G+ and traveling with larger parties?

[jdbruce]

We will be traveling to DW in July for my daughter's senior trip with several of her friends making us a party of 9. Is there anyone out there that can share their success stories, or any tips that they may have in regard to navigating G+ with a party that size? We are DVC members staying at Copper Creek. I've watched YouTube videos of people showing how "easy" it is to switch/modify/stack, but they're single travelers. That's not a realistic example since most people going to DW are doing so with their families.

 

[scrappinginontario]

While you’re waiting for people to share their experiences, I would do a search in this forum for ‘large’ in the title’. There are many threads of experiences you’re looking for.

 

[jdbruce]

While you’re waiting for people to share their experiences, I would do a search in this forum for ‘large’ in the title’. There are many threads of experiences you’re looking for.

All of the threads that pop up are old. outdated information.

 

[KateDrake]

Following! I have the same issue. We've done Genie+ with our little family of 4, but now going with extended family and a group of 10!

 

[tseitel]

EarScouts on YouTube just did a video about this with a party of 9. It was very informative. Pretty much everyone has been saying that party size, up to 10, doesn’t change your genie+ selections.
He tested it with 2 phones going, one with a party of 1 and the other with a party of 9.
He definitely got different return times for the headliners, and as the day went on it got harder for him to get spots for the larger party, but had no problem for the party of 1.
Watch it if you can, he has some great content about “playing the Disney Genie slots”.

 

[Dulcee]

EarScouts on YouTube just did a video about this with a party of 9. It was very informative. Pretty much everyone has been saying that party size, up to 10, doesn’t change your genie+ selections.
He tested it with 2 phones going, one with a party of 1 and the other with a party of 9.
He definitely got different return times for the headliners, and as the day went on it got harder for him to get spots for the larger party, but had no problem for the party of 1.
Watch it if you can, he has some great content about “playing the Disney Genie slots”.

Bah, afraid of this. We'll be a group of 9 and everyone keeps saying "oh refresh and it is not an issue" but the odds are not in your favor for a big group....

 

[LaurenT]

Bah, afraid of this. We'll be a group of 9 and everyone keeps saying "oh refresh and it is not an issue" but the odds are not in your favor for a big group....

I would consider splitting into two groups for genie+.

 

[Karalee402]

We went in the fall with a party of 10 and had absolutely no issues with Genie+. I made sure to watch as many videos as possible before we left so I was as familiar as I could be with the app and the process. Make sure your entire group is linked on the app and then for us, it was easiest for one person (me!) to be in charge of making the plans. It was totally smooth sailing - we were able to book easily at 7am, and we rode almost every ride in every park with no waiting. It couldn't have been easier.

 

[Adora]

We went in the fall with a party of 10 and had absolutely no issues with Genie+. I made sure to watch as many videos as possible before we left so I was as familiar as I could be with the app and the process. Make sure your entire group is linked on the app and then for us, it was easiest for one person (me!) to be in charge of making the plans. It was totally smooth sailing - we were able to book easily at 7am, and we rode almost every ride in every park with no waiting. It couldn't have been easier.

Just curious what time of year you went?

 

[snayak]

EarScouts on YouTube just did a video about this with a party of 9. It was very informative. Pretty much everyone has been saying that party size, up to 10, doesn’t change your genie+ selections.
He tested it with 2 phones going, one with a party of 1 and the other with a party of 9.
He definitely got different return times for the headliners, and as the day went on it got harder for him to get spots for the larger party, but had no problem for the party of 1.
Watch it if you can, he has some great content about “playing the Disney Genie slots”.

Yea, I'm glad I watched that video - it looks like the magic number is 4, and it may be more difficult with 5+ people in a group. But that was around the Holidays when the parks were packed, so it might vary with crowd levels.

Of course for our trip next week we're a party of 5, so we might split into 3 and 2 or something - the kiddos are too small to go on the big headliners anyway, so there is some self selection there.

 

[jdbruce]

I will go watch the video recommended above, thanks for the tip! The tip to split into 2 groups sounds promising. Has anyone done this with success in regards to getting similar ride times?

 

[nesser1981]

We were there Jan 28-Feb 3rd and had extended family with us. Our plan was pretty much what some of mentioned, we had several groups, and just tried to book at the same time.

Only twice it didn't work where we had the same window, we had 3 groups booking, my in-laws, SIL and her boys and my family of five, making a total of us. I think my SIL and I got like a 10:30 slinky dog dash, but my in-laws got 12:20, a sweet cast member just let them join us.

Another one was Flight of Avatar (ILL) not exactly Genie +, but close, I think we were about an hour ahead of my in-laws and SIL. We just ate and they rode the Navi River Journey while we rode/and they rode. No big deal.

For the most part we just all tried to sync up, look at the ride when want to make sure the times listed were in the same window for everyone when we booked. We always had that 7 am plan of what to grab. It went way smoother than I thought.

And I think we did 6 LL at Magic Kingdom with my sister in law and nephews, plus 6 or 7 at HS with in-laws, SIL and nephews. And we also did ILL at AK, MK, and HS, plus got the virtual queue for Guardians within the same a 30 minute window. I think were group 80 and my inlaws were group 85.

 

[UCDSmalls]

We travelled in a party of 9 last June. I made all of the Genie+ and ILL reservations. We were able to get everything we wanted multiple times at time slots that were reasonable. When we split the group to accommodate different ride preferences, it actually created a situation where it was hard to get everyone back on the same schedule again. While that is necessary sometimes, I would not split the group just for the sake of easier booking if you want to be together. I had researched for months about how the whole system would work and I was concerned that we would miss out on things, but it was actually pretty smooth. (Note: I did wake up every morning at 7AM to make the first Genie+ and any ILL reservations for the day.)

 

[Jennasis]

We have a party of 17 going in 2 weeks. I'm thinking G+ just ain't gonna happen for us.