Am I the only one who thinks Genie+ is not worth it?

[Rich M]

Me too. I don't get to go often, I'm not local, so why would I want to waste a load of time in lines? I'm there for the rides too, so I'm not someone who is waiting around for parades or that kind of thing. I want to ride baby!

Or at least watch a parade while you wait for your LL time lol

 

[DLgal]

allowing multiple rides would mean the major rides would have long lines even for LL, and people would feel they didn’t get their moneys worth for either G+ or park attendance. And the standby lines for those rides would be longer, frustrating everyone.

This is how it already is with Genie+.

The bottom line is, like everything else Disneyland has done lately, they underpriced Genie+ to the point that it's not a great benefit for those who pay for it AND it makes the experience worse for those who didn't.

It needed to be priced around $100pp per day. Then the LL lines would actually be walk ons.

 

[jenf22]

Seems like most complains would be reduced if the limit was total uses instead of once per ride. That way ppl would be able to re-ride their favorites and not waste a "ticket" on things they won't/can't ride.

This is how we felt coming away from our trip. We were there 3 days in December and got G+ for 2 of them. We would have enjoyed it more if they had coded it number of uses instead of 1 use per ride. We didn't get hoppers and were actually bored on our California Adventure day. We used our G+ for the rides we wanted and then the standby lines were crazy long. So we ended up leaving early without using our "ticket" for Incredicoaster or Grizzly River (it was walk on all day, I guess because it was cold out). We would have ridden TSM and GOTG again if given the option. I think we got a lot more bang for our buck in Disneyland. I imagine we would buy it again since we did save a decent amount of time in that park.

 

[gelatoni fan]

You are assuming people ONLY want to pay for 2 rides. That's not a likely scenario.

Only using two rides in the example is just to simply the situation to explain the underlying concept and I'm not suggesting that it's a likely scenario. The same idea can be extended to thousands of people and dozens of rides.

As a more realistic example, some people buy 1 day tickets to California Adventure and get Genie+. So let's say there's some people who would be willing to pay $10 to skip the line for Midway Mania, $10 for Guardians of the Galaxy and $1 each for Grizzly River Run, Incredicoaster, Soarin, and Monsters Inc but don't care about Goofy's Sky School. They value Genie+ in California Adventure at $24 and would buy it at $20. If Disney offered $7 a ride individual lighting lanes, this person would just buy the Midway Mania and Guardians of the Galaxy lightning lane at $14 rather than Genie+. That's because for them, the difference in value between getting those two lighting lanes and Genie+ is only $4 for Grizzly River Run, Incredicoaster, Soarin and Monsters Inc. They're not going to pay $20 for Genie+ because it costs $6 more than buying just the lightning lanes for Midway Mania and Guardians of the Galaxy. If there's a lot of people like this, Disney may lose a lot of money from people making this switch even though by offering individual lighting lanes for $7, they'll attract some people who are currently not buying Genie+. Whether the extra money from selling to more people is more than the money lost from people choosing not to buy Genie+ anymore will depend on the exact prices and how many people are in each group.

I don't know how many people would make the switch from expensive Genie+ to cheaper lightning lanes if given the option. The point is that even though offering both options will lead to more happy customers, it doesn't necessarily maximize profits.

 

[nursemelis374]

We used it on Friday, January 14th and loved it. It wasn't that crowded of a day and I wondered if it would be worth it but we wanted to try so we went for it. We got there in the morning and pretty much rode every big ride we wanted to in both parks plus quite a few more before we left at 6. There were only 3 of us so it was just 60 bucks. I feel like even if some lines were short the time we saved by not waiting for Space Mountain, Matterhorn, Big Thunder, Soarin, Monsters and Midway Mania made it worth it alone.

I do wish that there was a way to add it to our keys for the year like we could with MaxPass.

 

[disneycat321]

As a local AP, I would have hated it. As a now no longer SoCal resident, far less frequent visitor than I used to be (averaging about 1 trip per year), I anticipate that I will probably like it. I'll find out next month on my first trip since its introduction. But I know for sure I won't love it as much as MaxPass.

I know I haven't actually experienced it yet, but it's 100% worth it to less frequent visitors, especially those who go less than, or far less than, I do.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

As a local AP, I would have hated it. As a now no longer SoCal resident, far less frequent visitor than I used to be (averaging about 1 trip per year), I anticipate that I will probably like it. I'll find out next month on my first trip since its introduction. But I know for sure I won't love it as much as MaxPass.

I know I haven't actually experienced it yet, but it's 100% worth it to less frequent visitors, especially those who go less than, or far less than, I do.

