Is Genie+ Screwy on Wait Times? I Need Truth, Please.

[BrightMorningStar]

I phoned Disney to ask, but they always spin everything as it is all perfection so I want to ask here to get some real experiences. I will try to make this brief.

As I understand it, G+ allows only 1 "reservation" at a time, same as it would be if you used all 3 of your traditional Fastpasses and wanted to get another.

This is the question I presented to the Cast Member:
If I arrive at Disney Studios at 9 AM and want let's say Slinky Coaster, what is the likelihood the only that will be available is like 7 - 9 PM, therefore blocking me out of using the G+ I paid for up until 7 PM?

This is the response I received:
That would never happen. If you arrive at 9, you would have a time within 30 - 75 minutes of searching for it. After you use it, around 10 AM, you can get another and so on.

The follow-up question I presented:
Fastpasses would run out early, what stops that from happening with G+? I do not want to pay for something where I may get 2 rides that are easily walk-ons and not be able to ride the attractions with longer wait times or only get 1 a day because they are all "sold out" by mid-morning.

Response I received:
That would never happen. You would be able to ride 2 - 3 attractions per hour with G+ because you can only book them on the same day and only so many are allowed to be reserved per hour, You would never see an evening reservation available in the morning hours.

Please tell me of this is true or not. Has this CM fed me with a bunch of rubbish to sell a service or is this really how it works? With the inflation being what it is I do not want to spend money that works out in Disney's favor 95% and only 5% for my travel party.

 

[GBRforWDW]

You'll probably find most of your answers here:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/e...lightning-lane-please-read-posts-1-7.3856734/
But I'll try to help as best I can.
You are not limited to holding 1 pass at a time. The only thing you're limited to is how often you can book another pass. Per your example, if your first selection is slinky dog for 7pm, then you can make a second selection 2 hours after the park opens, which is typically at 9am. So at 11am, you can make a second selection. If your current selection is within 2 hours, you can make your next selection after scanning into the ride.

Genie+ selections do run out, especially at Hollywood Studios because there are many headline attractions at the park. However, you can typically get 1 major ride between Slinky or Millennium falcon and a couple mid majors like tot, RnRC, TSMM or AS2. You typically have free range to get into shows as well.

Overall, Genie+ is great most days for Magic Kingdom, typically good for Hollywood Studios, unless it's really busy - you still do good to have it to save time in a couple rides, but the passes will go quicker on busier days, but ride lines will be an hour long for most rides as well - Epcot and Animal Kingdom is typically not necessary to have except for the busiest of days, but even then you can manage the parks without it as well.

 

[Tom_E_D]

I phoned Disney to ask, but they always spin everything as it is all perfection so I want to ask here to get some real experiences. I will try to make this brief.

As I understand it, G+ allows only 1 "reservation" at a time, same as it would be if you used all 3 of your traditional Fastpasses and wanted to get another.

This is the question I presented to the Cast Member:
If I arrive at Disney Studios at 9 AM and want let's say Slinky Coaster, what is the likelihood the only that will be available is like 7 - 9 PM, therefore blocking me out of using the G+ I paid for up until 7 PM?

This is the response I received:
That would never happen. If you arrive at 9, you would have a time within 30 - 75 minutes of searching for it. After you use it, around 10 AM, you can get another and so on.

The follow-up question I presented:
Fastpasses would run out early, what stops that from happening with G+? I do not want to pay for something where I may get 2 rides that are easily walk-ons and not be able to ride the attractions with longer wait times or only get 1 a day because they are all "sold out" by mid-morning.

Response I received:
That would never happen. You would be able to ride 2 - 3 attractions per hour with G+ because you can only book them on the same day and only so many are allowed to be reserved per hour, You would never see an evening reservation available in the morning hours.

Please tell me of this is true or not. Has this CM fed me with a bunch of rubbish to sell a service or is this really how it works? With the inflation being what it is I do not want to spend money that works out in Disney's favor 95% and only 5% for my travel party.

If you try to book Slinky at 9:00, you will probably not be offered a time between 7-9 PM. You would also not likely get a time within 30-75 minutes. You will probably not be offered a time at all. Slinky is typically booked for the day by 7:30 AM. Those staying offsite usually don't get a chance at it. (Edited to delete to delete mistake.)

Because only so many Genie+ LL selections can be reserved per hour, they often run out. It's the limitation on the number that causes the earlier times in the day to be unavailable. If they had no limit on the number of G+LLs they gave out, you could get one for the current time. Of course, that would mean lightning lane wait times almost as long as standby wait times, so they don't do it.

As the prior poster pointed out, if you make a G+LL reservation two or more hours in the future, you can book another after two hours (or two hours after park open if you book before park open).

