Genie+ turned out to be not so bad...at least during Easter Week

[bizaro86]

We are going to Disneyland in a few days and have Genie+ (first experience with Genie+). I see in this thread, and elsewhere, that Genie+ opens at 7:00 am. I chatted with Disney, primarily because the Disneyland app doesn’t reflect that I have Genie+ even though my tickets are linked, and I was told Genie+ doesn’t become active until you are in the park. I questioned the 7:00 am open time for Genie+ and was told that was incorrect. I asked her to verify and she came back to confirm what she told me. She did add that sometimes it may open at 7:30 am for certain rides but that isn’t a guarantee.

I realize that WDW and Disneyland may not be aligned so I wanted to ask what your experience was at Disneyland. Was the Disney rep correct or did I get someone who didn’t know what they were taking about?

We've done both since Genie+, just back from DL.

The rep is correct. In California you can't make your first selection until you scan into the park. This can be before official park opening time - ie we scanned it at 7:35 for 8AM opening and could make a reservation right away.

I found the system much better in CA (maybe just due to more ride capacity per person?) We rode every genie plus ride in both parks in a single day other than incredicoaster/soarin (which my kids don't like) and Indiana Jones (which we rope dropped the next day). We could have easily done those ones standby between if we had wanted to, but chose to take it slower and watch Avengers shows, cavalcade, ride the railroad, back to TS for mid day break, etc.

 

[RX8]

We've done both since Genie+, just back from DL.

The rep is correct. In California you can't make your first selection until you scan into the park. This can be before official park opening time - ie we scanned it at 7:35 for 8AM opening and could make a reservation right away.

I found the system much better in CA (maybe just due to more ride capacity per person?) We rode every genie plus ride in both parks in a single day other than incredicoaster/soarin (which my kids don't like) and Indiana Jones (which we rope dropped the next day). We could have easily done those ones standby between if we had wanted to, but chose to take it slower and watch Avengers shows, cavalcade, ride the railroad, back to TS for mid day break, etc.

Thanks for that info! All I could see was that 7:00 am open time for Genie+. Couldn’t find anything that said that pertained to WDW only.

Any important tips or things you learned that you could share with first time Genie+ Users at Disneyland? Last time at DL they still had fast passes. Thanks!!!

 

[bnoble]

Disneyland is definitely different.

Guide to Genie+ & Lightning Lanes at Disneyland & California Adventure

Our guide to the Genie+ at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure answers frequently asked questions about the paid FastPass & MaxPass replacement, info & tips about the line-skipping Lightning Lanes, ride reservations, and itinerary tools.

www.disneytouristblog.com

 

[bizaro86]

Thanks for that info! All I could see was that 7:00 am open time for Genie+. Couldn’t find anything that said that pertained to WDW only.

Any important tips or things you learned that you could share with first time Genie+ Users at Disneyland? Last time at DL they still had fast passes. Thanks!!!

If you're familiar with the fast pass system this is basically the same. You can get one when you enter the park, and then every time you either scan in to the last one you got OR 2 hours after you got it you can get another one. Only 1 per ride.

I think it makes sense to do Genie+ in approximately the order of how popular the rides are (ie guardians/toy story first at DCA, space/indy first at DL).

If you book the super popular rides later in the day you have to wait a full 2 hours before you can get another one, while something like buzz, star tours, or small world will often have return times that are soon relatively late in the day.

The big exception on our trip was incredicoaster - it seemed return times were close in during the day, and then ballooned out when evening hit.

We rope dropped our very top choices in each park when we arrived, and booked genie+ for the big rides right away. We kept riding standby on short morning lines until our first genie plus was about to expire, then kept immediately booking new genie plus the rest of the day. We took an afternoon break and booked the big rides at the other park for after it, so when we came back from our break we had 2-3 stacked lightning lanes for the evening. Eg, when we badged in to our last DCA ride around 12:30 we booked space, but it wasn't until like 4:30. Then at 2:30 we booked big thunder mountain for 5PM, then at 4:30 we booked millennium falcon.

 

[heathpack]

We are going to Disneyland in a few days and have Genie+ (first experience with Genie+). I see in this thread, and elsewhere, that Genie+ opens at 7:00 am. I chatted with Disney, primarily because the Disneyland app doesn’t reflect that I have Genie+ even though my tickets are linked, and I was told Genie+ doesn’t become active until you are in the park. I questioned the 7:00 am open time for Genie+ and was told that was incorrect. I asked her to verify and she came back to confirm what she told me. She did add that sometimes it may open at 7:30 am for certain rides but that isn’t a guarantee.

I realize that WDW and Disneyland may not be aligned so I wanted to ask what your experience was at Disneyland. Was the Disney rep correct or did I get someone who didn’t know what they were taking about?

Genie+ at Disneyland in not available to you until you enter the park. At Disneyworld it is available at 7am.

This is standard policy and has been all along. I guess if you were able to scan into the park at 7:30 am- like the park opens at 8am and you’re staying on site with early entry (which I hear is going to be 30 min before park opening), then maybe you’d be able to book LL with Genie+ at 7:30am. But the key concept is that Genie+ is activated at park entry at DL.

 

[bizaro86]

Genie+ at Disneyland in not available to you until you enter the park. At Disneyworld it is available at 7am.

This is standard policy and has been all along. I guess if you were able to scan into the park at 7:30 am- like the park opens at 8am and you’re staying on site with early entry (which I hear is going to be 30 min before park opening), then maybe you’d be able to book LL with Genie+ at 7:30am. But the key concept is that Genie+ is activated at park entry at DL.

You can book it between scanning into the park and rope drop. IE we scanned it at 7:30 and went and waited by the rope for an 8 opening, and could make genie plus reservations well before 8.

 

[mdurette]

deleted and posted info in another thread.