I can see this. Also, infrequent visitors might also not notice that the standby line is as short as the LL for many rides and hence think they "skipped the line" when it wasn't much of a time saver.

 

[disneycat321]

I can see this. Also, infrequent visitors might also not notice that the standby line is as short as the LL for many rides and hence think they "skipped the line" when it wasn't much of a time saver.

Well, since I'm a former local AP, if that's what ends up happening to me, I 100% will notice and will have to retract my original prediction about liking Genie+... Good point, though!

 

[DLgal]

I can see this. Also, infrequent visitors might also not notice that the standby line is as short as the LL for many rides and hence think they "skipped the line" when it wasn't much of a time saver.

You have to laugh at people using the Genie+ LL on a 5 minute standby line. We don't even use DAS for anything with a wait under 30 minutes.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

You have to laugh at people using the Genie+ LL on a 5 minute standby line. We don't even use DAS for anything with a wait under 30 minutes.

Also the new challenge is the inflated wait times. The app might say an attraction is a 20 or 30 minute wait but in reality it’s only 10 or 15 minutes. But if you don’t visit/ride a lot you might not be able to tell.

 

[Dr. G]

Wait times were WAY inflated when we were there. I expect they inflate them in the morning to encourage people to buy and then keep them inflated, even in the evenings, to make people feel good about their purchase. One night we were there: 45 minutes posted at Big Thunder and on in under 10 (felt like 5 but I'm trying not to exaggerate...). 50 minutes at Indy but line outside the building only 1/2 way down the ramp so in the building in under 5 and on in 15-20. On one of our rides (can't remember which one now) the person behind us had the red timer card. We watched them get it going into the queue and hand it back at the boarding area. When we got off the ride we purposefully went to the entrance to see posted wait time. No change. Seems really dishonest of Disney to me to be ignoring actual wait times and posting higher--saw it happen. We know the queues really well so can tell if it's okay to hop in, so the only unknown for us is how many LL holders will show up at one time and slow things down a bit for standby. But if people don't know the queues, LL may feel too good about their purchase and standby folks may pass on another ride thinking it will take too long. Hopefully Disney will get this all figured out. We've not tried LL yet. Might next trip if it is a shorter trip. But based on my observations it isn't as great as advertised but still will save decent time for people. And it looks like tons of people bought it when we were there, including the RSR, Web and RotR. So, huge cash cow for Disney and I'd be surprised if it ever goes away.

 

[808blessing]

When we used genie plus some queues were 5 mins and some longer but with LL it was all walk on. It was heavenly and felt like we were the only ones in the park. After 3 days of lines (not too bad) it was an awesome way to end our stay! I’m telling you, it’s especially fun to do with light crowds. We rode ONLY genie plus rides (except rise rope drop) until lunch. Unconventional and counterintuitive but don’t knock it until you try it.

 

[pokee99]

I'm actually glad G+ is an unappealing option for some people - and quite frankly, isn't that the whole point? The goal is to create a system that will be priced too high for some visitors, and not beneficial enough for others, to ensure LL lines are shorter than standby.

I visit infrequently during high peak times, so I'm more than happy to pay extra to save even 5 mins in line per ride.

Having said that, the only thing I see as a negative is how much time you need to spend on your phone navigating the system. I've seen reviewers online really emphasize this. And if there's technical challenges and/or downtime, that just adds an unnecessary frustration.

 

[StormyCA]

I haven't been yet, so my feelings are based on other people's feelings lol.

I can see myself definitely buying G+ ONCE on a multi-day trip to ensure I get on my favorites with a modicum of wait time. But since there are 3 G+ I can't do (motion sickness) and 4 that I often pass up because 'meh' I'm most likely not to buy it every day. I'm looking at 7 out of 19 passes that are 'wasted' and that would equal 38% 'waste'. Would you buy something knowing that you were going to throw a tad over 1/3 of it away? Although I'd probably do the 4 'mehs' just because I hate waste lol. Then I'm only wasting 16%. Still a lot of waste if you ask me.

It would have been better if they'd turned G+ into pick n choose specific attractions at the 'going rate' of $1.05 per ride ($20 ÷ 19) with a set minimum of, say, 10 passes with one pass per ride, but I guess that would have been too similar ILL. Or made the 19 passes into 'any attraction' passes, perhaps with a maximum ride of 2 or 3 times per attraction. So you'd be able to ride your mostest favoritest ride more than once using a pass, but then have to 'spend' the rest of your passes on other rides.

That being said, if I were a local AP or someone who makes multiple visits a year I don't think I'd EVER pay for G+. Or maybe just once in a blue moon.

 

[eyedoc01]

Genie+ was worth it for our family, first time Disney Land visitors with no immediate plans to return. So we were in the camp of people who wanted to do everything at least once.

