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

[g-dad66]

If our flight lands at 8:30 and we book our first LL as soon as we land, can we stack (get another at 11:30) even if we aren’t physically IN the park yet?

So we are aiming to get Jungle Cruise for our first LL but by 8:30 when we could get on (I don’t think plane will have Wi-Fi) I’m sure the time will be later on in the day. So hoping to get a second LL at around 11:30 for something else and be in the park around

You don't have to be the in park. You can book an LL from anywhere.

You will be able to get your second LL two hours after the park opens (so if MK opens at 9:00, you can get second LL at 11:00).

 

[Racer X]

Just got back from a "successful" visit to Epcot, MK and Disney Springs. We managed to not kill each other, get heat stroke, get struck by lightning and see most everything we wanted

Thanks to all the suggestions posted here. Really helped navigating the parks and app.

I am by no means afraid of tech, but been some time since our last visit so had to relearn basically everything! Happy to share my noob visit and give back, these might be common sense or open knowledge but were new to me: (in no specific order)

1. You can purchase your G+ when you get up at 7 to book your LL or VQ. I think it's worth the extra $15. We were able to ride most everything w/o waiting in the 95 degree heat. Spash mountain may have paid for itself just by not waiting in that outside line. (remember to book a new ride every 2 hrs or after riding your reserved ride!)

2. Got a VQ to GoG by using time.gov to press the button at exactly 7am. Even at that i was boarding group 38.... sounds daunting right? Well we were called back at 9:45am. Oh Crap - better get moving!

3. Do Not i repeat do NOT attempt to shop at the Vineland Outlets. Holy Christmas week parking nightmare. After circling 3x decided to leave. This was a 12pm. Onto Disney Springs - 1st visit since rebuild and dam its big! AND CROWDED! Almost more than the parks it seemed. If asking google for directions ask for Disney Springs PARKING. We had to circle back to access the lots. Really enjoyed the Coke bar.

4. Speaking of crowds - I can't complain. Asked a few CMs they said it was quieter since July4. Either way manageable for summer peak.

5. Weather: Center of the Sun HOT. Bring cool towels etc and cool off every couple of rides inside somewhere with A/C. Late day rain - monsoon rain with hellfire and brimstone lightning. Be careful!

6. To use your park tickets: For Android: I saved my ticket to google pay. I then had to open the google pay app, have the ticket on the screen, and press flat against the reader. This worked for park entrance AND for your return LL time. Apple watch just tapped it, and iphone use double click on the power button, or open apple wallet. Please note you will NOT get a plastic park ticket or room key unless you REQUEST it from guest relations.

7. Stayed at AllStar Movies. Been a while and the rooms felt smaller to me.. i am sure that is just me obvioulsy lol but they had a murphy bed in our room that was bulky and we lost the small table as a result. It wasn't my favorite but the rooms have all since been redone with nice furniture and fixtures. What was missing was nice Disney touches... just a few pics... no wallpaper, carpet etc that was there before. Nice but could have been more "disney" finishes.

8. The app is really well done and super useful... use it! The tip board will help you navigate the park and save time. Speaking of time we pre-ordered dining while waiting in a ride line, showed up, bypassed the line and picked up our order. Super helpful!

9. They charge for parking now... "just another excuse to pick a man's pocket"

10. Security and entrance lines moved very quickly.

11. CM and staff were very helpful and seemed cheery enough. The parks were immaculate.

Think that's it... if i can be any help i will try to answer any additional questions!

 

[TheDailyMoo]

5. Weather: Center of the Sun HOT. Bring cool towels etc and cool off every couple of rides inside somewhere with A/C. Late day rain - monsoon rain with hellfire and brimstone lightning. Be careful!

I can deal with heat and thought I was being a baby until a few CMs that were local said that even Floridians couldn't take that kind of heat we were experiencing. One said how it used to rain and cool off (I knew this from prior visits) but that that wasn't even happening anymore. Any rain would not only keep the heat but add a ton more humidity. It was brutal at times! Hey Hollywood Studios maybe figure out a way to get some more shade!

 

[Racer X]

To your point, 1 CM i spoke with had been working there for 30 years... 30 YEARS! And never remembers it being this hot. That really says something.

 

[TheDailyMoo]

To your point, 1 CM i spoke with had been working there for 30 years... 30 YEARS! And never remembers it being this hot. That really says something.

