The Genie Usage, Tips and Strategy ONLY Thread

[dmunsil]

So say I have a double stack going in the morning and I want to take a mid-day break. Obviously the best scenario is a much later reservation. So for instance I make a 6 pm JC at 1 pm and I have another stack open as well. So I can reserve something else whenever I want. As long as I don't tap into one of my stacks before the other I won't lose the second? And I would also be able to book a 3rd stack at 3 pm and 5 pm? But if I can not find that later reservation I will have to make and cancel reservations through out the afternoon?

I'm not sure what you mean by having a stack "open"? If you mean you're currently eligible, but you're not booking because nothing is late enough, my advice is book now, and cancel and rebook if needed later.

Let's say you plan to come back at 4 and there's nothing you want later than 2, and it's noon right now and you're eligible to book. If you book something now, you have many options. You start a new eligibility waiting period, which could let you start another stack at 2 from your hotel. If one of the rides you want starts having times after 4, you can cancel one of your existing reservations and book the one after 4.

If you don't book, you're just missing out on potential to stack. It's not the end of the world, really. If you've got a double stack going you just need to keep it going, but in general, I think the key strategy tip is to book something any time you become eligible. It's never going to be a bad idea; worst case you cancel and book something else later.

 

[Cotta]

I'm not sure what you mean by having a stack "open"? If you mean you're currently eligible, but you're not booking because nothing is late enough, my advice is book now, and cancel and rebook if needed later.

Let's say you plan to come back at 4 and there's nothing you want later than 2, and it's noon right now and you're eligible to book. If you book something now, you have many options. You start a new eligibility waiting period, which could let you start another stack at 2 from your hotel. If one of the rides you want starts having times after 4, you can cancel one of your existing reservations and book the one after 4.

If you don't book, you're just missing out on potential to stack. It's not the end of the world, really. If you've got a double stack going you just need to keep it going, but in general, I think the key strategy tip is to book something any time you become eligible. It's never going to be a bad idea; worst case you cancel and book something else later.

I guess by open I mean eligible. But I think I am understanding more now. So if I have "stacked' rides at 1:30 and 2, If I do not book something after tapping in at 1:30 and I ride at 2 I lose my double stack. So I can't just leave them "open" is where I was getting confused. But if I book something at 1:31 for 3 pm and then cancel I can book something later (same with the 2 pm ride). And you can cancel and rebook the same ride correct? Or if I were to just ride at 1:30 and 2 and do nothing I would become "eligible" (120 rule) at 3:30 and again at 5:30.

 

[Tiggr88]

My experience from using it yesterday at MK and HS. We are staying offsite, arrived at rope drop, but not early entry. MK was showing as a 7, HS was showing as a 6 on Touring Plans. It was very busy.
- The closest LL was at 9:40 against a 35 minute Buzz, we booked it and did Carousel of Progress. Space Mountain was down.
- Walked on Buzz, booked IASW with the next closest return time at 11:15. Space Mountain opened as we were right in front (lucky break) and we jumped in with about a 10-minute wait
- Rode Speedway with a 10-minute wait (posted 20 minutes)
- Heavy crowds in fantasyland, IASW was posted as 45-minute wait, PP was 90. Checked in and then booked Pirates for 1:40, at the time Haunted Mansion was booking out to 43:05 and we were planning on hopping.
- 6 adults on IASW.....
- Did Hall of Presidents, waited in Standby for Big Thunder (60 minutes posted, 40 minutes actual) and then ate at Peco's Bill; 30 minutes before my 2-hour window opened Pirate's was down and Genie+ canceled our reservation and we got an (almost) unlimited LL for one ride in MK.
- At that point we booked RR at HS for a 6:15 LL - earliest available at HS, other than Muppets and Star Tours and I couldn't see wasting a booking window on either
- Rode Pirates, struggled through the crowd to the hub, the pinch point around Aladdin's to get a Dole Whip is incredibly poor planning.
- Arrived at HS around 3:30, we booked Midway Mania for an 8:15 return time with a park close at 9, nothing else besides the two e-tickets was available on Genie+ for the rest of the day so we chose to wait in standbys.

