Our record of Lightning Lane experience rankings for Disney California Journey covers how you need to prioritize the points of interest that supply line skipping entry. This affords suggestions for the paid FastPass and MaxPass alternative primarily based on time-saved and the way shortly reservations replenish at DCA. (Up to date April 14, 2024.)
The purpose of those DCA Genie+ rankings is to provide the instruments and information you want to construct your personal itinerary with Genie+ at Disneyland Resort. Both for Disney California Journey alone or in tandem with Disneyland as you Park Hop between the 2. Truthfully, this record is most helpful when paired with Park Hopping. Genie+ is “straightforward” sufficient at DCA that, as long as you do the highest 4-5 first and comparatively early, not a lot technique is required past that. It’s Park Hopping that makes issues trickier.
Park Hopping to Disney California Journey is probably going going to be widespread with quite a lot of Genie+ patrons, particularly given DCA’s comparatively low Genie+ experience rely as in comparison with Disneyland. This presents one thing of a predicament, as how these rankings must be utilized relies upon upon whether or not you’re beginning your day at DCA or Disneyland.
Earlier than we get to that drawback, let’s begin with the fundamental goal of this submit. That is meant to complement our Information to Genie+ at Disneyland & California Journey FAQ for the entire foundational need-to-know information about this paid FastPass alternative. Genie+ might be complicated and convoluted, however it’s a successor to MaxPass at Disneyland. So, it’s not completely untrodden territory…except you’re new to Disneyland or by no means used MaxPass, through which case, it’s!
These experience priorities are for Lightning Lanes by way of Genie+ and not Particular person Lightning Lanes (ILL), that are pay-per-ride. The one ILL attraction in Disney California Journey is Radiator Springs Racers (RSR). We’re not eager on shopping for a la carte entrance of line entry, and would as a substitute suggest doing RSR at park opening or shortly earlier than closing. Single rider can also be an important possibility for Radiator Springs Racers, besides on weekends or evenings, when locals can clog it up.
In case you’re starting at Disney California Journey, use the rankings intuitively, reserving every Genie+ Lightning Lane choice within the order they’re introduced beneath. You’ll have earlier return instances this manner, and may presumably knock out the entire DCA Lightning Lanes earlier than Park Hopping time rolls round.
Similar goes in case you’re staying in DCA all day. In that case, you would possibly really wish to delay reserving your first Genie+ reservation for a bit to give attention to standby traces early-on, saving the Lightning Lanes for later within the day when crowds and wait instances construct.
Nevertheless, in case you’re beginning at Disneyland and gained’t be getting into Disney California Journey till the afternoon, your strategy most likely must be totally different. This can be a bit counterintuitive, however it’ll make extra sense as soon as defined.
There are a few Genie+ points of interest in DCA that generally have return instances which might be a number of hours sooner or later. Another points of interest have quick return instances till late afternoon on most days. (Clearly, crowds differ and on peak season days, all points of interest may have extra lag between reserving and return instances.) For the favored rides, this comes all the way down to experience reservation refills and cancellations.
In case you e book a Genie+ reservation for an attraction with a return time a number of hours sooner or later, you must wait 2 hours earlier than reserving your subsequent Lightning Lane. Throughout these 2 hours, the clock is advancing on every thing else, with the hole probably rising on present and return instances. Against this, in case you e book a experience with a right away return time, you may make your subsequent Genie+ reservation as quickly as you scan into that Lightning Lane.
For instance, let’s say Soarin’ Across the World has a return time of 6:20 pm as of 1 pm. Against this, Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission Breakout has a return time of 1:05 pm at 1 pm. You possibly can e book the latter, scan into the Lightning Lane instantly, and nonetheless e book that 7 pm return time (+/- 5 minutes) for Soarin. Making an attempt to e book them in reverse order won’t yield the identical outcomes. (This isn’t simply an hypothetical–we’ve skilled this state of affairs at DCA a number of instances.)
There’s no good across-the-board “answer” to this drawback, as wait instances and Genie+ return instances differ, as do every get together’s priorities. Our generalized recommendation could be to take a look at return instances vs. wait instances, and use your judgment. If one thing with a excessive posted wait time has an on the spot return time within the afternoon, e book that instantly quite than ready, because the hole will seemingly develop in early night.
Nevertheless, you don’t wish to wait too lengthy to e book Soarin’ Across the World, because it does run out of Genie+ Lightning Lane reservations. Similar goes for Toy Story Halfway Mania on many days. We all know that’s rather a lot to digest and it complicates tips on how to strategy these DCA Genie+ experience rankings–that’s, except you aren’t Park Hopping, through which case, it’s a reasonably straightforward park!
Anyway, we simply wished to clarify this and provide some recommendation to behave dynamically. Though that is primarily a cheat sheet, we far desire to supply “educate an individual to fish” recommendation so that you perceive the why of issues and may make higher knowledgeable choices within the second. Now on with the experience rankings for Genie+ at DCA…
Genie+ Experience Rankings at Disney California Journey
1. Guardians of the Galaxy — Mission: BREAKOUT! – For the Halloween season, there are two variations of this attraction: the daytime Mission Breakout and the night Monsters After Darkish. The 2 have separate listings on the Tip Board, which suggests you possibly can e book Lightning Lanes for each of them.