It's the kind of heat that sears you lol

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

So a friend of mine is going to Disney with his family in the coming days. He has a MDE account, and has his two family members added to it ( They don't have MDE accounts, how is that possible? Maybe hes mistaken )

They basically have 3 phones logged into the same account. He had 2 questions:

1. Can one person on each phone attempt to get VQ and ILL at the same time, even with them logged into one account? If not, I assume everyone needs to make their own?

Secondly, if only 2 people out of the 3 want to ride something with genie plus or ill, can you take a person off ( As in the main person account, can they remove themselves from the ride, but put the 2 guests only? )

Thanks

 

[Racer X]

I can speak to this as i just did the same thing. 3 of us had app open using my login info.

They recommend you do NOT all try to get the VQ at once as it confuses the system. What i can recommend is that 1 person gets the VQ and another does the LL - however i can tell you it takes literally seconds to get the VQ because u will either get it or not... then just book the LL. I had no problem getting the VQ for GOG and a LL at test track by 10am.

Yes you can uncheck someone who does not want to ride a ride...

 

[scrappinginontario]

From my (limited) understanding, the DS hotels and a few others are eligible for early theme park entry but are not eligible for $ILL at 7am. Edited to add info in case it helps anyone...

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/early-entry/

But for $ILL, from Disney's website:

Guests of a Disney Resort Hotel and other select hotels: make your first selection at 7:00 AM on the day of your park visit (includes Guests of Walt Disney World Swan Hotel, Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel and Shades of Green Resort®). All other Guests can make their first selection when the park opens.

ILL$ post on page 1 updated. Thanks for your assistance.

 

[Leigh L]

One thing that seems to have changed for the Virtual Queue is that you can edit riders before the 7 a.m. mark (we did it at 6:58 on our recent trip) and be ready to go. I was pleasantly surprised by this.

This is a huge improvement from the process used in earlier RoTR days!

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

I can speak to this as i just did the same thing. 3 of us had app open using my login info.

They recommend you do NOT all try to get the VQ at once as it confuses the system. What i can recommend is that 1 person gets the VQ and another does the LL - however i can tell you it takes literally seconds to get the VQ because u will either get it or not... then just book the LL. I had no problem getting the VQ for GOG and a LL at test track by 10am.

Yes you can uncheck someone who does not want to ride a ride...

Ok great so as long as three people are logged into the same MDE account, they can try at the same time ( just make its not for the same thing )

 

[cakebaker]

- When Annual Passholders are attempting to purchase Genie+, they may encounter a glitch IF the other people on their reservation have:
- regular park tickets AND- those guests purchased Genie+ for length of stay for their tickets

At WDW now and I’m the only passholder, the rest of group has hopper tickets with genie+ purchased for length of stay. I’ve had no problem buying mine through the app every morning. I don’t know if they’ve fixed the issue or I’m just lucky.

 

[grapefruitjellybean]

I'm so lost here.
Let's say I want a chill morning to sleep in a bit, eat a leisurely brunch, and not have to fight a toddler for a seat on the bus (jk)
Magic Kingdom opens at 9:00 so at 7:00 I book my first LL for 2:00pm for Jungle Cruise. Am I eligible to book my next ride at 9:00am, or after I ride JC?
Do I keep booking rides every 120 minutes until the park closes? Or do I have to ride something before I can book another one. How many rides can I stack in one day?
Thanks!

 

[brockash]

If MK opens at 9am...you can book the following times without being in the park;

7am
11am (2 hrs. after park opening)
1pm
3pm
5pm
7pm
etc.

If you go to the park and book a fastpass 10am for example and ride at 10am, you can book your next fastpassas soon as you scan in at your first fastpass ride...so like 10:01.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Assuming MK is your first park of the day, you can book LL starting at 7AM. Keep in mind, LL reservations will show you the 'next available' time, so if you want a 2PM time slot, you'll need to keep checking back until all the morning and early afternoon times are gone. You can't select a specific time slot like you can with the ILL paid attractions. If you make your JC LL, and MK opens at 9, you can make a second LL reservation 2 hours after park opening - so 11AM. You can then basically make the reservations every 2 hours the rest of the day, unless you get to a point you have entered the last LL attraction you reserved. For example, you get JC at 2PM. At 1PM, you make a Peter Pan LL and get 1:30 (not realistic, but an example). You ride PP and then head to JC at 2PM. After you tap into the JC queue at that point, you'd have no more LLs, so you could make another right away. But if at 1PM, you get Peter Pan for 4PM, then you're back to every 2 hours....