Takeaways
- Unless you are staying on property and getting in early entry I think Genie+ is of dubious benefit during very heavy days - your booking windows are just too late by the time you can start scheduling. I paid $100 for 6 and only got on one top-tier ride (RR) and two very good rides (PoC and MM). Maybe I am used to lower crowd volumes, always coming in the 1st week of December.

Can you please clarify what you mean in your takeaway? G+ should be available at 7AM for anyone staying on-site or offsite, if I understand correctly, which would make G+ attractive for people staying offsite. The ILL can be more problematic since onsite gets a headstart, but since you can only book 2 a day i would still think most people could get a benefit from this staying offsite as well. I think Rise is the only ride I've seen that sells out close to open time and if they are, then there is no money wasted since you would not have purchased it.

 

[Luisfba]

This is a nit-pick, but Individual Lightning Lanes (ILL) are the ones you pay for a single ride. Genie+ is the one you're talking about, which people seem to just call G+LL or LL. But that doesn't really matter; we get what you're saying.


These are almost correct but not exactly correct.

Whenever you make a G+LL reservation, an eligibility time is set (more on that below), and you lose your ability to book until one of the following happens:

• You tap into any G+LL reservation.
• You cancel any G+LL reservation.
• Your eligibility time arrives.

Once your eligibility is back, it's back. It doesn't go away until you book a new reservation, at which point a new eligibility time is set and you start over.

Your eligibility time is either the end of the arrival window of the G+LL reservation you just made, or 2 hours from the current time, whichever is earlier.

There's one exception, which is when you book the reservation before the park's official opening time. In that case, the eligibility is either the end of the arrival window of the G+LL reservation you just made, or 2 hours after the park's official opening time, whichever is earlier.

That's it. Those are the rules, as best we have collectively been able to determine them.

So for your bullet points, 2 hours from park opening is not the relevant time frame. You can make a double stack with any reservation, no matter what time it is relative to park open.

Example 1:

• At 7:00 am, you make a reservation for 9:00-10:00 on a day the park opens at 9:00.
• Your eligibility time is 10:00 (end of your window, since that's less than 2 hours away from opening)
• You could tap in as early as 9:00 and regain eligibility to book
• You can instead wait until your eligibility time, 10:00, book a new reservation, then tap in (during the grace period), become eligible again, and book another new reservation
• Now you have a double stack.

Example 2:

• At 7:00 am, you make a reservation for 10:15 - 11:15 on a day the park opens at 9:00.
• Your eligibility time is 11:00 (2 hours from open, because the end of your window is more than 2 hours away from opening)
• You could tap in as early as 10:15 and regain eligibility to book
• You can instead wait until your eligibility time, 11:00, book a new reservation, then tap in (during the regular ride window), become eligible again, and book another new reservation.
• Now you have a double stack.

Example 3:

• At 7:00 am, you make a reservation for 11:15 - 12:15 on a day the park opens at 9:00.
• Your eligibility time is 11:00 (2 hours from open, because the end of your window is more than 2 hours away from opening)
• Your first opportunity to book is at your eligibility time, 11:00, when you can book a new reservation.
• At 11:15 your window opens and you can tap in and get another reservation.
• Now you have a double stack.

The rest of your post is essentially correct - you want a double stack because it gives you more opportunities to book another reservation. You usually want to do it first thing because it kind of inevitably involves waiting longer than you need to use your first reservation. All correct.

Thanks for the write-up, it's straightforward. I think it will be interesting to see how folks end up applying this by park and depending on how busy. One thing that wasn't clear to me with the 2 hour window was what action prevented you from being able to take advantage of it. I was unclear if it was tapping into a LL res, or making a new LL res after tapping in. It looks like tapping in is what you want to hold off on if you want to pull the stack from 2 hour window. (correct?)

