Need your opinion to Genie+ or not to Genie+

[mdelano4]

We have not been to the World in a few years (pre-Covid). I think I have a pretty good idea of managing Genie, but the question for me is do we really need it? Going for just a few days with another couple. Probably going to hit all the parks once. Would love to get on some of the rides that have opened since Spring 2020. Am I being unrealistic? Last time there was shut out of RoR every day! Trip will be Sunday to Thursday in October.

In your opinion, is Genie+ a must for this particular trip? Is it worth it? TIA

 

[kendo43]

So I’m going to copy and paste what I had wrote to someone earlier. We are the same as you. Haven’t been since 2019, wasn’t sure about spending $100 a day for our family of 4 on genie + but decided earlier on to budget for it. We got Genie+ yesterday for Epcot. Even with the app being super slow and glitchy until around 9:30am it was worth it for my family. We did every major ride aside from frozen on a very busy day. And today at Hollywood Studios with wait times at 80+ minutes we have rode tower of terror at rope drop. 8:30 slinky dog lightning lane. Then grabbed lightning lanes for run away railways for 11am. Wait times for it was already 70 minutes and we walked on in less than 5 minutes. Then was able to get on rock in roller coaster and then get lightning lanes for smugglers run this evening(right now a 85min wait) and Toy Story mania tonight at 6:30. So it was an easy but good choice for us.

 

[Lumpy1106]

You didn't say how long you are going, but here's my take from our June trip;
MK - Worth it. There are a lot of rides so pretty easy to stack and see pretty much everything what you want in 1 day. TRON is VQ, but you may still spend an hour in line if you get a later boarding group.
DAK - not worth it - as long as you rope drop. You can ride pretty much everything outside of Pandora in a morning at DAK without G+, BUT...you need to get there early. We rode, in this order, KJ, Dinosaur, Triceritops Spin, Everest, Kali River Rapids and rode the train both ways - max wait 10 minutes. We skipped Pandora, had lunch, then left the park for about 3 hours to go to DS when the crowds built, then came back to ride FoP. We would have ridden Navi River too, but the line for FoP was VERY slow and it took a lot longer than we expected.
EPCOT - not worth it - EXCEPT maybe in defense. What I mean is the standby lines for Remi and ESPECIALLY Frozen just crawl (other lines were not bad). Meanwhile you stand watching as 90% of the Frozen boats are filled with G+. AS long as you can tolerate REALLY slow standby lines, no need to get G+, you will see everything you want. Don't forget that Test Track has a single-rider line, Guardians is VQ.
DS - If you want to ride SDD, you'll probably want to get it. The worst line in all of WDW right now is SDD. They've shortened the line with G+ so it is entirely within the main queue, but that line is 2 hours on a regular basis. 2 hours of just...standing. Ugh! We got G+, but finished everything including shows and lunch at Woody's Backyard BBQ and left the park over an hour early. If you don't mind skipping SDD - maybe don't get G+. The other lines were all short enough that we felt silly having G+. Word to the wise; RnRC has a single rider line but usually does not save you much if any time.

 

[Mle8308]

Maybe??? Most of the new attractions use Individual Lightning Lanes and a virtual queue, so Genie+ won’t help. This weekend is a holiday weekend, so busier than normal. It’s going to depend on what rides you want to do and how long you’re willing to wait.

 

[Miffy]

Just FYI, RotR is an ILL$*, not G+. And you do not have to purchase G+ in order to purchase an ILL$.

*ILL$ = Individual Lightning Lane. This is independent of Genie+.

If you have not yet experienced RotR, I highly recommend doing it, one way or another. Your choices are: rope-drop and hope the ride's not down, stand in a long line, get in line about 1/2 hour before closing, or purchase an ILL$.

I'd also recommend ILL$ for FoP unless you plan to be at DAK all day. If so, get in line also about 1/2 hour before closing and the wait shouldn't be too bad.

As for G+, it all depends on how you feel about waiting in lines. I travel with someone who is averse to waiting in line, so we purchase G+ every day.

OP, if you're staying on-site, take advantage of Early Theme Park Entry, which gives you access to rope drop 1/2 hour before the official park opening time. If you're staying off-site, be warned that regular opening time rope-drop isn't the advantage it used to be because so many ETPE people are already in the park.

