Genie Plus - Experiences and Reviews

[ComeToSocialize]

Like you, we know "how" to use G+ but sometimes I feel all that work defeats the purpose of 1) buying an add on to make the trip easier?, and 2) going to DL to enjoy the ambiance in the first place. I noted you said the same, if had kids along, but we've been experimenting with zero phones (except for the occasional photo or to check times before walking too far to another ride). Disney is magical with an annual pass, but with little kids, I'd almost prefer Adventure City or the zoos in San Diego BTW, the San Diego Zoos have reasonable annual passes, no blockout dates, and free parking (even with fairly cheap passes). Both Adventure City and San Diego Safari Zoo are every bit as clean and well maintained as Disney properties. Both have Way easier parking! /// Sorry, got a bit off-topic lol ///

100% agree. My wife was annoyed with me for being on my phone so much. I was mostly able to do it while in the lightning lane line waiting to get on the ride, so I didn't miss a ton, but yes, going commando on G+ definitely has downsides. I think mixing up trips is the right call - sometimes be ride focused, sometimes ambiance focused. We definitely have visits with our kids where we do 1 or 2 rides, play in the Redwood Creek area, eat, see some street entertainment and leave.

We just went to the San Diego Zoo last weekend! I was very impressed, my first time going. Annual passes are super cheap as you note, basically just need to go 3 times. We'll be doing Safari park soon.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

100% agree. My wife was annoyed with me for being on my phone so much. I was mostly able to do it while in the lightning lane line waiting to get on the ride, so I didn't miss a ton, but yes, going commando on G+ definitely has downsides. I think mixing up trips is the right call - sometimes be ride focused, sometimes ambiance focused. We definitely have visits with our kids where we do 1 or 2 rides, play in the Redwood Creek area, eat, see some street entertainment and leave.

We just went to the San Diego Zoo last weekend! I was very impressed, my first time going. Annual passes are super cheap as you note, basically just need to go 3 times. We'll be doing Safari park soon.

We were so glad when they brought back annual passes for SD Zoo and Safari Park for those of us not living within certain zip codes in southern Cali. We're east coast and love both locations. And I agree - every bit as clean and well run as the Disney properties, and a great experience.

 

[Federalist45]

They’ve made Haunted Maniaon Holiday what I’m calling Platinum Tier.

No MEPs from gold tier attractions will get you on HM. Only an MEP from HM can get you on it.

The CM that confirmed using an Indy MEP for HMH was a no go mentioned that it had to do with their construction walls. Even attempting to accelerate an HMH LL did not work with an Indy MEP.

Also, not sure if it has always been the case since they changed MEPs in August, but Pirates is listed as one of the rides that a Solver/Gold MEPs can be used for.

 

[JennyN]

I’m looking at the genie+ and it doesn’t really seem worth it. We are going the beginning of May and it doesn’t seem to be a very busy time. What are your thoughts?

 

[JerrodDragon89]

I’m looking at the genie+ and it doesn’t really seem worth it. We are going the beginning of May and it doesn’t seem to be a very busy time. What are your thoughts?

It depends

Even on days when it's not "needed" it can depend

If you want to walk on rides in 15 mins or less then you can ride Indy once in say the morning with no line and use Genie Plus for later....if you don't mind waiting in line don't get it but if you do mind waiting then its worth it almost every day because unless it's a really dead day then the lines for most E tickets are 45-90 mins and for Cars Racers its like 90+ mins most days

 

[ThreeMountains]

I’m looking at the genie+ and it doesn’t really seem worth it. We are going the beginning of May and it doesn’t seem to be a very busy time. What are your thoughts?

Here's my very personal take on Genie+. Many will agree. Many will disagree. I can only speak for myself, as that's all I've experienced first hand.

I've had paid MaxPass or Genie+ for all of my visits to Disneyland, whether one day solo, two days solo, or three days with a group. My estimate is that, on average, each time I use it to get on a ride, I'm saving somewhere in the 20-30 minutes range. There are times when it saves me less, but also times when it saves me more. Since this is by no means scientific, let's go conservative and say 20 minutes is my average saved wait time per ride.

This means that for every three rides, I've saving myself around an hour of waiting in lines. If I use it nine times per day, which is probably on the low side for me, but again let's go conservatively, that's around three hours saved.

Current price is $30 for the day. $30 divided by 3 hours is $10 per hour. I can't speak for anyone else, but my very limited Disney vacation time is worth a lot more than $10 per hour. Even going more conservatively and saying 15 minutes saved per ride and only using it 8 times per day still comes out to two hours saved, or $15 per hour. Same conclusion for me: my time on a Disney vacation is worth more than $15 per hour, so it's worth it.

Now, the two variables that would change things for me would be:

1) How many days I'm visiting. If it's a longer trip, I don't have to be as rushed or concerned about getting on all of the rides I want, or doing each multiple times, so it may not be worth it.

2) If I'm traveling with my wife and kids, that goes up to $120 per day, which simply may or may not work with our budget on a longer trip. At this point, it may depend on how long our trip is. The shorter it is, the more efficient I want to be time wise and Genie+ becomes more worth the cost (plus it's a lower total cost for the trip). A longer trip, maybe not.

