2 days per park - do I need Lightning Lane/Genie?

[MamaMermaid]

Hi!
We are Disney World pros but are travelling to Disneyland for the first time in a lonnng time this June. It'll be our son's (6) first trip. We've allowed for 2 days per park. No hopping. In your experience, is 2 days per park enough time to get most things done at both parks or should we also pay for Genie/Lightning Lane/whatever FastPasses are called nowadays?

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[LKing]

Is your six year old tall enough to go on all of the rides? Will he ride coasters?

Below is what would be included at Disneyland

Individual Purchase for Lightning Lane Entrance (additional charge)

• Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance

Disney Genie+ Lightning Lane Entrance

• Autopia
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
• Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
• Haunted Mansion (will be closed in June)
• Indiana JonesTM Adventure
• "it's a small world"
• Matterhorn Bobsleds
• Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway
• Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
• Pirates of the Caribbean**
• Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin
• Space Mountain
• Star Tours – The Adventures Continue

Below is what would be included at California Adventure

Individual Purchase for Lightning Lane Entrance (additional charge)

• Radiator Springs Racers

Disney Genie+ Lightning Lane Entrances

• Goofy's Sky School
• Grizzly River Run
• Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT!
• Incredicoaster
• Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!
• Soarin' Over California
• Toy Story Midway Mania!
• WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure

 

[Wedgeout]

At Disneyland Genie+ works very well and is great for convenience. As Magic Key holders, many times we will buy it for one of our days. Gets it down to about $3 per ride with saved time. We start early and do some attractions before redeeming to get multiple rides. If a late person, most lines are short for the last couple park hours.

 

[starlite_]

I'll ask you what I ask everyone that asks that question: Do you like lines? If you do, then you don't need to buy it. If you prefer to do literally anything else than stand in line, then buy it.

 

[wabbott]

We did four days last fall (9/25-9/28) and managed to do pretty much everything twice without Genie or LL. But we were at rope drop every day, and did Oogie Boogie Bash one night. And we old folks (73 & 67).

Need to add that we did park hopping for all four days.

 

[JohnR5101]

Also, here is a little clarification about purchasing Individual Lightning Lanes (Rise and Racers). You do not need to purchase Genie + to purchase the ILL's. You just need the free Genie. Those 2 rides are often the longest ones and when you look at it it might make sense to pay for the shorter wait. I did back in 2022 when we went with 5 people.

 

[lilsonicfan]

We just did 4 days at the parks, technically it was really 1.5 at DL and 1.5 at DCA. I didn't bother with Genie+ or ILLs and we also didn't rope drop. I would say we did everything we wanted to do, however, I note, my kids are older and had zero interest in the Fantasyland/toon town rides. We did Rise once, Smuggler's Run twice, Guardians 3x, Space 2x, Cars we did 1x as a family and then several times as single rider, Incredicoaster 3x, in short, you can do a lot or a little, but I don't think you NEED Genie+.

Caveat: our trip was just in late Jan, probably overall a slightly slower time/more mild crowd calendar.

You could always consider buying it for the 2nd day in each park.

 

[goooof1]

I would highly recommend HOPPERS . The flexibility will make your visit that much smoother. It is so easy to hop.....just a short walk across the esplanade (about 100 yards.....no security check...). That way you are open to so much more.....zig when everyone else is zagging, decide to reride something, etc.

 

[LKing]

Also, here is a little clarification about purchasing Individual Lightning Lanes (Rise and Racers). You do not need to purchase Genie + to purchase the ILL's. You just need the free Genie. Those 2 rides are often the longest ones and when you look at it it might make sense to pay for the shorter wait. I did back in 2022 when we went with 5 people.

Thanks. I edited my post to make it more clear.

 

[SpaceMan5]

As starlite posted, get Genie+ if you don't like lines.

We visited the parks in late Jan for a week. We could walk on a bunch of rides after the parks opened and then as it got busier, subjective on my part, we opted for Genie+. Since we don't visit that often, the extra cost was worth it to us.

Since many of main attractions breakdown often we didn't want to invest 45-60 mins+ and then be SOL. At least with a LL we could hop on other rides and avoid the standby lines.

 

[Kit Jackson]

Depending on when you are going, June could be busy because it is summer. Four days should be enough time to see/do most of what you want. I have no idea what your budget is. There are two things I would recommend if it is possible.

I would think about ParkHoppers because the parks are so close together and if one park is busy or has multiple rides down, you can go to the other park.

In addition to shorter lines allowing you more time for other things like more rides, more time for snacks and shopping, possibly an afternoon break at the hotel, Genie+ includes PhotoPass, which is fantastic. The PhotoPass photographers are amazing. I do not photograph well and they have consistently taken excellent pictures of me.

 

[Pluto468]

It's a good idea to get hoppers. As others have said, it's so easy to hop. DCA is cool, but not necessarily an all-day park. If you have hoppers it also makes more flexibility for ADRs and shows.

You can get an idea of how crowds/lines are and add Genie+ once you get there if you want to. In June 2022 we only added it for 2 days of our 5 day trip.

 

[MamaMermaid]

Thank you everyone! I appreciate the thoughts.

 

[RunnerMom71]

Absolutely without doubt get park hoppers. You only pay ONCE and it's effective for all the days of your tickets. Especially worthwhile if you are going for multiple days.

In June I would highly recommend Genie+ - an if you purchase it at the same time as you buy your tix you will not be affected by variable pricing. Unlike WDW you can buy Genie+ ahead of time. Keep in mind the blockout calendar for Magic Key, Grad Nights etc not to mention school calendars in June.

 

[Bossy22]

I believe that park hoppers now have a different price for the amount of days so no longer the one price for all days. I also think CA has grown to be a full day park. My family has always had park hoppers but we are considering not due to all the additional fees that Disney has been adding for everything!!!

 

[DontSpamMe]

As much as I despise Genie Plus and think it is a gross cash grab by Disney; Any day ticket holder, who rides the rides, and is not buying Genie Plus and LL for rides such as Rise and Radiator Racers is losing value on those expensive park tickets. Buy them every time whenever you can. Budget around it as much as you can. It is the only way to have a chance at winning at Disneyland. It will save you hours of waiting in lines for your visit. Just be cautious that Disney oversells Genie Plus and the value is not as good on busy days (8 out of 10 or higher). But I'd still rather be in standby queue 1 vs standby queue 2.

If this is your 1 trip for the year, decade, or millennium you'd be missing out by not purchasing it.

 

[starlite_]

I believe that park hoppers now have a different price for the amount of days so no longer the one price for all days. I also think CA has grown to be a full day park. My family has always had park hoppers but we are considering not due to all the additional fees that Disney has been adding for everything!!!

It's a $5 difference per ticket (not per day, per ticket). The churros are more expensive.

To elaborate:

1-2 days ticket: 65$.
3-4 days ticket: 70$.
5 days ticket: 75$

 

[bbeagle]

If this is your 1 trip for the year, decade, or millennium you'd be missing out by not purchasing it.

I completely agree. If this is a once-in-a-whatever trip, you have limited days and limited hours. I'd rather spend 15 minutes in line, and 2hrs 15 minutes exploring other things than 2 1/2 hours in line.

You'll never get that 2hrs 15 minutes back. It's worth the cost.

If you're a local, you can always go back another day if the lines are too long.