Please help me understand G+ and LL

[ErinsMommy]

I apologize for may be stupid questions, but I'm still trying to figure out this whole G+ and LL thing.

1. Is there any advantage to buying G+ in advance before we arrive? Or we can buy day prior or day of? And where do we buy if we buy day of?

2. Can we buy LL in advance? Or can only buy once we scan in our ticket for the day? And where do we buy if we buy day of?

3. When we buy LL, are we buying it for a specific ride? So if there's no availability for that ride, it won't show up as a LL option? I've never seen the screens to buy LL so I have no idea what I'll be looking at or for.

4. Same question for G+ as #3.

Thanks so much!

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

1. Is there any advantage to buying G+ in advance before we arrive? Or we can buy day prior or day of? And where do we buy if we buy day of?

If you know you want G+, adding it to your tickets when you buy them can save a small amount of time in the morning of your parks days, but you can buy G+ each morning after you scan in. (Note that this is different for DLR than for WDW, so I am assuming you mean for Disneyland and not world).

All things Genie+ are in the Disneyland app. Definitely download and play with the app now so you are familiar with the screens and how it works.

2. Can we buy LL in advance? Or can only buy once we scan in our ticket for the day? And where do we buy if we buy day of?

No, you cannot buy any LL in advance. You can buy individual LL$ as soon as you scan in, up to 2 a day, and you can start booking G+ LL as soon as you scan in.

3. When we buy LL, are we buying it for a specific ride? So if there's no availability for that ride, it won't show up as a LL option? I've never seen the screens to buy LL so I have no idea what I'll be looking at or for.

Yes, it is for a specific ride. Download the Disneyland app and check out the Tip Board. That shows you the attractions, their wait times, and the next available LL or ILL for the paid rides.

4. Same question for G+ as #3.

The Tip Board lists all attractions - the ILL$ and the G+ rides, as well as the ones that don't have any.

 

[Steven G]

1) no real advantage, except that you don't have to pay for it once you enter the park. Note that if you buy in advance, you have to buy for EVERY day that you have tickets, so that is a disadvantage of buying it early. If you wait until the day of, you buy it in the disneyland app.
2) Only once you scan in at disneyland. you would buy it in the app
3) For LL, you are buying for a specific ride. It will still show up, but when you go to details of that ride, it will indicate none left.
4) Same answer as #3.

 

[BadPinkTink]

1. Is there any advantage to buying G+ in advance before we arrive? Or we can buy day prior or day of? And where do we buy if we buy day of?

When you buy in advance you buy for the length of your ticket. I have done this because I know I want it for each day of my ticket, as it includes Photopass. It helps me budget, its paid for so I don't have to include it in my park day spending money. It also means that as soon as I scan it, it will be activated and I dont have to think about it and can go straight to the photopass photographer at the entrance, in front of the train station.

2. Can we buy LL in advance? Or can only buy once we scan in our ticket for the day? And where do we buy if we buy day of?

The individual attraction lightning lanes can not be bought in advance, only on the day. You buy them through the App. You click on the attraction name in the app and there will be step by step instructions , click here buttons to the buying process

3. When we buy LL, are we buying it for a specific ride? So if there's no availability for that ride, it won't show up as a LL option? I've never seen the screens to buy LL so I have no idea what I'll be looking at or for.

Yes you are buying for a specific ride. It will show you next available time. The next available time may in 10 minutes or it may be 4 hours later in the day, it all depends on demand.

These are screen caps from my trip in January, the complete process of booking a Lightning Lane for Big Thunder Mountain

 

[ErinsMommy]

Thanks so much everyone! Very helpful!

 

[BrianL]

One thing that is confusing is that the term "Lightning Lane" refers to the expedited queue for both Genie+ and individually purchased attractions. Think of LL as the entry point - some attractions can have LL accessed through Genie+ and some have LL accessed by individual purchase - both are still LL. It's not the easiest of systems. Previous posters seem to have covered the practical use questions.

 

[Pluto468]

Jumping in with another question. So much to learn about these new systems.

Does everyone in your party have to have the app in order to use Genie+ and buy LL? As of now I'm the only person in my family with the Disney app. I thought maybe DH could get it since he takes the kids on rides I can't go on, but would it be better if they used their own phones? Can you share the Genie+ etc between accounts? Can we share Photopass?

 

[Steven G]

Genie+ is linked to the ticket. You can add the ticket to multiple phones (either by logging in to the same account on the second phone, or creating a new account and linking the ticket to the new account). You don't even have to link all the tickets on the first phone to the second phone.

Example: You have 6 people in your group, with two teenagers
For the two teenagers, you create a new account, and you link just those two tickets to the new account.
However, when you are all together, the original phone with all 6 tickets can book Genie+ for everyone, even the teenagers.

Then the teenagers can create genie+ just for themselves, when they are separated.

You can have as many phones and accounts as you want.

Note that in general, it is recommended that everyone has their own account, but it is not required.

 

[twodogs]

Jumping in with another question. So much to learn about these new systems.

Does everyone in your party have to have the app in order to use Genie+ and buy LL? As of now I'm the only person in my family with the Disney app. I thought maybe DH could get it since he takes the kids on rides I can't go on, but would it be better if they used their own phones? Can you share the Genie+ etc between accounts? Can we share Photopass?

We have two teens, me and DH. I manage all of the tickets through my account. Each of us signs in "as me" on their phone (4 phones all signed into the same Disney account). Any of us can book a LL or buy an ILL$ for one or all of us. We can all see what we have booked, wait times, etc. Everyone can scan their own ticket, LL etc from their own phone, or one person can scan at the ride for everyone (we usually do this to save time in line for folks behind us; if you split up, though, it is handy such that everyone can scan themselves in, wherever they are in the park, at a ride, at the entrance to the park to parkhop, etc). I think this is much easier than making everyone their own Disney account and linking tickets and signing in separately, as long as you trust your kids not to cancel a LL or something accidentally!

Each person has to buy G+ for themselves in order to book LLs for that person. Each person that buys G+ will have a photopass entitlement. If you only want photopass, and not LLs, you could add G+ only to one person's ticket for the day, and everyone could scan that barcode/QR code (can't remember which it is) when they get photos taken. All of the photos would be in the account of the person who bought G+ that day. But ONLY the person who bought G+ could book LLs for themselves only, the others would have to do Standby and could not book a LL (since they didn't buy G+ on their ticket).