The ULTIMATE Guide to Genie+ in Disney World

overwhelmed by disney genie then you've come to the right place we're gonna walk you through everything today here on dfb guide [Music] hey everybody it's aj for disney food blog the my disney experience app launched at disney genie extension last october i know seems like it's been here forever right and now that we've had this planning service around for almost a year it's time to fill you in on what it can do for you how it's changed and how you can get the most out of its offerings so all those times in past videos i told you to do your research here it is here's the research we've got it all collected for you so you don't have to worry for one more second but before we can really get into the details of how this service can be well worth your time or a waste of money in some cases let's break down what disney genie really is because if you're just now hearing about this service or you haven't really worked with it a whole lot yet you might be sitting there going um what is this bonus we've also got an entire disney genie plus cheat sheet we want to give you too for free just drop your email at disneyfoodblog.com disney genie plus and we'll send you a pdf of all the info we go over today and trust me it's gonna be a lot we're gonna start with an easy three-part breakdown of disney genie for you i mentioned this briefly already but just as a memory jogger jeannie is part of the my disney experience app so if you've already downloaded that app before your trip you already have access to genie now to access disney genie you'll just tap on the three horizontal lines at the bottom of your app this is going to lead you to a list of services one of them being the my disney genie day and this is where your disney genie journey will begin but as the title of the section suggests there are three key parts of the service that you need to know about first disney genie disney genie plus and individual lightning lane selections so disney genie is the most basic of the options it's absolutely free for you to use think of it like a virtual travel planner giving you suggestions for how you should fill your day based on preferences you tell it ahead of time but remember it is a.i which means sometimes it'll tell you to go watch the dapper dance when you have no interest in watching the dapper dance so you gotta still be involved in your own destiny here but even if you'd prefer to make an itinerary yourself disney genie can still give you suggestions in real time about the forecasted ride wait times and dining tips and more but we'll get into the specifics later this is the easy part remember okay disney genie plus is the premium side of this planning tool for 15 bucks per day per person or 20 if you're on the left coast you'll have access to most of the park's lightning lanes there's another term to learn lightning lanes they're just another queue line for rides and attractions but these lines are shorter than the main ones which is why they can be super useful for time management especially if you're trying to hit a lot of rides in one day they're basically the new version of the fastpass line again we'll get more into this service soon but these are just the intro basics now there's one more premium service in the bunch here and that's the individual lightning lane selections or entrances remember how i said disney genie plus gives you access to most lightning lanes well that's because there are certain rides the most popular ones and the newest ones that won't be part of that bulk lightning lane lineup instead you'll have to pay for lightning lanes for these e-ticket rides a la carte a la carte rides don't have a set price but they usually have some sort of average range that's set around seven to seventeen dollars per person per ride through the other surge pricing on these rides you can only pay for up to two individual entrances per day by the way so quick recap you've got free disney genie 15 disney genie plus and 7 to 17 individual lightning lane entrances but let's see what those two premium services are going to give you let's focus on the included lightning lanes first it's one thing for me to tell you that disney genie plus will give you lightning lane access to most rides but it's better if we show you here are the full lists of rides that you'll be able to book lightning lanes for when you purchase disney genie plus notice how these lists don't just include rides there are also shows and character meet and greets with lightning lane options even parades sometimes so even if your group isn't too big on the thrills and wants to focus more on the interactions genie plus could still be beneficial now here's a major downside to genie plus because it's a popular service lightning lanes have the potential to book up stick with me and i'll tell you how to avoid this major stress factor later on because there are definitely ways you can get your money's worth if you use our tips to pace out your day but for now these are the top three rides in each park that tend to get booked up first if you want lightning lanes for any of these listed rides during your trip prioritize those first because another thing you're gonna learn more about during this video is how you'll only be able to book one lightning lane at a time again details and tips are coming soon and don't forget to sign up for our newsletter to get that cheat sheet because it's going to come in super handy now let's take a look next at those fancy pants a la carte rides when disney genie first launched each park had two rides featured on the a la carte lightning lane menu but after this summer each park now only has one magic kingdom has seven dwarfs mine train epcot has guardians of the galaxy cosmic rewind disney's hollywood studios has star wars rise of the resistance listed and