 

[GrandMum]

So I’m going to copy and paste what I had wrote to someone earlier. We are the same as you. Haven’t been since 2019, wasn’t sure about spending $100 a day for our family of 4 on genie + but decided earlier on to budget for it. We got Genie+ yesterday for Epcot. Even with the app being super slow and glitchy until around 9:30am it was worth it for my family. We did every major ride aside from frozen on a very busy day. And today at Hollywood Studios with wait times at 80+ minutes we have rode tower of terror at rope drop. 8:30 slinky dog lightning lane. Then grabbed lightning lanes for run away railways for 11am. Wait times for it was already 70 minutes and we walked on in less than 5 minutes. Then was able to get on rock in roller coaster and then get lightning lanes for smugglers run this evening(right now a 85min wait) and Toy Story mania tonight at 6:30. So it was an easy but good choice for us.

I had purchased Genie+ about 2 am on Sunday but when I tried to grab times or ILL at 7 am, nothing. It just kept hanging up. I finally gave up at 9 am and we headed to the parks. I had intended to try to get a refund (I know technically not refundable). As soon as I got to the front of the very long line at Guest Experience, it started to work. Turned out their entire system had been out until close to 10 am. CMs were doing very well despite all the complaining from guest. They gave us an experience which we could pick from test track, soarin or frozen everafter. After that we were able to get several rides and continued to refresh those for better times.

 

[pens4821]

I would if I were you. If you’re only going for a few days and each park once, I think that’s a great way to be able to ride everything you want. Plus some twice with rope drop and/or closing.

When we went last year we got it for 3 of our 6 days there. Two of the other nights we took advantage of the extra evening hours, and the other day was just a day in the middle of the week we did low wait stuff and took it easy.

 

[Ricguz]

So my take is this: I am against being told that I have to be in line at this time for this ride. I paid for Genie +, last December. I was grandfathered in at $15 per day, total $30 for us. Lines were long even for Genie, some rides broke down, pain in the —-. I was a prisoner to the clock. So to add more money to an already expensive trip, I am a no. Now, I stay at YC so I get early entry to two close parks plus extra hours if they have that at Epcot and HS during my stay. Also I usually go during Halloween or Christmas so I go to the parties so the rides lines at MK are not long.
You don’t need Genie + at Epcot and AK so you are looking at $25 (about) per person for MK and HS. It adds up especially if you have 4 or more in your party. Plus if you’re doing TS in the parks with the dining plan starting in January that also adds to watching the clock.

 

[rdevans_2000]

We have not been to the World in a few years (pre-Covid). I think I have a pretty good idea of managing Genie, but the question for me is do we really need it? Going for just a few days with another couple. Probably going to hit all the parks once. Would love to get on some of the rides that have opened since Spring 2020. Am I being unrealistic? Last time there was shut out of RoR every day! Trip will be Sunday to Thursday in October.

In your opinion, is Genie+ a must for this particular trip? Is it worth it? TIA

Echoing other responses. We purchase everyday for all parks, but that's only because we don't mind spending the money and we only go for about seven or eight days per year. Travel time is precious to us. If we can save an hour or two each day with Genie, it is worth it... to us. But I also echo other's responses. You can do without at AK and EPCOT. And, I think at all parks you can really improve the bang-for-your-buck if you rope drop in the morning and take advantage of lower crowds in the evenings, closer to closing. Take a break in the middle of the day.

 

[slo]

We are big Genie+ fans, so we recommend it to everyone.
In the end, it all depends on how much you want to wait in line. I have no patience for waiting in line, when I know there's an option to avoid it. I will always give up buying souveniers to pay for Genie+. My family will agree with this We are not wealthy people - average middle class - we incorporate Genie+ as part of our vacation expense, and if we need to take away an expensive meal to help pay for Genie+, then we'll do that. We'll make better memories riding the rides together than eating a meal that's $40 a person.

Whatever you decide - have a great trip!

 

[Silvermist999]

We purchased Genie+ and every possible Lightning Lane on our late Dec2023/early January trip this year. We only had a week at WDW so we weren’t about to waste time lining up, our last visit was in 2019! If you have lots of time, and don’t mind lining up, then don’t buy it. If you go often enough, don’t buy it. We have another trip booked for the same time later this year, we will buy Genie+ again without a doubt.

 

[CoasterGT24]

A great use of Genie+ is stacking for the park you plan to hop to. Rope drop and get shorter waits at one park, then hop in the afternoon with 3 to 4 rides stacked at the next.