To stack or not to stack. that is the question

[princesslover]

Hi everyone!

I apologize if this question has been asked and answered in different threads. We are headed to Disney June 19-29 and pre purchased Genie+ for our entire stay. I understand the basics of stacking and it seems to me it is beneficial to Hollywood studios due to the popularity of attractions and selling out early.

What about Magic Kingdom and Epcot? Are there any advantages to stacking there? We also have PH’s so could stack for a different park later in the evening.

Where and when have people employed this strategy with the most success? Thanks in advance!!!

 

[tofubeast]

I've read many times here about people having success doing rope drop at AK and working on a nice stack for the other parks for afternoon/night.

For a stack to work with genie+ you have to time them right for later in the day. I had decent success with stacking at DHS for late afternoon/night on the day I was driving up from S. FL last month. I started with 7am. Hit the road. Timed the next genie perfectly at a FL rest stop and timed others while by resort pool.

 

[scrappinginontario]

We stacked a few days as we found it offered us the option of having quieter mornings (or going to Disney Springs) then would go to the park where we had stacked our return times, later in the day. We did this for both MK and DHS which are the only 2 parks we purchased G+ for.

 

[3gr8boys]

On our trip earlier this month, we didn't start stacking late-afternoon/evening LLs (some days for same park, some days for one we would hop to) until we had exhausted high value "coming up before too long" LLs. We started our HS, MK and Epcot day(s) with the goal of our priority genie+ as early as possible and worked from there. (Our AK approach was different because we were working around an 11:00a.m. tour and not wanting to rush to the park in the morning). We got so much done in our 6 days without spending time in lines, and were able to ride some favorites twice in one day (TOT, BTMRR, SM....), using Genie+

If we had wanted to prioritize pool time or visit DS, I may have tried stacking right out of the gate and then not gone to the parks in the a.m. OR had some a.m. park time but then a resort/DS break.

ETA- we arrived at HS for ETPE one morning and around official opening another, we arrived at MK for ETPE both MK days, we slept in a little on our Epcot and AK mornings.

 

[Orsino]

I would say stack is the default for DHS anyway since it is very hard to get a high priority LL for the first 2 hours of the park day. At that point, you *have* to wait the 2 hours, so you might as well stack for the afternoon. DHS was often our 'hop to' destination for this reason.

MK I think you can do either. We used to be rope-drop people, but on our last trip we shifted to afternoon arrivals (we had 2 rope drop fails due to broken rides) and stacking worked best for us there. One late morning I did a hybrid, were I was stacking for the evening, but happened to enter Epcot at 11AM so I grabbed a Spaceship Earth G+ for 11:05AM then continued my stacking after scanning in.

Stack, but look for opportunities once you are in a park.

 

[trishadono]

Hi everyone!

I apologize if this question has been asked and answered in different threads. We are headed to Disney June 19-29 and pre purchased Genie+ for our entire stay. I understand the basics of stacking and it seems to me it is beneficial to Hollywood studios due to the popularity of attractions and selling out early.

What about Magic Kingdom and Epcot? Are there any advantages to stacking there? We also have PH’s so could stack for a different park later in the evening.

Where and when have people employed this strategy with the most success? Thanks in advance!!!

I used most of our G+ as stacking 2nd park. One night I had 4 rides from 8:45-10pm with 10pm closing. That was AWESOME!

Other times I use one for morning park then start stacking as soon as we use that. I also have purchased ILL for one of the 2 parks and even a 3rd. Its easy enough to hop HS to Epcot if a ride pops up I am interested in.

Note : if you try to book a ride time before 2pm for a park you will hop to it will change your time to after 2p.

 

[Naomeri]

I had a spectacular stacking day on my last trip. On Sunday April 3rd, I had Epcot reserved (because I needed to cut through to get to a lunch res at Beaches & Cream), and then I was planning on hopping to AK, followed by MK. I chose AK for my 7am selection (Safari) and ILL (FoP) and got both of them for 2-3pm (since I was hopping, it automatically moved my times to the earliest I could get there). And since AK opened at 7:30 that morning, I was able to make my first MK selection at 9:30, way ahead of all the MK people. I stacked up (in no particular order) Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Buzz, Laugh Floor, Small World, Little Mermaid, and Barnstormer. I could’ve had a Splash or Big Thunder thrown in there, but I had started my day at 2 am for the Tower of Terror 10 Miler and just didn’t have the energy.

