Genie Plus

[Shaylasheets]

Hello!
We were at Disneyworld a few months ago over the Christmas vacation and purchased Genie Plus and felt like it was worth it. However, we are coming to Cali in March for spring break-ca adventure Monday March 13th and Disneyland the 14th. If we can avoid buying Genie we’d love to say a couple of hundred but if it’s a necessity we will get it. We don’t want to wait in 3 hour long likes either but aren’t too sure if the crowds compare to Florida. Thank you!!

 

[Sparrow'sLady]

In my experience, Disneyland always feels much more crowded and lines seem to be longer. There is not as much to do and yet there is a huge influx of both locals and visitors from various Asian countries. Get to the parks well before opening. The lines start building early and security in Disneyland is not as proficient as it is in Disney World.

I would get Genie+.

Just a Note: Your post will probably be moved as this is not related to Disney hotels. (if you want to bookmark it )

 

[scrappinginontario]

We are WDW vets and had the opportunity to visit DL for the first time last Aug. We purchased G+ all 4 days of our trip and it was SO worth it!! Unlike WDW, G+ return times at DL are often not far off so you can book many in a day. Our final day of our trip we were able to experience 28 attractions which we haven’t ever done at WDW!

 

[mdmost]

Definitely worth it if you're not a regular visitor and only have a set amount of days at the parks. It's incredible at DCA as you can bounce from ride to ride with it. Unlike WDW, the early hours of DL if you do rope drop are great. You can get so much accomplished before 11am. In that regard, Genie+ is great for riding again with little wait. You can ride Big Thunder or Space Mountain at rope drop and then save the Genie+ for another ride on those later in the day.

 

[Chickinvic]

In my experience, Disneyland always feels much more crowded and lines seem to be longer. There is not as much to do and yet there is a huge influx of both locals and visitors from various Asian countries. Get to the parks well before opening. The lines start building early and security in Disneyland is not as proficient as it is in Disney World.

I would get Genie+.

Just a Note: Your post will probably be moved as this is not related to Disney hotels. (if you want to bookmark it )

Going to disagree with your "not as much to do". DL and DCA pack a lot of rides into 2 parks.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Going to disagree with your "not as much to do". DL and DCA pack a lot of rides into 2 parks.

Agreed. Especially since Disneyland has more rides in one park than any of the four WDW parks do (not combined but for each specific park).

 

[Kit Jackson]

Also, Genie+ at Disneyland includes PhotoPass, so if you want pictures with characters or pictures from the rides, it may be worth it.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I've used Genie+ at Disneyland and WDW many times and it is really great to use at Disneyland. I don't hesitate to buy it for DL because I really feel I get to book more attractions than I do at WDW. As others have said times are more open (don't book up as fast) and usually I'm able to use one and grab another right away.

 

[Kender]

In my experience, Disneyland always feels much more crowded and lines seem to be longer. There is not as much to do and yet there is a huge influx of both locals and visitors from various Asian countries. Get to the parks well before opening. The lines start building early and security in Disneyland is not as proficient as it is in Disney World.

I would get Genie+.

Just a Note: Your post will probably be moved as this is not related to Disney hotels. (if you want to bookmark it )

DLR has roughly the same number of attractions in 2 parks that WDW has in 4. But in a footprint about the size of Epcot so it can feel more crowded between that and the smaller walkways. But lines tend to be shorter at DLR because there's more in a single park to spread out the crowd there than there is in a single park at WDW.



OP, on principle I hate saying G+ is needed. I personally don't think it is. But it does seem to work much better and more fairly at DLR than WDW. Such as no one can book an LL before tapping in at DLR.

I still don't think it's needed especially if you're doing 1 park per day tickets, but it can maximize your time. I think PHs have more value, though. The two parks are across an esplanade from each other and takes almost no time to hop between the two.

So no, I don't think you need it. But I do think it'll maximize your day if you have any concerns about hitting everything you want.

 

[Kerr84]

LL times don't sell out as fast as at WDW, so you can get LL times for soooooo many rides in 1 day. It was definitely worth it.

