Key think to remember - budget for Genie plus and start booking atttractions/ rides every 2 hrs starting 7 am. Oh also book in order of priority based on which ones are more popular.
8 minutes in and DANG this is stressing me out. It's important to remember that planning a Disney trip is a wonderful problem to have and regardless you're going to enjoy yourself
Can you please make a new genie plus tutorial? Since guardians and Tron and the changes that have been made, sure would love to have an updated version of this video. It’s so so helpful, just need it to be a little newer? Super appreciate you guys!
Your videos bring me so much joy! Our first trip to Disney was scheduled for March 2020 and literally the day they closed was supposed to be the first day of our trip. For the 2 years following I watched every single one of your videos and it allowed me to experience and get ready for the magic before we finally went in May 2022. It was such an amazing experience and needless to say we were very prepared. Genie+ and careful planning meant that we didn’t wait in line for more than 30 minutes on any attraction. Thank you guys so much for the excellent work that you do and I cannot wait for my next trip:)
Great video… but I do want to note that Jungle Cruise is the first LL to sell out and it wasn’t listed in the top 3 at MK. Splash Mountain is also a priority over Thunder Mountain, and in HS the Tower of Terror will sell out before Rockin Rollercoaster. Just some tips!
It definitely depends on personal preference. Personally, Jungle Cruise is not a priority for me at all because it's the same jokes over and over. I don't think it's worth the wait or LL booking (unless someone I'm taking for the 1st time reeeeaaally wants to go on it.) I would prioritize Big Thunder over Splash Mountain 1,000%, & I would also rather Rock N Rollercoaster over Tower of Terror. But- everyone is different!
When we went and bought genie plus for our family of 5 it was absolutely the best move we made the whole trip!! We averaged 2 rides an hour and if not for the rain we could have hit every single ride. We did start at rope drop and left at the start of fireworks though, we were toast by days end. It was a hustle about day. Lol!
You will love it!! I went for the first time two weeks ago and it was amazing!!! Genie+ is actually fairly easy to use… I went during a non-busy time so I got in 16 rides with genie+… plus I got in many extra rides utilizing their very short wait times!! I prolly did like 33ish rides/experiences in one day!! I recommend getting Peter pan’s flight first with genie+ as that ride was always the first one to get snatched and have horrible long wait times!! oh and Epcot is the perfect place to go during rainy/thundery days cuz all the rides almost are indoors… except Test Track!! Have a great trip!!😁😁
Kilimanjaro Safari tip: If you want to see the hyenas, go first thing in the morning or towards the end of the day!! During midday, you’ll see Painted Dogs in their place.
@@CrownedGamer101 hi! So glad you had a fab holidays ❤ did your genie plus just automatically show as available? I’ve also got my mine prepaid as I booked my holiday in January and we go in 3 weeks. Thank you xx
@@bethdickens8537 yea my genie + automatically showed up. Yours should do when you enter the park. You can start booking rides at 7am:)) I recently just got hired at Disney World and I start in literally 3 weeks at the magic kingdom😂
I feel most anxious about making sure we get to that ride at the right time considering we have never been before and we are going to feel shell shocked and a little lost!
So glad to finally have info about ILL and genie+ at the same time. Every explanation I've read talks about them separately. So I was left wondering if I can only do one or the other first thing in the morning. Looks like 2 of us will have to be up at 0700 to start our day out right!
Thank you for this video…it’s very helpful. I love Disney, but it is getting increasingly complicated with so many new rules and requirements. This Genie Plus/a la carte stuff is ridiculous. What a headache.
Believe it or not, I've been doing months of research on Genie +... that I completely understood everything you mentioned in this video!! I'm leaving on Wednesday!
Hey AJ, do you have a video ALL about character dining ? The must try’s and the ones to pass up. Trying to decide which ones to list as a top priority for my upcoming trip.
