Introduction on How to Use Genie+ at Walt Disney World
Here is the deal...It's not necessary to buy Genie+ or individual attraction lighting lanes to have a great time at the park. You can still enjoy the rides by using the standby lines. Please find below the revised version of the text:
However, if you choose not to use Genie+, you may have to wait longer in line, sometimes up to 3-6 hours on average per day, and may not be able to ride popular attractions. But if you plan your ride choices carefully, you can still have a great experience without Genie+. But, if you prefer to spend less time waiting in line and more time enjoying the magic, then you've come to the right place. I'm your Genie+ girl! My family and I visit Walt Disney World frequently, even though it's a 14.5-hour drive for us. So, every time we go, we make sure to purchase Genie+ to ensure that we get on all our favorite attractions as quickly as possible.
No two Disney vacations look the same for us, and we don't expect them to look the same for you either. However, if you follow my blogs, podcast, and YouTube channel, you'll have all the information you need to plan the best trip for your family. If you want to save time and get started right away, you can purchase my Ultimate Genie+ Guide, which is organized by the park and includes a My Disney Experience tutorial. But if you are ready to take the time to do the research yourself. Get a pen and paper and get ready to take some notes and let's make sure you have a Genie Good Time!
As a parent with four kids, waiting in line for more than 30 minutes can be a real challenge, even with all the gadgets and toys to keep them entertained. That's why services like Genie, Genie+, and Individual Lightning Lane Attractions are worth it for us. We've been using Genie+ for over 2 years now and have never waited in any line longer than 18 minutes. I'll share our experience navigating Hollywood Studios with Genie+ towards the end, as we found it the most challenging park to navigate with this service.
What is Disney Genie?
DISNEY GENIE: THIS IS FREE - it sends you suggestions based on your set preferences (I will show you how.) It does not work that well right now, just by pass it and do not take its suggestions.
Used in a sentence: "Hey, check Genie to see what time the next cavalcade will start, and add it to "my day."
GENIE+ SERVICE: YOU PAY FOR THIS! Variable Pricing per park $15 - $35 plus tax per person (during the holidays we have seen it as high as $39). This allows you to book attractions at the park that use lightning lanes (i.e, similar to the old FastPass), to significantly reduce your wait time--in some cases eliminating it to get on popular attractions and rides. Variable pricing depending on season and park crowds.
Used in a sentence: "At 7 am, let's be ready to book Peter Pan's Flight, once we scan in...we can book our next Genie+ attraction."
Individual Lighting Lane Selection (ILLs) - All Parks can have up to TWO of these types of rides. You can also ONLY book TWO per day even if you park hop. These rides are $7 - $25 plus tax PER person PER ride. You can purchase ILL rides WITHOUT purchasing Genie+.
Used in a sentence: "Since we are park hopping today, let's Pay for Rise of the Resistance for the morning when we are at DHS and for Guardians of the Galaxy:Cosmic Rewind EPCOT for this evening."
Lighting Lane - The physical queue that you walk into to access ILLs + Lightning Lane rides & attractions.
It's not necessary to purchase Genie+ every day, but only on the days when you want to focus on getting on rides. If you're visiting a theme park once in every few years or if it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience, then you should budget for Genie+ daily. I always suggest budgeting for the highest price for each day, so that you don't run out of money. You will save 4 - 7 hours a day.
Purchasing Genie+ at Walt Disney World
If you are planning to purchase Genie+ at Walt Disney World, it is important to know that you can only do so on the same day of your visit. You can no longer add Genie+ to your entire ticket. I recommend waking up at 6-6:30 am to purchase it for everyone. However, you can also buy it at midnight. But remember that you only need to do this if you are awake at that time. Usually, Genie+ doesn't sell out at Walt Disney World except for holidays and after the first booking for everyone. So, if you purchase it at 6 am, you should be okay.
Additionally, Genie+ now has variable pricing, which is a positive change. Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park has a different value than Magic Kingdom Park in terms of Genie+. Therefore, the pricing is more fair. If you plan to visit Magic Kingdom Park and have park hopper tickets, the multi-park day and Magic Kingdom are typically the same price. Therefore, you should purchase the multi-park day. Also, it is possible to change from a single-day park option to a multi-park day at guest relations. However, the process is not as seamless as it should be yet.
Troubleshooting Genie+": If for some reason you cannot get everyone linked or you are having any issues, (407) 939-5277
Make sure you have check out all the way. To ensure you have bought your Genie+ for the day make suer you get to the confirmation page. There is sales tax on Genie+ purchases.
Setting Your Top Picks
Once you have updated your party, the app will take you into your top picks. However, the "skip for now" button makes it tempting to skip this page, especially if you are buying your Genie+ right before it is time to start booking your first attraction. DON'T PRESS 'SKIP FOR NOW'-- This part is TOO important! (You can also do this part at home, see blog on My Disney Experience.)
