Is genie+ worth it at Disneyland?

[Bete]

Trying to decide about using this option or not. Is it necessary?

Can anyone explain the difference in time using it or not using it?

 

[vacay77]

It’s not available at Disneyland yet. Just WDW.

 

[BrianL]

Yeah, it's hard to know how valuable it will be until it launches - and we don't really know when that will be. At WDW I have heard some mixed things, but Disneyland is always a little different too. We'll just have to wait and see.

 

[mdmost]

If it's like Maxpass, it will be worth it, IMO. Maxpass was great for going from ride to ride with little waiting, which was great for someone like me who only goes to the parks once every year or two. The exception will be now you'll have to pay extra for one off rides like Radiator Racers and Rise of the Resistance won't be a virtual queue. Paying for Radiator Racers is a bit maddening when it used to be a free Fastpass.

We won't see how Genie+ affects wait times until it comes online. Whether you use it or not comes down to how you might want to experience the parks. We went to WDW recently before Genie+ came out and it wasn't difficult to get on the rides we wanted with little waiting as long as we planned correctly and got there at rope drop every morning.

 

[MonocularVision]

The exception will be now you'll have to pay extra for one off rides like Radiator Racers and Rise of the Resistance won't be a virtual queue.

The other differences, it DL follows WDW, are that you can only get one Lightning Lane reservation per ride per day and the “cooldown” time will be 2 hours instead of 90 minutes.

 

[RunnerMom71]

The other differences, it DL follows WDW, are that you can only get one Lightning Lane reservation per ride per day and the “cooldown” time will be 2 hours instead of 90 minutes.

I have also seen multiple accounts of not getting your first Lightning Lane reservation until the afternoon? Even if at a WDW hotel, making a LL reservation at 7 am? I mean that defeats the purpose of paying for fast pass IMO. Will be interesting to see if DL uses the same tactic

 

[DLRExpert]

The two issues with G+ at Disneyland that I see is...
1) You can only use G+ once per G+ Attraction, no re-rides with G+.
2) Individual Lightning Lanes for ROTR, Web Slingers, and Racers. There are ways around it if Boarding Groups and Single Rider options remain, but it is still annoying.

My hope is that the delay of it launching at Disneyland is that they are going to adjust the above to fit more in line with what MaxPass offered.
If that happens G+ is more than worth it.

ME

 

[mdmost]

I have also seen multiple accounts of not getting your first Lightning Lane reservation until the afternoon? Even if at a WDW hotel, making a LL reservation at 7 am? I mean that defeats the purpose of paying for fast pass IMO. Will be interesting to see if DL uses the same tactic

Maxpass had issues with the really popular rides like Radiator Racers going pretty quick when the parks opened and people could get scanned in and start making selections. I don't think you can apply what's happening at WDW and assume DLR will be the same. WDW never had day of Fastpasses except for the magical 4th Fastpass you could get after you used your other 3. The ones I've seen go really quick at WDW are the individual LL reservations like Rise of the Resistance which makes sense. Most accounts I've seen said the normal Genie+ LL selections are pretty open throughout the day. Some weren't even necessary which was the case with some of the old Fastpass selections you could make in advance.

 

[twodogs]

Maxpass had issues with the really popular rides like Radiator Racers going pretty quick when the parks opened and people could get scanned in and start making selections. I don't think you can apply what's happening at WDW and assume DLR will be the same. WDW never had day of Fastpasses except for the magical 4th Fastpass you could get after you used your other 3. The ones I've seen go really quick at WDW are the individual LL reservations like Rise of the Resistance which makes sense. Most accounts I've seen said the normal Genie+ LL selections are pretty open throughout the day. Some weren't even necessary which was the case with some of the old Fastpass selections you could make in advance.

If you read reports in the last few days as things are getting more crowded, most of the LLs at DHS and MK are “sold out” before park close. These are the ones that are included in G+, not just the ILL$. SDD at DHS is gone for the day within the first few minutes of being able to make LLs at 7am. You can look anytime for yourself if you are in MDE, and you click on the Tips Board and see what the return times are for LLs. ROTR ILL$ have been sold out before off-site guests can even buy them at park opening (onsite guests can book at 7am as a benefit of staying onsite), so unless you are onsite, you typically can’t even buy that ride. You can stand by for it, but lines are often several hours. It is not nearly as useful as MP was (IMO) but better than no FP at all.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

If you read reports in the last few days as things are getting more crowded, most of the LLs at DHS and MK are “sold out” before park close. These are the ones that are included in G+, not just the ILL$. SDD at DHS is gone for the day within the first few minutes of being able to make LLs at 7am. You can look anytime for yourself if you are in MDE, and you click on the Tips Board and see what the return times are for LLs. ROTR ILL$ have been sold out before off-site guests can even buy them at park opening (onsite guests can book at 7am as a benefit of staying onsite), so unless you are onsite, you typically can’t even buy that ride. You can stand by for it, but lines are often several hours. It is not nearly as useful as MP was (IMO) but better than no FP at all.

Yikes. :/