OC Register lists Genie Plus and Lightning Lane rides

[DisneylandFan22]

I never used MP but I did use Fastpass and I miss it because I feel like it added fun to the experience. It was fun to be passing by Indy and decide to grab a Fastpass and plan to come back later and strategize for the best way to use them. It was a fun way to be able to get on rides faster, was equal to everyone, and was built in as part of the experience. I don’t know if other people feel the same way, but I feel like it added to the experience besides just being able to get on rides faster.

 

[Steven G]

We are going in december and assuming it’s available, we won’t be getting it if you can only ride an attraction once using it. That’s a SERIOUS downgrade from maxpass, which I got most of the time in pre Covid Times. maybe we will get one for the individual ones for rotr and rsr, that’s it.

if they lifted that restriction, or it doesn’t come to pass, then we might do it for one day.

at this point I’d much rather they offer the same thing as universal or knotts at a higher cost, if they would remove the return times.

 

[Malcon10t]

That’s a SERIOUS downgrade from maxpass, which I got most of the time in pre Covid Times. maybe we will get one for the individual ones for rotr and rsr, that’s it.

if they lifted that restriction, or it doesn’t come to pass, then we might do it for one day.

From the OC register article:

"The $20 Disney Genie+ service is essentially identical to the $20 MaxPass that Disneyland and DCA have offered since 2017. More than 15 attractions at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure will be part of the Disney Genie+ service. Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain and Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run will be included in Disney Genie+ — with other attractions to be announced at a later date.
Visitors can book one attraction at a time using the paid Genie+ service and make another selection after riding that attraction. If you happen to make a Genie+ selection that won’t happen for 4 hours or more from the time you booked it, you can make another Genie+ selection two hours after you make your initial choice."

 

[Sun_soakin]

First of all, I completely hate this new system and all the scheduling. Second, it’s pretty hard to see value in spending, as a family of 6, $120/day for G + $90/ride for LLs. On a normal day pre-covid, we could hit most of those rides with a modest MP fee added to our APs (or you could run around getting FP for free!), now riding each LL 1x, it’s $390/day for FP for my family plus tix/AP. I’d feel better giving the $ to charity.

 

[Kuilima]

Standby is good enough for me and my family.

 

[ttig34]

From the OC register article:

"The $20 Disney Genie+ service is essentially identical to the $20 MaxPass that Disneyland and DCA have offered since 2017. More than 15 attractions at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure will be part of the Disney Genie+ service. Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain and Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run will be included in Disney Genie+ — with other attractions to be announced at a later date.
Visitors can book one attraction at a time using the paid Genie+ service and make another selection after riding that attraction. If you happen to make a Genie+ selection that won’t happen for 4 hours or more from the time you booked it, you can make another Genie+ selection two hours after you make your initial choice."

It says you can make another selection, but does not specifically say if it can be the same attraction. Fingers crossed that since it also doesn't specifically say it can't, that it will be allowed.

 

[Chernabob]

From the OC register article:

"The $20 Disney Genie+ service is essentially identical to the $20 MaxPass that Disneyland and DCA have offered since 2017. More than 15 attractions at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure will be part of the Disney Genie+ service. Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain and Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run will be included in Disney Genie+ — with other attractions to be announced at a later date.
Visitors can book one attraction at a time using the paid Genie+ service and make another selection after riding that attraction. If you happen to make a Genie+ selection that won’t happen for 4 hours or more from the time you booked it, you can make another Genie+ selection two hours after you make your initial choice."

This summarizes my interpretation exactly. Apart from the new wrinkle of the IA "pay to skip a line" selections, I'm not sure how this is all that new or different from MaxPass.

Admittedly I'm A) not a local who has B) only been to DL once, but the cost is the same and selections seem to generally be the same. I don't see this as anything to get the pitchforks out for. But I'm interested to see how it's implemented and others' opinions/experiences.

 

[MATTERHORN]

Don't know for a fact the only one ride pass per day is true, but this is what I read on another site.

"Another thing to keep in mind about Disney Genie+ is that you will ONLY be able to ride each attraction once using Genie+ (though you can ride a second or third time through the Standby line). And, Disney has confirmed that each ride has a limited number of Genie+ reservations each day and they CAN sell out. "

But that's essentially what Maxpass was. Once the times were gone for the day, it was over whether you made use of it or not. Sometimes by 2pm, RSR was out of times for the day. Same thing with Genie+ reservations.

 

[MATTERHORN]

This summarizes my interpretation exactly. Apart from the new wrinkle of the IA "pay to skip a line" selections, I'm not sure how this is all that new or different from MaxPass.

Admittedly I'm A) not a local who has B) only been to DL once, but the cost is the same and selections seem to generally be the same. I don't see this as anything to get the pitchforks out for. But I'm interested to see how it's implemented and others' opinions/experiences.

Could not agree more. They added two paid rides, which for some people will be a HUGE benefit to know you can absolutely get on RISE if you go later in the day. Seems like a win to me.

 

[Malcon10t]

It says you can make another selection, but does not specifically say if it can be the same attraction. Fingers crossed that since it also doesn't specifically say it can't, that it will be allowed.

With MaxPass, you could not ride the same ride while holding a FP for it. But, once you used your FP for (as an example) BTMRR, you could pull another one.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

But that's essentially what Maxpass was. Once the times were gone for the day, it was over whether you made use of it or not. Sometimes by 2pm, RSR was out of times for the day. Same thing with Genie+ reservations.

