Genie+ Wish List: 3 Big Improvements for Disney World
I don’t think you quite realize what you got here!
So, why don’t you just ruminate,
While I illuminate the possibilities!
All you gotta do is rub that phone
And I’ll say
Walt Disney World fan,
What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order
Jot it down
You ain’t never had a friend like Ge-nie (plus)
Sorry for butchering that classic song, but let’s say you’ve got three wishes for Genie+ improvements to the app feature, to be exact. And ixnay on the wishing for free FastPass (or more wishes). That’s all. Three. Uno, dos, tres. No substitutions, exchanges or refunds. What ways would you like to see Genie+ improved at Walt Disney World?
As someone who has used Genie+ at Walt Disney World many times, I have a list that’s three miles long, no doubt. However, of that multi-mile list, there’s a trio of high-priority improvements that immediately jump out to me and are realistically for Walt Disney World to implement. So Abracadabra, let ‘er rip, let’s make those issues disappear! (I’m sorry, the song is stuck in my head; I shouldn’t take that out on you all.)
3. Modify Button – Genie has a number of user interface “quirks” that make it seem like it was thrown together quickly without much reference to its predecessor, and with next to no field testing. Without question, the most frustrating omission is the lack of a modify button on existing Lightning Lane ride reservations.
This oversight is particularly puzzling because the ability to modify a selection was present in the old FastPass+ system. How it worked is pretty intuitive. You would simply click on one of your existing FastPass+ reservations and then click a modify button, rather than cancel. That pulled up a version of the booking flow, allowing you to access the full list of attractions with FastPass+ availability, including different times for your existing attraction selection.
If that’s difficult to visualize, pull up an Advance Dining Reservation and click the modify button on that. It’s the exact same idea with ADRs or, you know, pretty much any other online reservation system!
The lack of a modify button is so significant because that one simple feature would provide a safety net. It would allow you the ability to lock-in a ride reservation and then continue searching, looking for better options. In particular, ride reservation refills and cancellations. If you’ve never used Genie+, this missing feature may not seem like a big deal. Just cancel and rebook instead, right?
In theory, that works. In practice, the process of searching for a new Lightning Lane, then cancelling your current one and rebooking is incredibly time-consuming and involves several clicks. I’d hazard a guess that, 9 times out of 10, by the time you cancel and get back to the booking screen, whatever you wanted is already gone. (I have literally never had success canceling and rebooking something better. I don’t even attempt it anymore.)
Beyond that, losing your original reservation can put you in a worse position, as you have to continue searching until you find a suitable replacement. Meanwhile, the clock has reset on the 120 minute rule. It really feels like having the rug magic carpet pulled out from under you.
2. Lock Times – Speaking of having the magic carpet pulled out from under you, let’s set the scene for the next issue. You’re up early, fully caffeinated, and ready to go. You get all of the speed strategy pre-steps squared away. Right as the clock rolls over to 7:00:00 am on time.gov, you refresh. You snatch Slinky Dog Dash with a perfect 9:00 am return time. Success!
…Or so you thought. After quickly clicking through and reviewing the confirmation screen, you’re surprised to discover that your “perfect” 9:00 am return time has shifted a little bit…to 5:40 pm. (Think that’s bad? Now imagine the same scenario, but with Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, an attraction you specifically paid extra to book at a specific time.) That won’t work, as you have an ADR for Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater at that exact time you booked 60 days ago at the crack of dawn.
Now, you could modify the Slinky Dog Dash Lightning Lane…oh wait, no you can’t. There’s no modify button. Naturally, those highly coveted Sci-Fi ADRs are long gone (in reality, you probably booked this over 60 days ago), so you can’t modify that, either. We probably don’t need to further elaborate on why this Lightning Lane return time drift causes problems–this example tells the whole story.
Worse yet, you manage to snatch a coveted Lightning Lane selection, and while clicking through to complete the booking process, it disappears. You get the dreaded “Currently Unavailable: The Lightning Lane entrance for this experience is not available to book at this time. Please check back throughout the day or try selecting a different experience now.” Translation:Â someone with faster fingers booked the Lightning Lane out from under you. Tough break, pal!Â
Again, the suggestion for how to fix these issues comes from…pretty much every other online reservation system in use everywhere else? Lock the selection time for 60 seconds, 5 minutes, or whatever is deemed appropriate to give guests adequate time to complete the process without any surprises.
