By 3pm return times are going to be so late that it just doesn’t make sense though.
I just don’t think TP have the algorithm right yet for G+ , especially since you can push back return times once you get one. It really doesn’t make sense to wait 4 hours to book one IMO. And even if she did book one at 11 and 1, at 3 she could still book whatever the TP is suggesting - since it must still be available!
The many known problems with building a plan with G+ has been talked about to death over many months and threads.
I’m hoping that TP’s current project of redoing the LL recommendations and return time forcasts, will also include a fix to book the max amount of LL’s in a day.
Oh. I misunderstood. I thought it meant the return time was 3 pm.
Since we’ve revived this thread, going along with the Hollywood Studios touring plan, my plan for Epcot has me starting at Soarin during EE then going to Living with the Land, The Seas, and then Journey into Imagination. The plan then has Test Track, Remy, and Frozen all later in the day instead of hitting at least one of those during EE. Again another really odd lineup.
Those are the three rides that almost everyone will be heading for. If you are at the front of EE rope-drop then go to one of them and then re-plan.
The algorithm is assuming you’re in the middle of the pack, so you’ll instantly be in a 45-60 minute line.
Just a sample of what I’m getting. (Oops! Didn’t work. See below post.)
@bebe80 I am having much better luck (I think) for days/parks when I am not planning on using Genie+. My MK plan does account for us being much closer to 7DMT at early entry as Len talked about on the Dish. It’s fantastic! But this Genie+ stuff … is a little nuts. I’ll go back to ThrillData and make my plan that way. 
| STEP | ARRIVAL | WAIT | DURATION | FREE TIME | WALK TIME | |
| 1) Obtain Lightning Lane for Toy Story Mania! | 9:40am | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Return Time: 10:20am-11:20am | ||||||
| 2) Toy Story Mania! | 11:09am | 9 | 7 | 0 | 2 | |
| Uses Lightning Lane for 10:20am-11:20am | ||||||
| 3) Alien Swirling Saucers | 11:27am | 31 | 3 | 0 | 2 | |
| 4) Slinky Dog Dash | 12:03pm | 93 | 3 | 0 | 1 | |
| 5) Obtain Lightning Lane for Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run | 1:40pm | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Return Time: 5:35pm-6:35pm | ||||||
| 6) The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror | 1:41pm | 47 | 15 | 10 | 6 | |
| 7) Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular! | 2:59pm | 16 | 30 | 0 | 7 | |
| Showtimes: 10:45am, 12:00pm, 1:15pm, 3:15pm, 4:30pm | ||||||
| 8) Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith | 3:52pm | 47 | 2 | 0 | 1 | |
| 9) Obtain Lightning Lane for Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway | 4:42pm | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Return Time: 6:50pm-7:50pm | ||||||
| 10) Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance | 4:43pm | 82 | 7 | 0 | 3 | |
| 11) Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run | 6:15pm | 7 | 5 | 0 | 5 | |
| Uses Lightning Lane for 5:35pm-6:35pm | ||||||
| 12) Star Tours: The Adventures Continue | 6:32pm | 12 | 7 | 0 | 3 | |
| 13) Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway | 6:54pm | 6 | 5 | 63 | 7 | |
| Uses Lightning Lane for 6:50pm-7:50pm | ||||||
| 14) Fantasmic! | 8:15pm | 60 | 29 | 0 | 7 | |
| Showtime: 9:15pm | ||||||
| PLAN TOTALS: | 642 | 410 | 113 | 73 | 46 | |
| TOTAL | IN LINE | BUSY | FREE | WALKING |
For this plan (above) I said I would be able to obtain a LL as early as 7:00 AM but didn’t intend to arrive at the park until 11:00 AM. Average walking pace and balance of walking/waiting.
I’m not sure this is necessarily wrong. So, at 7:00 am, the return times are probably well before your 11:00 am arrival. So it has you wait until 9:40 to try to for a return time window that falls within the 11:00 am arrival. This gets you basically a walk on for TSM. At this point, the estimated return times for ASS and TSM are probably further out than makes sense, so has you riding those rides instead in standby. Then, at 1:40, you finally get a ride with a return time window that works, and it has you book then, etc.
