Is genie + worth it

[jimbojones]

We have discussed this a bit in our household. We are going for a longer period of time (not a one day affair) to DisneyWorld. I reckon that on the first week (of 3) that we are there that we will not use Genie+ we will just soak up the parks and queue for those rides that have an average wait line.
As we get towards the end of our visit - week 2 or week 3 and visiting the parks that is where we may utilise Genie+ as we will have had an idea of what rides we want to go on and as such we can go down the route of 'Planning' and 'crafting' more. The latter parts of August should also be cheaper and less busy which means we should in theory get more out of the parks and Genie +.

three weeks , dear god, you would have to pay me to stay that long. My longest visit was 10 days and the whole family was thoroughly ready to get out of mouseland and back to the real world by day 9. But I live in a city so my ideal vacation gets me away from crowds and lines, the little ones still say WDW is their ideal vacation.

But my irrelevant commentary aside..... I was there last August(2023) and it was the most crowded I had ever seen it . In the past my 2 favorite times to go were January and late August due to low crowds. But those days are over and without Genie+ last August we might have called the trip off early due to the wait times. G+ really was the thing that allowed us to have some fun, otherwise it was exceptionally hot, wet, and crowded, and just unfun as a result. Without G+ it would have been our last trip ever. The icing on the cake last summer was we all got COVID at WDW and had to spend several miserable days horribly sick quarantined in a hotel.

Now we are planning one last wdw trip while we still have a young child and calling it enough disney for one lifetime. But without G+ I would not even consider a WDW trip anymore. I think G+ is a necessary expense unless you are primarily interested in eating and just walking around.

 

[jannerUK]

While I don't dispute any of that, I think it would be economically not viable to pay for Genie + for all six of us for each day we visit (rough estimates is at least 6 times). A one off for each park may be do-able but then that would be better off in our 2nd or 3rd week where it is cheaper and possibly less busy...

 

[nickys]

While I don't dispute any of that, I think it would be economically not viable to pay for Genie + for all six of us for each day we visit (rough estimates is at least 6 times). A one off for each park may be do-able but then that would be better off in our 2nd or 3rd week where it is cheaper and possibly less busy...

I would see how the first day in each park goes and take it from there. MK and DHS would be the 2 parks to prioritise, but with 2-3 park days you might decide you don't need it at all.

 

[Chi84]

Are there any good articles/videos discussing the best ways to use Genie+/ILLs currently?

 

[Weather_Lady]

Are there any good articles/videos discussing the best ways to use Genie+/ILLs currently?

Disney Tourist Blog has some, and updates it fairly regularly. (In a nutshell, they recommend it at MK and/or HS especially when crowds are on the uptick, but typically don't find it necessary at AK and EPCOT. In playing around with G+ on Touringplans and making Personalized Plans with and without it, I'd concur with their advice. I can save some wait time at HS/MK with G+, but it's of negligible use at the other 2 parks, especially so long as we're rope-dropping and entitled to early entry.)

As far as whether it's "worth it," that's very subjective. A day of G+ is going to run about $80-$100 for my family. We're already in a great position, touring-wise, with the ability to get up early and be at the head of the line for early entry, and to leave after lunch when lines are long and come back a few hours later to take advantage of waning lines at the end of the night. Is paying for G+ objectively worth more than we'd spend on lunch for the 4 of us (or more than the price of a snazzy Disney spirit jersey and a bag of Goofy Taffy!), to save what averages out to an extra 10 minutes in line per attraction at Hollywood Studios, and still can't get us into Rise of the Resistance any faster? Is it worth my feelings of defeat (which I have, but I realize most probably don't) to pay a greedy corporation even MORE money on top of our exorbitant ticket and onsite hotel costs, just to gain the kind of access my pricy ticket should have guaranteed (and used to)?

Those are questions every family has to answer for themselves, and there's no right or wrong answer.

Lightning Lane & Genie+ at Disney World Guide & FAQ

This guide to Genie+ and Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World explains paid FastPass, with answers frequently asked questions about ride reservations, line-skipping, and itinerary tools for Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios.

www.disneytouristblog.com

 

[jimbojones]

While I don't dispute any of that, I think it would be economically not viable to pay for Genie + for all six of us for each day we visit (rough estimates is at least 6 times). A one off for each park may be do-able but then that would be better off in our 2nd or 3rd week where it is cheaper and possibly less busy...

