The Genie Usage, Tips and Strategy ONLY Thread

[DL1WDW2]

Why did Disney use Aladdin Genie because a ton of genies pop up in google
For example

 

[Disturbia]

Because you’ve never met a friend like me…

 

[nurseberta]

We do the same (boardwalk) and on our rope drop HS day, we will book our G+ likely in Epcot. MAYBE grab an 11 am G+ for somewhere in HS and if we have to wait use that as our Baseline Taphouse time...which is something we do anyway

whatis a baseline tap house time?

 

[CWTC]

whatis a baseline tap house time?

Beer, cider, cheese, charcuterie near entrance to Batuu.

 

[PepperjackDragon]

This is really fascinating. Normally I can follow this stuff pretty good, but there are some things I don't understand... I'm confused

When did you book your Big Thunder Mountain G+?

So you were able to book another G+ after you use any of your stacked G+ attractions? So using your nomenclature, after each A1, B1 and C1 as soon as you tapped in for each of those you could book another G+ and keep rolling those 3 G+ into 3 more?

So you had 3 G+ booked at MK and just kept rebooking each so you always had 3 G+ the rest of the day? If true, this is a major hack and really fully utilizing the system!

Dan

Yes this is exactly how it worked. It was ridiculous and fantastic. We never had to jump from area to area (except once to get to Pooh but that was partly intentional since we then worked our way back for BOG).
I doubt it will stay in this current format for long, but as of right now it is a gold mine of ride access.

edit: I took a few screenshots early on just to help myself plan. You can see where after I did splash we booked Pirates, then later I had already booked Pooh and pan and was working on deciding my third LL when I took the screenshot. Small world was going up very slowly so I ended up waiting on it at that time.

 

[PepperjackDragon]

This was exactly what i said before it came out, everyone at rd would go to the rides that cost $$$. And thanks for the rest. Exactly what didnt want to do, criss cross the park. At least you did it smart and made the most of the area where you were good job. Im not looking forward to next week, and i should be because we will be at disney on vacation. We like rides, and 2 years ago we could pretty much bang out the whole park by 2 pm. Oh well, maybe i will get a new appreatioation of the parks. I do have tom sawyer island on my to do list. I may even being and leave a paint brush behind.........

If you do the stacking you can easily knock out the whole park in 4hours without cross crossing at all, as things are currently operating.

 

[Sjm9911]

If you do the stacking you can easily knock out the whole park in 4hours without cross crossing at all, as things are currently operating.

Ill let you know in like 10 days, lol. The crowds will be a bit higher then also. The problem is some rides are having unusual high stand by times, at least as listed. Some don't even show, untill you refresh. Says standby not avaliable at this time, and the tide isnt down during those times. I do my do dillagance. I have ideas, but will not really know how they will translate into real time. I dont see you knocking out the park in 4 hours. At least not with a kid in tow. But we will see.

 

[PepperjackDragon]

I have our trip coming up in 3 weeks and this is giving me all sorts of anxiety. I’m pretty tempted to skip G+ and just stick to a TouringPlan and rope drop. But as this is a big once-in-a-lifetime trip, I don’t want to ruin it by waiting in lines all day watching people woosh by us in the LL’s. But I also don’t want to ruin the experience by purchasing G+, losing sleep, stressing about the order to get ride passes while comparing it to park maps, and finally running all over the parks to tap into rides in one different land after another.

Ugh where’s my Tums?

I wouldn’t get too anxious about it. I was worried but it turned out to be exceedingly simple. Once you get in the parks and understand how it works the only thing you will need to do is see which rides are available and try to get multiple LL in the same area of the park around the same time so you don’t have to run around everywhere. This is one of the reasons why it is so Critical to get the second LL set up early.

the only challenging part is deciding when to allow a 2hr gap so you can set up the second LL access, and imo the answer will almost always be immediately.

once you have two of them running, it becomes really easy as long as you know where rides are physically located in the park.

however comparing it to touring plans is the wrong move. Genie itself is a TERRIBLE planning and optimization app. Genie+ is complete different, it is actual ride access NOT trip planning/optimization. Genie (for planning) is Total junk-Touring plans is way better.

Unfortunately tourong plans Won’t be able to help much now because of the fluid nature of LL availability. I think one would really just need to look over the map and main attractions and figure out beforehand which rides are close to each other, then first thing in the morning set up a 2hr delay between LL so you can stack two and then start booking rides in close proximity to each other.You could get more in depth by looking at different parks and optimizing genie plus, but if you have two early on and book rides physically near each other things should go well. Probably not worth it at all times of day or in all parks, but will be beneficial in all the parks so don’t worry too much.

