Genie Plus - Experiences and Reviews

[robert_j]

Nice! We're here this week, first day is tomorrow. Very much appreciate the intel! I've been doing the same over the last few months, doing dry runs with the app and working through different scenarios and contingency plans. Super excited to either rock the plan or fail spectacularly tomorrow!

It sounds like a lot of work, and it is, but it was so much fun. Have a great week!

 

[Guy in Fargo]

Absolutely love it.

Got it each of our last four days.

Background. Family of seven. Go to the parks once a year for five days each time.

Genie+ works extremely well for us.

It allowed us to ride every ride we wanted to, including the ones we wanted to ride twice.

How we did it. DCA. Rope dropped racers one day, web slingers on the other. Standby for toy story mania. Genie+ for incredicoaster, midway mania, goofy sky school, soarin, and monsters on the first day.

Trick for folks like us who leave the park for a few hours in the afternoon- start booking evening rides in the early afternoon, then add new ones, every two hours as the next window opens, then book another two hours later. Allowed us to ride incredicoaster, midway mania, and sky school the hour we were back in the park for the evening. Then booked Soarin after we redeemed our last pass. We got individual lightning lanes for racers to end the day.

For Disneyland, we used genie plus in the morning for Indiana (because we only wanted to ride once). We used the trick to ride autopia, Matterhorn, and it's a small world between 7 and 8, then booked big thunder. We then watched the fireworks, our big thunder window began at 9 am.


Completely worth it for our family. Will buy it when we buy our tickets next time.

 

[xipotec]

Trick for folks like us who leave the park for a few hours in the afternoon- start booking evening rides in the early afternoon, then add new ones, every two hours as the next window opens….

For Disneyland, we used genie plus in the morning for Indiana (because we only wanted to ride once). We used the trick to ride autopia, Matterhorn, and it's a small world between 7 and 8, then booked big thunder.

We were thinking of a similar strat, thou just a long sit down meal during afternoon hours.

So the basic “trick” if stacking late night LL, every 2 hours? So if you started at noon ….

that would give you 8 LL ? Is that math correct?

 

[CyndiLouWho]

mobile ordered Dole Whips

This is a game changer for me. Lol. Last trip, every time we walked by that Dole Whip line it was too long. Never did get one and my family brings it up to this day. Thanks for the great write up. 45 days to go for us.

 

[Guy in Fargo]

We were thinking of a similar strat, thou just a long sit down meal during afternoon hours.

So the basic “trick” if stacking late night LL, every 2 hours? So if you started at noon ….

that would give you 8 LL ? Is that math c

You don't get to pick times.

Three nights we did this we pulled them at 3, 5, 7 and 8.

 

[JohnR5101]

Our experience using G+ May 1-5. I had purchased hopper tickets with G+ added. My wife doesn't want to wait in any line longer than 30 minutes. There were 3 adults, one 12 yr old, one 7 yr old. The kids first visit. The younger one doesn't like roller coasters or something that goes fast. Also wife doesn't do GOTG, but 3 of us loved it. This sets the stage for how we used LL when it wasn't all 5 riding.

Arrival day we got in later than I wanted. After pictures at the gate (took about 40 min) and then riding the train (missed the first one when we got in line) it was about 6:00 pm when we were finally walking down Main St.

I think that evening we didn't really use LL but did get photos. After our Oga's session I was able to get everyone to agree to ROTR standby which was saying 40 min. It was worth it. Also, minor complaint about Oga's reservations (insert Jerry Seinfeld joke here), we waited for about 40 minutes after our reservation time before they finally took us in. And then only after I asked "will we be getting in soon?" I don't know if they misplaced us or what.

Well, the rest of the days went really smooth with LL. I won't bore you with details, but we had minimal waits, did everything we wanted, repeats on subsequent days. Worked out well. If not everyone wanted to do a ride (like Incredicoaster or GOTG) I would go ahead and book all 5, 3 of us would ride, then 2 would go back and re-ride (or swap in the 4th person who sat out with the 7 yr old). But those who didn't ride weren't just sitting there. Always found something nearby with reasonable standby for them.

One time a CM told me as I mentioned that we weren't going to use all 5, we could cancel the ones we're not using at that time. So I did that expecting to be able to book something else with those 2 that we canceled. But be aware that it did not make those available again until the end of the original return window. That may have been because I cancelled after the window opened. But it ought to return those to you. The ones we used we could now book something else, but the cancelled ones we had to wait.

