The Genie Usage, Tips and Strategy ONLY Thread

[glocon]

My immediate family with hoppers is travelling with extended family without hoppers in April. My son is a big Star Wars fan so I'm planning 2 days at HS. Right now I have 2 park reservations at HS. Wondering if I should switch my HS reservation to Epcot (same as the rest of the family) and try to stack afternoon LL's instead hopping to HS after 2?

Only complicating factor is my family likes to have dinner in Epcot so I may need to hop back to Epcot for dinner, which won't give me much time.

If GE is your goal for that day, it seems like you should be able to get both SW rides in between 2pm and 6/7pm. You can purchase Rise for the time that works for you then standby or get G+ for MF. Seems doable. Might even get an Oga’s ressie to fit in there too!

 

[snikki]

My immediate family with hoppers is travelling with extended family without hoppers in April. My son is a big Star Wars fan so I'm planning 2 days at HS. Right now I have 2 park reservations at HS. Wondering if I should switch my HS reservation to Epcot (same as the rest of the family) and try to stack afternoon LL's instead hopping to HS after 2?

Only complicating factor is my family likes to have dinner in Epcot so I may need to hop back to Epcot for dinner, which won't give me much time.

I think you'll be fine starting at DHS, getting everything you want done and going to Epcot for dinner.

We chose to do DHS in the PM on our first full day since we do midday breaks. I didn't want to take the chance of not getting ROTR before noon on our first day at the parks. If I knew we would stay past 3-4 pm I would've done RD at DHS I would have just done RD.

 

[HPotter]

Here is something I haven't seen discussed (could be wrong). If you have a group of say 8 adults. Of course, you can easily book LL passes as a group, but if YOU book ILL for your full group, do you get charged for all 8 or does the charge move to the specific individuals accounts? Wondering as this could get confusing on expenses between adults.

 

[wisblue]

Here is something I haven't seen discussed (could be wrong). If you have a group of say 8 adults. Of course, you can easily book LL passes as a group, but if YOU book ILL for your full group, do you get charged for all 8 or does the charge move to the specific individuals accounts? Wondering as this could get confusing on expenses between adults.

It will be one charge.

If you really wanted separate charges each person or couple would have to book separately. Trying to coordinate that to get the same or overlapping return times sounds a lot more complicated to me than sorting out who owes what later.

 

[HPotter]

It will be one charge.

If you really wanted separate charges each person or couple would have to book separately. Trying to coordinate that to get the same or overlapping return times sounds a lot more complicated to me than sorting out who owes what later.

Bummer, just another layer of aggravation for trying to enjoy a day at the park.

 

[mlbrv]

Thanks for the answers to my earlier questions - I have another one...

Once I book a LL, let's say it's not for several hours later.....is there a way (like the fast pass + "refresh system") that I can keep looking for a better time (on the same ride or even a different one) and switch to that LL?
Or am I stuck with the 1st one I book?
Thereby having to wait 2 hrs until I can book a 2nd one...(since I wouldn't be able to tap into the ride for several hours)

 

[chicagodisneyguy]

Here is something I haven't seen discussed (could be wrong). If you have a group of say 8 adults. Of course, you can easily book LL passes as a group, but if YOU book ILL for your full group, do you get charged for all 8 or does the charge move to the specific individuals accounts? Wondering as this could get confusing on expenses between adults.

The odds of everyone getting the same return time for rides like RotR, Frozen, 7DMT, or Remy would be pretty low. One person paying and then reimbursing the others is easiest.

 

[HPotter]

The odds of everyone getting the same return time for rides like RotR, Frozen, 7DMT, or Remy would be pretty low. One person paying and then reimbursing the others is easiest.

True, but given that every account is tied to a credit card. I would hope that they would charge back to that specific account. It's just a pain in the butt.

 

[wisblue]

Thanks for the answers to my earlier questions - I have another one...

Once I book a LL, let's say it's not for several hours later.....is there a way (like the fast pass + "refresh system") that I can keep looking for a better time (on the same ride or even a different one) and switch to that LL?
Or am I stuck with the 1st one I book?
Thereby having to wait 2 hrs until I can book a 2nd one...(since I wouldn't be able to tap into the ride for several hours)

Unlike FP+ you can’t modify a Genie+ LL to a different time.

You can refresh and see different available times, but to claim it you would have to cancel the first one and then try to book the new one. The risk in that is that the new time may disappear before you can book it, and you’d be left with nothing.

This is addressed in the sticky thread with general information about Genie+ and LL.

 

[NJlauren]

My daughters favorite park is HS, she mostly wants to do ToT, RnR and maybe SDD, i want to do Rise. My current plan to do HS 8:30-2:30 one day, the other options is do a few hours in the afternoon one day and also coming back for a 2nd time 8:30-2:30 and skip Epcot all together, but we are really looking forward to checking out the Festival of the Arts and riding Remy!

