Express Passes, Genie Plus, Lightening Lanes?

[twinmomma]

We are considering a trip to Orlando in April. The plan would be 2 days at Universal to do all things Harry Potter and 1 day at Hollywood Studios to check out Star Wars. We'll rent a house off property so we can have our own pool to relax and kitchen for cooking. 

I've been looking at the websites for both parks and am trying to figure out how these Express Passes/Genie Plus/Ligntening Lane things work. It seems like for a short trip like this where we have specific things we want to see, it would be worth it to add these on to the ticket prices. Do they essentially act like the fast passes that Disney used to have? Is it really worth it? 

[quesyrah]

Yes, it’s basically a paid version of fastpass. I haven’t used it yet so can’t speak to whether or not it’s worth it but we are planning to buy it during our trip.

Each park has 2 rides that are not part of Genie+ and if you want to bypass the standby queue on those you pay an individual fee (even if you have bought Genie+).

[curbsideprophet]

Genie + is $15 a day per person. As pp said, there are two attractions per park that are not included in Genie + and are priced individually.

Both the Individual Attraction Selections and the Genie + use the Lightning Lane which has replaced the Fastpass line.

If you are at the park at rope drop you can probably get in one of the Individual Attraction Selections then. Not sure what the lines for Rise and MMRR are like at the end of the day now the LL has opened backed up.

If you only plan to do Star Wars stuff you may not get the full benefit if Genie +. If you want to do other stuff like SDD, RNRC, ToT then it could be worth it.

[Patsy Baloney]

I just got back from the half marathon weekend at Disney, a trip with all adults. It was crazy crowded, but I just don’t think the genie+ service and Lightning Lane are worth it with a group of adults. With kids, I might splurge if there was a “must do” that was popular or you have a group that is generally unable to stand in line for 20-30 minutes.

We hit the most popular rides at the end of the day and found that wait times were overstated by about 10-15 minutes at every attraction, except in Pandora at Animal Kingdom. Those were dead-on and LONG ALL DAY. Rise of the Resistance stayed long, Ratatouille virtual queue was easy to get into, and the runaway railway hovered around 40 minutes most of the day. I think that one benefits from being able to get a lot of people on each time it runs.

Everywhere else fluctuated about 45-60 minutes depending on the time of day. If you can stay late in the parks, things become walk on in the last 2 hours. Also utilize single rider where you can - it saved us a massive wait for Smuggler’s Run and Rockin’ Roller Coaster, and we still sort of got to ride together (2 and 2 or 1 in separate cars of the same train). Early wait times were short as well, but we didn’t get to the parks early, just watched the app as we were getting ready in the morning.

[midwestmama]

I know this is an older thread, but I just wanted to share our recent experience with Genie+. It wasn't worth it for us. We were not staying on property, so I think that had an impact on our feeling of it's actual value. We went to Epcot for one day (December 20) and arrived at the park just after the non-resort guest opening time. All the Test Track LL passes were gone. Most of the available LL passes were for the evening or rides/experiences we weren't interested in going on. I kept checking throughout the day, and early in the afternoon I was able to get a LL pass for Soarin' for the early evening, so we did use LL once.

We stood in the standby line for Test Track, and it took around 60 minutes total (posted time was 80 minutes), but that included the time to design a vehicle. Frozen was around a 2 hour wait all day long.

Overall, we felt it was just a way for Disney to get more money without providing an equal return in value. If there is one ride you really want to go on, it might be better/more worth your money to just buy a LL pass for that one ride.

[meganew]

Dec 22, 2021 13:39:51 GMT -5 midwestmama said:

I know this is an older thread, but I just wanted to share our recent experience with Genie+. It wasn't worth it for us. We were not staying on property, so I think that had an impact on our feeling of it's actual value. We went to Epcot for one day (December 20) and arrived at the park just after the non-resort guest opening time. All the Test Track LL passes were gone. Most of the available LL passes were for the evening or rides/experiences we weren't interested in going on. I kept checking throughout the day, and early in the afternoon I was able to get a LL pass for Soarin' for the early evening, so we did use LL once.

We stood in the standby line for Test Track, and it took around 60 minutes total (posted time was 80 minutes), but that included the time to design a vehicle. Frozen was around a 2 hour wait all day long.

