The Genie Usage, Tips and Strategy ONLY Thread

[brockash]

I used Genie+ for shows at Hollywood. We went over Christmas, so had MMRR available to us, so we got MMRR and TSM as our rides, did AS2 standby, then did BatB and frozen shows with G+. I didn't plan right for the shows though. We could have done frozen later in the evening so we could get in Disney Jr or Indiana Jones. We were also locked into an early Hollywood and Vine reservation. You have to plan to be available for an hour for each show and the G+ passes are usually available for each show until showtime, so it's hard to get one ahead of time.

If you do plan to get it, I would do a spreadsheet with the showtimes and figure out which showtimes work best for you. I would plan for toy story Land in the morning, give yourself 2-3 hours there (3if you want to eat), if you book TSM with a G+ pass, you can easily get it in the early morning if you're on right at 7am (I would refresh until the time is 10 or 10:30 so you don't have to rush) and you shouldn't need one for AS2. If you have a 10 TSM time, do AS2 first via standby. Then plan the showtimes starting for noon. Maybe dis junior and BatB before an afternoon break, then Indiana Jones and frozen after as well as Muppets after. If you did all those, you'd get 6 passes plus find time to ride MMRR standby, maybe after the frozen show, especially if you do the last frozen show, MMRR will be shortest line at that time.

While genie+ is probably unnecessary for this, I personally liked knowing we were going to get into the shows we wanted without having to guess if standby would be backed up.

Can you tell me how it works for the shows? Is there specific seating or can you pick your seats (are you let in before standyby?) what time do you have to show up prior to show time?

 

[GBRforWDW]

Can you tell me how it works for the shows? Is there specific seating or can you pick your seats (are you let in before standyby?) what time do you have to show up prior to show time?

Same way as Fastpass before, if you ever used a FP pass for shows. The pass has a return timeframe, usually about 25 minutes before the show starts to 10 minutes before. Each show works different. With BatB, LL passes went in a different entrance than standby. LLs got to go right in and get their seat. I think standby was held for awhile, not sure how long, but they are able to fill in space after most LLs have entered.

With frozen, after you scan in, you go to a holding area where eventually the standby line joins you. There everyone mixes and you kind of select how far back you want to be based on the door you enter, but once you enter, you choose a row and go all the way to the end of available spacing.

Those unfortunately were the only 2 we experienced. Like I mentioned before, you gotta get the timing down before you go, which I didn't do, to hit them in the right order.

 

[brockash]

Same way as Fastpass before, if you ever used a FP pass for shows. The pass has a return timeframe, usually about 25 minutes before the show starts to 10 minutes before. Each show works different. With BatB, LL passes went in a different entrance than standby. LLs got to go right in and get their seat. I think standby was held for awhile, not sure how long, but they are able to fill in space after most LLs have entered.

With frozen, after you scan in, you go to a holding area where eventually the standby line joins you. There everyone mixes and you kind of select how far back you want to be based on the door you enter, but once you enter, you choose a row and go all the way to the end of available spacing.

Those unfortunately were the only 2 we experienced. Like I mentioned before, you gotta get the timing down before you go, which I didn't do, to hit them in the right order.

Thank you...we never used fastpasses for shows before, but with such limited choices maybe a show wouldn't be a bad idea. Thanks!

 

[jrsharp21]

Any AP having problems adding G+? I was staying offsite by myself earlier this week and had no problem. Yesterday my family arrived and we checked into POR. I have the AP and the family has two day hoppers with G+. I went to purchase G+ this morning and I have no option to do it. I have reloaded the app and still no luck.

 

[mom2rtk]

Are late arrivals still ok with ILLS?

 

[danceteachermom]

I am traveling with a group of 27 students. We are planning on MK on Thurs. 2/10 and HS on Fri. 2/11. Debating whether or not to invest in buying them G+.

Has anyone used the service for a large group? (Fast pass used to glitch and need to be booked in groups of 10 or less.)

Would I be better just buying individual LL for HS? Trying to book as a group or giving each student a giftcard to book on their own?

 

[TheMick424]

Any AP having problems adding G+? I was staying offsite by myself earlier this week and had no problem. Yesterday my family arrived and we checked into POR. I have the AP and the family has two day hoppers with G+. I went to purchase G+ this morning and I have no option to do it. I have reloaded the app and still no luck.

Unfortunately, this is a known glitch impacting APs traveling with others who have regular tickets with G+ pre-purchased. Hopefully they will fix this soon!

https://www.disboards.com/threads/t...midnight-and-6am-on-the-app-couldn’t.3864874/

 

[mom2rtk]

Can genie plus times overlap?

 

[g-dad66]

Can genie plus times overlap?

Yep, no problems there!

 

[mom2rtk]

Yep, no problems there!

Thank you!

 

[GBBTomorrow]

Without getting into a debate about Genie+ and individual lightning lane purchases, looking for some insight from those who have been lately. At DHS, I will buy EITHER Genie+ OR an ILL for ROTR, not both. ROTR is a must-do for us, since my son has never been to Galaxy's Edge and is a lifelong Star Wars fan. We've been to DHS many times, so everything else is gravy.

