Genie+ $29 per day but most major rides filled so beware

[spm2323]

We are here now, it’s the busiest we have ever seen it, have done one Christmas trip before back in 2003, others have been summer school holidays. We have found rope drop as we are on site the best this holiday if you want to guarantee the rides. We did toy Story mania twice at opening yesterday with no queues and then the Mickey/Minnie ride twice also with relatively little queue second time around. 3 year old under who loves them and under height and braveness for slinky just yet.

Had previously done the Star Wars ones at rope drop on another day.
we did try a genie+ one day and my very brief summary is that whereas years ago, the best fast pass strategy was to get in early, collect them and get out, with genie+, to maximize, you do what’s suggested above, make it a two park day and get a break after an early start or recognize that its a later day unless lucky, we secured slinky, smugglers run, toy story mania and alien one, the others had to be show based after that but we stayed in the one park.
Did we get good value, I think just about as we could concentrate on other things once we were had a ride secured, enjoyed some characters, some shows, theming, coffee etc would I pay for it every day when from the UK and you generally have two weeks to cover the rides, no, if I just had 4-5 days here like a lot of the US audience who holiday in shorter blocks, definitely yes and that’s why it was introduced.
Also noticed a lot more of the vip tours this time, maybe after the entry price, genie+ it works out well if you want to blast the parks and go straight to the front and you are time short.
Different budgets for everyone, we don’t any sit down meals, take snacks into the parks along with breakfast so save on that and put the money towards to Xmas party where we managed to do the whole of MK pretty much in that evening but recognize that’s not a cheap party night.

 

[Smugpugmug]

I'm here right now and did two days at Disney and one day at Universal. This week was VERY busy and Genie+ is less effective during these super crowded times but it's possible to grab LLs by refreshing. I had better success at MK than Epcot (which seems to be the general consensus year round). At Epcot, I booked Remy at 7 am and by 10 am, Test Track and Frozen were gone for the day. I didn't see Test Track come up once and I was too slow to grab Frozen whenever it did pop up. I ended up getting Spaceship Earth, Living with the Land, Nemo and Soarin, which all of these rides were over a 45 minute wait so it wasn't terrible. Personally I could not come during THE busiest week of the year and not buy Genie+. Remy went up to 200 minutes at one point and Test Track, Frozen, Soarin were 2 hours.

On the flip side, at Universal it was really nice to just walk up to any line you want and scan in, but those lines were not walk ons. Most waits were in the 5-20 minute range (Spiderman was 5 and Mummy took 20) but Gringotts took 40 and Minions was an hour. Single day Express is $200 per person per day and you wait an hour in the Express line. At Disney I didn't wait more than 5 minutes in any Lightning Lane. At least you can get Express by staying at a premier hotel but the rates for Christmas are kinda nuts (I saw Royal Pacific for $950 a night and that was a standard room. I'm not an AP so I cannot see AP rates.) Universal advertises their Express pass to only cut down half of the posted wait time so that's something to keep in mind too. Still, same as Disney I would never go there during Christmas and not have Express. Universal is just as insane crowd wise as Disney (but with WAY less strollers).

Rope drop was SUPER effective all three days. We got a lot done and I absolutely recommend it during the Christmas holiday. At Universal, I was not a hotel guest but bought my tickets through Park Prodigy, which is a travel agency that includes early park admission in their tickets. 100% worth it!

 

[cjlong88]

I'll stand by this statement so long as the current system is in place: I think rope dropping HS is a bad idea. All of the lines build up so fast that you MAYBE get two rides in before everything is really long. On top of that, it seems that many rides are reported down early on in the day, making all the other lines way longer. We have only gone to HS for the last few hours of the day two times on our current trip, and we have ridden every headliner at least once (many twice) with no wait because of G+ and hopping in line for a ride at park close.

