The Genie Usage, Tips and Strategy ONLY Thread

[Jrb1979]

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)

View attachment 615405

Seeing that makes me think the plan of doing standby in the morning and booking afternoon LL is not going to get you far.

 

[katyringo]

Today is really our first look at a busy day and probably another reason for having a good idea of what crowds will be like on your trip.

I'm rethinking my HS strategy. I think it's kinda like rope drop.Everyone goes to slinky dog. The same will be for Genie+- everyone will book slinky first. I think I may not. My new strategy may be:

7am: indivual lightning lane for MMRR and Rise for 12-2pm time. Use early entry for TT and rocking roller coaster. Make first LL for smugglers- thus hopefully giving me an earlier return time. Use that first genie+ and be able to book another. That would allow me to use genie+ still for TT and RR. May suck it up for standby at SDD or wait for evening.

 

[LSUfan4444]

Seeing that makes me think the plan of doing standby in the morning and booking afternoon LL is not going to get you far.

Look at the G+ return times for those attractions. On a day like this, it makes alot of sense to book that first G+ for after 11 am then you book your second at 11am (right now, you're seeing return times of after 2pm) for alot of those rides. Then at 2pm, you book another one for the evening.

 

[jimmymc]

My next trip probably isn't until April, but from what I've seen, I will almost definitely purchase G+ on my Magic Kingdom day, and I'm still debating it for Studios and Animal Kingdom.

MK has so many attractions that I think it's a no-brainer. I can ropedrop 7 Dwarfs and just wait out Space Mountain, and from the early reviews I've seen people able to LL almost every attraction without a wait.

At studios, both Smuggler's run and Rock n Roller Coaster have single rider lines, so the only rides covered with longer lines are Slinky Dog, TS Mania, and Tower of Terror. Not sure if it's worth it for what is ultimately 3 attractions. Now that Rise doesn't use boarding groups, I think a single ride pass is a good investment, meaning the only long line I would have to wait in

At Animal Kingdom, I'm leaning towards just getting a FoP individual pass rather than G+. Everest has a single rider line, I usually do the Safari first when it has no wait, and if I have to wait for Dinosaur that is OK, most of the queue has AC.

Epcot doesn't have enough attractions to bother. Might get a single use pass for Frozen, Test Track has single rider, Remi still uses reservations, and Soarin has an indoor queue that gets short later in the day.

 

[yorkieteacher]

We are going early spring 2022- our strategy-
Watch the wait times and ILLS sellouts and what regular Genie+ rides have late return times. So far-
Epcot- Do not buy Genie Plus- early resort entry for Frozen, ILL for Rat mid afternoon, and then watch wait times for other things.
AK- Do not buy Genie+- early resort entry Navi followed by Safari and Everest ( rarely has long waits in the morning) Buy ILL for FOP mid afternoon,watch wait times for others.
MK. Buy Genie+ and ILL for Mine Train for late afternoon, Genie+ first sign up for Jungle Cruise, resort early entry Peter Pan and Buzz, watch wait times for others and add Genie+ Rides as we go along.
HS- Buy Genie+ only. Early resort entry Runaway Railway. first Genie+ sign up for Slinky. Watch wait times for others, add Genie plus rides as needed. We have risen ROTR twice before, and don’t consider it worth $15 a piece to ride it again!
Anyway, that’s our current strategy. I’m keeping my Touring Plans Subscription because i
Believe the personalized plans I make on their site have always worked out great for us!

 

[LSUfan4444]

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)

View attachment 615405

SDD return time right now: 6:05 PM
Smuggler Run: 5:30 pm
TSMM: 1:40 pm
Peter Pa;: 2:10 pm

 

[jimmymc]

Today is really our first look at a busy day and probably another reason for having a good idea of what crowds will be like on your trip.

I'm rethinking my HS strategy. I think it's kinda like rope drop.Everyone goes to slinky dog. The same will be for Genie+- everyone will book slinky first. I think I may not. My new strategy may be:

7am: indivual lightning lane for MMRR and Rise for 12-2pm time. Use early entry for TT and rocking roller coaster. Make first LL for smugglers- thus hopefully giving me an earlier return time. Use that first genie+ and be able to book another. That would allow me to use genie+ still for TT and RR. May suck it up for standby at SDD or wait for evening.

I think I would still flip SDD and Smuggler's run. Slinky tends to have longer standby lines and the queue is totally outdoors, while Smugglers takes a while to build up it's line in the morning and has a very fast single rider line.

 

[katyringo]

I think I would still flip SDD and Smuggler's run. Slinky tends to have longer standby lines and the queue is totally outdoors, while Smugglers takes a while to build up it's line in the morning and has a very fast single rider line.

ooooooo you are correct. I forget that since this is my first solo trip that I can use SR...

 

[jimmymc]

ooooooo you are correct. I forget that since this is my first solo trip that I can use SR...

Definitely use it! I got on with zero wait while the standby line was at 60 minutes.

