Late start strategy with genie+?

[lovethesun12]

Our first day at Disneyland will likely have to be a late start since our flight gets in LAX so late.

I'm sure I will be up earlier than my kids, will I be able to book genie+ from the hotel room? Or would I have to enter the park?

Also any suggestions where to begin for a late start? I'm thinking we will get there around 10am.

 

[Lumpy1106]

If I were you I would plan on a nice breakfast (/brunch), then enter the park late and forget about G+ that day. You really need to get that first LL and stack them to get the best value.

Local tip: DO NOT RD RotR! It's about as far from the entrance as you can get and everyone blows right by everything else and heads straight to RotR. You can easily ride 3-4 rides in the time it will take you to get to RotR and wait in the rapidly increasing line there. Matterhorn, BTMRR, even Indy are all much better choices.

 

[abby2525]

You have to enter the parks first to use Genie. We're getting to the park around 1pm on our first day, so trying to decide what to do as well.

 

[lovethesun12]

If I were you I would plan on a nice breakfast (/brunch), then enter the park late and forget about G+ that day. You really need to get that first LL and stack them to get the best value.

Local tip: DO NOT RD RotR! It's about as far from the entrance as you can get and everyone blows right by everything else and heads straight to RotR. You can easily ride 3-4 rides in the time it will take you to get to RotR and wait in the rapidly increasing line there. Matterhorn, BTMRR, even Indy are all much better choices.

Thanks! I'm going to have to familiarize myself with this a little better, I'm only aware of how it works at WDW.

The issue is we already have genie+ on our tickets. Will we still be able to use it at all if we check in at 10am?

I'm guessing it isn't possible for me to just go and scan everyone's magicbands.

Thanks for the tip about RotR. I actually was originally planning to rope drop it (on our 2nd day). I think we'll head to BTMRR since it's one of my child's favourite rides.

 

[lovethesun12]

You have to enter the parks first to use Genie. We're getting to the park around 1pm on our first day, so trying to decide what to do as well.

Too bad, hopefully my kids sleep on the plane and we can go a little earlier.

 

[StarlitNight05]

If you already purchased G+ with your tickets, you can definitely still get use out of it, even with a late start. On our last trip, by day 3 we were pretty tired from rope dropping to nearly closing out, so we took it easy in the room, had a later breakfast and entered around 10ish (like you were thinking). We had a DCA start and we were still able to stack some return times (some almost immediate). We also did rides not offered on G+ like Mickey's Wheel of Death , with a minimal wait. That was the day I also saved for our RSR ILL for, so it worked out pretty well.

 

[sophy1996]

Don’t forget that at DLR Photopass comes with Genie+.

Coming in @10 you’ll still get plenty of LL.

 

[laugard]

Too bad, hopefully my kids sleep on the plane and we can go a little earlier.

You can absolutely get good use out of Genie+ entering at 10. Check out my recent post about one of our recent visits where we used it with a 10:45 arrival and leaving before 4. That's with taking time for breakfast and lunch, as well.

Now I do a lot of return time modifying, and you don't necessarily need to do that as I assume you're staying for a much longer day. Plus not everyone enjoys the modifying game lol. But even with just editing a few times, you'll be able to utilize a lot of lightning lanes. And as a previous poster wrote, there are rides at 10 a.m. that will still have immediate or pretty soon return times, as well as the ones without LL like Pirates.

 

[JerrodDragon89]

So when I went recently, besides Indy. Most LL rides times are within 5-90 mins most the day. So it's worth it, You will easily be able to ride Big Thunder, Matterhorn and maybe even Space within a few hours after entering the park.

Once you enter the park once you can leave the park and still make LL reservations and if possible modify your time instead of cancelling them because if you cancel the reservation its gone.

 

[lovethesun12]

You can absolutely get good use out of Genie+ entering at 10. Check out my recent post about one of our recent visits where we used it with a 10:45 arrival and leaving before 4. That's with taking time for breakfast and lunch, as well.

Now I do a lot of return time modifying, and you don't necessarily need to do that as I assume you're staying for a much longer day. Plus not everyone enjoys the modifying game lol. But even with just editing a few times, you'll be able to utilize a lot of lightning lanes. And as a previous poster wrote, there are rides at 10 a.m. that will still have immediate or pretty soon return times, as well as the ones without LL like Pirates.