 

[PepperjackDragon]

Ill let you know in like 10 days, lol. The crowds will be a bit higher then also. The problem is some rides are having unusual high stand by times, at least as listed. Some don't even show, untill you refresh. Says standby not avaliable at this time, and the tide isnt down during those times. I do my do dillagance. I have ideas, but will not really know how they will translate into real time. I dont see you knocking out the park in 4 hours. At least not with a kid in tow. But we will see.

I had a super fussy 8 year old and a 10 year old (hence the 2.5 hour hotel trip/nap break) . Take a look at what I did in the HS and MK, it was incredibly busy and worked way better than expected. Peter Pan was 85min when we went on, Pooh 60, splash started at 45 I think but was obviously worse and went to 75 when we were done, jc 70, thunder 60 (I think that one might have been an overestimate). Even small world said 30 but looked like it might have been more based on the line I saw compared to previous days. Incredibly busy but was a breeze with G+

 

[chicagodisneyguy]

So as our day ends, we ended up riding every ride at HS with little to no wait. That's after getting soaked, going back to BWV, eating an amazing meal at Topolinos, then skylining back.

We were fast pass superstars. Genie+, irrespective of the cost, is better for us. We did more showing up to HS late than we ever did with free fp. We are 100% in the camp that the extra cost will make our future trips better. I also will say Disney wait times are garbage. They are obviously flat out lying.

I think recent crowds are WAY lower than expected...so Genie+ is a home run at the moment. Once the Euro Disney crowd shows up coupled with Xmas who knows. But I'd buy it. And we probably will most days... except tomorrow,.bc my partner got so drunk on fuzzy ton tons his lips won't feel anything for a few days.

 

[DavidNYC]

Yes this is exactly how it worked. It was ridiculous and fantastic. We never had to jump from area to area (except once to get to Pooh but that was partly intentional since we then worked our way back for BOG).
I doubt it will stay in this current format for long, but as of right now it is a gold mine of ride access.

edit: I took a few screenshots early on just to help myself plan. You can see where after I did splash we booked Pirates, then later I had already booked Pooh and pan and was working on deciding my third LL when I took the screenshot. Small world was going up very slowly so I ended up waiting on it at that time.

The way I look at this - if you booked LL for the earliest you could get them, you could likely kick out 4-5 LL rides during the first couple of hours for all but the most popular rides. So by stacking what you're in fact doing is giving up the opportunity to do a lot of LL earlier in the day in return for being able to do more of them later. There are far too many permutations to consider but I don't think overall you're necessarily getting to a greater number of LL reservations. But what you're doing is finding a way to be able to use more of them during the times when it's more likely to be a greater time save. Sure - I could do 4 LL in the first 90 minutes of park opening easily but I probably could have done those 4 rides standby in 2 hours . . . But giving up some of those early opportunities, it will allow me to use those same 4 later in the day after standby lines have grown substantially and may be saving me 60 minutes per ride. My initial impression from reading reports from the first week is that this is going to be the key strategy going forward. There will be some variations on how to do it depending on what park, what rides are your priorities, etc. But there seems to be some clear opportunities to maximize using the LL when they'll save you the most time (of course if you're wrong with some of your guesses you could also find yourself locked out of some rides and running out of time but we'll have a lot more data over the next few weeks that will allow people to hone the strategies. (I have no doubt Touring Plans is currently crunching every number and scenario possible.)

 

[PepperjackDragon]

The way I look at this - if you booked LL for the earliest you could get them, you could likely kick out 4-5 LL rides during the first couple of hours for all but the most popular rides. So by stacking what you're in fact doing is giving up the opportunity to do a lot of LL earlier in the day in return for being able to do more of them later. There are far too many permutations to consider but I don't think overall you're necessarily getting to a greater number of LL reservations. But what you're doing is finding a way to be able to use more of them during the times when it's more likely to be a greater time save. Sure - I could do 4 LL in the first 90 minutes of park opening easily but I probably could have done those 4 rides standby in 2 hours . . . But giving up some of those early opportunities, it will allow me to use those same 4 later in the day after standby lines have grown substantially and may be saving me 60 minutes per ride. My initial impression from reading reports from the first week is that this is going to be the key strategy going forward. There will be some variations on how to do it depending on what park, what rides are your priorities, etc. But there seems to be some clear opportunities to maximize using the LL when they'll save you the most time (of course if you're wrong with some of your guesses you could also find yourself locked out of some rides and running out of time but we'll have a lot more data over the next few weeks that will allow people to hone the strategies. (I have no doubt Touring Plans is currently crunching every number and scenario possible.)