She has videos where she rates every restaurant at every park. I think there 6 month old videos but they helped me alot when I went last month. I'll say this look at the menu before you decide to eat there
Right on time what I needed…. I was looking for a Disney genie video from dfb guide but the one I found was uploaded a long ago. Thanks for uploading the newest version 💖💕
Heading to Disney in October for the first time in about 25 yrs and have our 8 yr old with us. So your videos have been so helpful. What does the return time mean? When the ride returns? Or when you return to get in line? When you are booking when do you know when to get there to get in the lightening lane line? Why is it all so confusing!
Not explained very well on this video. Return time are window when you can visit the attraction Key think to remember plan to budget for Genie plus and start booking those every 2 hrs starting 7 am. Oh also book in order of priority based on which ones are more popular.
@@dansin468 we went and it worked out great. Each time I got frustrated with Genie plus it turned out to be helpful. I just didn't like having to have my head in my phone so on a family trip!
Just go in the slow times! I'm just back from a week there, wait times are between ZERO (Tower of Terror) amd max. 45 minutes in September! I wouldn't know for the life of me why you would willingly put your family through peak times Disney World....
For being completely complex when trying to read up on all this info on the them parks website or App, you’ve made this very simple. Thanks for all the Info it’s definitely helped me plan our Trip!
Genie plus was very much worth it on my recent trip. One day I was able to get Space Mountain, Big Thunder, Buzz, Winnie the Pooh, Little Mermaid, Test Track, and Soarin. The second day I got Safaris, Dinosaur, Slinky, Mickey and Minnie’s, Millenium Falcon, Aliens, and TOT. I would highly recommend it.
So my £1200 for three days just gets me in thw gate and now i need this app to get on any of the good rides. Cause if i dont ill spead my whole day in line? Maybe two lines if i go in st 7am. Cant wait lol
so to my understanding is if you are arriving in the parks later that day, say around 6:30-7pm, and staying on property, you can’t book LL for that time right at 7AM? you have to wait until around that time is the next available time in the app?
So let me see if I have this right… You pay for your park admission and then you can pay extra.for Genie Plus and on top of that you can pay a third time for A La Carte rides?
Just a heads up on the free part of Genie, I tried to fill in my preferences for my trip next summer, and not everything is listed yet. For example, I'm a fan of the Dapper Dans and want to make sure to catch their performance. I know they are performing now, but Genie lists it as "Currently unavailable". When I go to the website, it shows all their times....up until March. Once you hit March, all the days are greyed out. So from what I can tell, you can't really fill in your preferences completely until around 6 months prior to your trip.
Okay...It's been 10 years so Genie is NEW! With that said we are going first week of '23. I have two reservations BUT I am in control over the entire party EVEN THOUGH I am not in control over one of those reservations PER DISNEY. I can view my entire party on MDE. But I can not view the other reservation. Can I still take control over ordering food for the entire party? Can I register the entire party for Genie+ /lighting lanes and ILL (individual lightning lanes)? Or does the other people in the other reservation have to control that on their end? I hope I made sense here. Thank you!
I'm going to be visiting EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Magic Kingdom for the first time this upcoming weekend for my birthday. Does it make sense to get Genie+? Are there any perks or tips of spending your birthday at Disney World? Thanks and love your helpful videos! 😊
I hope you enjoy your trip that sounds so fun! If you’re visiting some of the parks for the first time I think it might be worth it to get it so you can maximize how many rides you can experience. I used it in May when I was traveling with someone who had never been to the parks before so I wanted them to enjoy as much as possible and it helped! Definitely get a birthday button so the cast members know you’re celebrating and might be able to make some magic for you! Happy early birthday 🎉
I'd say it's worth it for Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom. If you're willing to rope drop Epcot, you absolutely do not need it there. Focus on getting in the virtual queue for Guardians of the Galaxy at 7:00 am instead.
We just left Disney world and used genie+ and they must have changed it I got a lightning lane for fast track at 1pm and was counting on the 120 minutes before doing another. I got the first at 7:01am and had to wait till 11:01. So rather they messed with it or it glitched.