disney's animal kingdom has flight of passage the important thing to keep in mind here is that lightning lane tiers and included rides do change so these lists will vary from time to time when new rides open up like tron light cycle run will have a release date in magic kingdom things could change and tiers could switch up so it's always worth rechecking those lists right before your trip or sign up for our newsletter to get all those changes delivered right to your inbox because we're a little adamant about getting that info out to you asap okay now that you know what you can expect let's actually book a lightning lane together booking a lightning lane might seem intimidating at first but once you're able to actually sit down and do it yourself you'll see it's not so scary but first let's purchase your disney genie plus in disney world genie plus goes on sale at midnight the day of your visit and the sooner you can buy it the better since jeannie can sell out especially during busier times of the year in disneyland however you can add genie plus to your theme park ticket package ahead of time for every day of your trip or you can wait and purchase them day by day once you've stepped into the park you're planning on visiting don't worry genie plus over on the west coast doesn't seem to sell out quickly but if you do plan on using it it's still better to get it as early as you can to make the most out of your purchase note that you cannot purchase a la carte lightning lanes before your trip at disneyland like you can with the genie plus rides a la cart rides are same day only purchases all the time and will be available for you once you enter those parks purchasing disney genie plus is a quick process and i can prove it right now first make sure you're logged into your my disney experience account and have a linked credit card already set up you can do that by tapping the my profile button under your main list of options then selecting payment method second you know where i told you to go to access disney genie before go there then tap on the my day tab on the top of the screen this will lead you to a section labeled clearly as get disney genie plus service from there the app will be able to guide you through the rest of the purchase don't forget to link everyone in your group to your account that way you can get gd plus for everybody great now you've got genie plus all paid for so now what whether you're a disney world resort guest or not everyone who has valid park tickets and has already paid for genie plus for the park that day will be able to start booking their first lightning lane of the day starting at 7 a.m shark step 1 when you're on the disney genie page tap on the tip board on the top left hand side of the page make sure you're in the right park as well because you can use this tab to switch between parks step two select the ride you're wanting a lightning lane for it'll tell you what the ride's next available return time will be now you can't book lightning lanes for anything but the next return time when it comes to the genie plus kind of bulk rides here step three follow the prompts and confirm everyone in your party who will also be using that lightning lane and that's it three steps and you've got your lightning lane secured see that wasn't so bad a la cart rides go through a similar process but instead of you having to pay for genie plus then book your first lightning lane the two steps kind of get smooshed together you're still gonna tap on the tip board and you're still gonna pick which ride you want a lightning lane for but instead of the app just leading you through the reservation steps it'll lead you through the steps to help you finalize that purchase now there are two big differences when it comes to choosing your individual lightning lane entrances over choosing your genie plus ones difference number one you will only be able to get an a la carte lightning lane starting at 7 am if you're a guest at a disney world owned hotel otherwise you'll have to wait to purchase those until after the parks have officially opened for the day difference number two though you can't choose your time slot for genie plus rides and you just have to choose what's readily available you can choose your return window for an a la cart ride it's also important to remember that you don't have to purchase genie plus to pay for a la carte attractions and vice versa you can choose to pay for one or the other or both if you really want to cover your bases it's totally up to you okay we've made great progress so far now you know what rides you can book and how to book them so since you have the basics down let's add a few rules to the mix that could really throw you off if you're not expecting them the rules for using a lightning lane aren't extensive but they have the ability to change at a whim so consider this to be my disclaimer these are the lightning lane rules per the release of this video but if you want to make sure you're keeping up to date on any potential rule switches you can always sign up for that newsletter which i'll link down below i tend to keep my newsletter peeps in the know when it comes to major or even minor disney announcements and changes and that includes any disney genie plus news like i said we're adamant about it but enough of the four warnings let me tell you about the four most important rules you want to keep in mind rule number one you can only book one lightning lane at a time no that doesn't mean you can only book one lightning lane per day otherwise every ride would be an all-a-cart ride you'll be able to book another lightning lane once you use the one you're currently holding onto or if 120 minutes have passed since you made your last lightning lane reservation i'll expand on the 120 minute rule in the next point but in a nutshell if you book