Genie Plus - Experiences and Reviews

[KKB]

BFF & I head Oct. 18 for 1 day.
DCA open & DL to close.
I have seen that you can make do Genie+ for everyone in your party--how do I attach her to my account?
(she bought her ticket separate from mine)

 

[DisneyJade]

I am planning to drop a mini trip report in the trip report forum with more detail, but here are a few quick summary observations from our experience with Genie+:

• It's not necessary to purchase ahead of time. When ordering ahead, you have to get it for every day. We tried to use it every day, since we paid for it, but honestly, we probably only got our money's worth on our second day. We couldn't really use it much on arrival day at all, as most things were booked out until very late or were totally gone for the day. (Soarin, Guardians, Racers, Toy Story).
• If you have little ones who are scared of E-ticket attractions, look carefully at the available rides and consider your options. A few major rides also have single rider, which is actually faster than LL (walk on for MFSR and Incredicoaster - both much faster than LL). My husband could take or leave the big rides, and I was willing to skip a few because we don't want our kids sitting around waiting for us grown ups. See below for which rides we actually used LL for during our trip.*
• Not being able to choose your time is a major downgrade from FastPass, and I can't see the obvious benefit of doing this by Disney?
• Another downgrade is only being able to book one LL per ride. If you have members of your party that only enjoy half the LL rides (or have height limits), they only get half the value, but you are forced to buy for your entire party.
• I do like that the multi-pass you get when a LL ride is down gets you on to rides that don't even have LL, like Pirates or Mater or Nemo. However, it makes me wonder why those rides aren't included as LL rides in the first place.
• SUMMARY: Crowds are back, so it's nice to have any skip-the-line option, but overall, it's disappointing to be paying more and getting less than before. It was still nice to have if I didn't think too hard about the cost.

*How we used LL at each park over the course of 2.5 days, and how your mileage may vary:

California Adventure

Toy Story (twice - day 1 and day 2) - whole family​

Soarin - whole family​

*Rode Guardians during Early Entry so did not need LL. (Only I rode. If my family liked Guardians, I would have booked an LL for after dark)
*Got a LL for Monsters Inc one morning, but it was a walk on, so we didn't need it. they didn't even have LL open.
*Got an LL for Incredicoaster but single rider was faster, so I didn't need LL. (G+ would be more valuable for a family wanting to ride together)

Our family doesn't love the carnival style rides at Pixar Pier, so the LL options there were not for us. In my opinion, CA needs to add LL to Mater, Luigi and Mermaid to add to the value in this park. It is not worth $80 for a family of 4 to skip two lines in a day (Soarin, Toy Story). Granted, early entry helped us to stay ahead of the crowds, but I still do not think G+ is worth it for this park. We also paid for a Racers LL ($60 for 4 ppl - not included in G+)

Disneyland

Autopia - whole family (twice - day 2 and day 3)​

Buzz - whole family (day 1)​

Star Tours - whole family (day 2)​

Haunted Mansion - whole family (day 2)​

Small World - whole family (day 2)​

Indiana Jones - me and hubby only (day 3)​

Splash Mountain - me only (day 3)​

​

*Used a multi-experience pass at Nemo, which was nice! (this was our only MEP during our trip.)
*Got an LL for Falcon but single rider was faster, so I didn't need LL. (G+ would be more valuable for a family wanting to ride together)

You can see we got a little more value out of G+ at this park, but it was still of far less value for our littles who don't like the e-tickets yet. Matterhorn and all of Toon Town were closed on our trip, which impacted the value of G+. Also, we were fine skipping Space Mountain. That would be a valuable LL for others. I would love to see more Fantasyland LLs for the littles in this park, but I know it's hard with the tight line space. We also paid for a Rise LL ($80 for 4 ppl - not included in G+)

SUMMARY:
Our daughters each used 9 LLs over 3 days (avg. 3/day) for $120 total
My husband used 10 LLs for $60
I used 11 LLs for $60

I hope this is helpful for others!

