Geez man I remember when Disneyland wasnt like this. It used to be so mellow and dreamlike. I'm talking 70's. Now it's like you need to have a strategic plan of attack to maximize your visit.
Another thing about phone charge, loosing cellular/Wi-Fi connection can cause your phone to constantly look for a connection, which drains battery faster. So when you get deep into some of those rides where you loose connection anyway (like Indiana Jones or Mansion), go into airplane mode until you get out of the show building.
I would love for you to do a tier-list-style video for the rides at Disneyland. Perhaps a video “don’t wait longer than X minutes” for each ride would be fun?
I do plan to do put something like that together. I meant to have one out earlier this month, but my plans changed and I wasn't able to. But it's on my list!
In those rankings, I feel like you could discuss the value of the lightning lane. IE, where in the queue it gets combined with the standby line (like how the LL feeds in at the door).
We're coming all the way from Asia and this is our first time, so we just want to make the most out of the trip. Currently binge-watching all of your videos! Thank you so much for this!!!
Great video guys! I haven't been to Disneyland in over 4 years due to moving across the country and then that global shutdown but I'm currently at the airport about to board my flight to LAX for Disneyland's Pride Night tomorrow. Watching you ride Thunder at night gave me all the feels. I CANT WAIT TO RETURN HOME 🥰😍
I found your channel recently as my family is heading to Disneyland for the first time despite being savvy veterans of Disney World and Universal Orlando. Besides my fave Molly of Mammoth Club, (❤ her!) you have been the most helpful in my planning that I’ve found. Thank you!
Another bonus of the MEPs is they don’t expire (for the day - so you aren’t restricted to a specific return time window) and they don’t count as a LL (in that you can stack them without limitation and you can book an additional LL as soon as your previous LL was converted to MEP even without using that MEP).
@@SoCalDisneyDad PS per your follow-up request 😉 Walt’s Main Street Story was very worth it for us. Mom balled. Felt like the Sistine Chapel tour ie almost felt like we were on ground so holy perhaps we shouldn’t even be allowed to be there - if that makes sense. Anyway, for the asking price it’s a pittance for any serious fan.
Also the CM working the tour had been there for ever. She was describing working Inner-space which I only got ride once as a 5 year old before they gutted it. So that also made it very cool - meaning all that knowledge and historic continuity.
Once i went in a cool post rainy February. When my friends and i arrived at the park, we jumped on 4 rides within the first hour. At one point i was on Star Tours 3 times getting off and getting back on within 45 minutes. I still love Disneyland but these days It feels like more work to have fun.
I’ll have another video like this out tomorrow. An actual how-to tutorial that walks through every step. I might have had some of that stuff in here. I don’t remember. But the one tomorrow is every single button push and our reasoning behind every decision.
Their is always something to learn on Genie + Just when I think I know it. You tell something about it I didn't know. Thank you for all the tips. And hopefully when and if I go in early September. I can use all your tips. You and Amy would make great travel agents. I know you mentioned it in your live.
Appreciated this especially for the buddy pass information! Also the free advice on the frozen Mickey sandwich. Lol Have you ever done a video on using the photopass you get with the genie+ throughout the day? I’m trying to catch up on your past videos and actually got this video when I asked you tube about photopass information. We have three reservations for Disney rope dropping but based on some research my daughter did we will actually be rope dropping the castle picture one of the days cause my daughter read that even though the line is very long in the morning it actually goes faster than later in the day because there are much more photographers. Since we can’t do a lot of the genie + rides because of motion sickness we think that using genie for both faster lines for the few rides we do want and photopass will make buying genie+ worth it for us. I’ve also been planning on disregarding your advice to not start reserving rides at 8 because, since at 76 I have a lot of time on my hand, and I’ve been practicing for months trying to maximize getting as many experience passes as possible. This way.i can say grab a Matterhorn, sky school, or incredicoaster reservation in the morning, even though I wouldn’t ride them and hope they are temporarily closed first thing in the morning and I’ll get an experience redemption pass (or two or three) that I can use on things like fantasyland rides that don’t have lightning lanes. I inadvertently was successful doing this on an all too short visit two years ago when I got a pass from Indiana jones that we were able to use on jungle cruise. My 80 year old, California native cousin was really impressed! lol
I appreciate this video. I am an AP at WDW, so I have never purchased Genie+, as there's no urgency to ride the rides, since we're there all the time. However, I have my 3rd trip booked to DL in August, and my 15 y/o Nephew's first time going, so I would like to use the feature, so he can ride as many rides as he can. Very informative! Thanks!
I totally understand! We hardly use it here, but buy it every time when we visit WDW. If you have any questions (about anything Disneyland really), feel free to ask. Always happy to help.
You are such a sweet family! thank you so much for all your content and tips! i am planning my first trip to disneyland with my 4th year son. Very valuable content as this visit can feel really overwhelming and confusing. Thank you!
We went at the end of June last year and my husband, being the major Star Wars fan he is, wanted to rope drop Smuggler's Run every day we were there. It was super cool - everyone went to Rise of the Resistance so we got to walk through the rest of Batuu when it was completely empty. Then we'd dart over to Hyperspace mountain (since they kept it longer last year) and then do Star Tours for our rope drop. Then we'd start using Genie+ for the day. Normally I'd pick something while we were in line for Star Tours. We had a LOT of breakdowns during our times but it was cool because we got a freebie every time it happened. All in all, Genie+ is absolutely worth it!
We got a few multi-experience passes in August when we used it last. This time, we had to force it to give us one. Surprisingly, nothing broke on us all day.
thank you so much for this video. i'm from orlando and proficient in genie+ for wdw, so i wanted to see how it works in DL. thank you so much for the tips etc. hopefully using genie+ in wdw trained me for DL when i come in april.
Hey Traver, if I rope drop space mountain, and book a LL for Indiana, then I get get to indie and see the stand by is short. Can I cancel it and book it later with no penalty? Love your channel ❤️
Thank you so much for this video! I am coming to Disneyland from the UK in November and my last trip there was 6 years ago so it was so helpful to have so many tips for how to visit the parks now!
if you buy a fuel rod in one park on your first day can you use it in another park. Like I buy it at downtown Disney Sunday and keep swapping it in and out in both DCA and Disneyland till Tuesday.
O-M-G! I really appreciate the content of this video. You are great at explaining things. I feel like you practically need a Ph.D to understand Genie +! The very thought of constantly having to check your phone is bad enough. I understand how it can be a useful, yet expensive tool ($25-$30/day/person???!), but for those of us who don't get to go all that often, there is a big learning curve. Thanks a lot Disney (not)! You must walk at least 10 miles a day when you do these videos. No wonder you are so tired, LOL! The things you do for your viewers, hahaha! Thank you!
If money is tight, no hopper. But it costs $75/person for a hopper for all 5 days. For a family going two days it’s $65 for both days. So for an extra $10 you’ve got it for three additional days than someone taking a shorter trip. It just makes sense to do the hopper for a 5-day because it’s the most affordable in cost per day, and gives you complete flexibility to go and do what you want when you want.
If me and my husband both have our family's tickets with LL loaded on each of our phones, do we both have access to booking and modifying our collective LL reservations? Or can we only do selections and modifications from 1 phone?
Two questions: 1. If you get a Multiple experience pass does it have to be used that day or can you save it for the next day if coming back to the parks.? 2. For the ILL, you mentioned purchasing the max of 2 per day. Can it be for the same ride?
No to both. MEPs are only good for that day. And ILLs are still one time use. But you can’t purchase more than two attractions on the program in a day. Right now, there are only two. Rise and Radiator. But they had a third a few months ago before it got moved to regular Genie+
Still watching the video, but wanted to mention that I’m glad you said something about the “tip board”. I had never heard about it in any video I’ve watched about Genie plus and the online groups I followed only really said how to use genie plus, but not where to find it. I got to Disneyland and opened my app thinking it was gonna say Genie plus or something obvious that I’d be easily able to find. I had to ask a cast member because I didn’t know to look there. I think I had looked there previously and thought it was just for the regular genie services. It’s important to note where to find that beforehand so you can make those first selections if you plan to do it early, or at least be able to get a feel for how to use it while you’re waiting for the rope drop Oh, the modification is a great tip. I booked a ride and it gave me an earlier time and I thought I was tripping 😂. It worked out better because It gave me enough time to do the ride I was waiting for and get my food I had ordered, eat and then get to the other ride within that hour time period. The booking the ride that is down is great. Even if you can’t get those super popular rides you’ll still get a free ride regardless and not have to wait in a long line.