One this that was also mentioned somewhere on the thread was being able to get a triple stack early on, I think by essentially taking advantage of all three of the criteria in the same general time period. I'd like to see if I understand that one right.

I think to pull that off.. you would need to book your LL with a window that (assuming 11am is 2 hours after park open) closes after 11. Let's say.. window closes at 11:10. Then you grab one at 11:02 (2 hour window expiration), one at 11:12 (LL res window expires), tap in within grace period, then grab another (from tapping in).

Did I get that right? If so, would that also work if my res is - on my example above - 9:55 to 10:55? Would I be able to get one stack from expiration (at 10:55) and one from the two hour wait (at 11:00)?

 

[JakeAZ]

If so, would that also work if my res is - on my example above - 9:55 to 10:55? Would I be able to get one stack from expiration (at 10:55) and one from the two hour wait (at 11:00)?

I don't believe this would work. Once you book from the expiration, it would start another 2 hour window. However, once you then tap into the original ride (during grace period) you'd get another opportunity to book.

 

[dmunsil]

One this that was also mentioned somewhere on the thread was being able to get a triple stack early on, I think by essentially taking advantage of all three of the criteria in the same general time period. I'd like to see if I understand that one right.

To the best of my understanding, that doesn't work. You can get two new bookings by waiting until your eligibility time comes, booking something new, then tapping into a ride, then booking another new thing. You can't get three from the same ride.

Part of the problem is that early reports of how things worked suggested Genie+ restored your ability to book if one of your reservations (or maybe the one you most recently booked) hit its end time. Further experimentation shows that isn't true. Sometimes your eligibility time corresponds to the end of the arrival window of your previous booking, but not always. The key is this: the eligibility time is either 2 hours or when the reservation you just booked ends. Not both. If it was both, then you could get three separate new reservations from carefully-chosen bookings that were at least 65 minutes in the future.

Folks have reported that they waited 2 hours, then until the window's expiration, then tapped in during the grace period, or something similar, and got three new reservations from one original booking. I can't replicate it. They may have experienced a glitch, or there may be something subtle I've missed. Or they just are misremembering the exact sequence of events.

Honestly, the current system is already pretty generous. I don't even think you need all these double-stack techniques to get a ton of Genie+ reservations, if you just make sure to do things in a reasonable order and always book something new every time you're eligible.

 

[Cotta]

To the best of my understanding, that doesn't work. You can get two new bookings by waiting until your eligibility time comes, booking something new, then tapping into a ride, then booking another new thing. You can't get three from the same ride.

Part of the problem is that early reports of how things worked suggested Genie+ restored your ability to book if one of your reservations (or maybe the one you most recently booked) hit its end time. Further experimentation shows that isn't true. Sometimes your eligibility time corresponds to the end of the arrival window of your previous booking, but not always. The key is this: the eligibility time is either 2 hours or when the reservation you just booked ends. Not both. If it was both, then you could get three separate new reservations from carefully-chosen bookings that were at least 65 minutes in the future.

Folks have reported that they waited 2 hours, then until the window's expiration, then tapped in during the grace period, or something similar, and got three new reservations from one original booking. I can't replicate it. They may have experienced a glitch, or there may be something subtle I've missed. Or they just are misremembering the exact sequence of events.

Honestly, the current system is already pretty generous. I don't even think you need all these double-stack techniques to get a ton of Genie+ reservations, if you just make sure to do things in a reasonable order and always book something new every time you're eligible.

So you don't think the 3 in one works but allowing a reservation to expire then booking and tapping in during a grace period would activate a second stack?

 

[JakeAZ]

but allowing a reservation to expire then booking and tapping in during a grace period would activate a second stack?

I have seen countless reports from reliable sites this works.

 

[RyMickey]

I will readily admit that I have not read through all 55 pages at this point, but I'm wondering people's levels of success if traveling with a large group. We're going to be a party of six and are contemplating the purchase for this trip (waiting to see crowd levels) just because we're seeing it as an easy way to avoid crowds in the current health environment.