We have been to Disney World several times back in the early 2010s, and had worked out a pretty good plan to work our way through the Magic Kingdom based on a popular website plans. We had gotten pretty good at minimizing wait times with Fast Pass. And I felt pretty confident based on the rope drop plans on this forum.

I found the phone app pretty user friendly. As the tour guide, I was on my phone anyway using different apps to check standby wait times so the rest of the gang could just enjoy the day. It wasn't that much time once I got the hang of it. It's possible I spent as much time on Pokemon Go at the Parks as checking on Genie+ It was frustrating to only be able to do one LL per day, but we had three DLR days so we did get multiple rides on everything, it was just once per day for some things. Space Mountain was the favorite, so we LL'ed it every day and rope dropped it once for 4 rides total.

One way Genie+ really helped was with the crowds for not-headliner rides. DLR crowds were 7 or 8 out of 10 all three days we were there, so really got crowded around 11. One day we had thirty minutes to kill in Fantasyland before we had to head to Galaxy's Edge for Moof Juice/lunch and ILL for RotR. Standby wait for Small World said 30 minutes so we got in the standby line. 35 minutes later we were still 10 minutes away from even riding and we kept watching all the LL people go in front of us. We had to bail out of the line. After lunch and Rise we got a LL for Small World and were on the ride in 5 minutes. Ditto for Autopia, which the youngest loved. We waited 5 minutes around 9 am for it, but wait was up to 30 minutes in the afternoon so we did LL and were on in 10.

One thing that helped dramatically was single rider lines, especially for RSR. If I did it over we wouldn't have paid for ILLs for RSR, not least because I didn't realize that the right and left lanes had different experiences, so splitting up meant we could even race each other. Single Rider for MF was a huge help as well, although in single rider you typically have to suck it up and be the engineer. Matterhorn, Splash Mountain, and Incredicoaster single rider lines were key for us as well.

ILL for Rise was definitely worth it for us. Fantastic ride, can't imagine waiting for standby and having it go down. That would suck. Webslingers definitely not worth the ILL for me, although kids enjoyed it because they weren't paying . WS seemed short and the webs hard to handle. Honestly I prefer TSMM for that kind of interactive experience.

From a budget standpoint it was NOT cheap to do Genie+ every day, but we made the decision to go with a less expensive hotel to free up the $$ for Genie+/ILL and it was definitely worth it for us. We stayed at Hyatt House which was great overall instead of Disneyland Resort.

 

[pokee99]

Genie+ was worth it for our family, first time Disney Land visitors with no immediate plans to return. So we were in the camp of people who wanted to do everything at least once.

We have been to Disney World several times back in the early 2010s, and had worked out a pretty good plan to work our way through the Magic Kingdom based on a popular website plans. We had gotten pretty good at minimizing wait times with Fast Pass. And I felt pretty confident based on the rope drop plans on this forum.

I found the phone app pretty user friendly. As the tour guide, I was on my phone anyway using different apps to check standby wait times so the rest of the gang could just enjoy the day. It wasn't that much time once I got the hang of it. It's possible I spent as much time on Pokemon Go at the Parks as checking on Genie+ It was frustrating to only be able to do one LL per day, but we had three DLR days so we did get multiple rides on everything, it was just once per day for some things. Space Mountain was the favorite, so we LL'ed it every day and rope dropped it once for 4 rides total.

One way Genie+ really helped was with the crowds for not-headliner rides. DLR crowds were 7 or 8 out of 10 all three days we were there, so really got crowded around 11. One day we had thirty minutes to kill in Fantasyland before we had to head to Galaxy's Edge for Moof Juice/lunch and ILL for RotR. Standby wait for Small World said 30 minutes so we got in the standby line. 35 minutes later we were still 10 minutes away from even riding and we kept watching all the LL people go in front of us. We had to bail out of the line. After lunch and Rise we got a LL for Small World and were on the ride in 5 minutes. Ditto for Autopia, which the youngest loved. We waited 5 minutes around 9 am for it, but wait was up to 30 minutes in the afternoon so we did LL and were on in 10.

One thing that helped dramatically was single rider lines, especially for RSR. If I did it over we wouldn't have paid for ILLs for RSR, not least because I didn't realize that the right and left lanes had different experiences, so splitting up meant we could even race each other. Single Rider for MF was a huge help as well, although in single rider you typically have to suck it up and be the engineer. Matterhorn, Splash Mountain, and Incredicoaster single rider lines were key for us as well.