a ride like say slinky dog dash and the return time isn't for another four hours you won't be forced to wait four hours before being able to book your next ride once 120 minutes passes you'll be good to book another ride meaning you have the potential of holding onto multiple lightning lanes at once and reminder you can only book two a la carte lightning lanes per day which means you are more than welcome to park hop from one e-ticket ride to another e-ticket ride if you purchase an a la cart ride or two those rides do not apply to the 120-minute rule remember a la carte rides are a separate purchase from jeannie plus's bulk set of rides and you get to pre-determine those return time windows for the a la carte rides so you don't have to look to them to figure out when you can start booking your next lightning lane this also means if you book two a la carte lightning lanes and you purchase genie plus you have the potential of holding three lightning lane reservations at a time even before the 120 minute rule comes into play and after it comes into play you could have four at once rule number two there are park hopping restrictions when it comes to genie plus which just came into effect this august instead of trying to explain this rule let's look at a hypothetical situation you're starting your day at disney's animal kingdom then you're gonna park hop over to magic kingdom park hopping doesn't kick in until after 2 pm we know this so you'll be having a lovely little time riding banshees and time traveling into the prehistoric era over an animal kingdom for the whole morning cool cool but let's say you added genie plus to your day you're more than welcome to make lightning lane reservations for whatever you want in animal kingdom but you won't be able to select a lightning lane return time for anything in magic kingdom until all the morning reservations that take place before 2pm have already been booked for those rides this helps those who've started their day in magic kingdom or who are planning on staying in magic kingdom all day long to have their first pick of all the return times before the park hoppers are also thrown into the mix i know kinda tricky but in summary if you want to book a lightning lane for the park you're hopping to after 2pm you'll have to check on the status of the return times periodically throughout the day on the tip board just in case they become available for you to book sooner rather than later because the more popular rides are going to get to that 2 p.m time faster than the less popular rides you still with me i'm going to assume you just said yes be comforted in knowing that's probably the most confusing rule of the bunch and you're only going to have to worry about it if you're using a park hopper with your genie plus rule number three you cannot use a lightning lane for the same ride twice short sweet to the point you book a lightning lane for space mountain you can't do it again in the same day now if you return to magic kingdom on another day book it again if you want to you call the shots but can't ride the same ride twice in one day that's a big difference from fastpass rule number four you can still use rider swap with your genie plus reservations don't fret we'll explain rider swap is available for people who have some members of their group that can't or don't want to ride an attraction but everybody else does so if there are five people in your group and one person isn't tall enough to go on the ride everyone meaning all five would go up to a cast member and request a rider swap the cast member will get it set up to where most of the group can wait in the regular old standby line to ride the attraction while one person or two hang back with those who can't or don't want to ride when the people who waited in line are finished with the experience they can swap places with the ones who had to stay behind and then those folks can ride the ride without having to wait in the entire queue line all over again it makes things a whole lot easier for groups toting around little ones because that way nobody has to miss out on an experience if you have genie plus rider swap is still something you can use in tandem with the planning tool just keep in mind that you still have to pay the fifteen dollars for every person in your party who's planning on using the lightning lanes that day you can't buy genie plus for one adult and try to get ride or swap for another person using that same reservation cause that doesn't work out next let's take a step back and talk about something i mentioned very very briefly earlier on lightning lanes are popular meaning they have the tendency to book up especially during the peak seasons like spring break summer vacation and winter holidays so how can you maximize your genie plus purchase and make sure you get the lightning lanes you want simply put by being ahead of the game here's why booking early is way better we've got another hypothetical situation for you you're vacationing with your family it's the middle of june you land in orlando around 2pm and decide hey we'll just drop off our luggage at the hotel and jump into disney's hollywood studios for the first evening on property and because you know the rides and attractions are still probably going to be packed out during the late afternoon you purchase genie plus so you can hit up a bunch of rides in a shorter amount of time seems like a good plan right yeah here's the only problem first off you're only going to have a little bit of time to use that 120 minute advantage and secondly it's very possible that the rides you were looking to book for the evening have already been taken by folks who got to the parks way before you did and this situation isn't that hypothetical i have been in this situation multiple times which means i don't learn my lesson that's why