Neither of these first two suggestions are anything revolutionary, and that’s part of what makes them so frustrating. These are both painfully obvious features that should’ve existed from the get-go. The omission of both is conspicuous, and suggests that Genie+ was rushed to market with insufficient development time, resources, and testing. (Two things that frustrate me to no end as a consumer are when companies charge me for a service they didn’t properly invest in themselves or when they don’t value my time. Disney is arguably the biggest offender on both fronts.)
1. Start Upon Park Entry (not 7 am) – Another big complaint we’ve heard from readers concerns the stress of having to wake up early to book Lightning Lane ride reservations at 7 am. Our suggestion here is that Walt Disney World use the rule in place at Disneyland, which is that booking begins as soon as guests enter the park for the day. This policy at the California parks is sensible and workable–we know that because it’s exactly how both MaxPass and paper FastPass before that operated.
While the first two conspicuous omissions are inexcusable, I’m a bit more forgiving of Walt Disney World’s decision to use the 7 am start time for Genie+ booking. While this might seem unprecedented, this rule is actually inherited from the virtual queue system used at Walt Disney World. To understand the “why” of this (which is important context), we’ll go back to the opening of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. For the first couple weeks the attraction was open, guests could enter its virtual queue immediately upon tapping into Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Realizing this, guests showed up earlier and earlier to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Even though the official opening time wasn’t until 8 am, people were packing the area around the entrance several hours before that. Walt Disney World likes to avoid crowds outside the turnstiles for safety reasons, so they quietly opened the park long before then (between 6 and 6:30 am) before moving up the park opening time to 7 am. That fixed nothing. All it did was cause guests to arrive even earlier, wanting to beat the crowds and be the first to score spots in the virtual queue. (The photos above and below are from the morning before sunrise–not the evening!)
This problem persisted to the point that Walt Disney World instituted the 7 am entry time for the virtual queue. Because demand far surpassed supply, guests also had to be in the park. There continued to be an early morning crush of crowds, but it wasn’t as early since there was no advantage to arriving increasingly earlier. Someone who showed up at 4:11 am might get a worse boarding group than someone who arrived at 6:59 am.
With the reopening of the parks, Walt Disney World wanted to avoid high crowd situations and earlier opening times, so they tweaked the process yet again. This time, the assist of Disney Park Pass allowed for the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance virtual queue entry process to be limited to only guests with reservations. Why am I recapping the evolution of virtual queues in a post about Genie+ improvements? Because this history informs how the 7 am ‘rule’ came to be, and why it’s not so unreasonable.
Nevertheless, I would argue that this this policy–so clearly inherited from the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance virtual queue and not part of the Genie+ experience at Disneyland–has outlived its usefulness. For one thing, Walt Disney World long ago dropped any semblance of concern about congestion as was the case shortly after reopening.
For another, park hours have normalized to the point that Disney’s Hollywood Studios is regularly opening to the public at 8 am once again. In addition to that, the tapstiles are typically open by 7:30 am, with a steady stream of guests entering at that hour–a far cry from the onslaught of early 2020.
The argument could be made that changing the Genie+ policy to allow guests to make their first Lightning Lane ride reservation only after entering the park would change this dynamic. It would pull forward crowds, a repeat of that unpleasant scene in early 2020. I’m highly skeptical that would be the case for a couple of reasons.
First, there’s the simple reality that Early Entry precludes the majority of guests from doing so even if they wanted. As it stands, on-site guests are able to enter the parks (or proceed past a certain point, in the case of Magic Kingdom) long before off-site guests.
Indirectly, this would also give on-site guests another advantage, and at a time when perks for booking Walt Disney World resorts are limited by historical standards. Being able to book their first Lightning Lane around 30 minutes before off-site guests would give on-site guests better return times, and potentially mean 1 extra booking per day with Genie+.
Second, aside from Slinky Dog Dash and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, no attractions are running out of availability particularly quickly with the Genie+ system. (Add Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind to that list soon.) So to the extent that this problem would even theoretically occur, it would only happen at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Epcot.