Still don't get the 120 minute rule. If I wake up at 7 and book lightening lane for 3 PM, how soon would I be able to book another one? Assuming the park opens at 9:00. would I be able to book the next one at 11:00? or would I be able to book at 9:00? I'm confused. I love these videos, it's the first time I am legit confused. An example here would have been helpful. 😊
Hey, I have a questions. You said “You cannot purchase a la carte lightning lanes before your trip at Disneyland like you can with the genie+ rides?” Does this mean I can buy normal Genie+ rides before my trip? I am confused as to how that works since you can’t buy Genie+ until midnight the day of. Are you able to elaborate please. Thanks!
We are going to Disney and Epcot… on the first day @ noon. Can I get on there to get rides later in the day? We want to ride Tron, space mountain, thunder mountain, Guardians of the Galaxy… would Genie plus work? Any suggestions would be fantastic!
I swear on Saturday at MK there was a 3hr period (11-2ish) where my next booking time was showing in the tip board as 60 mins out instead of 120 mins. I wonder if they were quietly testing out a possible change? However, I was booking immediate use LLs so I never had to put the time shown to the test.
As Brits, we don't often get to see the sun, so our party usually spends all morning at the hotel sunbathing by the pool, then usually get to a park at around 2pm and stay til closing. This hasn't been an issue in the past because we could pre-book our fastpasses all for afternoon and evening times.. So what is the liklihood of us getting Lightening Lanes if we physically don't get into the park until 2pm? Will they all probbaly be sold out by then by people who got there in the morning?😩
Great video. Thanks for the tips. You might want to check the audio levels. Especially in the 2nd half of the video. You get much louder and then quieter all of a sudden, and then louder again.
This is so helpful and informative. I still think my strategy is the best of getting there at early Park hours and trying to do as much as possible. When my husband and I went in June, I purchased Disney Genie+ and did not really see a benefit to it. Like you said, in Epcot we did not need it. We got in the park at early magic hours and headed straight for Remi and waited maybe 20 minutes, then Frozen that only had a 20 minute wait. We used lightning lane for Soarin when it was thunderstorming outside but were able to hop into standby line after and only waited 20 minutes. Test track was the only ride we were not able to get on because of weather that day. Our Magic Kingdom day was a little different. There was a complete glitch in Disney's ticketing system where if you purchased multiple day tickets and it was your last day in the parks, as soon as you scanned your ticket it deleted and reset your ticket kicking me out of Disney Genie+. I did not realize it until I was waiting in line at 7 Dwarfs Mine train and could book my next ticket and it said I couldn't access it because I was not in the park. The guest service stands could not help use reset our tickets and we had to go to either the front of the park or liberty street. We missed out on most of our morning with shorter wait times waiting in a line for them to refresh our ticket. Needless to say it left a sour taste in my mouth and I'm not a fan.
In a situation like that, with all the money you spend, that amount of backtracking and lost time should be recognized either financially via gift cards or with being allowed to pick a few additional lightning lane spots to replace the experiences you lost due to their glitch.
Hey AJ, I recently heard that resort guests that take advantage of early morning entry are limited to Fantasy Land and Tomorrowland in MK. Is that true, and if so, what are early morning entry guests limited to in the other parks?
Only rides in those areas are running during early entry hours. Also note that you want to be there at least 30 min before early entry time so you can get in line first before rides start running. You are only allowed to enter through those 2 lands too but once you enter you should be able to go to other lands but note that rides in other areas will not be operating until rope drop.
how does genie + and lightening lanes work with the DAS pass system? I have used DAS by itself for my grandmother but not together. going in January and my 7yo qualifies for DAS but we will also have a 18yo and 14yo with us.
I need a video and details on WHY i cant purchase disney genie plus in advanced anymore! It shows I can only purchase day of a valid park admission day but i wanted to upgrade before my trip. Very frustrating and I would like some clarity on this!
Good day, sorry, I have Disney brain!!. Did you really say you could book Genie plus with your hotel package??? If I can do I have to buy it for eveyday?? Thanks
Can I buy Genie+ ahead of time? I am going to Disney World in April - Can I buy Disney + now or do I need to wait until the actual day of my visit to a Disney World Park?
