.
You do not have to have tapped in to the ride that went down to be given an anytime LL.

 

[bluezy]

What is the going rate for Genie+ each day for each park? We have some first timers coming and I know prices have nearly doubled. We are trying to gently explain the added price of convenience.

We leave in two weeks. I am trying to see if we can skip using Genie+ on a day or two. I think with early entry to Animal Kingdom that is doable that day?

You can check the price on your MDE app every day. Just click on "learn more" or "purchase" on the Genie+ bar on the opening page and you'll see the prices for that day. You don't have to be on property or even have a reservation to check the prices. Today's prices are:

 

[SuzyQue]

You can check the price on your MDE app every day. Just click on "learn more" or "purchase" on the Genie+ bar on the opening page and you'll see the prices for that day. You don't have to be on property or even have a reservation to check the prices. Today's prices are:

View attachment 855132

I'm really surprised to see those prices today as we paid those same prices during President's week this year!

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Sometimes, but not always, MDE will allow future bookings of an attraction that is then down. I think it allows it more often than it doesn't. It may depend on how long they expect the attraction to be down for. If the attraction remains down when your return time comes, it should automatically convert the LL for that attraction to an anytime LL (also known as an MEP and by other terms). Sometimes, it will convert it even before the return time begins. If that was your most-recently-booked LL attraction, you will also then be allowed to book another LL right away. The anytime LL can always be used for the attraction that went down, as well as other attractions. It will tell you which ones it can be used for. It won't be all attractions though. Booking another LL attraction will not remove your anytime LL. Tapping into the lightning lane for another ride that accepts that anytime LL, and for which you do not have a LL for that ride would, however, use up the anytime LL, So, the potential problem isn't with booking another LL; it's with tapping into one. If you are careful about tapping in to the lightning lane only for those rides that you have a LL for that ride, you should be able to hold onto your anytime LL until you can use it for the ride of your choice.

Edit: I'm using LL to mean Genie+ lightning lane reservation, not the lightning lane itself.
You do not have to have tapped in to the ride that went down to be given an anytime LL.

Thank you

 

[Sjm9911]

You can check the price on your MDE app every day. Just click on "learn more" or "purchase" on the Genie+ bar on the opening page and you'll see the prices for that day. You don't have to be on property or even have a reservation to check the prices. Today's prices are:

View attachment 855132

Yea, that sucks as beforehand you could book G+ throughout you stay far in advance. Now you have to wait to book and to see what it costs.

 

[bluezy]

Yea, that sucks as beforehand you could book G+ throughout you stay far in advance. Now you have to wait to book and to see what it costs.

Yes, I really enjoyed being able to purchase Genie+ for our length of stay months before we even arrived on property. They changed that about 2 weeks before we arrived on our last trip. I was really glad we had purchased it in advance. I'm not looking forward to having to do that on a daily basis on our trip this summer -- especially since I'll probably be the person doing the 7:00 a.m. LL/ILL scheduler for our group of 13. Now I'll also need to make sure that everyone has purchased G+ for the day prior to about 6:50 a.m. so that I have time to call them and remind them to do that so I can schedule at 7:00. I have visions of me needing to buy G+ for other people some days just so I can do the scheduling at 7:00....or maybe I'll just make the rule that if you haven't purchase it by 7:00, you're on your own for scheduling and hopefully you can get the same return time as the rest of us.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Yes, I really enjoyed being able to purchase Genie+ for our length of stay months before we even arrived on property. They changed that about 2 weeks before we arrived on our last trip. I was really glad we had purchased it in advance. I'm not looking forward to having to do that on a daily basis on our trip this summer -- especially since I'll probably be the person doing the 7:00 a.m. LL/ILL scheduler for our group of 13. Now I'll also need to make sure that everyone has purchased G+ for the day prior to about 6:50 a.m. so that I have time to call them and remind them to do that so I can schedule at 7:00. I have visions of me needing to buy G+ for other people some days just so I can do the scheduling at 7:00....or maybe I'll just make the rule that if you haven't purchase it by 7:00, you're on your own for scheduling and hopefully you can get the same return time as the rest of us.

I think your second option is a better one as it has potential to become a burden to you. You're offering to book which is huge. They will quickly learn to purchase it if they miss out one day.

One up side to purchasing daily is, you may find you don't really need Genie+ for all the parks. We have not found it worth the cost at AK and not really for Epcot either. It's helpful at Epcot but I cannot justify the cost when purchasing for only that one park. YMMV.

 

[bluezy]

I think your second option is a better one as it has potential to become a burden to you. You're offering to book which is huge. They will quickly learn to purchase it if they miss out one day.

One up side to purchasing daily is, you may find you don't really need Genie+ for all the parks. We have not found it worth the cost at AK and not really for Epcot either. It's helpful at Epcot but I cannot justify the cost when purchasing for only that one park. YMMV.

