Genie+ Priorities at Hollywood Studios

Over this series of articles, we’ve been using math to help us determine what your Genie+ priorities should be at every WDW park. You can check out the results for Animal Kingdom and EPCOT in their own articles. Because, in case you didn’t know, Genie+ is complicated and frustrating. And if you don’t do your research, you can get stuck paying a lot of money to only skip 2 or 3 waits each day, and that would be a bummer. And if you’re not a nerd like me, spending hours and hours studying Genie+ can be equally frustrating and painful. Unless you do your research by watching this really great “teacher” that I know on YouTube.

So for the portion of the population that doesn’t want to do all of that research, I’m offering these simpler priority lists. They combine information about booking attractions that you should enjoy, that can save you the most time, and before they tend to sell out for the day. And of course they’re based on data. Because if you find a list that’s not based on data, run away!

This post was last updated on February 20, 2024.

Explain the Math

Even if we limit ourselves to ranking Genie+ attractions with math, and not with our “feelings“, there are still many ways to do that ranking. In this post, I am going to aggregate three of those measures by doing a simple average.

1. Rank by average availability, ascending – the attraction in each park that typically sells out first will receive rank 1, and the attraction in each park that maintains book now/ride now availability the most through the day receives the lowest rank.
2. Rank by average time savings, descending – the attraction in each park where Genie+ typically saves the most time compared to standby will receive rank 1, and the attraction in each park where Genie+ typically saves the least time compared to standby will receive the lowest rank.
3. Rank by attraction satisfaction, descending – the attraction in each park with the highest overall average satisfaction from the past two years will receive rank 1, and the attraction in each park with the lowest overall average satisfaction from the past two years will receive the lowest rank.

Once I calculated all three ranks, then I averaged the three results and sorted from score that was closest to one all the way to the highest number. I used those averages to come up with the following prioritized list! Phew.

Prioritized List of Hollywood Studios Genie+ Attractions

1. Slinky Dog Dash

Availability Score = 1 out of 10
Time Savings Score = 1 out of 10
Satisfaction Score = 3 out of 10

Slinky retains its rightful place at the top of the priority list at Hollywood Studios! It used to always sell out before any other option across all of WDW. Now it loses that title to Remy, Frozen Ever After and Test Track most days. But it saves you more time than any other attraction (around 40-45 minutes on average). And on top of that, it has the third-highest satisfaction of any attraction in the park. It’s a triple threat, and should be your top priority.

 

 

2. Rock’n’Roller Coaster

Availability Score = 2 out of 10
Time Savings Score = 2 out of 10
Satisfaction Score = 5 out of 10

At the time of this writing, Rock’n’Roller Coaster is current down for a lengthy refurbishment (the same thing happened in 2023). Because we’ve been through this before, we know what to expect when it returns. Lines will be longer than normal, and demand for Genie+ reservations will be higher than normal. You’ll save almost half an hour with a reservation at this attraction when it reopens, and it will sell out quicker than any attraction other than Slinky Dog Dash. Its satisfaction score still isn’t great – perhaps due to an underwhelming refurbishment last year and continued reliability issues.

 

3. Tower of Terror

Availability Score = 4 out of 10
Time Savings Score = 6 out of 10
Satisfaction Score = 2 out of 10

Time savings at Tower of Terror generally hover around an average of 20 or 25 minutes – not high enough to put it in the top half of time savings at the park. A lot of this is thanks to a significant amount of waiting after the Lightning Lane merges with the standby queue. But its satisfaction is higher than everything other than Toy Story Mania, so it still ends up very high on our priority list.

 

4. Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway

Availability Score = 5 out of 10
Time Savings Score =  4 out of 10
Satisfaction Score = 4 out of 10

Runaway Railway continues to be a sleeper hit for a Genie+ reservation. Its wait time savings are decent – around 20 minutes in the past 6 months. It doesn’t often sell out until around 6:30 pm, but it books out slightly further in advance than most of the other attractions on this list. All of that, combined with a satisfaction score of 4.5 means it gets 4th place. That satisfaction score actually speaks really highly to the Genie+ lineup at DHS. Animal Kingdom and EPCOT both had many attractions with below-average satisfaction scores, and Hollywood Studios has the opposite “problem”.

If you are travelling with young kids and are using Genie+, this priority should very obviously shift up in your individual rankings since they don’t qualify for a lot of the other attractions. Or, y’know, you can use Genie+ and rider swap for the adults to have a fun day, and just let the kids dance with Disney Junior stars all day.

