To stack or not to stack. that is the question

[Naomeri]

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!

Yeah, it worked out perfectly for me, since I wasn’t going to really be doing the parks until after lunch. And thank you!

 

[3gr8boys]

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!

We really used Genie+ to our advantage in every park and had a great trip. Like you, I spent valuable time on the Disboards ahead of travel. FWIW, I think using Genie+ feels different to different people. I was comfortable with how it works from the get go and, what seems like work to some (understandably) actually felt like a fun challenge to me. In our group it was almost a competitive game to see who could get the best LL with refreshing. My 15 year old still talks about the afternoon that he scored two "sold out" LLs late in the day. (Of course, I was on my own with the 7:00-7:20 a.m. part of it )

I posted this after our trip:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/h...-including-park-hopping.3807247/post-63923788

 

[princesslover]

We really used Genie+ to our advantage in every park and had a great trip. Like you, I spent valuable time on the Disboards ahead of travel. FWIW, I think using Genie+ feels different to different people. I was comfortable with how it works from the get go and, what seems like work to some (understandably) actually felt like a fun challenge to me. In our group it was almost a competitive game to see who could get the best LL with refreshing. My 15 year old still talks about the afternoon that he scored two "sold out" LLs late in the day. (Of course, I was on my own with the 7:00-7:20 a.m. part of it )

I posted this after our trip:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/h...-including-park-hopping.3807247/post-63923788

A couple of things I learned from your post. I didn’t realize you could “pin” attractions on the tip board. I also forgot was a 2nd “drop” at 7:20ish. (I vaguely remember this being discussed at one point but had forgotten).

Would you say the hybrid method worked out well for you then? Starting with a “must do” in your first park, tapping into that (or waiting 2 hours) and then continuing to do that for the morning before beginning LL’s for park #2?

I also see this as more of a fun game/challenge. Even with the old FP system, there was something fun about searching for that 3rd or 4th FP (after our initial 3).

 

[3gr8boys]

A couple of things I learned from your post. I didn’t realize you could “pin” attractions on the tip board. I also forgot was a 2nd “drop” at 7:20ish. (I vaguely remember this being discussed at one point but had forgotten).

Would you say the hybrid method worked out well for you then? Starting with a “must do” in your first park, tapping into that (or waiting 2 hours) and then continuing to do that for the morning before beginning LL’s for park #2?

I also see this as more of a fun game/challenge. Even with the old FP system, there was something fun about searching for that 3rd or 4th FP (after our initial 3).

Editing your "My Day" attraction choices throughout the day is critical throughout the day almost no matter which genie+ strategy you are using. Less scrolling is less work AND increases your chance of getting the shown LL window...not to mention gives you a better shot when an elusive "sold out" LL suddenly appears.

What strategy is best is partially group dependent. We do not use touring plans. We really do not like to spend time in line when there is so much else to do. We did not want to have to RD every morning or plan on getting in end of the night lines as a way to avoid long waits. We really did decide one day at a time what our Genie+ priority was (based on want, not difficulty of obtaining) and what time we thought we should arrive at the park. Because we were trying to avoid lines, period, it just made more sense for us to start with morning LLs and try to keep booking them through the day. Once tap-in-soon LLs were gone, we switched to refreshing instead of booking LLs we didn't really need. It was definitely the best strategy for us. (We ended up spending every day, all day, enjoying parks rather than taking resort breaks.)

ETA - "refreshing instead of booking LLS we didn't really need" could mean looking for LLs in current park OR in park we would be hopping to

 

[princesslover]

Editing your "My Day" attraction choices throughout the day is critical throughout the day almost no matter which genie+ strategy you are using. Less scrolling is less work AND increases your chance of getting the shown LL window...not to mention gives you a better shot when an elusive "sold out" LL suddenly appears.

What strategy is best is partially group dependent. We do not use touring plans. We really do not like to spend time in line when there is so much else to do. We did not want to have to RD every morning or plan on getting in end of the night lines as a way to avoid long waits. We really did decide one day at a time what our Genie+ priority was (based on want, not difficulty of obtaining) and what time we thought we should arrive at the park. Because we were trying to avoid lines, period, it just made more sense for us to start with morning LLs and try to keep booking them through the day. Once tap-in-soon LLs were gone, we switched to refreshing instead of booking LLs we didn't really need. It was definitely the best strategy for us. (We ended up spending every day, all day, enjoying parks rather than taking resort breaks.)

Ok, I think I misread a part of your post or was confusing you with someone else because I was thinking you park hopped. Your experience with refreshing is helpful. I do think to maximize Genie+, you need to be willing to play with the app.