I'm not really that concerned about the "kids" not buying G+ in time. We'll have a game plan for if that happens (most likely I'll pay for it and they'll just pay me back). But I also don't have a problem letting them suffer if they don't want me to buy it and say they will do it on their own, but don't. We more than got our money's worth out of G+/ILL on the last trip. I agree that we might not need it every day, but I think we will use it most days (oh, who am I kidding, we'll probably buy it every day just for the convenience ). We all agreed that we got on more rides *and* had more relaxation time on that trip than we ever had before (and we were pretty savvy FP+ users. Our FP+ record was 17 in one day at MK. We had even taken a 4 hour break in the afternoon. We could have gotten more FPs, but at that point we we ready to call it a day.). Who knows if we'll be able to repeat our G+ success on our upcoming trip.

We like to have several "sleep in"/non-rope drop days so I know we'll be stacking LLs those days so that we can still do a lot of attractions even though we won't get to the park until late morning or early afternoon.

We're the opposite of you for using it at EP. G+ allowed us to have a very efficient arrival day at EP on our last trip. We didn't get to the park until about 2:30, but we already had 3 LLs and an ILL booked by then and booked a few more while we were in the park. We did all of those rides (I think it was7 total...maybe 8), had dinner, and were back at our hotel by about 9:00 (we made sure to head back to AoA *before* the fireworks were over so we didn't get caught in that line! ).

I think G+ is a little bit like the Dining Plan. Both of them are YMMV situations. Some people can't imagine a good trip without it and others can't imagine paying for something that they won't get their money's worth out of every single day. And some of us are somewhere in the middle. I suspect we will use G+ every day on this trip, but it's nice to have the option to be flexible and only buy it if we think we will need it. It would still be nice to be able to buy it prior to the day you want to use it, though. I know we will use it one day at each of the parks. I'd love to be able to purchase those days now (or even a few days ahead of time) rather than having to do it each day. The other days are still up in the air as to what we'll be doing and if we'll need it, so it is nice to have the flexibility to wait until that day to purchase it.

AK is the one park I'm not sure about yet. I did like that last time we did rope drop and schedule a few LLs/ILLs there and were able to leave the park having done everything we wanted to (including most of us having done FOP twice) by about 1:00. That allowed us a nice long afternoon break and we headed to MK for the evening where we had some LLs scheduled and also did several speedy standby lines during the fireworks (which we watched a different night). <sigh> So much to think about....(which is probably why I really liked just having G+ purchased in advance for every day of our stay last time. )

 

[ekendall2]

ok...help me out here people...

Why is it beneficial to stack genie plus when I can just keep using it quicker than every two hours?

 

[Mardigras2025]

ok...help me out here people...

Why is it beneficial to stack genie plus when I can just keep using it quicker than every two hours?

I would like to know others thoughts as well for my planning purposes. But here’s what I gather: stacking is mostly for people that won’t be there in the morning or are hopping from another park. It also could be used if you want to try to aim to be in certain parts of the park in the afternoon. I think it also could be helpful if you have a lot of good LLs stacked in the afternoon when the park is potentially busiest, then in the early morning you are doing standby lines or just enjoying the atmosphere or sleeping in. But it does seem like you might get fewer lanes overall with stacking, but I could be wrong.

 

[scrappinginontario]

ok...help me out here people...

Why is it beneficial to stack genie plus when I can just keep using it quicker than every two hours?

Some LL attractions fill quickly (Slinky Dog Dash, Jungle Cruise, Peter Pan) so, if you wait you may miss out as it will be full for the day and will need to ride that attraction by waiting in the standby queue. Also, because those fill quickly, by shortly after 7AM the return time might be late afternoon or even evening.

The reason we sometimes stack is we ride attractions with short waits in the morning while stacking for rides that will have longer waits in the evening. We take advantage of lower wait times in the morning.

There are pros and cons to both methods and it really is personal choice. We also switch things up from day to day.

 

[pens4821]

ok...help me out here people...

Why is it beneficial to stack genie plus when I can just keep using it quicker than every two hours?

We stack since we use it for our second park. We rope drop one park, ride some rides, take a break, then head to park two. Then you can ride 5+ rides in order using genie. Sometimes we may book one for the morning park if we are planning on doing a lot, then start stacking.

We also find that there’s rarely a ride we want to ride that is available instantaneously. Maybe in the morning, or for a lesser ride, but we feel like most are atleast an hour plus later than when you book. I’d rather just stack and be able to use them back to back (etc) in the evening.

Not saying our way is the right way. It’s just what we feel works the best for us.

 

[bluezy]

ok...help me out here people...

Why is it beneficial to stack genie plus when I can just keep using it quicker than every two hours?

Like others have said, we stack rides for afternoons/evenings mostly on days that we plan to sleep in and not go to a park until after lunch. We'll also do it if we go to a park at rope drop just to hit a few rides and then have plans to hop to a different park later in the day.

On days that we're going to stay in one park we'll schedule LLs based on earliest availability so that we can scan into a ride and immediately schedule the next available ride.