Genie+ and Resort Early Entry Strategies and Tips

DisneyfanMA

Well-Known Member
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

We're going on a Wed, 2nd week Nov. We're only planning on IoA, as it appeals more to my kids ages. But I'd like to avoid 1 or 2 hour lines, which is why I figured express would be worth it. If we ride everything once efficiently then there would be more time to wander around, see a show or two, and pick a few extra favorites to get in standby lane for 2nd try
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
I welcome thoughts/feedback/ideas on this plan for Stacking...

We have Keys to the Kindgom at MK booked this summer one weekday. Planning to stack LL for after the tour is over. We will use the early entry half hour to go do Seven Dwarfs and the tour includes Jungle Cruise and Haunted Mansion. Here's our plan for the rest - I'll be doing most of the booking since I've done the tour before. I've been tracking availability a bit (and really impressed with the charts on touringplans). Obviously, the actual times we get won't be exactly what we are hoping for, but I think we can make this work???

8am, book Pan but for about 2:30pm
10am, book Space for about 5pm
12pm, book Big Thunder for 6:30pm
2pm, book Pirates for 7pm
2:30 - ride Pan
3pm - Philharmagic
3:45 - ride TTA and Carousel of Progress
4pm, book Buzz for 7:30pm
5pm - ride Space
5:30 - get some dinner
6pm, book Small World or Little Mermaid or ???
6:30 - ride Big Thunder
7pm - ride Pirates
7:30 - ride Buzz
8pm - ride whatever else is left to ride!
 

Rob562

Well-Known Member
I welcome thoughts/feedback/ideas on this plan for Stacking...

We have Keys to the Kindgom at MK booked this summer one weekday. Planning to stack LL for after the tour is over. We will use the early entry half hour to go do Seven Dwarfs and the tour includes Jungle Cruise and Haunted Mansion. Here's our plan for the rest - I'll be doing most of the booking since I've done the tour before. I've been tracking availability a bit (and really impressed with the charts on touringplans). Obviously, the actual times we get won't be exactly what we are hoping for, but I think we can make this work???

8am, book Pan but for about 2:30pm
10am, book Space for about 5pm
12pm, book Big Thunder for 6:30pm
2pm, book Pirates for 7pm
2:30 - ride Pan
3pm - Philharmagic
3:45 - ride TTA and Carousel of Progress
4pm, book Buzz for 7:30pm
5pm - ride Space
5:30 - get some dinner
6pm, book Small World or Little Mermaid or ???
6:30 - ride Big Thunder
7pm - ride Pirates
7:30 - ride Buzz
8pm - ride whatever else is left to ride!

The one error in your times is that if the park doesn't open until 9, you won't be able to book your second G+ until 11, even if you wait to book your first until 8 rather than 7. The two-hour timer doesn't start until park open.

-Rob
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
The one error in your times is that if the park doesn't open until 9, you won't be able to book your second G+ until 11, even if you wait to book your first until 8 rather than 7. The two-hour timer doesn't start until park open.

-Rob

Oh, yeah. I originally had the plan showing 9am, then every 2 hours afterwards - that's why I did that, I had just forgotten and then updated to do things earlier. Duh!!!
 

Disstevefan1

Well-Known Member
I welcome thoughts/feedback/ideas on this plan for Stacking...

We have Keys to the Kindgom at MK booked this summer one weekday. Planning to stack LL for after the tour is over. We will use the early entry half hour to go do Seven Dwarfs and the tour includes Jungle Cruise and Haunted Mansion. Here's our plan for the rest - I'll be doing most of the booking since I've done the tour before. I've been tracking availability a bit (and really impressed with the charts on touringplans). Obviously, the actual times we get won't be exactly what we are hoping for, but I think we can make this work???

8am, book Pan but for about 2:30pm
10am, book Space for about 5pm
12pm, book Big Thunder for 6:30pm
2pm, book Pirates for 7pm
2:30 - ride Pan
3pm - Philharmagic
3:45 - ride TTA and Carousel of Progress
4pm, book Buzz for 7:30pm
5pm - ride Space
5:30 - get some dinner
6pm, book Small World or Little Mermaid or ???
6:30 - ride Big Thunder
7pm - ride Pirates
7:30 - ride Buzz
8pm - ride whatever else is left to ride!
Sincerely, we would love to see how close reality comes to this plan!
 

brifraz

Marching along...
Premium Member
Sincerely, we would love to see how close reality comes to this plan!