I’d be curious to know what happened if you, said, put that you wanted to ride ASS or some other ride twice, etc. Would it then have you book another LL?
The trouble really is using G+ at HS is very tricky to make really useful. Too few rides, most of which have higher demand, which pushes the G+ times out fairly quickly. And the rides that don’t, such as ASS, it doesn’t necessarily figure out it is worth waiting. Inserting breaks or times to eat, etc., might give you other options.
I guess my point is…as weird as it looks, I’m not sure it is actually at all wrong.
I’ve totally given up on TP’s for our trip that leaves in 11 days. It’s G+ plans are completely bonkers, I can’t figure out how to force certain things, and it can’t account for the drops in non-MK parks (which I don’t think it ever did for FP+ either, but I could assign the return times easily and still have the plan work around them).
So I’m building my own, based on Thrilldata and drop times, using TP only for walking and waiting times (for non LL stuff).
I made a TP for each park to see about how many attractions we could fit into the day, but with the lack of accurate LL predictability in the software, I just used the discussion forums to help plan LL priorities and ride order strategy. Hopefully there will be upgrades in the future that will make it worth using again. It really wasn’t helpful for plans using G+ and I didn’t attempt to optimize in the parks during the day. It’s just more time on my phone and I was on it enough booking LLs.
Maybe. I’m not convinced. And we’ll never know because I would never follow this plan!
For one thing, if I hit optimize again it will give me something completely different. Hit optimize 5 times, get 5 different results. Also, you can get a SDD at right around 7:00, then get another LL at 10:30 (two hours after park open) and probably still get two more that would be useful even without all of the modifying tips/tricks we Liners use. For another, this plan above saves me 45 minutes on TSMM and then wasting 75 minutes on SDD! Then it’s having me wait over two hours after I redeem my TSMM LL to get a second one!
One of the more common scenarios I’ve gotten (I’ve been optimizing a lot just to see - as well as changing other variables such as minimize waiting, walking speed, etc.) has obtaining the first LL at around 7:00 and not getting another one until 3:00. There is no way that choosing not to get LL’s at 10:30 (ish) and 12:30 (ish) is going to ultimately save you time waiting in line.
Sorry to run on about it. I just agree that the software is not working very well for plans with Genie+.
This is very true. You can tell the plan you want to obtain a LL for a certain ride, but it will not put it in the plan.
Well, based on my own experience using G+ WITHOUT TP, I’m not likely to bother paying for it (G+). I AM more likely to be willing to pay for ILLS instead in limited circumstances. I’m going to guess that the data is so all over the place based on so many variables, that TPs own algorithm is having a hard time finding useful patterns.
Have you checked out Thrill Data? It is some work, but you can definitely see from their heat maps what return time you’re likely to get for a specific ride if you obtain a LL at a specific time.
Also, if you haven’t used it since they instituted the modify button, that is a game changer.
I have four days with DD23 in July and only plan to use Genie+ on our HS day with a later entry. I do think we can get at least 5 high value LL’s that day if we plan it correctly.
But at 7am it’s perfectly possible to get a later return time for Slinky.
True. But you could just as likely end up with a 10 am return time or something.
To be clear I am not suggesting they have it RIGHT, only that with the data they have, it also isn’t necessarily WRONG either.
How about this. Added some extra shows, etc. since there may be extra time.
| Book Time | Attraction | Return Time |
|---|---|---|
| 7:30 | RNRC | 11:30am |
| 10:35 | TOT | 12:00pm |
| 12:40 | MMRR | 3:45pm |
| 2:45 | TSM (temp) | 4:00pm |
| 3:47 (drop) | mod. TSM to SDD | 4:30pm |
| 4:50 | TSM | 5:30pm |
| 6:55 | MFSR | 7:45pm |
How do you get it to use the LL’s you think you’ll be able to book?
You just to need move the LL’s around in the plan until the arrival time aligns with the return time window.