That said, all the videos from bloggers I've watched are a single person getting passes. I wonder what happens when you amplify that to a group of four or, in our case, a group of six. I don't want to be stuck only having access to Beauty and the Beast and Muppets 3D in the Studios.

 

[Luisfba]

To the best of my understanding, that doesn't work. You can get two new bookings by waiting until your eligibility time comes, booking something new, then tapping into a ride, then booking another new thing. You can't get three from the same ride.

Part of the problem is that early reports of how things worked suggested Genie+ restored your ability to book if one of your reservations (or maybe the one you most recently booked) hit its end time. Further experimentation shows that isn't true. Sometimes your eligibility time corresponds to the end of the arrival window of your previous booking, but not always. The key is this: the eligibility time is either 2 hours or when the reservation you just booked ends. Not both. If it was both, then you could get three separate new reservations from carefully-chosen bookings that were at least 65 minutes in the future.

Folks have reported that they waited 2 hours, then until the window's expiration, then tapped in during the grace period, or something similar, and got three new reservations from one original booking. I can't replicate it. They may have experienced a glitch, or there may be something subtle I've missed. Or they just are misremembering the exact sequence of events.

Honestly, the current system is already pretty generous. I don't even think you need all these double-stack techniques to get a ton of Genie+ reservations, if you just make sure to do things in a reasonable order and always book something new every time you're eligible.

Thanks. Got it. And even if it worked, seems like it would be tricky to pull off.

As far as the system and the techniques. I'm going to be going during a terribly busy time (week after Easter), so I think that as a result my approach will need to be very dependent on park.

Magic Kingdom - (planning on going late in the week) - I expect just grabbing back to back Genie+, or maybe one double stack, will work well
Animal Kingdom - really not enough rides to make it matter for AK, will RD and do StandBy and ILLS.. and just reserve stacks for a TBD park to hop to in the late afternoon or evening
Epcot - hoping even if busy just having one stack will be enough
Hollywood Studios - this is the tricky one, seeing the trends this week.. things go quickly and really not much chance to take advantage of G+ in the morning. looks like this is a 'Rope Drop 1 or 2 rides, do your ILLs and maybe an 11am LL (reserved at 7am), then grab stacks to come back later' approach

 

[princesswahooey]

Thank you, everyone, for all the great research & explanations. I've been following this thread since the beginning, and think I get it. It's going to be tricky for my Christmas week visit because return times will probably fly forward faster than we've seen so far...but...

What about this strategy for an AK/DHS hopper day:

7:03 am: Pull SDD for DHS for afternoon return time, say 4:00.

9:00: Rope Drop Animal Kingdom & ride standby/ILL$

11:00 am: I am eligible to book again. I book the soonest return time possible in AK (optimistically 11:30-12:30 return time)

12:31: My return window expires. I book whatever I can (say MFSR, or whatever looks like it's about to run out) in DHS for afternoon/evening.

12:35: Tap into AK ride during grace period. Book another LL for whatever is left in DHS (maybe ToT?) for afternoon/evening before it runs out.

1pm: Have lunch & Return to hotel for a break

4:00 pm: Head to DHS with 3 Stacked LL & if anything is left at that point, each time I tap in, I can get a new LL.


*Depending on crowd levels, I may be better off just booking LL #2 for DHS at 11:00 and waiting until 1:00 pm to book the 3rd. Right? Even though the first scenario gives me a LL in AK, I may lose out on a good ride at DHS if I wait that extra hour to take advantage of the grace period stack. And AK standby waits for the G+ rides don't seem that bad. We can just buy ILL$ for FOP & Everest.