 

[DLRExpert]

I am planning to drop a mini trip report in the trip report forum with more detail, but here are a few quick summary observations from our experience with Genie+:

• It's not necessary to purchase ahead of time. When ordering ahead, you have to get it for every day. We tried to use it every day, since we paid for it, but honestly, we probably only got our money's worth on our second day. We couldn't really use it much on arrival day at all, as most things were booked out until very late or were totally gone for the day. (Soarin, Guardians, Racers, Toy Story).
• If you have little ones who are scared of E-ticket attractions, look carefully at the available rides and consider your options. A few major rides also have single rider, which is actually faster than LL (walk on for MFSR and Incredicoaster - both much faster than LL). My husband could take or leave the big rides, and I was willing to skip a few because we don't want our kids sitting around waiting for us grown ups. See below for which rides we actually used LL for during our trip.*
• Not being able to choose your time is a major downgrade from FastPass, and I can't see the obvious benefit of doing this by Disney?
• Another downgrade is only being able to book one LL per ride. If you have members of your party that only enjoy half the LL rides (or have height limits), they only get half the value, but you are forced to buy for your entire party.
• I do like that the multi-pass you get when a LL ride is down gets you on to rides that don't even have LL, like Pirates or Mater or Nemo. However, it makes me wonder why those rides aren't included as LL rides in the first place.
• SUMMARY: Crowds are back, so it's nice to have any skip-the-line option, but overall, it's disappointing to be paying more and getting less than before. It was still nice to have if I didn't think too hard about the cost.

*How we used LL at each park over the course of 2.5 days, and how your mileage may vary:

California Adventure

Toy Story (twice - day 1 and day 2) - whole family​

Soarin - whole family​

*Rode Guardians during Early Entry so did not need LL. (Only I rode. If my family liked Guardians, I would have booked an LL for after dark)
*Got a LL for Monsters Inc one morning, but it was a walk on, so we didn't need it. they didn't even have LL open.
*Got an LL for Incredicoaster but single rider was faster, so I didn't need LL. (G+ would be more valuable for a family wanting to ride together)

Our family doesn't love the carnival style rides at Pixar Pier, so the LL options there were not for us. In my opinion, CA needs to add LL to Mater, Luigi and Mermaid to add to the value in this park. It is not worth $80 for a family of 4 to skip two lines in a day (Soarin, Toy Story). Granted, early entry helped us to stay ahead of the crowds, but I still do not think G+ is worth it for this park. We also paid for a Racers LL ($60 for 4 ppl - not included in G+)

Disneyland

Autopia - whole family (twice - day 2 and day 3) - whole family​

Buzz - whole family (day 1)​

Star Tours - whole family (day 2)​

Haunted Mansion - whole family (day 2)​

Small World - whole family (day 2)​

Indiana Jones - me and hubby only (day 3)​

Splash Mountain - me only (day 3)​

​

*Used a multi-experience pass at Nemo, which was nice! (this was our only MEP during our trip.)
*Got an LL for Falcon but single rider was faster, so I didn't need LL. (G+ would be more valuable for a family wanting to ride together)

You can see we got a little more value out of G+ at this park, but it was still of far less value for our littles who don't like the e-tickets yet. Matterhorn and all of Toon Town were closed on our trip, which impacted the value of G+. Also, we were fine skipping Space Mountain. That would be a valuable LL for others. I would love to see more Fantasyland LLs for the littles in this park, but I know it's hard with the tight line space. We also paid for a Rise LL ($80 for 4 ppl - not included in G+)

SUMMARY:
Our daughters each used 9 LLs over 3 days (avg. 3/day) for $120 total
My husband used 10 LLs for $60
I used 11 LLs for $60

I hope this is helpful for others!

Some thoughts and maybe I read some things wrong.

• Not being able to choose your time is a major downgrade from FastPass, and I can't see the obvious benefit of doing this by Disney?

You could never do that with Fastpass or MaxPass at Disneyland. At WDW you could do it with FP+

• Another downgrade is only being able to book one LL per ride. If you have members of your party that only enjoy half the LL rides (or have height limits), they only get half the value, but you are forced to buy for your entire party.

You do not have to buy LL for the entire party.

• I do like that the multi-pass you get when a LL ride is down gets you on to rides that don't even have LL, like Pirates or Mater or Nemo. However, it makes me wonder why those rides aren't included as LL rides in the first place.

