Disney Genie and Genie+ at Walt Disney World

[dirtnap101]

Offsite Genie+, ILL and Early Entry questions for our upcoming trip 11/25-12/2: Thanks in advance for any help/advice!

1: Our party will be staying at Wyndham Bonnet Creek so we will not be able to do the Early Entry, although I've read the parks will still let offiste guests scan their tickets and move into the parks before 9AM (or park opening time) and get coffees, shop, etc but will restrict any riding or passing through Early Entry checkpoints...has anyone tested or heard if you can start making your Genie+ or ILL selections if your ticket has been scanned early? Say at 8:45 - 8:50 AM or will the system strictly not let you make any selections until 9AM officially?

2: We won't be starting most mornings at HS but plan to hop there in the evenings...I'm looking at making RotR ILL selections for our party at 9AM sharp (or a couple minutes earlier if it let's me) for the evenings (the first available times at 9AM look to be around 7:15 - 7:30 PM)....am I able to make these as soon as HS opens or as soon as our initial park opens? If we start mornings at AK and the park opens at 8AM can we start then (same goes for Epcot...do we have to wait until 11AM)?

3: Attraction selection times - are ILL the only rides we can select a specific time? I assume the regular Genie+ selections book you for the time available shown on the app.

For #1, everyone can do G+ at 7am, resort or off-site. For ILL, so far it is totally based on your park reservation for the day, and the actual published opening time of the park. As an off-site guest, if the park opens at 9am, you can make your ILL selections then and whether you have entered the park has no bearing.

 

[dirtnap101]

The only problem I see with that is most reports I have seen are saying they are getting close to noon G+ or later return times at 7AM!!

Yeah, your first 3 or 4 G+ selections would have to be less popular G+ attractions, especially that first one

 

[dirtnap101]

1:20ish on a Thursday:
Sold out for the day: 7D, MFSR, SDD, RotR, ToT

TT is also at 9:25pm so should sell out any time now.

I think ToT is still down for unscheduled maintenance, so it may show as "unavailable" due to that. But 7D on the ILL side and MFSR on the G+ are definitely a surprise (although maybe MFSR less so with ToT down)

 

[Patcheslee]

I think ToT is still down for unscheduled maintenance, so it may show as "unavailable" due to that. But 7D on the ILL side and MFSR on the G+ are definitely a surprise (although maybe MFSR less so with ToT down)

ToT is showing queue times.

 

[Patcheslee]

There are also no mobile order times or TS reservations available across the parks if you use the Tips tab. Going directly to mobile ordering shows a ton of times.

 

[Purduevian]

ToT is showing queue times.

Wondering if only half of ToT is running? 90 minute queue, no G+ available.

I feel like its usually pretty close to RnRC time wise and that has a 50 min wait and a 6:40G+

 

[jpinkc]

There are also no mobile order times or TS reservations available across the parks if you use the Tips tab. Going directly to mobile ordering shows a ton of times.

And people seem to think this system is working??? This mobile order thing needs to go or at least allow walkups, I know we wont wait 45 min for a Dole Whip or Turkey Leg etc.

 

[Chi84]

And people seem to think this system is working??? This mobile order thing needs to go or at least allow walkups, I know we wont wait 45 min for a Dole Whip or Turkey Leg etc.

I think the mobile order times are available, just not showing under the Tips tab. We loved mobile ordering - we usually got an immediate window and never had to wait very long. Also, because they are not letting people without food into the seating areas, it was easy to get a table.

 

[dirtnap101]

ToT is showing queue times.

in that case, add ToT to the list of things that are rather surprisingly sold out early on a Thursday in early Nov with an overall resort crowd level of 3

(edit to add: turns out ToT had a delayed opening, so it's not clear if they had to remove it from today's G+ roster due to uncertainty of when it would be available?)

 

[UNCgolf]

This makes it sound like Genie+ is going to be a complete waste of money on busy days. You'd be better off just spending that $15 on a ILL and getting a guaranteed ride on a headliner instead of paying for Genie+ and maybe only getting one or two rides out of it.

 

[Jrb1979]

This makes it sound like Genie+ is going to be a complete waste of money on busy days. You'd be better off just spending that $15 on a ILL and getting a guaranteed ride on a headliner instead of paying for Genie+ and maybe only getting one or two rides out of it.

I expect on busier days Standby is going to be awful as they will release more LL availability. While those waiting in standby will moving at a snails pace, LL guests will be on in 20 minutes or less.

 

[UNCgolf]

I expect on busier days Standby is going to be awful as they will release more LL availability. While those waiting in standby will moving at a snails pace, LL guests will be on in 20 minutes or less.

That won't be helpful if you can't actually get one, though, which is my point. Standby will still be your only option for most rides if things are like this.

