The Genie Usage, Tips and Strategy ONLY Thread

[diaman]

Our flight is scheduled to take off at 7am next week so we will not be able to reserve anything until we land around 9:30. Would we be able to reserve a a $ILL and G+ at 9:30, then reserve another G+ at 10:30am if the park opens at 8:30 or do we have to wait 2 hours from 9:30?

 

[Landry]

Our flight is scheduled to take off at 7am next week so we will not be able to reserve anything until we land around 9:30. Would we be able to reserve a a $ILL and G+ at 9:30, then reserve another G+ at 10:30am if the park opens at 8:30 or do we have to wait 2 hours from 9:30?

If you reserve one at 9:30 from the airport then your next one will be available to book at 11:30, unless you tap into the first ride before 11:30.

 

[Tom_E_D]

Our flight is scheduled to take off at 7am next week so we will not be able to reserve anything until we land around 9:30. Would we be able to reserve a a $ILL and G+ at 9:30, then reserve another G+ at 10:30am if the park opens at 8:30 or do we have to wait 2 hours from 9:30?

Landry has already answered your question. However, I'd like to point out that many airlines offer onboard wifi that can be accessed by your smartphone in airplane mode. That may give you a chance to book your first G+ LL while in the air, once the flight has reached an altitude that allows use of personal electronic devices.

 

[cisco911]

I don't know if there is a sticky somewhere but outside of Magic Kingdom, is Genie Plus really needed? Epcot has a handful of rides, 2 of which are ILL, so why would we pay $15/person. Doesn't seem necessary. Same thing for animal kingdom. We are rope drop people so we can get 1 or 2 big rides out the way right in the morning. The only 2 places I think it would be worth while would be MK and HS. But even then, HS is kind of a toss up. Is there a cost/benefit analysis somewhere to show where and when it is worth getting Genie Plus?

 

[Marionnette]

The only 2 places I think it would be worth while would be MK and HS. But even then, HS is kind of a toss up.

HS has too many attractions that tend to go down and when they do, standby waits at other rides can reach intolerable lengths. Even on a day like today where attendance levels are relatively low and all rides are working wait times for many attractions at HS are 40+ minutes (MK attractions are almost walk-on).

 

[DLRExpert]

Our flight is scheduled to take off at 7am next week so we will not be able to reserve anything until we land around 9:30. Would we be able to reserve a a $ILL and G+ at 9:30, then reserve another G+ at 10:30am if the park opens at 8:30 or do we have to wait 2 hours from 9:30?

Flights rarely leave on time.
Or ask someone close to you who is not going to book them for you.

 

[set88]

I don't know if there is a sticky somewhere but outside of Magic Kingdom, is Genie Plus really needed? Epcot has a handful of rides, 2 of which are ILL, so why would we pay $15/person. Doesn't seem necessary. Same thing for animal kingdom. We are rope drop people so we can get 1 or 2 big rides out the way right in the morning. The only 2 places I think it would be worth while would be MK and HS. But even then, HS is kind of a toss up. Is there a cost/benefit analysis somewhere to show where and when it is worth getting Genie Plus?

I believe DisneyTouristBlog has done some cost benefit analysis for G+. They recommend it for MK and maybe for HS, and not for the other two.

I think it's useful at HS as well as MK. It obviously depends on how you value time, but if you want to do Slinky Dog, it's likely going to save you an hour right there. I would probably value every other big ride (ToT, RnR, MMRR, TSM, MFSR) as saving ~30-45 minutes. I'd say you'll get 4 rides total on the average day.

 

[cisco911]

I believe DisneyTouristBlog has done some cost benefit analysis for G+. They recommend it for MK and maybe for HS, and not for the other two.

I think it's useful at HS as well as MK. It obviously depends on how you value time, but if you want to do Slinky Dog, it's likely going to save you an hour right there. I would probably value every other big ride (ToT, RnR, MMRR, TSM, MFSR) as saving ~30-45 minutes. I'd say you'll get 4 rides total on the average day.

Our kids won't do ToT or RnR so that side of the park will not be needed. We will probably spend our day between star wars and Toy Story Land outside of MMRR and walking around.

 

[set88]

Our kids won't do ToT or RnR so that side of the park will not be needed. We will probably spend our day between star wars and Toy Story Land outside of MMRR and walking around.

Then maybe not needed, unless you're going at a high crowd time. Depends on how much money you feel like spending vs your tolerance for lines. Slinky Dog would be the hardest to find with a lower wait. If you're ok with 45 minute lines and plan to do early morning/late night, I wouldn't buy it. I'd probably be tempted to do ILL for Rise instead of G+ if I didn't plan to get both.

 

[Tom_E_D]

I don't know if there is a sticky somewhere but outside of Magic Kingdom, is Genie Plus really needed? Epcot has a handful of rides, 2 of which are ILL, so why would we pay $15/person. Doesn't seem necessary. Same thing for animal kingdom. We are rope drop people so we can get 1 or 2 big rides out the way right in the morning. The only 2 places I think it would be worth while would be MK and HS. But even then, HS is kind of a toss up. Is there a cost/benefit analysis somewhere to show where and when it is worth getting Genie Plus?

Only one ride at Epcot is an ILL, the same as at all the other parks. Once upon a time, there were two ILLs per park, but not any more.

Here is a blogpost that compares how much time Genie+ saves you at each park. Your cost-benefit depends on how much you value your time. Genie+ costs $15 per day.

