Epcot evening day of arrival Genie+ options

[CanadianKrista]

So I have Genie + for the length of our tickets, and we're planning to go to Epcot the day we arrive, since it is EEH that night, and we're staying at Boardwalk. I know I can't pick return times with Genie+ - is there anything I can do to get a few rides queued up for the evening before EEH starts? I have to have the park reservation to Epcot - we won't be going to another park first, and we likely won't get to Epcot until 5:30-6pm. Can I just start building up stuff in the morning, and then they will disappear as the day goes on and I can pick different ones for later? We're flying, so I might not be able to hit all the windows to reserve either. Just trying to figure out if there's anything I can do to not waste my Genie+ that day

Thanks!

 

[JodyK]

I would start in the morning with a ride that is likely to already have late return times something like Remy or Frozen ever after. If I booked and didn't get a late enough time, I would cancel and rebook till the time is late enough. Once I got that I would wait 120 minutes and check in and see what the next thing I can book with a late return time is and so on and so on.

I wouldn't book things early in the day and let them fall off because there is really no benefit to that. You still have to wait 120 minutes to book your next LL and you can only ride each ride once.

 

[CanadianKrista]

Ah, thanks, I didn't realize I could cancel and rebook - that sounds like a solid strategy!

 

[JodyK]

There may be more detailed articles if you google something like Genie+ late day stacking strategy.

The one thing I would note is I would try to book Frozen or Remy right away in the morning even if it is showing early return times because there have been a los of reports that people have been getting bumped to later times then what is available especially in the morning when everyone is trying to book things all at once.

 

[KristinU]

Joining in on this thread, we have similar day of arrival aspirations! We'd be looking at park arrival around 2-3pm What does everyone think about trying to get Guardians? IF I happen to have airplane wifi stable enough at 6:59am, and IF I were to get a boarding group, what are the chances the timing would work out for our BG to be called in the afternoon? Or should I try for an ILL for it, assuming that by the time I purchase it would be afternoon or evening return time? Or just give up on the thought of trying Guardians on the first day to save the stress?

 

[Shelbizzles]

Joining in on this thread, we have similar day of arrival aspirations! We'd be looking at park arrival around 2-3pm What does everyone think about trying to get Guardians? IF I happen to have airplane wifi stable enough at 6:59am, and IF I were to get a boarding group, what are the chances the timing would work out for our BG to be called in the afternoon? Or should I try for an ILL for it, assuming that by the time I purchase it would be afternoon or evening return time? Or just give up on the thought of trying Guardians on the first day to save the stress?

I'm in this exact situation! So I'm following to learn along with you

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

So I have Genie + for the length of our tickets, and we're planning to go to Epcot the day we arrive, since it is EEH that night, and we're staying at Boardwalk. I know I can't pick return times with Genie+ - is there anything I can do to get a few rides queued up for the evening before EEH starts? I have to have the park reservation to Epcot - we won't be going to another park first, and we likely won't get to Epcot until 5:30-6pm. Can I just start building up stuff in the morning, and then they will disappear as the day goes on and I can pick different ones for later? We're flying, so I might not be able to hit all the windows to reserve either. Just trying to figure out if there's anything I can do to not waste my Genie+ that day

Thanks!

There's no benefit to booking a G+ just to miss it but it is hard since you can't select a time window. But yes, you can stack for the evening as we've done that a few times. But, didn't have any issues checking when our booking windows opened since we weren't traveling.

We've started our days around 3:30pm, not as late as 5:30pm but I think if you take JodyK's advice and go for headliners, you will likely get some late return times anyway But yes, you can cancel and try for other G+ if you don't like the time you got. Just set your alarm for the booking windows and see what you can do. By the time you get to picking the 3rd attraction, there may not be much left and so you'll be doing standby from there. But do take some time and practice booking things from home and what the screens in MDE will look like so it's familiar territory. There are a ton of great tutorials and youtube vids on G+. Check out touring plans, all ears, disney tourist blog.

 

[JodyK]

Going to be trying for a similar scenario for an upcoming trip in a few weeks. Flight is at 10AM EST so I'll be home and have stable wifi for 7AM EST. This is what my planned approach is so far, unless I figure out a better way:

1st - Guardians VQ - Ideally the number will be higher so it won't be called before I make it to the park. If it does I've read reports that people have been able to enter anytime after the BG is called so I will ask the CM nicely and accept whatever decision they make on letting us ride if we miss our group being called.
2nd - Guardians ILL - with this you can pick a time so I'll pick later in the day probably one of the latest possible times. I've been reading reports so far these stick around for at least a few minutes so I'll go with the VQ first. I'll probably be screen recording the whole time I do this in case something goes wonky with the times changing I can go to Guest Services.
3rd - Remy - If still available probably a bit of a stretch but hey this is dream scenario.

