What type of Disneyland ticket should I get?

[WillaKK]

Disneyland experts! I’m going to Disneyland on a three day CA ticket. I’ll only be using two full days and maybe a bit for one of the others. But, my question is should I do park hoppers or genie plus for my addition (I’m booking through an agency and it’s the same price for each)? I have qualms about genie plus (because of its replacement of fast pass, etc.) so I want to know if it is really worth it (and if park hopper would be more efficient).

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

1) This is not the forum for Disneyland Resort (DLR) in Anaheim, California. This is the Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida, board.
Try here for some real experts!
https://www.disboards.com/forums/disneyland-california.26/

2) FYI parkhopping at Disneyland is very different from WDW because it just involves walking. No buses or other transportation. Very easy to do. I recommend parkhopping for flexibility, esp on a short trip and if you have multiple shows and parades that happen at certain times of day that you want to see.
I do not have experience with DLR Genie+, but I'm sure dozens of people at the link above do. GL and enjoy planning a trip that should not involve umbrellas or rain ponchos!

 

[maleficent55]

I think park hoppers are a must. The two parks are a 2 minute walk separated by an esplanade, so consider it one big park in a sense and you will want the freedom that comes with that.

Also, there are 4 main night time entertainment happenings at the moment (fireworks, MainStreet electrical parade, world of color and Fantasmic). Three are in Disneyland with the world of color being in DCA. So having park hoppers gives you the option to experience one park and plan for the shows in another.

Disneyland is always open later than DCA too, so park hoppers would give you the ability to hop over to Disneyland when DCA closes.

I haven’t experienced Genie+ first hand, but am well versed enough with it to know that it would GREATLY improve your park experience and wait times. I loved and miss maxpass but this seems pretty close.

 

[Chemist]

If you can only pick one or the other, I would absolutely pick Genie plus.
When we were there last week, the standby lanes for nearly all the LL rides were >45 minutes. Some greater than 1h.
Meanwhile we nearly walked on everything with Genie+.

(If you have park hoppers and no Genie + that gives you access to more rides, but they will come with ridiculous lines.

 

[wassily]

For 3 days and this is your only visit this year.... I would do Park Hoppers.
If you are going to rope drop.. then Park Hoppers
If you are just want to chill and just enjoy the atmosphere, then maybe 1 park per day is fine.


For Genie +.. it depends on what is it that you want to do at DL/CA.

Are you more about doing all the rides multiple times?
Doing shows?
Character visits/pics?
Just want to stroll around at your own pace?
Eat everything in sight?

If you are all about maximizing rides and getting pics... then Genie+ may be good to add on for you.
If you are about eats, atmosphere, shows.. then maybe not.

If you want to do everything, then parkhoppers and Genie+

 

[gelatoni fan]

It depends on what your priorities are. Genie+ can be added per day so you could just use it on your first day and decide if its worth it for subsequent days. Park hoppers are for the whole ticket.

If your goal is to minimize wait times on rides or get photos, Genie+ may be useful. If you want to push to do things in both parks (ex. see World of Color and Fantasmic on the same night), then get park hoppers. If you think you can stay up, park hoppers enable you to hop over to Disneyland once California Adventure closes and get in more rides.

 

[shosh1530]

Maybe both if you can afford it depending on how crowded it is when you go. Given you only have two full days and a bit on the third day, park hoppers makes sense to me so you can spend time in California Adventure, but not have to lock in a full day for that. Park hoppers will give you more flexibility around dining and hitting nighttime shows if you are going when they are happening.

But if you are going at a busy time, adding Genie+ for at least one of your full days might also be really helpful. You can choose once you are at the park if you want to add it.

I will say we recently did a 2.5 day trip with park hopper and did not end up parking hopping at all (but we usually do!). So it is totally possible to live without it depending on what you want to accomplish.