The tip about pinning for the Tip Board is definitely more useful in a place like WDW in conjunction with the tip later about refreshing the screen to get earlier wait times. But, yes! Being familiar with the app before you arrive will be most helpful. I like to login and check Genie+ returns times in the days leading up to the trip and see what’s going fast, etc
Yes! There haven’t been any major changes since this video, except that Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway is on regular Genie+ now. As is Pirates of the Caribbean with the refurb of Haunted Mansion.
I can setup my Genie Day for our March 17th visit right now, but it says the app can’t give me a more tailored approach for another 20 days. So it’s something you really can’t do until like the day before or day of. It’s not a big deal. It doesn’t take long to setup. You could do it while waiting in line for rope drop even.
Yes. The multi-experience you receive from a broken attraction will always work for the attraction it broke on and other similar caliber rides. It just likely won’t work for BETTER attractions.
It’s recommended that only a single person manage the booking for the whole group. But I imagine so long as the whole group’s tickets are linked to both accounts, then both people could make selections, taking turns or however you want to do it. If the main concern is your adult child may want to split off from the group and do their own thing for awhile, then that should be fine. Genie+ is attached to your ticket, not to your phone/account. So anybody with a Genie+ activated ticket linked to their account can make reservations for that person. Suppose you have a group of 6, and 2 want to go off on their own for a few hours. The primary group will just need to Unselect the two that left whenever they make their own selections. And by the same token, the two on their own will need to be sure they don’t make any reservations for the main group.
It’s easier. But not necessary. We like them though. Especially since it interacts with some rides, and is programmed to coordinate with the nighttime spectaculars too.
@@sophiadoll4793 Only if it’s the newer MagicBand+ that’s rechargeable and lights up. If it’s the old MB2s that don’t have a battery, then it won’t work.
Question: when you use a multi experience pass on a non genie+ ride, where do you go to enter the ride? Since they don’t have a lightning lane to enter through.
Thank you for these amazing videos you make. I have little ones and would love to hear tips on meeting characters (royal hall), shows, and no height requirements rides.
Doing a character video is on our to-do list! As is redoing my video on rides with no height requirement (I do have a video, it’s just really old). The show one, if you check out my “Disneyland without rides” video from a few weeks back, it’ll list everything in both parks that covers things like shows.
Visiting both CA parks for 1 day on August 19th (Monday). We are regulars at DW but first time visiting CA parks. We plan on using Disney+ and entering park at rope drop. Which park would you recommend entering first until park hopper kicks in at 11AM?
Thank you so much for all of your info! Going the 2nd week of may for my 7yo daughters first visit...my 20th(ish) visit. I want her experience to be the best possible!
Thank you so much for your video, we are visiting Disneyland from Australia for the first time in March '24. I'm so confused about stacking our Genie Plus & booking every 2 hours when I've read on the app you can only have 2 per day, which you mentioned in Tip 14. Maybe they are two separate things but I'm confused. Thanks for explaining @SoCal Disney Dad.
So you can only have two individual lightning lanes purchases per day. Which at the moment there are only two rides on that program (Rise of the Resistance and Radiator Springs Racers) so it wouldn't matter. But when Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway was on the Individual Lightning Lane program, that was 3, so you would have only been able to purchase 2 of those 3 in a single day. However, MMRR moved to the standard Genie+ service a few months ago. The difference is the standard Genie+ service, which costs around $30-$40/person/day lets you into 20 or so rides. While the Individual Lighting Lane attractions are separate from Genie+, which means if you purchase Genie+ you'd still need to pay an additional fee for those rides. At the same time, guests who have NOT purchased Genie+ can still purchase the Individual Lighting Lane rides even without Genie+ Disney definitely did not make this easy with the similar terms, Lightning Lane and Individual Lightning Lane. Hope that helps? You can cram as many regular Genie+ rides into a single day as you possibly can make happen. It's just that you can only ride each ride once per day on the program. You could standby the ride a second time, though.
Once per ride. So as many as there are rides with LL if you can do them all in a day. If you stick to one park, it’s possible. Hard to do if you’re trying to cover both parks in a day. But it’ll help you out for sure.
Indiana Jones at Disneyland. Toy Story at DCA. For the others, you really just need to keep an eye on it. It fluctuates by day, but the more popular the ride (Space Mountain, Matterhorn, etc) the faster it disappears.
Yes, it should. But something to keep in mind is that Rider Switch uses the Genie+ lightning lanes. So hypothetically, you have a party of 4. Adult 1 Rides with Child 1 while Adult 2 stays out with Child 2. When Adult 2 goes to ride after switching, they will need to use their Lightning Lane NOT a rider switch. Or they won’t be able to make another selection on Genie+ as the first lightning lane needs to be used before more can be made. However, Child 1 can get their ticket scanned for a rider switch and ride again with Adult 2.
@@SoCalDisneyDad thank you! On that note, we are a party of 4. Child 1 is just meeting height requirements but not age; therefore, no ticket. Child 2 infant, no ticket. Would it be possible to just get 1 Genie+ for Adult 1, and request Rider Switch for Adult 2(non-Genie+) loophole?
@@TheMrNinzy Yeah, you should be able to do that. But keep in mind there are some rides on Genie+ that don’t have height requirements and your whole family can ride. Things like Haunted Mansion and it’s a small world.
This is the one I use. I love it because it's magnetic, so I don't have to deal with cords. But it's iphone Mag-safe specific, so newer models only and of course only iphones. amzn.to/48AxhJq But another option is the Fuel Rods throughout Disneyland. Buy once for $30ish and you get free swaps as often as you need them. My wife has one for her phone and she doesn't use her phone as much as me so generally only needs to charge it once throughout the day, but then she just exchanges the fuel rod for a fully charged one on our way out of the park so she has a full one for either use when she's out and about back at home, or the next time we come to Disneyland.
Hi. Just to clarify, what are the TIMES you are putting in the video? “POSTED WAIT” is the STANDBY wait time posted outside of the ride and not LIGHTNING LANE wait time right? Then “ACTUAL WAIT” is your actual wait time?
You need to use them right away. As an example: At 9:00 AM you see that Buzz Lightyear is available immediately. So you select the lightning lane and hop in line. As soon as you scan at the ride at say 9:05 AM, you can make another selection. You see that Star Tours is available immediately so you book that one while waiting in line at Buzz, which isn’t long. Say the wait and ride takes 10 minutes. Now it’s 9:15 AM and you’re hopping over to Star Tours. As soon as you scan in there, you book another lightning lane, this time for Autopia because it happens to be available right away as well. Star Tours takes you approximately 15-20 minutes and now it’s 9:35 AM and you’re making your way to Autopia. Scan in there and you’ll likely be on the ride in 5-10 minutes. Of course you have to walk there first, so perhaps it’s 9:55 AM when you finally get on the ride. And since you scanned in at Autopia, you grabbed another lightning lane while standing in line there too.
Thank you for the tips! My wife and I are taking a trip in may to celebrate our anniversary. Thanks to you, I feel knowledgeable enough to get the most of our genie +. Keep up the good content 👍
@@ozzman9600 Napa Rose is going to be the premier place to eat for a fancy meal. I’m pretty sure it has a dress code. It’s that type of fancy. If that’s too fancy, right next door is Storyteller’s Cafe. It’s a hybrid you can order from a menu, or they have a buffet. The buffet is really good and feels classy. It’s a place we always go to celebrate special occasions.
If it’s your only day, yes. But keep in mind that the most sought after rides might be gone already. You could take a look and see what’s available before you purchase it.
Hi! We recently went to disneyland using your tips and tricks. It was awesome! We had so much fun rope dropping and doing all the rides he love, character signing that i love! And shows we both love.❤ im so excited to have an oogie boogie tickets this year and been wondering if you will have a video about tips and tricks to the event since its our first time!