I'd expect them to increase the number available, but if they're already out of availability by early afternoon on non-busy days, there's no reason to think it would be any better on busy days.

 

[Jrb1979]

That won't be helpful if you can't actually get one, though, which is my point. Standby will still be your only option for most rides if things are like this.

I'd expect them to increase the number available, but if they're already out of availability by early afternoon on non-busy days, there's no reason to think it would be any better on busy days.

Right now most waits on LL are 5 minutes. I do see them upping it to more like 20 minutes. I think availability will be better outside of a few rides. IMO they are still trying to find that sweet spot for Genie+. Their best option is stop worrying about guest satisfaction in standby queues.

 

[jpchambana]

Right now most waits on LL are 5 minutes. I do see them upping it to more like 20 minutes. I think availability will be better outside of a few rides. IMO they are still trying to find that sweet spot for Genie+. Their best option is stop worrying about guest satisfaction in standby queues.

A 20 minute LL queue will still be seen as unacceptable to most people paying $15 per person per day so they have to keep availability relatively low. Also, if standby gets too bad and the only way to have a pleasant experience riding attractions is by paying extra, Disney will get a bad rap and lose future bookings and potential bookings through word-of-mouth (and word-of-mouth is still a powerful thing).

 

[Purduevian]

Right now most waits on LL are 5 minutes. I do see them upping it to more like 20 minutes. I think availability will be better outside of a few rides. IMO they are still trying to find that sweet spot for Genie+. Their best option is stop worrying about guest satisfaction in standby queues.

No more people per hour can get through a 20min LL than a 5 min LL. To increase the amount of LL per hour, Disney would need to change the LL to Standby Ratio.

 

[homerdance]

Assuming you arrive there that early. As I said, I did not get to my hotel until around 5:00pm the day I arrived in Orlando.

Also, I previously did not include Hard Rock's $28/day parking fee, their $15/day microwave rental (??? - every hotel I've ever stayed at it was included in the room price, along with a mini fridge), and a 12% daily tax based on the room. So, for $70 per day at a Comfort Inn and $170 for an Express Pass I paid $240 plus whatever cost of ticket admission regardless of where I stayed vs close to $525 per day at Hard Rock when all their nickel and dime add-ons were figured in. For me, it was an easy choice.

I get the point you are trying to make, but staying at a comfort inn isn’t any where in the same level as staying on property at either resorts moderates or higher.

Staying at a comfort inn Vs the values is a much better comparison. And the comfort inn is better with so few perks.

 

[DisneyDodo]

This makes it sound like Genie+ is going to be a complete waste of money on busy days. You'd be better off just spending that $15 on a ILL and getting a guaranteed ride on a headliner instead of paying for Genie+ and maybe only getting one or two rides out of it.

I expect G+ value to remain roughly constant regardless of park attendance.

Lower attendance -> more LLs per user, less time saved per LL
Higher attendance -> fewer LLs per user, more time saved per LL

Of course, you will get less done overall on more crowded days regardless of whether you purchase G+. But the benefits of G+ relative to guests without it shouldn’t depend significantly on crowd level.

 

[UNCgolf]

I expect G+ value to remain roughly constant regardless of park attendance.

Lower attendance -> more LLs per user, less time saved per LL
Higher attendance -> fewer LLs per user, more time saved per LL

Of course, you will get less done overall on more crowded days regardless of whether you purchase G+. But the benefits of G+ relative to guests without it shouldn’t depend significantly on crowd level.

It does matter, though, because of ILLs.

If you're only going to be able to ride one or two rides via Genie+ on a busy day, you'd be better off spending that money on ILL purchases -- unless they suddenly start charging $30+ for an ILL, but based on current pricing -- because you'd be getting a lot more value for your money. If you were already going to buy the ILLs then it doesn't really matter, but for people who aren't planning to shell out $40+ per day per person for rides, why pay the $15 per person for Genie+ for one or two secondary rides when you could spend $20-25 per person for two headliners?

It's a very different calculation if you get to use Genie+ for 5 or 6 rides (even if the overall amount of time saved was the same, but that's probably not true since the bigger rides generally still have long waits even on less busy days), or if ILLs didn't exist at all.

 

[Jrb1979]

No more people per hour can get through a 20min LL than a 5 min LL. To increase the amount of LL per hour, Disney would need to change the LL to Standby Ratio.

If the LL wait is only 5 minutes means they aren't releasing that many any hour. On busier days I see them releasing more LL an hour then they do now. I can also see them making 20 LL to 1 in Standby.

 

[TimeTrip]

If the LL wait is only 5 minutes means they aren't releasing that many any hour. On busier days I see them releasing more LL an hour then they do now. I can also see them making 20 LL to 1 in Standby.

20 LL to 1 Standby? Did you miss the huge debate around whether or not the alleged FP+ ratio of 80:20 (aka 4:1) was real?