Would you buy Genie+ and rope drop ROTR (we'll be onsite, so will have early entry), or would you buy ILL for ROTR?

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

Without getting into a debate about Genie+ and individual lightning lane purchases, looking for some insight from those who have been lately. At DHS, I will buy EITHER Genie+ OR an ILL for ROTR, not both. ROTR is a must-do for us, since my son has never been to Galaxy's Edge and is a lifelong Star Wars fan. We've been to DHS many times, so everything else is gravy.

Would you buy Genie+ and rope drop ROTR (we'll be onsite, so will have early entry), or would you buy ILL for ROTR?

Thanks for your thoughts!

If it is a must do............ and you only have one DHS day, get the ILL.

If the ride breaks you will be able to return.

If standby, any return may be painful!

 

[twodogs]

Without getting into a debate about Genie+ and individual lightning lane purchases, looking for some insight from those who have been lately. At DHS, I will buy EITHER Genie+ OR an ILL for ROTR, not both. ROTR is a must-do for us, since my son has never been to Galaxy's Edge and is a lifelong Star Wars fan. We've been to DHS many times, so everything else is gravy.

Would you buy Genie+ and rope drop ROTR (we'll be onsite, so will have early entry), or would you buy ILL for ROTR?

Thanks for your thoughts!

The problem with RD of ROTR is that is is sometimes (many times) down at park opening. So you waste your early entry for a ride that takes an hour to reset when it goes down. If it is up at EE, then the RD plan can be a good one, then use G+ throughout the rest of the day. I would lean towards getting G+ to reduce waiting in all of the other ride lines, and just going ROTR at RD or if it is down at that time, just going SB later or going near park closing (again with risk that ride goes down near closing time and they don’t reopen it). You need to study up on G+ so you can maximize LL throughout the park, use heavy refresh to get earlier return times for your LLs so you have more time to book a lot of them and get your value. Personally, I would just spend the money on both the ILL$ and the G+ if it is a once a year trip or crowds will be high, if you can afford it. But if you would rather not spend that, I would go for G+ (but learn to be a heavy user or it won’t have nearly the value) and SB for ROTR when you can.

 

[g-dad66]

Without getting into a debate about Genie+ and individual lightning lane purchases, looking for some insight from those who have been lately. At DHS, I will buy EITHER Genie+ OR an ILL for ROTR, not both. ROTR is a must-do for us, since my son has never been to Galaxy's Edge and is a lifelong Star Wars fan. We've been to DHS many times, so everything else is gravy.

Would you buy Genie+ and rope drop ROTR (we'll be onsite, so will have early entry), or would you buy ILL for ROTR?

Thanks for your thoughts!

Difficult decision. My gut response was to go with Genie+ in order to avoid long standby waits at multiple rides.

But in thinking more about your situation, you could rope drop Millenium Falcon, after which Toy Story Mania should not be much of a wait, and Tower of Terror & Rock n Roller Coaster might not be too bad either (Rock n Roller Coaster has been down a lot lately, so it might not even be running.)

Long waits for Slinky Dog Dash and for Mickey & Minnie's Railway are unavoidable (unless you skip them as too much gravy). You can always do Star Tours, Indiana Jones, Frozen Singalong, Muppets, and Lightning McQueen without much of a wait, so you should be able to fill up a day.

And you avoid the rope drop crunch and potentially very long wait for ROTR by scheduling the ILL when you want. (I wouldn't schedule the ILL for it too late in the day, however, for fear that it might go down and not recover before park closes.)

 

[emcarle27]

Sorry if this has been covered...can you purchase ILL at 7am and then also select another attraction, or would you need to ride the ILL ride before being able to select another one?

 

[pooh2001]

We are lucky
our kids are now grown-ups
so it would only cost us $30 a day - the price of breakfast
So we will do breakfast in the hotel room

 

[g-dad66]

Sorry if this has been covered...can you purchase ILL at 7am and then also select another attraction, or would you need to ride the ILL ride before being able to select another one?

You can purchase both ILL at 7am.

 

[Luisfba]

What are the chances they put it back to only 1 ILL for spring break, specifically the week after Easter?

 

[twodogs]

Sorry if this has been covered...can you purchase ILL at 7am and then also select another attraction, or would you need to ride the ILL ride before being able to select another one?

Think of G+ (LLs) and ILL$ as completely different systems, "disconnected" in the old FP language. Other than both giving you a quick way to get on a ride, they don't interact or affect each other. They each have different rules of how many you can book and when, differences in booking times in one but not the other if staying onsite or offsite, etc. They are just separate things, you can buy one but not the other, neither, or both products. They don't impact each other at all.

 

[torchlight]

Hello, apologies for this question that I'm sure has already been asked, but I skimmed several pages and didn't see it.

We have a group of 6 going. I'm the only one with an MDE account, and everyone is linked to it.

Can we also install MDE on, say, my wife's phone and have her log in using my account at the same time I'm logged in on my phone? And if so, can we do two things at once? For example, at 7 AM, I book a ILL while she books our first G+ LL?

I'm thinking especially about our DHS day, of course, where multiple things we would want to get at 7 AM are gone almost instantly.

Thanks!