However, it probably would not even happen there, as it’s not happening with Early Entry. Even on busy days, there is not the same ‘crush of crowds’ stampeding DHS each morning to be among the first to experience them during Early Entry. This could be a matter of awareness, but that’s doubtful. (It’s avoidable at Epcot by using a virtual queue for Cosmic Rewind.)
To be sure, changing the approach is a risk for Walt Disney World (albeit one specifically confined to DHS). It’s one thing for me to express confidence in this not being a problem as an armchair analyst with a guest-centric point of view. There’s no accountability for me in being wrong (other than saying: “my bad, maybe they shouldn’t have done this”). Moreover, this would almost certainly be a win for early-rising tourists staying on-site, even if it might cause problems for others.
Admittedly, I would not have this same confidence if I were in charge of operations and my words had consequences. Instead, my perspective would be “maintain the status quo at all costs” because so many alternatives had been tested (with the Rise of the Resistance VQ) and so many did not work. In other words, it’s understandable why operations wouldn’t want to rock the boat.
Nevertheless, I think it’s worth the risk. This 7 am start time is incredibly frustrating for a huge segment of guests, and also makes availability go faster (again, primarily for DHS). Changing things up might be a bit of a gamble, but there’s also the reality that Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance isn’t the shiny new thing it was 2 years ago, and Slinky Dog Dash isn’t worth that much effort. A lot more people were willing to get up early and jump through hoops for a “free” brand new blockbuster attraction than will do so for a ~2 year old ride that costs $15/person or a weiner dog-themed outdoor roller coaster that’s also part of a paid package.
I’m willing to bet that if the policy were changed to allow the first Lightning Lane reservation to be made upon entering the parks, it would normalize demand. There would be some pull-forward of guest arrival times to the parks, but also a slow-down of distribution/return times.
While it’s not directly analogous due to demographic differences, this is more or less what can be observed at Disneyland. (Even if it played out differently, there are other fixes for this–like staggered refill times, and a bit more transparency about them.) By and large, the guests who were always going to wake up early would do exactly that, and those who wanted to sleep in would do that.
In short, starting Genie+ booking when guests enter the park would strike a better balance, dial down the competitiveness, and make for a more pleasant overall experience. The story is similar with the top two improvements, too. If the complaints we’re hearing about Genie+ are representative, this trio of improvements would be a nice compromise between the current system and its FastPass+ predecessor, which would be very welcome by Walt Disney World fans. It wouldn’t instantly address all of the outrage, but it would like make guests happier who have come to terms with now paying for something that was once free.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of these suggested improvements for Genie+ at Walt Disney World? Do you think any of these wishes are bad ideas, or ones that could have unintended negative consequence? Assuming that advance booking days/weeks/months is out of the question, do you favor making reservations at 7 am or upon entering the park? What would be your three Genie+ wishes? Do you agree or disagree with my picks? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Sorry Tom, you didn’t say I cannot wish for more wishes! So I can add a 4th: chose your return time, exactly like in the FP+ era. So I can choose a later time that best suite my plan, to avoid a conflic with another reservation or a later time in case I plan to parkhop.
Regards by your friend, Lou Pole.
I am on board with your first two fixes. Your third, however, doesn’t address my friends and my biggest complaint about Genie+ (aside from the overall resentment of paying for something that was previously complimentary), which is the inability to plan ahead and temper expectations for experiencing headliner attractions. I was never able to secure a FP+ for Avatar – Flight of Passage, but I knew that ahead of time and could plan around it before my vacation even started. I much preferred one morning of FP+ booking 60 days out to starting every day of my trip with unknowns and stress. Whether it be from my balcony at Boardwalk Villas or from the breezeway under the Magic Kingdom train station, as long as same-day LL/ILL booking exists, as the MDE and itinerary point person for my family, I’m still going to start each day of my trip anxious, stressed, and frustrated until I see what I’ve locked in. Yes, I know, this was the case with paper FastPass, but that system was not an upcharge and was with us during an era of longer park hours, and better EMH, ergo expectations were undeniably lower for the system.
My dream scenario is for the Genie go back into his lamp entirely, but if that wish can’t be granted, I’d happily (okay, begrudgingly) pay $15 per person, per day, just to have the old FP+ system back.
