The Genie Usage, Tips and Strategy ONLY Thread

[Airb330]

I’m really struggling to see how this system is better. SDD still sells out quickly, it costs money, it requires more thinking about in the parks, 7am each day.

The only upside I see is that is should make standby lines more faster. Clearly the upside for Disney is the money. As an AP/DVC guest who comes about twice a year, I much prefer FP+ & doing a half day in the park with 3-5 rides and calling it a day.

Oh well, I hope someone thinks this system is better overall for their touring. We can’t always win when things change and this G+system doesn’t fit our touring style after reviewing the tip board each day. Edited to add...thanks for this thread though as it's still very educational in case we do want to use G+.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

I’m really struggling to see how this system is better. SDD still sells out quickly, it costs money, it requires more thinking about in the parks, 7am each day.

The only upside I see is that is should make standby lines more faster. Clearly the upside for Disney is the money. As an AP/DVC guest who comes about twice a year, I much prefer FP+ & doing a half day in the park with 3-5 rides and calling it a day.

Oh well, I hope someone thinks this system is better overall for their touring. We can’t always win when things change and this G+
system doesn’t fit our touring style after reviewing the tip board each day.

This system is emphatically much worse for HS, AK and Epcot. The system may be better for MK and/or park hopping.

 

[LSUfan4444]

Im afraid you can't judge this system vs FP or FP+...those are gone, they're ghosts. the only thin that ultimately matters now is whether or not you are better with it or without it.

I am all in for 100% standby (outside of private VIP tours), all day, every day but that isn't a reality so now that G+ and ILLs are a reality and is being had by some guests, I think the option of using G+ and ILLs is better than not. What I used to spend on lunch at Sci Fi will now be spent on line skipping access.

 

[leeniewdw]

Something like this.?.?.?

1. 7am - reserve MFSR for a window around 11:00am and RoTR iLL aiming for 12:40 -1pm
2. Then, at 11 am we can book something after lunch in the park we plan to hop to

So, does this mean we should be able to book another once tapping in at our 11:00 am Smugglers Run or would we need to wait until the return window expired and enter the LL during the grace period?

I believe in this scenario, you can grab another LL once you tap into the MFSR, yes. So you would still have a stack of 2 LLs (one grabbed at 11am, 1 grabbed after MFSR tap in).

 

[Sjm9911]

Ok today, at hs was not good. In line at 815 for the micky and minnie ride, waited untill 930 untill they said to not wait for it anymore because it broke. Did , aliens, then went to tower of terror. Got there that was broke. Lol. All standby lines at this point were a hour. Now 2nd LL almost ready to book , nothing good untill later.

 

[leeniewdw]

Yikes

 

[wisblue]

Does anyone have specific experience booking a LL for Slinky at exactly 7 AM ET?

When I test this at home by refreshing the Tip Board at exactly 7 AM, the LL return time shows as 9 AM. If I keep refreshing the Tip Board I usually get 9 AM twice before it quickly goes to later in the morning and then into the afternoon and evening within a minute or so.

I’m wondering if anyone who has had a DHS reservation and bought Genie+ has tried to book Slinky, and whether the return time you were actually able to confirm was the same as the time that showed when you selected the LL. For example, if you click on a time of 9 AM are you able to confirm 9AM or something later?

 

[Claire82013]

I’m really struggling to see how this system is better. SDD still sells out quickly, it costs money, it requires more thinking about in the parks, 7am each day.

The only upside I see is that is should make standby lines more faster. Clearly the upside for Disney is the money. As an AP/DVC guest who comes about twice a year, I much prefer FP+ & doing a half day in the park with 3-5 rides and calling it a day.

Oh well, I hope someone thinks this system is better overall for their touring. We can’t always win when things change and this G+system doesn’t fit our touring style after reviewing the tip board each day. Edited to add...thanks for this thread though as it's still very educational in case we do want to use G+.

I'm very surprised based on this that Disney hasn't switched SDD to IAS and MMRR to G+.