if you're going to spend the money on the genie plus service you're going to want to start your day as soon as possible though you can't pre-order genie plus and add it to your hotel and ticket package you will be able to purchase genie plus starting at midnight each day of your visit do you have to purchase it during the witching hours to truly get the upper hand no you can always wake up earlier even around 6 or 6 30 if you'd prefer to get some shut-eye before making your payment just don't forget that lightning lanes go live each day starting at 7am before the park's open to the public but in disneyland's case genie plus and a la carte lightning lanes will go live as soon as the parks open they won't be available for you to book until you've officially entered either disneyland or dca even if you find that a lightning lane gets snatched up during the day before you have the chance to grab it for yourself or the return time for the lightning lane is lots later than you would have liked it to be you can always check back on the ride periodically throughout the day to see if any more reservations open up later on let's say you book a lightning lane for peter pan's flight and the only return time genie plus is showing you right now clashes with the fireworks don't lose hope check back later on to see if any more reservations become available because in some cases disney will release more lightning lanes throughout the day or a different group will cancel their reservations which means their free game for you but what if you need to be said group that cancels a lightning lane is cancelling a reservation as easy as making one now here's where genie plus lightning lanes and a la carte lightning lanes vastly differ if you need to cancel a genie plus lightning lane it's no skin off disney's teeth that's weird just tap on your lightning lane reservation and hit the cancel button now you might wind up using the cancel function more often than you'd think because you know how i mentioned that more lightning lanes may pop up for rides later on in the day if you say booked a ride for navi river journey for 7 pm but found one lots earlier for 4 p.m later on you need to cancel that 7 p.m reservation you're already holding on to in order to grab the earlier one because you can't modify a pre-existing lightning lane that you've already collected unless you're wanting to add or remove gas from your reservation canceling a lightning lane in exchange for an earlier time becomes quite the gamble because if you cancel the reservation you've already got there's a possibility that both could get snagged up by other guests before you get the chance to grab the earlier one leaving you reservation less so before you make the move be sure you're ready to act fast cancelling an a la carte lightning lane isn't as straightforward in fact it's really not possible once you book an individual lightning lane entrance and you chose your return time window the contract is just as solid as ariel signing her voice away to ursula there's no turning back now and you already paid the only way you'd be able to get a refund for your a la carte purchase is if there was something wrong with the ride you booked and it stayed offline the rest of the day if that became the case you need to talk to guest services at the front of the park for a helping hand now let's dive back into that 120 minute rule for a bit because it is crucial to getting the most lightning lanes in a single day the 120 minute rule doesn't technically begin until the parks open so if you book your first lightning lane of the day at 7 a.m for a return time later in the afternoon that doesn't mean you'll be able to turn back around and book your next one at 9am though that would be awfully nice the 120 minutes won't start ticking down until after rope drop of that lightning lane when disney genie plus first launched last year the 120-minute rule was kind of this hush-hush secret that you could have easily missed out on if you weren't paying attention although that is kind of how fast passes used to work anyway however at the beginning of june this year the 120-minute rule was made an official thing by disney and in august disney made things so much easier for genie plus users by applying this strategy directly to the planning tool now instead of having to keep track of that two hour time frame yourself the top portion of your disney genie day page should show you what time exactly you'll be able to book your next lightning lane though the disney website states that you should only be able to on average hit up to two to three rides with your disney genie plus purchase we've found that by starting our day super duper early and taking advantage of 120 minute rule and looking for cancellations we've been able to hit up twice the amount if not more it's all about how you decide to approach your plan of attack some parts of genie plus however take a whole lot less planning to use so here are some additional features though lightning lanes are the biggest draw for genie plus there are two bonus features you'll also receive along with that 15 purchase augmented reality lenses which a genie plus purchase basically gives you photo pass filters for when you're taking selfies and pictures on your phone and some of those last up to 45 days after your visit but some are only available when you're exploring certain parks and the audio tales which is genie plus audio experiences they're also themed to specific disney park areas through those you'll be able to listen to a handful of imagineers and special guests as they talk about the behind the scenes aspects of disney world and disneyland for different attractions and experiences speaking of disneyland the cali parks have a really fun additional perk instead of augmented lenses that disney world really needs to take