Everything Genie, Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lane - Please Read Posts 1-7

[Childs1stTime2Disney]

Haven't been since 2018 and I am very confused about Genie, Genie + and ILL. I am watching YouTube videos but am very lost. When can you register for these? How does your dining reservations factor in? Can someone please help me to understand. I wish it wasn't this complicated!!

 

[DL1WDW2]

I agree it is confusing. Until you actually practice with Genie
Have you download the APP on your phone Or iPad?
This is a good place to begin because you can choose the free Genie and you kinda tell Genie your likes , etc choice for each park.
Once you have practiced this you will notice the other sections to select. One of them says:
Virtual Q and that is the place to reserve a VQ with your tickets already saved in your MDE and also your park pass reservation for that specific day
( made previously on the MDE ( My Disney Experience )…
Afew minutes before 7 a.m. you need to log into the APP to be ready for the VQ window to open . I usually make sure I am not in low power battery mode in case it slows down my phone but I don’t know if that makes a difference.

I think if you want to buy GeniePlus ,the price changes and that window to purchase might begin at midnight for the day you actually plan to use it. Must have ticketing and a park pass for that day in your MDE .
Not really sure about this because I haven’t actually purchased but my daughter did for her two teenagers. I think they had hotel reservations so they got to start making a FastPass Genie+ before the park opened.
If you do not have hotel reservation then you must enter the park for your first selection (MAYBE ) … anyway … I think you can choose a new FPGenie+ every 2 hours or you can choose another one if you have scanned in at your current FPGenie+ attraction ( while standing in line ) .
I have only observed this as my grandchildren used this during our recent trip. I hate all of this but whatever.
And finally the Individual Lightning Lane is a separate option .
One attraction at each theme park is ILL .
There is a price for the guarantee of entering the FP Q for ILL and it can surge according to popularity.
I think MK. currently is 7 Dwarfs for ILL but TROn will open soon !
Epcot is either Remy Attraction or Cosmic Rewind.
HS is Riseof the Resistance Star Wars
and AK is Avatar Flight .
Sorry if this is not absolutely correct but it might change andI have tried to,ignore it all except for needing to be responsible when I have grandchildren during their visit. So I kinda know a little.
I hope somebody else with more knowledge will come to your rescue for both of us!
I just want you to know it is confusing but can slowly be figured out .

 

[Tom_E_D]

Haven't been since 2018 and I am very confused about Genie, Genie + and ILL. I am watching YouTube videos but am very lost. When can you register for these? How does your dining reservations factor in? Can someone please help me to understand. I wish it wasn't this complicated!!

The Disboards place to start is here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/e...lightning-lane-please-read-posts-1-7.3856734/

Read posts 3 and 4, in particular, until you understand them, then read them again to see if you missed anything. As for YouTube videos, be aware that the Genie+ and ILL rules have changed since the system was first introduced, so be alert as to when the video was made. Ignore anything that is old. I believe the last significant change was in early December, so look for ones made since then. (I realize it can be hard to tell when the video was made.)

 

[gatorlisa]

The first several posts in this thread should tell you all you need to know about Genie+ and ILL.
https://www.disboards.com/threads/e...lightning-lane-please-read-posts-1-7.3856734/

 

[greeneyedchick]

Genie is free and worthless. It will guide you to the least crowded attractions like the Tiki Birds.

Genie+ is a paid add-on per person per day and you can register for your first attraction at 7am of that day. The will give you a reservation for a ride like fastpass used to do. After that, you can select your next ride after you have ridden the first one or 2 hours after making your last ride reservation, whichever is shorter. Disney says that you can plan on getting 2 or 3 rides a day this way. You will get more at Magic Kingdom. You may not make a "fast pass" with Genie+ for the same ride more than once a day.