If i buy gennie plus can my son use it on his phone to book rides for him and his friend? He’s 17 and im sure wont hang with me the whole time. Or do we need one for each of us?
I did this. I landed in Orlando at 1:00 PM and was going to Hollywood Studios. I booked Slinky Dog Dash at 7:00 AM. I kept refreshing until I got a return window that would work for my timing (after about 2 minutes, I secured a 3:00-4:00 PM return window). 2 hours after the park opened, I booked the Mickey and Minnie ride. We got in earlier than expected and didn't stack further, but we were able to get on everything else super easily with a LL. The only one we had to wait for was Millennium Falcon (45 minutes after we booked).
You can no longer buy Genie+ before your trip. You can only buy it at 12am the day of your ticketed trip (and make reservations using it at 7am that day).
Hi, my son is under 3, so he doesn't need a ticket, but how does he get genie plus? We are a family of 5, so all of the others will be getting Genie plus. Or does he even need to get genie plus? Thanks in advance!
I thought I heard something in this video about the fact that when you buy Genie + you can purchase your photo pass photos for that day for $20 / day - is that accurate? I can't seem to find more info on that anywhere online! Can't find it again (quickly at least) in the video :(
Yes, it needs to be purchased for each person. Keep an eye on wait times the week before your trip to help decide if it's worth it. February can be slow, but sometimes there may be events or long weekends that can mean a skip in crowds and longer lines
It is not as stressful on the third day using this feature. Just remember that you have to get the lighting lanes as fast as you can. Book the most popular ones first. They go fast. Then when you book your First lighting lane, it will give you a time you can Redeem your 2nd Lighting Lane paid or not or you have to use the lighting lane you already have selected. YOU CAN stack lighting lanes as long as you 1 lay for one and two redeem on the time says or before. I had 4 lighting lanes at one time. 1 Virtual Qued. 1 Paid For. 1 Lighting lane I already booked 2 hours out. And 1 I just Booked right at the 2 hour mark allowed to book another ride. I had 3 stacked for example 1 for 12:05 - 1:05, one for 1:00 - 2 pm and then one for 2:45 pm to 3:45pm and onother for 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm. This is possible. Again one individual lighting lane paid for. One Virtual Que and 2 Geniue+ Lighting lanes. It takes a lot of focus on your phone and timing but it can be done. It got us through the lanes. You can ONLY use any lighting lanes twice in one day.
Love all your videos! Being a complete Disney fanatic as a job. Yes! Lol! Question. I am an early bird. My family not do much. Can I buy lightning lanes and schedule for after opening and still take advantage of the 120 minute rule.
If someone with experience could help me that would be amazing! So is it better to try to schedule your lighting lanes one after another in the morning and ignore one’s that are already late out into the day so you could do more than one in an 120 minute period. Or is it better to snag ones later in the day and wait the 120 minutes? Also, if you cancel a lightning lane can you then immediately book a different one after the first one is cancelled?
Rope drop the early hours and use the lightening lanes in genie plus for your must do rides. Rope drop is where you take advantage of the first hour of park opening and lines tend to be shorter.
Thanks for making this video. We're heading there in a few weeks, and it has really changed since our last visit 3 years ago. We're basically turning over the day planning to our Disney-nut 26 year old daughter. The sad thing is we are not staying on Disney property this time. I just don't see the cost vs. benefit being the same as it used to be.
@@cvn6555 Not long at all. This morning at EPCOT we got thru the parking gate fairly quickly. The parks are busy this week, more than we expected. But we are getting around without too much trouble.
Thanks for the informative video, I’m curious about stacking LL using the 120 minute rule. You mentioned getting to HS at 2pm only to find most of the LL gone, but if you take advantage of the 120 min rule couldn’t you potentially book your first at 7a, second at 11a (park open at 9a), third at 1p and so on?