Thank you for doing this! We already pre purchased genie plus so this is very helpful. We also reserved for Fantasmic Dining at River Bell Terrace so I’ll be looking forward to that video! Lastly, I asked this question during the live stream but not sure it was answered so I am asking here again if you don’t mind... “We are planning to go to Disneyland the week of Memorial Day. Do you know what the weather is typically like at that time?” Thank you!
May is wishy washy. I’ve had to wear a jacket in the morning often as it can be a bit brisk. The marine layer of clouds in the morning usually keeps mornings cooler. But we are talking like 60. So if 60 sounds like paradise from wherever you are, then all good. The cloud cover will burn off by midday and you can expect temps in the 80s with clear blue skies. It might get cooler again in the evening for those nighttime spectaculars, so again, a jacket is helpful. It’s a dry, arid climate. We have no humidity. So if you’ve been to Disney World, it does not stay warm in the evenings after dark.
Thank you so much for all of these tips! My fiance and I both have Asperger's Syndrome, so we are trying to plan out our Disneyland trip to help lower any stress. The Disneyland website described the Individual Lightning Lane passes, but I could never understand anything about the Genie+, and I'm so glad to know that you could use the Genie+ to get more than 3 rides like their website said. Thank you so much. Amy, I hope you kick his butt in Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters next time! Thank you both so much
You were there 3 days before us in April. Unfortunately the day before we came was the night fantasmic caught fire. I was so bummed. We're going back in October and hoping it'll be back.
It’s one ride at a time, unless two hours elapses. So if I book one at 8:50 for 9:00, and I use it at 9:03, then I can book another at 9:03. But if I book one at 8:50 for 12:00, then I can’t book another one until 10:50, two hours after I booked it. But at 10:50 I could book another for 12:20 and “stack” the lightning lanes for a specific time. Stacking is only useful for when you’re returning to the hotel or for after a table service meal. Otherwise, you’re much better off booking closer ones and using them immediately.
@@SoCalDisneyDad so do they run out of genie ride times throughout the day, i thinking if you use it for a few rides everyone will have taken the other ride times. or is it always available after you use it?
@@bigcdizzel They do run out, but that’s why we do the most popular rides first thing in the AM. Because if you snooze on them too long, they’re out 4-5 hours and then you’re stuck waiting for the 2-hour rule. And snooze too long and they will run out of availability. But not usually until around 4-5 in the afternoon. Of course, right before then, the return times are for like 11 PM. So if you aren’t staying until close then the cut off is probably a little earlier. But again, focus on the big rides in the AM and then later in the evening you can hit up the smaller rides without hardly any downtime between lightning lanes.
@@bigcdizzel There are 22 rides on the service between the two parks. 13 in Disneyland and 9 in DCA. Only 5-6 of those will actually run out. But again, if you follow my advice and use the popular rides early before engaging the 2-hour rule you’ll be fine. Watch this video if you’d like to see us use every single lightning lane, and still ride nearly every standby ride as well: Can We Ride EVERY RIDE at Disneyland in ONE DAY!? th-cam.com/video/lYasEOhG6no/w-d-xo.html
Tip, you can get Genie plus way in advanced . I booked a Costco package 6 months ago, and locked into genie plus at $25/day. And I will be there during July 4th when its guaranteed to sell out and raise the price!
Yes, I mentioned that about tip 2 or 3. Right towards the beginning. Prepurchasing gets you the cheaper price. The only downside is that you have to apply it to every day of your trip. So a 5 day trip would be expensive if you only planned to use Genie+ for 2 of those days.
You said you can book from your hotel when you left during the day, is that only from disney hotels? Or can you do it from another hotel that might be a little further away?
Distance doesn’t matter, so long as you’ve scanned into the park for the day at least once. It’s not a strictly on property thing, so go back and rest, or maybe you want to grab a bite to eat outside the park at the Garden Walk, you can grab a lightning lane while you’re gone.
Thank you for this great info. We are heading there next month. We are staying at the Disneyland hotel. And we got the genie plus as well. What should be a good tip for us? I read that we are able to get in 30mins earlier. What ride should we go for first? Or tips on how to do it
Only Tomorrowland and Fantasyland are open for early entry. I would select your top rides from those two lands and plan to get 2, possibly 3 done in that time. Then, you can position yourself up near Toontown by the time the whole park opens and get right on Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. Or, alternatively, you could go for Rise, but might be quite a distance from it and the rope droppers could still potentially get there first. But you have prime access to Mickey and Minnie’s.
Thank you guys for posting all this wonderful content! I’ve been hooked since I found this channel 2 months ago 😀my husband & I are going 2nd week of May, 1 park per day passes. Haven’t gone since pre-Covid so this is very helpful info. ! Will definitely get Genie +for Disneyland. Since DCA is a smaller park do you recommend we get Genie + for DCA also?
Whether you get it or not probably depends on how many days you're going. If you're only going two days, one per park, I'd just get it. It's convenient to have. Even if you don't maximize it's potential. It's just one less thing to stress about (lines). We hardly use it, but we're local. If we can't ride something, oh well, we'll rope drop it next time or something. But when we go to WDW, we always buy it at least on the first day in every park. If we have repeat days, we generally don't purchase Genie+ on repeat days.
I see you and other people in the park are wearing sweatshirts. Some people were wearing coats and hats. So it looks cold. We are going middle of October. Will we need coats and hats then?
Hi Traver, this will be 1st time going to Disneyland with a family of 4 (2 adults and 2 young kids). Thank you so much for your videos, I've been learning a lot! A couple questions for you. For Genie+, is it possible to get lightning lanes reserved with one account logged into the Disneyland app? I have a 2 year old as well who's ticket is free. Will he be able to join the LL rides as long as there are no height requirements?
Yes to both. And I actually recommend you use only one device to manage the Genie+ reservations. You’ll just have to have all tickets linked to your account. And your 2 year old won’t need Genie+ to join you on rides like Pirates and Small World. Since there’s no ticket, there’s no problem.
Yes! They are super close. You can hop as much as you please. But hopping doesn’t begin until 11 AM. So you are in your selected starting park until then.
@@SoCalDisneyDad Thank you!! I did not know this!!! Ill be going in July do you recomend we start at Disney or CA? my nephews are 9 and 11 and thought we should start in CA for the cars ride at rope drop. But now im thinking rise of the resistance? we have genie+
@@nancyalavez7486 It really just comes down to priorities. Personally, we like to start in Disneyland because it's the more crowded park. Then we hop over to DCA around 1 PM because that's when Disneyland is at it's busiest. We'll hang out over at DCA for a few hours, then come back over to Disneyland for the evening.
I’ve never used Genie plus but it seems like you are doing a lot of walking and going to different lands. We tend to do one land at a time to completion before going onto the next land.
If your goal is the least amount of steps, that’s a fine plan. But you’ll waste a lot of time standing in long lines that will probably be shorter some other time of the day. Plus, with Genie+ you can’t always do the land by land thing. For instance, if you start in Tomorrowland and you try to book for Space Mountain, but it’s return time is 10 AM, you’ll either have to come back, or stand around Tomorrowland for 2 hours waiting for the available time slot to come up.
@@SoCalDisneyDadhow do you navigate the different areas & traverse the park quickly? Do you study a map first? Trying to figure out how to use this strategy with a group of noobs (myself included 😅)
@@MissMiaAfroGoddess The Disneyland app is also invaluable for this too. It functions like Google Maps and shows you on the map along with a visibility cone to indicate direction. So you can just point the right way and walk. That’s probably the easiest. But you can study it too. Disneyland is a wheel. With the Hub at the center, all the lands, except a few, separate from it like spokes.
how do i add my wife's phone to link the accounts? do i add her to my account or does she need to create her own? thanks for the videos it is really helping me to understand this and plan our trip.. in October..
@@SoCalDisneyDad thanks... I have a bunch of questions, but i dont want to be a pain.. So we both have it I can just book the LL and we scan just my phone, or hers and mine... and you can link a card to buy the ILL for say Rise and Mickey and Minnie, then the next day buy two more? I forgot to mention It'll be her first in many years and mine in about 10 -12 ish... also what about magic bands with genie plus?
