The Genie Usage, Tips and Strategy ONLY Thread

[chicagodisneyguy]

Thanks. We were wondering that too. We'd like to use it on Slinky if it reopens. But one cast member said not looking likely.

Edit 1pm: just kidding back open

 

[snikki]

So we're doing HS today and decided to sleep in. We bought ROTR and MMRR at 7am ($15 & $10). Our first LL ride was Slinky at noon but it's been broken all day. So here's our current slate of attractions at 12:15pm:

12:15 to close- anytime LL
12:25pm TSM
1:15pm ROTR
1:55pm ToT
2:20pm MMRR

We walked on Startours in roughly 15 minutes thru standby line. RnR is our next target so will update when we add. For people that like arriving late...this stacking thing could be amazing.

also, once we were given the recovery fast pass for Slinky, we were immediately able to make another LL reservation...almost resetting the clock

I assume that at 11 am you made your TSM LL but when did you make the ToT. I’m very interested in the PM stacking strategy.

 

[snikki]

I initially planned to head out post-fireworks, but I was feeling good (that first day at Disney magic) and Splash was back up. When Splash went down, they automatically turned my LL reservation into a pass good for the rest of the day at any LL line except the ILL$ and Peter Pan. Later after finishing up Buzz - I thought to try to book another timeslot for Splash post-fireworks and was surprised it allowed it. So I ambled all the way back to Frontierland and rode Splash twice. It's one of my favorite - I love the ride mechanics and the story-telling; I'm excited to see what it will look like once it is rethemed.

The post I was referencing with usimg anytime LL and rebooking LL for same ride.

 

[persnickity]

I think I get it, but I still don't understand the use of the word "unassigned." How can you reserve a LL and it's also "unassigned"? Isn't it assigned as soon as you reserve it? That's the part I don't get. The post I was asking about said "stacked LL times that are unassigned." Doesn't "stacked" imply that you've reserved them? Or maybe I don't understand the meaning of "stacked"!

ETA: I look forward to the day when there's a sticky that explains all the ins and outs of G/G+/ILL$, but I expect that'll be a while from now, since it's still so new and the genie pigs aren't finished their vital work!

I'm a little in the weeds on this myself - but I think they were considered "stacked" from the moment more than 1 had been selected for the afternoon. So after that, they could continue stacking from the first 3. But once each of them is used, it's sitting there "unassigned" until another ride is selected. So it might be risky to tap into your second stacked ride before selecting a ride from the first - because then you'd have two free slots that haven't been used yet to grab new selections, and the system might not allow that.

Was that better, or worse? lol

 

[Disturbia]

I think it's the tapping in time, not the return time. So it's 2 hours after park opening OR after you tap into the ride with the LL OR when the window of that ride is closed if you don't use LL pass.

That’s right. If you tapped in at 9:32 am to your first Genie+ attraction, then got your next Genie+ ride at say 3-4 pm; you have a cool down period so no rides 9:32-11:32 am and at 11:32 you can book your next Genie+ for current OR afternoon rides depending on availability

the park opening 2 hour cool down only applies if at 7 am you book a ride for 11:30 am or after (not sure if 11:05 also counts as you can enter 5 min before); maybe it’s 11:10 onwards); you can book a ride at 11 am so you don’t end up waiting more than 2 hours without a Genie+ pass

 

[chicagodisneyguy]

I assume that at 11 am you made your TSM LL but when did you make the ToT. I’m very interested in the PM stacking strategy.

We made TSM at 11am. Then ToT when we got the recovery LL. Then just made RnR for 315 when we tapped in at TSM at 12:35.

The good thing with stacking is it seems you get to make a new one when u use one. So if u stack a bunch close u can keep making them.

Edit: ROTR paid line from tap in to the first show scene....45 seconds. Worth $15 to us

 

[Disturbia]

Were you able to delete your extra magic bands? I have more than 10 and need to get rid of some. I did move many of them to “inactive” but I’ve also heard it doesn’t really help unless you delete them and you have to call DISNEY IT for that. Wondering if that’s true?

