Genie+ and Resort Early Entry Strategies and Tips

[Takeitforgranite]

We are booked for July at the Poly, and I've been wanting to hear some first hand experiences of how people maximized their experiences with or without Genie+. Frankly, I haven't seen much here about strategies since Christmas.

It seems like the 30 minute early entry rope drop is a great way to knock out the ILL attractions. I definitely don't see us springing for those. 30 minutes doesn't seem like much, as far as being able to navigate to near the actual rope when the non resort folks are waiting in the same areas.

When it comes to booking Genie+ reservations, does anyone recommend stacking for later in the day? Do the more popular attractions become unavailable as the day goes on, like with the previous FP system? Theoretically, you can book 7 LL reservations from 7AM to 7PM, but is there a point in the day when you are only choosing between Dumbo and VLM?

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

We are booked for July at the Poly, and I've been wanting to hear some first hand experiences of how people maximized their experiences with or without Genie+. Frankly, I haven't seen much here about strategies since Christmas.

It seems like the 30 minute early entry rope drop is a great way to knock out the ILL attractions. I definitely don't see us springing for those. 30 minutes doesn't seem like much, as far as being able to navigate to near the actual rope when the non resort folks are waiting in the same areas.

When it comes to booking Genie+ reservations, does anyone recommend stacking for later in the day? Do the more popular attractions become unavailable as the day goes on, like with the previous FP system? Theoretically, you can book 7 LL reservations from 7AM to 7PM, but is there a point in the day when you are only choosing between Dumbo and VLM?

Except that you and thousands of your closest friends-that-you-never-met will also be doing the same thing. Half an hour isn't enough time to knock more than 1 attraction. Maybe.

In a matter of seconds the wait for 7DMT goes for zero to 180minues. If you happen to be quick AND at the front of the crowd, you maybe won't wait long for your first attraction. but odds are high that if you attempt to do an ILL at rope drop, you'll end up spending more than an hour in line for that ONE attraction.

If you are going during a busy time, the situation is even more crazy.

In some cases, it is actually better to ride late in the day, but you won't get an empty queue then, either.

In some cases, you might be better off- overall -choosing short lines at rope drop, then choose 7DMT in the middle of the day. Mind, you'll wait a long time to ride 7DMT, so this isn't for everyone. Also, you have to know which attractions to choose. Rides like Dumbo always have a short wait, but rides like Buzz are short in the early AM. So that tier of attractions is a good choice.

Well, sorta, there isn't really any great choices. Just trade-offs. These days, I am inclined to skip 7DMT. If you skip that one attraction, that frees you up quite a bit for everything else in MK.

 

[steffib]

we’re here at the moment and the late in the day stacking is working really well…
Yesterday managed Splash, Big thunder, jungle cruise, haunted mansion and pirates between 8pm and 10pm…stacked them during the day, starting with 7am wake up genie plus booking for Jungle Cruise.

Only downside is the 7am wake, but if you didn’t want Jungle Cruise you could
leave it later and still get a decent slate for the evening.

Also did similar at HS and got Slinky, Rock n roller and in a similar manner…

hope this helps!

 

[PizzaPlanet]

we’re here at the moment and the late in the day stacking is working really well…
Yesterday managed Splash, Big thunder, jungle cruise, haunted mansion and pirates between 8pm and 10pm…stacked them during the day, starting with 7am wake up genie plus booking for Jungle Cruise.

Only downside is the 7am wake, but if you didn’t want Jungle Cruise you could
leave it later and still get a decent slate for the evening.

Also did similar at HS and got Slinky, Rock n roller and *** in a similar manner…

hope this helps!

Is there a way to ensure that your initial selection at 7 AM is for later in the day?

 

[nickys]

Is there a way to ensure that your initial selection at 7 AM is for later in the day?

You just need to refresh until you get the time you’re after. And it doesn’t actually matter whether you find it at 7am (which if you’re looking for Slinky or Jungle Cruise, for example, might give you a suitable time) or a minute before the park opens. Your time for booking ride #2 will be the same if the return time is more than 2 hrs after park opening.

The only way to ensure you’re only offered times after 2pm is to book for a park that you don’t have a reservation for. Assuming you have hoppers or an AP.