With the new rule, guests with Genie+ will have to wait to book a Lightning Lane at the park they’re hopping to until the return time reaches 2PM or later for all guests - regardless of whether or not they’re park hopping. So, if you’re booking a Lightning Lane for the park you’re hopping to later, you’ll have to wait until the next earliest available window is 2PM or later. Per DFB
The short answer is yes! As long as the booking window for the Hollywood studios ride is after 2 pm, you can book. And for rides like slinky dog and tower of terror, the windows will be after 2pm pretty soon after the bookings open at 7am!
I went with a group of 8 last February and we literally didn’t wait in line once it was amazing when you could do two individual lightning lanes AND genie plus ride before park Eve opened. We got SO MUCH DONE before rope even dropped. I’m nervous going next month because now we can only do one ILL and one genie plus. Going to cut in on my stacking rides 😂
Can two different members of your party log on at 7 and book? For example, could one person could book a ILL and another person could book a regular LL?
I just got back from WDW and it seems as though you can't buy Genie+ until the day of, but I'm wondering if that ended up being the case because I bought only a single day parkhopper? I'm not sure why it didn't pop up as an option at checkout, it definitely did when i booked for two days last year
One confusing thing I've noticed between a few of your videos and your Disney cheat sheet is the terminology you use for the individual lightning lanes. In this video, at first it sounds like the "individual lightning lanes" and the "a la carte rides" were two different features, but about halfway through it was indirectly clarified that they're the same. In another video, the same feature is referred to as "Individual attraction selections" or IAS. It's a bit confusing when it's your first time hearing these terms and one feature is labeled differently across your mediums/content. Maybe they are different features? Would love to know more about how these connect
I pretty much did everything with my genie plus app at Disney magic kingdom do any things I cannot get on was the jungle Cruise and that was pretty much it we did everything else Wish you were still free with fast passes but the mouse needs cheddar
I thought you could book the Lightning lanes like Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind at 0700 even if not staying in the park? Is this not correct? We will be staying offsite but planned to attempt to book the ride at 0700.
So all guest can begin making Lightning Lane reservations ($15/person/day) at 7 AM however only Disney hotel guests can make individual Lightning Lane reservations (fluctuating price/1 ride through during your chosen return window) at 7 AM. All other guests are able to make individual lightning Lane reservations at park opening time. At this time, guardians of the galaxy: cosmic rewind is an individual Lightning Lane ride so you would not be able to book it at 7 AM staying off property. The Disney World website includes rules for both the lightning lane and the individual lightning lane on their website so you can see the most up-to-date info there
@@KateS1980 be aware that only the regular lightning lane entrances can be booked at 7 AM off property! individual lightning lane entrances are 7 AM for hotel guests and park open for all others at this time
@@eliseg0001 so as I understand it, LL for Cosmic rewind goes pretty quick at 0700, meaning staying off site you won't be able to get a booking for it in the morning.
@@markwebb4154 you may not be able to book the ILL for in the morning but I've seen ILLs still available for Guardians thru 4pm. You can also try for the Virtual Queue for Guardians at 7am as long as that's your park reservation for the day. I got group 80 and we were called at 145pm.
When I go to DisneyWorld I want to relax and enjoy myself, this is already stressing me out.
Key think to remember - budget for Genie plus and start booking atttractions/ rides every 2 hrs starting 7 am.
Oh also book in order of priority based on which ones are more popular.
Omg can’t agree more!!!! 😂
I concur!!!!!
yeah this is a horrendous system
I guess no one told you? You don't go to Disney to relax.
This is harder than a graduate level tax accounting law class
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Exactly what I thought
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8 minutes in and DANG this is stressing me out. It's important to remember that planning a Disney trip is a wonderful problem to have and regardless you're going to enjoy yourself
Can you please make a new genie plus tutorial? Since guardians and Tron and the changes that have been made, sure would love to have an updated version of this video. It’s so so helpful, just need it to be a little newer? Super appreciate you guys!
Terrible system super complex and stressful. Thanks for the video!
