Disneyland without Genie Plus

[Sorcerer Jody]

Is it possible to have a magical time in Disneyland without Genie Plus? Do most guests purchase Genie Plus?

We haven't been in many years, but I am dreaming about maybe going at the end of August. We would not be trying to see and do absolutely everything on this trip - 5 full days, but taking a bit of a relaxed approach...

Thanks!

 

[BadPinkTink]

Over on the UK Disney forum, there have been a few people who went to Disneyland in January and February and who didn't want to use Genie+ Some of them didn't even do any research about it before the trip, they were that determined not to use.

Well all of them had a miserable first day, and regretted not getting it as they barely did anything and waited in huge lines. One family waited over 100 minutes for Radiator Springs!! They all ended up buying it for the rest of their days but because they hadn't done any research before and didn't know about crowd patterns, they were totally lost using it but agreed that it made a big difference to their day and the amount of things they were able to do.

 

[Mseplover]

Please delete my account

 

[Louis63]

I've been 3 times since Genie+ started and never purchased haven't regretted it. Last time was Presidents day weekend rise of thr resistance was listed 70 mins. took closer to 45

 

[duckboyone]

Late August used to be our go-to time to visit Disney, because it was slower than the rest of the summer, but that was a while ago so maybe things have changed.

You could try the first day without Genie+ and see how it goes, then adjust accordingly. Honestly, I think whether or not people have a magical time depends on their attitude and approach going in. It sounds like you are already not too worried about doing everything, that's already a step in the magical direction.

So if you have not bought your tickets yet, I would purchase them w/o Genie+, because it's the same price to add it on the day of.

 

[twitch]

We’ve been 3 times since G+ launched, and haven’t bought it. With 5 days, you should be able to do nearly everything once and some favorites twice, even without G+.

There are two of us, reasonably active with no kids. We can do about 15 things (attractions or shows/parades) a day, plus a sit down meal. We generally avoid lines that are longer than 45 minutes unless there’s a good reason (really want to do it, or need to kill time before a show or meal).

On the other hand, we’ve been so many times that if we don’t get to do something, we just try again next time.

 

[katyringo]

With 5 days you can totally be okay without it. Just pack a little extra patience. You could also consider just buying it for 1-2 days of your trip to hit the headliners on those days.

get to the park before opening and use the morning hours before crowds get their heaviest.

if you are taking a break or doing a sit down meal- do those during the heavy crowd time from noon-early evening.

again I'll just say you don't have to commit to all 5 days. You can wait and see once you are there. I do encourage you to buy it for at least one person each day as it comes with all your photos

 

[Wilcojoe]

We just got back from our first trip in six years and we did 3 days in the park (actually 2 1/2)), Genie plus was an absolute god send the first two days but by day 3, we decided not to purchase it as we really didn’t need it. My advice for a 5 day visit would be to purchase it at least two days. By our third morning, we only had to do the FL rides which we easily knocked out in the first two hours on Standby and by the time we left around 2:00pm we had ridden nearly every ride in both parks (except Peter Pan and Small World). We rode BTMR 3x and rode Matterhorn, POTC, Guardians, and Incedicoaster 2x.
The crowd level was 8 or 9 on each of our days in the parks. The longest line we stood in was about 25 minutes and the average wait time was about 8 minutes. This is the sole reason we never rode PP., in that I didn’t want to wait more than 30 minutes.
It really comes down to a strong rope drop strategy (zag while others zig) and of course utilizing Genie plus, though I really think you won’t need it more than 2-3 of your 5 days.

 

[duckboyone]

Well here's another factor: are you just doing Disneyland, or also at least a couple days at DCA? Or do you have park hoppers?

We're going in late June with my wife and I, and our four kids, ranging from middle school to first year of college. We're also doing 5 days, 3 in DL and 2 in DCA, which is what we usually do. We don't get park hoppers anymore, just not worth the extra price IMO.

Not that we try to do "everything", but there is always something that we miss, since we usually get a show in at the Hyperion, and watch Fantasmic and World of Color. Now with Galaxy's Edge, it'll be even tougher to get to everything we want. But we are usually very satisfied with our days when it's all said and done.

However, I think I will end up getting Genie+, and likely all 5 days, because we also always do PhotoPass, and that's about $200 right now I think, but since it comes with Genie+, that makes up almost half the cost.

 

[Wilcojoe]

Well here's another factor: are you just doing Disneyland, or also at least a couple days at DCA? Or do you have park hoppers?

We're going in late June with my wife and I, and our four kids, ranging from middle school to first year of college. We're also doing 5 days, 3 in DL and 2 in DCA, which is what we usually do. We don't get park hoppers anymore, just not worth the extra price IMO.

Not that we try to do "everything", but there is always something that we miss, since we usually get a show in at the Hyperion, and watch Fantasmic and World of Color. Now with Galaxy's Edge, it'll be even tougher to get to everything we want. But we are usually very satisfied with our days when it's all said and done.

However, I think I will end up getting Genie+, and likely all 5 days, because we also always do PhotoPass, and that's about $200 right now I think, but since it comes with Genie+, that makes up almost half the cost.

Personally I would suggest 4 days with park hoppers as opposed to your 5 day schedule. I honestly don’t think I could spend 2 entire days in DCA. Four days with hoppers will allow you to ride everything you want and see the shows. There isn’t much going on right now with shows but that will change when you guys visit.

 

[Rich M]

Is it possible yes. Do I advice it no. You spend lots of money on a vacation and you only have so much time on your vacation. For me the time is valuable. Maybe if your going multiple days and you want to wait in line every day for only a few rides a day then go for that but if you want to not stand in lines as much and maybe have pool time at the hotel plus if you want photos then Genie Plus is great. I believe Genie Plus is best used with park hopper tickets. CA can be done without Genie Plus. I recently did 10 LL in one trip and most wait times were between 30 to 60 min waits.