@@markhurley983 Correct. You only really need one phone to do all the booking/scanning. And if you do get the MagicBands, you’d link those in the app and then you don’t need the phones at all for scanning. You’d still use the phone for booking new lightning lanes, but at each attraction, you’d just scan the magic band.
You can book a new lightning lane when one of two things occurs. Either you use the first lightning lane you booked OR 2 hours passes from the time you booked your first lightning lane. So as an example. If you booked your first lightning lane at 9:04 AM. You can’t book another one until either A) you use your first one, or B) it becomes 11:04 AM. So I generally try to schedule lightning lanes that would be available with in the next 30 minutes. That way I could potentially ride 4 lightning lane attractions from 9 AM to 11 AM while someone else is waiting two hours because they booked something for 12:30 PM and can’t use it until then. Does that make more sense?
To continue the example. If you book your second lightning lane at 11:15 AM (because you had to wait for the 2 hours to elapse), you can’t book your third lightning lane until either you ride the ride from your second lightning lane OR it becomes 1:15 PM.
Love your videos! It helps so much with my DL & DCA planning! I have a question!! If we only have magic band but not magic band plus … what’s alternate way to access genie plus, admission, etc for everyone in the family ?
Unfortunately, only MagicBand+ works at Disneyland. Absent that, you’ll need to link everyone’s ticket to the Disneyland app and scan each ticket at each Lightning Lane. You’ll actually need to link everyone’s ticket anyway, even to use MagicBand+ as the MagicBand links through the app and the tickets you have associated with your account.
I'm planning my first trip to Disneyland since Galaxy Edge opened. Is the lightning pass good for Rise of the Resistance? I don't see any of Galaxy Edge in your video
There is a individual lightning lane available for Rise of the Resistance, so a separate cost for that besides genie+. Smugglers Run is on the regular genie+ though.
I have a question about the multi experience pass. If we use the hack you said about booking a ride that is down, can you use the multi experience pass for different things for different people? Say we have a family of four and two of the people decide they want to ride the originally booked ride, but the other two do not, can two use it on one attraction and two use it on another?
Thank you for all the tips! If you want to modify your reservation, do you have to modify it before your reservation window, or can you modify when your reservation is live?
Question on Genie+ , you can book a time that’s available in the app right and modify (the time later) and it does not change when your two hour window to book the next started?
Thanks for all the tips. I'm going to be in Disneyland for my first time on Sunday April 30th. I am still debating whether I will need Genie+ or not 🤔 Can you please link the battery you were talking about. Thanks!
I’m hoping to be there that day too. I don’t have a reservation yet, so no guarantee. Genie+, at a minimum, is a nice quality of life upgrade to be less hassle and less stress during your day. At most, it’s a huge amount of time savings, even off season as you saw in this video. I’d recommend it. Here’s the charger I talked about: amzn.to/3oEo6pe The Fuel Rods, the other ones I mentioned, are available for purchase in the park and include free swapping at any kiosk.
Thanks! I really hope you get a reservation for Sunday too. I would love to see you there and learn more first hand 😉 I'm coming from Toronto Canada. It is my Birthday gift to myself. I am a mother of 6 and I'm treating myself to a solo Disneyland trip. I have always wanted to visit Walt's original park for as long as I can remember ❤
Just back from my Disneyland trip and want to thank you for all your tips and suggestions. Had a wonderful trip, a big part of it was thanks to all your wonderful videos and the information you shared, it all helped so much!
So if you have multiple people in your party and you link their tickets to a single phone, can that phone/account book LL reservations for every connected ticket?
![[FINALE] 💸ที่แท้พ่อเป็นผู้ถือหุ้นบริษัทพันล้าน เขากลับใจตอนนี้ก็สายไปแล้ว🙇🏻♂️#ละครคุณธรรม #short](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/yFwgjTFISUI/mqdefault.jpg)
Geez man I remember when Disneyland wasnt like this. It used to be so mellow and dreamlike. I'm talking 70's. Now it's like you need to have a strategic plan of attack to maximize your visit.
yeah man you can replace the world disneyland with anything else. Housing, stocks, jobs, banks, everything is complex now man!
Another thing about phone charge, loosing cellular/Wi-Fi connection can cause your phone to constantly look for a connection, which drains battery faster. So when you get deep into some of those rides where you loose connection anyway (like Indiana Jones or Mansion), go into airplane mode until you get out of the show building.
I would love for you to do a tier-list-style video for the rides at Disneyland. Perhaps a video “don’t wait longer than X minutes” for each ride would be fun?
I do plan to do put something like that together. I meant to have one out earlier this month, but my plans changed and I wasn't able to. But it's on my list!
@@SoCalDisneyDadplease do
In those rankings, I feel like you could discuss the value of the lightning lane. IE, where in the queue it gets combined with the standby line (like how the LL feeds in at the door).
Every time we get ready to go to Disneyland, I load up on all your content. Thanks for all the great tips!!
Omg thank you, Trevor and Amy! This is the most helpful Genie+ tutorial out there! You guys are the sweetest and cutest family! Thank you! ❤❤❤
Thank you!
We're coming all the way from Asia and this is our first time, so we just want to make the most out of the trip. Currently binge-watching all of your videos! Thank you so much for this!!!
Glad to hear this! If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Always happy to help.
Man oh man this advice is PURE GOLD!! Thank you for the thorough information I feel like I finally understand Genie+
I’m glad you found it helpful! If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Always happy to help.
Great video guys! I haven't been to Disneyland in over 4 years due to moving across the country and then that global shutdown but I'm currently at the airport about to board my flight to LAX for Disneyland's Pride Night tomorrow. Watching you ride Thunder at night gave me all the feels. I CANT WAIT TO RETURN HOME 🥰😍
I hope you have such an amazing trip!
I found your channel recently as my family is heading to Disneyland for the first time despite being savvy veterans of Disney World and Universal Orlando. Besides my fave Molly of Mammoth Club, (❤ her!) you have been the most helpful in my planning that I’ve found. Thank you!
Another bonus of the MEPs is they don’t expire (for the day - so you aren’t restricted to a specific return time window) and they don’t count as a LL (in that you can stack them without limitation and you can book an additional LL as soon as your previous LL was converted to MEP even without using that MEP).
Yes! Thanks for all the additional info.
@@SoCalDisneyDad PS per your follow-up request 😉 Walt’s Main Street Story was very worth it for us. Mom balled. Felt like the Sistine Chapel tour ie almost felt like we were on ground so holy perhaps we shouldn’t even be allowed to be there - if that makes sense. Anyway, for the asking price it’s a pittance for any serious fan.
Also the CM working the tour had been there for ever. She was describing working Inner-space which I only got ride once as a 5 year old before they gutted it. So that also made it very cool - meaning all that knowledge and historic continuity.
Once i went in a cool post rainy February. When my friends and i arrived at the park, we jumped on 4 rides within the first hour. At one point i was on Star Tours 3 times getting off and getting back on within 45 minutes. I still love Disneyland but these days It feels like more work to have fun.
I appreciate the information and tips as you were utilizing them. So much useful information to the point in this video. Loved it!
I’m glad you found it helpful!
Thank you for the tips! Going to Disney next week and definitely was feeling a bit overwhelmed!
I’ll have another video like this out tomorrow. An actual how-to tutorial that walks through every step.
I might have had some of that stuff in here. I don’t remember.
But the one tomorrow is every single button push and our reasoning behind every decision.
Hi Amy. Can you tell me which Loungefly bag you’re carrying here? I love the color!
Their is always something to learn on Genie + Just when I think I know it. You tell something about it I didn't know. Thank you for all the tips. And hopefully when and if I go in early September. I can use all your tips. You and Amy would make great travel agents. I know you mentioned it in your live.
Heading to Disneyland in 10 days and your videos have been so helpful
I'm going to DCA and Disneyland with my daughter today and these tips are so helpful!
Hope you have an awesome day!