Your videos bring me so much joy! Our first trip to Disney was scheduled for March 2020 and literally the day they closed was supposed to be the first day of our trip. For the 2 years following I watched every single one of your videos and it allowed me to experience and get ready for the magic before we finally went in May 2022. It was such an amazing experience and needless to say we were very prepared. Genie+ and careful planning meant that we didn’t wait in line for more than 30 minutes on any attraction. Thank you guys so much for the excellent work that you do and I cannot wait for my next trip:)
Can't wait for the next one of these when they change the rules again in two weeks!
Great video… but I do want to note that Jungle Cruise is the first LL to sell out and it wasn’t listed in the top 3 at MK. Splash Mountain is also a priority over Thunder Mountain, and in HS the Tower of Terror will sell out before Rockin Rollercoaster. Just some tips!
So true. Zero people want to wait in this line at MK.
It definitely depends on personal preference. Personally, Jungle Cruise is not a priority for me at all because it's the same jokes over and over. I don't think it's worth the wait or LL booking (unless someone I'm taking for the 1st time reeeeaaally wants to go on it.) I would prioritize Big Thunder over Splash Mountain 1,000%, & I would also rather Rock N Rollercoaster over Tower of Terror. But- everyone is different!
@@melanatedmouseketeer Oh definitely, I’m just saying those will sell out first so you should prioritize them if you want them.
@@melanatedmouseketeer Yeah, I cant say its high on my list either. And so I would definitely not want to wait in standby more than basically walk on.
Tower might change now that the second elevator is fixed?
When we went and bought genie plus for our family of 5 it was absolutely the best move we made the whole trip!! We averaged 2 rides an hour and if not for the rain we could have hit every single ride. We did start at rope drop and left at the start of fireworks though, we were toast by days end. It was a hustle about day. Lol!
How do you get to 2 a hour, if you can only book a ride every 2 hours? Ugh this is confusing
Going to Disney for the first time ever in 3 weeks! We purchased our ticket in March, so we were able to pre-buy Genie+. Need all the tips we can get!
You will love it!! I went for the first time two weeks ago and it was amazing!!! Genie+ is actually fairly easy to use… I went during a non-busy time so I got in 16 rides with genie+… plus I got in many extra rides utilizing their very short wait times!! I prolly did like 33ish rides/experiences in one day!! I recommend getting Peter pan’s flight first with genie+ as that ride was always the first one to get snatched and have horrible long wait times!! oh and Epcot is the perfect place to go during rainy/thundery days cuz all the rides almost are indoors… except Test Track!! Have a great trip!!😁😁
Kilimanjaro Safari tip: If you want to see the hyenas, go first thing in the morning or towards the end of the day!! During midday, you’ll see Painted Dogs in their place.
If times looks way far out, refresh the page and keep refreshing, earlier ones may pop up
@@CrownedGamer101 hi! So glad you had a fab holidays ❤ did your genie plus just automatically show as available? I’ve also got my mine prepaid as I booked my holiday in January and we go in 3 weeks. Thank you xx
@@bethdickens8537 yea my genie + automatically showed up. Yours should do when you enter the park. You can start booking rides at 7am:)) I recently just got hired at Disney World and I start in literally 3 weeks at the magic kingdom😂
We were able to ride 18 rides at MK during the first week of December 2022. And rode Peter Pan's Flight twice with the Lightning Lanes.
Like I remember opening hours being a mad dash to Fast Pass kiosks but this new alternative just seems needlessly convoluted by design
12 days until my trip. THANK YOU AJ AND DFB TEAM FOR HELPING ME PLAN OUR TRIP!! 😍
I feel most anxious about making sure we get to that ride at the right time considering we have never been before and we are going to feel shell shocked and a little lost!
So glad to finally have info about ILL and genie+ at the same time. Every explanation I've read talks about them separately. So I was left wondering if I can only do one or the other first thing in the morning. Looks like 2 of us will have to be up at 0700 to start our day out right!
Thank you for this video…it’s very helpful. I love Disney, but it is getting increasingly complicated with so many new rules and requirements. This Genie Plus/a la carte stuff is ridiculous. What a headache.