Instead, set up all of these picks and preferences before you use your Genie+ for the park day. Make sure to put your top THREE ride selections in top picks. That way they will be at the top of your tip board.
Benefits:
Once you select your 'Top Picks' the app puts your selection AT THE TOP of the “Tip Board” instead of alphabetical order which help snagging rides like Slinky Dog Dash.
The Tip Board IS WHERE YOU BOOK / Confirm your Lightning Lane and ILL Attractions.
If you press the 'Skip for now' you will NOT have Top Picks at the top of your Tip Board, and instead your Tip Board will be in alphabetical order.
Why this matters: In the 7 am race to get Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, scrolling to the bottom (i.e, R is near the end of the alphabet) costs you some time!
Additionally, new time slots for Top Picks will be at the top of the page when you refresh your screen.
What is the My Day Tab?
The 'My Day' Section of Genie will show you your daily schedule. For example, you can see I plugged in Oga's Cantina, so it showed up along with the Genie+ ride Smuggler's Run and ILL Rise of the Resistance. Also, based on your preferences, it will show you recommendations for things to do at the park on the page.
You DO NOT have to buy Genie+ or ILL rides to use the My Day feature. However, it can help you plan your day. While you CAN'T book Genie+ or ILL rides for a future date, you CAN add activities. Before any trip, I can always add activities we want to do. You can see I have added the Electrical Water Pageant ahead of time, so I remember that I want to see it. So start adding non-Genie+ and ILL items to your schedule. It will help you when you make your game plan for the day.
Go ahead and start to play around with the app before you get to Disney, on the Home screen there is always information about what is new at the parks and lots of videos to help get you and your family excited for your upcoming vacation.
Rules of Genie+
Guests visiting Disney parks can use the Disney Genie+ service to make their first Lightning Lane entry selection starting at 7:00 AM on the day of their visit. Also, guests can only enjoy one Disney Genie+ service Lightning Lane entrance once per day. To stay up-to-date with the latest information, checking the Tip Board periodically is recommended.
So what does this mean exactly? Let’ use my flow chart to help you visually see the booking times.
Initial Genie+ Booking
For guests staying at Disney Resort Collection Hotels, Shades of Green, Swan, and Dolphin, their first Genie+ ride and Individual Lightning Lane selections can be booked from 7 am onwards.
Off-property guests can only book their first Genie+ attractions at 7 am. However, for Individual Lightning Lane (ILL) attractions, off-property guests can only book once the park opens. This can make it difficult for them to get reservations for high-demand rides during peak crowd season. But they can always keep refreshing during the day as new time slots occasionally pop up for all rides.
Similar to the old FastPass system, times on Genie+ continue to move. For the initial booking, you will not see a time at all because so many people are booking that the system needs to catch up with the times. Disney decided to remove the time for the initial booking, which was a good move.
Once you have booked a time, you will get a one-hour window from the booked time to scan into your Genie+ and ILL ride. For instance, if you book a 10:45 ride, you will have a 10:45-11:45 am window. If you miss your window, you can talk to a cast member at the ride to see if there are any options.
If your dining reservations overlap with your ride times, don't worry. Always attend your dining reservation, and after you finish, take your dining receipt to the ride. Show the ride cast member your receipt to prove that you were at a dining reservation, and they will permit you to get on the ride. It's crucial to do this as soon as possible, as receipts are time-stamped. If you encounter any issues, please don't get upset with the ride cast member; instead, seek assistance from a Blue Tent or go to guest relations to resolve any problems with the lightning lane. Additionally, if you encounter any issues, speak to the dining establishment first, and they will assist you. Disney is always looking for ways to help visitors in these situations, but they do not want people to take advantage of the system.
Subsequent booking with Genie+
Unlike the old FastPass system, Genie+ only allows you to book one ride at a time. There are two main rules for booking subsequent bookings.
Once you have scanned into both tapstiles for your ride, you can book the next Genie+ ride if the last ride you booked was less than 2 hours ago.
Then there is the 120-minute rule
You can book your next Lightning Lane Attraction once the park has been opened to the general public for 120 minutes. (i.e., you booked slinky dog for 1 pm, and Hollywood Studios opens at 9 am that day, you can book your next Genie+ ride at 11 am, even though you have not ridden Slinky Dog.)
Then every time you book and have not scanned into a ride, you can book 120 minutes after you booked your last ride. Your app will tell you exactly when you can book the next Genie+ ride.
If you have issues, Blue Guest Relations tents are scattered throughout the park that can help.
Of these two rules, whichever time comes first is when you can book. Your Genie app will let you know the next time you are able to book a ride. If you are ineligible it will let you know.