Lightening Lanes are paid fast passes for the top tier rides (which are not included in Genie or Genie plus). These are paid add-ons per person per ride. The price for both Genie+ and Lightening Lanes changes based on the crowds. Usually around $20-25 per person PER RIDE for lightening lane rides. These include Rise of the Resistance, Avatar, Snow White Diamond Mines, Tron, Mickey's Runaway Railway, Remy and Guardians of the Galaxy. Lightening lanes purchases open at 7am for Disney hotel guests for the same day that you want to ride one of those attractions. . Non-Disney hotel guests may not try to buy a lightening lane pass until they are inside the park. A lot of the rides sell out quickly, leaving a much smaller chance for a non-hotel guest to get a spot. The app will give you a return time for both Genie+ rides and Lightening Lane rides. Be aware that if you accept that time, the app may change the return time when you check out. You cannot select a specific time. If you don't like the time presented, you can take a chance and try for another time but you do risk the passes selling out. If it conflicts with your dining reservation, then you can either risk trying for another time or visit guest relations to see if they can move your reservation or return ride time. No guarantees.

Since both Genie and Lightening Lane open at 7am, you need to be up early for each day that you want to purchase and it's best if you have 2 people. One person can purchase Genie+ and try for those rides while another person tries for the Lightening Lanes. I have friends who purchased Genie+ for the Animal Kingdom and did not feel that it was useful for that park. Most people say that it works well at the Magic Kingdom.

 

[Childs1stTime2Disney]

Genie is free and worthless. It will guide you to the least crowded attractions like the Tiki Birds.

Genie+ is a paid add-on per person per day and you can register for your first attraction at 7am of that day. The will give you a reservation for a ride like fastpass used to do. After that, you can select your next ride after you have ridden the first one or 2 hours after making your last ride reservation, whichever is shorter. Disney says that you can plan on getting 2 or 3 rides a day this way. You will get more at Magic Kingdom. You may not make a "fast pass" with Genie+ for the same ride more than once a day.

Lightening Lanes are paid fast passes for the top tier rides (which are not included in Genie or Genie plus). These are paid add-ons per person per ride. The price for both Genie+ and Lightening Lanes changes based on the crowds. Usually around $20-25 per person PER RIDE for lightening lane rides. These include Rise of the Resistance, Avatar, Snow White Diamond Mines, Tron, Mickey's Runaway Railway, Remy and Guardians of the Galaxy. Lightening lanes purchases open at 7am for Disney hotel guests for the same day that you want to ride one of those attractions. . Non-Disney hotel guests may not try to buy a lightening lane pass until they are inside the park. A lot of the rides sell out quickly, leaving a much smaller chance for a non-hotel guest to get a spot. The app will give you a return time for both Genie+ rides and Lightening Lane rides. Be aware that if you accept that time, the app may change the return time when you check out. You cannot select a specific time. If you don't like the time presented, you can take a chance and try for another time but you do risk the passes selling out. If it conflicts with your dining reservation, then you can either risk trying for another time or visit guest relations to see if they can move your reservation or return ride time. No guarantees.

Since both Genie and Lightening Lane open at 7am, you need to be up early for each day that you want to purchase and it's best if you have 2 people. One person can purchase Genie+ and try for those rides while another person tries for the Lightening Lanes. I have friends who purchased Genie+ for the Animal Kingdom and did not feel that it was useful for that park. Most people say that it works well at the Magic Kingdom.

Ugh thank. you. I hate that I must now get up at 7am each day of my trip. What if I don't? I may not get on any of the more desirable rides I guess?

 

[DL1WDW2]

Not true . It just depends on crowds, weather.
How familiar you are with each theme park.
I think some feel it isn’t necessary for every day at every park .
I agree with Genie not being very helpful but it does keep track of current wait times , etc. and daily Park operating hours .
I only tellGenie my one and only first favorite for each park so he knows I want that !

Technically I guess we need MDE and Genie .
They both keep our plans in order with way too many selections.
Don’t forget the 60 day dining windows! Haha

 

[DL1WDW2]

sorry for duplicate post

When is your trip?

 

[scrappinginontario]

Haven't been since 2018 and I am very confused about Genie, Genie + and ILL. I am watching YouTube videos but am very lost. When can you register for these? How does your dining reservations factor in? Can someone please help me to understand. I wish it wasn't this complicated!!

You are not alone in the confusion. Posts on page one of this thread were designed to help navigate this complicated system.

Please feel free to ask additional questions once reading.

 

[Childs1stTime2Disney]

When is your trip?

Super busy time in April

 

[DLRExpert]

So something unique happened to some friends of mine yesterday at HS.
They had a ILL for Rise for 10am-11am.
After the time passed the ILL disappeared from the app.
Usually it would stay in the app until used as they do not expire.

