Touring Plans Lines App or Disney Genie + ?

[MegMoves]

I'm curious about your experiences, thoughts and opinions on whether it'll be worth it to drop the money on Genie+ next month or Touring Plans + Lines App. We're a party of 4, so that's an extra $60 per day vs $20 for the whole trip for standby guidance. Are any of the Disney pros doing a head to head comparison when Genie+ comes out?

This is my first trip in 20 years, our first family trip with a college student and a 7 year old.

What are your thoughts, as you all have loads more experience in the parks?

 

[aubreighk]

I can’t make a clear assumption about the value of Genie+ until it comes out, but I can definitely say Touring Plans Line app cost is useless.
The My Disney Experience app has current wait times at all the parks available for free to anyone with the app. Plus, Disney has installed wait time boards all around their parks now, so even if you didn’t have the app you can see the current wait times for everything.

 

[Marionnette]

I can’t make a clear assumption about the value of Genie+ until it comes out, but I can definitely say Touring Plans Line app cost is useless.
The My Disney Experience app has current wait times at all the parks available for free to anyone with the app. Plus, Disney has installed wait time boards all around their parks now, so even if you didn’t have the app you can see the current wait times for everything.

Except Disney's posted wait times are usually off. Many times, they're off by quite a bit. For some people, it's the difference between deciding to skip an attraction or wait in standby for it. Well worth the $15 for a whole year for us.

 

[twincruisers]

G+ is an unknown at this point. I would preview the days you are going on TP and if you see busy days that show 6+ crowds, TP can help optimize your waiting times. I think $15 annual cost isn’t too bad as that is only one day of one person’s worth of G+ lost if it doesn’t payoff.

 

[ZeeWP]

Except Disney's posted wait times are usually off. Many times, they're off by quite a bit. For some people, it's the difference between deciding to skip an attraction or wait in standby for it. Well worth the $15 for a whole year for us.

This.

I am also a bit skeptical of Diane's touring plans being biased toward their needs whereas touring plans benefits by giving you the best product possible-so their plans will be more accurate to your needs.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Having seen yesterday's announcement I'm going to be keeping my TP subscription.

 

[mommamouseca]

We used the Touring Plans app multiple times during recent Disneyland trips. We found the wait times on the TP app to be very close to the actual wait (usually they were spot-on) whereas, the waits on MDE were longer than the actual wait. For our WDW trip next month, I'm planning to stick for TP app for wait times and general touring guidance. If I get Genie+ (still undecided on if I actually will or not) it will only be for the LL functionality.

 

[riddlemethis]

I'm curious about your experiences, thoughts and opinions on whether it'll be worth it to drop the money on Genie+ next month or Touring Plans + Lines App. We're a party of 4, so that's an extra $60 per day vs $20 for the whole trip for standby guidance. Are any of the Disney pros doing a head to head comparison when Genie+ comes out?

This is my first trip in 20 years, our first family trip with a college student and a 7 year old.

What are your thoughts, as you all have loads more experience in the parks?

Just popping in to say I love your avatar

 

[MegMoves]

Thank you, Dahling! Clearly you have taste!

 

[Karin1984]

Three reasons why I think Touring Plans is a better investment than Genie.

Genie is per person per day (+ILL), Touring Plans is a fixed amount for the whole trip for the whole family, and for a whole year. One Touring Plan Subscription is equal to Genie for 1 person for 1 day.

Besides that, Genie will direct you in the direction Disney wants you to go. Touring Plans is more objective. Hypothetically, Disney knows that for a lot of guests the waiting threshold is 45 minutes. They might put the waiting time at a ride at 50. Result: guests will skip that line and hopefully go to a shop, get a snack or check in at a restaurant early. Touring Plans might be able to say if it is actually a 45 minute wait or not.

And that Touring Plans doesn't inflate the waiting times, Disney does. If you want to ride an FP ride on standby due to lack of Genie or ILL, Touring Plans will more accurately tell you what the best time of day is to go in a standby line.

 

[dischris11]

We won't really know until we see the Disney Genie go live but do you think it would replace the usefulness of Touring Plans? Is there a point to buying Touring Plans still with Disney Genie available? I'm debating on what to do for my trip in a few weeks.

 

[Ermise]

Are you kidding? It makes Touring Plans even more valuable. I trust their actual wait times vs. Disney's now even harder to trust wait times. Disney will now literally profit on higher reported wait times.

 

[scrappinginontario]

We won't really know until we see the Disney Genie go live but do you think it would replace the usefulness of Touring Plans? Is there a point to buying Touring Plans still with Disney Genie available? I'm debating on what to do for my trip in a few weeks.

Your question has been merged with an active thread discussing this topic. Many have shared their thoughts in the posts above.

 

[rmclain73]

I just got back from a week at Disney and found touring plans line waits app to be the greatest tool in my pocket. They were within a couple of minutes every time of what they predicted the line wait to be. On several occasions I saw families pass an attraction because the posted wait time would be 75 minutes or higher. The lines app showed the estimated wait time to be 45 mins. Wouldn’t you know it I was on the ride in 42 to 43 minutes.

They also have a planning tool similar to the free version of Genie.

 

[Tom_E_D]

Your question has been merged with an active thread discussing this topic. Many have shared their thoughts in the posts above.

Actually, the thread started by MegMoves was discussing the merits of Genie+ vs. TP. dischris11 started a new thread to discuss Genie vs. TP. Genie and Genie+ are not the same thing, so it isn't the same topic.

 

[AUSyTyIN]

They also have a planning tool similar to the free version of Genie.

How is the planning tool? Does it work better that Disney's?

 

[ChrisParker]

I will never go without Touring Plans. On top of the better wait times in the parks, I spend hours ahead of time making and remaking my plans for the day and they work great.

 

[AUSyTyIN]

Exactly what I needed to hear. Thanks!

 

[AUSyTyIN]

I will never go without Touring Plans. On top of the better wait times in the parks, I spend hours ahead of time making and remaking my plans for the day and they work great.

Messing around with the app now. Is there a way to un-complete a step?

 

[Kmilos1024]

I found the touring plans app to be off when giving estimated wait times using a custom plan on a trip from 1/2 to 1/8. It seemed disney's wait times, especially midday were dead on and touring plans were way too optimistic.