 

[magicmat77]

Hello. I have been to the parks many times as a tourist, and as a volunteer with a charity taking annual trips, and going on EVERY ride many times each year with lots of sick kids! There are a few new rides which I want to experience. I am going to be travelling alone, and staying off-site. My main aim was to experience the new Star Wars rides at HS with a single day ticket. I will be visiting next Monday, and using Genie+ and paying for ROTR since this is my number 1 priority! My plan was to go late morning and try and stack a couple of rides before arriving. I had a brain wave and wondered if I could get a Hopper ticket to AK so that I could do both Avatar rides (paying for Flights) in the morning, then move on to HS at 1pm to get in for 2pm and do the "big" rides there. (I've done the shows and rides many times, but will be happy to revisit any that I can get on, especially in single rider queues). So my thinking is:

7am - Book Na'vi River for as early as possible. If not before 1pm, then i will just queue and see what suitable return times I can get for HS rides
9am - Book Avatar Flights for the morning and ROTR for late afternoon. And then then book my first HS ride, in the order of Slinky Dog (never done it, I am 44 but looks like fun), TOT, Smugglers and RR (These have single rider, so I might get onto those easily at the end of the day)
11am (or after Ive tapped into Na'vi River - Book 2nd HS ride
1pm - Book 3rd HS ride
Hopefully then I can get on the other rides after tapping in to each reservation, or by just queuing.

What do you think? Viable? Bad use of my time? Am I likely to get a pre 1pm Avatar Flights LL at 9am? HS is my main priority, but seeing the Avatar rides would be great. Im on my own, so i can be flexible and Im happy to stay at HS until late. Any thoughts should be very much appreciated!

 

[Revan]

Curious, what time did you book Buzz? Did you book it right at 7? Seems if you booked right at 7 you could have gotten a lot of choices right away.

We booked when we got into the park, we were staying offsite and arrived a little after park open.

 

[Revan]

Can you please clarify what you mean in your takeaway? G+ should be available at 7AM for anyone staying on-site or offsite, if I understand correctly, which would make G+ attractive for people staying offsite. The ILL can be more problematic since onsite gets a headstart, but since you can only book 2 a day i would still think most people could get a benefit from this staying offsite as well. I think Rise is the only ride I've seen that sells out close to open time and if they are, then there is no money wasted since you would not have purchased it.

That's a misunderstanding on my part then, but we didn't plan on using G+ until we got to the park and saw the crowds and wait time jumping up

 

[StarrySkye21]

I am sure this is already answered so I apologize for asking again.

if you book and then later cancel a specific G+ attraction, will you have the option to book the same attraction again later? I don’t want to lose my one chance at a lightning lane for a favorite ride by canceling it.

 

[nurseberta]

Hello. I have been to the parks many times as a tourist, and as a volunteer with a charity taking annual trips, and going on EVERY ride many times each year with lots of sick kids! There are a few new rides which I want to experience. I am going to be travelling alone, and staying off-site. My main aim was to experience the new Star Wars rides at HS with a single day ticket. I will be visiting next Monday, and using Genie+ and paying for ROTR since this is my number 1 priority! My plan was to go late morning and try and stack a couple of rides before arriving. I had a brain wave and wondered if I could get a Hopper ticket to AK so that I could do both Avatar rides (paying for Flights) in the morning, then move on to HS at 1pm to get in for 2pm and do the "big" rides there. (I've done the shows and rides many times, but will be happy to revisit any that I can get on, especially in single rider queues). So my thinking is:

7am - Book Na'vi River for as early as possible. If not before 1pm, then i will just queue and see what suitable return times I can get for HS rides
9am - Book Avatar Flights for the morning and ROTR for late afternoon. And then then book my first HS ride, in the order of Slinky Dog (never done it, I am 44 but looks like fun), TOT, Smugglers and RR (These have single rider, so I might get onto those easily at the end of the day)
11am (or after Ive tapped into Na'vi River - Book 2nd HS ride
1pm - Book 3rd HS ride
Hopefully then I can get on the other rides after tapping in to each reservation, or by just queuing.

What do you think? Viable? Bad use of my time? Am I likely to get a pre 1pm Avatar Flights LL at 9am? HS is my main priority, but seeing the Avatar rides would be great. Im on my own, so i can be flexible and Im happy to stay at HS until late. Any thoughts should be very much appreciated!