 

[PizzaPlanet]

You just need to refresh until you get the time you’re after. And it doesn’t actually matter whether you find it at 7am (which if you’re looking for Slinky or Jungle Cruise, for example, might give you a suitable time) or a minute before the park opens. Your time for booking ride #2 will be the same if the return time is more than 2 hrs after park opening.

The only way to ensure you’re only offered times after 2pm is to book for a park that you don’t have a reservation for. Assuming you have hoppers or an AP.

That makes sense, thank you. I guess the only thing that would concern me is if the ride I want to book fills up completely while I’m waiting for a better time. Is it likely for an attraction to run out of availability before the park opens?

 

[nickys]

That makes sense, thank you. I guess the only thing that would concern me is if the ride I want to book fills up completely while I’m waiting for a better time. Is it likely for an attraction to run out of availability before the park opens?

Slinky - yes for sure. You need to be on at 7am for that one. Thrill Data tracks this kind of stuff. Also worth reading the Touring Plans blogs on each park to get an idea of how it works. I’m sure they’ve been posted, if not then they’re easily found with a Google search or on the TP site.

 

[steffib]

my experience is that is was easy to see when it was getting up to the time that you wanted for a ride, and then you could book it. Obviously things differ, but it was rare that I was waiting for, say a 8pm big thunder and then it completely went..you can see the slots moving up towards that time, so can see it play out in real time until your desired slot becomes available..

Also you can try to be strategic, so you could have a wish list of stacking LL’s, but then monitor the availability, say that Splash is moving later in terms of slots than one of your others on the wish list, you could snag that first and then wait the 2 hours for the next one..

Means more time on your phone than you would want..but it does pay off

Hope this helps

 

[Sbk1234]

My only advice would be to zag when everyone else zigs, at least for Magic Kingdom. We did rope drop for each park. At Magic Kingdom, nearly everyone seemed to go to Seven Dwarves. We bypassed this and went straight to Peter Pan. The wait was only about 15-20 minutes, but their inside line is so amazing that we didn't mind the wait. I think we saved a lot of time there. We had a walk on to It's a Small World right after. However, we immediately went to Jungle Cruise next and had about a 70 minute wait, so it does fill up fast. Think clearly about what you want to hit first.
Another thing I learned was once you request a Genie Plus attraction, they say you can request another in two hours, but that is two hours AFTER PARK OPENING. So although we made our first selection at 7:00, we had to wait until 11:00 to select again.

FYI, we hit Seven Dwarves during the fireworks, and there was a fairly small line. Once the fireworks ended there was an ocean of people who jumped into the line, so you may want to plan accordingly.

 

[LittleMerman]

The 30 early morning minutes won't get you far but you should still take advantage of them, especially if you aren't going to buy individual LL. Get to the parks as early as you can - there will already be a lot of people waiting just to get in for the 30 early morning minutes. Go directly to the individual LL headliners but still expect to wait. You can always try to get on them at the very end of the night as well.

 

[DisneyfanMA]

Can someone clarify this crazy setup for me?

If I am a NON resort (aka off property) guest I CAN book genie+ attractions at 7am like everyone else, just not the individual LL attractions that are sort of in their own category anyway:

• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
• Space Mountain*
• Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
• Frozen Ever After*
• Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway*
• Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
• Avatar Flight of Passage
• Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain*

*not considered individual LL between Feb 25-Aug 7


If I understand correctly, only on property guests get to book those as well at 7am, but everything else in genie+ IS bookable for non resort guests at 7am. non resort guests must wait til park opening to book the individual LL using genie+.

Yay or Nay? So stressful!

 

[wdwmagic]

Can someone clarify this crazy setup for me?

If I am a NON resort (aka off property) guest I CAN book genie+ attractions at 7am like everyone else, just not the individual LL attractions that are sort of in their own category anyway:

• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
• Space Mountain*
• Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
• Frozen Ever After*
• Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway*
• Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
• Avatar Flight of Passage
• Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain*

*not considered individual LL between Feb 25-Aug 7


If I understand correctly, only on property guests get to book those as well at 7am, but everything else in genie+ IS bookable for non resort guests at 7am. non resort guests must wait til park opening to book the individual LL using genie+.