Friend went to the Guest Services CM and they stated that the return time expired and that is why it disappeared. They still gave them a use anytime pass for Rise ILL, but I wonder if they are trying to change the no expiration hidden feature.

I see the no expiration on ILL and VQ being a HUGE issue for Tron as most guests will start to realize that the night ride is the better experience.

 

[Miffy]

Ugh thank. you. I hate that I must now get up at 7am each day of my trip. What if I don't? I may not get on any of the more desirable rides I guess?

First, MMRR is no longer an ILL$. It's a regular G+ ride now. See the first 7 posts of this thread to see which rides are ILL$.

Next, yes, you must get up at 7 a.m. each day that you want to get the most desirable rides* unless you are either going to rope-drop (in which case you'll be up before 7) and/or stay until park close, when waits are generally shorter, even for the E ticket rides.

The longer after 7 a.m. you start making your G+/ILL$ picks, the less likely they will still be available at all. Also, even for ILL$ that don't sell out in minutes (like RotR), at 7 a.m. there's a greater choice of times.

Also, I can't tell if this has been mentioned, but G+ goes on sale at midnight. Don't wait until 7 a.m. to purchase G+ because then you will lose out on early booking of your first G+ attraction.

*ETA: Actually, you don't need to get up if you don't mind standing in a long standby queue. Just be aware that the standby lines for RotR, SDD, and FoP can be 3+-hours long.

 

[scrappinginontario]

So something unique happened to some friends of mine yesterday at HS.
They had a ILL for Rise for 10am-11am.
After the time passed the ILL disappeared from the app.
Usually it would stay in the app until used as they do not expire.

Friend went to the Guest Services CM and they stated that the return time expired and that is why it disappeared. They still gave them a use anytime pass for Rise ILL, but I wonder if they are trying to change the no expiration hidden feature.

I see the no expiration on ILL and VQ being a HUGE issue for Tron as most guests will start to realize that the night ride is the better experience.

Did they try to tap even though the ILL$!was no longer visible?

If they are using a MB I’ve heard tapping still works even though the ILL$ is no longer displayed on the screen.

 

[DLRExpert]

Did they try to tap even though the ILL$!was no longer visible?

If they are using a MB I’ve heard tapping still works even though the ILL$ is no longer displayed on the screen.

They were closer to the guest services than they were the Rise ILL entrance.

 

[Kesohio63]

Genie+ works very well when crowd levels are moderate. We were at WDW 2/3-2/5, and I was able to stack LLs at MK, HS, and EP. We walked on everything we wanted to ride, except Remy which broke down right when we reached the loading area. They gave us an anytime LL to ride later, and we had a short wait when we returned. The longest line we stood in all weekend was Starbucks at EP.

 

[kansasdisneygal]

Haven't been since 2018 and I am very confused about Genie, Genie + and ILL. I am watching YouTube videos but am very lost. When can you register for these? How does your dining reservations factor in? Can someone please help me to understand. I wish it wasn't this complicated!!

Check out Ear Scouts on YouTube. He explains it in a very thorough yet easy to understand way!

 

[msteffen]

this will be my first time to disney since they started this system. can you still go and wing it without making any selections? or is it recommended to at least do the genie part? this seems very confusing

 

[Kesohio63]

If you’re staying onsite, early entry can give you a big advantage. The free genie features don’t help that much, IMO.

 

[midwestdee]

this will be my first time to disney since they started this system. can you still go and wing it without making any selections? or is it recommended to at least do the genie part? this seems very confusing

If you go every year, then ok, wing it. If you save & plan for a trip every 2 - 5 years buy Genie+ and be ready to pony up for ILLs ( like Rise & FOP). DD & I really studied for the trip last June. We were at the same resort , different buildings. We had a game plan for each day, at 7 A.M., my job was to score the ILL, hers was go grab the first Genie+ pick. We texted results to each other. We totally rocked it.

 

[BLTtinkerbell]

I’m new to Genie+.

Traveling with extended family and someone mentioned when they went to WDW last year, they needed to buy Genie+ at the time they purchased their park tickets.

Everything I’m reading says purchase at midnight for the next day.

I just want to make sure that is the only option now.

Thanks