 

[acebatonfan]

I'm going in December with one other adult for 8 days. We just made the purchase for Genie+, so my pockets are grumbling a bit with all the issues going on. December should be a lower-crowd time, but looking at the MK waits at the moment I'm seeing things like 80 minutes for PeterPan, 70 minutes for POTC, and even 35 minutes for the magic carpets. Is Disney inflating the numbers to encourage more Genie+/LL+ purchases, or are we going back to the old FP+ waits where standby is at a standstill?

At this point, my plan is to just roll with things. Pick out the #1 ride we must get a reservation for and focus my 7AM booking on just that ride. Once that's in, then I can work around the rest - and hopefully still be somewhat spontaneous with genie+ pickings. I'm still confused as to why MS:Green is a genie+ pick when that is always under a 15 minute wait, or why Everest is LL+ and not Navi (thank god for Everest single rider).

 

[Disturbia]

Slinky is a must do for our 5 yr old; Smugglers run was too bumpy confusing, they prefer star tours (Even our teen).

 

[Disturbia]

I'm going in December with one other adult for 8 days. We just made the purchase for Genie+, so my pockets are grumbling a bit with all the issues going on. December should be a lower-crowd time, but looking at the MK waits at the moment I'm seeing things like 80 minutes for PeterPan, 70 minutes for POTC, and even 35 minutes for the magic carpets. Is Disney inflating the numbers to encourage more Genie+/LL+ purchases, or are we going back to the old FP+ waits where standby is at a standstill?

At this point, my plan is to just roll with things. Pick out the #1 ride we must get a reservation for and focus my 7AM booking on just that ride. Once that's in, then I can work around the rest - and hopefully still be somewhat spontaneous with genie+ pickings.

There is some inflating as Jojo pointed out (MMRR posted 45 actual 20)

 

[Disturbia]

I'm going in December with one other adult for 8 days. We just made the purchase for Genie+, so my pockets are grumbling a bit with all the issues going on. December should be a lower-crowd time, but looking at the MK waits at the moment I'm seeing things like 80 minutes for PeterPan, 70 minutes for POTC, and even 35 minutes for the magic carpets. Is Disney inflating the numbers to encourage more Genie+/LL+ purchases, or are we going back to the old FP+ waits where standby is at a standstill?

At this point, my plan is to just roll with things. Pick out the #1 ride we must get a reservation for and focus my 7AM booking on just that ride. Once that's in, then I can work around the rest - and hopefully still be somewhat spontaneous with genie+ pickings. I'm still confused as to why MS:Green is a genie+ pick when that is always under a 15 minute wait, or why Everest is LL+ and not Navi (thank god for Everest single rider).

Maybe Disney did think that their actual future customers (now toddlers) have a miserable time while waiting for everyone to rider switch FOP, Kali, EE with times inflated so they’re stuck for 2 hours each time with nothing to do. Also if mom/dads batteries die they can’t purchase more things/LLs etc

Hence, planning on buying FoP and single rider EE (Kali closed first week of Nov-mid Dec!); riding safari standby

 

[PaladinButters]

Is Disney inflating the numbers to encourage more Genie+/LL+ purchases, or are we going back to the old FP+ waits where standby is at a standstill?

Both - wait times have always been inflated (better to be pleasantly surprised at a shorter wait after all) but there's no way standby wouldn't be affected by this. Considering the shorter wait now has a cost - there will be less people buying than took advantage of free FPs but a few days worth (with all the free days they gave out for it) is just not enough on the ground data to see how much it's affected.

 

[jimmymc]

Both - wait times have always been inflated (better to be pleasantly surprised at a shorter wait after all) but there's no way standby wouldn't be affected by this. Considering the shorter wait now has a cost - there will be less people buying than took advantage of free FPs but a few days worth (with all the free days they gave out for it) is just not enough on the ground data to see how much it's affected.

Agreed. Wait times range between accurate and inflated, but the standby lines are also moving slower than they were pre-Genie+

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

Seems like the optimal strategy, if you have a long trip, is to do resorts and other activities in the mornings while simultaneously stacking up LL’s for the afternoon. Then go for a half day in the afternoons and evenings using your stacked LL’s and adding more as you can. I’m going Christmas week (god help me), and that’s what I’ll attempt.

 

[peteykirch]

Agreed. Wait times range between accurate and inflated, but the standby lines are also moving slower than they were pre-Genie+

Is anyone shocked by this?

I thought it was all but guaranteed that the standby line would go to a crawl like it did with FP+ once LL came on board. It'll be the old 10 LL users getting in for every 1 stand by person.

 

[Disturbia]

Is anyone shocked by this?

I thought it was all but guaranteed that the standby line would go to a crawl like it did with FP+ once LL came on board. It'll be the old 10 LL users getting in for every 1 stand by person.

It is 35 LL for 5 standby (Jojo or Kyle confirmed with CM)

 

[TinkSassy]

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

Fantastic! If I can get Slinky we will wait for ROTR if we need to

 

[jimmymc]

Is anyone shocked by this?

I thought it was all but guaranteed that the standby line would go to a crawl like it did with FP+ once LL came on board. It'll be the old 10 LL users getting in for every 1 stand by person.

Not at all. This is actually the reason I didn't like FP+ and I think Genie+ is way too cheap.