G+ one time for each park is a good idea, maybe first visit to each park see what you can get done without it and then buy it for the second visit to make sure you get your priority attractions in, or the other way around. I know some recommend G+ first and othre G+ for a second visit, I think both have equal merit. But I think it is a mistake not to get it for at least one park day unless you win the crowd lottery and end up with a quiet day.

 

[Henry Mystic]

Genie+ is a convoluted system, but once you get it, it makes sense and is most definitely worth it.

If you go for, let's say 8 days, it's not as necessary for every day, but for those 1st park days at each park, I'd definitely say so.

I would sacrifice staying at nicer hotels or more expensive airfare tickets without a doubt for it.

 

[dreday3]

I have to say, we did excellent with late afternoon to night stacking with Genie +.

I would book a ride in the morning then just modify the time until I got one when we planned to arrive. Also did the same with other rides every 2 hours before we arrived. Then was able to add more rides while we were there.

On Thursday night we had Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Haunted Mansion and Mine Train booked before we even arrived at 5. Then kept adding more.

Did same for DHS.

Sounds like we were on phone a lot, but honestly we weren't.

 

[jannerUK]

Can I just double check to ask...do you need to be in the park (aside from the 7AM one) to book rides. So could we have a lay in say till 1PM outside the parks and then book all the later slots of rides? - ie. 11AM, 1PM outside the parks for a 4PM & 5PM ride.

 

[Tuvalu]

Can I just double check to ask...do you need to be in the park (aside from the 7AM one) to book rides. So could we have a lay in say till 1PM outside the parks and then book all the later slots of rides? - ie. 11AM, 1PM outside the parks for a 4PM & 5PM ride.

Yes you can do this.

 

[Weather_Lady]

Can I just double check to ask...do you need to be in the park (aside from the 7AM one) to book rides. So could we have a lay in say till 1PM outside the parks and then book all the later slots of rides? - ie. 11AM, 1PM outside the parks for a 4PM & 5PM ride.

You don't have to be in a park to make G+ reservations for later. You just need to either: (1) be making G+ in the park where you have a park reservation; or (2) with a parkhopper ticket, making G+ in any park for any attraction with a time slot available for 2pm or after.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

Can I just double check to ask...do you need to be in the park (aside from the 7AM one) to book rides. So could we have a lay in say till 1PM outside the parks and then book all the later slots of rides? - ie. 11AM, 1PM outside the parks for a 4PM & 5PM ride.

A>
Yes, but IMO, this is not the ideal way to use G+. If you only stack G+ for the PM, then you will only be able to book (1) pass every 2 hours. If we assume the park opens at 9am, stacking = booking passes at 7am, 9am, 11am, 1pm, 3pm, 5pm, 7pm.

On the other hand, IF you can:
1. arrive in the park before 11am AND
2. IF your 2nd G+ is for no later than 10:55am, then you will likely be able to book more passes,
3. at least if you keep booking return times that are less than 2 hours out.

As the day progresses, the good passes sell out. Booking G+ is a little like eating at a buffet. The early bird gets the worm, except in this case the early bird gets ALL the juicy worms.

B>
The other thing I've gleaned is that hopping adds value to G+ on days that MK is open late, if your group can manage to hop to MK.

You can only G+ book each attraction 1 time in your first park of the day, so as you book each pass, your options in that park dwindle. Not only due to what other people are booking, but ALSO due to what you have already booked.

Hopping works very well with G+.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

If we assume the park opens at 9am, stacking = booking passes at 7am, 9am, 11am, 1pm, 3pm, 5pm, 7pm.

It's worse than that. You can't book anything at 9am. 9am is when the clock starts for the two hours on the pass you booked at 7.

 

[Weather_Lady]

It's worse than that. You can't book anything at 9am. 9am is when the clock starts for the two hours on the pass you booked at 7.

Yes.

Just to illustrate: if the park is opening at 9am and you book your first G+ of the day at 7am (or anytime before 9am), your next opportunity to book a G+ won't be until 11am if the 2-hour rule is in play (that is, if the G+ you booked was more than 2 hours after park opening). If at 7am you book a G+ that is less than 2 hours after park opening -- say, for 10:30am, then you can make another G+ as soon as you've tapped into that one.

