Just wanted to highlight this great TP Genie teaching video series by Becky Gandillon. She’s a legit data pro and the videos have a thorough rundown of G+ for anyone who needs.
Genie 101: Intro to Genie
Genie 201: How and When to Save Time with Genie
Genie 301: What’s Stacking, Precious?
The one thing I think she might’ve missed covering is how to pin rides in Tip Board.
Looking forward to more videos especially something about forecasting return windows…
There is another new video today, answering questions. Today is Special Cases and Answering Qustions. I haven’t watched it yet.
The videos are great!
I really liked Genie 302. One thing interesting Becky mentions is that return times are more likely to shift unexpectedly between booking & confirmation at times where many many people are trying to book G+, like at 7AM, park open + 2 hours and every 2 hours after that. So that is a point in favor of trying for an early return window (i.e. prior to park open +2) and tap in. From that point on your booking time is going to be earlier than most people and your return times should be more stable because relatively few people are booking then.
Example: MK opens at 9AM.
7AM book JC for 3PM
11AM book BTMR for 2PM
1PM book 3rd LL
vs
7AM book PP for 10:30AM
10:30 tap in to PP and book 2ndLL
12:30 book 3rd LL
there are going to be a lot fewer people booking at 10:30 and 12:30 than at 11 and 1 so not only will you have better choice of LL’s but the return times will be more stable.
How sad is this that this is a real thing?
Not knocking the videos just the fact that it was needed.
There were many FP+ videos put out by TP over the years. I think people underestimate the complexity of the FP+ system maybe because they were used to it.
I have to agree.
I didn’t visit the parks during FP+ but I did start planning my upcoming trip anticipating I would have to master it.
Compared to my recollections of the paper FP system, there was a bit of a learning curve.
Also might be better to get your first LL at the 7:08-7:12 drop rather than right at 7, and your ILL at 7:17…
Delaying that JC LL (or a SDD LL) for the first drop…
Yikes.
That feels like making a lane change with your eyes shut.
Way more stress than my morning ever needs
I think it comes down to how critical return time is to you.
Based on my testing you are far more likely to get something at 7:08 than 7:00.
Oh yes I have total confidence in your testing… but on that morning I’m sure it’ll be a tense 8 minutes
We are currently on our way home now and did exactly this every morning.
It was stressful and took everything for me to not panic and book a 7pm return time worrying there would be nothing left, but sure enough the drops happened for everything and it worked out perfectly. But yes, definitely not without stress and a dose of adrenaline first thing in the morning.
With the second LL not available until two hours after park opening (i.e. not impacted by your first reservation time assuming it occurs before park opening), would a good strategy be to grab the best one you can at 7:00, then circle back at the 7:08 (or so) drop to see if you can “upgrade”?
I would be nervous with that because it will take time to check what is available, cancel your current reservation, and then get back to book the new one because there is no option to modify.
I guess I should add that if you are able to get the time you want at 7am, it is still worth it to try. We still tried at 7 every day.
What happened to us is we would try for a close to park opening time, click to book it, and before confirming the time would be 12/1pm. I never hit confirm and went back to kept refreshing until the drop times and booked the time I wanted when it came up. With the drop, there didn’t see to be more than a 5-10 minute difference between the time that was listed when I clicked vs confirmed, while at 7am it would be a huge difference between what you click and what you get.
Thanks for this, it helps to overcome my FOMO. It’s not the same as the original FP machine which would never be restocked and times moved only in 1 direction. This G+ FP machine gets restocked but luckily we have a spycam watching it in thrilldata and experimentation.
I wonder if 7am may ironically become the best time to book later return windows.
It’s crazy we need “how to” videos when attending a theme park
Probably for the same reason we need TP guidebooks, computer optimized touring plans, articles, etc. for the last 20+ years.
Thanks for posting the links @DWJoe
we tried genie+ last weekend and for the life of me couldn’t figure out how to park hop with it.
Check out the main Genie+ thread, post1. Has all the critical info. The relevant hopping rules are:
If you plan to hop, you may apply for a LL reservation at the other park(s), but you are limited to return windows after 2pm (all regular hopping rules still apply).
i.e. if your reservation is at AK, and you try to book something at 7AM in HS, the return window will automatically be advanced to 2pm (or later). This can help with planning to some extent. The one twist that throws off a lot of folks is when you can book the 2nd LL. Unless you tap into it first, you can book it at
Two hours after official opening (i.e., not the early entry opening) of the park where your first LL selection is located (your first LL selection can be either where you are starting your day or where you are hopping to after 2pm).
Suppose your reservation is at AK and you want to hop to HS later.
Example 1:
7AM: book MFSR for 2pm return time
you can book your next LL at 1030 (HS park open 830 + 2)
Example 2:
7AM: book NRJ for 10am return time
you can book your next LL at 930 (AK park open 730 + 2)
After the booking the 2nd LL regular booking rules apply. Hopping takeaway: All else being equal it’s better to book your 1st LL at the park that opens earlier.