How badly do I need Genie + or Lightning Lane?

[ZanyToes]

We haven't went to Disney in over 10 years and it's um.. changed a bit lol. I obsessively planned for those trips 12 and 10 years ago. This trip was originally planned pre-covid and fell right after lockdown so we postponed. Then we postponed again. Through a combination for being scared to plan, our first kid starting college, building a house and moving 2 months ago, another kid now applying to colleges, teaching another to drive, and homeschooling 3 of our 5 kids I have planned NOTHING except tickets and a vrbo. We leave in um.. 5 days lol.

None of us are obsessive with needing to ride specific stuff. We don't mind missing things and don't want to feel stressed keeping up with stuff, but I'm wondering how important lighting lane or Genie + is. I will do LL for our last day to ride ROTR, and I know my kids want to ride Remy but we'll try to virtual queue that. With 7 people $20extra per person adds up REAL fast.

 

[g-dad66]

If you are staying onsite, I recommend taking advantage of the Early Half-Hour. You can knock out Test Track or Frozen at Epcot, Seven Dwarfs, Peter Pan, or Space Mountain at MK, Flight of Passage at AK, and Millenium Falcon or Slinky Dog Dash at HS.

You'll still have a few long waits without G+, but it sounds like you will be OK with skipping a headliner or two.

If you are arriving on January 1, your first 2 or 3 days are going to be heavy crowds, but then it should let up a bit by January 5 when the WDW calendar shows reservations availability at all 4 parks.

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

I agree with above poster. If you can get to the parks early and hit the rides before the crowds set in, you don't need it. It sounds like you're going right as NYE crowds will be leaving so I think you can go without, except maybe buy a ILL or two like you said for RoR or Remy (VQ is a pain, I logged on right at 7a, didn't get called until 3:40pm, and then the line was still an hour long even WITH my BG-we did not even ride it)

 

[meclark3]

We just returned from a trip (12/18-23). I purchased Genie+ for our MK and HS days and was very disappointed. I don't recommend it. The app would only let us get a new LL reservation every 2 hours. It would not allow me to get a new one after we scanned in for a LL reservation unless 2 hours had passed since my last selection. The process did not work at all like I'd read about and paying $15/person/day to skip maybe 5 lines IF you even stay in the parks all day doesn't seem like a good value to me. Also, the posted wait times were almost always higher than actual. Posted 30 min for Dumbo - actual 7 minute wait, Frozen posted 105 - actual 50 min, MMRR posted 60 - actual 35. There were a few exceptions, but this was generally the case.

 

[stinkpickle]

It's starting to sound like getting the most out of G+ is ironically during low or medium crowd days. And even then, only at MK and HS.

 

[Twitterpaited]

It depends on the crowd level when you are going.

 

[portcityw]

We were there Dec 15-21, and managed without it. We rope dropped each day for the first time, and was able to do every ride. We had some waits, but every theme park does. Hit the popular rides first, and work your way down the list. We refuse to be on our phones all day during vacation.

 

[wisblue]

We just returned from a trip (12/18-23). I purchased Genie+ for our MK and HS days and was very disappointed. I don't recommend it. The app would only let us get a new LL reservation every 2 hours. It would not allow me to get a new one after we scanned in for a LL reservation unless 2 hours had passed since my last selection. The process did not work at all like I'd read about and paying $15/person/day to skip maybe 5 lines IF you even stay in the parks all day doesn't seem like a good value to me. Also, the posted wait times were almost always higher than actual. Posted 30 min for Dumbo - actual 7 minute wait, Frozen posted 105 - actual 50 min, MMRR posted 60 - actual 35. There were a few exceptions, but this was generally the case.

I’m curious about your statement that the process didn’t work at all like you’d read about.

When the system wouldn‘t allow you to make a new LL reservation, did you have any later LL reservations still outstanding?

 

[ZanyToes]

If you are staying onsite, I recommend taking advantage of the Early Half-Hour. You can knock out Test Track or Frozen at Epcot, Seven Dwarfs, Peter Pan, or Space Mountain at MK, Flight of Passage at AK, and Millenium Falcon or Slinky Dog Dash at HS.

You'll still have a few long waits without G+, but it sounds like you will be OK with skipping a headliner or two.

If you are arriving on January 1, your first 2 or 3 days are going to be heavy crowds, but then it should let up a bit by January 5 when the WDW calendar shows reservations availability at all 4 parks.

We are actually staying off property so I know that'll make a bit of a difference but it sounds like we'll be okay without.

 

[ZanyToes]

We were there Dec 15-21, and managed without it. We rope dropped each day for the first time, and was able to do every ride. We had some waits, but every theme park does. Hit the popular rides first, and work your way down the list. We refuse to be on our phones all day during vacation.

Thanks! That's helpful. I also don't want to stress about my phone, specific times, etc.. the entire trip. I'm perfectly fine doing a bit less if needed.