Also, if you plan to combine G+ with parkhopping, be aware that the 2-hour period will start running at the opening time for the park where you made your 7am G+ reservation, NOT the park you reserved to visit first. For example, if you're visiting AK (opening at 8am) and planning to hop to HS later (opening at 8:30am), and you make a G+ for Slinky Dog Dash in HS at 7am (or whenever the available return times cross the 2pm threshold for parkhopping -- you won't be allowed to make one any earlier than that), you can't make another G+ until 2 hours after you've made that G+ (if you had to wait until after park opening to get a late enough time), or 2 hours after _HS_ has opened (~10:30am), whichever comes later. Either way, you may find that at that time, none of the other HS attractions has reached the 2pm threshold yet, meaning you'll have to decide whether to book a short-term G+ at AK and see what the G+ windows are looking like at HS after you've tapped into that, or simply wait it out, keep checking the app, and grab the next HS attraction for which post-2pm G+ become available. In the meantime, if your initial G+ was after 2pm but earlier than what you really wanted, you'll have to keep checking the app so you can modify it when your desired time slot is offered.

It's enough to make one's head spin.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

It's worse than that. You can't book anything at 9am. 9am is when the clock starts for the two hours on the pass you booked at 7.

Yes - duh on my part. I was typing quickly.

 

[jannerUK]

It is such a minefield. When I think I have it in my head and come back to explain it to a co-family member of our plans I lose track of it. I think we would really use G+ on our days that we are fully in parks all day.
I guess using MickeyLuv'r's advice you want to avoid simply going just for the 2 hour bookings as his A route states.
So for example if I was going Magic Kingdom say and using Genie Plus it would work out akin to this roughly:

7AM Peter Pan - As likely to be the one that goes - Likely to be a 2PM plus slot
9AM Space Mountain - Another one that is likely to go - 3.15PM Slot.
- Go and do somewhere in the 9AM field Snow White (as does not have access to G+)
11AM - 1.45PM - Short Window medium rides booked on a cycle - HM, BTMR, Pirates - So to quote above I have not waited to do these three rides with a 11AM, 1PM, 3PM - meaning I have saved 1hr 45 minutes. I guess thats what you meant above?

Its making sense now. One BIG misunderstanding that I had is that you can only book one ride type full stop. That makes more sense to me now. You would not bother using G+ for Muppets but would for say Soaring, even if latter is a steady 25-35 minute wait all day. It cuts down on the time wasting and getting the use of G+

It...makes...sense!

 

[Weather_Lady]

7AM Peter Pan - As likely to be the one that goes - Likely to be a 2PM plus slot
9AM Space Mountain - Another one that is likely to go - 3.15PM Slot.
- Go and do somewhere in the 9AM field Snow White (as does not have access to G+)
11AM - 1.45PM - Short Window medium rides booked on a cycle - HM, BTMR, Pirates - So to quote above I have not waited to do these three rides with a 11AM, 1PM, 3PM - meaning I have saved 1hr 45 minutes. I guess thats what you meant above?

Just to point out, as noted in your discussion with Captain America above, if you booked Peter Pan at 7am, for a ~2pm time slot, and MK opens at 9am, remember that you won't be able to make that Space Mountain G+ (or any G+ at all) at 9am. You won't be eligible to make your second G+ until 11am.

Any G+ you make before park opening counts as if it was made right at 9am (or at whatever time the park officially opens), for purposes of the 2-hour rule. The only way you'd be able to make your second G+ sooner than that is if the return time for your first one was less than 2 hours after park opening: if that was the case, you could make your second one as soon as you'd tapped in for your first.

Examples and explanation here: https://www.disneytouristblog.com/120-minute-rule-genie-plus-disney-world/

 

[Kate Alan]

Just to point out, as noted in your discussion with Captain America above, if you booked Peter Pan at 7am, for a ~2pm time slot, and MK opens at 9am, remember that you won't be able to make that Space Mountain G+ (or any G+ at all) at 9am. You won't be eligible to make your second G+ until 11am.

Any G+ you make before park opening counts as if it was made right at 9am (or at whatever time the park officially opens), for purposes of the 2-hour rule. The only way you'd be able to make your second G+ sooner than that is if the return time for your first one was less than 2 hours after park opening: if that was the case, you could make your second one as soon as you'd tapped in for your first.

Examples and explanation here: https://www.disneytouristblog.com/120-minute-rule-genie-plus-disney-world/

Does the park opening referred to mean the standard opening time, or the “early entry” opening time for on site guests? Want to make sure I’m calculating the two hour window from the right start point!

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Does the park opening referred to mean the standard opening time, or the “early entry” opening time for on site guests? Want to make sure I’m calculating the two hour window from the right start point!

Standard opening, and there's no need to do any math. The app will show you right on your "Tip Board" when you're eligible for your next LL.

 

[Kate Alan]

Standard opening, and there's no need to do any math. The app will show you right on your "Tip Board" when you're eligible for your next LL.

Fantastic, that’s very helpful. Thanks!