The Genie Usage, Tips and Strategy ONLY Thread

[kcpinwdw]

A lot will depend on what your preferred rides are at HS, if you are an on-site guest and if you intend to do early entry rope drop. If I wanted SDD, that would be my priority right at 7 AM. It goes out into late afternoon/early evening very quickly. If ROTR is a must-do, purchase ILL$ rather than trying for standby. Two hours after official park opening, grab your second G+. MMRR or MFSR are good choices as is ToT. Again, it will depend on what's available and what meets your plans for hopping to Epcot. You can refresh over and over if favorable times don't pop up at first. I would not fixate on getting one particular attraction but have 2 or 3 options in mind. What you don't get on your first HS day, you can try for on your second day.

For GotG, be aware that you cannot try for a boarding group until after 2 PM if Epcot is not your first park. The boarding groups that open at 1 PM have still been available after 2 PM lately but every day can be different and you didn't say when you will be going. If you want to guarantee that you will ride GotG then you will need to purchase an ILL$.

Yes on-site. I’m familiar with prioritizing Hs rides, but wondering about the guardians ILL timing. So you are saying there is no rush at 7am? Book my first G+ first and then wait for Guardians time to reach after 2pm? I was worried guardians was selling out ILL at 7.

 

[Marionnette]

Yes on-site. I’m familiar with prioritizing Hs rides, but wondering about the guardians ILL timing. So you are saying there is no rush at 7am? Book my first G+ first and then wait for Guardians time to reach after 2pm? I was worried guardians was selling out ILL at 7.

GotG ILL$ tend to sell out 3-4 minutes after 7 AM, which should give you time to book a G+ first. If it is sold out, keep trying until after 7:12 AM. That's when any ILL$ purchases that guests did not complete will be returned to inventory.

 

[set88]

Hi Guys

I am heading to DisneyWorld at Spring break next year. I will need to do DHS and Epcot in one day,
Epcot looks easier to rope drop and I could Stack DHS for the afternoon. Just checking if anyone has experience on how many big rides I will be able to book with Genie+ before sell out. I will get an ILL for RoTR, main attractions I want to ride at MFSR, ToT, TSM, RR,.. I could take or leave SDD don't see what the big deal is.
Also interested in booking the droids building, not sure if need DHS reservation to book that in advance.

Basically will I get a 7, 10:30 and 12:30 Genie + booking for the rides above. or just 7 and 10:30

DHS is my priority so if stacking wont work on a crowd day predicted to be an 8, I would prefer to rope drop DHS, and just use Genie+ for epcot in the PM.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks

I think a lot may change with Genie+ between now and next spring. I'm wondering how much of the prep work I've done will be out of date by my November trip.

Popularity of rides fluctuate - like ToT being more popular when it was running at half capacity. MFSR was hugely popular with Genie+ for a while but towards the end of July, was an easier reservation to get. I would check the data and ask this question again looking at heavier crowd days in the spring before your trip.

Answering based on Summer 2022 trends, your priorities would be ToT, SR, then one of the other two (should both have availability.) EPCOT, even on the low crowd days, tends to run out of headliners by noon. Since you can't get all 3, I don't think Genie+ is worthwhile there.

 

[BunsenH]

Do you need to be at DW to start booking with Genie +? Can I start at 7:00 am if I am in an airport or on a plane?

 

[Marionnette]

Do you need to be at DW to start booking with Genie +? Can I start at 7:00 am if I am in an airport or on a plane?

You can book G+ from anywhere at 7AM. If you are booking ILL$, you must be an on-site guest to book at 7 AM but do not need to be physically on property.

 

[Miffy]

If I want to purchase an ILL$ at my hopping-to park, do I have to wait until 2 p.m. to do that? Or can I book it at 7 a.m.?

Obvy, I'm not up on the new rules. Are they explained in detail somewhere here?

 

[Tom_E_D]

If I want to purchase an ILL$ at my hopping-to park, do I have to wait until 2 p.m. to do that? Or can I book it at 7 a.m.?