Thanks so much! I'll look at your posts.

As for modifying, trust me my modifying game was pretty strong at WDW with FP+, lol. Hopefully those skills will carry over to DL genie+.

 

[Dr.Mickey]

I agree with the others. We did a 5 park day trip in June as East Coast dwellers who have spent way more time at WDW. Of our five days, we did two early entry days, and we slept in for three days that started around 10:30 (we do not love getting up early). We had no problem using LL even starting at 10:30. Obviously, we had to make some choices along the way that you will be used to from your own experience. But it was definitely worth the money for us.

One more thought - I think Rise of the Resistance is MUCH harder to get on in Florida. Even on regular summer days, the Rise line at DL was frequently 60 minutes or less in the afternoon. It seems to balloon instantly in the early morning, so I would avoid that unless you are literally on the rope at rope drop. Even so, it's such a long experience (which is a good thing) that you would be better served rope dropping several other quick attractions instead.

Have fun!

 

[chezcurrie]

We almost never arrive before 10 and almost always use G+. With the modify feature you can still get a good amount of LL’s. I treat G+ like the WDW fast pass of yore - use it for our top 3 rides and everything else is gravy.

For a later arrival I would save Space or Indy for a rope drop day when you can get an earlier return time as it will likely be into the evening and therefore impact the number of LL you can get.

As you are already experienced in modifying I suggest you search the threads here about how to fish for Multiple Experience Passes. Even having one makes your day even breezier as ”expedites” other LL you have (provided they are the same tier.) So it kinda takes the modify game out of it because it doesn’t matter if you have MEP and a LL for that ride. (Hope that made sense!)

 

[Lumpy1106]

I agree with the others. We did a 5 park day trip in June as East Coast dwellers who have spent way more time at WDW. Of our five days, we did two early entry days, and we slept in for three days that started around 10:30 (we do not love getting up early). We had no problem using LL even starting at 10:30. Obviously, we had to make some choices along the way that you will be used to from your own experience. But it was definitely worth the money for us.

One more thought - I think Rise of the Resistance is MUCH harder to get on in Florida. Even on regular summer days, the Rise line at DL was frequently 60 minutes or less in the afternoon. It seems to balloon instantly in the early morning, so I would avoid that unless you are literally on the rope at rope drop. Even so, it's such a long experience (which is a good thing) that you would be better served rope dropping several other quick attractions instead.

Have fun!

^ THIS, 100%. We waited standby for ROTR @ DL and it was a little over an hour late in the day on a pretty busy day. We skipped it entirely on our recent trip to DHS because the line never dropped below 2 hours.

One other big DL difference; DL JC is NOT a miserable wait! The queue is much more reasonable and a lot more interesting/enjoyable than JC in MK. No need to RD or even plan around it - just go when you have the urge. I actually prefer to ride at night. ROTR is the big line, then Indy, then Space Mountain. Indy blows the doors off of Dinosaur - don't miss it.

 

[maxbuffmelvin]

I am a rope drop, early entry, and G+ person. I never start using the G+ until after 10 AM because they're plenty of walk-on attractions before 10 AM, especially without the G+ option, such as Fantasyland Dark Rides, MMRR, Space Mountain, Jungle Cruise, Pirates, and Mickey & Minnie character greets.

 

[JerrodDragon89]

I am a rope drop, early entry, and G+ person. I never start using the G+ until after 10 AM because they're plenty of walk-on attractions before 10 AM, especially without the G+ option, such as Fantasyland Dark Rides, MMRR, Space Mountain, Jungle Cruise, Pirates, and Mickey & Minnie character greets.

You do you but I'd grab Indy or Space at 8 Am just to modify the time if your nor grabbing a LL before 10 AM anyway.

 

[maxbuffmelvin]

You do you but I'd grab Indy or Space at 8 Am just to modify the time if your nor grabbing a LL before 10 AM anyway.

You are correct on Indy. I forgot I usually book G+ for Indy at rope drop. Also, I forgot Space had G+ because I got used to Space being premium at MK when G+ commenced.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

I'm guessing it isn't possible for me to just go and scan everyone's magicbands.

Each person must be present to scan in, so that won't work.

You should be fine arriving at 10am.