It kinda should be since you pay for it now.
Disney is trying to improve G+ user satisfaction, this helps.
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I agree! My strategy will be to rope drop the ILL and utilize Genie Plus. I feel I can get more bang for my buck that way!
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I purposefully bought our tickets June 7, so we have G+ for the whole trip. I really hope it will help is maximize our short trip. Our only full day is MK. We will have a afternoon plus EEH at EP and a RD/half day at AK. I am doing my best to plan without knowing what the LL return times will be. The AK time savings in Beckyās update are encouraging! Iāve read all her posts and updates. I love seeing the data. Itās why Iām here on TP obviously.
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How are you āplanningā before you go? Pre COVID, with the fast passes, it was so easy to plan out your day, including the order of the rides you were going to do. Now, with Genie + and not knowing your return times, it is much more difficult.
I have decided that I am less interested in the stacking strategy and feel I could get more Genie+ rides by just booking strategically (we will rope drop and utilize early park entry). What is your booking strategy? I feel I should know what order I want to try to book but it is so complicated!
For example, MK - By checking out BG1 many mornings, I feel like I could get one of the first return times for PeterPan. My plan is to get the best time I can for this and rope drop 7DMT. Right after 7DMT, we will go to PeterPanā¦once I scan in it seems like I could get a very quick return time for HM or PotC however these arenāt the next biggest attractions. If I book HM for example, PotC will probably still be relatively short waitā¦we could probably get those rides done rather quickly. Then wait for the first drop and book BTMR or Splash. After HM and PotC, we could head to Frontierlandā¦ride/wait for BTMR or Splash (whichever one we didnāt get at the drop) and ride the other with Genie +. So that would only be one significant wait and we would likely have 7DMT, PeterPan, HM, PotC, Splash and BTMR done by around lunch.
Then the afternoon we can do other Genie + like Pooh etc and see the Parade and other shorter wait rides (PhilharMagic, Smallworld).
We have two MK daysā¦so our second one we will rope drop Space and get a Genie + for JC.
Do you think this is realistic? I just donāt know if it is āsmartā to go for HM or PotC as a second choiceā¦
Overallā¦thinking I will book 2nd tier rides after my initial selection so that we can have a faster return timeā¦then utilize the drops for the headliners. What are your thoughts on this strategy?
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Strategy sounds reasonable, and you have two days. Meaning, if something is down, you can adjust plans for day 2.
I would go for HM over POTC as 2nd choice. HM seems to have more down time (no data to support that, just trip reports), and POTC line moves pretty quickly if you end up with standby. Both are pretty good with availability so you may be able to get both.
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I was actually able to RD 7DMT with 8:00AM EE and then do PP standby, as well as Pooh and HM.
Had grabbed JC at 7AM for 10AM
At 10:00AM grabbed POTC for 10:50.
Rode JC
As we quickly tapped in early for POTC at 10:45, grabbed another LL at 10:47AM for Splash
At this point, POTC went down and our POTC LL turned into a golden ticket. So I donāt have great help for the rest of the day.
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Wow!! You had a great start of your day! That info was very helpful, thank you!
Thank you! Last time we were there (pre covid) we got to PotC about 30-45 minutes after park opening and it was a walk on. We were hoping to snag a fast pass for HM (after we used out first 3) but it didnāt happen. We ended up waiting an hour and a half for HMā¦and although the queue is good I am hoping to avoid that this time around!
I think itās valid to try your strategy, especially at MK. A lot will depend on how early a return time you can get for PP. If you can get a 9:30AM return time you may be able to get and use a 2nd LL in time for the 1st drop. But if you get a 11AM return time for PP, you miss the drop. To give you a sense of how tight this, PP has a return time of <9:30AM 4/6 times over the last week per thrilldata when booking at 7:00AM, but at 7:01AM only 1/6 days had a return time of <9:30AM, and 3/6 days >11AM. Using Merlock will give you an edge here, not a guarantee - so my advice is have a backup plan.
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Does anyone have a succinct summary of how the golden ticket LL works and what to look for / do if blessed with this?
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If you get an Anytime pass from a LL attraction (or other situation, like being evacuated) due to the ride being down during your window, it makes it so you can use a regular LL for an eligible attraction any time, not just during the return window.
Example: You have a Test Track LL for 10:00am. At 9:50am, a thunderstorm starts and Disney shuts down TT. Your LL turns into an Anytime. For the sake of this example, the Anytime is eligible for all attractions in Epcot except Guardians (it will say at the bottom what rides it is eligible for - always check).
At 10:00am, you get a Remy LL for 7:00pm. However, you immediately go to Remy and tap in. The taps read that you have an Anytime Fastpass, so allows you in with a green light, but consume the Remy one, even though it is for 7:00pm. You can now get another LL and repeat the process all day.
Do not use the Anytime for an attraction for which you do not have a regular LL or it will be consumed.
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I was so sad when we had to finally use ours for POTC. But weād used it for everything else that we wanted (canāt use for meet and greets or certain rides at MK).
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Thank you! Very helpful!
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Excellent explanation of the anytime pass. Best Iāve read so far. Thanks.
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Has anyone tried to intentionally get an Anytime pass?
For example, you notice the first couple drops of rain and book a LL for an outdoor attraction with an immediate return time (say, Dumbo or Barnstormer), and wait for it to shut down.
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Wow!! I had no idea!! That would be amazing! Essentially allowing you to ride a TON of ridesā¦book Genie + all day and use right away? I figured it would only allow the one timeā¦
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Thatās how it probably should work. But itās a bug in the system.
Also, it simplifies things a lot, but you will eventually run out of rides that you can use it for - you are still limited to only one LL per attraction per day. And once you get down the list, the attractions at MK that take LL donāt always need it (like Mad Tea Party, The Little Mermaid, etc.).
It would be most useful if you could hop, but you would have to visit GS to transfer the Anytime to the new park, since it is only initially valid in the park you received it in.
Lastly, you canāt use it on any attractions it is not valid for, obviously. So for Guardians, in my example, youād have to go during your actual return window.
So there are some limitations.
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Hi all! T-minus 6 days until weāre in the World! Iāve read the top of the thread and tried to keep up with the last few weeks (months), but Iām still a little confused on a few things. Weāre going to use Genie+ at Magic Kingdom. I donāt understand the return time, if we book our first LL at 7am and itās a 5pm return for Jungle Cruise. Why wouldnāt I want that? Would I not be able to book any other LL before that 5pm return time?
And my second question is, Iāve seen some reports that people were able to have a morning LL and then as soon as they used that LL they could book the next one even though they hadnāt reached the 120 rule from park open. For example, the park opens at 9 and they rode their first LL and were able to book another even though it wasnāt 11am yet. I canāt figure that one out, hoping Iāve explained myself well enough. Thanks!
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That would be great. You could get another LL two hours after park open (9:00am + 2 = 11:00am) with a return time any time before or after your JC LL.
Getting an earlier return time is better because you donāt have to wait the two hours. But sometimes getting an afternoon / evening return time is the only way to get a LL for a high demand attraction. Sometimes itās better to get a valuable LL for a later time than an immediate use one that you donāt need.
Using your LL (having a morning return time) supersedes the 2-hour rule. You donāt have to wait two hours if your return time is less than 2 hours from when you got it.
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