Obvy, I'm not up on the new rules. Are they explained in detail somewhere here?

7:00 a,m, if staying "onsite." Park open if staying "offsite."

 

[Tom_E_D]

Yes on-site. I’m familiar with prioritizing Hs rides, but wondering about the guardians ILL timing. So you are saying there is no rush at 7am? Book my first G+ first and then wait for Guardians time to reach after 2pm? I was worried guardians was selling out ILL at 7.

Guardians is an ILL, not a G+ LL ride. You do not have to wait to book it. If staying "onsite," you can book it at 7:00. If "offsite," you can book it at park open. You only have to wait for return times have reached 2:00 or later to book G+ LLs in your hop-to park.

 

[Disturbia]

Yes on-site. I’m familiar with prioritizing Hs rides, but wondering about the guardians ILL timing. So you are saying there is no rush at 7am? Book my first G+ first and then wait for Guardians time to reach after 2pm? I was worried guardians was selling out ILL at 7.

HS times go into the evening pretty quick after 11 am and it’s really difficult to get AM passes so stacking for the PM is probably better. Everyone is rope dropping so you can only ride 1 ride with low waits, maybe 2 max (if you were at the gates an hour early.)

If you are flexible (no ADRs; highly recommend no ADRs on HS day-take 2 hours) and can hop easily between parks (no mobility issues) then you can try rope dropping HS, ride 2 standby, maybe star tours (usually low waits) and have a ROTR LLIA (it breaks down routinely) and at least 1 Genie+ (SDD and standby MFSR) so that would be a good morning strategy. Then hop to Epcot and ride single rider TT and LLI$ Guardians and maybe hop back to HS after dinner to ride TOT/RnRC (Genie+/Standby single rider); close with Oga’s cantina

If I want to purchase an ILL$ at my hopping-to park, do I have to wait until 2 p.m. to do that? Or can I book it at 7 a.m.?

Obvy, I'm not up on the new rules. Are they explained in detail somewhere here?

Also, you can book 2 LLIA (max 2 per day rule still applies) whereas someone not park hopping can only book 1 per day currently.

 

[subtchr]

GotG ILL$ tend to sell out 3-4 minutes after 7 AM, which should give you time to book a G+ first. If it is sold out, keep trying until after 7:12 AM. That's when any ILL$ purchases that guests did not complete will be returned to inventory.

This is not correct.

Guardians ILL$ do NOT sell out until late morning at the very earliest. Here's a chart from Thrill-Data showing that for the past two months, the earliest it sold out was about 10 am, and typically it's available until almost noon or even after.

Rise is a different story.

 

[vinotinto]

We’re going to MK on our arrival night. Flight arrives at 5pm, and we’re planning to get to MK around 8:30ish. It will be busy because it’s a Wednesday during party season (so only 3 nights per week that you can see fireworks and stay until late) and there are deluxe extended hours that evening (for which we are staying). Because it will be busy, I’m thinking about purchasing G+ to do Jungle Cruise and Splash between 9:30 and 11pm because they won’t be open during deluxe extended hours. I looked at thrill data, and it seems I should be able to book Jungle Cruise in the early afternoon for 9:30-10:30pm, but will need to wait quite a bit to book Splash for that period. Does that sound right? Just trying to juggle picking up kids from school, getting to airport and booking these.

 

[set88]

I can't find anywhere when you can make your second ILL$ purchase. Can you make your 2 for the day both at 7 am?

Yes, but they have to be in different parks, since you can't repeat rides and there is only one ILL in each park.

 

[Boardwalk III]

This is not correct.

Guardians ILL$ do NOT sell out until late morning at the very earliest. Here's a chart from Thrill-Data showing that for the past two months, the earliest it sold out was about 10 am, and typically it's available until almost noon or even after.

Rise is a different story.

View attachment 695524

Thanks for clarifying. I thought I had read this on another post, (it selling out around noon time) so I was confused by the “right after 7 AM“ comment.