Hope I didn't make it worse! I think the most important thing to keep in mind is if you make a LL at 7AM, you have to wait until 2 hours after park opening for your next.

 

[grapefruitjellybean]

Assuming MK is your first park of the day, you can book LL starting at 7AM. Keep in mind, LL reservations will show you the 'next available' time, so if you want a 2PM time slot, you'll need to keep checking back until all the morning and early afternoon times are gone. You can't select a specific time slot like you can with the ILL paid attractions. If you make your JC LL, and MK opens at 9, you can make a second LL reservation 2 hours after park opening - so 11AM. You can then basically make the reservations every 2 hours the rest of the day, unless you get to a point you have entered the last LL attraction you reserved. For example, you get JC at 2PM. At 1PM, you make a Peter Pan LL and get 1:30 (not realistic, but an example). You ride PP and then head to JC at 2PM. After you tap into the JC queue at that point, you'd have no more LLs, so you could make another right away. But if at 1PM, you get Peter Pan for 4PM, then you're back to every 2 hours....

Hope I didn't make it worse! I think the most important thing to keep in mind is if you make a LL at 7AM, you have to wait until 2 hours after park opening for your next.

I have 2 degrees and I'm not a complete dummy but Disney is starting to make me question my intelligence.
I have a new business idea too: hire a local with an AP to Genie+ my day. Cheaper than the VIP tour too.

 

[scrappinginontario]

At WDW now and I’m the only passholder, the rest of group has hopper tickets with genie+ purchased for length of stay. I’ve had no problem buying mine through the app every morning. I don’t know if they’ve fixed the issue or I’m just lucky.

Thanks so much for the update! Glad to hear it's working for you!

Has anyone else had a similar/different experience in the past few weeks (let's use a date of Jun 8, 2022 when the ticket changes were made re: pre-purchasing Genie +) who might be able to share their experience? Will update information on page 1 if this is no longer happening.

 

[scrappinginontario]

GENIE+ STRATEGIES

- Genie+ is most useful for Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. It will save you less time waiting in Standby Lines at Epcot and Animal Kingdom.

- For high-demand attractions, book your first LL promptly at 7:00 am. (Pay for Genie+ prior to 7:00 am, so you are ready to go at 7.)

- Two or more of your group can be logged into the MyDisneyExperience (MDE) app at the same time (either in the same account or separate accounts), and one can book Genie+ for SDD, while the other books and pays for ILL$ for RotR.

- The only attraction that will currently “sell out” rapidly is Slinky Dog Dash (SDD) at Disney’s Hollywood Studios (DHS). LLs are typically gone before 7:10 am. However, some availability may re-appear in the 7:10 to 7:15 am time range, so you can keep checking.

- Test Track may sell out before park opening at Epcot. Nothing is likely to sell out at Magic Kingdom or Animal Kingdom prior to park opening.

- At Magic Kingdom, Jungle Cruise will have the latest return times, followed by Peter Pan. At DHS, Millennium Falcon will have the latest return times after Slinky Dog Dash.

- A common strategy is to book high-demand attractions for later in the day so that you have 2 or more attractions stacked for late afternoon/evening. This can be particularly useful for your second park if you are park-hopping.

- You can book an LL at a park for which you don’t have a reservation if you have a Park Hopper ticket. In this situation, Genie+ will only offer you the first available time after 2:00 pm (the time when park hopping is allowed).

- If the first LL is booked at 7AM for a park you are hopping to after 2:00, you will be eligible to book a 2nd LL 2 hours after the park where you booked your first LL opens. E.g:

• Park reservation for DHS which opens at 8:00AM
• 7:00AM book LL for MK which opens at 9:00AM
• Eligible to book second LL at 11:00AM - 2 hours after the park which you booked your first LL opens

- Here is an example of how LL stacking can be done (real example from November 6, 2021, at Disney’s Hollywood Studios)
7:05 am: Book Slinky Dog Dash for 5:25-6:25
11:00 am: Book Millennium Falcon for 4:20-5:20
1:00 pm: Book Tower of Terror for 7:30-8:30
3:00 pm: Book Rock n Roller Coaster for 6:55-7:55
5:00 pm: Could have booked Toy Story Mania for 6:30-7:30