 

[larjani]

We were there 6-12 December. Didn't use Genie+, and were fine. Only able to manage one ride during the 30 minute park entry. We skipped rides though, since we've ridden so many times. Got to ride all the headline rides though without Genie.

 

[Pens Fan]

We are actually staying off property so I know that'll make a bit of a difference but it sounds like we'll be okay without.

FYI - since you mentioned that you planned on purchasing the ILL$ for Rise, offsite guests are often shut out on this. It's pretty common for all of the spots to be sold out before offsite guests can book (at park opening). Onsite guests can book at 7 AM.

Take a look at this website. The sixth chart shows how long spots have remained available over the last month:

https://www.thrill-data.com/waits/attraction/hollywood-studios/starwarsriseoftheresistance/

 

[ZanyToes]

FYI - since you mentioned that you planned on purchasing the ILL$ for Rise, offsite guests are often shut out on this. It's pretty common for all of the spots to be sold out before offsite guests can book (at park opening). Onsite guests can book at 7 AM.

Take a look at this website. The sixth chart shows how long spots have remained available over the last month:

https://www.thrill-data.com/waits/attraction/hollywood-studios/starwarsriseoftheresistance/

I saw this mentioned after I posted. Is there a way around it? Thankfully none of us are huge star wars fans which helps but the ride looks great.

 

[Pens Fan]

I saw this mentioned after I posted. Is there a way around it? Thankfully none of us are huge star wars fans which helps but the ride looks great.

If they are all gone before you can book you will have to wait in the standby line which can be very long. I did see a YouTube video by Tim Tracker the other day where he was testing out how long the line was near park close. While it was posted at 45 minutes, he basically just walked right on. I don't know if that's normal or he just got lucky, but it's worth a try.

 

[meclark3]

I’m curious about your statement that the process didn’t work at all like you’d read about.

When the system wouldn‘t allow you to make a new LL reservation, did you have any later LL reservations still outstanding?

Apparently, prior to our trip, you could “stack” LLs by booking every two hours AND after scanning in for a booked LL. This loophole apparently was closed before we arrived. I just don’t feel the expense is worth only skipping 4-6 lines. We had a group of 4, maybe I’d feel differently if there were less of us. Something about the extra expenses on this trip made me feel icky and taken advantage of. I’ve always been able to justify a Disney trip, but I truly feel like we won’t be back for a while after this one, unfortunately.

 

[Racergirl24]

We just used the Genie+ today for the first time.
Amazing. Mostly because we chose to stack for our park hop. The morning was not busy and we accomplished so much. We felt it was 100% worth it.(SDD, FEA, TT, RRA AND MORE).
LL options do randomly show up during the day so keep those fingers refreshing. We scored ALL of the tough ones this way.
100% worth the money imo. We are off-site.
I am an AP and felt why not, don't regret it at all.

 

[10CJ]

Apparently, prior to our trip, you could “stack” LLs by booking every two hours AND after scanning in for a booked LL. This loophole apparently was closed before we arrived. I just don’t feel the expense is worth only skipping 4-6 lines. We had a group of 4, maybe I’d feel differently if there were less of us. Something about the extra expenses on this trip made me feel icky and taken advantage of. I’ve always been able to justify a Disney trip, but I truly feel like we won’t be back for a while after this one, unfortunately.

This is the first I am hearing of this. So if you have an evening reservation and an afternoon reservation, once you use the afternoon reservation you have to wait 2 hours from when you last booked to make a new LL selection? If you have nothing else booked can you make a new LL selection directly after you use one?

 

[meclark3]

This is the first I am hearing of this. So if you have an evening reservation and an afternoon reservation, once you use the afternoon reservation you have to wait 2 hours from when you last booked to make a new LL selection? If you have nothing else booked can you make a new LL selection directly after you use one?

In our experience (week of Christmas) we couldn’t book a new one except every 2 hours. So on our MK day, we booked one at 7 am for a return time of 1030. I couldn’t book another pass until 1030 (2 hrs after posted ETPE, even though EPTE was extended that week and started at 8am. We booked another at 1030, but after scanning into BTMR, we could not book another until 1230, even though we had scanned in for a LL. This was consistent throughout the week for the days we used Genie+. We could ONLY book after 2 hours had elapsed.

 

[Summer2018]

This is very helpful information. We always stay onsite and rope drop. We leave the parks after lunch and don’t return until the next day as we prefer to watch the fireworks from the resort. It sounds like both Genie and LL would be a waste of money for my family.

 

[BingoJoe]

The individual lightning lanes are more useful than the Genie + often. Essentially Genie + is not needed in Animal Kingdom or Epcot.

If you are in a Deluxe hotel the extra hours in Magic Kingdom are better than the Genie + anyway (if you can stay out late).