I hate paying for it. But I firmly believe you have to let maximizing G+ guide you on how to tour the parks. If I'm so rigid on my plan (I must ride these rides at these times in this particular order) then G+ is going to be a huge disaster for me. I also believe that refreshing will get you almost any G+ ride. I've picked up Remy twice, Frozen once, MMRR once, and TSM twice after they were all sold out for the day. Any downtime where I'd normally be staring at my phone, I would just refresh, and then suddenly it would pop up. Sometimes it takes 2 minutes sometimes 20. But I'll tell ya, I'd much rather spend that small amount of time on my phone rather than waiting in a 150 minute line (or not riding at all). You don't need to refresh for every ride. I would say I was refreshing to look for about one ride each day.

This is also why I'm a huge fan of park hopper tickets right now. We have plenty of opportunities to ride everything we want plus our favorites again. The PH really allows us to visit every park 2-4 times (one in the AM and one in the PM) so we don't ever feel rushed to ride everything all at once. PH also opens up so many other attractions to you. If you find a plethora of a availability at another you can start stacking and head there for lots of rides at night. I know not everyone adheres to that line of thinking, but has worked so well for me and my family.

Because of G+ we have been able to enjoy a lot of time at our hotel, exploring other parts of the park, and taking things easy because we are using the system in it's most efficient way and building our day around it (not the other way around, which unfortunately many do and get disappointed). I dearly miss FP, but if I think G+ can work very well for people if they let it guide their day more than forcing G+ to fit their itinerary that must be followed to a T. It just sucks to pay so much for it.

 

[SwanVT2]

$29 for G+, another $29 for ILL, and third one for another $29, you spent $100 per person just on passes. Then the park ticket is $180 for park ticket, so a grand total of almost $200 per person. If you have a family of 5, you need $1000 per day just on the tickets and passes alone.

I think most people, unlike dot com billionaires, have issues spending $1000 per day for park tickets and reservations just like that. You still need to add meals, hotel stay, and plane ticket.

WDW used to cost about half of this before COVID.... I know they need to make up their loses, but wow!

It is 29.00 per person for ILL for one ride?!

 

[scrappinginontario]

It is 29.00 per person for ILL for one ride?!

Yes, for those who choose to pay it, some are paying $29 for one ride right now. It's lower other times of the year but peak prices today.

 

[SwanVT2]

Yes, for those who choose to pay it, some are paying $29 for one ride right now. It's lower other times of the year but peak prices today.

How do we find what it will cost in March? Thank you!

 

[gottalovepluto]

How do we find what it will cost in March? Thank you!

You wake up that morning and see the price. Personally I’d budget $30 since it’s theoretically the top due to this week being the parks most crowded and hope it’s lower.

 

[scrappinginontario]

How do we find what it will cost in March? Thank you!

Prices are not announced in advance. Each day MDE publishes that day's prices for Genie+ and the ILL$ rides.

For more information about Genie+ and ILL$ I would recommend you read the posts on page 1 of the Everything Genie thread.

 

[Scalemaster34]

Yeah Holiday's are not the norm....

That said I've been when Genie+ wasn't needed at all.
I've been when Genie+ was GREAT to have.
And I've been when crowd levels (none holiday) were so much for little parks (Epcot and AK) that Genie+ was useless at those parks might only get one major attraction, and not the one you really want.


Bottom line is crowd levels can exceed the "SYSTEM"... I get this time of year, Disney allowing more capacity, but other times they really should do a better job with the Park Reservation System

 

[pixiedust2u]

Did you research drop times or monitor thrill data before your trip? I realize that things recently changed with the modify option. But by doing our research before our December trip we were able to figure out when the “drops” were for additional genie+ were for headliners at Epcot. Though it appeared genie+ passes were “gone”for headliners, using info I gathered I was able to get genie + for test track & Remy in the afternoon hours. (We had secured frozen at 7am and also a VQ for GOTG at 7)

 

[GinnyB23]

This is my experience for Christmas 2022 travel. I got up at 6:30am and paid for Genie+. It costs $29 per guest per day so be prepared to spend extra $100 per day if you have a large family.

