Does genie have to be purchased before trip?

[riogirl84]

Does Genie have to be purchased prior to my trip? I have 3 day park ticket in two weeks and I can’t really understand this whole new thing. I get the lightening lane but Genie+? So if I buy it then I can basically make fast pass type reservations throughout the day for non lightening lane attractions? Is it really necessary? Any help
Would be appreciated thanks!

 

[BadPinkTink]

• Genie+ can be added at midnight for day of
• Genie+ can be for length of trip
• Genie+ first booking of Lighting Lane =7am
• Booking of Individual Attraction Lighting Lane Onsite Starts At 7am, both Individual Attraction Lighting Lane passes can be bought one after another
• Booking of Individual Attraction Lightning Lane Offsite Starts at park opening time, both Individual Attraction Lighting Lane passes can be bought one after another
• Genie+ Lightning Lane Stacking can be done
• Genie+ Lightning Lane pass is once per ride per day, if you want to go again on that ride, you will have to join the standby line
• If a ride goes down and you have either booked a Genie+ Lightning Lane or paid for an Individual Attraction Lightning Lane, you will get an anytime pass for that ride.
• If an Individual Attraction ride that you have paid for does not restart before the park closes, the cost of that Individual Attraction will be automatically refunded to the original payment method.
• If you have paid for an Individual Attraction and it goes down and you can not wait to see if it will restart, you can go to Guest Services and a get a refund.
• The touring plan gets up dated according to your location and the info you input such as dining reservations and must do rides
• Pay once for Genie+ and use across all parks in one day as long as you have a park hopper ticket and a park reservation
• Individual Attractions can choose a specific time for Lightning Lane Return depending on availability
• Rides included in Genie+ choose next available time Lightning Lane Return depending on availability
• No cancellations of Individual Attraction Lightning Lane, use it or lose it
• Genie + Lightning Lane can be cancelled
• If the return time window has opened, you can not cancel Genie + Lightning Lane pass, a either scan it and don't ride or wait it out until next pass available
• You can only pay for 2 Individual Attractions Lightning Lane passes in one day. That’s across all parks i.e. you’ve paid for Space Mountain and Mine Train at Magic Kingdom so you can’t make a third for Flight of Passage in Animal Kingdom.
• You don't need to buy Genie+ to buy Individual Attractions Lightning Lane passes. You can just use the free Genie touring plan and buy 1 or 2 Individual Attractions Lightning Lane passes in a day
• You can book a Lightning Lane pass for after 2pm for the park you plan to hop to after you have entered your first park. For example if you are in Epcot in the morning and decide to hop to Hollywood Studios and select a Lightning Lane for Slinky Dog Dash for 5pm, when you enter Hollywood Studios after 2pm you could select another Lightning Lane attraction as it's over two hours before your Slinky Dog Dash selection.

 

[Kmilos1024]

To piggy back off the question is there any savings if purchased before the trip, if not why would you not just wait until your there and see how the lines are before purchasing?

 

[RoyandWalt]

No advance savings. I just pretended to buy our tickets for our trip a month from now and Genie+ add on is still $15 per day, per ticket.

 

[Bullseye]