 

[Chili327]

This means that for every three rides, I've saving myself around an hour of waiting in lines. If I use it nine times per day, which is probably on the low side for me, but again let's go conservatively, that's around three hours saved.

Current price is $30 for the day. $30 divided by 3 hours is $10 per hour. I can't speak for anyone else, but my very limited Disney vacation time is worth a lot more than $10 per hour. Even going more conservatively and saying 15 minutes saved per ride and only using it 8 times per day still comes out to two hours saved, or $15 per hour. Same conclusion for me: my time on a Disney vacation is worth more than $15 per hour, so it's worth it.

Good info!!

 

[karenc15]

I'll leave this anecdote, YMMV:

On Sunday, 1/14, Genie was down from approximately 10:30AM to about 3:00PM (someone might have posted a more accurate downtime). Our family did our usual thing: I rope dropped with one of the kids, grabbed LL for Indy at 8pm and waited for my husband and the other kid so that we could make the next G+ selection. They showed up around 10:30am and the system went down. Standby lines were a lot shorter than posted because no one could make LL selections.

At 1:30PM or so, the system was still down, and I didn't want to go to City Hall to complain, so I sent a text via the app. I asked for a refund. After about 30 minutes, I was told that there were no refunds. (I've heard others call their CC company to let them know of the system outage and to get their money back, but I used a GC, so that wasn't an option). I responded to the CM on chat that because of the staggered entry times and the system outage, the four of us were out of sync. Could they just change out the two G+ passes for the next day? At that point the CM offered me 2 MEPs per person to use for the day. I said that would help us get back on track together, and we were able to put them to good use on GotG which we hadn't gotten a time for yet. I did eventually get an 8:45PM slot for Indy once the system came back up and I was able to request a CM to sync us all up at the same entry time. (She ended up giving us an anytime pass for Indy).

Using a combination of G+ the comped MEPs, and Single Rider lines allowed us to get on 19 rides for the day. I count that as a total win for a DL day!

 

[DLRExpert]

I was at DCA during the outage. They were accepting LL guests without a return time needed.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Anyone able to accelerate recently? I tried today and it just picked up and used my MEP even though I only scanned my park ticket and was holding a LL with a later return time.

 

[sazzle12]

I’m totally bummed as I did not realize you had to enter the park before you could start collecting genie+ and LL passes. We going to Disneyland Feb 24-26 and are driving to California Adventure on Saturday morning, so won’t arrive at the park until noon. Is it still worth getting Genie+ or will all the main attractions be gone? Will I still be able to get an LL for Radiator Springs if I enter the park at 12pm?

 

[woodys_girl]

Anyone able to accelerate recently? I tried today and it just picked up and used my MEP even though I only scanned my park ticket and was holding a LL with a later return time.

Oh, no. I hope someone updates and this was just a fluke for you. We lucked out with this in October and had the best G+ day.

 

[DLRExpert]

I’m totally bummed as I did not realize you had to enter the park before you could start collecting genie+ and LL passes. We going to Disneyland Feb 24-26 and are driving to California Adventure on Saturday morning, so won’t arrive at the park until noon. Is it still worth getting Genie+ or will all the main attractions be gone? Will I still be able to get an LL for Radiator Springs if I enter the park at 12pm?

Yes Genie+ will still be worthwhile even at 12pm.

RSR ILL should still be available at that later time. The only time it may not be is if the ride was down for most of the day.
However, it will come back up later in the day.

 

[DLRExpert]

MEP bug worked on 1/12 for Space Mountain using a Railway LL.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

MEP bug worked on 1/12 for Space Mountain using a Railway LL.

Really glad to hear that. Maybe our experience was a one-off. Ours was also a MMRR MEP.

 

[Chili327]

I’m totally bummed as I did not realize you had to enter the park before you could start collecting genie+ and LL passes. We going to Disneyland Feb 24-26 and are driving to California Adventure on Saturday morning, so won’t arrive at the park until noon. Is it still worth getting Genie+ or will all the main attractions be gone? Will I still be able to get an LL for Radiator Springs if I enter the park at 12pm?

Yes Genie+ will still be worthwhile even at 12pm.

RSR ILL should still be available at that later time. The only time it may not be is if the ride was down for most of the day.
However, it will come back up later in the day.

You don't need G+ to buy a ILL for RSR, right?

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

You don't need G+ to buy a ILL for RSR, right?

You do not. It’s separate.

 

[Chili327]

You don't need G+ to buy a ILL for RSR, right?

You do not. It’s separate.

And that is the same at both DLR & WDW? (I've heard they work a little different)

 

[woodys_girl]

And that is the same at both DLR & WDW? (I've heard they work a little different)

They do work a little bit different, but this is the same. ILL and G + are separate.

 

[CastAStone]

If you’re accelerating and you have a golden tier will it keep working if you park hop? Like will my MMRR MEP work for Incredicoaster without clearing the MEP?

It says those DCA rides are included but wanted to check…