Speaking of ROTR however, how quickly does that sell out? I’d be looking to purchase an ILL$ for early afternoon at DHS.

Thanks

 

[set88]

Thanks for clarifying. I thought I had read this on another post, (it selling out around noon time) so I was confused by the “right after 7 AM“ comment.

Speaking of ROTR however, how quickly does that sell out? I’d be looking to purchase an ILL$ for early afternoon at DHS.

Thanks

It's been lasting until at least park open for the last month. If you want early afternoon, you're going to want to buy earlier, though. I'd try to buy before 7:15am.

 

[subtchr]

Thanks for clarifying. I thought I had read this on another post, (it selling out around noon time) so I was confused by the “right after 7 AM“ comment.

Speaking of ROTR however, how quickly does that sell out? I’d be looking to purchase an ILL$ for early afternoon at DHS.

Thanks

Here's the same chart for RotR. It is often sold out before park opening time. Are you staying at a Disney resort? If so, I'd purchase it shortly after 7, to be safe.

 

[subtchr]

We’re going to MK on our arrival night. Flight arrives at 5pm, and we’re planning to get to MK around 8:30ish. It will be busy because it’s a Wednesday during party season (so only 3 nights per week that you can see fireworks and stay until late) and there are deluxe extended hours that evening (for which we are staying). Because it will be busy, I’m thinking about purchasing G+ to do Jungle Cruise and Splash between 9:30 and 11pm because they won’t be open during deluxe extended hours. I looked at thrill data, and it seems I should be able to book Jungle Cruise in the early afternoon for 9:30-10:30pm, but will need to wait quite a bit to book Splash for that period. Does that sound right? Just trying to juggle picking up kids from school, getting to airport and booking these.

Yes, that sounds about right, but of course you'll have to keep watching it that day, since what is typical/average isn't always consistent. Good luck!

 

[Pickles516]

So here’s a super noob question I either missed the answer to or that I haven’t seen discussed: what are the wait times at popular rides like with a lightning lane?

I’ve read a lot of analysis about overall time savings, whether you get more time savings in the morning, peak, or evening, and which parks are best suited for genie +.

For the life of me, I can’t seem to find anything that says “The wait for [popular ride] is usually X, but with lightning lane it is Y.”

 

[scrappinginontario]

So here’s a super noob question I either missed the answer to or that I haven’t seen discussed: what are the wait times at popular rides like with a lightning lane?

I’ve read a lot of analysis about overall time savings, whether you get more time savings in the morning, peak, or evening, and which parks are best suited for genie +.

For the life of me, I can’t seem to find anything that says “The wait for [popular ride] is usually X, but with lightning lane it is Y.”

I’m not sure it’s possible to say you save ‘x’ amount of time as the wait times differ all day. You will always save time with a LL reservation but how much may be 5 mins or 90, even for the same ride.

 

[Mome Rath]

So here’s a super noob question I either missed the answer to or that I haven’t seen discussed: what are the wait times at popular rides like with a lightning lane?

I’ve read a lot of analysis about overall time savings, whether you get more time savings in the morning, peak, or evening, and which parks are best suited for genie +.

For the life of me, I can’t seem to find anything that says “The wait for [popular ride] is usually X, but with lightning lane it is Y.”

Just want an example? Like with Rise, say it is a 2 hour wait which is an average, you get into the preshow with ILL$ in about 5 to 10 min I'd guess (from experience).

 

[Pickles516]

Just want an example? Like with Rise, say it is a 2 hour wait which is an average, you get into the preshow with ILL$ in about 5 to 10 min I'd guess (from experience).

Yeah this is the type of thing I mean, thank you. Do you happen to have any experience with regular LL’s? Like if they get the wait down from 2 hrs to 1-1.5 hrs generally, that doesn’t help me much with small kids, but if it gets the wait down from 1-1.5 hours to 20-30 mins with LL, that’s a godsend. I know it’s speaking I’m generalities, but I’m trying to prepare my brain lol