Does a Solo Traveler really need Genie+ or ILL

[jmasgat]

I'm likely going to do DL/DCA for a couple days in January when I do the 10k. I'll be on my own, am a "rope drop" kind of person and am most interested in the things that are DL-specific. Seems like single rider lines can get me most everything I need, and I abhor paying Disney one dollar more than I have to. I realize it's likely to be a busy weekend, and I can be flexible about dates/parks to a certain extent.

Any solo travelers want to weigh in on their experience? Offer advice?

 

[joseph821]

I'm likely going to do DL/DCA for a couple days in January when I do the 10k. I'll be on my own, am a "rope drop" kind of person and am most interested in the things that are DL-specific. Seems like single rider lines can get me most everything I need, and I abhor paying Disney one dollar more than I have to. I realize it's likely to be a busy weekend, and I can be flexible about dates/parks to a certain extent.

Any solo travelers want to weigh in on their experience? Offer advice?

I just finished a solo trip from August 9th to August 16th at Disneyland staying at GCH Woods Courtyard view. I found Genie ++ and purchasing LL invaluable. I was able to do eveything I wanted with ease and speed..very little wait. I had Parkhoppers with Genie +. I definitely would add it to your tickets. I am "rope drop" person as well. I also used Early Entry as well. I highly recommend using Genie + as a solo traveler. I waited 15 minutes for Matterhorn in the regular line and passed the people waiting in the Single rider line. I also used Genie+ for Matterhorn. I usually would use Genie + if the wait for more than 15 minutes or so for any attraction. I used LL for Mickey's Railway and for RS Racers in DCA.

 

[Geemo]

I'm likely going to do DL/DCA for a couple days in January when I do the 10k. I'll be on my own, am a "rope drop" kind of person and am most interested in the things that are DL-specific. Seems like single rider lines can get me most everything I need, and I abhor paying Disney one dollar more than I have to. I realize it's likely to be a busy weekend, and I can be flexible about dates/parks to a certain extent.

Any solo travelers want to weigh in on their experience? Offer advice?

It is money will spent for me. I generally go though the week when the hours are shorter.
I want to maximize my time in the parks with rides, Not waiting in lines.

 

[foolish_mortals]

Not enough rides have single rider lines and some that do still move slow.

Genie+ will get you through rides faster than single rider. How many days are you going to the parks. One day? Use Genie+. Two days? Strongly consider it. Three? Ehh maybe.

 

[DLgal]

It's money well spent, honestly.

Think about the value of your time.

 

[Sweettears]

I frequently travel solo and it makes my trip. Properly managed you can get a lot done with very little wait time. Taking advantage of the single rider lines helps for sure but many attractions don’t offer it (think pirates etc..) . Stacking Genie+ is my friend

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

If it’s just you it’s really not very expensive relative to how much you’re already spending. When you have a family of four or five it does really add up per day.

 

[brightlined]

As a solo traveler - I always get it on any day that I'm there for the full day.

I was a WDW AP for most of the 2010s. My first couple of trips to DLR, I would do what you're describing - just focus on the DL-specific rides. I eventually stopped doing that - I realized how much more immersive the experience was if I tried to ride as much as possible, since most of the attractions aren't pure clones of each other.

Many rides at DLR don't have G+, so you'll have to wait in line for those. If anything, G+ will save you the wait time for the headliners, which will give you more time to experience more of the parks, including the rides that you might instinctively skip.

Like, for me, I would never ride Tomorrowland Speedway at WDW. But, one night, I grabbed an Autopia LL for five minutes ahead, and it was pretty fun, and a different experience - unlike WDW, it goes through the woods and under the monorail (which is not particularly high off the ground). Not a first choice ride for me personally, but the experience was worth it - and I would never have waited in line for that.

The main G+ lure for me is the chance to ride my favorite stuff multiple times, especially so that I can time certain ones. For example, Thunder Mountain will have a pretty short line if you ride it in the morning. But a night ride is that much better than the morning ride - and that's the time of day that the park will be much busier and the line a lot longer. (I'll save that LL to use that timeframe.) I also prefer Guardians to DHS's Tower of Terror, and Guardians has six different songs/rides - I'll gladly take the chance to get an additional ride each day without the 75-minute wait.

G+ also gives you a potential side benefit - if it happens that one of your LLs gets cancelled, the replacement multi-experience LL will work at non-G+ rides. (There's a whole strategy around fishing for ME LLs, which might or might not be worth your time - but I was able to ride Alice and the Subs one night within a half-hour span using ME LLs because Buzz was down but they were still offering LLs for it.)

I would at least try it once - I think you'll find it worth it.

 

[DizMe]

In your situation I would consider it, but honestly, I've never used it so I don't know how valuable it would be for me. I go fairly often, am not looking to knock out every ride I possibly can, and I dislike having to schedule my day. For those reasons, and because I'm cheap, I haven't purchased Genie+. If I were solo, though, it would hold more appeal because I wouldn't have anyone to chat with in line (at least, no one I know) and it would feel kind of bougie ha ha.

 

[Ladyslug]

Generally speaking the single rider lines are faster than Genie+ Lightning Lanes (this was our weekday experience for Space Mountain, Matterhorn, Webslingers, Soarin', and Millennium Falcon). However, if you can overlook having to give Disney 25 extra dollars, I love being able to book Lightning Lanes for popular rides and then push them until the end of the day to ride at night with less waiting.

If you're planning on just rope drop and single rider, you can get a lot accomplished earlier in the day, but it gets less efficient on all fronts as it gets to the afternoon/evening, and Genie+ lets you stay efficient with rides on your schedule for most/all of the day.