The Genie Usage, Tips and Strategy ONLY Thread

[snikki]

MMRR up $2 today to $10
Avatar up $3 to $14
Frozen and Remy each up $2 to $11
7DMT up $2 to $12
SM up $2 to $9

They weren't lying when they said prices will change.


You aren't waiting in line so it's a big savings. Why use G+ for a headliner. Why not do it during early entry? Here is my plan. At 7am I book my first LL for Test Track for park open. Then at early entry ride Soarin. With that both headliners age done and use G+ for everything else that day. That plan can be used at every park.

With the way return times are going G+ will not be worth it if you aren't rope droppers.

I will not do a headliner at EE. Even when we did RD we would always go the opposite way. The crush of people, the pushing, people running over each other, etc. No thanks. That isn’t fun for us. My daughter isn’t the biggest morning person but she becomes one at WDW. Starting a morning like that would throw her whole day off. It’s not worth the stress for us. We will pay for G+ and ILL for some attractions.

 

[Disturbia]

So with stacking evening Genie+, I could be doing that at say 12 pm and 2 pm from the flight for 5-6 Test track, 6-7 Soarin pm on my travel day. Buy Remy and Frozen stacked (at 7 am) and sit down dinner.

I don‘t have to be scanned in to the park to book the second Genie+?

Could I also book another at 4 pm for 7-8?

 

[LSUfan4444]

I need a ROTR and Slinky Dog strategy. I'm off site in 2 weeks - I have one day that someone is joining me and we are trying to do HS in the morning with a hop to Epcot. With off site I've figured out G+ is useless to me in the morning as the times are gone before I'm even given access (and I don't see that changing). Does anyone see a strategy to get a line pass for either of these 2? Any tips on being off site and getting a shorter wait for ROTR or Slinky?

We are rope dropping (but as day guests). Can I say I really wish not all parks were open 30 minutes early to resort guests EVERY day?

Even off site guests can book G+ attractions beginning at 7 am. Be on the app exactly at 7 am and you should be good to go to book that. You'll have to wait until 9 am to buy Rise and you need to be quick but it's doable

 

[LSUfan4444]

This is exactly why I don't think Genie+ will work for us on our HS day. We usually just stay at HS for a few hours in the morning, go back to the resort (Beach Club) to swim, and then go into Epcot for dinner.

We do the same (boardwalk) and on our rope drop HS day, we will book our G+ likely in Epcot. MAYBE grab an 11 am G+ for somewhere in HS and if we have to wait use that as our Baseline Taphouse time...which is something we do anyway

 

[emilymad]

This is exactly why I don't think Genie+ will work for us on our HS day. We usually just stay at HS for a few hours in the morning, go back to the resort (Beach Club) to swim, and then go into Epcot for dinner. We want to do Smuggler's Run and SDD but don't want to hang around for a late LL. Right now I am planning to buy ILL$ for RotR and MMRR and rope drop the other rides we want to do.

Same here. I had been planning on buying it for HS but I don't want a LL in the evenings. Or if I do, I need now need to replan my ADRs when there is very limited availability. We arrive right after Thanksgiving. I am very interested to see how this will work when there are large crowds. Will Disney make more LL slots available?

 

[DisneyKidds]

To each their own but I don't see value in Genie+ in using like FP+ and using it for 3 rides. If it was free I would be all for it. Since I am paying for it, I want to use for 6 to 7 rides a day.

I’d be more concerned with productivity in the parks and time saved than sheer number of LL rides. If you did AK in the am (dud for G+, I’d only maybe do FoP ILL$ there) and then stacked TT and Soarin (and maybe more) in Epcot…that would be pretty good. You’d probably be able to book more in park when you started using. So you’d probably still end up with 4 or 5, but those 4 or 5 make the hop worthwhile. You have rides waiting for you at a considerable time savings. What’s the alternative? Show up at Epcot with loooong lines for TT, Mission, Soarin, others, and have a bad evening of nothing but lines? This alternative would also be better than FP+ was, because you could stack TT and Soarin. Couldn’t do that with FP+. Unfortunately, being able to do that adds $80 to our day….