- Here is an example of selecting LLs as soon as possible to maximize number of LL attractions (hypothetical example from Magic Kingdom)
7:00 am: Book Peter Pan for 9:30-10:30
9:10 am: Ride Winnie the Pooh
9:30 am: Tap in Peter Pan, Book Big Thunder Mountain for 10:00-10:30
9:45 am: Ride Splash Mountain
10:15 am: Tap in Big Thunder, Book Haunted Mansion for 11:30-12:30
10:45 am: Ride Pirates of the Caribbean
11:30 am: Tap in Haunted Mansion, Book Small World for 12:45-1:45
12:00 pm: Time for Lunch (Genie+ has gotten you 4 LLs so far, and in the afternoon, you can probably get LL for Buzz Lightyear, Under the Sea, Barnstomer, Dumbo and/or others. Fill in the time between LLs with Mickey’s PhilharMagic, Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, Tomorrowland Transit Authority, and/or Carousel of Progress. Also you may have booked ILL$ for Seven Dwarfs and Space Mountain in the afternoon.)

- Guests are reporting that their experience is that stacking LL's works best at DHS while selecting LLs as soon as possible is a good strategy for MK.

- You can pin one or more attractions to the top of the Tip Board by selecting it as your only Top Pick in the free Genie part of the app. Or you can also select Top Picks through the Edit Selections link at the top of the Tip Board. This is very useful when you are in a hurry to book a particular attraction. Pin it to the top of the Tip Board. Then after booking, replace it with the next one that you will be going for. This saves time not having to scroll down through alphabetical list of attractions.

- Most LL will sell out at some point during the day, so keep an eye on the available times.
View attachment 641058

- You will be allowed to purchase Genie+ at any point during the day

- Play around with the Tip Board prior to your trip to get a handle on how it works.

@grapefruitjellybean, Post 5 of this thread covers a couple of stacking options as do what many others have shared in this thread. Reading the past few pages should be very helpful.

 

[Tom_E_D]

Assuming MK is your first park of the day, you can book LL starting at 7AM. Keep in mind, LL reservations will show you the 'next available' time, so if you want a 2PM time slot, you'll need to keep checking back until all the morning and early afternoon times are gone. You can't select a specific time slot like you can with the ILL paid attractions. If you make your JC LL, and MK opens at 9, you can make a second LL reservation 2 hours after park opening - so 11AM. You can then basically make the reservations every 2 hours the rest of the day, unless you get to a point you have entered the last LL attraction you reserved. For example, you get JC at 2PM. At 1PM, you make a Peter Pan LL and get 1:30 (not realistic, but an example). You ride PP and then head to JC at 2PM. After you tap into the JC queue at that point, you'd have no more LLs, so you could make another right away. But if at 1PM, you get Peter Pan for 4PM, then you're back to every 2 hours....

Hope I didn't make it worse! I think the most important thing to keep in mind is if you make a LL at 7AM, you have to wait until 2 hours after park opening for your next.

If your most-recently-booked G+ LL is Peter Pan, then tapping into Peter Pan allows you to book another. You do not have to wait until you tap into the previously-booked Jungle Cruise. It is possible to book another G+ LL after tapping into your most-recently-booked one even though you still have some earlier-booked ones that haven't been used yet.

 

[Nevada Jen]

I think I am close to understanding this. One last question. If I book a LL at 7 for 9:10 time at MK on a day MK opens at 9 and I tap in to the ride at 9:15, am I then eligible to book another LL immediately or do I still need to wait until 11 to book another one?

 

[thanxfornoticin]

If your most-recently-booked G+ LL is Peter Pan, then tapping into Peter Pan allows you to book another. You do not have to wait until you tap into the previously-booked Jungle Cruise. It is possible to book another G+ LL after tapping into your most-recently-booked one even though you still have some earlier-booked ones that haven't been used yet.

I was thinking in the back of my head if that might be the case, but I thought we tried something similar in March and it didn't work as expected. I thought if we had a LL in the queue later in the day, the 2-hour requirement came into play for all other LLs prior. There was a time they tried to close a loophole where people were grabbing an extra LL after tapping into one. Even after using it a dozen times this year. I'm still learning cans and cannots!