Almost Free Traveling

Gone are the days of the Disneyland Fastpass: Genie Plus and Lightning Lane are here to stay. We’ve been researching how guests are experiencing them in the parks; here’s an article with all you need to know as you plan your next trip.

OVERVIEW

Genie Plus functions as a fast pass ride-scheduling service you can opt to purchase for $20 extra per ticket per day; it’s designed to save you time standing in lines by allowing you to enter the Lightning Lane (formerly the fastpass lane) on twelve rides at Disneyland and seven rides at California Adventure. You can buy it beforehand, but there’s really no need; we recommend waiting and buying it once you’re in the parks and can assess the crowds and wait times.

Genie Plus is similar to the old fastpass and maxpass systems in that you’re signing up for a return time to a certain ride at a specific time; the difference with Genie Plus is you can only use it to schedule one Lightning Lane entry per eligible ride per day. You can ride an attraction multiple times, but when you re-ride, you’ll have to use the standby line if you previously used Genie Plus to get into the Lightning Lane on that ride.

Sources say best practices for Genie Plus include never using it for a ride that has a less than 30 minute wait–in that case, you may as well just use the standby line and save your Lightning Lane returns for when a line’s ride is long.

HOW IT WORKS

Once you purchase Genie Plus in the app, sign up for your first Lightning Lane and it will give you a window of time to return and ride that attraction, just like the Disneyland fastpass system used to. Return during that window, and once you scan in, schedule your next ride in the app:

RIDES INCLUDED IN GENIE PLUS

Disneyland

Here’s a list of the twelve rides at Disneyland with Genie Plus Lightning Lanes:

Autopia

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters

Haunted Mansion

Indiana Jones

It’s a Small World After All

Matterhorn Bobsleds

Smuggler’s Run

Roger Rabbit

Space Mountain

Splash Mountain

Star Tours

California Adventure

This list includes all the rides at California Adventure with a Genie Plus Lightning Lane:

Goofy’s Sky School

Grizzly River run

Guardians of the Galaxy

Incredicoaster

Monsters Inc.

Soarin’ Over the World

Toy Story Midway Mania

A la Carte Lightning Lanes

A few rides have Lightning Lanes for which you can’t use Genie Plus; they must be purchased separately:

1. Disneyland:

Rise of the Resistance

2. California Adventure:

Radiator Springs Racers & Webslingers

These extra Lightning Lane entries cost $7-$20 per person per attraction, with prices depending on the day and the crowds (look in the Disneyland App on the tip board to check dynamic pricing for the day). Notice there’s no virtual queues anymore for Disneyland or California Adventure rides; it’s standby, Lightning Lane and for some rides single rider. You do not need to purchase Genie Plus in order to purchase an a la carte Lightning Lane. One last thing: be advised that any one person is limited to purchasing only two of these individual Lightning Lanes per day.

Photopass

Genie Plus also includes Photopass for the day, which is something lots of people love! There are Photopass spots all over the parks where cast members take photos of your party for you. We typically don’t buy Photopass because 1. Our iPhones have great cameras and we enjoy taking our own photos and 2. our family is rarely together in the parks now that our kids are older (example: in the photo above, we are missing a teenager).

If you want to leave the photography to someone else,–and your party will be together most of the time you’re in the parks–Photopass is a great perk that now comes with Genie Plus!

WHEN TO BUY GENIE PLUS: WHEN YOU FIND YOU NEED IT AND IT’S IN YOUR BUDGET

A lot of the value you’ll get out of Genie Plus depends on how long your Disney Vacation is. If you’ll have multiple days in the parks, you’ll have more time to accomplish all your goals and might be less bothered by lines, perhaps finding yourself never buying Genie Plus. Take it one day at a time; you may end up purchasing it some days of your trip and not others.

If you don’t visit the parks much and only have a one-day trip planned–or one day in each park–you might want to buy it to ensure you can ride everything you want to. I’ve heard some people say Genie Plus is more useful in Disneyland, and others say it’s more useful in California Adventure. Maybe you’ve never ridden Rise of the Resistance or Webslingers, and while you won’t want Genie Plus, you’ll splurge for the a la carte Lightning Lanes. The whole things varies person to person, trip to trip and is influenced by lots of variables.

Is it busy in the parks? You might want Genie Plus. Will you have babies with you and be using Rider Switch a lot, or will someone in your party have a Disability Pass (DAS)? These might influence your wait times enough so that you won’t want Genie Plus (DAS functions exactly like Genie Plus). Basically, YMMV!

Finally, the size of your party might matter: if it’s just you and a friend, an extra $20 might not matter, especially if you’re already buying Photopass. If adding Genie Plus to your entire family’s tickets is a financial hardship, however, do not worry! You will still enjoy the magic of the parks, even if you sometimes have to navigate longer lines (read about how we pay for Disney trips using credit card points and miles).

OTHER TIPS

Linking Tickets in the Disneyland App

When you link all your traveling party’s tickets in each person’s Disneyland app, you will also have them linked through Genie Plus, provided you purchase Genie Plus for each person’s ticket for the day. This means anyone in your party can go in and book the Lightning Lane for the entire linked group.

Parkhopper

If you purchase Genie Plus in one park and then park hop to the other, the Genie Plus you paid for at the first park works in the park you hopped to also!

Rope Drop, Stay Late

Some of the same old tips still apply: if you get to the parks when they open, the lines at the rides will generally be shorter, and might lessen your desire to purchase Genie Plus that day. If you close down the park and it’s open until midnight, again, the lines will be shorter and you might be able to pack in everything you want to do without Genie Plus. The choice is yours!

Editorial Notes on the Ala Carte Lightning Lanes

Radiator Springs Racers still has a single rider lane! I will probably not buy an a la carte Lightning Lane for this ride, because the single rider line has traditionally stayed fairly short, and my family doesn’t mind splitting up to ride RSR (the kids are older and we are often split up anyway).

With Rise of the Resistance, my family rode it twice on our last trip (right before Genie Plus rolled out), and then no one wanted to ride it anymore. I probably won’t ride it again anytime soon: it’s a fantastic ride especially for Star Wars fans, but part of the novelty is the surprise factor, and you really only get that once.

TAKEAWAYS

Only you can decide if purchasing Genie Plus and a la carte Lightning Lanes are right for you and your party. Take it one day at a time, and be sure to enjoy the magic of the parks no matter what!

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Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.