 

[princesslover]

I had a spectacular stacking day on my last trip. On Sunday April 3rd, I had Epcot reserved (because I needed to cut through to get to a lunch res at Beaches & Cream), and then I was planning on hopping to AK, followed by MK. I chose AK for my 7am selection (Safari) and ILL (FoP) and got both of them for 2-3pm (since I was hopping, it automatically moved my times to the earliest I could get there). And since AK opened at 7:30 that morning, I was able to make my first MK selection at 9:30, way ahead of all the MK people. I stacked up (in no particular order) Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Buzz, Laugh Floor, Small World, Little Mermaid, and Barnstormer. I could’ve had a Splash or Big Thunder thrown in there, but I had started my day at 2 am for the Tower of Terror 10 Miler and just didn’t have the energy.

Can you elaborate a bit more on the part about AK opening at 7:30 so that enabled you to be ahead of the other MK people? I’m not wapping my head around that.

 

[princesslover]

On our trip earlier this month, we didn't start stacking late-afternoon/evening LLs (some days for same park, some days for one we would hop to) until we had exhausted high value "coming up before too long" LLs. We started our HS, MK and Epcot day(s) with the goal of our priority genie+ as early as possible and worked from there. (Our AK approach was different because we were working around an 11:00a.m. tour and not wanting to rush to the park in the morning). We got so much done in our 6 days without spending time in lines, and were able to ride some favorites twice in one day (TOT, BTMRR, SM....), using Genie+

If we had wanted to prioritize pool time or visit DS, I may have tried stacking right out of the gate and then not gone to the parks in the a.m. OR have some a.m. park time but then a resort/DS break.

ETA- we arrived at HS for ETPE one morning and around official opening another, we arrived at MK for ETPE both MK days, we slept in a little on our Epcot and AK mornings.

My only concern with the “hybrid” strategy is the HS attractions being “sold out.” I would probably not dare push that too far.

 

[princesslover]

We stacked a few days as we found it offered us the option of having quieter mornings (or going to Disney Springs) then would go to the park where we had stacked our return times, later in the day. We did this for both MK and DHS which are the only 2 parks we purchased G+ for.

On our MK days, I’m toying with the idea of RDing MK then using our 7:00 am G+ and perhaps 1 or 2 more. Then boating back to resort (staying at WL/Copper Creek) to rest and stacking for HS or possibly Epcot later.

 

[3gr8boys]

My only concern with the “hybrid” strategy is the HS attractions being “sold out.” I would probably not dare push that too far.

Yes, HS is the riskiest park when it comes to genie+ strategies. We were going to have at least one and a half HS days, so I had some wiggle room to make up for things potentially missed day one. For context, my family would choose skipping an attraction over standing in line for almost everything.

Our first HS day I had a 10:30ish ROTR and noonish MFSR set up between 7:00 and 7:20. At the 120 past park open I got a TOT (really don't remember the window) and when we tapped in to MFSR I got a TSMM. The next time we were eligible I set about refreshing instead of booking something low-impact and eventually snagged a SDD. A few times MMRR popped up but then disappeared before I could grab 'em. We arrived for ETPE (RnR&TOT first thing) and worked through the day riding headliners (except MMRR) without standby lines (TOT twice and RnRR twice- I can't remember if the second RnR was LL or single rider) and filling the rest of the time with meals, shows, almost-no-wait attractions, snacks, Oga's and Savi's. We did MMRR just after park open on our second day and had TOT and TSMM LLs before grabbing LLs for our afternoon at Epcot.

ETA we never did Alien Swirling Saucers, no one wanted to

 

[Naomeri]

Can you elaborate a bit more on the part about AK opening at 7:30 so that enabled you to be ahead of the other MK people? I’m not wapping my head around that.

The rules of G+ let you make your next selection after 7am two hours after the park opens (or after you tap into your most recent LL selection, whichever happens first). Since AK opened at 7:30, and MK opened at 8:30, people who picked an AK ride at 7am got to make their next selection at 9:30 (and every 2 hours thereafter), and people who picked an MK ride at 7am got to make their next selection at 10:30 (and every 2 hours thereafter).

 

[LiveLikeJack&Sally]

We used the stacking method on two of our park days the last week in March. On arrival day while driving down we started booking at 7am for later afternoon at MK and continued doing that all day long. Set a timer and kept picking times for evening back at MK. Got to MK around 1pm and did our first LL (Pirates) and then hopped to Epcot for lunch. Then checked into room. Back at MK in evening and had LL for HM, BTMR, Pooh and Buzz. We had also purchased SDMT at 7am for evening time as well. We also stacked our HS evening as we rope dropped AK in morning and went to Navi standby, Safari standby, and we had purchased FOP. We only used our picks that day for evening as HS. We had gotten SDD as our first pick and then MFSR, TSMM and also had purchased ROTR (at 7:17am drop). It made for a great evening at HS!