We also scored 2 Multiple Experience LL's. One was Indiana Jones. Those are nice because there is no time limit (within the same day). And good for a lot of things as other have mentioned. Of course I didn't want to "waste" then on Pinocchio or something like that.

One other thing about the paid LL. There's a lot of grumbling about having to pay more for individual rides. I was not looking forward to paying $20 each for ROTR ($100 for the group), or $15 each for Racers ($75 for group). But I found that when I'm there and looking at 135 min standby or $100 come back in 30 min and walk right in, 75 min standby or $75 immediate ride, it was an easy decision. The time is worth more to me since the trip is costing me about $150/hour of park time. It was also so easy with the CC being attached to the account (painless, until the bill comes due). We ended up buying ROTR 2X, Racers 2X and Webslingers 2X. It certainly made the days more relaxing.

 

[mdmost]

We had a great time with Genie+. It really only became difficult later in the evening but by then we had ridden most of what we wanted. It's not as good or as fair as Maxpass + paper Fastpass for all but for an out-of-town, once maybe 2 years visitor who wants to maximize their time, it is great.

We did this on day 1: Hyperspace Mt>Star Tours>Buzz>Jolly Holiday>Alice>Tea Cups>Mr Toad>Snow White>Pinocchio, all before 11am. Then it was Big Thunder (LL)>Haunted Mansion(LL)>Indy (LL)>Jungle Cruise>lunch>break. Booked Matterhorn LL at 5pm>Carousel>Casey Jr>Small World LL>MSEP>Hyperspace (LL)>Star Tours (LL)

Genie+ was even better in DCA. We hit every Genie+ ride except Grizzly River Run as we didn't want to get soaked. If you want to rope drop Pixar Pier, you can ride Incredicoaster multiple times before even needing to think about using a LL for it. We rode it 3 straight times with made DD14 very happy. Then we grabbed the breakfast burrito from the Joffrey's cart just over the bridge and sat on the bench to eat before going to Midway Mania on a LL selection. I would definitely do a quick LL for Goofy's Sky School as that is a terrible loader and a bad line to get stuck in.

We did this at DCA: Incredicoaster X3>breakfast>TSMM (LL)>Jessie's carousel>Pixar Pal Around>Inside Out>Swings>Goofy Sky School (LL)>Ariel>lunch at Pym's>Spiderman ILL>Guardians (LL)>Mater's>break. Radiator Racers wasn't open that day so we did a ILL for it the next day when it reopened.

Day 3 at DL: Rope dropped Millenium Falcon since we didn't want to wait in the Rise line and risk all that wait time for it to go down. So we booked a ILL for it. It's worth it to me given how much that ride goes down. It went down when our original 9am time was up so we waited until after our Oga's reservation at 10:25 to try it. We did MFSR twice, walk on>Ronto Roasters for breakfast>Big Thunder (LL)>Oga's>Rise>Haunted Mansion (LL)>Splash Mt (LL)>Radiator Racers ILL>break. Came back and did the Matterhorn LL before our Fantasmic dinner.

Day 4 was our slow day but the kids went off on their own armed with Genie+. I think by the time we saw them they had ridden Hyperspace Mt twice (rope drop and LL), Star Tours twice, Big Thunder 3 times (2 walk ons and 1 LL), Haunted Mansion (LL), Indy twice (walk on and LL), Buzz walk on, Matterhorn LL. They then used my wife and my LL options to ride some of them again. We all rode Guardians LL at night together.

 

[Cal-Pie]

Am I correct in thinking I can use gift cards for Genie+ and ILL?

 

[mouschievous]

Am I correct in thinking I can use gift cards for Genie+ and ILL?

I think so, but you want to be prepared. You can't save a gift card to your Disney account (at least, you didn't used to be able to), so you have to enter the GC number when you want to purchase, instead of just using the saved credit card. But if you have the number already copied (we keep them in the phone notes) and ready to paste, then it shouldn't slow you down much.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

I think so, but you want to be prepared. You can't save a gift card to your Disney account (at least, you didn't used to be able to), so you have to enter the GC number when you want to purchase, instead of just using the saved credit card. But if you have the number already copied (we keep them in the phone notes) and ready to paste, then it shouldn't slow you down much.

Still can't save a GC as of 2 weeks ago. Definite downside.

 

[xipotec]

Not sure of this is new or not. The app now shows “BUY GENIE PLUS TODAY” listed ……

I thought they capped it?

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

My family of 7 did G+ for our full stay. It was a big chunk of the budget at $700, but we found it worth it. I enjoyed the PP each day, especially the ride pictures. We also were able to get LLs for nearly all of the rides at times that worked for us. It was not quite as effective as MaxPass, but I found the LL lines shorter than the FP lines from previous trips. My family got spoiled with short waits, usually under 10 minutes!