Overall, we felt it was just a way for Disney to get more money without providing an equal return in value. If there is one ride you really want to go on, it might be better/more worth your money to just buy a LL pass for that one ride.

Can you do LL without first doing Genie+?

[quesyrah]

Dec 22, 2021 21:50:32 GMT -5 meganew said:

Dec 22, 2021 13:39:51 GMT -5 midwestmama said:

I know this is an older thread, but I just wanted to share our recent experience with Genie+. It wasn't worth it for us. We were not staying on property, so I think that had an impact on our feeling of it's actual value. We went to Epcot for one day (December 20) and arrived at the park just after the non-resort guest opening time. All the Test Track LL passes were gone. Most of the available LL passes were for the evening or rides/experiences we weren't interested in going on. I kept checking throughout the day, and early in the afternoon I was able to get a LL pass for Soarin' for the early evening, so we did use LL once.

We stood in the standby line for Test Track, and it took around 60 minutes total (posted time was 80 minutes), but that included the time to design a vehicle. Frozen was around a 2 hour wait all day long.

Overall, we felt it was just a way for Disney to get more money without providing an equal return in value. If there is one ride you really want to go on, it might be better/more worth your money to just buy a LL pass for that one ride.

Can you do LL without first doing Genie+?

Sort of.

Genie+ is the service you buy that allows you to pick a LL return time. Then when you go back you enter the LL queue.

There are 2 rides per park that are not part of Genie+ and are individual purchases only. Although right now through early January those rides are included with Genie+

[nsl]

OP, if you're really only planning to focus on the Star Wars stuff at Hollywood Studios I wouldn't bother with either Genie+ or the a la carte Lightning Lane. With only two rides, the former isn't going to feel like a good use of your money, and with the latter you could easily rope drop Rise of the Resistance and then do Smuggler's Run standby later in the day (which you'd have to do anyway without Genie+) and still not feel like you've spent your day standing in lines.

FWIW, we just got back from Disneyland and only felt the need to purchase Genie+ one day when we had to alter our plans and suddenly only had one day in DCA instead of two. It was nice to be able to easily book our next high-interest attraction as soon as we got off a previous one and spend the intervening time exploring the park and enjoying ourselves rather than waiting in lines. We definitely could have done all the same rides without Genie+, but it would have kept us in the park later than we wanted to be and we would have felt more rushed in general.

[Deleted]

We just did 2 days at Universal. We did Express Passes for the first day and they were EXPENSIVE. I think we paid about $250/person, but apparently the price is somewhat variable depending on whether you’re at a peak time or not (we were). There were a few rides at Universal that did NOT have express pass lanes, like Velocicoaster and Hagrid’s Motorbike. Most of the HP rides did have express lanes though, most notably the Hogwart’s Express train between parks, and that line can get really long. So if you can afford it, I’d recommend EP’s for one of your Universal days, then plan accordingly what you do each day.

[chilerellanos]

Also, if you stay ar one of the premium universal resorts (they are definitely more expensive per night, but they are nice and convenient), you get unlimited express passes for everybody in your room.

It’s an amazing perk that always has us staying on property in one of those three hotels.

[huskymom]

Dec 27, 2021 18:43:01 GMT -5 chilerellanos said:

Also, if you stay ar one of the premium universal resorts (they are definitely more expensive per night, but they are nice and convenient), you get unlimited express passes for everybody in your room.

It’s an amazing perk that always has us staying on property in one of those three hotels.

Which one would you rec? Only Portofino seems to have balconies but not guaranteed which is something we usually want.

[chilerellanos]

Jan 2, 2022 15:58:01 GMT -5 huskymom said:

Dec 27, 2021 18:43:01 GMT -5 chilerellanos said:

Also, if you stay ar one of the premium universal resorts (they are definitely more expensive per night, but they are nice and convenient), you get unlimited express passes for everybody in your room.

It’s an amazing perk that always has us staying on property in one of those three hotels.

Which one would you rec? Only Portofino seems to have balconies but not guaranteed which is something we usually want.

We’ve only ever stayed at royal pacific. No balconies but I’ve never missed them.