Thoughts on if Genie+ makes sense for our trip

[2019TripIdeas]

Hi all! We did a Disneyland trip in 2017 & another in 2019 (with Maxpass, which we liked!) and WDW in early 2020 so we're not total rookies, but I'm having trouble figuring out if Genie+ add on makes sense for our upcoming Disneyland trip in March.

We have 3 kids (ages 4, 5, 7) and 2 adults. Everyones got the 42" point finally. We'll be there on a weekday. Our kids are totally fine with waiting in lines- no reasons why we "need" the quick access specifically. I don't think we'd need any of the rider swap type scenarios that we needed on past trips when they were younger since the oldest is seven. That said, I was happy to pay for Maxpass to have a slightly better experience before- will this feel similar? It almost seems more stressful with the 2 hr selection window- would I need to have my phone out and going all day? I've watched several of the youtube videos of different disney influencers explaining Genie+ and the more I watch, the more confused I am!

 

[SFMommy]

How many park days do you have?

 

[2019TripIdeas]

How many park days do you have?

Planning on likely only 2- 1 day at California Adventure (a little complicated because it looks to be closing early the Thursday we’d planned to be there) but we’d do the LL add on for Radiator Springs so no need for Genie+ there I don’t think.

And then one day at Disneyland (a Wednesday)- we’re not in any rush to do it all this time though and would likely more concentrate on the things we know our kids love (BTMR, Buzz, Haunted Mansion and I would’ve said Pirates but looks like that’s closed then too.)

 

[mdmost]

You can buy the day of. Perhaps try it without the first day and see how it works. If your kids are good with waiting in lines then it feels like you already won the battle.

A better alternative would to use something like touringplans.com to help you with planning your rides and see what the algorithm tells you about how your plan might play out. I think with the rides you're looking to do, you should be fine since most of those aren't rides with massive wait times. Genie+ would just save you the queue.

We have a 14 and 11 year old so they have absolutely no patience. For us, Genie+ is a must now as they've never know DLR without Fastpass or Maxpass.

 

[Steven G]

there are many factors:
1) Would you lose anything else by going with Genie+ (on a strict budget?)
2) How busy will the park be that day (hard to predict)
3) Do you want to have one person in your party stuck to their phone for a lot of the day?
4) Are you ok with missing out on rides because of time?

I second trying out something like touringplans to get an idea of how much time it will take, and to give you an itinerary. Just don't think it is even close to reality. I use it only as a general starting point, and a general path through the parks. Note that touringplans does not yet support genie+ times, so you would only get the times without genie+. Not sure when they are going to add genie+ (I assume they need more data, because they supported fastpass/maxpass, which was very similar).

Genie+ is very similar to Maxpass, so if you are used to maxpass, you should be able to adjust to Genie+, as long as you know the changes.

Genie+ makes the most sense for people who visit only once a year, or less often, or only have very limited time and want to maximise it.
I am sure that if they add a Genie+ optional add on for magic keys, then that would change things a bit.

 

[Chickinvic]

I would get the Genie+. There is nothing medically/emotionally "wrong" with me that I can't wait in lines either, but it seems like they are really dragging out the standby lines. This is obviously not a trip you make often (based on the history you provided), so I would say that life is too short to waste a ton of time in line. You only have 2 days. I'd just do it.

 

[2019TripIdeas]

3) Do you want to have one person in your party stuck to their phone for a lot of the day?
4) Are you ok with missing out on rides because of time?

I feel like those are 100% my sticking points. I liked MaxPass on our 2019 Disneyland trip and didn’t feel I was on my phone a ton- like it was just a plus to have. Our kids were younger then though so we were swapping and going on perhaps less thrill rides than we would now.

BUT my husband and I both didn’t love how often we were on our phones on our 2020 Disney world trip even with 3 fast pass planned ahead, trying to grab extra fast passes, checking wait times. I know to some degree it’s hard to avoid but I just really want to enjoy the time with my 3 who are so excited to just get back to Disney for a few days.

In terms of rides we’d be sad to miss out on, I don’t think so. We did 10 days at WDW on our last trip so from that perspective we’ve ridden some version of most rides already.

 

[2019TripIdeas]

^and thank you for all of the feedback! Helpful when trying to think through.

 

[Steven G]

Worst case if you don't get genie+ and you guys are miserable in the lines, is you can always just buy genie+ during the day. Sure, you may not get full advantage of it, but at least you can save some time.

Just don't forget that Disneyland has a lot less Genie+ rides compared to WDW (all parks), so even though it's more money ($20 instead of $15), there are definitely less rides on offer, although it includes photopass if that's a benefit to you.

 

[gelatoni fan]

Genie+ is less powerful than Maxpass so just because Maxpass was a good deal for your family doesn't mean Genie+ would be. Also, even if your kids are tall enough, do you know if they actually want to do the thrill rides? Even at 7 years old, Incredicoaster may be too scary so you need to know which Genie+ rides you would use.

That said, I agree with previous posters that you could start off the morning without Genie+ and add it later if you really feel bad about the lines.