 

[Jrb1979]

This works IF you're truly at the front of the RD crowd and to do so, you must be a resort guest to take advantage of early entry. And while that isnt a bad strategy, you're still waiting except now, you're waiting to get in the park. Not that your strategy is a bad one but what I am saying is, you can arrive when the park opens for resort guests and not HAVE to worry about being one of the first couple hundred at an attraction.

Go for early entry and knock off the headliner that gets booked quick and use your first LL for the other headliner. Then you should be able to quite a few LL in 1 day. I don't expect to use G+ for everything but I do expect to get 6 to 7 LL in a day to get my moneys worth.

For me I would never use it like FP+ and be happy with 2 to 3 headliners.

 

[AnnabelleTheTalkingTree]

Even off site guests can book G+ attractions beginning at 7 am. Be on the app exactly at 7 am and you should be good to go to book that. You'll have to wait until 9 am to buy Rise and you need to be quick but it's doable

I thought the ONE perk of staying onsite was supposed to be that only on-site could book at 7am?

 

[Jrb1979]

I thought the ONE perk of staying onsite was supposed to be that only on-site could book at 7am?

That's only for the paid LL

 

[elmwyn]

Someone mentioned group numbers on the first page but if people could also include group composition (young, old, mobility etc.) when posting their successes/failures it would also be very helpful. A lot of the bloggers/vloggers are constantly crisscrossing parks to get the most out of the system but also not very practical advice for a lot of people.

 

[DisneyFive]

BTW, on the subject of SDD, I logged in right at 7 ET this morning to see how quickly the return times for SDD would go up.

Obviously I couldn’t book anything but starting at a 9 AM return after one refresh the return time was 12:15 and after the second it was 2:10. That’s less than 30 seconds after 7 AM. Now an hour later it’s up to 7 PM.

It looks like getting an early LL for SDD is going to require our best ROTR boarding group skills. Even if you push the button that says 9 AM you might get something closer to noon or later.

For anyone who has actually booked anything, when you hit the purchase button does it preselect everyone in your party and you’d have to take someone off if they wanted something else, or do you have to add everyone from a blank slate?

Personally I would not book that late of a SDD but rather do it standby with Early Entry (assuming you are onsite). Do we have reports of how many headliners can be accomplished at HS during the new EE? The problem with booking a G+ that far out in the day (in your reserved park) is that you are then locked out of the first 120 minutes in the park to book multiple G+ attractions if that is your desire. The other option is to book your first G+ soon after park open and keep booking more G+'s as soon as you tap into your current G+ selection. For instance, on average, refreshing I can get RnRC and ToT G+'s about 60 - 90 minute from the current time. Star tours even sooner.

This is especially important at MK. I am one of those that will gladly book a G+ for Buzz, Small World, etc... to basically immediately walk onto the ride. For instance, Buzz may have a standby wait of 20-30 minutes later in the morning. G+ appears to be acting a lot like FP+ did in this case, where I can find a G+ within 10 minutes of current time. I immediately book Buzz, and considering the 5 minute early grace period, by the time I walk over to Buzz I can immediately get into the LL. Same goes for attractions like Small World, Ariel, etc... After I knock out 3-4 attractions like that (every little bit of time saved helps), THEN I'll look for something like BTMRR, SPLASH, Pirates etc that will most likely be 1-2 hours out for the next G+.

Having said that, if you have park hoppers, I do think the stacking strategy had merit too (Book multiple G+ for the park you are hopping to). This allows for standby in the morning for one or two headliners with low waits at your reserved park with a number of G+ waiting for you at your "hopped to" park.

Dan

 

[Disturbia]

Touringpalns did a comparison yesterday and they mentioned if you weren’t in first wave of rope drop crowds (first 5-10 mins; they had people at front of enterance, at 5 mins and at 10 mins spaced out), your wait time is the same as someone arriving 30 mins after park opening.

