Genie+ Advantage at Disneyland Resort
Genie+ provides an excellent advantage in Disneyland Resort for guests who want a relaxing day with short lines for attractions.
Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort both premiered a new line reservation system called Genie+ this fall. Walt Disney World premiered Genie and Genie+ on October 19 while Disneyland premiered December 8.
Disney Genie replaced Fastpass+ in Walt Disney World and Maxpass and Fastpass in Disneyland. In Walt Disney World Genie+ costs $15 a day and includes PhotoPass Lenses and Audio tales. Disneyland Genie+ costs $20 a day and includes photopass and Audio tales.
Genie
Disney Genie is similar at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland. Both resorts offer the free Genie that provides personalized itineraries that allows you to plan your day. The free Genie provides tips to guests on how to reduce time in line such as suggestions for the time of day to visit an attraction.
Genie+ provides guests access to the Lightning Lane entrances to select rides. Both resorts provide guests with a select number of attractions that qualify for Genie+.
Photo: DisneyDreamer.com
Walt Disney World and Disneyland both offer separate Individual Lightning Lane options for guests to add with ala carte pricing.
Attractions
Disneyland features Genie+ attractions at both California Adventure and Disneyland Park.
Genie+ attractions at Disneyland include:
Rise of the Resistant in Disneyland and Radiator Springs Racers and Webslingers are both part of the individual lightning lane attractions.
California Adventure attractions included on Genie+ are the following.
Our Experience
We spent a total of 2 days at Disneyland Resort during the week of Christmas. The crowds were high due to it being the holiday week. We had four in our immediate family and were also traveling with 8 additional extended family members. The entire party purchased Genie+ for both park days. The group also purchased individual lightning lanes for Radiator Springs Racers, WebSlingers, and Rise of the Resistance.
California Adventure
The first park day we spent at California Adventure. We stayed at Paradise Pier and entered the park directly at 8 am park opening through the Grand Californian Entrance. In Disneyland Resort, you cannot schedule your first attraction until you scan into the park.
Cars Land – Radiator Springs – Holidays – Disney California Adventure Park – 11/12/18. (Joshua Sudock/Disneyland Resort)
Genie+ Schedule
Upon arrival at 8 am, I immediately scheduled a Radiator Springs Racers individual lightening lane for 8:05-9:05. I also scheduled a Genie Plus for Incredicoaster as I noticed it was booking further in advance. I was able to get an Incredicoaster for 10:00 am. Our extended family members were staying at one of the Good Neighbor Hotels so they did not enter the park until around 8:30 as the line was longer at the main entrance. They had no issues getting the same time slots as us at the two attractions.
Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG
Since we had booked our first attractions, we were able to leisurely walk around the park for pictures and did not have to race to an attraction. We even had time to meet Snow White near Carthay Circle.
Since we were traveling with a toddler who was not tall enough to ride the attraction, we had to use rider swap. We notified the cast member who has us each scan our passes and gave my husband and oldest daughter a return pass. With rider swap, the guest waiting with the baby can pick up to 2 guests to ride again. My oldest daughter and I walked right onto the attraction, and she returned with my husband.
After we scanned into Radiator Springs, we were able to book individual lightening lanes for Webslingers immediately after around 9 am. As we were waiting for our family to arrive, we were able to ride Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree three times in a row (thanks to our toddler), eat a Churro, take some Photopass pictures, and still had time to wait for our family members.
Multiple Experiences Pass
Once everyone arrived, we were able to ride Webslingers with little to no wait. At that time, Incredicoaster broke down and we were automatically given a “multiple experiences” pass to use at any of the Genie+ eligible attractions. The multiple experience pass gives you the rest of the day to pick an attraction to ride. We decided to use this time to enjoy some snacks at Festival of the Holidays and lunch.
Photo: Disney
We scheduled a Genie for Guardians of the Galaxy for half the party and Toy Story Mania for the other half of the party while we enjoyed food. Both times were within the hour. After riding these attractions, we noticed Incredicoaster was back up and we scheduled another pass saving our multiple experience pass for later in the day. Upon scanning into Incredicoaster we were able to schedule a Soarin’ for later in the afternoon to give us pool and rest time.
In the afternoon after nap and pool time, we were able to ride Soarin’ and scheduled the next pass for Monster’s Inc after dinner. We enjoyed a lovely dinner at Carthay Circle and then road Monster’s Inc. After Monster’s Inc we scheduled a pass for Goofy’s Sky School. After riding this ride, we did not have any Genie+ attractions we had not ridden yet besides Grizzly’s River Run. Since we traveled in December and the temperature was 40 degrees we decided to skip Grizzly’s River Run.
We were able to enjoy some attractions that are not on Genie Plus and enjoy some live entertainment from the Suffragettes. It was a beautiful evening. Some of the party also used their extra Genie+ reservation to ride Guardians of the Galaxy again. Our day in California Adventure was a relaxing and enjoyable experience despite the heavy holiday crowds.
Disneyland
The second day of our trip we visited Disneyland. Our family walked to Disneyland from Paradise Pier through Downtown Disney. We arrived prior to park opening and waited for about 15 minutes before entering the park. Upon entry into the park, we scheduled our first Disneyland Genie+ for Indiana Jones Adventure at 10:00 am. Other members of our party booked an Individual Lightning Lane for Rise of the Resistance.
Credit: Disney
My immediate family with small children then headed to Fantasyland. We were able to walk on to Snow White’s Enchanted Wish, Pinocchio’s Daring Adventure, King Arthur’s Carousel, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, and Alice in Wonderland. The group then headed to Pirates of the Caribbean since it does not have a Genie+ option. We waited about 20 minutes for Pirates. Afterwards we enjoyed an amazing beignet at Mint Julep Bar while visiting with family.
Genie+ Disneyland Attractions
The entire party of 12 then headed to ride Indiana Jones’ Adventure with our Genie reservation. We then scheduled a Genie+ for Haunted Mansion Holiday for our next attraction while others in our group scheduled Big Thunder Mountain. After scanning into this attraction, we booked another Genie+ for Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin.
We then had reservations for the Plaza Inn Dining Package. Our group booked Space Mountain for later in the afternoon. Everyone enjoyed a leisurely lunch and then booked another Genie+ for It’s a Small World Holiday in the evening as two hours had passed. We also enjoyed the Christmas Fantasy Parade and received priority viewing from our Plaza Inn Dining package.
On our way to Space Mountain our ride went down again, and we were given an extra Genie+. We noticed that the Genie multiple experiences at Disneyland were tiered. Since we booked Space Mountain, we were able to use it for Indiana Jones again but if it had a lower tier booked, we would not have been able to. We then booked a new Genie+ for Splash Mountain.
By this time it was evening, and the fireworks were about to begin. We watched the fireworks and decided to head back to the hotel. We would have been able to continue booking Genie+ reservations but due to traveling with small children and several breakdowns we decided to head back to the hotel from some rest.
Feedback
I would highly recommend Genie+ at Disneyland resort. We visited during a crowded holiday week and never waited more than 10-15 minutes in a Lightning Lane. We were able to have an enjoyable vacation and not worry about rushing to the next attractions. Locals may not feel the purchase is needed every trip but for those visiting Disneyland as tourists will find an immense benefit to purchasing Genie+.
Do you want more help planning your next Disney vacation? As an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, my goal is to help you plan the Magic your way. I also create customized itineraries, book advanced dining, monitor for discounts for your vacation, and much much more! Also, did I mention that my services are FREE!!!! Contact me at SLoehrlein@MickeyTravels.com or follow me on Facebook @MickeyTravelsShannonLoehrlein
