Last year, Disney World introduced a brand new way to bypass the standby line at popular attractions — Disney Genie+. Over the past several months, we’ve been in the Parks testing out the new system to bring your our best tips and tricks to maximize your day (and purchase).
And, now that Genie+ has been available in the parks for almost 6 months, it seems that Disney might have some new user data on how many attractions guests are able to fit in using the new service.
Disney recently added some language to the Genie+ website that says “On average, guests can enter 2 to 3 attractions or experiences per day using the Lightning Lane entrance if the first selection is made early in the day.” This is similar to the number of FastPasses that could be made by guests before the service was sunset and replaced by Disney Genie+ in 2021.
If you’re not familiar, guests who choose to purchase Disney Genie+ (which costs $15 per person, per day) can begin making their first Lightning Lane selection at 7AM on the day of their visit. And, unlike FastPass+, Lightning Lanes can only be selected one at a time. This means that you must scan into the attraction that you have a Lightning Lane reservation for before you are able to make an additional selection (with a few exceptions to that rule).
So, Disney is estimating that, if you make your first Lightning Lane selection in the morning (or “early in the day”), then you’ll be able to skip the line at 2-3 attractions throughout your day in the park.
Now, we’ve been able to enter far more than 2-3 attractions or experiences in one day using the Lightning Lane entrance, it just takes some persistence and LOTS of refreshing in the My Disney Experience app. It can also be easier to secure more Lightning Lane return windows throughout your day if you’re visiting Disney World when crowds are a bit lighter.
To learn more about how to maximize Genie+ and ride more than 2-3 attractions with the service in one day, check out our posts below:
- Is it Possible to Ride EVERYTHING in Magic Kingdom With Disney Genie+?
- How Much Can You REALLY Do in One Day at Magic Kingdom With Disney Genie+?
- How Much Can You Ride In a Day With Genie+ at Disney’s Hollywood Studios?
- Should You Pay To Skip The Lines in EPCOT?
- The SECRET to Using Genie+ in Disney World’s Animal Kingdom
And, be sure to stay tuned to AllEars for more of the latest Genie+ tips, tricks, and updates for your next Disney World trip!
Check out 14 Times You Should Consider Buying Genie+ in Disney World HERE!
Join the AllEars.net Newsletter to get the free list of Rides to Prioritize with Genie+! Click here to get started!
Have you used Disney Genie+ yet? How many rides were you able to tackle? Let us know in the comments!
Other than attractions such as those at Galaxy’s Edge and Flights of Passage, is Genie+ worth paying for? I and another senior woman are going to DW in October. We don’t ride the “thrill rides” other than Tower of Terror and the Mine Train. It does not sound like it would be worth purchasing Genie+ except for the days we want to visit Galaxy’s Edge and ride Flights of Passage. Is this the general consensus?
My family just returned from DW (we were there 3/5-3/12) and I feel it was worth it for us. I know everyone’s experience will be different. There are just three of us, larger parties may have more trouble. I think the value depends largely on how you feel about waiting in line for lengthy amounts of time. We are not “line waiters”- if something has a long line and we don’t have a fast pass (or lightning lane) we don’t ride, and right now EVERYTHING has long lines. The new system does have a little bit of a learning curve, but if you are familiar with operating the Fast Pass system, I think it’s easy to figure it out. We were able to do way more than 2-3 rides per day. As soon as we would tap into a ride I would be on Genie booking our next ride. The one thing we liked is that LL lines move way faster than FP lines did. With FP you still sometimes had to wait in a little bit of a line, but with LL we walked right on to every ride. We rode Peter Pan when the standby wait was 90 minutes— we got in line, rode the ride, and were walking off in 8 minutes. This may be because fewer people are using Genie+. The one thing I didn’t like is that Genie+ doesn’t let you pick a general time that you want to ride the way FP did ( like morning, afternoon or even an exact time). They only offer you one option so if the time doesn’t work for you just back up and refresh. You will sometimes have to do this MANY times to get it to offer you a new time. Also you have to be on at 7:00 to book your first ride which I wasn’t thrilled with but everything was usually available. We didn’t do ROR so I can’t comment on that one. Also utilize the 120 minute rule if you can. We did pay the up charge to ride the Ratatouille ride which we walked right on to, so totally worth it for us. I don’t mind paying a few extra bucks to not spend all of our time standing in line. We had more time to shop, eat and enjoy other things.
I’m slightly disabled and use an ECV when we’re at Disney because I poop out quickly when walking in the heat. We always used FP, but quite often we were escorted to a separate disabled waiting area and were able to ride much more quickly than if we stayed in the FP line. Pirates of the Caribbean was an exception – we waited forever, but I doubt that it was a longer forever than if we stayed in the FP line. Disney cast members have always been kind and helpful to me, but there’s still a lot more they could do to make touring easier for the disabled. Like the monorails in MK don’t have elevators, and they expect guests to ride from the park to the TTC and then go down one ramp and back up another ramp to get to a destination outside of MK. We use the water transportation, but many people don’t know about this issue. The rental shop for strollers, wheelchairs and ECVs at Epcot is an amazingly long walk for me. But they do try. Off topic, but this information might be helpful.