Understanding this dynamic was what I was trying to figure out the first couple of days in the parks and watching Genie+ unfold. What I saw was pretty clear, in MK if you choose the morning knock out approach you will be jammed with two problems. 1: Locations 2: available times.
You can pretty quickly grab another LL, but it will either be a very minor one, like Alladin/Dumbo or it will be for something that may be in a different area of the park. Hoewver, because you tied up your only LL on the minor ride or the ride far from your current location, by the time you get check in to the ride the time for the other attractions near you have now gotten pushed back even farther. Then you get the same situation, walk far again, or wait 1-1.5 hours for your next nearby attraction to become available. By stacking you eliminate this issue in the first two hours of the park opening, and can now pretty handily plan ahead to keep your attractions clustered and save significant time which means more rides.

This is only exasperated in HS where the smaller number of attractions only makes it worse, because the attraction availability time diverges so quickly that you migh have a Smuggler run at 5pm and a Toy story at 1pm etc. Again, by getting early stacks you could plan ahead for those and start clustering them together, all while doing it at peak wait windows allowing you to choose to also SB during lower periods or do other things without so much running around the park.

AK and Epcot were jokes for Genie plus while I was there, with maybe a 1 hour window at Epcot where it even mattered at all, and a couple hours where it would help a tiny bit at AK. During holidays it would probably help more all day, but would be the same problem we see above at HS and MK.

From what I have seen so far, single selections will always leave you with a long wait between LL (minus dumbo/barnstormer types) and running around the park. I would be curious to see some examples of how it plays out in real life though, as that is just my analysis of the situation.

 

[dischris11]

If you are arriving late to MK and not park hopping, how do you stack and get a later time (after 2) when you book your first G+ at 7am?

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

Understanding this dynamic was what I was trying to figure out the first couple of days in the parks and watching Genie+ unfold. What I saw was pretty clear, in MK if you choose the morning knock out approach you will be jammed with two problems. 1: Locations 2: available times.
You can pretty quickly grab another LL, but it will either be a very minor one, like Alladin/Dumbo or it will be for something that may be in a different area of the park. Hoewver, because you tied up your only LL on the minor ride or the ride far from your current location, by the time you get check in to the ride the time for the other attractions near you have now gotten pushed back even farther. Then you get the same situation, walk far again, or wait 1-1.5 hours for your next nearby attraction to become available. By stacking you eliminate this issue in the first two hours of the park opening, and can now pretty handily plan ahead to keep your attractions clustered and save significant time which means more rides.

This is only exasperated in HS where the smaller number of attractions only makes it worse, because the attraction availability time diverges so quickly that you migh have a Smuggler run at 5pm and a Toy story at 1pm etc. Again, by getting early stacks you could plan ahead for those and start clustering them together, all while doing it at peak wait windows allowing you to choose to also SB during lower periods or do other things without so much running around the park.

AK and Epcot were jokes for Genie plus while I was there, with maybe a 1 hour window at Epcot where it even mattered at all, and a couple hours where it would help a tiny bit at AK. During holidays it would probably help more all day, but would be the same problem we see above at HS and MK.

From what I have seen so far, single selections will always leave you with a long wait between LL (minus dumbo/barnstormer types) and running around the park. I would be curious to see some examples of how it plays out in real life though, as that is just my analysis of the situation.

This is why Disney has, yet again, designed a system that the casual user is going to be really frustrated with while people who understand the strategy will not. Even moreso then FP+. At least with FP+ everyone could understand the baseline of “get three rides you like at good times 60 days out), and it was only the power-users that could get more easily. Now it’s “get some rides, all over hte park, terribly spaced out unless you understand stacking.”

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

If you are arriving late to MK and not park hopping, how do you stack and get a later time (after 2) when you book your first G+ at 7am?

Don’t book you first one at 7 am in that scenario. You can book it at 8:59 AM. Remember there is no practical difference when you book it before park opening other then the return times available then. You’re not going to be able to book your next one until Park Opening + 2 hours whether you booked it at 7 am, or 8:59 am.