Thrill-Data has a daily Lightning Lane Availability Map for each park that shows the earliest ones available at various times and when they run out. Look at it to get an idea of what is really happening. The areas is gray show no availability. (The link is to the Hollywood Studios page. The Lightning Lane data is below the wait time data. Use the menu to find the other parks.)

 

[GBRforWDW]

Slinky is typically booked for the day by 7:30 AM. Those staying offsite usually don't get a chance at it.

The bold part is not true was corrected. Genie+ rides are available to all guests at 7am. It's the ILL$ rides, RotR and MMRR in Hollywood Studios, that can't be booked by offsite guests until park opening. RotR will sell out before park opening.

The thrill data map has some great info. Looks like you could book Slinky at 7, Millennium falcon at 11 and toy story mania at 1 to get 3 quality rides. Alien swirling saucers was available until 3, so that could work if interested. Star tours available all day. Or could weave in some shows throughout the day.

 

[Tom_E_D]

The bold part is not true. Genie+ rides are available to all guests at 7am. It's the ILL$ rides, RotR and MMRR in Hollywood Studios, that can't be booked by offsite guests until park opening. RotR will sell out before park opening.

The thrill data map has some great info. Looks like you could book Slinky at 7, Millennium falcon at 11 and toy story mania at 1 to get 3 quality rides. Alien swirling saucers was available until 3, so that could work if interested. Star tours available all day. Or could weave in some shows throughout the day.

Mea culpa. I knew that anyone could book G+ at 7:00 and just got confused, perhaps because OP was talking about trying to get Slinky at 9:00 when he/she arrived at HS. He/she won't get one then, in all likelihood.

From the February 9 data, Rock n Roller also lasted until 1:00, Toy Story until 3:00.

 

[GBRforWDW]

Mea culpa. I knew that anyone could book G+ at 7:00 and just got confused, perhaps because OP was talking about trying to get Slinky at 9:00 when he/she arrived at HS. He/she won't get one then, in all likelihood.

From the February 9 data, Rock n Roller also lasted until 1:00, Toy Story until 3:00.

I hear ya. Just wanted to make sure we're not providing worse info than what was already presented in the original post!

And yep, if RnRC excites you, 4 good rides from G+ . I must have looked at that one wrong or didn't think about it. So much data in a little box

 

[Marionnette]

I phoned Disney to ask, but they always spin everything as it is all perfection so I want to ask here to get some real experiences. I will try to make this brief.

As I understand it, G+ allows only 1 "reservation" at a time, same as it would be if you used all 3 of your traditional Fastpasses and wanted to get another.

This is the question I presented to the Cast Member:
If I arrive at Disney Studios at 9 AM and want let's say Slinky Coaster, what is the likelihood the only that will be available is like 7 - 9 PM, therefore blocking me out of using the G+ I paid for up until 7 PM?

This is the response I received:
That would never happen. If you arrive at 9, you would have a time within 30 - 75 minutes of searching for it. After you use it, around 10 AM, you can get another and so on.

The follow-up question I presented:
Fastpasses would run out early, what stops that from happening with G+? I do not want to pay for something where I may get 2 rides that are easily walk-ons and not be able to ride the attractions with longer wait times or only get 1 a day because they are all "sold out" by mid-morning.

Response I received:
That would never happen. You would be able to ride 2 - 3 attractions per hour with G+ because you can only book them on the same day and only so many are allowed to be reserved per hour, You would never see an evening reservation available in the morning hours.

Please tell me of this is true or not. Has this CM fed me with a bunch of rubbish to sell a service or is this really how it works? With the inflation being what it is I do not want to spend money that works out in Disney's favor 95% and only 5% for my travel party.

The claim that you can ride 2-3 attractions per hour with G+ is a load of horse manure. The only way to come close to achieving it is to begin "stacking" G+ reservations at a park that you don't have a theme park reservation at and then spend the morning collecting G+ reservations on your phone.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

The claim that you can ride 2-3 attractions per hour with G+ is a load of horse manure. The only way to come close to achieving it is to begin "stacking" G+ reservations at a park that you don't have a theme park reservation at and then spend the morning collecting G+ reservations on your phone.

Absolutely true. Having used G+ a few times now, there's no way you can get 2-3 per hour unless it's for attractions that have almost no standby line to begin with - in which case, you don't need G+. That's bad information and not realistic..... or as you say, at another park later in the day. But even in that case, you can only reserve every 2 hours, so that's somewhat unknown.

