There’s Been an Update on the Disney Genie+ Loophole

Earlier this year, Disney announced that they would be retiring FastPass and FastPass+ in Disney World and replacing it with two new PAID services called Disney Genie+ and Individual Attraction Selection.

Disney Genie has arrived

Both launched in Disney World last month and we’ve been bringing you all the tips and tricks that you need to know before you arrive so that you can “skip the line” like a pro. One of our biggest tips involved learning how to stack multiple Lightning Lane return windows, but Disney has since changed a loophole when it comes to stacking.

Unlike FastPass+, Genie+ allows guests to book one Lightning Lane return window at a time throughout the day. But, the one exception to this rule is when you select a Lightning Lane return window that is more than 2 hours away from when you booked it (or when the park opens). In this case, guests only need to wait 120 minutes (or 2 hours) before they can make a SECOND Lightning Lane reservation.

Lightning Lanes are the new FastPass+ lanes!

Before we go further, let’s recap the 120 minute rule. Basically, you can book a second Genie+ Lightning Lane reservation either:

1.  You’ve used the first one.
2. Your return window is over (in the case you miss the window).
3. It’s been 120 minutes since you booked the first one.

Whichever comes first.

Also note, this does NOT apply to Individual Lightning Lane selections (“Fancy Rides”) — you can book those whenever you’re eligible, one right after the other.

This 120-minute rule has NOT changed at its core — it was designed to ensure if you book a far-out Genie+ return time, you’re not stuck waiting hours and hours before being able to use the system again. However, what happens AFTER you’ve stacked two Genie+ Lightning Lane return times has changed.

Pirates of the Caribbean Lightning Lane

Previously, mastering this rule could really be a game-changer for your day. You could stack a second Lightning Lane reservation on top of a later one and then continue to select a new return window at another attraction after you used each individually, holding 2 Lightning Lane windows at all times throughout the rest of your day.

So, for example, you could book a 12PM return time for Slinky Dog Dash, then book an 11:30AM return time for Star Tours two hours after park opening (typically 11AM). Once you used your Star Tours return window you could book a new Lightning Lane and then you could get another one after using your Slinky Dog Dash return window — essentially stacking two reservations throughout the rest of your day.

Example of Genie+ Lightning Lanes Stacked

Now, Disney has updated Genie+ to only allow guests to hold multiple Lightning Lane reservations where the 120-minute rule applies. This means that you can still stack Lightning Lane reservations if you book a reservation that is 2 or more hours away, but once your return window opens later in the day, you’ll go back to only being able to hold one at a time (unless you book another return window that is 2 or more hours away).

Slinky Dog Dash

So, while the 120-minute rule still exists with Genie+, it is less of a “hack” to book a Lightning Lane that is later in the day and stack multiple reservations.

Star Tours Entrance

We’ll continue to keep an eye out for additional Genie+ updates and changes, so be sure to stay tuned to AllEars for the latest!

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13 Replies to “There’s Been an Update on the Disney Genie+ Loophole”

  1. Purchased Genie+ last Tuesday and it was an absolute waste. Got Test Track for 1:30 (booked a few min after 7 a.m. and that was the earliest available), had to wait for 9 a.m. to book something else and got Soarin’ for 7:30 — And that was all I got! I never liked FastPass either; They should just let people wait in line. The wait times would dramatically drop, because they wouldn’t be letting dozens of people cut in line every 15 min.

    1. I agree with you Sarah. A month before they started Genie+ I was monitoring the lines thru the app. I even developed a spreadsheet noting specific wait times for rides at the same time of day for each park for 14 days. The lines were manageable even for headliner attractions. After Genie+ kicked in I saw standby wait times greatly increase. The same thing happened with the old fastpass system. Common sense should tell everyone when you allow 10-15 people to basically cut in line, the standby line will naturally get longer and longer. It’s my belief Disney enjoys this just to entice guests to purchase the Genie+

    2. We had a week in Disney before they closed the “loophole” Genie+ worked pretty well then. Got on 7 or 8 rides in MK with it. Now we are closing out a week after the closed the “loophole” and you’re right. It’s a waste. We tried it 2 days, got 2 rides one day and 3 another. And it’s for rides that didn’t have that long of lines anyways. Throw on top of that the inconvenience of planning your day around return times and it just doesn’t make any sense. I was one of the few looking forward to Genie+, I can’t recommend it now.

  2. We just did Disney World. Disney is fun but having to book eating reservations months in advance, using Genie + (which we used several days), was kind of a vacation killer. Genie+ was clunky and often gave us times of return that were inconvenient. In the end, we enjoyed our time at Universal more because staying at a Universal resort got us the Express Unlimited. It was awesome. Veterans day weekend at Universal and with the Express we got on everything several times before the day ended. Disney is fast becoming too much of a hassle and not enough good rides to go through that hassle.

  3. We’re in parks this week and lightning lanes are pretty scarce in my opinion. We have park hopper so it helps a little but on Tuesday we feel like Genie plus was a rip off. We were only able to get two lightning lanes all day, meaning we paid $7.50 each (pre tax) to easily ride “regular” rides. When crowds are this high I don’t know why they don’t release more lightning lanes to keep things moving. Also the app is very glitchy. We’ve selected lanes and by the time we actually get to confirm them, they are gone or changed. Forget about getting an AM lightning lane at 7:00am. I’ve tried it two days so far this week.

  4. OMG! Am I the only one that is thoroughly confused? I normally consider myself an intelligent person, but apparently I am wrong when it comes to Genie+. Gosh, I hope they ditch this before our June trip

      1. Ok so reading that article about Genie + has me completely confused. Im coming over from Australia and i desperately want to make the most of my holiday being that its a once on a life time trip for me because it will cost over $25,000aud to bring me and my 2 kids over so im desperately needing info on how this all works and this is completely confusing….i only wish the fastpass system still existed as i understood that one.

  5. With the old fast passes, I all ways had one every 45 minutes. This new Disney Genie seems like a waste of time. If I buy Genie+, it will mostly be the same as using the standard lanes.

    1. I’d probably gladly pay $20/day/per ticket for the original fastpass system. It worked as good as you were willing to make it work for you. Instead, fastpass is gone, standard park tickets are way more than $20 per day higher and Disney still can’t figure out why they can’t squeeze more happy customers into the same square footage of parks they had 20 years ago. Maybe if I were paid Chapek’s salary, I too would be unable to see the simple answer to the real issue. Disney has enough customer’s to fill another park or two, but they had rather spend billions on one of a kind attractions in the same space they currently have and continue to wonder why the crowds keep coming.

  6. Or, they could just let us line up and get on in order. But there’s no $ in that so off we go figuring out a system more complicated than the SAT’s. Or in my case, just abandon the idea of WDW and spend that $ elsewhere.

    1. You must have read the program wrong…everyone lining up in order is exactly how a ticket for entry works. Genie+ is a voluntary opt in program for something other than the line you are talking about, not something anyone must figure out to use a day’s ticket.