 

[Obi-J Kenobi]

Well here's another factor: are you just doing Disneyland, or also at least a couple days at DCA? Or do you have park hoppers?

We're going in late June with my wife and I, and our four kids, ranging from middle school to first year of college. We're also doing 5 days, 3 in DL and 2 in DCA, which is what we usually do. We don't get park hoppers anymore, just not worth the extra price IMO.

Not that we try to do "everything", but there is always something that we miss, since we usually get a show in at the Hyperion, and watch Fantasmic and World of Color. Now with Galaxy's Edge, it'll be even tougher to get to everything we want. But we are usually very satisfied with our days when it's all said and done.

However, I think I will end up getting Genie+, and likely all 5 days, because we also always do PhotoPass, and that's about $200 right now I think, but since it comes with Genie+, that makes up almost half the cost.

I do not believe this is accurate. I read it was $70 (+/-) per week or $40 (+/-) per day. But, maybe you are correct and Disney jacked up the price for photopass+.

I just hope that the DisBoards doesn't provide a DisBoards+ option for an additional fee.

 

[Sorcerer Jody]

Thank you so much for all of your replies - your thoughts and experiences are very helpful!

I have another related question: I have a child with a disability, and the last time we went to Disneyland was six years ago. We thought we would be able to manage without the DAS, but finally by the fourth day of our trip we went to City Hall to ask for some help. I requested a stroller with wheelchair tag, but a cast member right away offered the DAS to us instead. Of course, it helped immensely over our last two days.

My child is older now and his self-regulation has improved; however, if all his coping skills go out the window the moment we go through the gates, I'm not going to wait four days again before asking for help! So my question is, how does the Genie + relate to the DAS? With Genie +, is the DAS sometimes not necessary? Or, if we need the DAS, is it redundant to get Genie + as well? Or is it helpful to have both?

Thanks so much for your help!

 

[Obi-J Kenobi]

Genie+ and DAS are separate programs and operate independent of each other. If your child is eligible for DAS, you can still purchase Genie+ and utilize both programs. Whether it is redundant is a bit of a tricky question. For instance, if your child wants to ride one or two rides repeatedly in the same day, there are two considerations: (1) whether Genie+ is even available for the ride; and, (2) you can only use Genie+ fast lanes for a specific attraction once. So, DAS would be a better option if your child was eligible and wanted to ride, say Smuggler's Run, 3 or 4 times in one day.

 

[Steven G]

I would say you don't need Genie+. My recommendation.

1)Decide each day, the 3 or 4 rides you want to do for sure, and a few extras (5-10) that would be good to do.
2)Get there at rope drop, and do as many of those as you can.
3) Spend the rest of the late morning/afternoon just exploring the parks, and do attractions as you can. Alternatively, you can go back to your hotel/pool, downtown disney, outside of disney, etc.
4) In the early evening, return to the parks if you left. and try doing the rest of the rides you didn't do yet. After the fireworks, it should be relatively easy.

If you don't/can't rope drop, just try and spend more time at the parks after the fireworks.

If you can't do that either, then you either should get Genie+, or understand that you will be waiting in lines, or not see everything you want to see.

For Disneyland Park, I like to focus on Tomorrowland/FantasyLand for one day, and the rest of the park on another day. It saves on walking, and allows you to better appreciate each land. Of course, I don't restrict myself from going to the other lands, just what you focus on.

There's very few attractions I will wait for more than 60 minutes (count them on my hand).

 

[duckboyone]

I do not believe this is accurate. I read it was $70 (+/-) per week or $40 (+/-) per day. But, maybe you are correct and Disney jacked up the price for photopass+.

I just hope that the DisBoards doesn't provide a DisBoards+ option for an additional fee.

Yeah, now it's $69 for one day, $169 for advance purchase, and $200 for regular purchase and all your pictures. We use the heck out of it!

 

[LizzyS]

If those were my trip plans, I'd purchase Genie+ for 2 or 3 of your park days and prioritize the LL attractions on those days. We just went 2 weeks ago and I can't begin to tell you how much time you save by using it. Yes, it can be expensive depending on the size of your party, but if you're already "investing" a lot of money into the trip, I find it 100% worth it to spend a bit more to make it the best that it can be. That's just my perspective on vacation, however.

 

[ktlm]

We went in October prior to Genie +. We had always used FP and then Maxpass in the past. October was our worst Disney trip to either WDW or DLR (and for perspective we have been to WDW in a hurricane). DH said he wasn't going back until some type of FP was in place. We won't go without it. That said, with you being eligible for DAS, you might not need it. Our friends went at the same time using DAS and they were able to get on everything with short waits using DAS.

 

[gelatoni fan]

I was with friends who haven't gone in years and they did Genie+ the first day but ended up using it for only 3 rides. They ended up not getting it the second day because they managed most of the big rides the first day. But an advantage that my friends had is that I could help guide them along. So for the day of DCA start, they rope dropped Racers and then did Midway Mania before it got long. An inexperienced person may not know to get to Pixar Pier before the line for Midway Mania hits an hour and then either have to wait in that line or get Genie+.

My advice is to try Genie+ for one day and see if its worth it to you to add on future days. If you try Photopass and see more value in that over lightning lane, then only one person needs to get Genie+. Even though Genie+ is absolutely not worth it to me, I think it is something that infrequent visitors should try to decide for themselves.

 

[noisycricket]

Just started gathering info about G+. So if read the thread correctly, you're waiting 30-60 minutes for G+ rides (I know there's a wide range)? How much time are you saving with it?