Did Disney World Just KILL Our FAVORITE Ride Strategy?

Well, well, well. What a week of changes for Disney World it has been.

Genie+ is about to be no more (queue celebratory music)…but wait. We’re not going back to FastPass+. No, the new system will be Lightning Lane Multi Pass and the Individual Lightning Lane option will be called Lightning Lane Single Pass. It’s pretty straightforward, but now this change has us thinking. Did Disney just inadvertently kill our favorite ride strategy??

So, what on Earth are we talking about when we talk about our favorite ride strategy?? Well, I’m glad you asked. We’re talking about Genie+ Lightning Lane Stacking!

So, Genie+ lets you skip lines with Lightning Lanes, but one at a time. Normally you use your first one, then book another, but what if your first ride’s return time is basically forever from now?

Single Rider and Lightning Lane entrance at Test Track

Here’s where the magical 120-minute rule comes in: You can book your next Lightning Lane when:

You use the first one.
You miss your first window (oops!).
OR 120 minutes have passed since you booked the first one (for example, if you book before the park opens say at 7AM, the timer starts the moment the park opens).

(Whichever happens first)

Imagine this: Let’s say we snag a Slinky Dog Dash Lightning Lane at 7AM (park opens at 9AM), but our return time is at 9PM. We’d basically waste Genie+ if we wait until 9PM to book another ride.

Again, this is where the 120-minute rule saves the day! The park opens at 9AM, and by 11AM (120 minutes later) we can book another Genie+ selection. For our example, let’s Lightning Lane for Muppet*Vision 3-D at 11:15AM, which means we’re basically stacking two Genie+ rides at once!

Next, let’s go ahead and ride Muppet*Vision 3-D right away, and then at 11:30, we book a Tower of Terror return time for 6PM. That return window is way more than 120 minutes away, but that’s completely fine. Don’t worry!

What do we do now? In 120 minutes from 11:30AM (which is 1:30PM), we can grab another Genie+ selection. (Remember, we still have our Slinky Dog Dash reservation just still chilling at 9PM, and we also have that 6PM Tower of Terror slot.) This all means that we can keep stacking Genie+ selections throughout the day.

The key for this ride strategy is to always remember WHEN you can book your next Lightning Lane. The My Disney Experience app will tell you when you can, but you can also just use the 120-minute rule as a guide. Again, with this strategy, you’re going to make the most out of Genie+ if you don’t forget to keep booking those selections throughout the day!

All of that being said, it looks like we won’t have to do this anymore as of July 24th when the new system starts.

For starters, with the new system, you’ll be able to purchase Lightning Lane Multi Pass early and choose three Lightning Lane selections BEFORE your Disney World Trip, which is kind of similar to the old FastPass+ system. If you’re staying at a Disney World hotel you can make those selections SEVEN DAYS IN ADVANCE, while others can make those selections three days in advance.

The rides are grouped into tiers and you get to choose one from the top tier and two from the bottom tier (or all three from the bottom tier).

This is HUGE and it basically negates our strategy altogether as you can potentially make your selections up to seven days in advance. It does harken back to how it worked before 2020, so again, very similar to the old FastPass+ system. Pro tip: You’re going to want to spend some time on the My Disney Experience app and learn these new features, so you can get a handle on it before getting to Disney World.

Disney World Fans Are CONFUSED About the NEW Genie+ Changes — Let’s Straighten It Out

There will be a lot of questions and concerns until the new system goes into effect, so you can be sure that we’ll be learning all we can and giving you the low down as soon as it’s available, so check back with AllEars again soon for more.