 

[Indio]

We went to Disney Dec 8-12th and used Genie+ at all 4 parks. We bought it with the intention of using it for everything we could get. There were 10 of us. We were able to ride everything we wanted and had no problems finding passes even with 10 people. It worked best in MK of course because there are more rides, but it did work just like the original FP system worked - you just didn't have to run to the machine to get a FP. We did the virtual que for Remy and we did Standby for RotR at around 7pm on our HS day (only waited about 30 minutes before what we considered the attraction started). We did buy a LL for FOP, but other than that we just used Genie+ all week. I would buy it again for MK and HS but it's really not needed at Epcot and AK in our opinion. If you don't have a pass saved for late in the afternoon, you can book another pass as soon as you check in for your current pass. We did it all day long - get a FP, check in at the Mickey scanner, then we'd book another ride on the way through the que. So unless things have changed since Dec, you do NOT have to wait 2 hours before booking your next pass.

 

[foodiddiedoo]

We went to Disney Dec 8-12th and used Genie+ at all 4 parks. We bought it with the intention of using it for everything we could get. There were 10 of us. We were able to ride everything we wanted and had no problems finding passes even with 10 people. It worked best in MK of course because there are more rides, but it did work just like the original FP system worked - you just didn't have to run to the machine to get a FP. We did the virtual que for Remy and we did Standby for RotR at around 7pm on our HS day (only waited about 30 minutes before what we considered the attraction started). We did buy a LL for FOP, but other than that we just used Genie+ all week. I would buy it again for MK and HS but it's really not needed at Epcot and AK in our opinion. If you don't have a pass saved for late in the afternoon, you can book another pass as soon as you check in for your current pass. We did it all day long - get a FP, check in at the Mickey scanner, then we'd book another ride on the way through the que. So unless things have changed since Dec, you do NOT have to wait 2 hours before booking your next pass.

You have to wait 2 hours before booking your next pass if you haven't tapped into a ride yet. For example say you want SDD and you don't get it until 6 PM. You have to wait until 2 hours after park opening to book your next pass since you haven't rode Slinky yet. If you book a G+ selection for 11:15 am at 11 am and still have SDD, you can get a new pass as soon as you tap through the Mickeys on whatever that ride is. This situation really only happens if you get a super late start for the more popular attractions (SDD, Jungle Cruise, Test Track). When I was using G+ during our early December trip, the return times for Slinky were late afternoon/early evening at like 7:00AM and gone by 7:02 AM.

 

[HopperFan]

I phoned Disney to ask, but they always spin everything as it is all perfection so I want to ask here to get some real experiences. I will try to make this brief.

As I understand it, G+ allows only 1 "reservation" at a time, same as it would be if you used all 3 of your traditional Fastpasses and wanted to get another.

This is the question I presented to the Cast Member:
If I arrive at Disney Studios at 9 AM and want let's say Slinky Coaster, what is the likelihood the only that will be available is like 7 - 9 PM, therefore blocking me out of using the G+ I paid for up until 7 PM?

This is the response I received:
That would never happen. If you arrive at 9, you would have a time within 30 - 75 minutes of searching for it. After you use it, around 10 AM, you can get another and so on.

The follow-up question I presented:
Fastpasses would run out early, what stops that from happening with G+? I do not want to pay for something where I may get 2 rides that are easily walk-ons and not be able to ride the attractions with longer wait times or only get 1 a day because they are all "sold out" by mid-morning.

Response I received:
That would never happen. You would be able to ride 2 - 3 attractions per hour with G+ because you can only book them on the same day and only so many are allowed to be reserved per hour, You would never see an evening reservation available in the morning hours.

Please tell me of this is true or not. Has this CM fed me with a bunch of rubbish to sell a service or is this really how it works? With the inflation being what it is I do not want to spend money that works out in Disney's favor 95% and only 5% for my travel party.

I will say if that is the script they are giving all the phone CMs then SHAME ON THEM. If it is a rogue CM making it up as they go .... good luck to the on the ground CMs dealing with all the fairy tales folks bring with them.

MY EXPERIENCE -

1) Getting a late time for a popular ride absolutely does happens. I found that booking at 7 am for a popular ride put me on it around noon or later. BUT once I got to the park I saw they had dumped earlier times and I could switch. This happened a number of times. Yes after you use the first one you can get another and PPs explained the whole 2 hour stacking thing. It is important, learn it. Getting a time within 30 minutes of current time is mostly the unpopular or fast moving rides that I would chose to stand in line for while I wait for my longer Genie+ time.

2) 2-3 per hour is simple a lie, and would be difficult to achieve physically. What are they talking about with an evening reservation in the morning, if the system offers you 7 pm at 11 am then what they are saying is again false? Sounds like diversion technique to confuse you. Yes the number of times is limited, very limited and they absolutely do run out. We saw from about 4 pm on that attractions that were available were dwindling until there was literally only a few of the short line rides where it wasn't needed.