I had many MBs and when IT had me clear them (was having issues adding my mom and we had to wait 1.5 hr to get into Epcot and 45 mins on a Halloween party) by having me transfer my account to a new email and then back, that’s when they messed something up in my account. My payment is never loaded and I have to go through hell to book reservations now; multiple time outs, email codes, no access screen, sometimes credit card shows up on app other times doesn’t; have to rescan my card and risk someone stealing it etc etc; (this is not limited to the peak booking time either) sometimes I get Disney Visa card offers sometimes I don’t; I never got an email or notification regarding the ROTR change last year from 10 am in park to 7 am in resort and walked in to the park dumbfounded. I can’t mobile order at the milk stand; so I’m anticipating all these challenges to be multiplied with Genie+ and LLIA$ purchases at 7 am

I never had payment issues on my account before this mess

If you can, I would hold off on changes until after your trip. It can mess up things you can’t even anticipate. After over 6 hours with IT, I gave up and just deal with all this every time I book a dining reservation or make a payment on my account

 

[cfw213]

HS to MK park hopping with Genie+ today Saturday Oct 24th

so the basic plan then how it played out.

we have done everything we wanted 2-3 times this week without Genie EXCEPT slinky dog and splash. So the idea was to early entry HS pick up a genie plus for Slinky then triple stack for a 2pm MK arrival.

It worked. I’ll give the final results then a few tips from my experience. Not a pro, just my first time using it but maybe it will be helpful.

7am: SD booked for 1043am
8:15- arrive to park
8:30-910: MMRR then MFSR
9:10-11:00 Plenty of time left for a quick toy story
and saucers. Frozen song along.
11:00- book 1:35pm splash mountain
(considered a noon toy story but
wanted to let kids rest)
11:15 Slinky dog
11:16 book splash at 1:35pm (later changed
to 2pm, must have gone down)
11:30 Hotel bus: worst wait of the day by far
1:16. Book Jungle cruise (daughter request

2pm arrive at MK

here I will just list the LL I got and what they changed to after getting the rides

LL0: Slinky

A1: splash 2pm
B1: thunder mountain 2:20pm
C1: Jungle Cruise 2:50pm

A2irates of Car 3:25
B2: Peter Pan 5pm (had to refresh 5 times to get it here)
C2: Pooh 4pm

A3: Ariel 4:30
B3: Haunted Mansion 7pm
C3: Mad Tea 4:25

A4: Buzz at 815
C4: small world (we also worked small world in but can’t remember which ride I booked it after, did it right before Pan. Something seems slightly off in the transition order actually but very close to how it went down.)

This was the busiest day yet. Everyone of the rides was showing 60+ between 2-5pm when we rode, a few looked to be overestimated but some looked like underestimates. Really long and slow lines.

From 530ish (requested West wing so got delayed-huge mistake imo)-815 we ate at BOG and watched enchantment. I had a dilemma here, I couldn’t book things far enough out about because all except for Haunted Mansion were within 20-40min away and we were eating. Only had stuff like Barnstormer left to get and they just weren’t going to book up in advance. To keep the triple stack LL going I just booked and then canceled and rebooked later. I ended up pushing haunted mansion back until 9pm on purpose. We could have easily risen every G+ Via the triple stack but ended up shopping after eating, rode Mine train and called it the end of the trip.

Frankly it worked amazingly well and really made an excellent last day. However it wouldn’t work as well in HS because they just don’t have enough rides so they get booked pretty far out early on. Might be possible though if you were at AK and triple stacked for a jump to HS, but I doubt it. However it works so well jumping to MK it turns MK into a 1 or at MOST 1.5 day park. If one rope dropped FOP and paid ROTR and for MMR and evening rode Seven Dwarves it might be possible to complete all three parks (Genie+ and ILL rides only) in a single day, assuming smooth transportation especially once they allow hopping prior to 2pm. A stretch but I think it may be possible.

honestly if you add this to a 10 day trip I really don’t think the parks can sustain you for that long at this pace. Will either have to underutilize Genie+ or ride everything 5-10 times. Will edit later with my tips from experience.

Damn!! Great work!

 

[Tom_E_D]

How much do you want to bet the prices never get as low as they were on opening day, ever again?

I think the appropriate wager for this type of bet is "I told you so" rights. I expect we'll have an answer as to which of us is right in the next few days.

 

[Turksmom]

I'm a little in the weeds on this myself - but I think they were considered "stacked" from the moment more than 1 had been selected for the afternoon. So after that, they could continue stacking from the first 3. But once each of them is used, it's sitting there "unassigned" until another ride is selected. So it might be risky to tap into your second stacked ride before selecting a ride from the first - because then you'd have two free slots that haven't been used yet to grab new selections, and the system might not allow that.

Was that better, or worse? lol

Worse I thought I understood it before, but now I don't. Glad the pool bars are still easy to operate

 

[jvz82]

**Sorry for this long play-by-play! I hope it's helpful to see how G+ worked for our group.**

We used Genie+ at MK on Friday with a group of 8 (4 adults, 4 kids). So far, I definitely prefer FP+ but obviously it's new and I don't know what I'm doing yet. I will add here that we often go at Christmas time, I'm used to crowds and I can count on one hand the number of times I've waited in a line over 30 minutes. But this trip it happened a LOT.