 

[Airb330]

Ok today, at hs was not good. In line at 815 for the micky and minnie ride, waited untill 930 untill they said to not wait for it anymore because it broke. Did , aliens, then went to tower of terror. Got there that was broke. Lol. All standby lines at this point were a hour. Now 2nd LL almost ready to book , nothing good untill later.

Yikes, no kidding. Most G+ LL selections that have value are 7PM and it isn't even noon yet.

 

[roxymama]

Does anyone have specific experience booking a LL for Slinky at exactly 7 AM ET?

When I test this at home by refreshing the Tip Board at exactly 7 AM, the LL return time shows as 9 AM. If I keep refreshing the Tip Board I usually get 9 AM twice before it quickly goes to later in the morning and then into the afternoon and evening within a minute or so.

I’m wondering if anyone who has had a DHS reservation and bought Genie+ has tried to book Slinky, and whether the return time you were actually able to confirm was the same as the time that showed when you selected the LL. For example, if you click on a time of 9 AM are you able to confirm 9AM or something later?

On 10/26 I used a world clock app and clicked on the tip board SDD a few seconds prior to 7am. My first choice time for SDD showed 9:15am, I clicked on it and got 9:45am which I booked. It had not turned to 7:01 yet when the next choice was showing 11:20am. So that just shows that a large % of people who try right at 7am are clicking SDD as their first choice. SDD is the new Rise virtual queue in terms of "first priority."

I then was able to buy a IA$ for Rise at 10:30 (there were earlier choices but I wanted to space them apart enough.) I did notice throughout the day the SDD (and other rides) would randomly have earlier "next available" access on the apps. So if it said 5pm for a while, randomly a 3pm would show up. I'm sure as people change plans throughout the day and as Disney recalibrates how many to make available based on crowd size for standby.

 

[tex1989]

I am sure this has been asked and answered but yes I am lazy (and actually working right now) but I was wondering how the child swap will work with Genie +. We are arriving November 13th with myself, wife, son and dil and our 1 year old grandson and have purchased Genie +. Does the rider swap work similar to how it used to or will we have to ride two and two? In other words wife and I ride then we keep grandson while son and dil ride? I wanted to call Disney but 2 hours plus on the phone is not an option at the moment.

Sorry if this is a duplicate but thanks for any help.

 

[Blondie58]

Glues you to technology! I vacation to get away from tech. The time space between use of the first choice to your next choice is too great. We did not care for at all. BEWARE - system does NOT work with iPhone 6 and only sometimes works with iPhone 7. We conferred with several tech folks that stand at the blue umbrellas to help all the frustrated guests with the system. I must say these young people are very nice but I am sure they roll their eyes when they see the gray hairs coming. lol Also I would like a printed menu.

 

[KrazeeK120]

I am sure this has been asked and answered but yes I am lazy (and actually working right now) but I was wondering how the child swap will work with Genie +. We are arriving November 13th with myself, wife, son and dil and our 1 year old grandson and have purchased Genie +. Does the rider swap work similar to how it used to or will we have to ride two and two? In other words wife and I ride then we keep grandson while son and dil ride? I wanted to call Disney but 2 hours plus on the phone is not an option at the moment.

Sorry if this is a duplicate but thanks for any help.

If you are using LL, there wouldn’t be a swap. 2 people go ride and then the next 2.

We went a couple of times before our son turned 3 and was too short to ride some things. When we had FP, my husband would use his and then I’d use mine (or Vice versa). There’s nothing to swap in that scenario.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

If you are using LL, there wouldn’t be a swap. 2 people go ride and then the next 2.

We went a couple of times before our son turned 3 and was too short to ride some things. When we had FP, my husband would use his and then I’d use mine (or Vice versa). There’s nothing to swap in that scenario.

I don't think this is accurate. Why wouldn't rider swap work the same as it did under fastpass? (Subject to the fact that they limited the number of those who can "re-ride" in the swap scenario).

 

[g-dad66]

Does anyone have specific experience booking a LL for Slinky at exactly 7 AM ET?

