Disney Genie announcement

[DisneyKidds]

so at 7 am you get Navi River 8-9 am; at 10 am you could book 2 pmBig Thunder

In this example do I need to populate a (free) Genie itinerary for the system to know to offer me MK rides, or do I have the ability to search for and reserve a ride in the MK without setting up an itinerary? I really have no intention in setting up a general Genie itinerary. I don’t need their stupid recommendations and hope I’m able to use G+ without.

 

[Disturbia]

IMO for those that arrive late why not reserve the park you want to be in for the day. It makes no sense to book a park you don't want to go if you aren't arriving til mid afternoon.

This is what we are doing but we’re not going to the park until 5:30 pm (Epcot) on our travel day, so we will book Remy and Frozen at 7 am and have Space220 and fireworks (9:45 pm). Rest of the time we will enjoy food booths and maybe low wait rides.

 

[DisneyFive]

I agree. I've been contemplating if a strategy would work for us on arrival day, but the "need to tap in" requirement messes it all up. Not worth it.
If I were staying at Beach Club or Boardwalk, I could see doing it for DHS since tapping Epcot would be so easy. Otherwise, I don't think the strategy makes sense for us.

Depending on where you are going for your “hopped to” park it may not be that bad. For example if you want Epcot to be your park, simply choose Magic Kingdom as your reserved park. Tap in at MK then walk over to the mono rail and just ride that over to Epcot. Same goes for Epcot and Hollywood studios with the friendship boats or Skyliner. Really not that much of a hassle to go between those two parks either.

Animal kingdom is the tough one to hop to from any park. Same between HS and MK

Dan

 

[LSUfan4444]

So you’re telling me that if my park reservation is at DHS and I put in G+ that I’m hoping to MK, G+ will let me make a LL at Splash at 7 am for 2:30 pm even though people that actually have MK park reservations can only book next available which would be 9 am???

Yep...if they want a 2pm Splash as their first they have to wait till they see that window become available.

 

[DavidNYC]

Based on first park opening, 10 am if you booked one at 7 am

so at 7 am you get Navi River 8-9 am; at 10 am you could book 2 pmBig Thunder

you ride Navi and can get another pass right after second turnstile scan (say 8:10 am), book 8:15-9:15 am safari

With the caveat you can only book a ride at MK at 10am if you don't make another reservation at AK after Navi that sets that has reset your next reservation clock (such as if you book a ride that you don't scan into until after 10am). If you book Safari under the example above and in fact scan in at 9am or so - you're OK for the 10am MK reservation).

 

[snikki]

The only reason you're OK with FOP and SDMT is if you now pay per person for them . . . so I'd debate many people are better off. But at least I understand the value of that - I just don't like the idea of it for Disney. For SDD? Better be up at 7am to get your pass for that or you'll be riding at the end of the day . . . and now you'll be likely stuck in that park and losing the ability to hop because of how late your ride it - hope you weren't planning on doing that. And we're also already seeing the reports on how fast people are draining their batteries under this . . . it's one thing to say you like it better this way. It's another to try to say this takes less planning and before you had to plan your entire day - you're planning on your phone a lot more than you were before - it's just during your trip rather than before it. And frankly - if you want to ride more than one headliner - you better plan out your day in advance anyway and study the trends on what rides go at what pace to make sure you can do what you want. This will in the aggregate take a lot more work and a lot more planning to get full benefit from this. And if you're not planning on staying in one park from rope drop until end of day (mid-day break? arrive late? want to hop to another park for dinner?) you're really going to have to do a lot more work than before.

I have never used G+ and I’m not saying it’s the greatest thing ever but I think you are really over complicating it. I personally loved FP+ but I believe both systems have their pros and cons. One thing I disliked about FP+ was if I decided to change parks and had tier 1 FP+ I probably wasn’t getting it another day. I don’t go to Disney that often (every 2-3 years) so I’m ok paying for convenience. If I went often and it was my only vacation destination I would probably be annoyed. Every other theme park charges a lot more for this same “perk.” Six flags is $90 per day minimum.