Right now, I think our strategy will be to switch to stacking mode by 11:00 or 1:00 when we know we are hopping later. Otherwise, there is no sense in hopping. I also don’t see us staying in the first park past noon anyway (we are New Englanders who don’t enjoy the Florida summer heat!) I’m going to keep an eye on when things start to run out, especially HS.

We will probably rest/enjoy the pool back at the resort for the afternoon and head back out to park#2 to pick up the ones we stacked. This all sounds so good in theory….we’ll see!

 

[3gr8boys]

Ok, I think I misread a part of your post or was confusing you with someone else because I was thinking you park hopped. Your experience with refreshing is helpful. I do think to maximize Genie+, you need to be willing to play with the app.

Right now, I think our strategy will be to switch to stacking mode by 11:00 or 1:00 when we know we are hopping later. Otherwise, there is no sense in hopping. I also don’t see us staying in the first park past noon anyway (we are New Englanders who don’t enjoy the Florida summer heat!) I’m going to keep an eye on when things start to run out, especially HS.

We will probably rest/enjoy the pool back at the resort and head back out to park#2 to pick up the ones we stacked. This all sounds so good in theory….we’ll see!

We do hop. 4 days out of 6 last trip. Used same Genie+ strategy all 6 days.

 

[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.

Scrap this idea now. Today, to add the PH to our tickets is $275!!! To add one more day, $147 or two more days, $219. I will just add at least one more day to them. $275 for PH is insane. I will have to learn the as you go during the day method.

 

[JBA28]

I just wanted to say thank you for posting this. It's been only a couple years since our last trip to Disney and with all the changes, it helps to read these comments and learn how the new systems work! Good luck to you

 

[princesslover]

I just wanted to say thank you for posting this. It's been only a couple years since our last trip to Disney and with all the changes, it helps to read these comments and learn how the new systems work! Good luck to you

You are welcome! Our trip is in June and I feel like I’m going to be studying these Genie threads as if I were preparing for a final exam, (which I kind of am! )

 

[Mambo Junkie]

We studied the wait times for the attractions at each park and decided to stack. We had some learning curves on day 1, but by our HS day we had it down. Started at 7 am and grabbed 2 SDD and 4 ToT (granddaughters wanted to do SDD). Staying offsite, had to wait until 8:30 and grabbed an evening $LL for RotR. Next, we went for MMRR, then MFSR, then TSMM. We had pool time until time to get ready to go around 12:00. We actually got to the park at 1:00 PM and watched Indiana Jones at 1:15, then Beauty/Beast at 2:00. Our G+ for ToT was 2:40, so we went over to the Cars show, then ToT. (RnRC was broken down most of the day so we didn't even try for that). By the time we got off ToT it was time for MMRR, then time for SDD - except it was down, so we watched the Mickey and Minnie shorts, then went to S Tours. Finished there, time for Mama Melrose. After dinner, time for RotR except it was down - so we walked over and did Muppets, then MFSR. (after SDD went down we dropped the TSMM and grabbed a later time, so we weren't running all over the park). Finished MFSR, and RotR was back up, so we hopped on that. Time for TSMM, except DGD left her ipod on Rise, so parents went back - successful find. Hopped on TSMM and got off in time to do 1 more attraction before the park closed. Almost no line for SDD but we had done it 2 days prior so the Grands decided to do MMRR again, and the park closed. Except we had after-hours reservations for Ogas, so we were able to walk through a practically empty park and unwind at Ogas. Great day. Opted not to do: RnRC (down too much), AS2 (too rough), SDD (had done it previously), and Frozen Sing along (girls just weren't interested last time we saw it). Oh, yes, we also walked into One Man's Dream while walking back to ST earlier in the day.
If I had it to do all over again, I would drop the Mama Melrose dinner. Not that there was anything else we'd rather do, it just wasn't worth losing park time. There was something else we could have done again, like MFSR. (We will let the girls do SDD together, but we think they're too young to use Single Rider).
ETA: As for grabbing an attraction, then going for another G+ after you tap, we found the earlier available rides weren't a long wait anyway. We decided to go for saving time vs quantity. We are a family that doesn't like to plan, though we have to these days, but loosely if at all possible. We also are a peculiarity in that we don't think a 20 minute or less wait time is a big deal. We would rather use the G+ to get the attractions with the super long wait times. Refresh is also your friend. The only attraction I wasn't able to make magically appear through refresh was Jungle Cruise. Of course, there were some we already had so we didn't try for them. This is just our touring style, though. Others find different touring styles work best for them.
We only bought G+ for MK and DHS. We also don't hop any more.