Appreciated this especially for the buddy pass information! Also the free advice on the frozen Mickey sandwich. Lol
Have you ever done a video on using the photopass you get with the genie+ throughout the day? I’m trying to catch up on your past videos and actually got this video when I asked you tube about photopass information. We have three reservations for Disney rope dropping but based on some research my daughter did we will actually be rope dropping the castle picture one of the days cause my daughter read that even though the line is very long in the morning it actually goes faster than later in the day because there are much more photographers. Since we can’t do a lot of the genie + rides because of motion sickness we think that using genie for both faster lines for the few rides we do want and photopass will make buying genie+ worth it for us. I’ve also been planning on disregarding your advice to not start reserving rides at 8 because, since at 76 I have a lot of time on my hand, and I’ve been practicing for months trying to maximize getting as many experience passes as possible. This way.i can say grab a Matterhorn, sky school, or incredicoaster reservation in the morning, even though I wouldn’t ride them and hope they are temporarily closed first thing in the morning and I’ll get an experience redemption pass (or two or three) that I can use on things like fantasyland rides that don’t have lightning lanes. I inadvertently was successful doing this on an all too short visit two years ago when I got a pass from Indiana jones that we were able to use on jungle cruise. My 80 year old, California native cousin was really impressed! lol
I appreciate this video. I am an AP at WDW, so I have never purchased Genie+, as there's no urgency to ride the rides, since we're there all the time. However, I have my 3rd trip booked to DL in August, and my 15 y/o Nephew's first time going, so I would like to use the feature, so he can ride as many rides as he can. Very informative! Thanks!
I totally understand! We hardly use it here, but buy it every time when we visit WDW.
If you have any questions (about anything Disneyland really), feel free to ask. Always happy to help.
You are such a sweet family! thank you so much for all your content and tips! i am planning my first trip to disneyland with my 4th year son. Very valuable content as this visit can feel really overwhelming and confusing. Thank you!
Question: We have early entry to Disneyland on Sunday is it an exception to the rule of rope dropping Rise?!
We went at the end of June last year and my husband, being the major Star Wars fan he is, wanted to rope drop Smuggler's Run every day we were there. It was super cool - everyone went to Rise of the Resistance so we got to walk through the rest of Batuu when it was completely empty. Then we'd dart over to Hyperspace mountain (since they kept it longer last year) and then do Star Tours for our rope drop. Then we'd start using Genie+ for the day. Normally I'd pick something while we were in line for Star Tours. We had a LOT of breakdowns during our times but it was cool because we got a freebie every time it happened. All in all, Genie+ is absolutely worth it!
We got a few multi-experience passes in August when we used it last. This time, we had to force it to give us one. Surprisingly, nothing broke on us all day.
Thanks for this video
Great video. Reminds me of how I used to do it with the paper fast passes and max pass. Convinced me to buy the Genie+
It’s pretty similar in execution. Yes!
thank you so much for this video. i'm from orlando and proficient in genie+ for wdw, so i wanted to see how it works in DL. thank you so much for the tips etc. hopefully using genie+ in wdw trained me for DL when i come in april.
They are the same system, so you should be well prepared! Hope you have an awesome trip.
@@SoCalDisneyDad ty! keep up the great videos
How do tou do mobile orders?
Family trip next week-thx sooo much!
Hey Traver, if I rope drop space mountain, and book a LL for Indiana, then I get get to indie and see the stand by is short. Can I cancel it and book it later with no penalty? Love your channel ❤️
Will be going for the first time next week. Great information thanks.
Thank you so much for this video! I am coming to Disneyland from the UK in November and my last trip there was 6 years ago so it was so helpful to have so many tips for how to visit the parks now!
if you buy a fuel rod in one park on your first day can you use it in another park. Like I buy it at downtown Disney Sunday and keep swapping it in and out in both DCA and Disneyland till Tuesday.
Yes! You can swap it anywhere FuelRod machines are, including the airport.
But they’re only free to swap on Disney property I believe.
O-M-G! I really appreciate the content of this video. You are great at explaining things. I feel like you practically need a Ph.D to understand Genie +! The very thought of constantly having to check your phone is bad enough. I understand how it can be a useful, yet expensive tool ($25-$30/day/person???!), but for those of us who don't get to go all that often, there is a big learning curve. Thanks a lot Disney (not)! You must walk at least 10 miles a day when you do these videos. No wonder you are so tired, LOL! The things you do for your viewers, hahaha! Thank you!
I did 27,000 steps on Monday. 😅 I’ve had a few days go above 30k, but 25k is an average.
First time coming up July. 5 day pass. Park hop or not? Staying dvc Disneyland Hotel. Thinking 3 at DL and 2 at CA, using early entry.
If money is tight, no hopper. But it costs $75/person for a hopper for all 5 days. For a family going two days it’s $65 for both days. So for an extra $10 you’ve got it for three additional days than someone taking a shorter trip.
It just makes sense to do the hopper for a 5-day because it’s the most affordable in cost per day, and gives you complete flexibility to go and do what you want when you want.
@SoCalDisneyDad many thanks. Solo trip so this helps.
If me and my husband both have our family's tickets with LL loaded on each of our phones, do we both have access to booking and modifying our collective LL reservations? Or can we only do selections and modifications from 1 phone?
Excellent tips and tricks! Can't wait to use them all on my Disneyland trip in a few weeks!
Two questions:
1. If you get a Multiple experience pass does it have to be used that day or can you save it for the next day if coming back to the parks.?
2. For the ILL, you mentioned purchasing the max of 2 per day. Can it be for the same ride?
No to both. MEPs are only good for that day. And ILLs are still one time use. But you can’t purchase more than two attractions on the program in a day. Right now, there are only two. Rise and Radiator.
But they had a third a few months ago before it got moved to regular Genie+
Thank you so much! Your videos are soooooo helpful!
Still watching the video, but wanted to mention that I’m glad you said something about the “tip board”. I had never heard about it in any video I’ve watched about Genie plus and the online groups I followed only really said how to use genie plus, but not where to find it. I got to Disneyland and opened my app thinking it was gonna say Genie plus or something obvious that I’d be easily able to find. I had to ask a cast member because I didn’t know to look there. I think I had looked there previously and thought it was just for the regular genie services. It’s important to note where to find that beforehand so you can make those first selections if you plan to do it early, or at least be able to get a feel for how to use it while you’re waiting for the rope drop
Oh, the modification is a great tip.
I booked a ride and it gave me an earlier time and I thought I was tripping 😂. It worked out better because It gave me enough time to do the ride I was waiting for and get my food I had ordered, eat and then get to the other ride within that hour time period.
The booking the ride that is down is great. Even if you can’t get those super popular rides you’ll still get a free ride regardless and not have to wait in a long line.
The tip about pinning for the Tip Board is definitely more useful in a place like WDW in conjunction with the tip later about refreshing the screen to get earlier wait times.
But, yes! Being familiar with the app before you arrive will be most helpful.
I like to login and check Genie+ returns times in the days leading up to the trip and see what’s going fast, etc
Do these tips still apply to 2024?
Yes! There haven’t been any major changes since this video, except that Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway is on regular Genie+ now. As is Pirates of the Caribbean with the refurb of Haunted Mansion.
When are the top pics available? I have tickets but onlynfor july and I cannot make that selection yet.
I can setup my Genie Day for our March 17th visit right now, but it says the app can’t give me a more tailored approach for another 20 days.
So it’s something you really can’t do until like the day before or day of. It’s not a big deal. It doesn’t take long to setup. You could do it while waiting in line for rope drop even.
Tks...I love your vídeos...
Let’s say I got a multi experience pass for Autopia because it broke down. Would I still be able to book for Autopia again after it reopens?
Yes. The multi-experience you receive from a broken attraction will always work for the attraction it broke on and other similar caliber rides. It just likely won’t work for BETTER attractions.
I like your videos. Question on the disney app can it be shared with your adult child on her phone I purchased genie plus for our trip in March.
It’s recommended that only a single person manage the booking for the whole group.
But I imagine so long as the whole group’s tickets are linked to both accounts, then both people could make selections, taking turns or however you want to do it.