Not necessarily. If it’s true you can only ride a ride once per day, that is not the same. Yes, some rides would run out like RSR, but others like BTMRR you could pull over & over again, which we did. And for some people the offering is enough, but taking RSR off and making it a LL is a downgrade on the value.

I think it’s completely fair that people don’t like this new system. I’m one of them. Even if Genie+ cost us the same as MaxPass, we’re still looking at another $48-90/day just ride RSR under this new system. It is not the same value at all.

 

[dieumeye]

Not necessarily. If it’s true you can only ride a ride once per day, that is not the same. Yes, some rides would run out like RSR, but others like BTMRR you could pull over & over again, which we did. And for some people the offering is enough, but taking RSR off and making it a LL is a downgrade on the value.

I think it’s completely fair that people don’t like this new system. I’m one of them. Even if Genie+ cost us the same as MaxPass, we’re still looking at another $48-90/day just ride RSR under this new system. It is not the same value at all.

Also, the FastPass system was free for everyone. Yes, MaxPass cost $20, but that was for enhanced access to the underlying free system.

A paid system changes the way I see the entire setup. If an attraction ran out of free FPs, that’s just how it goes, and there’s not much to complain about since the system was free - no one HAD to pay to use it. But with Lightning Lanes being paid only (thru G+) it’s way more troubling if passes run out because you are paying specifically for the Lightning Lanes.

I hope that a paid system means that passes will run out less frequently, or at lest much later. Also, while I don’t care for some of the changes in Genie+/LL compared to FP/MP, I’m hopeful that it’ll actually work out for the better in terms of attraction availability and wait times.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

The difference is before you could pull a FP for free. Now you either have to pay or wait in hours+ lines (for certain attractions). As someone who goes alone with two little kids, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to ride RSR for instance again (we haven’t ridden it since the parks reopened due to no FP and long lines). Which is sad to me because little kids love these rides too. I could pay, but I won’t. It’s the principle. All DL attractions were included in the ticket price historically, which is what made the high ticket prices palatable.

 

[disneylover102]

I’m so excited for Genie+. With less people using it it will be so much easier to get fastpasses. I was willing to pay $20 just for the added convenience and photos anyway. Also keep in mind that with Maxpass it actually wasn’t necessarily over if everything was gone. People could cancel their fastpass and it would become available in the system. You weren’t necessarily guaranteed to get anything super late in the day but it was possible. For example one time I got a fastpass for Soarin’ an hour before the park closed

 

[Jperiod]

If you happen to make a Genie+ selection that won’t happen for 4 hours or more from the time you booked it, you can make another Genie+ selection two hours after you make your initial choice."

This part is def NOT like MP. Wasn't it 90 minutes with MP and 2 hours with FP? If your return time isn't for another 3 hours and 45 minutes, that wipes a SIGNIFICANT portion of the value with G+. I hope that's a misprint.

I won't be paying extra for old rides like RSR. I MIGHT consider it for new rides once. I could stomach one upgrade price for all though. Overall, I'm super disappointed in this change and fear my family is inching ever closer this year to breaking up with Disney after 25 great years.

 

[disneylover102]

I also hope it’s 90 minutes, not 2 hours, because that was really nice. Still, I don’t actually think it’s gonna be that common for return times to be super far away unless they’re giving out significantly less than they were before because there’s gonna be significantly less people using it now

 

[DisneylandFan22]

They should charge full price for individuals and couples and have a discount for families. It seems to really penalize families. The only people who seem excited about the change are individuals or couples. I haven’t seen any families of 4 or 5 saying this is great.

 

[Dory92130]

Interesting evolution of MP with the LL. Not surprised and glad there will be a paid option available to those who miss out on the 7AM+noon BG dashes. RS makes sense though lamenting no G+ option whatsoever with that.

One option I do miss with G+ -- the loss of the 2nd FP after 1.5 hours. This really was a nice pop-up for a paid service. If the rides have long wait times of the service, it shouldn't lock you out of the service altogether.

If I were the typical paying attendee arriving at 930A and leaving after fireworks - would really suck paying $80 more and using G+ three -four times because of typical wait times and holding one at a time.

 

[Jperiod]

They should charge full price for individuals and couples and have a discount for families. It seems to really penalize families. The only people who seem excited about the change are individuals or couples. I haven’t seen any families of 4 or 5 saying this is great.

Exactly. Do I pay extra for my family to go on RSR that only one kid REALLY wants to go on? Nope, sorry kid, you've already been on that ride 500 times in your life. Even paying extra for just 1 parent to take said kid makes me pause. ILL def caters to the once and done visitors. What real value is there to come back and pay that again? Once you've done a ride once and the surprise factor is gone, is it really worth $15 to do again?

 

[StormyCA]

So, sounds like we'll have to wait until WDW goes 'live' to get a (hopefully) definitive answer as far as the 'one per day per ride' for LL pass rides. I'm surprised it's not specified on the DL or WDW websites, although I admit I haven't scrutinized any 'small print'.

I can sort of see the reasoning behind it in a way. Even with MP there were times that you could only manage to get one MP for certain rides before they were gone for the day. And if you didn't get there at rope drop or within the first hour after opening sometimes you missed out altogether. So limiting to one/day would most likely allow more people to experience the ride as opposed to a lesser number of people getting to ride it multiple times.