Booking an Individual Lighting Lane
First, ILL rides are high-demand or Headliner rides. Each Park can have two ILL, you are allowed to book TWO lighting lane attractions per DAY. Since you can pick the window of time with ILL, we try to make these work to our advantage by booking them later in the morning or even in the evening to help build our strategy. Additionally, Disney will change ILL rides as new rides open. So always double-check the available ILL rides. When Cosmic Rewind opened at Epcot and Tron Lightcycle/Run opened at MK, they took off an older headliner ride and replacing it with a new one, then they moved that headliner to the Genie+ pool. High Demand ILL rides like Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure sell out quickly. So be sure to pin them.
Facts:
You DO NOT need to buy Genie+ to buy ILL rides.
You DO NOT have to buy ILL for your entire party. You will select specific guests in your party to book the ILL rides.
Disney Resort guests, Shades of Green, Swan, and Dolphin resorts can book ILL at 7 am.
Off property guest and the remaining good neighbor hotels MUST wait until the park opens to book. Sometimes it makes it difficult to get High Demand Rides. Keep refreshing throughout the day, as Disney sometimes will release more times.
Rides cost anywhere from $7 - $25 plus tax per person, on NEW release rides sometimes up to $25.
You cannot cancel or modify them once they have been purchased. But if you do not get to ride the ride you can get a refund. Head to Guest relations and they will refund your money if the ride was down all day, or you never got to get on for any other reason.
When purchasing ILL, the app takes you through about seven different screens, but below are the main ones that I thought were important to share.
What is a Virtual Queue?
Certain attractions or experiences may sometimes use a virtual queue, which can be accessed through the My Disney Experience app. With a virtual queue, you can request to enjoy the attraction or experience later in the day, allowing you to enjoy other experiences while you wait. During this time, a standby queue won't be available, and guests need to use the My Disney Experience app to enter the attraction or experience.
Virtual Queue Strategy
For our family, we always have more than one person doing a virtual queue. We have had up to 5 phones ready to do a virtual queue when the Rise of the Resistance was still a virtual queue. The jury is out on if this is the best strategy. It has always worked for us because one person in our party always landed the ride.
Be sure to PRELOAD your group early. Please do not wait until it's time to book. This will slow your process down.
There are two times you can book the virutal queue at 7 am and 1 pm. We always have the world clock running and at 6:59:59 and 12:59:59 we click “Join the Queue” and we typically always land it.
You will be assign a Boarding Group if you successfully get into the virutal queue.
Virtual queue return times can change. They can move up if the day goes well and there are no ride breakdowns. We could get on the ride from 11:45 am - 12:45 pm on this specific day. Then our boarding group jump up to 10:30 am.
It's important to note that virtual queue does not completely eliminate the standing queue. Even with a virtual queue for Guardians of the Galaxy, you may still have to wait in line for 20 to 45 minutes, and for Tron, it could take up to 90 minutes. However, the virtual queue system greatly reduces the possibility of having to wait for 2 to 4 hours for a single ride, which was the case when Avatar Flight of Passage first opened.
FAQs about Virtual Queues
Here are some important things to keep in mind before joining a virtual queue for an attraction:
- Joining the virtual queue guarantees you a spot in line, but it does not guarantee that you will be able to participate in the experience.
- It's worth noting that not all boarding groups may be called back, depending on the availability of the experience.
If available, you may hold boarding groups simultaneously for a virtual queue for an attraction and a virtual queue for other select experiences (e.g., Popcorn buckets, or other experiences).
- It is important to arrive at the attraction once your boarding group is called. Late arrivals may not be accommodated, and you may miss your chance to ride. For example, Tron will not let you ride if you miss your window.
- If you want to request to join an attraction virtual queue at 7:00 am, you must have valid admission. Certain admission types may also require a theme park reservation. If you request to join a virtual queue at 1:00 pm, you must be inside the theme park where the virtual queue will be used.
- Keep in mind that guests can only hold one attraction virtual queue at a time. Once the attraction virtual queue is redeemed, guests can join another attraction virtual queue if available.
Modifying Your Lighting Lane
The Modify" button has been a total game-changer for me since I started using Genie+. It has given me the flexibility to adapt my plans without any stress or hassle. Having this level of flexibility is amazing because it allows me to tweak my itinerary to suit any unforeseen circumstances that may arise during my visit.
The "Modify" button is available only when Lightning Lanes are available for a ride. So, if a ride is sold out, you cannot modify your selection to that ride. However, you can change your reservation for another ride and only modify the reservation for a part of your party.
I hope this information helps you get started with Genie Plus. After learning everything about the app, you may wonder what to book next. I will be writing more blogs about it and linking them together. Additionally, I have a series on my podcast and YouTube channel that you can check out. Be sure to come back and read the blogs as I explore the different strategies for each park.
