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

[JJ2017]

Because people were not getting the time the app was showing… too many people clicking at 7am. I guess the extra step slows the process so the time doesn’t jump ahead as much?

Hopping doesn’t matter anymore… you can’t reserve a ride at ur hop to park until distribution times for said ride are past 2pm. Before the app recognized you were reserving a ride in a park you didn’t have your park reservation at and assigned something after 2pm.

So I can't select rides in my Genie planning tool for HS (my hopping park) in order to populate them up at the top?

 

[SLThomas318]

So I can't select rides in my Genie planning tool for HS (my hopping park) in order to populate them up at the top?

Not sure about this, I've only ever pinned my first ride of the day to the top... never thought to do it with hopping. But now I want to know if this is still possible...

 

[MamaBelle4]

Going with the kids (6 and 3) for the first time. How vital does the community feel it is to get Genie plus?

Do you feel like it is a must have? $60 a day adds up.

I'm not getting it.

The first time I took our three kids in 2014, they were 6, 4 & 2. I didn't know about FP+. Only time we used it was when a CM showed us how to get a FP for TSMM at DHS.

We had an absolutely marvelous and magical trip. Sure we had to wait in line (worst was 3.5 hours to meet Anna and Elsa but they just had to meet them).

And this last trip was a completely different beast bc it was early 2021, so no FP and no Genie yet but greatly diminished crowds.

I think if you measure your expectations, and know you might just have to wait for some headliners, you'll have a wonderful trip.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Going with the kids (6 and 3) for the first time. How vital does the community feel it is to get Genie plus?

Do you feel like it is a must have? $60 a day adds up.

There are so many variables to your question and honestly it's a personal decision. What works for you may not work for someone else. How busy will the parks be? What park are you thinking of?

General consensus is it's not needed for Epcot or AK.

Also, there's no real way to know cost at this point. Depending on when you go $60/day may be too little or too much to budget for as Disney is not publishing Genie+ prices until day-of.

We don't have a trip in the books but if we did, it would be very few days (if any) that we purchased Genie+.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Wait - why are times hidden between 7:00 and 7:30? And where is the feature that tells Genie that I'm park hopping? Wasn't there an area that had you list the times you planned to be in the park?

The challenge was with so many people being displayed the same return times at 7:00, by the time they clicked through the screens their actual secured LL time could be hours later. The way they're doing it now, it's displaying a more accurate wait time so that if people choose to secure the LL they're looking at, actual return times are much closer to what is displayed.

 

[Cat0727]

Going to WDW in a couple of weeks and will be visiting MK on a Wednesday when the park is open until 10pm. Debating on whether or not I should buy Genie+ or if I can get away with not using it. I am not planning on buying Genie+ for any of the other parks so maybe I will end up buying it for MK since it will only be that one day.

 

[DisneyStarWisher]

I've been reading a lot about Genie+, but I still have a few questions that I can't find the answers for:
1. Can I make a G+ selection for Remy at 7:00 a.m. even though I have a park reservation for MK? I plan to park hop to Epcot at 2:00. I realize I will have to wait to make it when the Remy reservations get to 2:00 or later.
2. If I want to make further G+ selections at DHS (hopping to it around 6:00), do I need to wait until 2 hours after DHS opens? The 2-hours after park opening is confusing me since the parks open at different times.
3. Can I get these rides moved to the top of my Tip Board even though they are in parks I don't have reservations for? If so, how can I do that?
Thanks!

 

[g-dad66]

I've been reading a lot about Genie+, but I still have a few questions that I can't find the answers for:
1. Can I make a G+ selection for Remy at 7:00 a.m. even though I have a park reservation for MK? I plan to park hop to Epcot at 2:00.
2. If I want to make further G+ selections at DHS (hopping to it around 6:00), do I need to wait until 2 hours after DHS opens? The 2-hours after park opening is confusing me since the parks open at different times.
3. Can I get these rides moved to the top of my Tip Board even though they are in parks I don't have reservations for? If so, how can I do that?
Thanks!

1. Yes
2. The relevant park opening is the park where you book your first LL. So in your situation, Epcot opening time is the relevant time (since you are booking first LL for Remy). You can book your second LL in DHS 2 hours after Epcot opened.
3. We only hopped once last trip (to DHS), and I couldn't get Slinky pinned to the top of the Tip Board. But if you click on the attraction name, then on next page click on the blue LL, it will refresh the Tip Board and take you right back to the same attraction. That's what I did right at 7:00 to refresh the Tip Board and keep Slinky on the screen.

 

[DisneyStarWisher]

One more question:
If the times change from the time you select to the time you book to the time you confirm, how do you know when to actually select the ride? I'm afraid if I wait until the time I need, it will be much later than the time I really want.

