Is Genie+ recommended for a June trip?

[savannahcat]

We are WDW veterans making our first trip to Disneyland and California Adventure in mid June. We will have 5 day park hoppers. We are staying offsite at a good neighbor hotel and our kids will be 19 and 17 when we travel. Is Genie+ worth it that time of year?

Also, if anyone has must-do restaurant recommendations, I would love to hear them!

 

[coronationday]

I just came back from a three day visit to the Disneyland Resort and I did all I wanted and more. With 5 days you can comfortably do everything you want without genie+. Those first two hours in the morning are going to be critical to do a lot of things and, if you don’t mind, single rider lines are good to save some time. There are only 12 rides in Disneyland and 8 in DCA that are included in Genie +. I would buy it for 1 or 2 days, that way I can ride that 20 rides with less of a wait and as a bonus get all my photopass photos those two days because their Genie + include the photos.

For must-do restaurants, the two most popular are the Blue Bayou at DL and Lamplight Lounge at DCA.

 

[twodogs]

If your teens will be able to be up and ready at the parks for RD, you can make very good use of the first few hours (even without Early Entry for resort guests). However, if your teens (like mine, nowadays) prefer to sleep in, you may find many long lines when you finally get to the parks. If you can afford it, G+ can be very helpful in this situation. As OP said, since you have 5 day PHs, you can certainly get it all done without G+ (or only G+ on some days) but you may be waiting in a lot of long lines to accomplish that. As well, I really like having photopass included when we get G+. One idea would be to get G+ the first few days and see how the lines and crowds go. As well, you can try the opposite approach, and “close down” the parks if your teens like to stay up late. This doesn’t ensure short lines, but they do usually shorten as the night gets late (though headliners can stay long even up until closing time).

 

[Pluto468]

Genie+ will be useful, but you don't necessarily need it every day. We went for 5 days last June and only bought Genie+ for 3 of our days. Luckily you can add it on when you get there if you decide you want it.

One of my favorite restaurants is Jolly Holiday. It's not fancy, but they have great breakfast sandwiches, coffee and pastries and I love to sit out on their patio. They have lunch, too.

Blue Bayou
Plaza Inn
Oga's in Galaxy's Edge (drinks and snacks)
Red Rose Tavern
Hungry Bear

DCA:
Pym's
Lamplight Lounge