 

[itf]

HS has too many attractions that tend to go down and when they do, standby waits at other rides can reach intolerable lengths. Even on a day like today where attendance levels are relatively low and all rides are working wait times for many attractions at HS are 40+ minutes (MK attractions are almost walk-on).

I saw rise at 25 mins this morning while we were at HS. Some of the toy story rides looked excessive though and M&M being down made that one rough.

We had it for all two weeks on our ticket so we used it all parks. I don’t think it’s anywhere near essential at AK but thought it was of some use in the other three in terms of saving time. We found ourselves with a LL “going spare” a lot but it meant walking past something grabbing the LL and just walking straight on.

 

[bluezy]

I don't know if there is a sticky somewhere but outside of Magic Kingdom, is Genie Plus really needed? Epcot has a handful of rides, 2 of which are ILL, so why would we pay $15/person. Doesn't seem necessary. Same thing for animal kingdom. We are rope drop people so we can get 1 or 2 big rides out the way right in the morning. The only 2 places I think it would be worth while would be MK and HS. But even then, HS is kind of a toss up. Is there a cost/benefit analysis somewhere to show where and when it is worth getting Genie Plus?

It's not *needed* for any park technically. As Set88 mentioned, it really comes down to how much time you're willing to stand in line and what your financial budget is. We were at DW for 8 days in June (relatively busy time at the parks). We had G+ for every day and used it for numerous rides every day. We also used ILL every day (usually just one a day). It wasn't so much that we *needed* to use G+ & ILL, but it saved us a lot of time by not having to wait in long lines. We felt it was worth every penny and we will use it again in the future. We had more time to relax and just take time to stop and smell the roses. We probably could have accomplished nearly as much even without G+, but it would have required us to do rope drop almost every day (with G+ we only rope dropped 3 out of 8 days); take advantage of late nights; and just spend a lot more time waiting in lines. I realize buying G+/ILL every day isn't in everyone's budget, but I think it's worth using at least one day at each park (AK might be the exception if there's a budget issue) especially during busy times -- which is most of the year, now.

The WDW Prep School website has charts for each park indicating how to prioritize rides when using Genie+. Those might help you decide where it's worth buying it for you. If most of the things you want to do are "low" priority, you can probably get away without purchasing G+.

 

[LisaRay]

Our flight is scheduled to take off at 7am next week so we will not be able to reserve anything until we land around 9:30. Would we be able to reserve a a $ILL and G+ at 9:30, then reserve another G+ at 10:30am if the park opens at 8:30 or do we have to wait 2 hours from 9:30?

We booked ours while in flight on our March trip.

 

[daisylovesdisney]

I believe DisneyTouristBlog has done some cost benefit analysis for G+. They recommend it for MK and maybe for HS, and not for the other two.

I think it's useful at HS as well as MK. It obviously depends on how you value time, but if you want to do Slinky Dog, it's likely going to save you an hour right there. I would probably value every other big ride (ToT, RnR, MMRR, TSM, MFSR) as saving ~30-45 minutes. I'd say you'll get 4 rides total on the average day.

I have a low tolerance for lines and found it helpful in AK and Epcot as well. In AK we used it for Na'vi River, Safari, Kali, and Expedition Everest (my son and brother got to go twice because other in my family won't ride it and they swapped bracelets). The sun was a beast and even though we only used it on a handful of rides it was worth it to me.

 

[jimim]

Rookie question. . .

party of 4.

1. ill$ - do you guys book your whole party for a ride or split them into 2? is it pretty hard to get 4 at the same time for any of the parks.
2. genie+ - same question. split us into group of 2 and book closest 2 banks of times for a ride?
3. should I load my account on my wife's phone also? can she be looking at the same time as me on same account? I was always the phone person with fast pass.

 

[DLRExpert]

Rookie question. . .

party of 4.

1. ill$ - do you guys book your whole party for a ride or split them into 2? is it pretty hard to get 4 at the same time for any of the parks.
2. genie+ - same question. split us into group of 2 and book closest 2 banks of times for a ride?
3. should I load my account on my wife's phone also? can she be looking at the same time as me on same account? I was always the phone person with fast pass.

1) whole party
2) whole party
3) yes

 

[jimim]

1) whole party
2) whole party
3) yes

so my wife doesn't need a separate account of her own linked to mine? she can be logged onto my email account on her phone? it will let multiple devices logged onto it? my buddy just told me have her make her own account and link us to each other. keep the kids on mine.

 

[DLRExpert]

so my wife doesn't need a separate account of her own linked to mine? she can be logged onto my email account on her phone? it will let multiple devices logged onto it? my buddy just told me have her make her own account and link us to each other. keep the kids on mine.

You can share the same account.
She can also add your family info on her account if she wants to.

 

[scrappinginontario]

so my wife doesn't need a separate account of her own linked to mine? she can be logged onto my email account on her phone? it will let multiple devices logged onto it? my buddy just told me have her make her own account and link us to each other. keep the kids on mine.

You can both log into the same account. Many, many experiences shared on the boards and never an issue reported.

 

[jimim]

You can both log into the same account. Many, many experiences shared on the boards and never an issue reported.

ok awesome! so i assume that is a smart thing to do? have us both on at 7AM to get ill$ or say a genie+ ride if need be? or even a virtual queue ride like cosmic rewind? i'm sorry i feel like such a rookie. its been awhile it feels.