They do not have it, because those rides either have a low capacity (ex Storybook, Pan, Nemo ) or the surrounding area wouldn't be able to support a longer Stand by Line (ex Pirates).

 

[DisneyJade]

Some thoughts and maybe I read some things wrong.

• Not being able to choose your time is a major downgrade from FastPass, and I can't see the obvious benefit of doing this by Disney?

You could never do that with Fastpass or MaxPass at Disneyland. At WDW you could do it with FP+

• Another downgrade is only being able to book one LL per ride. If you have members of your party that only enjoy half the LL rides (or have height limits), they only get half the value, but you are forced to buy for your entire party.

You do not have to buy LL for the entire party.

• I do like that the multi-pass you get when a LL ride is down gets you on to rides that don't even have LL, like Pirates or Mater or Nemo. However, it makes me wonder why those rides aren't included as LL rides in the first place.

They do not have it, because those rides either have a low capacity (ex Storybook, Pan, Nemo ) or the surrounding area wouldn't be able to support a longer Stand by Line (ex Pirates).

It’s possible I’m remembering FP+, as I’ve spent more time in WDW and less time with the old Maxpass system in DL. So a downgrade for FL parks then, if not CA.

We purchased Genie+ with our hoppers ahead of time and had to purchase for the entire party. Are you saying we did not have to do that? If so, I’d love a screenshot on where I could have changed that in the booking process because I definitely won’t buy 4 next time!

 

[KKB]

We purchased Genie+ with our hoppers ahead of time and had to purchase for the entire party. Are you saying we did not have to do that? If so, I’d love a screenshot on where I could have changed that in the booking process because I definitely won’t buy 4 next time!

If you don't all buy Genie plus, then you cannot all use it to secure LL spots.
(I don't see how poster suggested entire party doesn't need G+--they were referring to ILL I believe)

 

[katyringo]

We just finished 5 park days where we used genie+ every single day. My takeaways:

Learn to "go fishing" for those multiple expirence passes. It totally saved us during storms. Once weather cleared we did all the things.

It's a waste to use any LL before 9-930am, unless the ride was down and I used it to fish for a multiple expirence pass. Use EE/rope drop to do rides you may want to do more than once.

In Disneyland Indiana Jones and Haunted mansion run out first, and waiting to book them for later will lock you out of new booking for 2 hours. Either book them early and ride between that 9-10am time, or use an afternoon break to stack them in the evening/night. The worst you can do is book the for 2-4pm at like 10am.. because then you can't book for 2 hours.

On our last night haunted mansion was pushing 11pm
And I knew we would not make it that late and it's hubby's favorite (the holiday version) so I started refreshing and got a 930.

In DCA during Halloween time the regular guardians goes fast! And then monsters opens around 11-12. Our first day we did both those LL in the same day.

You can use the free genie section to modify your selections to bring the rides you want to watch to the top of the tip board. I used this constantly to watch the times.

I set an alarm when we were taking an afternoon break to remember to book. Every day we would break from about 1-5 and would re-enter the park with 3-4 LL's ready.

Multiple expirence passes have tiers so make sure to check were you can use the one you have. They can be used on some rides that don't have LL. It was nice to use one of those to ride pirates on a very busy day.

On our third day I started being more intentional about booking in clusters. For example we would take the monorail into the park and I had buzz, space, and star tours stacked for a 90 minute time period. It worked great and saved our feet.

Any specific questions, let me know.

 

[lindyv321]

I set an alarm when we were taking an afternoon break to remember to book. Every day we would break from about 1-5 and would re-enter the park with 3-4 LL's ready.

Multiple expirence passes have tiers so make sure to check were you can use the one you have. They can be used on some rides that don't have LL. It was nice to use one of those to ride pirates on a very busy day.

On our third day I started being more intentional about booking in clusters. For example we would take the monorail into the park and I had buzz, space, and star tours stacked for a 90 minute time period. It worked great and saved our feet.

Any specific questions, let me know.

So question on stacking.. I knew how to use and stack MP but I’ve only used G+ once and stacking confuses me… so if I book one I either have to use it or if it’s for a later time wait 2 hours to book the next one right? So during your four hour break how do stack 3-4 in that time?