If the main concern is your adult child may want to split off from the group and do their own thing for awhile, then that should be fine.
Genie+ is attached to your ticket, not to your phone/account.
So anybody with a Genie+ activated ticket linked to their account can make reservations for that person.
Suppose you have a group of 6, and 2 want to go off on their own for a few hours.
The primary group will just need to Unselect the two that left whenever they make their own selections. And by the same token, the two on their own will need to be sure they don’t make any reservations for the main group.
Is the fuel rods to charge your battery pack
To charge your cell phone.
I noticed you had a magic band, is it better to have a magic band for when you use Gene+ in the park.
It’s easier. But not necessary. We like them though. Especially since it interacts with some rides, and is programmed to coordinate with the nighttime spectaculars too.
@@SoCalDisneyDad thanks for the info.
I have a magic band from Disney World would that work in Disneyland too
@@sophiadoll4793 Only if it’s the newer MagicBand+ that’s rechargeable and lights up.
If it’s the old MB2s that don’t have a battery, then it won’t work.
Question: when you use a multi experience pass on a non genie+ ride, where do you go to enter the ride? Since they don’t have a lightning lane to enter through.
You’ll have to speak to a cast member at the attraction. They all run a little differently.
Thank you for these amazing videos you make. I have little ones and would love to hear tips on meeting characters (royal hall), shows, and no height requirements rides.
Doing a character video is on our to-do list! As is redoing my video on rides with no height requirement (I do have a video, it’s just really old).
The show one, if you check out my “Disneyland without rides” video from a few weeks back, it’ll list everything in both parks that covers things like shows.
@@SoCalDisneyDad that's awesome, were always trying to come up with a strategy that works.🤯
Visiting both CA parks for 1 day on August 19th (Monday). We are regulars at DW but first time visiting CA parks. We plan on using Disney+ and entering park at rope drop. Which park would you recommend entering first until park hopper kicks in at 11AM?
Disneyland has more rides, so it’s probably more advantageous for you to start at Disneyland for the precious 8 AM to 10 AM low ride wait window.
Thanks! Just want to make sure we don’t miss out on popular DCA rides like Cars and Avengers that you can’t find in DW.
Thank you so much for all of your info! Going the 2nd week of may for my 7yo daughters first visit...my 20th(ish) visit. I want her experience to be the best possible!
I hope it’s amazing for you both!
Thank you so much for your video, we are visiting Disneyland from Australia for the first time in March '24. I'm so confused about stacking our Genie Plus & booking every 2 hours when I've read on the app you can only have 2 per day, which you mentioned in Tip 14. Maybe they are two separate things but I'm confused. Thanks for explaining @SoCal Disney Dad.
So you can only have two individual lightning lanes purchases per day. Which at the moment there are only two rides on that program (Rise of the Resistance and Radiator Springs Racers) so it wouldn't matter. But when Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway was on the Individual Lightning Lane program, that was 3, so you would have only been able to purchase 2 of those 3 in a single day. However, MMRR moved to the standard Genie+ service a few months ago.
The difference is the standard Genie+ service, which costs around $30-$40/person/day lets you into 20 or so rides. While the Individual Lighting Lane attractions are separate from Genie+, which means if you purchase Genie+ you'd still need to pay an additional fee for those rides. At the same time, guests who have NOT purchased Genie+ can still purchase the Individual Lighting Lane rides even without Genie+
Disney definitely did not make this easy with the similar terms, Lightning Lane and Individual Lightning Lane. Hope that helps?
You can cram as many regular Genie+ rides into a single day as you possibly can make happen. It's just that you can only ride each ride once per day on the program. You could standby the ride a second time, though.
Do you have a certain number of lightening lanes you can do per day?
Once per ride. So as many as there are rides with LL if you can do them all in a day. If you stick to one park, it’s possible. Hard to do if you’re trying to cover both parks in a day. But it’ll help you out for sure.
Thank you ! I feel this is the best explanation video I’ve seen! Was this on April? Thank you
It was filmed April 14th at the very tail end of Spring Break.
You said to book genie for high disappearing rides.Which rides usually go first?
Indiana Jones at Disneyland. Toy Story at DCA.
For the others, you really just need to keep an eye on it. It fluctuates by day, but the more popular the ride (Space Mountain, Matterhorn, etc) the faster it disappears.
Love your channel! Does Genie+ work alongside Rider Switch? Great work. Thanks
Yes, it should. But something to keep in mind is that Rider Switch uses the Genie+ lightning lanes.
So hypothetically, you have a party of 4.
Adult 1 Rides with Child 1 while Adult 2 stays out with Child 2.
When Adult 2 goes to ride after switching, they will need to use their Lightning Lane NOT a rider switch. Or they won’t be able to make another selection on Genie+ as the first lightning lane needs to be used before more can be made.
However, Child 1 can get their ticket scanned for a rider switch and ride again with Adult 2.
@@SoCalDisneyDad thank you!
On that note, we are a party of 4. Child 1 is just meeting height requirements but not age; therefore, no ticket. Child 2 infant, no ticket.
Would it be possible to just get 1 Genie+ for Adult 1, and request Rider Switch for Adult 2(non-Genie+) loophole?
@@TheMrNinzy Yeah, you should be able to do that. But keep in mind there are some rides on Genie+ that don’t have height requirements and your whole family can ride. Things like Haunted Mansion and it’s a small world.
Thank you for all the suggestions! Water bottles, chap stick, phone chargers- love it! Have never been to DL, only DW years ago.
Hope you have a magical first visit!
Yay 🎉 I was so looking forward to this video thank you!! 😊
Enjoy. And get a pen and paper ready. There’s a lot of notes to take. 😂
What battery charger do you have? I would like one that would charge my phone twice.
This is the one I use. I love it because it's magnetic, so I don't have to deal with cords. But it's iphone Mag-safe specific, so newer models only and of course only iphones.
amzn.to/48AxhJq
But another option is the Fuel Rods throughout Disneyland. Buy once for $30ish and you get free swaps as often as you need them. My wife has one for her phone and she doesn't use her phone as much as me so generally only needs to charge it once throughout the day, but then she just exchanges the fuel rod for a fully charged one on our way out of the park so she has a full one for either use when she's out and about back at home, or the next time we come to Disneyland.
Hi. Just to clarify, what are the TIMES you are putting in the video? “POSTED WAIT” is the STANDBY wait time posted outside of the ride and not LIGHTNING LANE wait time right? Then “ACTUAL WAIT” is your actual wait time?
Correct. Posted is Standby Wait.
So it’s showing you how much time you saved by using Genie+ instead of waiting in the standby.
If you have any questions about Genie+, drop them below and I’ll do my best to answer them.
How can you do 3 rides with LL between 9 to 10 AM as you say here 15:13 ?
You need to use them right away.
As an example:
At 9:00 AM you see that Buzz Lightyear is available immediately. So you select the lightning lane and hop in line.
As soon as you scan at the ride at say 9:05 AM, you can make another selection. You see that Star Tours is available immediately so you book that one while waiting in line at Buzz, which isn’t long. Say the wait and ride takes 10 minutes. Now it’s 9:15 AM and you’re hopping over to Star Tours.
As soon as you scan in there, you book another lightning lane, this time for Autopia because it happens to be available right away as well.
Star Tours takes you approximately 15-20 minutes and now it’s 9:35 AM and you’re making your way to Autopia.
Scan in there and you’ll likely be on the ride in 5-10 minutes.
Of course you have to walk there first, so perhaps it’s 9:55 AM when you finally get on the ride. And since you scanned in at Autopia, you grabbed another lightning lane while standing in line there too.
Thanks a lot for the reply!
Is there a limit on how many people can get genie plus ?
Ok. I had no idea you could do non genie plus attractions with a multi experience pass. Thanks for the tip.
I just learned it when I was looking at what was available to use it on! 😂
Thank you for the tips! My wife and I are taking a trip in may to celebrate our anniversary. Thanks to you, I feel knowledgeable enough to get the most of our genie +. Keep up the good content 👍
Happy early Anniversary! Hope you have a great trip. If you ever have any questions leading up to it, feel free to reach out. Always happy to help.