 

[Disturbia]

Yep...if they want a 2pm Splash as their first they have to wait till they see that window become available.

so if you want to guarantee and are arriving to the parks at noon; this makes sense, but the risk is if you have transportation delays you can’t cancel or change this pass; once 3:14 pm passes, you can’t rebook Splash

 

[LSUfan4444]

Depending on where you are going for your “hopped to” park it may not be that bad. For example if you want Epcot to be your park, simply choose Magic Kingdom as your reserved park. Tap in at MK then walk over to the mono rail and just ride that over to Epcot. Same goes for Epcot and Hollywood studios with the friendship boats or Skyliner. Really not that much of a hassle to go between those two parks either.

Animal kingdom is the tough one to hop to from any park. Same between HS and MK

Dan

Right...I think the MK/Epcot Combo, Obviously HS/EP works well and probably AK/MK to some degree won't be that bad since getting to MK is a PIA for everyone.

 

[snikki]

Yep...if they want a 2pm Splash as their first they have to wait till they see that window become available.

How about if you want a 5 pm at splash? Lol. How does that work at 7 am for the park you are hopping to? Do you wait for that availability to show up or will multiple times show up?

 

[DisneyFive]

One thing that I really hope G+ does is remove the crush of crowds at rope drop. It’s been crazy without FP+ or G+. Rope drop was a huge negative difference for us this past July/August. When everything was standby, the cat was out of the bag, and people knew that you had to get to the park 30 minutes to an hour early in order to ride the top headliners with low(ish) waits.

At least with G+, at 7am having the ability to pre-book an attraction for later in the morning, hopefully allows some people to sleep in and not feel the need to jam the parks right at opening. This will allow standby wait to be low like they used to be for the first hour or so. At this is my hope.

Dan

 

[DavidNYC]

Can someone elaborate on this “tapping in” thing people keep referring to? Is that a G+ thing, a park hopping thing, or both?

Say I use G+. Make a LL reservation at 7am with a return of 11:30am. I could make a second LL reservation (stack) when the park opens at 9am, right? Do I have to actually tap into the park to be able to do that, or can I do it from my hotel (for example if I’m sleeping in/eating/getting work done)?

I haven’t done park hopping since the reservation and 2pm park hop rules went into effect. Say we have reservations in the MK with the intent to hop to Epcot after 2pm. Me and the boys, for example, stick to the plan but wife and and daughter decide to do a spa morning. Can they not meet up with us in Epcot after 2pm unless they change their park reservation or actually go tap into the MK first?

I get the park reservation thing (well, not really anymore, but let’s forget that)…..but it seems like everyone should be free to go wherever they want after hopping “opens” at 2pm, regardless of what they did before that.

Tapping in means:
1. When you tap into a ride that you have a LL booked for. When you tap into a ride - you can make your next reservation.
2. When you tap into a park. You have to tap into your reservation park in order to be permitted to hop to another park. So correct - your family cannot just meet you at Epcot at 2pm without either going to MK first or changing their reservation.

As for your first statement - the 120 minutes does not start to run until a park opens even if you make a reservation at 7am. If you make a 7am reservation with an 11:30 return time, you can make your second reservation at 11am. You can still make your second reservation if you have not tapped into the park. If you enter the park and tap into your 11:30 reservation, you can then make another reservation after you have tapped even though you also have the reservation you made at 11.

 

[Disturbia]

With the caveat you can only book a ride at MK at 10am if you don't make another reservation at AK after Navi that sets that has reset your next reservation clock (such as if you book a ride that you don't scan into until after 10am). If you book Safari under the example above and in fact scan in at 9am or so - you're OK for the 10am MK reservation).

So after I ride Navi closer to 8 am, when can I book my next aK pass if I am holding the MK 2 pm pass (assuming I book this at 10 am); so no ride between 8am-10 am at AK and then at 10 am book MK?