We just took our first family trip to Universal. The unlimited express pass was amazing, and even if some low-capacity rides still had 25-30 minute waits, it was far better than the hour+ waits in the standby lines in April. I never HAD to be on my phone except when using the park pass on the app to scan into the parks in the mornings and when riding the Hogwarts Express. If WDW offered something similar, even if you were limited to only riding each ride once per day, I would pay for them and we would get hoppers to maximize their value. As it stands, Genie+ wastes both your money and your time, and adds too much stress to what is supposed to be a fun vacation.
100% agree with all three suggestions. Hear, hear!
Separately, I think Genie+ is too cheap. This is an upgrade product that serves as a luxury, on par with a table service meal. Why is it priced like a quick service lunch? (And as a result of the low price, the product is functionally like a quick service meal where you don’t get full control over what you order, when you get to eat, or if your order will be randomly cancelled. Who wants that?)
I absolutely agree with your first two necessities. The third isn’t my favorite, but only because it wouldn’t allow evening stacking for parks we don’t plan to enter until late afternoon. I believe going back to reserving three fast passes/Genie+ months earlier is a much better option.
I in no way like waking up at 7 AM, but at least it allows me to stack rides for a park I don’t plan on going to until the evening. (We do full park days, then the next day, we relax at the pool until about 3 and then head to the parks, where we’ll have several rides waiting, thanks to being able to book outside the park.)
If we could book even two (or three) Genie+ rides like we used to, AND modify them the day of (when children have meltdowns or there are dining conflicts or heat exhaustion), I wouldn’t mind paying for Genie+. Would I still be irritated? Sure. But they literally took a working, beneficial-to-the-onsite-consumer system and made it way worse, and then charged us! I’m still mad. But whatevs.
Locked times, modify buttons and Genie+ selections months before my trip would put all the stress of my trip with the insanity of getting dining reservations months earlier, and help us to have a more relaxed vacation when it finally arrives.
Even after going to the parks for 30 years, your blog is my bread and butter – thanks for doing all the work for us before we arrive so we know what’s currently going on once we do – appreciate it!
We are going to WDW for the first time in several years and have not experienced the parks since they did away with FastPassPlus and Extra Magic Hours.. We have no idea how to navigate the parks, schedule rides and entertainment and park hop with all of the new changes. We’ve read everything on the Disney site, but are still very confused. Do you have a post that covers how to “do” Disney so that we can be prepared before we leave (June 4th)?
DW—Check out the second to last paragraph of Tom’s post. Numerous links to everything you will need to prepare you.
I had a great experience with genie+ but it would have been helpful to have a modify button. We only used it at HS and MK. I didnt see the need for epcot or animal kingdom with early entry. I also amazed my family with my ability to understand crowd flows, have a plan, mapped where to go when, made adjustments when something went below an average wait time. I have researched how to do this since our summer 2020 became a spring 2022 trip. Our first trip in 2019 just to MK with fastpass was INSANE and we rode 22 different rides in one day (teacups like 3 times because my son absolutely loved that ride, 6 at the time). With fast pass I just kept booking and booking, didnt have the same experience to that degree with genie+, but it might have just been lucky back in 2019.
The first two are no-brainers, and it’s really disappointing that these weren’t part of the initial roll out. That was just a poor/rushed job on Disney’s part.
As for the 7:00 thing … look, I don’t like the 7:00 booking at all. There were times when we went to bed at 2:30 the night before and I had to set an alarm to get up and making a booking. But I don’t love the clock starting upon arrival either. At least 7:00 gives everyone the same chance – if it’s when you arrive, there’s more incentive to get there as early as possible, and that isn’t something everyone is willing to do, thus putting them behind a large portion of the crowd.
I still want to be able to book at least one ride in advance (I miss FP) but barring that, the change I would make is that on site guests can book at 7:00, everyone else can book at park open (not arrival – as long as they have a reservation for that park, that should be enough). I also think the second selection (let’s say for on site guests in this scenario) should be at park open, regardless of how much time has elapsed since 7:00. I LOATHE having to wait the 120 minutes after the park opens – at Magic Kingdom, that means I could book at 7:00, and if my LL was in the afternoon, I have to wait until 11:00 to book a second one. That’s my biggest issue with this as a paid service.