We always avoid the rope drop so Genie+ works better for us

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

The problem with booking a G+ that far out in the day (in your reserved park) is that you are then locked into trying to find additional G+ at only 120 minute intervals.

What do you mean? If at 7am you book SDD for late in the afternoon, you are locked out from booking another pass until 2 hours after park opening. But let's say you book your second at 11am for 11:30am, as soon as you tap in at 11:30 you can make your next selection. You don't have to wait 120 minute intervals from that point on.

 

[DisneyFive]

What do you mean? If at 7am you book SDD for late in the afternoon, you are locked out from booking another pass until 2 hours after park opening. But let's say you book your second at 11am for 11:30am, as soon as you tap in at 11:30 you can make your next selection. You don't have to wait 120 minute intervals from that point on.

Oh yeah, you are correct. Sorry, it's just that first 120 minutes after park open that you are locked out of. I'll go edit my post.

Dan

 

[PaladinButters]

Touringpalns did a comparison yesterday and they mentioned if you weren’t in first wave of rope drop crowds (first 5-10 mins; they had people at front of enterance, at 5 mins and at 10 mins spaced out), your wait time is the same as someone arriving 30 mins after park opening.

Do we know what difference there is between rope drop open and rope drop early entry for that?

 

[Disturbia]

Do we know what difference there is between rope drop open and rope drop early entry for that?

I think they didn’t do that comparison because either you are a resort guest or not. So if you are a resort guest the same logic would apply, if arriving a few mins after 8:30 am, you would have higher waits than someone upfront

 

[Disturbia]

Resort guests are 1/3 of the crowds?

https://www.disboards.com/threads/w...me-parks-who-are-staying-on-property.3396585/

 

[DisneyFive]

I think they didn’t do that comparison because either you are a resort guest or not. So if you are a resort guest the same logic would apply, if arriving a few mins after 8:30 am, you would have higher waits than someone upfront

Perhaps, but the overall level of guests gets thinned out throughout the park since there are less guests in the first 30 minutes. I would love for them to do a report of what headliners can be accomplished in that first 30 minutes and if it's worth it.

That was our problem with they way they opened the parks later this summer. EVERYONE was allowed in 1 hour prior and the crowds just built and built until they would officially open the park (HS was 30 minutes before official open, MK right at the posted time, etc...) So if you weren't in the very tippy top front of the crowd it wasn't worth it. You could get ONE headliner with low wait. By the time you got off that attraction, the queues for the headliners were already crushed. I'm hoping EE really helps in this regard, but we are onsite guests.

Dan

 

[JStu]

I will be visiting in mid-February (family of four) for a week, with 6 full park days.

For Magic Kingdom, we will have two early entry mornings and one extra magic evening, which should be enough to accomplish everything without using Genie+ at all.

For Epcot, we have two full days which should also be sufficient.

Animal Kingdom has few enough rides (Everest will be down during our visit) that we can probably get it done in well under a day without paying extra, although if we did it would be ILL for FOP to save time standing in line.

That leaves the Studios, which is the most likely day for us to use G+. I think it's absolutely worth $15 to fit in SDD, Smuggler's Run, Midway Mania, ToT, RnRC, and Star Tours with minimal waits, leaving time to enjoy shows and dining. RotR and MMRR can be done either at rope drop or park close, or ILL if we want to re-ride either one.

So we're looking at spending in the range of $60-$140 total, or about $10-20 per day, which is not a horrible deal to improve a week for four people. It should help that it's a slower time of year.

we are in the exact same boat. 8 days early feb. we are thinking of possibly buying FoP for our AK day, as the rest are easy enough to do standby with rope drop. The only thought is do you get G+ for the afternoon park, and try and stack 2-3-4 rides so you can have an eventful afternoon as well?

 

[Disturbia]

Wait times are crazy at 10:45 am ESt; (you go to the tear drop on the bottom of the app and then click show list top right just as you did in the old app to see this)