@SoCal Disney Dad Do you have a recommendation for a romantic dining experience?
@@ozzman9600 Napa Rose is going to be the premier place to eat for a fancy meal. I’m pretty sure it has a dress code. It’s that type of fancy.
If that’s too fancy, right next door is Storyteller’s Cafe. It’s a hybrid you can order from a menu, or they have a buffet. The buffet is really good and feels classy.
It’s a place we always go to celebrate special occasions.
Thank you again. We I'll try out storytellers Cafe. Watching your videos are making us so excited to visit.
Do you recommend Genie + if you're not getting into the Park around 2:00 p.m.? Thanks.
If it’s your only day, yes. But keep in mind that the most sought after rides might be gone already.
You could take a look and see what’s available before you purchase it.
@@SoCalDisneyDad I think that's what I will do to see if it would be worth it. It's the only day we are going. Thanks!
Hi! We recently went to disneyland using your tips and tricks. It was awesome! We had so much fun rope dropping and doing all the rides he love, character signing that i love! And shows we both love.❤ im so excited to have an oogie boogie tickets this year and been wondering if you will have a video about tips and tricks to the event since its our first time!
Yes. I'll be at Oogie Boogie the first night on September 5th, and should have a video out first thing in the AM on September 6th.
I love it!! Thank you! Ill wait for that. =) you and your family is awesome!
Thank you for doing this! We already pre purchased genie plus so this is very helpful. We also reserved for Fantasmic Dining at River Bell Terrace so I’ll be looking forward to that video! Lastly, I asked this question during the live stream but not sure it was answered so I am asking here again if you don’t mind... “We are planning to go to Disneyland the week of Memorial Day. Do you know what the weather is typically like at that time?” Thank you!
May is wishy washy. I’ve had to wear a jacket in the morning often as it can be a bit brisk. The marine layer of clouds in the morning usually keeps mornings cooler. But we are talking like 60. So if 60 sounds like paradise from wherever you are, then all good.
The cloud cover will burn off by midday and you can expect temps in the 80s with clear blue skies.
It might get cooler again in the evening for those nighttime spectaculars, so again, a jacket is helpful.
It’s a dry, arid climate. We have no humidity. So if you’ve been to Disney World, it does not stay warm in the evenings after dark.
Thank you so much for all of these tips! My fiance and I both have Asperger's Syndrome, so we are trying to plan out our Disneyland trip to help lower any stress. The Disneyland website described the Individual Lightning Lane passes, but I could never understand anything about the Genie+, and I'm so glad to know that you could use the Genie+ to get more than 3 rides like their website said. Thank you so much. Amy, I hope you kick his butt in Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters next time! Thank you both so much
Glad we could help. The chances of Amy beating me on Buzz are pretty slim, but she usually always beats me on Webslingers.
Great information. We are coming from New Zealand in August, so coming up to speed on how to use Genie+ it is great.
I hope you have a fantastic trip. Glad you are enjoying the videos.
What were we supposed to see in the runaway railway? I didn't see anything but lily pads
Pause at 31:32 and look dead center of the screen. Three lily pads make the shape of a Mickey.
You were there 3 days before us in April. Unfortunately the day before we came was the night fantasmic caught fire. I was so bummed. We're going back in October and hoping it'll be back.
Hopefully Murphy is back before October.
you can do multiple rides in the genie app in one hour or only one per hour?
It’s one ride at a time, unless two hours elapses.
So if I book one at 8:50 for 9:00, and I use it at 9:03, then I can book another at 9:03.
But if I book one at 8:50 for 12:00, then I can’t book another one until 10:50, two hours after I booked it. But at 10:50 I could book another for 12:20 and “stack” the lightning lanes for a specific time.
Stacking is only useful for when you’re returning to the hotel or for after a table service meal.
Otherwise, you’re much better off booking closer ones and using them immediately.
@@SoCalDisneyDad so do they run out of genie ride times throughout the day, i thinking if you use it for a few rides everyone will have taken the other ride times. or is it always available after you use it?
@@bigcdizzel They do run out, but that’s why we do the most popular rides first thing in the AM. Because if you snooze on them too long, they’re out 4-5 hours and then you’re stuck waiting for the 2-hour rule.
And snooze too long and they will run out of availability. But not usually until around 4-5 in the afternoon. Of course, right before then, the return times are for like 11 PM. So if you aren’t staying until close then the cut off is probably a little earlier.
But again, focus on the big rides in the AM and then later in the evening you can hit up the smaller rides without hardly any downtime between lightning lanes.
@@SoCalDisneyDad so you could buy this and not get to use it because all them times are taken?
@@bigcdizzel There are 22 rides on the service between the two parks. 13 in Disneyland and 9 in DCA.
Only 5-6 of those will actually run out.
But again, if you follow my advice and use the popular rides early before engaging the 2-hour rule you’ll be fine.
Watch this video if you’d like to see us use every single lightning lane, and still ride nearly every standby ride as well:
Can We Ride EVERY RIDE at Disneyland in ONE DAY!?
th-cam.com/video/lYasEOhG6no/w-d-xo.html
If u buy Genie+ is it only good for 1 day or can it be used everyday of ur trip or do u have to buy it for everyday of ur trip?
Tip, you can get Genie plus way in advanced . I booked a Costco package 6 months ago, and locked into genie plus at $25/day. And I will be there during July 4th when its
guaranteed to sell out and raise the price!
Yes, I mentioned that about tip 2 or 3. Right towards the beginning.
Prepurchasing gets you the cheaper price.
The only downside is that you have to apply it to every day of your trip. So a 5 day trip would be expensive if you only planned to use Genie+ for 2 of those days.
You said you can book from your hotel when you left during the day, is that only from disney hotels? Or can you do it from another hotel that might be a little further away?
Distance doesn’t matter, so long as you’ve scanned into the park for the day at least once.
It’s not a strictly on property thing, so go back and rest, or maybe you want to grab a bite to eat outside the park at the Garden Walk, you can grab a lightning lane while you’re gone.
Awesome thanks, that's what I was hoping for. Thanks for the quick response. @@SoCalDisneyDad
Is it better to go on a sunday or monday lol
Very helpful! Thank-you!
Does 2 hour rule apply to individual LL for Rise of the Resistance for example?
No. But you can only make 2 individual lightning lanes per day. The Disneyland Resort has 3 ILL rides, so you cannot purchase all 3 in a single day.
Thank you for this great info. We are heading there next month. We are staying at the Disneyland hotel. And we got the genie plus as well. What should be a good tip for us? I read that we are able to get in 30mins earlier. What ride should we go for first? Or tips on how to do it
Only Tomorrowland and Fantasyland are open for early entry.
I would select your top rides from those two lands and plan to get 2, possibly 3 done in that time.
Then, you can position yourself up near Toontown by the time the whole park opens and get right on Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. Or, alternatively, you could go for Rise, but might be quite a distance from it and the rope droppers could still potentially get there first.
But you have prime access to Mickey and Minnie’s.
Thank you guys for posting all this wonderful content! I’ve been hooked since I found this channel 2 months ago 😀my husband & I are going 2nd week of May, 1 park per day passes. Haven’t gone since pre-Covid so this is very helpful info. ! Will definitely get Genie +for Disneyland. Since DCA is a smaller park do you recommend we get Genie + for DCA also?
Whether you get it or not probably depends on how many days you're going. If you're only going two days, one per park, I'd just get it. It's convenient to have. Even if you don't maximize it's potential. It's just one less thing to stress about (lines).
We hardly use it, but we're local. If we can't ride something, oh well, we'll rope drop it next time or something.
But when we go to WDW, we always buy it at least on the first day in every park. If we have repeat days, we generally don't purchase Genie+ on repeat days.
Can you link the power brick? 😊
This is the one I've been using that's Mag-Safe. amzn.to/3N4ynnc
You guys are awesome, always a great channel with detailed information! Thanks for sharing your family adventures 🇺🇸
Amazing video! Thank you for all the tips. Are Genie+ reservations different from Lighting Lane reservations?
They are the same thing. Genie+ is the service used to book Lightning Lanes.