Given that we no longer have advance FP+ and that it appears MUCH fewer are buying than used that, and it is harder to get times for us than FP+ ever was ... the number of slots are very limited. Also note you have no choice of times, take it or leave it and try again later with hopes there are any left. We realized we had to make a decision on how important that Genie+ option was for any given attraction.

We lost money at AK and Epcot (my value is I must get 4-5 Genie+ times for quality rides to have value), we got our worth at DHS and MK but it didn't even come close to 2-3 per hour. If you pull off 1 per hour you are doing great but be prepared to not do that. Saving your AK and Epcot Genie+ money helps pay for ILL for the rides it is a value.

Note: Even with much less people in LL, the Standby times in November and last week were not shorter than most pre-pandemic days with FP+ ..... And sadly I and many around me spent way too much time on our phone searching for a better time, trying to get a time that I now paid for, mobile ordering or spinning the wheel for table service. Bring a battery pack.

 

[BrightMorningStar]

You'll probably find most of your answers here:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/e...lightning-lane-please-read-posts-1-7.3856734/
But I'll try to help as best I can.
You are not limited to holding 1 pass at a time. The only thing you're limited to is how often you can book another pass. Per your example, if your first selection is slinky dog for 7pm, then you can make a second selection 2 hours after the park opens, which is typically at 9am. So at 11am, you can make a second selection. If your current selection is within 2 hours, you can make your next selection after scanning into the ride.

Genie+ selections do run out, especially at Hollywood Studios because there are many headline attractions at the park. However, you can typically get 1 major ride between Slinky or Millennium falcon and a couple mid majors like tot, RnRC, TSMM or AS2. You typically have free range to get into shows as well.

Overall, Genie+ is great most days for Magic Kingdom, typically good for Hollywood Studios, unless it's really busy - you still do good to have it to save time in a couple rides, but the passes will go quicker on busier days, but ride lines will be an hour long for most rides as well - Epcot and Animal Kingdom is typically not necessary to have except for the busiest of days, but even then you can manage the parks without it as well.

VERY helpful. Thank you.

 

[BrightMorningStar]

If you try to book Slinky at 9:00, you will probably not be offered a time between 7-9 PM. You would also not likely get a time within 30-75 minutes. You will probably not be offered a time at all. Slinky is typically booked for the day by 7:30 AM. Those staying offsite usually don't get a chance at it. (Edited to delete to delete mistake.)

Because only so many Genie+ LL selections can be reserved per hour, they often run out. It's the limitation on the number that causes the earlier times in the day to be unavailable. If they had no limit on the number of G+LLs they gave out, you could get one for the current time. Of course, that would mean lightning lane wait times almost as long as standby wait times, so they don't do it.

As the prior poster pointed out, if you make a G+LL reservation two or more hours in the future, you can book another after two hours (or two hours after park open if you book before park open).

Thrill-Data has a daily Lightning Lane Availability Map for each park that shows the earliest ones available at various times and when they run out. Look at it to get an idea of what is really happening. The areas is gray show no availability. (The link is to the Hollywood Studios page. The Lightning Lane data is below the wait time data. Use the menu to find the other parks.)
View attachment 646298

This is helpful and quite different than the way the CM described. Appreciate the data.

 

[Jennasis]

I booked. Slinky LL at 7am with a 9:05 return time and when I clicked the button to pay it switched NY return time to 7:05PM.

Every LL selection I made had the time change in the half second it took me to click to confirm. Every single time. Often for hours later. It's qorthless.

 

[BrightMorningStar]

The claim that you can ride 2-3 attractions per hour with G+ is a load of horse manure. The only way to come close to achieving it is to begin "stacking" G+ reservations at a park that you don't have a theme park reservation at and then spend the morning collecting G+ reservations on your phone.

Absolutely true. Having used G+ a few times now, there's no way you can get 2-3 per hour unless it's for attractions that have almost no standby line to begin with - in which case, you don't need G+. That's bad information and not realistic..... or as you say, at another park later in the day. But even in that case, you can only reserve every 2 hours, so that's somewhat unknown.

Thank you! Good information. That CM was way off, eh?

 

[BrightMorningStar]

I will say if that is the script they are giving all the phone CMs then SHAME ON THEM. If it is a rogue CM making it up as they go .... good luck to the on the ground CMs dealing with all the fairy tales folks bring with them.