This additionally successfully cuts the capability for every in half because it’s the identical experience–simply with day and evening variations. Consequently, experience reservations e book up quickest for Mission Breakout, which solely runs via mid-afternoon.
2. Guardians of the Galaxy – Monsters After Darkish – It’s an identical story with Monsters After Darkish, which takes over every day at 3 pm and continues till park closing. This Halloween overlay is extremely widespread, and with Lightning Lane availability for less than half the day, it fills up quick.
Monsters After Darkish stops working on Halloween, and Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! resumes working all-day beginning November 1. Even outdoors of the Halloween season, Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! arguably is #1, however these are the clear prime picks from late August via October 2024.
3. Toy Story Halfway Mania – Whereas theme park students and historians will debate whether or not Toy Story Halfway Mania is a worthy successor to Malibu-Ritos for hundreds of years to come back, there’s little arguing its superior endurance. The interactive shooter experience has solely gotten extra widespread since its debut, making Toy Story Halfway Mania high-ranking. In case you or your youngsters will wish to play a number of instances, take into account hitting it by way of standby early within the morning, too.
4. WEB Slingers: A Spider-Man Journey – One other interactive shooter experience, Net Slingers simply moved over to the Genie+ service. Beforehand, it was an Particular person Lightning Lane (like Radiator Springs Racers) that charged per experience. Net Slingers and Toy Story Halfway Mania have practically similar Lightning Lane availability, to the purpose that which ranks larger is nearly a toss-up.
5. Soarin’ (Across the World or Over California) – That is probably one to observe, as Soarin’ has had points with one in all its theaters taking place, which pushes it to the highest of this record. On a traditional day, it’s nonetheless simply a prime 5 attraction–and the final of the actually “powerful” Lightning Lanes at DCA. All the pieces else on this record must be pretty straightforward on most days of the yr, even within the mid-afternoon (or past).
6. Goofy’s Sky College – If you need the bodily punishment supplied by the Matterhorn however with out something that makes that curler coaster so iconic, Goofy’s Sky College is for you! It not rating final isn’t any type of endorsement, only a reflection of the truth that its return instances are usually extra delayed than Incredicoaster.
7. Incredicoaster – Regardless of being a downgrade as in comparison with California Screamin’, that is nonetheless an important curler coaster and one which’s extremely widespread. Nevertheless, FastPass and MaxPass availability was at all times pretty straightforward and that continues to be the case with Genie+ Lightning Lanes. Fast return instances are the norm on all however the busiest days of the yr.
8. Grizzly River Run – Demand for Grizzly River Run is skewed by season, and winter climate could cause it to drop to the very backside of this record. Historic wait instances and MaxPass expertise suggests Grizzly River Run is a extra widespread attraction throughout the remainder of the yr, however it nonetheless struggles to crack the highest 5 besides on the most popular days of the yr.
9. Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! – In a park with a dearth of family-friendly points of interest, the inventory of Famous person Limo: Monstrous Version will increase a bit. Lengthy standby wait instances have turn into the norm right here, with a boring outside queue that strikes at a glacial tempo. You should definitely get a Lightning Lane reservation right here.
10. The Little Mermaid – Ariel’s Undersea Journey – This Lightning Lane mustn’t exist. Severely. The Little Mermaid darkish experience is a high-capacity attraction with a fast-moving standby line and barely greater than a 5-10 minute precise wait time (no matter what’s posted) besides on the busiest days of the yr. All of that’s previous tense now, because the Lightning Lane has slowed down standby. Regardless, this has nearly-perpetual experience reservation stock, even properly into the night.
Finally, you need to be capable of knock out all points of interest by way of Genie+ utilizing Lightning Lanes throughout a full day in Disney California Journey. As long as you employ a modicum of technique, it must be comparatively straightforward to perform all of them when beginning within the morning. On a great day, you possibly can knock out all of those after 1 pm–or at the least, all of them which might be value doing. That’s seemingly going to be the important thing consideration for a lot of events, as shopping for Genie+ for DCA alone seemingly isn’t going to be definitely worth the cash for lots of people.
In fact, all of that is additionally topic to alter. It’s additionally solely potential that Genie+ will probably be tweaked at DCA, including the flexibility to re-ride points of interest or changing into out there as an add-on to Magic Key Passes. These are the most important potential adjustments, and neither are even being rumored at this level, so try to be superb. In any other case, you shouldn’t run into too many issues!
Planning a Southern California trip? For park admission offers, learn Suggestions for Saving Cash on Disneyland Tickets. Study on-site and off-site inns in our Anaheim Resort Evaluations & Rankings. For the place to eat, try our Disneyland Restaurant Evaluations. For distinctive concepts of issues that’ll enhance your journey, try What to Pack for Disney. For complete recommendation, seek the advice of our Disneyland Trip Planning Information. Lastly, for guides past Disney, try our Southern California Itineraries for day journeys to Los Angeles, Laguna Seaside, and tons of different locations!
YOUR THOUGHTS
How would you rank your experience priorities utilizing Genie+ and Lightning Lanes in Disney California Journey? Will you Park Hop to DCA, or spend the entire day there when utilizing Genie Plus? Shocked to see Mission Breakout at #1, or is that the apparent prime choose given its recognition? Are you planning on shopping for Genie+ or skipping it at DCA? Do you agree or disagree with our rankings? Any questions we will help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even while you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!