 

[Rich M]

For me Genie Plus will always be worth it as long as you can get on 5 rides. Even if a ride has a 10 min wait I still book it because in most cases the queue is way shorter then the regular line. I will take a few steps saved any day at Disney.

 

[DLgal]

Get the Genie+. It's only 2 days. You will be glad you did.

Also remember to use the "modify" option as much as possible to get your return times closer together.

 

[Disney Dider]

What is the modify option?

 

[chezcurrie]

What is the modify option?

You can modify your LL time (earlier or later) without losing your “booking time”. So you can still book a LL every 2 hrs but can select an earlier time if available, or push your time out to stack your LL for later, as an example. It’s a total game changer for me - so much more flexibility, and people cancel LL quite often so I have been able to move my LL up so as to maximize my G+ use. Even on very crowded days like this past Monday.

Also people forget once you scan into your LL it resets your booking time. So as a PP said even with low wait times it is very advantageous to book an immediate return time (assuming you don’t want to re-ride that ride) because as soon as you tap in to that ride you can immediately book another LL. So for example on Monday at 10:30 I had booked a 2:30 LL. I was able to modify it to 11:30 and then when we scanned in at 11:30 I could book my next LL - I did not have to wait until the original rebook time of 12:30. I hope this makes sense.

OP, for 2 days during spring break I would definitely recommend G+. Honestly I work it into the cost of my ticket/day regardless.

 

[Disney Dider]

So are you saying that you’re just constantly looking for cancellations in order to change the time?

 

[chezcurrie]

So are you saying that you’re just constantly looking for cancellations in order to change the time?

Only if you want to. I used it on Monday to bump that LL earlier because it worked better for us as my son changed his mind on what order he wanted to do things, but I personally don’t hang out on my phone the whole time. I usually book my LL and once we tap in a book another one. We are mid-day break people so at that time I do usually play around a bit and see if I can get some later LL stacked.

I treat G+ as a 3-ride guarantee, everything else is gravy. Some people try and maximize it to the extreme which would take more “screen time.”

 

[DLgal]

So are you saying that you’re just constantly looking for cancellations in order to change the time?

That's what I did when I bought it last time. I was able to modify a 10pm Space Mountain to 4pm...at 3:55pm. I had just made the reservation at 3:45. I immediately kept refreshing because we wouldn't be in the park at 10pm...

 

[chezcurrie]

That's what I did when I bought it last time. I was able to modify a 10pm Space Mountain to 4pm...at 3:55pm. I had just made the reservation at 3:45. I immediately kept refreshing because we wouldn't be in the park at 10pm...

Honestly this is a game changer for me with G+ as we typically don’t arrive super early. I’d be more inclined to buy it for an afternoon visit now that I’ve seen firsthand how easy it is to modify earlier. Now if only we could tack it onto our MKeys like MaxxPass!!!

 

[IslaLila]

Agree with others, G+ works really well at Disneyland. Much better than at WDW. At WDW, it's a race to get as many in as you can before they run out. At Disneyland, there are so many more times available and DCA is right next door. You can do a ton of rides on G+ back to back all day, or stack them for the afternoon while you take advantage of low morning wait times. Sometimes we do that, go back to the room to rest for a couple hours, then when we go back to the parks we do back to back G+ rides.

You can also start stalking the app to track wait times. Right now, Rise is at 80 min, Splash is at 20, Jungle Cruise is 35, etc. There won't be 3 hour waits. Disneyland can LOOK more crowded because walkways are smaller, but every time I compare wait times between WDW and DLR, I'd rather be at DLR.

 

[Disney Dider]

Only if you want to. I used it on Monday to bump that LL earlier because it worked better for us as my son changed his mind on what order he wanted to do things, but I personally don’t hang out on my phone the whole time. I usually book my LL and once we tap in a book another one. We are mid-day break people so at that time I do usually play around a bit and see if I can get some later LL stacked.

I treat G+ as a 3-ride guarantee, everything else is gravy. Some people try and maximize it to the extreme which would take more “screen time.”

This is good to know. I don’t recall seeing this feature when we were there in November.