How is this good? With three FastPasses per day, set up well in advance of our trips, we, as seniors, could enjoy our favorites in a half day. We did not have to fight crowds at rope drop or after dark, just to get our money’s worth out of our Annual Passes, even driving down from Michigan… six times a year for a week at a time. Our last three trips, it was all we could do to get in two “A” tickets every other day. The worst experience was missing out on virtual cue boarding parties during a screen refresh for each of two weeks. The next worst was getting a virtual pass… which, it turned out, allowed us to wait in line for 90 minutes at the French pavillion.
We are currently at Disneyland Resort, using Genie+. For the past 2 days, we have averaged 7-8 attractions using Genie+, and standby on other rides. It has been extremely easy to use, and far greater availability than on our recent WDW trip.
So, in other words, Disney is saying it isn’t worth $15 per person per day. Got it!
I used it 3 out of 4 days with my family of 7 a couple weeks ago. It is a pain. It detracted from my enjoyment of the vacation. I couldn’t get anything that I wanted at the time that I wanted it (and Genie gives you exactly one choice to take or leave). The only real value was knowing you could walk right on to 1-2 attractions. Also, be aware that the time you are first offered is rarely the time you actually get. The system does not reserve the offered time while you are pushing all the buttons on your phone. So you end up with a different window than you expected. Oh, one more thing, using the app kills your battery life. I have never had to worry about battery life until Disney.
It’s unlikely I will use Genie+ again and I only have one more visit before I say goodbye to Disney permanently anyway.
Getting a far different time than the one for selected (before pressing all the buttons) was the most annoying thing about the whole process. It wreaked havoc with dining reservations and other plans we already had in place. This is huge area for improvement.
Hopefully that’s not true. How in the world did they mess this up so badly? With Fast Pass+ it was easy to get more than that! We are going in 2 weeks, very excited despite the crowds. Hoping persistence & some of the tricks in your videos help increase that number. Really, there’s going to be people celebrating when Chapek finally gets booted out, if ever.
We just got back. We had a great time but first day sucked as we had to adjust our thought plan of doing everything we wanted! It’s crazy because crowds are crazy. It’s like being there between Christmas and New Years. I was at Disneyland last July made a plan ride everything, no fast passes. We were at Disney world 3/14- 3/20. We did a lot of park hopping trying to escape the crowds, but to be honest crowds were everywhere, I think people are just staying in the states trying to travel and enjoy life again maybe it will get better!
The previous Fast Pass system, I was guaranteed to get three Fast Passes and usually was able to book at least one more (maybe not a top tier ride but something). With Genie Plus being $15, plus tax, so $16 and change, it’s over $8 per a two-ride day. Just raise your ticket prices (again) to reflect the $15 extra per day and go back to the old system, so much more fair.
The problem we run into is that we are on vacation, and for me vacation does not involve having to be up at 7AM. With the old Fastpass we could get those same 3 rides and not have to be up every day.
That’s not considering the up-charge, I have no problem paying if it actually made things easier.
Exactly! I know it’s best to rope drop if you want to ride everything in each park but Ineas hoping to get a slightly later start on our AK day or Epcot day. Even with Genie+ you have to wake up early to log in to try and snag even a couple LL options.
I don’t knock anyone who wants to be there for rope drop but it was much easier getting up one day for Fastpass.
It’s not fun having to have the luck of a click at 7AM especially if there is any network issues
I’m with you, just go ahead and increase prices by $15, AGAIN, but give me back something similar to the FP+ system where I can pay ahead, plan ahead, and enjoy my trip when I get there.
Just the wording “2-3 attractions” leaves a very unsettling feeling as witnessed by announcements of certain attractions going down temporarily throughout the day…It’s basically a crapshoot with no guarantees other than your investment in the Genie Plus plan…
And to keep updating your day by staring at your phone drifting through the crowded walkways unable to enjoy the beauty of the park as you cut left/right to avoid human collisions. This scenario will be etched in my memory banks when the time comes with renewing our annual passes…
I’m curious if you know… we were in Disneyworld last week and the fiddle faddle yielded very poor results. It was extremely rare for me to get an earlier return time once they filled up for the day. My question is – does it depend on the size of your party? We had a group of 7 and even applying all your tricks, I could only get a few rides at each of the parks. Maybe if you are a single rider there is more availability? Thanks for all the helpful info, especially your YouTube videos, it made planning so much easier!
There is at least one YouTube video where they show that party size (up to 10 or 12 people) makes no difference with Genie+.
Sorry but saying someone can average 2-3 rides per day with genie+ makes it a ripoff especially for $15
Agree 100% – this is just more evidence of the BS arguments that Disney preferred about introducing LL in place of FP that it would make the rides more accessible- how? Is average like 5-6 FP a day and standby lines were SHORTER! Thinly veiled pure cash grab causing the parks to be less fun and more expensive.
It’s not 2-3 rides total. It’s 2-3 Lightning Lane rides on top of what you are willing to stand in line for. Also many are relaying their experience over the last few weeks when most schools are on Spring Break and parks were at capacity.
Yes, it is 2-3 FP or LL rides total. Still a terrible value. Also, spring break has had nothing to do with crowds. I was there the last week of January, President’s Day weekend and the second week of March. The crowds in March were actually slightly lower than what they were in January and President’s weekend. The rides for most rides has been ridiculous. Having a annual pass that I definitely utilized makes the pain a little easier. I feel sorry for the soul who purchases a vacation package or a one-day pass and tries to get their money’s worth.