 

 

5. Toy Story Mania

Availability Score = 8 out of 10
Time Savings Score = 5 out of 10
Satisfaction Score = 1 out of 10

Toy Story Mania has the highest satisfaction score out of any Genie+ attraction at Hollywood Studios. In fact, it beats out any attractions/entertainment other than Rise of the Resistance, Droid Depot, or Savi’s Workshop.

That amazing satisfaction score can’t quite help it past its good availability. With better time savings and worse availability at Runaway Railway, Toy Story Mania drops below it as far as a priority. That all being said, you should pretty easily be able to hit Toy Story Mania either early in the morning or late at night if you want to avoid using a reservation to experience it.

 

 

6. Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run

Availability Score = 6 out of 10
Time Savings Score = 3 out of 10
Satisfaction Score = 6 out of 10

This is where I question whether I should’ve added a “Star Wars Quotient” to my equation. Because … Millennium Falcon is a lot of fun. Alas, I’ve already made the rules and now I have to abide by them.

The first time we updated this list, Millennium Falcon was booking up second out of all attractions in Hollywood Studios. And … my, how times have changed. Now it’s selling out 6th out of 10 attraction in the day. But, it can still save you a good amount of time compared to standby, 25 minutes on average. Its satisfaction score is a little lower, though. “Only” 4.26 on a scale of 5, and therefore lower than any other attraction that shows up higher on this list. So 6th place it is. You can also use single rider queue to skip this wait instead, if you don’t mind splitting up and almost always being in the back seat of the Falcon.

 

7. See Olaf at Hollywood Studios

Availability Score = 3 out of 10
Time Savings Score = 8 out of 10
Satisfaction Score = 8 out of 10

Olaf is character – and a huggable one at that! So that means decently high demand, and an earlier sell-out thanks to Olaf needing to head back to Arendelle each day. Time savings here have gone way down though, all the way to an average of 5-8 minutes. And satisfaction is relatively low (for Hollywood Studios), at 4.2 on a scale of 5. It all sort of evens out and makes this one a big “meh” for Genie+.

 

 

8. Muppet*Vision 3D

Availability Score = 7 out of 10
Time Savings Score = 10 out of 10
Satisfaction Score = 9 out of 10

Muppet*Vision 3D used to close out our Hollywood Studios list, with a disappointing satisfaction score (who are you, you monsters? Muppet*Vision is a national treasure), literally zero time savings, and plenty of availability compared to most other Hollywood Studios attractions. It really isn’t a Hollywood Studios day unless you’ve watched Muppet*Vision, but you certainly don’t need to use Genie+ to do it. Now it’s moved up a couple of spots only due to its slightly earlier sell-out times. Nothing else has changed.

 

 

9. Alien Swirling Saucers

Availability Score = 9 out of 10
Time Savings Score = 7 out of 10
Satisfaction Score = 10 out of 10

IF you plan on riding Alien Swirling Saucers, please please only do it with Genie+, or when the posted wait is something like 15 minutes or less. It’s just not worth anything more, as showcased by its worst-in-park satisfaction ranking. But don’t get this reservation before any of the others already covered by this list.

 

 

10. Star Tours

Availability Score = 10 out of 10
Time Savings Score = 9 out of 10
Satisfaction Score = 7 out of 10

Star Tours has the best availability out of any Hollywood Studios attraction, which earns it the last-place availability ranking. Its decent satisfaction score (4.2) can’t balance out that high availability. You can save some time by using Genie+, but Star Tours doesn’t typically generate high standby waits compared to many of the other attractions in this park. This all lands Star Tours in last place. Crazy.

What Does This Mean to You?

1. Genie+ availability at Hollywood Studios is still worse than any other park on the whole, but not nearly as bad as it used to be. Perhaps it’s being helped by limits on Genie+ purchases for this park, or more people getting frustrated with availability and therefore not purchasing. But it’s better.
2. Hollywood Studios has more “worthwhile” Genie+ choices than Animal Kingdom and EPCOT … combined. The problem is that everyone knows it and competes for all of the same reservations. Reservations will still book up more quickly than other parks, which makes that 2-hour rule especially important.
3. Because the top priorities book up into the afternoon and evening even before the park opens on some days, you need to be spending the whole day at Hollywood Studios, or be hopping here from a different park, if you want to take advantage of Genie+.

Have you used Genie+ at Hollywood Studios? Do you agree with these rankings or would yours be different? Let me know in the comments!