notes on with a disneyland genie plus purchase you'll have access to unlimited photo pass downloads from your disneyland day yep that's right even if only one person in your party decided to get genie plus you'd be able to download all your professional photopass photos for that flat rate of 20 bucks a day when you consider that disney world's memory maker is 169 to 199 and an individual photopass photo is 16.95 a single genie plus purchase in disneyland might be worth it just for that perk alone but here's the big question we have to ask ourselves is genie plus always going to be worth the effort and money let's talk about the best and worst times to buy lightning lanes so paying for rides can be extremely beneficial for those short weekend getaways where you're wanting to get as much done in a limited amount of time as possible for us we've found that we get the most use out of genie plus at magic kingdom and disney's hollywood studios since magic kingdom has the most rides featured on gd plus and hollywood studios has a bunch of heavy hitter rides that tend to rack up those really high wait times and if you're planning to go during disney's busiest times of the year you can bypass massive queue lines for your favorite rides as long as again you get ahead of the game genie plus can be extremely beneficial around the spring break season summer months and toward the end of the year when holly jolly time is upon us not to mention genie plus is good for groups who in general aren't too fond of standing in forever long lines plain and simple however disney genie plus is an investment and could seem like a waste of money if you're visiting during a slower season like the beginning of the year or back to school season at the end of august throughout september and if you don't want to tack on those extra expenses to an already expensive vacation there are other strategies you can use to cut down your wait times instead like using your early theme park entry as a disney hotel guest to get into the parks 30 minutes before they officially open or just waiting to hit up some of the bigger experiences until the end of the day when lines start to die down also if one of your park days is in disney's animal kingdom or epcot there really isn't a whole lot of need for a whole group to be spending 15 per person per day for their menu of lightning lane options since the lines for attractions at these parks usually aren't terrible not to mention there aren't too many rides featured on their lists in general but ultimately the choice is yours and yours alone alright now let's talk about the free stuff right the free version of disney genie even if you decide that paying for genie plus or individual lightning lane entrances isn't the right path for you that doesn't mean disney genie is going to be completely useless for you remember the free disney genie or free knee portion i teased now i'm going to rapid fire through five free parts of disney genie that you're not going to want to overlook first up those tip boards sure you use tip boards to help make your lightning lane reservations but that's not all they're good for tip boards are also going to keep you in the loop when it comes to attraction status show times dining availability current standby wait times and forecasted attraction wait times now a little more on the forecasted weights because i think they're super great much like you can check out an hourly forecast on your weather app you can also see what disney predicts could be the lowest and highest wait times for rides throughout the day though this isn't always 100 accurate it should still work as a nice springboard for planning out your day next is personalized itineraries disney genie can make personalized recommendations based on which park you're visiting and the preferences you let it know about ahead of time with that info genie can construct a flexible schedule just for your group keyword though flexible if your day changes or as things change regarding the happenings in the parks then genie can change too you'll be able to receive a new itinerary whenever you need according to disney and mobile order need food in a jiffy you can mobile order from a quick service location via disney genie now how about if you want to try to get a seat at a table service restaurant at the last minute disney genie can also show you which restaurants have walk up wait lists available the day of your visit all right you feeling better about disney genie yet the most important thing to take away here is that genie can be as useful as you want it to be you might want to invest in lightning lanes you might want to rely on the free planning tools or you might not want to use it at all but it's worth checking out before your trip to see which parts of the service are going to benefit you the most even if you decide to say thanks but no thanks and don't forget we got that cheat sheet all typed up and ready to send your way just reach out by going to disney foodblog.com disney genie plus now what are your thoughts about genie have you used it do you love it do you hate it or maybe your feelings about it have changed since it was first introduced to the parks let us know in the comments and as always don't hesitate to reach out if there's something that's still throwing you off about this service that we can help clear up for you thanks for listening everyone and thanks for watching as always this is aj for disney food vlog and we'll see you real soon

Channel: DFBGuide

Views: 322,670

Keywords: disneyfood, disney, disney world, disneyland, disneyvideo, disneyvacation, food, disney parks, disney travel, disney tips, disney guides, disney planning, disney trip, disney how to, disney vlog, disney vlogger

Id: HdQTgQfxHU0

Length: 23min 28sec (1408 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 12 2022