• Genie+ can be added at midnight for day of
• Genie+ can be for length of trip
• Genie+ first booking of Lighting Lane =7am
• Booking of Individual Attraction Lighting Lane Onsite Starts At 7am, both Individual Attraction Lighting Lane passes can be bought one after another
• Booking of Individual Attraction Lightning Lane Offsite Starts at park opening time, both Individual Attraction Lighting Lane passes can be bought one after another
• Genie+ Lightning Lane Stacking can be done
• Genie+ Lightning Lane pass is once per ride per day, if you want to go again on that ride, you will have to join the standby line
• If a ride goes down and you have either booked a Genie+ Lightning Lane or paid for an Individual Attraction Lightning Lane, you will get an anytime pass for that ride.
• If an Individual Attraction ride that you have paid for does not restart before the park closes, the cost of that Individual Attraction will be automatically refunded to the original payment method.
• If you have paid for an Individual Attraction and it goes down and you can not wait to see if it will restart, you can go to Guest Services and a get a refund.
• The touring plan gets up dated according to your location and the info you input such as dining reservations and must do rides
• Pay once for Genie+ and use across all parks in one day as long as you have a park hopper ticket and a park reservation
• Individual Attractions can choose a specific time for Lightning Lane Return depending on availability
• Rides included in Genie+ choose next available time Lightning Lane Return depending on availability
• No cancellations of Individual Attraction Lightning Lane, use it or lose it
• Genie + Lightning Lane can be cancelled
• If the return time window has opened, you can not cancel Genie + Lightning Lane pass, a either scan it and don't ride or wait it out until next pass available
• You can only pay for 2 Individual Attractions Lightning Lane passes in one day. That’s across all parks i.e. you’ve paid for Space Mountain and Mine Train at Magic Kingdom so you can’t make a third for Flight of Passage in Animal Kingdom.
• You don't need to buy Genie+ to buy Individual Attractions Lightning Lane passes. You can just use the free Genie touring plan and buy 1 or 2 Individual Attractions Lightning Lane passes in a day
• You can book a Lightning Lane pass for after 2pm for the park you plan to hop to after you have entered your first park. For example if you are in Epcot in the morning and decide to hop to Hollywood Studios and select a Lightning Lane for Slinky Dog Dash for 5pm, when you enter Hollywood Studios after 2pm you could select another Lightning Lane attraction as it's over two hours before your Slinky Dog Dash selection.

Thanks for this! You just answered all my remaining questions about this new world!!

 

[Mommb]

I arrived at WDW on Friday night. I was unable to figure out how to add Genie+ in advance — the site told me my ticket type (4-day park hopper, DVC room) was ineligible. So yesterday and today, I added Genie+ for the day before 7 am (12:10 am Sat, 6:55 am today). That was quick and allowed me to book a Lightning pass at 7.

 

[Mommb]

I am curious how I could have booked for the entire trip, but if booking each morning is the worst inconvenience Genie has, I’ll be happy.

 

[LSUfan4444]

I am curious how I could have booked for the entire trip, but if booking each morning is the worst inconvenience Genie has, I’ll be happy.

You cant book the entire trip but you can upgrade your tickets in advance to add the Genie plus option. I wouldn't recommend it but you can if you wanted to

 

[NickyLT]

Prior to adding Genie+ for that day, are you able to see what the availability is?

 

[LSUfan4444]

Prior to adding Genie+ for that day, are you able to see what the availability is?

Yes. You can log in and see the availability now if you wanted to.

 

[riogirl84]

Yes. You can log in and see the availability now if you wanted to.

Availability for what exactly?

 

[riogirl84]

I arrived at WDW on Friday night. I was unable to figure out how to add Genie+ in advance — the site told me my ticket type (4-day park hopper, DVC room) was ineligible. So yesterday and today, I added Genie+ for the day before 7 am (12:10 am Sat, 6:55 am today). That was quick and allowed me to book a Lightning pass at 7.

So you have to purchase genie + first for $15 before you can purchase lightning lane for those specific rides?

 

[Mommb]

You can purchase individual Lightning Lane passes (the ones that cost extra, such as Remy and Flight of Passage) without buying Genie+.

You need to pay $15 for Genie+ before booking passes for “included with Genie+” attractions such as Soarin’ and Toy Story Midway Mania. For those attractions, resort guests can book 1 at 7 am, then book another after that booking is used (or 2 hours after booking or park opening, if the pass doesn’t start until later in the day).

 

[MakiraMarlena]

you can purchase Genie ahead of time only if you have a Disney resort reservation and tickets on your Disney account, and then you can buy it for every day that you have tickets. If you have any other type of reservation (such as DVC) or an annual pass, or if you don't want Genie+ for every day that you have a ticket, then the only way to purchase Genie+ is the day of.

You can monitor the return and wait times on MDE by reading the tip board. It might help to look at it for a few days before you arrive, so you get the idea of how the flow goes.

 

[lanejudy]

So you have to purchase genie + first for $15 before you can purchase lightning lane for those specific rides?

No, you can purchase just Genie+ or just ILL$ (1 or 2 per day) or both (or neither). They work independently from each other. Users will enter the Lightning Lane (former FP queue) for both, but otherwise they are unrelated.

 

[Kmilos1024]

I guess I'm just amazed they don't give you a discount for purchasing for your whole trip, as it is we will just decide whether to purchase after we see how the days are going wait wise, probably only do for two or three at most.