Agree hands down on 2 and 3. There are many ways to bake a cake, so to say, to address problem #1. I understand the spin is that they’re trying to alleviate the issues non-planners have coming to Disney world being unaware and behind schedule, but between the need for park reservations and having to book dining reservations 60 days in advance I’m not sure I buy that they’re trying to make everything equal for planners and non-planners alike.
Another item on my genie + wishlist would be choosing ride times instead of constantly monitoring for when the “next available” aligns with your evening plans. Such a pain. ALSO getting rid of the 1 attraction per day limitation. If my littles want to ride tomorrowland speedway and buzz lightyear on repeat all day, isn’t that actually HELPFUL for the queues at peter pan, jungle cruise, haunted mansion, splash and big thunder?? Wow, thanks. I didn’t realize how badly I needed to get all that off my chest.
Very well reasoned Genie+ changes that one could describe as minor or marginal (unlike limiting supply and increasing prices) and should be implemented by Disney ASAP. Of course the reality is no changes will happen anytime soon. If they were smart they would hire Tom as a consultant. Again, makes too much sense so don’t worry readers it won’t happen.
I agree 100% with this! I hope you have past this on to The Walt Disney Company. I resented having to pay for Genie+ after free Fastpass, but I would feel SO much better about it if they would at least have put more thought into it. The above ideas are fantastic! I also wish they would just get rid of individual lightening lanes. But, that is probably not likely.
*passed not past.
Oh, and I loved your intro!
Genie+ isn’t really a successor to FastPass+; it’s much more a throwback to old paper FastPass. Since I think of Genie+ as old FastPass on my phone, not having a modify button or a lock function on Genie+ isn’t surprising to me. It’s the individual lightening lanes that I have a problem with. Not having a hold on the individual lightening lanes seems to me to be bait and switch. You buy a ride at 9:00am, but what they deliver is a ride at 7:00pm is a clear case of you not getting what you paid for.
I agree with all but removing the 7 AM start. Even with an early-rising small child, we are not really rope droppers, and like the flexibility of booking G+ even when not in the parks. Not starting until one is in the parks essentially gets rid of the benefit of having a lazy morning at the resort and stacking for the afternoon/evening…or even park hopping to DHS in the afternoon/evening. Currently, I enjoy waking up at 7 AM, making a G+ and/or LL selection…then either rolling over and going back to sleep or enjoying a leisurely morning coffee. If G+ started when you get to the parks, I would wake up feeling stress to get up and moving and out the door to get that benefit.
The more I read about the problems and hassles of Genie +, the less likely I am to consider purchasing it. I want to enjoy the park experience, not spend all day with my face in my phone.
Pure logic. The first 2 should be mandatory to releasing the program. I still would much prefer to set up my selections before my plane landed in MCO. Maybe a month prior for on-site and 2 weeks for off-site. Even the day before around dinner time would be a heck of a lot better. I really hate the idea of scrambling a few minutes prior to 7 am. This means I have to get coffee going at 6:30 am. I wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep after this craziness. I like the idea of options for folks–some like early, some like middle, and others prefer evenings. Let’s rub the lamp out of its current existence.
Those seem like very reasonable asks if not the minimum functionality to even release the software. I suppose a user friendly simplified interface is out of the question.
Implementing an online reservation system where a) your reservation isn’t on hold during the booking process, and b) you can’t modify your reservation is mind blowing. I’ve yet to use Genie+ (first time will be this July in Disneyland vs. World), and after reading your coverage it wasn’t until this post I really grasped that it didn’t have these basic features.
As an early riser I have a hard time relating to the 0700 booking being early for folks, especially on vacation (who wants to burn that much daylight).
“As an early riser I have a hard time relating to the 0700 booking being early for folks, especially on vacation (who wants to burn that much daylight).”
I agree with this on a personal level–I can’t even recall the last time I wasn’t up before 7 am (jet lag was probably involved). I think the important thing when it comes to these suggestions is balance, and finding the solution that works the best, for the most.
IMO, that’s allowing booking upon park entry. Maybe that’s a miscalculation on my part–I guess we’ll see what kind of reactions this gets.
