Experiences using DAS and Genie plus?

[momz]

Only 10 more sleeps until WDW. I am the DAS holder in my family and we have our 2 attractions per day scheduled. All indications point toward very crowded parks during our trip. My kids are wanting to purchase Genie plus in addition to the DAS. What is your opinion?
Is it worth the expensive to add Genie Plus? I’ll be honest, they are presenting a good argument in favor of Genie Plus. But it will add a significant bill to our trip that is already very expensive. I don’t want to be a tight wad, but I also want to make the most of our time there.

You know how it is, I don’t want to look back on this trip with disappointment over spending so much to go and then not getting to enjoy attractions because we didn’t buy genie plus. But also I don’t want waste money on it if it doesn’t actually help.
If 50% of park attendees are using genie plus, how likely is it to be a useful tool anyway?

ugh! It’s so dang pricey.

 

[Evita_W]

Honestly, unless you are going over a holiday weekend, I wouldn't bother with Genie+.

If you do early entry, arrive to the park earlier than 30 minutes before opening and book your first return time exactly 30 minutes before the park opens. (This is not essential, but will help). Even if when you book it, it says not available until after a certain time, check back about 5 minutes later to see if it says valid anytime that day. If it does, go and use it, if it doesn't, go on something else that would normally have a longer wait later in the day.

The most important part is:
Whenever you return to each attraction, book your next return time as soon as you scan at the final scan point (most attractions only have one, some have two).
NOTE: This is also true for Genie+, the majority of those who are not having luck with Genie+ are the ones who don't do this. Thise having the best luck are the ones who knew how to maximize Disneylands Maxpass system. And in fact, the new DAS works very much like that, only your return time is always the length of the queue minus 10.minutes and there is no end time.

If possible, register for the DAS online and do the advanced reservations as early.in the day as possible, but coordinate with any ADRs you have.

With these strategies, we found we could be done with everything we wanted to do.in each park (which was the majority of the rides and shows) in about 4 to 5 hours, just about when the lunch crowds started hitting and we could go back to the room and relax, we had our APs, so we then would park hop in the evening hours if we wanted for dinner, several the night time shows, etc.

One other note, if an attraction has a standby wait time and isn't showing up.on the list of eligible attractions, go to a blue umbrella or the attraction, they can take care of it. This happened to us at Ratatouille and DH mentioned it not showing on the app just so they were aware of the issue. The CM said it happens when there is down time and sometimes doesn't come back to the app right away when it comes back up or sometimes even for the rest of the day and the CM reduced the wait time for the inconvenience, which he didn't need to do, DH was just letting them know.