 

[snikki]

So as our day ends, we ended up riding every ride at HS with little to no wait. That's after getting soaked, going back to BWV, eating an amazing meal at Topolinos, then skylining back.

We were fast pass superstars. Genie+, irrespective of the cost, is better for us. We did more showing up to HS late than we ever did with free fp. We are 100% in the camp that the extra cost will make our future trips better. I also will say Disney wait times are garbage. They are obviously flat out lying.

I think recent crowds are WAY lower than expected...so Genie+ is a home run at the moment. Once the Euro Disney crowd shows up coupled with Xmas who knows. But I'd buy it. And we probably will most days... except tomorrow,.bc my partner got so drunk on fuzzy ton tons his lips won't feel anything for a few days.

Did you stack for the evening?

 

[KaTinkerbell]

Thanks for this thread!!! I’m going to read all of it ahead of my trip 1st wk. of Dec. Going to purchase Genie+ for all of my Park days so reading everyone’s strategies is very helpful!

 

[Donna M]

Understanding this dynamic was what I was trying to figure out the first couple of days in the parks and watching Genie+ unfold. What I saw was pretty clear, in MK if you choose the morning knock out approach you will be jammed with two problems. 1: Locations 2: available times.
You can pretty quickly grab another LL, but it will either be a very minor one, like Alladin/Dumbo or it will be for something that may be in a different area of the park. Hoewver, because you tied up your only LL on the minor ride or the ride far from your current location, by the time you get check in to the ride the time for the other attractions near you have now gotten pushed back even farther. Then you get the same situation, walk far again, or wait 1-1.5 hours for your next nearby attraction to become available. By stacking you eliminate this issue in the first two hours of the park opening, and can now pretty handily plan ahead to keep your attractions clustered and save significant time which means more rides.

This is only exasperated in HS where the smaller number of attractions only makes it worse, because the attraction availability time diverges so quickly that you migh have a Smuggler run at 5pm and a Toy story at 1pm etc. Again, by getting early stacks you could plan ahead for those and start clustering them together, all while doing it at peak wait windows allowing you to choose to also SB during lower periods or do other things without so much running around the park.

AK and Epcot were jokes for Genie plus while I was there, with maybe a 1 hour window at Epcot where it even mattered at all, and a couple hours where it would help a tiny bit at AK. During holidays it would probably help more all day, but would be the same problem we see above at HS and MK.

From what I have seen so far, single selections will always leave you with a long wait between LL (minus dumbo/barnstormer types) and running around the park. I would be curious to see some examples of how it plays out in real life though, as that is just my analysis of the situation.

We will be going to the MK on Thursday. I am starting to understand the stacking. Is this the way to do it? We will have a 2 and 3 year old with us. At 7:00 get a ll for 11:30 at JC At 9:00 get a ll for somewhere in Fantasy Land. Rope drop and do as many rides in Fantasy Land a s possible. Lunch at 11:00. Over to JC and add a ll for rides near there. Keep stacking rides in that area then in the other lands. See about getting a 3rd ll. Not paying for any.

 

[DisneyKidds]

Who knew on October 18 that the next day would introduce the word “Stacking” as one of the most important words in our Disney vocabulary ever!

Can someone confirm this crucial first step in the Stacking strategy. If a park opens at 9am does the LL return you booked between 7am and 8:59 am (to create the first Stack) have to have a return window that starts after 11am, or can that return window start before 11am so long as you don’t tap into it until after you book another LL at 11am (to create the second Stack)?

For a triple Stack the first two Stacks would have to have LL return windows that extend to 4 hours beyond park open, does that sound correct? For a 9:00 open you could theoretically stack 1:00, 3:00, 5:00 for a late arrival in your first reserved park…..or 2:00, 4:00, 6:00 for a park you are hopping to. Theoretically a triple Stack could cross parks, but you’d have to not use your Stack 1 return in the first park until after 1:00. So, you could RD MK, hopefully get things done SB while assembling your stacks, all while not tapping into the first stack before securing the third at 1:00. Please tell me I’m catching on?!

That’s effective power Stacker strategy now, but will it be effective during busier times, for better G+ rides, when LL returns push out later earlier in the day? Jury out….

 

[leeniewdw]

We will be going to the MK on Thursday. I am starting to understand the stacking. Is this the way to do it? We will have a 2 and 3 year old with us. At 7:00 get a ll for 11:30 at JC At 9:00 get a ll for somewhere in Fantasy Land.

You can't get a second LL at 9am, it's 2 hours after Park Open.