Do you think i can get those 4 rides done from 8:30-2:30, what is the best plan to do this? We can not stay later then 2:30 as we have a flight to catch.

I was thinking pay for Rise pass and hope for an early time, Get RnR LL, ride ToT at rope drop (early entry) and wait for SDD. If she doesn't want to wait skip SDD, thoughts? Better plan?

 

[chicagodisneyguy]

True, but given that every account is tied to a credit card. I would hope that they would charge back to that specific account. It's just a pain in the butt.

Knowing Disney's IT there's a better change of all 8 accounts being charged for all 8 than each getting charged individually. I think also there's the issues if there are any kids or adults in the group who don't have a credit card on file or a MDE account of their own. I could also see one person in the group having a credit card that is expired and it causing the whole group to end up with an error message when trying to book a hard to get ILL like RoR or Avatar.

 

[Sunelis]

My daughters favorite park is HS, she mostly wants to do ToT, RnR and maybe SDD, i want to do Rise. My current plan to do HS 8:30-2:30 one day, the other options is do a few hours in the afternoon one day and also coming back for a 2nd time 8:30-2:30 and skip Epcot all together, but we are really looking forward to checking out the Festival of the Arts and riding Remy!

Do you think i can get those 4 rides done from 8:30-2:30, what is the best plan to do this? We can not stay later then 2:30 as we have a flight to catch.

I was thinking pay for Rise pass and hope for an early time, Get RnR LL, ride ToT at rope drop (early entry) and wait for SDD. If she doesn't want to wait skip SDD, thoughts? Better plan?

Personnally I would pay for Rise, get SDD LL. Rope drop RnR and TOT.

 

[NJlauren]

Personnally I would pay for Rise, get SDD LL. Rope drop RnR and TOT.

My fear is i am not going to get a great SDD LL time and be able to get a good Rise time.

 

[Chuck96]

I had my first Genie experience this weekend. Pretty useless at DAK, but was able to salvage MK when my son spent the whole morning sick in bed (stomach issues, not COVID). Was able to stack rides starting at 3:30 or so until our Fireworks Dessert thing. Paid for 7DMT and Space Mountain, because we were only going to hit parks for 3 days total. Figured I'd splurge.

On Monday, got acquainted with the 10 minute or so refresh rate on booking ILL and G+ rides. Definitely worth your time if miss out between 7:00 - 7:10. Managed to get a mid-day RotR after watching it "sell out" multiple times (or offer times after which we would be leaving the park for the airport). Finally got mine at 7:28 or so. Patience pays off. No need to do that one again, but good practice for Tron or Guardians in a year or two.

All in all I prefer FP+ (and I prefer not paying), but with some diligence and patience, you can hit the parks and rides you want without too many standby lines. But yes, G+ favors the afternoon/evening crunch. Mornings are still for lines and the occasional early start.

If you do want to stack, take most popular to least popular. They should all end up between 3-8 PM that way.

 

[Chuck96]

You can always get SDD right away and then hope for a Rise window at the 7:10 refresh. Otherwise, Sunelis is exactly right. G+ SDD, ILL RotR, then hit Tower and RnR at park open.

 

[snikki]

My fear is i am not going to get a great SDD LL time and be able to get a good Rise time.

Does your daughter have a phone? Can she log in and get SDD while you get Rise? That's my plan for one of the days. I hope it works.

 

[NJlauren]

@snikki sorry i forgot to quote you and now can not figure out how to add it

She is 7 and no phone I could load on her ipad I guess… see if that works?

 

[Brian4891]

Thanks for the answers to my earlier questions - I have another one...

Once I book a LL, let's say it's not for several hours later.....is there a way (like the fast pass + "refresh system") that I can keep looking for a better time (on the same ride or even a different one) and switch to that LL?
Or am I stuck with the 1st one I book?
Thereby having to wait 2 hrs until I can book a 2nd one...(since I wouldn't be able to tap into the ride for several hours)

You cannot modify the one that you have, but you can cancel it and book a new one. When you book the new one, your 120 minutes starts over again.

Just note that if you try to do this with any of the most popular attractions, it is very possible that in the time it takes you to cancel and re-book, the time that you saw and are trying to get will be gone. With Slinky Dog Dash, for example, sometimes times pop up throughout the day, but by the time you cancel and get back to the tip board it will probably be gone and then you are stuck with nothing

 

[snikki]

@snikki sorry i forgot to quote you and now can not figure out how to add it

She is 7 and no phone I could load on her ipad I guess… see if that works?

It's better than nothing! I would try it.

 

[Brian4891]

@snikki sorry i forgot to quote you and now can not figure out how to add it

She is 7 and no phone I could load on her ipad I guess… see if that works?

I think you can get both. Have both of them pinned to the top of your tip board. At exactly 7am grab SDD immediately. It will take 5-10 seconds to get it and get back to the tip board at which point there should still be afternoon ROTR ILL's. Definitely gotta be quick but I think it's possible!