I’m sure other will have some real time feedback as I have yet to visit with G+ but in my understanding SDD goes fast. My advice is to get SDD 1st then purchase Rise at 7am, (since it is not your park reservation, you will be prompted for times after 2pm, then purchase FoP, arrive at AK and standby Na’Vi 1st followed by timed FoP, by 11am you could book any other G+ attractions like safari but if wait times are low start adding G+ for HS

 

[disneymom1026]

Can someone simplify the hacks I get the Genie + basics but can someone make it super simple for everything else.

1. Can you do the 2 tap hack even if your LL window has not expired? Example: You have PP from 1-2pm. Can I tap into PP 1st tap entry point at 1:15pm, get a new LL, tap into PP 2nd tap entry point to get an additional new LL, then ride PP? Am I understanding this correct? So that would be 2 additional new LL's instead of just 1 if you did not do the double tap.

2. In the above example, if I let the LL for PP expire and at 2:01pm I grab an additional LL THEN do the above hack to get 3 new LL's correct?

3. Once I have 2 or 3 LL's going from the above example, how do I keep 2 or 3 LL's going at all times? Do I have to remember any special rules to hold onto many of these bonus LL's at one time or do all the basic rules apply like expiration, using, 120 min rule.

4. Can someone simply explain the cancel hack?

5. Is the best strategy to get a LL in the near future at 7am or should I go for longer rides like SDD or JC?

6. We will be park hopping each day. Should I get a few LL in the first park but really focus on bigger more popular rides in the late afternoon / early evening for the park we are hopping to? We will be taking an afternoon break.

This forum is amazing and I have learned so much about Genie + hacks. I hope to get the most out of our trip without going crazy ha.

 

[LSUfan4444]

1. Can you do the 2 tap hack even if your LL window has not expired? Example: You have PP from 1-2pm. Can I tap into PP 1st tap entry point at 1:15pm, get a new LL, tap into PP 2nd tap entry point to get an additional new LL, then ride PP? Am I understanding this correct? So that would be 2 additional new LL's instead of just 1 if you did not do the double tap.

No, your eligibility is not reset with every tap. Once you second tap into the ride (when their is a second tap option), you will be eligible for another G+LL. Now, if you were to wait until your PP window expired (2:01 pm) you could then book another G+LL and the tap into PP and book another G+LL

 

[nurseberta]

Can someone simplify the hacks I get the Genie + basics but can someone make it super simple for everything else.

1. Can you do the 2 tap hack even if your LL window has not expired? Example: You have PP from 1-2pm. Can I tap into PP 1st tap entry point at 1:15pm, get a new LL, tap into PP 2nd tap entry point to get an additional new LL, then ride PP? Am I understanding this correct? So that would be 2 additional new LL's instead of just 1 if you did not do the double tap.

4. Can someone simply explain the cancel hack?

5. Is the best strategy to get a LL in the near future at 7am or should I go for longer rides like SDD or JC?

1. I don’t think the 1st tap resets your eligibility timer unless someone found a glitch. Have not experienced real-time but from all I have researched, the second tap is what resets so I don’t think you could get 2 LL from one booking.

4. the cancelation hack is not really a hack, just cancel and then you are eligible and rebook but I would be careful because if you have another eligible window opening I believe this would mess with the time clock or potentially mess with that availability if you are trying to multi stack

5. This would change depending on your touring strategy. If you have early entry then you could RD SDD or JC (or plan them for end of the night) and book another G+
my feeling is that if you pay for G+ You have a desire to save time and slow loading/ low capacity rides is where you will get more value (save time waiting in line) if using the LL do these are the rides that book out late and you may not get a G+ as SDD books out of availability
Also this depends on crowd levels at the time you visit.

 

[VeronicaZS]

This is a nit-pick, but Individual Lightning Lanes (ILL) are the ones you pay for a single ride. Genie+ is the one you're talking about, which people seem to just call G+LL or LL. But that doesn't really matter; we get what you're saying.

Thanks for the clarification, I edited my post so as not to cause confusion.

Thank you for reading so closely, I think I get all the nuances now!