I agree. For those with school-age kids the 7am time should work to your advantage as every day I’m up at 5:00-5:30 to get everyone up and out the door to school by 7. Use mornings and rope drop to your advantage and if it not a holiday crowd you may be able to skip genie + entirely and just book an individual lightening lane if you need it. We found our kiddos aged 7 & 8 were up with the sun but konked out by 2, so snagging return times did not work in our favor, it was cheaper buying the individual LL if it was something you were interested in and we still got in 7 rides and a meal and snacks before departing and were booked for another at 2:10 but we had two sleeping kiddos. We enjoyed the pool at the resort later so we still had a great time just relaxing as a family. What DID make Genie + worth every penny even though we didn’t get to use it much the one day at HS when we purchased it was the AWESOME lenses you get with it! They were open for all the parks for the rest of our vacation! It’s like having a personal Disney photographer taking magic shots of you the whole vacation! The kids had a blast in line with each lenses and the specialty lenses in certain rides/areas of different parks and we got AMAZING photos with baby Grogu, Mickey Balloons, hats, as Disney Villans, wilderness explorers, and soooo many others. These filters deserve an article of their own as a major + of purchasing Genie +!
My thoughts are that it seems like what they’ve done is bad, meaning, it’s now a worse experience than when I went (starting 12 yrs ago and a bunch of times in between). The first trip, fast passes were acquired in the park, and we had no trouble getting the ones we wanted. Since, they changed it to advanced reservations, and planning a bit ahead, we also had little trouble getting at least one for each of the top tier attractions. Now, you spend more money and still can’t guarantee decent fast passes.
Currently, you have to wake up at 7am and race other guests to acquire precious day passes. Talk about a horrible, stressful, start to your day (a day that’s supposed to be vacation – that’s to say – fun). In your one proposal, you suggest begin fast passes in park, but with the current arms war, all that’s going to do is create even more of an anxious, harried experience. Set the alarm – on vacation! Craziness – get ready, rush to your park of choice, and hope for you desired fast pass.
When we’ve gone in the past, we get up around 8am, get into the parks 9-:30-10am. I rush, we’ve been there, done that. Relax and have fun! We’ve got a fast pass all set for one top attraction (FoP, Soarin, Test Track, ToT, etc) and we can handle the lines for the rest. Now, it’s all different. Even if you pay extra for venue + AND get up early you might still be stuck in a 2 hour line to ride something. It’s all taken away our desire to (pay top dollar and) return. A WDW vacation used to be the thing we looked forward to most in life, but now, all these changes have really left us in need of a decent alternative because as far as top tier vacations, we’re currently without a destination. I hope the post pandemic dust settles and the fast pass system gets worked out to where people become enthusiastic about WDW again.
“The first trip, fast passes were acquired in the park, and we had no trouble getting the ones we wanted.”
What’s described in the final wish is more or less paper FastPass, but in paid/digital form.
There is no perfect solution to the timing problem. FastPass+ worked well for planners–who are overrepresented on sites like this–but was awful for guests who arrive without realizing that so much of the Walt Disney World experience must be booked 30 to 180 days in advance. Complaints from those visitors–disproportionately first-timers–are what has caused a lot of the scaled back booking windows we currently have.
YES, YES, AND YES! PLEASE! We were so frustrated with our G+ experience in early December that we vowed to give ourselves a WDW break for our sanity- and we’re DVC members! Here’s hoping by our next trip in February, 2023 these three items (at the least) have been addressed…
I am down with most of your ideas, had a couple of them myself. I would really hate for the ability to book LL to hinge on park entry though. I prefer to hit the parks in the evenings and with very small children can’t reasonably spend all day on the go– so that would effectively eliminate my ability to reserve the best rides, which would probably still sell out before my arrival. My preferred method is to stack evening passes throughout the day. I see no reason they couldn’t simply start the clock at park opening though, and wondered why they were set on torturing my west coast time zoned self with a pre 7am wakeup requirement.
And by the way I now have that song stuck in my head too . I love a good song butchering. It’s kind of a hobby of mine.
I agree with this. Totally the best strategy if you have kids to stack them in the evening and let them take it slow in the morning!