Even with the pass, I was not able to find any availability for major rides such as Ratatouille, Frozen, or Test Track as they are gone within a few minutes of app opening. So I ended up getting useless rides such as "Nemo, Land, Pixar" for $100+ Those rides do not need a pass to get on in the first place anyway.

It was a very bad experience for us this time at WDW. I am going elsewhere like Universal Studios next time.

Thanks for sharing this experience. I would rather know that this is a possibility before making the investment in G+. I will also avoid these high demand times as well.

 

[stinkpickle]

I only buy G+ on medium crowd days for when I visit MK or HS. And never for EP or AK.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I only buy G+ on medium crowd days for when I visit MK or HS. And never for EP or AK.

This is our history too.

 

[dizzy.cali]

We did genie + at HS on Dec 31 last year. Didn't use it since the rides were booked. I had misread my Slinky time as 9am instead of 9pm and missed a lot before i had that duh moment. We did rope drop though and had a great morning of rides without it. Then went to Epcot for food and fireworks.
HS genie+ works better on a mid to low crowd day.
With the variable pricing now I wouldn't buy genie+ for HS when the price is high since it correlates to higher crowds.

 

[DISNEYFOS]

party of 6 $1,240 a day for tickets.....yep...it stings.....but hey.....it gives us an opportunity for a $500 lunch and $300 for trinkets, and $100 for drinks......so $2,140 a day, all in....yet we keep coming

Thats fantastic. I just spent that for two nights club level at Royal pacific at Universal..skip the line with park to park tickets.

I really will not be going back until they trash this genie+ crap..

 

[Tom_E_D]

It is 29.00 per person for ILL for one ride?!

Almost but not quite. The most expensive ILL is Rise, which has been $25 this week. For the people who have been buying Genie+ for $29 and only getting one "good" ride out of it, they are paying more for that ride than they would pay for an ILL.

 

[Tom_E_D]

Could you flip this scenario for me? Seeing it laid out in this way is VERY helpful! We are starting at Hollywood and hopping to Epcot. What would you recommend? The only priorities are Smugglers, Toy Story Mania, Guardians and Soarin’. Everything else will be excellent additions to our day. I’m planning to purchase the ILL for Guardians and would like to try the VQ for Remy if it’s still available when we get there.

We’re also not staying on property so, if I read it correctly, then I wouldn’t be eligible to make my selections until Hollywood opens. Is that correct?

There is no longer a VQ for Remy. The only current VQ is for Guardians.

 

[DSLRuser]

I have to contest this as I am very savvy with the lightning lanes and the original poster is right. I had 2 days this last visit where I could not get Frozen and Remy in one day. One was sold out by 2 hours after park opening.

we never even attempt frozen for a G+. ride it during early mornings or last ride of the night.

you do need to make some choices with G+ LL...but the point is....it is very easy to get 5 and 6 rides plus the paid extras

 

[DSLRuser]

Could you flip this scenario for me? Seeing it laid out in this way is VERY helpful! We are starting at Hollywood and hopping to Epcot. What would you recommend? The only priorities are Smugglers, Toy Story Mania, Guardians and Soarin’. Everything else will be excellent additions to our day. I’m planning to purchase the ILL for Guardians and would like to try the VQ for Remy if it’s still available when we get there.

We’re also not staying on property so, if I read it correctly, then I wouldn’t be eligible to make my selections until Hollywood opens. Is that correct?

starting at the studios.....

get slinky as you first G+......then build everything off of that

 

[Timandalicia]

we never even attempt frozen for a G+. ride it during early mornings or last ride of the night.

you do need to make some choices with G+ LL...but the point is....it is very easy to get 5 and 6 rides plus the paid extras

That is a good point. The point the original poster is making is that you pay for the service yet don’t truly have access to all the rides (especially those that are most popular), because it is logistically impossible to book them.