Yay or Nay? So stressful!

You are right, it is stressful!

All guests can make the first Genie+ selection at 7am on the day of the visit.

Walt Disney World Resort hotel guests can purchase up to 2 individual attraction selections for Lighting Lane access at 7am on the day of visit. Available to Disney Resort hotel Guests and Guests of Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Hotels and Shades of Green.

Non-resort hotel guests can make a purchase when the park opens.

 

[DisneyfanMA]

You are right, it is stressful!

All guests can make the first Genie+ selection at 7am on the day of the visit.

Walt Disney World Resort hotel guests can purchase up to 2 individual attraction selections for Lighting Lane access at 7am on the day of visit. Available to Disney Resort hotel Guests and Guests of Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Hotels and Shades of Green.

Non-resort hotel guests can make a purchase when the park opens.

Thank you. So with that said, family of 5, November. OFF property. Worth the $300 total add on for 4 park visits to add Genie +?

 

[DisneyJoe]

Thank you. So with that said, family of 5, November. OFF property. Worth the $300 total add on for 4 park visits to add Genie +?

Many would say Genie+ is only needed/useful for MK and HS, not EP and AK.

 

[DisneyfanMA]

Many would say Genie+ is only needed/useful for MK and HS, not EP and AK.

Interesting. Whats the difference that makes EP and AK not as useful?

 

[Rob562]

Interesting. Whats the difference that makes EP and AK not as useful?

You won't save as much time over waiting in Standby for your $15 Genie+ fee at those parks.

Touring Plans did a data-driven deep dive into it a few months back: https://touringplans.com/blog/how-much-time-can-genie-save-me/

While you *can* save time using G+, it's up to you to decide if it's worth the price in those parks. You could probably get away with just a good game plan for your visit those days and save the money.

-Rob

 

[DisneyfanMA]

Thanks Rob. For me its probably worth it to just overpay and use it anyway. If it saves us a few minutes great, and i honestly dont have the energy to invest in a strict gameplan for each park other than some basic strategizing. My one and only hangup is the whole running out of spots thing, especially where on property guests get a head start. But I suspect there will always be some rides avail in whatever park we're at that we can sign up for.

 

[Rob562]

Thanks Rob. For me its probably worth it to just overpay and use it anyway. If it saves us a few minutes great, and i honestly dont have the energy to invest in a strict gameplan for each park other than some basic strategizing. My one and only hangup is the whole running out of spots thing, especially where on property guests get a head start. But I suspect there will always be some rides avail in whatever park we're at that we can sign up for.

The only thing on-site guests get a jump on are the Individual Lightning Lane purchases, which are separate from Genie+.

All guests can make their first G+ selection at 7am, regardless of where they're staying.

-Rob

 

[DisneyfanMA]

The only thing on-site guests get a jump on are the Individual Lightning Lane purchases, which are separate from Genie+.

All guests can make their first G+ selection at 7am, regardless of where they're staying.

-Rob

YEs someoe confirmed this for me yesterday (was it you? LOL). I am very happy to hear that. I'm all but 100% at this point to just paying the 3 hundo and all of us have Genie + for the 4 disney parks and thats that. (BTW can I just book a reservatio for our party? I think so).

I'm also leaning towards the Universal Express pass (the entry point one that lets you line skip once per attraction). I'd get unlimited but there is no way I'm dragging 3 kids and my wife onto a gazillion rides. We need to pace ourselves and enjoying being in the parks....take in the sights, smells and sounds.

 

[Rob562]

YEs someoe confirmed this for me yesterday (was it you? LOL). I am very happy to hear that. I'm all but 100% at this point to just paying the 3 hundo and all of us have Genie + for the 4 disney parks and thats that. (BTW can I just book a reservatio for our party? I think so).

I'm also leaning towards the Universal Express pass (the entry point one that lets you line skip once per attraction). I'd get unlimited but there is no way I'm dragging 3 kids and my wife onto a gazillion rides. We need to pace ourselves and enjoying being in the parks....take in the sights, smells and sounds.

Yes, one person can book Genie+ for their entire group.

As for Universal, depending on when you're going in November, you might not need Express. Unless you want to power through everything in both parks in one day.

-Rob