 

[g-dad66]

One more question:
If the times change from the time you select to the time you book to the time you confirm, how do you know when to actually select the ride? I'm afraid if I wait until the time I need, it will be much later than the time I really want.

This won't be an issue for most attractions. The time you end up with won't be much different (if any) from the time you select.

But for the handful of high-demand items, it can be tricky. If you are not in the 7:00 to 7:15 am time period, you will see a time on the Tip Board (Time 1). If you click it and then see a time which is substantially later (Time 2), you may want to confirm Time 2 if it is workable for you (though perhaps not quite as late as you want).

If you back out and try again, you can run the risk that by the time you get to Time 2, it will be later than you want.

But don't despair when you are booking during the most volatile time period (7:00 to 7:15 am, when you won't see a Time 1). Each time you back out and try again, Time 2 will keep getting later until about 7:05 am or so. Then in the next 10 minutes or so, there is a good chance that it will bounce back to an earlier time.

This happened to us when Slinky Dog showed 5:30 return, but some patient refreshing suddenly popped up with a 3:30 time that worked for us.

Once you confirm Time 2, you will get your assigned time (Time 3). Our experience this past trip was that Time 3 was different from Time 2 only once, and it was just 5 minutes later.

 

[StarLime]

Hello, I was wondering if someone could help me out. I have an upcoming trip in a few weeks that I booked back in May. We booked 4 days of park hoppers with genie+. Disney World changed it so that you can only purchase Genie+ the morning of your park day after I booked this trip. I wanted to add a 5th park day with the hopper and genie+ with our package. Does anyone know if I added that 5th day, would it allow me to book that park ticket with genie+? I dont want to modify this trip and lose the genie+ tickets I already paid for, so I thought I would ask first.

Sorry if I'm not making sense. Im confusing myself typing this out, lol.

 

[lanejudy]

Do you have a package (room+tickets) or separate tickets? I believe 2022 packages with Genie+ pre-purchase are grandfathered and you can’t lose the Genie+. I’m not sure about stand-alone tickets.

 

[Castlequeen5]

I’m confused about the park hopping part. How can you select a ride for your second park, if you can’t see the return times between 7:00-7:30? We are planning to use Genie+ when we park hop over to HS and stack the rides. Our top ride is Slinky. I’ve read that it sometimes sells out very fast. So it sounds like I need to book it pretty quickly. But how do I know what the return times are, if it’s hidden?

 

[Jangles]

I’m confused about the park hopping part. How can you select a ride for your second park, if you can’t see the return times between 7:00-7:30? We are planning to use Genie+ when we park hop over to HS and stack the rides. Our top ride is Slinky. I’ve read that it sometimes sells out very fast. So it sounds like I need to book it pretty quickly. But how do I know what the return times are, if it’s hidden?

You keep refreshing until it allows you to book.

 

[StarLime]

I have a room and ticket package booked. If those tickets are grandfathered in, does that mean if I add an additional park day, it would have the genie plus as well?

 

[scrappinginontario]

I’m confused about the park hopping part. How can you select a ride for your second park, if you can’t see the return times between 7:00-7:30? We are planning to use Genie+ when we park hop over to HS and stack the rides. Our top ride is Slinky. I’ve read that it sometimes sells out very fast. So it sounds like I need to book it pretty quickly. But how do I know what the return times are, if it’s hidden?

You will need to click into the second screen if SDD to see the current return times being offered. Once that return time is 2PM or later you can book. This will happen extremely quickly so you want to start this process the moment 7AM hits.

 

[cakebaker]

You will need to click into the second screen if SDD to see the current return times being offered. Once that return time is 2PM or later you can book. This will happen extremely quickly so you want to start this process the moment 7AM hits.

Agreed, we never did manage to get a before 2pm time for Slinky when HS was our morning park- ended up booking it on a day we were hopping to HS but we started at 7am and booked within a minute of opening the app. It's sells out amazingly quick. It was easier to get the VQ for Guardians than to book SDD.

 

[lanejudy]

I have a room and ticket package booked. If those tickets are grandfathered in, does that mean if I add an additional park day, it would have the genie plus as well?

Yes, that I my understanding, that you should be able to adjust the ticket length with Genie. Of course, that was before the recent announcement about variable pricing, but I would hope they still honor the $15 upcharge (plus the additional ticket day). Otherwise they would need to refund what you already pId for Genie+.

 

[smeecanada]

Heading to WDW for one day - MK - OCT 28 for the day leaving when party starts. Haven't used genie anything before - do you think we need Genie +. Two adults - no kids - only must do is Splash Mountain - due to Disney changing it.

 

[Jennasis]

What time is the second drop for GotG at Epcot? We are staying offsite so pretty sure by park opening all the iLL$ will be gone for the first drop.