 

[LSUfan4444]

This is why I think I can even find value in an evening at Epcot.

I can start in HS (staying at boardwalk), eat lunch in my room rather than in the park (and that pays for G+ and ILL for that day). My 7am G+ can be for Test Track at 4pm or so and when I am eating lunch look to book something for Soarin and have a Remy ILL for the evening.

At rope drop for HS we can choose to knock out ToT, RNR, and TSMM or maybe Smugglers Run, Star Tours, TSMM, etc. all standy

 

[MickeyMice]

Then you have to refresh looking for available times...for those flying in and unable to be on the phone that isn't really an option. if you're driving in and can sit in the passenger seat and just refresh all day, that definitely makes sense.

what if you book your afternoon G+ LLs at your real park while you have a reservation at another park, and then change your park reservation after?

no idea if this will work, just throwing it out there

 

[LSUfan4444]

How about if you want a 5 pm at splash? Lol. How does that work at 7 am for the park you are hopping to? Do you wait for that availability to show up or will multiple times show up?

You would have to wait for that...just not as long as those people who start their day in MK since your windows begin a half day later.

 

[DavidNYC]

One thing that I really hope G+ does is remove the crush of crowds at rope drop. It’s been crazy without FP+ or G+. Rope drop was a huge negative difference for us this past July/August. When everything was standby, the cat was out of the bag, and people knew that you had to get to the park 30 minutes to an hour early in order to ride the top headliners with low(ish) waits.

At least with G+, at 7am having the ability to pre-book an attraction for later in the morning, hopefully allows some people to sleep in and not feel the need to jam the parks right at opening. This will allow standby wait to be low like they used to be for the first hour or so. At this is my hope.

Dan

I don't see that happening. In fact - I think the case for being at the parks at rope drop has increased substantially with (1) the limitation of only being able to use LL once on each ride and (2) the most popular rides being standby only or paid LL. But as it was in the past - there will be a massive rush to certain rides at each park and the rest of the rides will be walk-ons for the first hour. Most of the people who are there for rope drop are heading to one of the rides they can't pre-book without paying or a popular ride that want to ride multiple times (or SDD).

 

[Babars_Wife]

So if you book at 7am a 3pm LL (not ILL). WIth a 9am opening, at 11am you can book another LL. Lets say you book that for 11:05. Once you scan into that you can book rolling LL, while holding your 3pm LL, until 3pm. At which point you scan into your 3pm LL and only have one rolling LL from thenceforth. Is that right?

 

[Disturbia]

You don’t have to wait 2 hours inbetween rides;

infact you can overlap say 9-10; ride at 9:15, grab a 9:15-10:15 Genie+ and keep going and pay for an overlapping SDMt 9:30-10:30

 

[snikki]

You would have to wait for that...just not as long as those people who start their day in MK since your windows begin a half day later.

Good to know! This will be interesting. We usually hop to park 2 around 4. I wish I could see how long it usually takes those rides to get later in the day if you’re hopping. I guess I’ll be reading more blogs!

Thank you for all your help in this thread!

 

[LSUfan4444]

I don't see that happening. In fact - I think the case for being at the parks at rope drop has increased substantially with (1) the limitation of only being able to use LL once on each ride and (2) the most popular rides being standby only or paid LL. But as it was in the past - there will be a massive rush to certain rides at each park and the rest of the rides will be walk-ons for the first hour. Most of the people who are there for rope drop are heading to one of the rides they can't pre-book without paying or a popular ride that want to ride multiple times (or SDD).

There are likely to be 4 big groups of people
1 - Rope Droppers who want as much standby as possible because their G+ and ILLs are later in the day.
2- Later arrivers who sleep in a bit and see no need to rush to Splash Mountain standby when they can G+ for the same (or lower) wait
3 - Phone zombies who look like they're from Walking Dead trying to accumulate every single G+ they can regardless of how much time it saves them in the end
4 - Those asking for the best way to get to MGM to ride the new Velocicoaster ride