 

[katyringo]

So question on stacking.. I knew how to use and stack MP but I’ve only used G+ once and stacking confuses me… so if I book one I either have to use it or if it’s for a later time wait 2 hours to book the next one right? So during your four hour break how do stack 3-4 in that time?

Because I started while still in the park once times started pushing out and during our lunch. It's every two hours or until you use the last one you booked

 

[lindyv321]

Because I started while still in the park once times started pushing out and during our lunch. It's every two hours or until you use the last one you booked

Thank you! I’m hoping I can get the ins and outs of it down on this trip!

 

[lindyv321]

BFF & I head Oct. 18 for 1 day.
DCA open & DL to close.
I have seen that you can make do Genie+ for everyone in your party--how do I attach her to my account?
(she bought her ticket separate from mine)

You can scan her ticket into your app to link it to your account

 

[FLCA026]

Thank you! I’m hoping I can get the ins and outs of it down on this trip!

I need a tutorial. I don’t know anything about genie but I want to use it when we go to Disneyland.

 

[lindyv321]

I need a tutorial. I don’t know anything about genie but I want to use it when we go to Disneyland.

This is the thread to check out! Start at the beginning tons of great info

 

[FLCA026]

So if you get genie plus you still have to pay for lightning lanes?

 

[mtemm]

So if you get genie plus you still have to pay for lightning lanes?

Disney complicated things by calling it the same thing. Genie+ will allow access to certain rides so (assuming you can get one for whatever ride you are trying for, not a guarantee), instead of entering the standby queue, you enter a different queue called the “lightning lane.”

This is the same queue that is offered for pay-to -ride rides that are known as “individual lighting lanes.” There are currently only two rides that fall into this category at DL/DCA. Rise of the Resistance and Racers. You do NOT have to have genie+ in order to buy these rides (at least not at wdw, I assume same for DL).

So yes, if you buy genie+, you still would need to buy these two rides separately (if you want to).

There are some great YouTube videos that can show you exactly how to use it that I found very helpful.

 

[FLCA026]

Disney complicated things by calling it the same thing. Genie+ will allow access to certain rides so (assuming you can get one for whatever ride you are trying for, not a guarantee), instead of entering the standby queue, you enter a different queue called the “lightning lane.”

This is the same queue that is offered for pay-to -ride rides that are known as “individual lighting lanes.” There are currently only two rides that fall into this category at DL/DCA. Rise of the Resistance and Racers. You do NOT have to have genie+ in order to buy these rides (at least not at wdw, I assume same for DL).

So yes, if you buy genie+, you still would need to buy these two rides separately (if you want to).

There are some great YouTube videos that can show you exactly how to use it that I found very helpful.

Thank you. So genie plus and then those rides are separate For more money.
I’ll need to see what Genie Plus gets me and if I should do it. I’ll keep reading and I’ll check for utube videos. Thank you!

 

[Chrisfilm]

We have two families (total of 7 people) taking a trip together in early November. Right now we have us split into two parties. Is it going to be better to link all 7 onto a single account for LL booking? Or will we be fine to all get the same return times keeping it at the current 4/3 split on two accounts?

 

[lindyv321]

We have two families (total of 7 people) taking a trip together in early November. Right now we have us split into two parties. Is it going to be better to link all 7 onto a single account for LL booking? Or will we be fine to all get the same return times keeping it at the current 4/3 split on two accounts?

I would link all the tickets into one app for Genie+ otherwise you may not all get the same return times.

 

[lindyv321]

Sorry for the double post…

Question-do you have to cancel an existing reservation prior to the return time or can you cancel it within the return time window if you haven’t scanned in? Just wondering if we go to return and the LL is out of control if I can cancel and book a later time (if available)?

 

[katyringo]

Sorry for the double post…

Question-do you have to cancel an existing reservation prior to the return time or can you cancel it within the return time window if you haven’t scanned in? Just wondering if we go to return and the LL is out of control if I can cancel and book a later time (if available)?

We were able to cancel within the window for this exact reason.

 

[Fastman]

When using the Genie+ app with multiple tickets linked together and everyone has a LL booked for same ride/time, does each ticket have to be scanned at LL entrance or does scanning one ticket automatically check the rest of the party in?