I’m only 4 minutes into this video and I can say this is fantastic! Thank you so much!
I went in August and hit up 16 rides/experiences with Genie+ in one day😁😁 it’s actually fairly easy to use!! I love it!!
Believe it or not, I've been doing months of research on Genie +... that I completely understood everything you mentioned in this video!! I'm leaving on Wednesday!
Hey AJ, do you have a video ALL about character dining ? The must try’s and the ones to pass up. Trying to decide which ones to list as a top priority for my upcoming trip.
She does but they are older and probably outdated
Yeah, I need a post Covid one to go off, but thank you
She has videos where she rates every restaurant at every park. I think there 6 month old videos but they helped me alot when I went last month. I'll say this look at the menu before you decide to eat there
@@berryaristide thank you !
@@chanellespooner Always check All Ears. That's her "sister company" she mentions often and they have a LOT of videos right now post covid.
Right on time what I needed…. I was looking for a Disney genie video from dfb guide but the one I found was uploaded a long ago. Thanks for uploading the newest version 💖💕
Heading to Disney in October for the first time in about 25 yrs and have our 8 yr old with us. So your videos have been so helpful.
What does the return time mean? When the ride returns? Or when you return to get in line? When you are booking when do you know when to get there to get in the lightening lane line? Why is it all so confusing!
Not explained very well on this video. Return time are window when you can visit the attraction
Key think to remember plan to budget for Genie plus and start booking those every 2 hrs starting 7 am. Oh also book in order of priority based on which ones are more popular.
@@dansin468 we went and it worked out great. Each time I got frustrated with Genie plus it turned out to be helpful. I just didn't like having to have my head in my phone so on a family trip!
@@sonjaforrester9255 yeah hard to explain to kids why they can’t use phone all the time when parent is in the phone :)
All this takes the fun out of a vacation 😟
I still love your videos and information. There's been too many changes since Covid and you guys have done wonderful
What is a "virtual queue"? How is it different from a Lightning Lane purchase, or is it not different?
Just go in the slow times! I'm just back from a week there, wait times are between ZERO (Tower of Terror) amd max. 45 minutes in September! I wouldn't know for the life of me why you would willingly put your family through peak times Disney World....
For being completely complex when trying to read up on all this info on the them parks website or App, you’ve made this very simple.
Thanks for all the Info it’s definitely helped me plan our Trip!
How do I sign up to get the newsletter and cheat sheet?
Genie plus was very much worth it on my recent trip. One day I was able to get Space Mountain, Big Thunder, Buzz, Winnie the Pooh, Little Mermaid, Test Track, and Soarin. The second day I got Safaris, Dinosaur, Slinky, Mickey and Minnie’s, Millenium Falcon, Aliens, and TOT. I would highly recommend it.
So my £1200 for three days just gets me in thw gate and now i need this app to get on any of the good rides. Cause if i dont ill spead my whole day in line? Maybe two lines if i go in st 7am.
Cant wait lol
so to my understanding is if you are arriving in the parks later that day, say around 6:30-7pm, and staying on property, you can’t book LL for that time right at 7AM? you have to wait until around that time is the next available time in the app?
So let me see if I have this right… You pay for your park admission and then you can pay extra.for Genie Plus and on top of that you can pay a third time for A La Carte rides?
Just a heads up on the free part of Genie, I tried to fill in my preferences for my trip next summer, and not everything is listed yet. For example, I'm a fan of the Dapper Dans and want to make sure to catch their performance. I know they are performing now, but Genie lists it as "Currently unavailable". When I go to the website, it shows all their times....up until March. Once you hit March, all the days are greyed out. So from what I can tell, you can't really fill in your preferences completely until around 6 months prior to your trip.
Okay...It's been 10 years so Genie is NEW! With that said we are going first week of '23. I have two reservations BUT I am in control over the entire party EVEN THOUGH I am not in control over one of those reservations PER DISNEY. I can view my entire party on MDE. But I can not view the other reservation. Can I still take control over ordering food for the entire party? Can I register the entire party for Genie+ /lighting lanes and ILL (individual lightning lanes)? Or does the other people in the other reservation have to control that on their end? I hope I made sense here. Thank you!