MY EXPERIENCE -

1) Getting a late time for a popular ride absolutely does happens. I found that booking at 7 am for a popular ride put me on it around noon or later. BUT once I got to the park I saw they had dumped earlier times and I could switch. This happened a number of times. Yes after you use the first one you can get another and PPs explained the whole 2 hour stacking thing. It is important, learn it. Getting a time within 30 minutes of current time is mostly the unpopular or fast moving rides that I would chose to stand in line for while I wait for my longer Genie+ time.

2) 2-3 per hour is simple a lie, and would be difficult to achieve physically. What are they talking about with an evening reservation in the morning, if the system offers you 7 pm at 11 am then what they are saying is again false? Sounds like diversion technique to confuse you. Yes the number of times is limited, very limited and they absolutely do run out. We saw from about 4 pm on that attractions that were available were dwindling until there was literally only a few of the short line rides where it wasn't needed.

Given that we no longer have advance FP+ and that it appears MUCH fewer are buying than used that, and it is harder to get times for us than FP+ ever was ... the number of slots are very limited. Also note you have no choice of times, take it or leave it and try again later with hopes there are any left. We realized we had to make a decision on how important that Genie+ option was for any given attraction.

We lost money at AK and Epcot (my value is I must get 4-5 Genie+ times for quality rides to have value), we got our worth at DHS and MK but it didn't even come close to 2-3 per hour. If you pull off 1 per hour you are doing great but be prepared to not do that. Saving your AK and Epcot Genie+ money helps pay for ILL for the rides it is a value.

Note: Even with much less people in LL, the Standby times in November and last week were not shorter than most pre-pandemic days with FP+ ..... And sadly I and many around me spent way too much time on our phone searching for a better time, trying to get a time that I now paid for, mobile ordering or spinning the wheel for table service. Bring a battery pack.

Very valuable information. Thank you!

 

[HopperFan]

I booked. Slinky LL at 7am with a 9:05 return time and when I clicked the button to pay it switched NY return time to 7:05PM.

Every LL selection I made had the time change in the half second it took me to click to confirm. Every single time. Often for hours later. It's qorthless.

Happened to us and lots of reports of the same.

 

[boxer]

I will say if that is the script they are giving all the phone CMs then SHAME ON THEM. If it is a rogue CM making it up as they go .... good luck to the on the ground CMs dealing with all the fairy tales folks bring with them.

MY EXPERIENCE -

1) Getting a late time for a popular ride absolutely does happens. I found that booking at 7 am for a popular ride put me on it around noon or later. BUT once I got to the park I saw they had dumped earlier times and I could switch. This happened a number of times. Yes after you use the first one you can get another and PPs explained the whole 2 hour stacking thing. It is important, learn it. Getting a time within 30 minutes of current time is mostly the unpopular or fast moving rides that I would chose to stand in line for while I wait for my longer Genie+ time.

2) 2-3 per hour is simple a lie, and would be difficult to achieve physically. What are they talking about with an evening reservation in the morning, if the system offers you 7 pm at 11 am then what they are saying is again false? Sounds like diversion technique to confuse you. Yes the number of times is limited, very limited and they absolutely do run out. We saw from about 4 pm on that attractions that were available were dwindling until there was literally only a few of the short line rides where it wasn't needed.

Given that we no longer have advance FP+ and that it appears MUCH fewer are buying than used that, and it is harder to get times for us than FP+ ever was ... the number of slots are very limited. Also note you have no choice of times, take it or leave it and try again later with hopes there are any left. We realized we had to make a decision on how important that Genie+ option was for any given attraction.

We lost money at AK and Epcot (my value is I must get 4-5 Genie+ times for quality rides to have value), we got our worth at DHS and MK but it didn't even come close to 2-3 per hour. If you pull off 1 per hour you are doing great but be prepared to not do that. Saving your AK and Epcot Genie+ money helps pay for ILL for the rides it is a value.

Note: Even with much less people in LL, the Standby times in November and last week were not shorter than most pre-pandemic days with FP+ ..... And sadly I and many around me spent way too much time on our phone searching for a better time, trying to get a time that I now paid for, mobile ordering or spinning the wheel for table service. Bring a battery pack.

How did you do #1? So say you had a 2:30PM for Millenium Falcon--how would you know (and how would you change) to an earlier time once you were in the Park?

 

[HopperFan]

How did you do #1? So say you had a 2:30PM for Millenium Falcon--how would you know (and how would you change) to an earlier time once you were in the Park?

You can't change, you have to cancel and rebook with a new time. It is a risk so it really depends on each individual person's day plan.

This is where the stacking really comes in. To get your monies worth ... if your first time is at 2:30 you need to book your second one as soon as time allows, and again for your next one. Worth the study to understand.