@@SoCalDisneyDad, thank you! Will keep watching your videos before we head out to Disneyland. I've already watched this video twice.
I see you and other people in the park are wearing sweatshirts. Some people were wearing coats and hats. So it looks cold. We are going middle of October. Will we need coats and hats then?
This video was back in April I believe.
It’s 94 degrees here today. I’m sweating buckets. 😅
Hi Traver, this will be 1st time going to Disneyland with a family of 4 (2 adults and 2 young kids). Thank you so much for your videos, I've been learning a lot!
A couple questions for you. For Genie+, is it possible to get lightning lanes reserved with one account logged into the Disneyland app?
I have a 2 year old as well who's ticket is free. Will he be able to join the LL rides as long as there are no height requirements?
Yes to both. And I actually recommend you use only one device to manage the Genie+ reservations. You’ll just have to have all tickets linked to your account.
And your 2 year old won’t need Genie+ to join you on rides like Pirates and Small World. Since there’s no ticket, there’s no problem.
Thanks for another great video Traver and Amy.
So you can jump back and forth at both parks if you have park hopper tickets?
Yes! They are super close. You can hop as much as you please. But hopping doesn’t begin until 11 AM. So you are in your selected starting park until then.
@@SoCalDisneyDad Thank you!! I did not know this!!! Ill be going in July do you recomend we start at Disney or CA? my nephews are 9 and 11 and thought we should start in CA for the cars ride at rope drop. But now im thinking rise of the resistance? we have genie+
@@nancyalavez7486 It really just comes down to priorities. Personally, we like to start in Disneyland because it's the more crowded park. Then we hop over to DCA around 1 PM because that's when Disneyland is at it's busiest. We'll hang out over at DCA for a few hours, then come back over to Disneyland for the evening.
How were you able to book Toy Story and incredibles within the same hour
Where can i get the buddy pass for monster Inc?? Can i get that pass for any other ride??
You speak to a cast member at the ride entrance. They have the passes in their pocket. It’s the only ride that has buddy pass.
Thanks for all this information! Question: how do I find out which rides have the "buddy pass", and how do I get them in the park? Thanks again!
The only ride is Monsters Inc. Toy Story used to have one, but they’ve discontinued it.
I've already purchased Genie + , will it automatically be available in my app as soon as I scan in to the park?
I would assume so? Having never done it, I’m not 100% certain but that would make sense. Yes.
If you linked your reservation to your app.
I’ve never used Genie plus but it seems like you are doing a lot of walking and going to different lands. We tend to do one land at a time to completion before going onto the next land.
If your goal is the least amount of steps, that’s a fine plan. But you’ll waste a lot of time standing in long lines that will probably be shorter some other time of the day.
Plus, with Genie+ you can’t always do the land by land thing. For instance, if you start in Tomorrowland and you try to book for Space Mountain, but it’s return time is 10 AM, you’ll either have to come back, or stand around Tomorrowland for 2 hours waiting for the available time slot to come up.
@@SoCalDisneyDadhow do you navigate the different areas & traverse the park quickly? Do you study a map first? Trying to figure out how to use this strategy with a group of noobs (myself included 😅)
@@MissMiaAfroGoddess The Disneyland app is also invaluable for this too. It functions like Google Maps and shows you on the map along with a visibility cone to indicate direction. So you can just point the right way and walk.
That’s probably the easiest.
But you can study it too. Disneyland is a wheel. With the Hub at the center, all the lands, except a few, separate from it like spokes.
how do i add my wife's phone to link the accounts? do i add her to my account or does she need to create her own? thanks for the videos it is really helping me to understand this and plan our trip.. in October..
My wife just logs into my account on her phone.
@@SoCalDisneyDad thanks... I have a bunch of questions, but i dont want to be a pain.. So we both have it I can just book the LL and we scan just my phone, or hers and mine... and you can link a card to buy the ILL for say Rise and Mickey and Minnie, then the next day buy two more? I forgot to mention It'll be her first in many years and mine in about 10 -12 ish... also what about magic bands with genie plus?
@@markhurley983 Correct. You only really need one phone to do all the booking/scanning.
And if you do get the MagicBands, you’d link those in the app and then you don’t need the phones at all for scanning. You’d still use the phone for booking new lightning lanes, but at each attraction, you’d just scan the magic band.
Thanks for all videos. We are going next month, so I watching all your recomendations. But sorry: What is the 2 hour rule? I don't understand 😅
You can book a new lightning lane when one of two things occurs. Either you use the first lightning lane you booked OR 2 hours passes from the time you booked your first lightning lane.
So as an example. If you booked your first lightning lane at 9:04 AM. You can’t book another one until either A) you use your first one, or B) it becomes 11:04 AM.
So I generally try to schedule lightning lanes that would be available with in the next 30 minutes. That way I could potentially ride 4 lightning lane attractions from 9 AM to 11 AM while someone else is waiting two hours because they booked something for 12:30 PM and can’t use it until then.
Does that make more sense?
To continue the example. If you book your second lightning lane at 11:15 AM (because you had to wait for the 2 hours to elapse), you can’t book your third lightning lane until either you ride the ride from your second lightning lane OR it becomes 1:15 PM.
@@SoCalDisneyDad Definitely yes
Love your videos! It helps so much with my DL & DCA planning! I have a question!!
If we only have magic band but not magic band plus … what’s alternate way to access genie plus, admission, etc for everyone in the family ?
Unfortunately, only MagicBand+ works at Disneyland. Absent that, you’ll need to link everyone’s ticket to the Disneyland app and scan each ticket at each Lightning Lane.
You’ll actually need to link everyone’s ticket anyway, even to use MagicBand+ as the MagicBand links through the app and the tickets you have associated with your account.
I'm planning my first trip to Disneyland since Galaxy Edge opened. Is the lightning pass good for Rise of the Resistance? I don't see any of Galaxy Edge in your video
There is a individual lightning lane available for Rise of the Resistance, so a separate cost for that besides genie+. Smugglers Run is on the regular genie+ though.
I have a question about the multi experience pass. If we use the hack you said about booking a ride that is down, can you use the multi experience pass for different things for different people? Say we have a family of four and two of the people decide they want to ride the originally booked ride, but the other two do not, can two use it on one attraction and two use it on another?
Thank you for all the tips! If you want to modify your reservation, do you have to modify it before your reservation window, or can you modify when your reservation is live?
I believe you can modify at any point up until they remove it from your schedule because you’re way too late.
@@SoCalDisneyDad Thank you!
Question on Genie+ , you can book a time that’s available in the app right and modify (the time later) and it does not change when your two hour window to book the next started?
Correct. Modifying maintains the original two hour window.
Please do an indepth tutorial on the tools you mentioned.
Thanks for all the tips. I'm going to be in Disneyland for my first time on Sunday April 30th. I am still debating whether I will need Genie+ or not 🤔
Can you please link the battery you were talking about. Thanks!
I’m hoping to be there that day too. I don’t have a reservation yet, so no guarantee.
Genie+, at a minimum, is a nice quality of life upgrade to be less hassle and less stress during your day.
At most, it’s a huge amount of time savings, even off season as you saw in this video. I’d recommend it.
Here’s the charger I talked about:
amzn.to/3oEo6pe
The Fuel Rods, the other ones I mentioned, are available for purchase in the park and include free swapping at any kiosk.
Thanks! I really hope you get a reservation for Sunday too. I would love to see you there and learn more first hand 😉 I'm coming from Toronto Canada. It is my Birthday gift to myself. I am a mother of 6 and I'm treating myself to a solo Disneyland trip. I have always wanted to visit Walt's original park for as long as I can remember ❤
@@alanarapacz1882 Happy Birthday! Enjoy and take in the much needed alone time. I totally get it!
Just back from my Disneyland trip and want to thank you for all your tips and suggestions. Had a wonderful trip, a big part of it was thanks to all your wonderful videos and the information you shared, it all helped so much!
So if you have multiple people in your party and you link their tickets to a single phone, can that phone/account book LL reservations for every connected ticket?
Yes!
Oh man. We’re here now. Makes it SO easy. Except when everyone walks into the ride and you’re stuck there signing 7 people in. 😅