Continue to refresh till 715 and on the way to the airport if I am unable to get anything I couldn't get and see if anything pops up. Hopefully my fingers will work lightening fast and I'll be able to get everything but I am hoping to at least get 1 of these three things. If I get any more I'll consider that a bonus. At 11AM (while in flight) I'll try to book my next LL for something later in the day into the evening. Potential changes in this plan include swapping steps 2 and 3 if ILL availability continues to be available for longer periods of time. I'll be watching the threads as my trip gets closer and decide.

 

[JodyK]

I should have also said this is my somewhat stressful requires a lot of things to go right approach. If I wanted a low stress approach and had the funds I would just buy the ILL at 7AM. You can select a time when you are buying an ILL so I would just select something later in the day just in case there are potential delays or anything like that. While I've heard reports of times switching when people purchase ILL those have all been to later times which isn't really a problem if you are doing this on the first day unless there is a time you would consider too late to ride. According to Thrill Data ILL were available till just before 9AM today so if that trend continues you have almost a 2 hour window to get wifi and buy an ILL.

The reason I want to try on arrival day, while it may be a bit of stress trying to get it and the right time, if you are able to it relieves a lot of stress for the rest of the trip so I want to try as many times as I can.

 

[erinch]

I’m here tight now, 7th day in parks. Earliest we have arrived on any day is noon, always starting with TS lunch, so I have become quite the expert at stacking.

For GoTG, currently if you have a VQ boarding group, they let you in anytime as long as it is after the original return time. Yesterday I got VQ group 8, which was called at 8:35. We tapped in at 3:25 and they let us right through. So:
1. Get GoTG VQ, or have someone else get it.
2. Watch Remy. At 30 seconds to 2 minutes after 7 am, it will be into the afternoon for the return time. The time advances by 5 minute increments, so it is not a panic situation. But you want to be monitoring right at 7. Refresh a couple of times by pulling down the tip board, and the right time will come soon.
3.. Right at 10:30, using time.give, I have been able to get FEA or Test Track. The time will be late. You won’t be able to get the other at 12:30, so pick.
3. At 12:30, start stacking others according to return time

 

[KristinU]

I’m here tight now, 7th day in parks. Earliest we have arrived on any day is noon, always starting with TS lunch, so I have become quite the expert at stacking.

For GoTG, currently if you have a VQ boarding group, they let you in anytime as long as it is after the original return time. Yesterday I got VQ group 8, which was called at 8:35. We tapped in at 3:25 and they let us right through. So:
1. Get GoTG VQ, or have someone else get it.
2. Watch Remy. At 30 seconds to 2 minutes after 7 am, it will be into the afternoon for the return time. The time advances by 5 minute increments, so it is not a panic situation. But you want to be monitoring right at 7. Refresh a couple of times by pulling down the tip board, and the right time will come soon.
3.. Right at 10:30, using time.give, I have been able to get FEA or Test Track. The time will be late. You won’t be able to get the other at 12:30, so pick.
3. At 12:30, start stacking others according to return time

This sounds like a great plan of attack! Thanks so much @erinch !!!

Editing to add that I just literally scheduled this sequence into my calendar and added alerts...nerd move, I know! Now to hope for good wifi on the plane. I'll try not to get my hopes up.

 

[kathi]

Is the VQ for GotG in the same place on the app as LL and ILL? It's been so long since I've done it for RotR, I don't remember. I think our plan is to have one person trying for VQ GotG, one person booking ILL for RotR and a third person gong to SDD LL. We have Epcot park reservation and will hop to Studios in the afternoon/evening.

 

[HeiHei2018]

So I have Genie + for the length of our tickets, and we're planning to go to Epcot the day we arrive, since it is EEH that night, and we're staying at Boardwalk. I know I can't pick return times with Genie+ - is there anything I can do to get a few rides queued up for the evening before EEH starts? I have to have the park reservation to Epcot - we won't be going to another park first, and we likely won't get to Epcot until 5:30-6pm. Can I just start building up stuff in the morning, and then they will disappear as the day goes on and I can pick different ones for later? We're flying, so I might not be able to hit all the windows to reserve either. Just trying to figure out if there's anything I can do to not waste my Genie+ that day

Thanks!

I am paleo doing an arrival evening at Epcot and have been monitoring LL times. We are expecting crowds similar to May (off peak). Remy return times move quickly at 7 am. Frozen LL moves into the 6 pm hour around 8:30-10 am. I would recommend against booking anything with a time before your 5:30 arrival time. Canceling just adds a step when the time moves later.

 

[bluedolphin32]

Thanks for asking this question. I have been trying to figure out how to plan our arrival day for Epcot (our flight lands around noon). These are great tips!

 

[picktails]

Thanks so much for this post and all of the great answers. We’ll be flying out of NJ at 9 am on a Sunday in September, and reserved Epcot for that day. I purchased tickets with G+ daily and have been reading up incessantly on stacking. Tradition requires a glass of champagne in France before anything else, so I’m hoping to grab our first time slot for 3ish and add on from there. I just hope we’re inside the airport with Wi-Fi by 7 am!