ILL for Rise was definitely worth it for us. Fantastic ride, can't imagine waiting for standby and having it go down. That would suck. Webslingers definitely not worth the ILL for me, although kids enjoyed it because they weren't paying . WS seemed short and the webs hard to handle. Honestly I prefer TSMM for that kind of interactive experience.

From a budget standpoint it was NOT cheap to do Genie+ every day, but we made the decision to go with a less expensive hotel to free up the $$ for Genie+/ILL and it was definitely worth it for us. We stayed at Hyatt House which was great overall instead of Disneyland Resort.

I have to agree that single rider lines are the way to go. That really cuts down the wait. I found it most beneficial on RSR.

One thing to add to this discussion is that you should look at G+ as INSURANCE, not something you have to use. You may not need to use it, but it's there in case you do. It may seem like an unnecessary expense, but what if it saves you 2 hours every day? What time savings would make it worth it for you?

It likely saved us 3-4 hours per day, and we probably did standby on 20% of the LL rides (on days where return times were 2-4 hours). I'd say it was a no-brainer for people like us who couldn't stand for longer periods of time. Our park days averaged 6-7 hours, and we were crippled by the end of each day. Thank goodness we had G+ to alleviate some of the standing!

 

[TinkerbellTris]

I agree that it's not at all worth what they are charging. And I hate the restrictiveness of it. My kids don't even ride most of the LL rides in DL park (Matterhorn, HM, Indy, Space).

I've already decided that I will ONLY ever buy this when out of town friends or family are visiting and they want to buy it.

We have a DAS and that allows us to handle the longer waits in a way that helps us maximize our time, but even so, we end up riding much less than we did before Genie+ came out.

I'd almost prefer a pay per ride system, where you could pay a flat $5 to access any LL, anytime, as many times as you wanted. Like, you open the app, and if a ride you want has a return time you like, buy access on the spot. I feel like something like that would end up making Disney more money in the long run, and guests satisfaction would likely be much better. As is, when you buy Genie+, you are really only paying for access to a FEW rides every day, because the way the system is set up, you CANNOT ride them all using LL access. It's impossible with the waiting period.

I'd be really interested to know the actual average number of LL rides guests who purchase Genie+ get on in a day. Not talking about uber users who have studied strategy online and are using all the tricks, but like, the AVERAGE park guest. I'll bet it's like 3-4 rides.

We bought genie plus on December 9 and 10th. Now….genie plus had just began that week I think. We didn’t really understand how it worked on December 9, and we didn’t decide to purchase it until 3pm. We also didn’t go into the parks until 1pm. Disneyland closed early that day for an event. So we ended up in DCA from from 4-10. It was busy. Long lines on every ride. But we got on 15 rides that day. On December 10 we bought genie plus at 9am and park hopped both parks and managed to get on 24 rides that day. So for us, it was worth it. The last 3 trips we’d made to Disneyland prior we would keep a list of how many rides we’d gotten on throughout the day. We’d go open to close in the parks and we got on 13 rides total, one of those trips we used maxpass. So for us, we enjoyed genie plus.

 

[Porsche4]

We are going the last week of April and coming all the way form Australia so we will be buying it. We are rope droppers and I know that for the first couple of hours most of my favourite rides will have short waits so we are going to do standby during that time and then use G+ for a second ride later in the day and into the evening. Also we are going to use it when we park hop which I think could work well too. I loved the old FP system which allowed us to ride out favourites (Big Thunder especially) multiple times throughout the day without a wait and I do wish G+ would let you do multiple rides but I think my plan should allow us to do most things a couple of times a day so that will be okay.

 

[DLgal]

We are rope droppers and I know that for the first couple of hours most of my favourite rides will have short waits so we are going to do standby during that time and then use G+ for a second ride later in the day and into the evening.

Be very careful with that assumption. I would recommend using G+ from the minute you scan in. Go for whatever ride has the soonest return time and go from there to maximize your LL use. Otherwise as the long lines build, and as the G+ times get later and later, you will run out of opportunities to use it.

Yesterday soon after park opening at DCA, the soonest G+ return time was nearly 3 hours away. Numerous rides were down at park opening and into the morning.

I had been planning to buy G+ for the first time, but one look at how far out all the return times were so early in the day made me nope right out of that experiment.

 

[CO2CA]

We bought Genie+ and thought it was a really good deal. The only issue we had was that we had a return time for Haunted Mansion but got held up on Rise of the Resistance. We ended up being 10 minutes late to our return window. The CM was kind of rude about it and said, "Folks, we are 10 minutes late...what is the deal with that?" I apologized and said we rushed over (which we did) but had gotten held up at RotR. He said next time we need to be on time. So, I guess they're pretty strict about returning exactly within the window. I was caught off by that, especially since we were only 10 minutes past but I guess I should have realized.