I did want to chime back in with how our plan worked last month (in case you missed my TR).

Actually had to wait quite a while to have anything other than Jungle Cruise to show up for later than 2pm. Pre-tour, we rode Seven Dwarfs at early opening and then Small World. And we had Jungle Cruise and Haunted Mansion as part of the tourAt about 9am, we booked Pan for 1:30-2:30pm. Then at 11am, we booked Space Mountain for 3:15-4:15pm. And at 1pm, we booked Big Thunder for 4pm-5pm. Our tour ended at about 2:15pm, so we headed right to Pan. Then did Carousel of Progress (it was also raining, so this was a nice dry spot to spend some time). At 3pm we booked Pirates for 4:15pm. Rode Space Mountain and then grabbed a very early dinner. Big Thunder was down, so our LL became generic and we used it for Buzz Lightyear instead (at a bit after 4pm). Then over to ride Pirates. As soon as we get into Pirates we could book again, so we got Big Thunder again - now for 5:45pm. With a bit of time to kill, we watched Philharmagic. Then rode Big Thunder. Had we wanted to do more, there was a lot available at 6:30pm when we finished riding, but we were exhausted and headed out. If we do a full day at some point (without the tour), I suspect we would have booked Jungle at 7am, then Pan at 11am, Space at 1pm, BTM at 3pm, but then I think we likely would have started using it for things with near immediate availability and close by and I think we could have done just about everything in the park. Definitely saved us about 4 hours of line waiting time, so over a full day maybe 6 hours of line time saved. Worth $15 for each of us? Yeah, probably.

Booking Summary:
7am - didn't book anything
9am - Pan for 1:30
11am - Space Mountain for 3:15
1pm - Big Thunder for 4pm (used for Buzz)
3pm - Pirates for 4:15pm
4:30 - Big Thunder for 5:45pm
6:30 - Could have gotten Pooh, Mermaid, Dumbo, Teacups, or Speedway for nearly immediate use or Haunted Mansion or Astro Orbiter for a little later.
 

MKSIS918

New Member
We will be there next week (July 18 and 19). On Tuesday we will not be staying on site, and have a park hopper that day. We are going to Animal Kingdom and Epcot. I plan on purchasing Genie + and LL. Hoping to use LL for Avatar and also for Guardians at Epcot.
What is the best strategy for being able to ride Guardians then? When can I start trying to book a spot since we will be at Animal Kingdom first.

We haven’t been to Disney in 10 years!!
 

nickys

Premium Member
We will be there next week (July 18 and 19). On Tuesday we will not be staying on site, and have a park hopper that day. We are going to Animal Kingdom and Epcot. I plan on purchasing Genie + and LL. Hoping to use LL for Avatar and also for Guardians at Epcot.
What is the best strategy for being able to ride Guardians then? When can I start trying to book a spot since we will be at Animal Kingdom first.

We haven’t been to Disney in 10 years!!
Answered your post on the other thread.
 

Stevie Amsterdam

Well-Known Member
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
Just to make sure I fully understand. Would the following strategy be a good one (or feasible at all, for that matter?). The example regards Epcot:

As a hotel guest, at 7am, I should first try to VQ GotG, then if that doesn’t work pay for ILL and then book any LL right after that, let’s say Soaring?
 

nickys

Premium Member
Just to make sure I fully understand. Would the following strategy be a good one (or feasible at all, for that matter?). The example regards Epcot:

As a hotel guest, at 7am, I should first try to VQ GotG, then if that doesn’t work pay for ILL and then book any LL right after that, let’s say Soaring?
Yes, that would be a good strategy.
 

disneyfireman

Well-Known Member
Me and the kids just got back....we opened and closed the parks....with MK hours 9 am -2300 hours. Genie plus worked perfectly. We did MK 2 days and rode 22 attractions. both days...yes 22. That included COP and HofP on one of those days. We used Genie plus for I would say...7-8 of the 22 and from 8-11pm was a great time to almost walk on Big thunder....we rode it 4 times in a row after the fireworks..and then ended the night riding pirates back to back. If you are willing to stay all day and until close...use genie plus everytime you can at the earliest you can each time....its perfect.
also as for the other parks. same result. Stay all day and get on with it! We also bought Rise and Seven Dwarfs. Then Avatar in AK. Rode Rise again and Avatar when line was under 65 min later in day.
Note; you HAVE to start at 0700. Lay back down say a half hour..then get ready and get on with your day.
 

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