 

[3gr8boys]

The rules of G+ let you make your next selection after 7am two hours after the park opens (or after you tap into your most recent LL selection, whichever happens first). Since AK opened at 7:30, and MK opened at 8:30, people who picked an AK ride at 7am got to make their next selection at 9:30 (and every 2 hours thereafter), and people who picked an MK ride at 7am got to make their next selection at 10:30 (and every 2 hours thereafter).

The other way to have better options, at least with your second (or third??) genie+ of the day, is to have a LL window that opens prior to the two-hour-after-park-opens time. If you tap in and make your next selection before folks whose first selection had a later window (and won't be eligible until two-hours-after-park-open) , you have more attractions and/or earlier times to choose from. This is helpful if you are maximizing morning park LLs or at least trying to get some in before stacking for the evening.

 

[RunWI1265]

I had a spectacular stacking day on my last trip. On Sunday April 3rd, I had Epcot reserved (because I needed to cut through to get to a lunch res at Beaches & Cream), and then I was planning on hopping to AK, followed by MK. I chose AK for my 7am selection (Safari) and ILL (FoP) and got both of them for 2-3pm (since I was hopping, it automatically moved my times to the earliest I could get there). And since AK opened at 7:30 that morning, I was able to make my first MK selection at 9:30, way ahead of all the MK people. I stacked up (in no particular order) Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Buzz, Laugh Floor, Small World, Little Mermaid, and Barnstormer. I could’ve had a Splash or Big Thunder thrown in there, but I had started my day at 2 am for the Tower of Terror 10 Miler and just didn’t have the energy.

So the system went by the AK hours because you chose those at 7am despite having Epcot as your first park? I haven't heard of that before. That is awesome info to have, thank you! Congrats on your ToT finish!

 

[princesslover]

The rules of G+ let you make your next selection after 7am two hours after the park opens (or after you tap into your most recent LL selection, whichever happens first). Since AK opened at 7:30, and MK opened at 8:30, people who picked an AK ride at 7am got to make their next selection at 9:30 (and every 2 hours thereafter), and people who picked an MK ride at 7am got to make their next selection at 10:30 (and every 2 hours thereafter).

Ahhh. I didn’t really consider that reserving your 7:00 am at a 7:30 (opening) park would be an advantage for the next selection. That makes sense. Thanks!!

 

[princesslover]

So the system went by the AK hours because you chose those at 7am despite having Epcot as your first park? I haven't heard of that before. That is awesome info to have, thank you! Congrats on your ToT finish!

I guess I didn’t understand that either and I thought I was pretty well studied on G+.

 

[princesslover]

Yes, HS is the riskiest park when it comes to genie+ strategies. We were going to have at least one and a half HS days, so I had some wiggle room to make up for things potentially missed day one. For context, my family would choose skipping an attraction over standing in line for almost everything.

Our first HS day I had a 10:30ish ROTR and noonish MFSR set up between 7:00 and 7:20. At the 120 past park open I got a TOT (really don't remember the window) and when we tapped in to MFSR I got a TSMM. The next time we were eligible I set about refreshing instead of booking something low-impact and eventually snagged a SDD. A few times MMRR popped up but then disappeared before I could grab 'em. We arrived for ETPE (RnR&TOT first thing) and worked through the day riding headliners (except MMRR) without standby lines (TOT twice and RnRR twice- I can't remember if the second RnR was LL or single rider) and filling the rest of the time with meals, shows, almost-no-wait attractions, snacks, Oga's and Savi's. We did MMRR just after park open on our second day and had TOT and TSMM LLs before grabbing LLs for our afternoon at Epcot.

ETA we never did Alien Swirling Saucers, no one wanted to

This sounds like perfect HS days! I should screenshot your post for reference! For reference, HS is, by far, our favorite park. We have two days scheduled there. I’m hopeful we will have similar successes!

 

[WxKristin]

So the system went by the AK hours because you chose those at 7am despite having Epcot as your first park? I haven't heard of that before. That is awesome info to have, thank you! Congrats on your ToT finish!

This is really helpful to know. I had assumed it was based on your "reserved" park opening time and not the park your first genie+ selection for the two hour window after opening.

 

[SL6827]

We have never park hopped on any of trips, always just rope dropped, left around 1 pm and returned to the same park around 6 or 7 pm. But I am now thinking with G+ here park hopping will be a good advantage to utilize.

We could now continue to rope drop every morning and book our LLs for later in the evening at a different park. Boy this will be a different approach for us when we return to the parks most likely in 2024.