Genie+ or hopper tickets?

[francoAlbertan]

Just wondering if others have had this same thought. Im trying to make a plan for a one-week March trip, and wondering where i should plan to put a few extra dollars.

Genie+ is definitely one way to get a few extra rides… but we enjoy showing up early and used to have really efficient fun mornings just by planning to bob when others weave (not hitting 7dmt or avatar) right at open. Afternoons could be tougher though, which is where FP+ used to help.

Given that, i wonder if we’d be better to stick with our regular style and fork out for the big blue money grab… or whether it might be smarter to do park hoppers instead?

I was never interested in that for prior trips… but might be more relaxing and actually accomplish more to just go with plan to hit one park at rope drop, then go back to the hotel and relax, and then make a call for the evening based on waits, shows, etc.

Would be easier if you could add hoppers only for single days… but i dont think that’s an option so it sort of forces the choice. Anybody else feeling the same dilemma?

 

[DSLRuser]

park hoppers are a must in the days of limited hours and expensive party ad ons.

go to MK in the morning on a day when there is a party that closes the park at 8, hop to Epcot to be able to visit that park till 10

 

[LSUfan4444]

IMO, both and less/no ADRs

Spend your money to create the most flexibility possible.

https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/gov...y-entity-adds-issue-to-special-session-agenda

That is correct, it cannot be added for individual days

 

[ZeeWP]

I think if you know you will use hopper it's worth it. Like if there are parties or you know "Epcot" is "only a half-day" park for your family and you would rather spend the extra hours in HS.

I think if you don't know, then I would go with G+. That's a better use of your time. also cheaper.

In my case, I am a lazy af and my kids are 6 and 8 and I just want transpo and days to be simple. So no park hoppers for us. Actually, we will probably (hopefully?) have the Military Salute tickets so they will automatically come with the hopper option. But we won't be using them. Genie+ with shorter lines is way more useful.

 

[_19disnA]

Genie hasn't launched yet so no one really knows how that will go. Will LOTS of people pay extra for popular rides or not? I would wait a few months until after Genie and the various options get going to make your decision. I am sure there will be people posting their experience on here once it gets launched. You aren't traveling until next March, so there is plenty of time to decide what to do.

 

[shawthorne44]

My personal decision is to add G+ (I already had Park hoppers) and cut out one QS per day. I had bought our tickets from the 3rd party seller recommended by TP. The PH was $50/day more than I could get the base version. My thought was based on the current (pre-G+) data that standby is much better at the very beginning and at the end of the day. So, I decided we should plan on midday rests, so that we could get both those times. With G+ having the no re-ride rule, I like the PH option even more since PH'ing will open up a another park's worth of G+ options. Since we will be leaving mid-day anyway, cutting down on in-park dining should be easy. We can arrive recently fed in the morning and afternoon, and leave for our rest when we get hungry or we run out of G+ options. Of course, we drive to Florida so we will have a car regardless. Without a car, that would change things.
I am making a list of worthwhile food/restaurants in WDW, and we'll eat offsite otherwise. But, they've lost our "I am hungry what is nearby" food budget. I think even with G+ and PH we will save money.

 

[MainMom]

I’d wait and see how genie+ works and how it affects people then make my decision.

 

[wdw71]

Like MainMom suggests I am going to wait and see. We have PHs but we’re are there part of the week before thanksgiving when we may not need G+ and into Thanksgiving week when we will most likely utilize it and maybe even fork out the cash for the Individual LL attractions. I hate it though.

 

[StuckInKS]

Trying to decide myself as well. We will have two weeks and the first week is at BLT, so we will have access to Evening magic hours 2 of those nights at MK and EP. Another thought is not doing G+ or PH and then adding on an AH party during our BLT week instead. That gives us an entire extra day at MK with limited people. I plan to go and then see what it looks like. If lines are horrible w/o G+, then we might have to do it.

 

[hou2009]

I’d wait and see how genie+ works and how it affects people then make my decision.

This. Another thing to consider is if you're staying at a deluxe hotel, you'll likely have evening magic hours. I'm trying to decide as well.

 

[SnowWhitee]

I found myself asking this same question for our trip Thanksgiving week. Me, DH, DD17 and DD20 will stay onsite and we will not have a car. Due to school schedules our trip is only four days, so we will go to each park once. Before G+ was announced I was all set to buy PH. We used to buy it and then stopped years ago due to cost. But FP+ worked well for us, so we did not really need it. Ultimately I decided not to get PH. Since you cannot hop until 2 pm and we are going at a time of year when hours tend to be shorter, I would rather rope drop and use G+ or IAS if/when we need it. At least you can buy those per day instead of investing in PH for the length of your ticket. In your case, you will be able to visit three parks twice if you choose to visit a park each day of your trip. Given that, I think you may be able to do most of what you want and add G+ or IAS if you need it.

 

[kathy884]

We are going in March too, but only doing two Disney days (two days at Epcot for some in our party and a day and Epcot and a day at the MK for others in our party). We also all will be doing SeaWorld one day. And some will be doing an expensive one day park to park pass with one time express passes at Universal (That's the real ouch $200 pp for the park to park day and $136 pp for the one time express pass).

I'm in the look and see group, won't be getting Disney hoppers (we'll be able to easy fill our day with activities at the parks we have chosen so aren't going to want to hop), but will seriously consider lightening lane and genie plus if it looks like it will improve our park day experience and doesn't seem too cost prohibitive. Do note: We were able to do new stuff at Hollywood studios in Dec. of 2019 and hit Animal Kingdom in 2018 (are skipping both of those on this next trip). Also, in our case it may be a while after this trip before we come back. The world class theme park experience for a day or a few days is certainly getting to be more and more expensive. I think this might be my last time to go down in March too (even though it's my favorite time to go weather wise. It's just too popular a time.)

 

[Selket]

I have not been in ages without having a PH ticket - generally I don't know where my older kids (now young adults) wanted to go half the time so with PH they could just pick their park. I still got PH for a December trip because I'm guessing they will want to hop to Epcot in the evenings - we all enjoy the food there and often eat dinner there.

I agree with folks who say we can't know until Genie+ is working and whether it is a good value. I'm sure Disney wants you to buy both so they'll do what they can to make that attractive (or not having both unattractive - haha!).