At 7 am, I made a G+ reservation for Jungle Cruise at 10:30.

We decided to RD 7DMT at park opening. We waited at the entrance of Fantasy land and they did not let us in until 8:30 on the dot. Everyone rushed towards 7 dwarves, only to be told that the ride was "experiencing delays". When I heard the cast member say that, I was like I am absolutely not sitting in a line all morning so we changed gears and went to Space Mountain. This cost us valuable time of course, and the wait was already 20 minutes by the time we got there.

[Side note: My biggest frustration is that in the past, we almost always RD Space Mountain, and did a later FP for 7 dwarves. Usually we walked right on Space Mountain at RD and could even ride twice. This whole LL thing means that everyone goes to either of those two rides so they don't have to pay for it and it makes the RD lines so much longer. Ugh. Need a new strategy here I guess.]

Anyway, after SM, we did SB for Buzz LIghtyear, 5 minute wait. Then SB for the race cars, 10 minute wait. Then we walked over to Adventure Land to hit Pirates, which said it had a 15 minute wait. Well, by the time we got there it was increased to 45 and I was just feeling like I did not want to wait in a 45 minute line after we had paid for Genie + so we abandoned that plan and went on the Magic Carpets. Even that ride, which is usually a walk-on, was 15 minutes.

I was under the impression that you could make another G+ reservation at 9 am, 2 hours after the first reservation. This did not happen, it would not let me make one until 11 am (2 hours after park opening) or after using my first G+. That really made me frustrated. In the future, I would book my first G+ earlier than 10:30 so I could book the next one sooner.

At 10:30, hopped onto Jungle Cruise. Made a G+ reservation for IASW at 11:15. Ate lunch at Pecos Bills first.

While in line for IASW, made a G+ reservation for Barnstormer at 11:45. While in line for that, made a G+ reservation for Haunted Mansion but couldn't get one until 3:10.

After Barnstormer, did Country Bear Jamboree and Tiki Room (SB). Got some Dole Whips. Waited in a 45 minute SB line for Thunder Mountain. During the wait in line, our 2 hour window hit so I was able to make another G+ for Peter Pan at 5:55 pm even though we hadn't used our Haunted Mansion one yet. After Thunder, used our G+ for Haunted.

Walked over to Tomorrow Land and hit up Carousel of Progress. Headed back to Fantasy Land and ate dinner at Pinocchio's Haus. Our 2 hour window hit again, so I made another G+ for Pirates at 6:10. I was surprised that G+ let me do that, so I simultaneously had G+ reservations for Peter Pan at 5:55, and Pirates at 6:10.

After dinner, rode Peter, booked it across the park to do Pirates.

Oh, I should add that 7 Dwarves was actually down for several hours. We had decided to pay for LL, and we had a reservation for that sometime around 12 pm and it was back up shortly before our LL was set.

So it looks like 6 G+ reservations altogether. On a typical FP+ day, I probably would have gotten more at MK. I also would have had my day meticulously planned out so I think we would have waited in fewer lines. But when I look back on my day, I can see where the mistakes were and what to do differently next time. My current opinion is that it's NOT better than FP+ AND I had to pay for it, so I am feeling a little crotchety and "back in my day" about the whole thing.

 

[dmunsil]

An unknown at this point is what happens if you let both of them expire without booking a new one first. Can you still make two for the rest of the day because the system “remembers” that you were stacked, or can you only make one for the rest of the day. He was worried about testing that theory.

I tested this; you effectively lose the stack. The system is not, I don't believe, tracking how many outstanding LLs you have. It's just following simple rules:

- If you book a G+LL, your booking ability goes away and a 2-hour timer is set
- If you use, cancel or let expire any G+LL your booking ability returns and the timer is stopped and reset
- If the timer runs out, your booking ability returns

That's it. The concept of "stacking" is just a consequence of applying those rules. If you use a LL and your ability to book comes back, then use or cancel another one, nothing changes - you already have the ability to book.

In order to keep your "stack" you have to book another G+ reservation after using, canceling or letting expire any reservation or after your timer runs out. If you forget and use the next reservation, you've lost a booking opportunity.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

I tested this; you effectively lose the stack. The system is not, I don't believe, tracking how many outstanding LLs you have. It's just following simple rules:

- If you book a G+LL, your booking ability goes away and a 2-hour timer is set
- If you use, cancel or let expire any G+LL your booking ability returns and the timer is stopped and reset
- If the timer runs out, your booking ability returns

That's it. The concept of "stacking" is just a consequence of applying those rules. If you use a LL and your ability to book comes back, then use or cancel another one, nothing changes - you already have the ability to book.