When I test this at home by refreshing the Tip Board at exactly 7 AM, the LL return time shows as 9 AM. If I keep refreshing the Tip Board I usually get 9 AM twice before it quickly goes to later in the morning and then into the afternoon and evening within a minute or so.

I’m wondering if anyone who has had a DHS reservation and bought Genie+ has tried to book Slinky, and whether the return time you were actually able to confirm was the same as the time that showed when you selected the LL. For example, if you click on a time of 9 AM are you able to confirm 9AM or something later?

I booked SDD yesterday at 7am. The first time was earlier than I wanted.
Clicked Back and I don’t remember exactly what it was then (maybe about 11:30). I took it and it changed to 12:15.

 

[Sjm9911]

Does anyone have specific experience booking a LL for Slinky at exactly 7 AM ET?

When I test this at home by refreshing the Tip Board at exactly 7 AM, the LL return time shows as 9 AM. If I keep refreshing the Tip Board I usually get 9 AM twice before it quickly goes to later in the morning and then into the afternoon and evening within a minute or so.

I’m wondering if anyone who has had a DHS reservation and bought Genie+ has tried to book Slinky, and whether the return time you were actually able to confirm was the same as the time that showed when you selected the LL. For example, if you click on a time of 9 AM are you able to confirm 9AM or something later?

I did today had 930 time i clicked it and it changed to 1130. All done at 704 or 706. Then went to rise, after that clicked and only 330 pm available. Exactly at 7 am.

 

[britt54311]

Does anyone know, up to how many people in your group can be selected at one time for Genie+ return time? We will be a party of 13 plus an infant. At times we would all like to ride at the same time.

 

[persnickity]

Does anyone know, up to how many people in your group can be selected at one time for Genie+ return time? We will be a party of 13 plus an infant. At times we would all like to ride at the same time.

I think it's up to 12. Might need to split into two groups with two head coordinators and try to get close/overlapping times.

 

[dmunsil]

No, step 3 works because of the exploit. His ride has expired which resets the eligibility timer.

I explicitly tested this scenario last week. The system has a single eligibility time that it sets when you book a LL reservation. The expiration of a reservation is only indirectly tied to eligibility time, sometimes.

Every time you book a G+ LL reservation, it sets a eligibility return time, which is the earlier of the end of the reservation return window and 2 hours from the current time (or 2 hours from the park opening time if you’re booking before opening time). Every time you book, it sets a new time and there’s only one time it’s tracking.

So if it’s 9:00 am and you book a 10:15-11:15 am reservation, the eligibility time is set to 11:00 am. If you wait until 11:00, the eligibility time hits and you can book, but that new booking sets a new eligibility time. Say you booked a 11:30-12:30 at that point. Now your eligibility time is 12:30. If you wait until 11:15, nothing happens. You can still tap in and regain eligibility, but the expiration of your 10:15-11:15 reservation does nothing, because that was never set as an eligibility time in the first place.

The confusion arises because tapping in on any reservation resets eligibility, and canceling any reservation resets eligibility, so it’s easy to think that expiration of any reservation would reset eligibility. But it doesn’t work that way.

 

[dez1978]

The place a power user can shine is with the hopper.

We were able to use G+ to get all of our Tier 2s in all the parks in two days, stacking the late close and moving parks. Incredible. This was impossible with FP. I was thrilled. There are rides I had never ridden in multiple trips, like Tower of Terror, because I could never get a FP. Someone willing to fork out for the hopper and G+ can cover the Tier 2 fast.

Can you help me out with this? I have a 2 day hopper coming up and while I think I understand, I don't want to mess it up. Day 1 I plan AK to HS. I am staying at the DS Hilton so I get EE but can't book LL till 9. So at 9 do I want to try for late SDD 1st since it will likely sell out? Then I can't book anything else till 11, but I can prob keep busy at AK until then I think. Or maybe I'm missing something.

Day 2 is MK to Epcot. Theres only 2 rides at epcot I care about. Mostly going there for world showcase and food lol.