I did find myself wishing the top tier rides were included though. Paying an additional $140 for RotR, and also paying for 6 for RSR and WS, just felt weird and made me uncomfortable. I would rather spend an additional $10-20 per day for G+ (yup, that would take our bill up to $1400) then do the individual payments. It just took me out of the moment and really made me aware I was a customer and not a guest.

We averaged 6 LL a day at DL, and 4 at DCA over our 5 day trip. Our most productive LL days were those in which we hopped, and did 5 at DL and 3-4 at DCA. I could have done even more if I was paying more attention to return times.

 

[Whistlebee]

My family of 7 did G+ for our full stay. It was a big chunk of the budget at $700, but we found it worth it. I enjoyed the PP each day, especially the ride pictures. We also were able to get LLs for nearly all of the rides at times that worked for us. It was not quite as effective as MaxPass, but I found the LL lines shorter than the FP lines from previous trips. My family got spoiled with short waits, usually under 10 minutes!

I did find myself wishing the top tier rides were included though. Paying an additional $140 for RotR, and also paying for 6 for RSR and WS, just felt weird and made me uncomfortable. I would rather spend an additional $10-20 per day for G+ (yup, that would take our bill up to $1400) then do the individual payments. It just took me out of the moment and really made me aware I was a customer and not a guest.

We averaged 6 LL a day at DL, and 4 at DCA over our 5 day trip. Our most productive LL days were those in which we hopped, and did 5 at DL and 3-4 at DCA. I could have done even more if I was paying more attention to return times.

I felt nickel and dimed too. We had a group of 13 for our trip in June, and it adds up. We did the LL for ROTR, and Genie+ everyday. It actually left a bad taste in my mouth by the time the trip was over. I had no problem paying for MaxPass, and I can easily afford the Genie+ upgrades, but the friends I was traveling with were on a tighter budget. Which was fine, I helped out, but it made me feel bad that it’s a 2 class system now. I miss the free FP (even tho we were MaxPass people).

 

[jrsharp21]

I bought some single day park hoppers a few days again and the option to purchase G+ was not anywhere during the selection and check out process. I thought maybe I missed it. So I went back to Disneyland.com and acted like I was going to purchase more tickets and I still did not see it. Did I miss it somewhere?

So now it looks like to add G+ we have to scan in the park first and then go into the app and buy it?

 

[Cal-Pie]

I bought some single day park hoppers a few days again and the option to purchase G+ was not anywhere during the selection and check out process. I thought maybe I missed it. So I went back to Disneyland.com and acted like I was going to purchase more tickets and I still did not see it. Did I miss it somewhere?

So now it looks like to add G+ we have to scan in the park first and then go into the app and buy it?

I did a mock purchase and the option was there to add Genie+, but it came after I selected my park days. At WDW they have discontinued the advanced purchase of Genie+. You will be able to add it once you've scanned in.

 

[jrsharp21]

I did a mock purchase and the option was there to add Genie+, but it came after I selected my park days. At WDW they have discontinued the advanced purchase of Genie+. You will be able to add it once you've scanned in.

I think I figured out the problem. I think G+ is sold out on the day we are going. I went through the process again and chose a different day and it was available as an option. On the day we are going, only parking is available as additional options.

 

[katedrew94]

Can someone please give me a simple explanation of stacking? I am going in a few weeks and want to make sure we get the most out of our trip. We haven’t been to Disneyland in 10 years.

 

[xipotec]

Can someone please give me a simple explanation of stacking? I am going in a few weeks and want to make sure we get the most out of our trip. We haven’t been to Disneyland in 10 years.

So, you cannot get another LL until you:
1. Use the existing one.
2. Wait 2 hours after you last chose one.

What people do, its they wait, and start getting LL, a little later in the day. Then every 2 hours they get another one.

10
12
2
4
6
8


So you can theoretically get LL that are “stacked up” later in the day….there is of course a limit of how many you can get.
IF you stay till closing you may be able to stack them 6-8.

The issue with stacking is you have no control over return times. But typically you get the rides with the longest average late day waits first….then work backward (as those tend to have returns that push out later in the night.

 

[sweethannah]

Moving to other thread

 

[becks59]

Question about multiple experience pass:

My understanding is If you book a Genie+ for a ride and it shuts down, then it turns into a multiple experience pass. If I use that on Splash, could I get a regular LL for splash later in the day too?