In order to keep your "stack" you have to book another G+ reservation after using, canceling or letting expire any reservation or after your timer runs out. If you forget and use the next reservation, you've lost a booking opportunity.

This makes sense. Thanks for testing!

 

[wgeo]

Yes. Someone on the trip report board said they got an anytime for splash after it broke down and were able to book an additional splash LL.

I think the original question is slightly different. For example if I ride Splash using a G+LL and then later on I have a G+LL for dumbo and it goes down and so I get a converted anytime pass - can I use that anytime pass on Splash or am I blocked out since I've already used the LL for that ride that day? Has anyone tested that?

I'm thinking it should work, if the person was able to use the anytime pass first and then the specific booked one, it should work in the reverse order -but I'd be curious to know people's experiences with the anytime passes.

 

[snikki]

I think the original question is slightly different. For example if I ride Splash using a G+LL and then later on I have a G+LL for dumbo and it goes down and so I get a converted anytime pass - can I use that anytime pass on Splash or am I blocked out since I've already used the LL for that ride that day? Has anyone tested that?

I'm thinking it should work, if the person was able to use the anytime pass first and then the specific booked one, it should work in the reverse order -but I'd be curious to know people's experiences with the anytime passes.

It should but with new systems, who knows, but I hope so.

 

[PepperjackDragon]

This was a fantastic post, but I'm confused. I thought G+ wouldn't allow a pre-2pm LL reservation in a park you are going to hop to?

I was just guessing that it was because the ride went down. Some other posters in this thread said that they got a message the time was changed to 2pm when they booked an earlier time (when park hopping) mine probably had such a message but I must have missed it.

 

[moorish]

I can confirm this. Epcot is our first park and we wanted to ride ROTR again: booked that for 3pm and Smuggler’s run was showing LL for 1120am. I was curious what would happen if I tried to book it: G+ presented me with a 2 pm LL for it with a comment of “time adjusted for park hopping.”

Were you then able to then book your next G+ at 11 am (2 hours after HS opens where your first FP was booked) or at 12 pm (2 hours after Epcot opens where you had your park reservation)? I've seen differing accounts.

 

[PepperjackDragon]

I think I get it, but I still don't understand the use of the word "unassigned." How can you reserve a LL and it's also "unassigned"? Isn't it assigned as soon as you reserve it? That's the part I don't get. The post I was asking about said "stacked LL times that are unassigned." Doesn't "stacked" imply that you've reserved them? Or maybe I don't understand the meaning of "stacked"!

ETA: I look forward to the day when there's a sticky that explains all the ins and outs of G/G+/ILL$, but I expect that'll be a while from now, since it's still so new and the genie pigs aren't finished their vital work!

This was my fault. What I mean is that I had the ability to stack three LL. However before we went to eat I rode Small World and then Peter Pan. I assumed if I rode both rides but did not choose any new rides for either of them, then I would have two “unassigned” LL selections, and forfeit one. We were headed to dinner and the only rides I could still book were for something like 545pm but we weren’t riding anything else until 8:15. I didn’t want to leave both of them unassigned and risk losing one, so I had to book LL for each, then change them during the meal, then had to change again during the fireworks when we decided to shop. I should have tested it though as I ended up just letting them expire later that evening anyway (after using one for buzz).

 

[Ensusieasm]

he said the ride went down and It got switched to 2 o’clock.

I think annakristoff2013 is correct. That time automatically changed to 2:00 because of the park hopping rule. Also, PepperJackDragon didn’t say the ride went down, he actually only made that assumption ......
“(later changed to 2pm, must have gone down)”

 

[PepperjackDragon]

I think the original question is slightly different. For example if I ride Splash using a G+LL and then later on I have a G+LL for dumbo and it goes down and so I get a converted anytime pass - can I use that anytime pass on Splash or am I blocked out since I've already used the LL for that ride that day? Has anyone tested that?

I'm thinking it should work, if the person was able to use the anytime pass first and then the specific booked one, it should work in the reverse order -but I'd be curious to know people's experiences with the anytime passes.

I am pretty sure that these anytime LL are entered into your MDE as “multiple experiences” and are assigned a specific date/park but are separate from Genie+. I got a couple during the last week for an issue over boo bash and got one specifically for Mine Train as a result of an unwelcome birthday prank a CM played on my daughter. Didn’t have anything to do with Genie+