Lindsay purchased Genie+ with her family to use for one park day. Here is her take as well as some details on the best ways to utilize this feature through your My Disney Experience App!
Let’s talk about Genie+!
Genie+ is essentially the new Fastpass option at Walt Disney World. Genie+ does come at a cost of $15.00 per ticket per day on average.
You cannot book your lightning lane selections (new term for fastpass) in advance, all selections will be booked the day of your park reservation. I tried out Genie+ for the first time President’s Day Weekend at Hollywood Studios and I am here to tell you all about it!
I’ll start off by saying that I felt it was 100% worth the cost at Hollywood Studios during a holiday weekend. First let’s go over a few basic details about Genie+ and then I will break down how we got the most bang for our buck!
If you have a multi-day ticket you can add Genie+ anytime prior to your vacation or the day of
If you have a single day ticket or annual pass you can only purchase Genie+ the day of your visit
Cost: $15/day/person + tax
You can park hop with Genie+! (Park hopping is only allowed after 2pm so if you book a Lightning Lane selection at a different park than your park reservation, Genie+ will automatically book it for the first available time after 2pm)
You cannot choose a specific time for each ride, you will choose the next available time
You can begin booking your first Genie+ selection at 7am whether you are staying on or off property
Once you scan into the lightning lane attraction you can immediately book your next Genie+ selection
2 hour rule: If your next Genie+ selection is 2 hours or more from when you booked it, set an alarm for 2 hours and you can book another Genie+ selection
Example: at 9am you book a Genie+ Lightning Lane selection for Smuggler’s Run at 1pm. Set your alarm for 11am and you can select another Genie+ lightning lane. This will allow you to hold more than 1 Genie+ Lightning Lane selection at a time.
There is also Genie+ Individual Lightning Lane- 2 attractions at each park that you can pay for separately from Genie+, price varies by day and attraction
****Book the most popular rides first! Even if the return time isn’t until later in the day you can use the 2 hour rule. The popular rides do sell out of Genie+ availability****
****Reach out to your travel agent (Maria Mills-Benat) with any questions regarding Genie+!!!!!****
We had a group of 5 going to Hollywood Studios Saturday President’s Day Weekend- 2 adults, 2 teenagers, and a 9 year old. Knowing it would be a very busy weekend we decided to try Genie+ for the first time. I personally would only try Genie+ at Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom as I feel this is where I would get the most use.
6:45am Purchased Genie+
7:00am Booked Toy Story Mania Genie+ for 9:05am-10:05am return time
8:30am Arrived at Hollywood Studios gates (park opened at 9am)
9:00am waited standby for Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway (this ride is not included in Genie+, but can be purchased for an additional fee to ride via Lightning Lane) 30min wait time waited 25min
9:40am Toy Story Mania Lightning Lane waited 5min, standby wait time 55min
9:41am Booked Millenium Falcon Smuggler’s Run Lightning Lane for 7:40pm-8:40pm return time (Set alarm for 2 hours to book next Genie+)
9:50am Alien Swirling Saucers Standby 50min wait time waited 36min
10:00am Mobile Ordered lunch for 11:30am-12:30pm pick up time *mobile order lunch/dinner early to avoid eating too late in the day. You can choose what time you would like to pick up your food no matter how early you book it!*
10:35am Star Tours standby 45min wait time waited 33min
11:51am 2 hours after booking last Genie+ booked Rock n Rollercoaster for 3 people for 6:20pm-7:20pm and Alien Swirling Saucers for 2 people for 5:30pm-6:30pm *you can book more than one Genie+ for separate people in your party if not everyone wants to ride the same ride*
12:00pm ate lunch
1:00pm Walt Disney Presents One Man’s Dream (MUST DO!!!)
1:30pm Very important to add- Got Joffrey’s Coffee
1:51pm Booked Genie+ for Beauty and the Beast 3:30pm show
2:00pm Met Olaf standby 15min waited 5min
2:10pm Watched Mickey and Minnie in Vacation Fun standby waited 15min
2:30pm shopping
3:30pm Beauty and The Beast Lightning Lane
4:00pm Got Starbucks (we needed a lot of coffee today)
4:30pm Toy Story Mania standby 55min wait time waited 43min
5:30pm People watching break
6:20pm Alien Swirling Saucers Lightning Lane waited 8min, standby wait time 60min
6:20pm Rock n Rollercoaster Lightning Lane waited 10min, standby wait time 100min
7:00pm Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway standby 60min waited 45min
7:55pm Millenium Falcon Smuggler’s Run Lightning Lane waited 13min, standby 45min
8:15pm Millenium Falcon Smuggler’s Run standby 30min, waited 33min
We had a great time at Hollywood Studios and absolutely felt like Genie+ was worth the cost for us! We saved almost 4 hours by purchasing Genie+. We did not purchase Genie+ Individual Lightning Lane because we did not feel this was necessary. At Hollywood Studios the 2 attractions that offer Genie+ Individual Lightning Lane are Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway and Rise of the Resistance. If you do not purchase Genie+ Individual Lightning Lane for these rides I do recommend hitting these rides right when the park opens or very close to when the park closes. If you would like to purchase Genie+ Individual Lightning Lane for Rise of the Resistance you must be staying on property to book it at 7am (and you will need to be on right at 7 to purchase it) or book it as soon as you get in the park when the park opens at 9am (but it may not be available.) I also recommend booking Slinky Dog Dash on Genie+ first if this is an attraction you would like to ride. I hope this post has been helpful with plenty of insight on Genie+! Once again, I HIGHLY recommend using Maria as your travel agent so she can answer any questions you may have and ensure your Disney Vacation is magical!
See you real soon!
Lindsay
Comments