I'm going to be visiting EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Magic Kingdom for the first time this upcoming weekend for my birthday. Does it make sense to get Genie+? Are there any perks or tips of spending your birthday at Disney World? Thanks and love your helpful videos! 😊
I hope you enjoy your trip that sounds so fun! If you’re visiting some of the parks for the first time I think it might be worth it to get it so you can maximize how many rides you can experience.
I used it in May when I was traveling with someone who had never been to the parks before so I wanted them to enjoy as much as possible and it helped!
Definitely get a birthday button so the cast members know you’re celebrating and might be able to make some magic for you!
Happy early birthday 🎉
Ditto on the birthday button!!! My parents anniversary button got priority seating and a free dessert. 🎂
I'd say it's worth it for Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom. If you're willing to rope drop Epcot, you absolutely do not need it there. Focus on getting in the virtual queue for Guardians of the Galaxy at 7:00 am instead.
We just left Disney world and used genie+ and they must have changed it I got a lightning lane for fast track at 1pm and was counting on the 120 minutes before doing another. I got the first at 7:01am and had to wait till 11:01. So rather they messed with it or it glitched.
I cannot deal with this, it’s so complicated.
We had so much fun with the Disney lens. A great way to spend time in a line with kids.
This video is so helpful! I'm a Disney Travel Agent and I send this to all of my clients.
Still don't get the 120 minute rule. If I wake up at 7 and book lightening lane for 3 PM, how soon would I be able to book another one? Assuming the park opens at 9:00. would I be able to book the next one at 11:00? or would I be able to book at 9:00? I'm confused. I love these videos, it's the first time I am legit confused. An example here would have been helpful. 😊
11:00!
Hey, I have a questions. You said “You cannot purchase a la carte lightning lanes before your trip at Disneyland like you can with the genie+ rides?” Does this mean I can buy normal Genie+ rides before my trip? I am confused as to how that works since you can’t buy Genie+ until midnight the day of. Are you able to elaborate please. Thanks!
We are going to Disney and Epcot… on the first day @ noon. Can I get on there to get rides later in the day? We want to ride Tron, space mountain, thunder mountain, Guardians of the Galaxy… would Genie plus work? Any suggestions would be fantastic!
I swear on Saturday at MK there was a 3hr period (11-2ish) where my next booking time was showing in the tip board as 60 mins out instead of 120 mins. I wonder if they were quietly testing out a possible change? However, I was booking immediate use LLs so I never had to put the time shown to the test.
Managed two rides with genie+ and impossible to book the Tron ride, it's an absolute con compared to the express pass at Universal.
As Brits, we don't often get to see the sun, so our party usually spends all morning at the hotel sunbathing by the pool, then usually get to a park at around 2pm and stay til closing.
This hasn't been an issue in the past because we could pre-book our fastpasses all for afternoon and evening times.. So what is the liklihood of us getting Lightening Lanes if we physically don't get into the park until 2pm?
Will they all probbaly be sold out by then by people who got there in the morning?😩
Great video. Thanks for the tips.
You might want to check the audio levels. Especially in the 2nd half of the video. You get much louder and then quieter all of a sudden, and then louder again.
This is so helpful and informative.
I still think my strategy is the best of getting there at early Park hours and trying to do as much as possible.
When my husband and I went in June, I purchased Disney Genie+ and did not really see a benefit to it. Like you said, in Epcot we did not need it. We got in the park at early magic hours and headed straight for Remi and waited maybe 20 minutes, then Frozen that only had a 20 minute wait. We used lightning lane for Soarin when it was thunderstorming outside but were able to hop into standby line after and only waited 20 minutes. Test track was the only ride we were not able to get on because of weather that day.
Our Magic Kingdom day was a little different. There was a complete glitch in Disney's ticketing system where if you purchased multiple day tickets and it was your last day in the parks, as soon as you scanned your ticket it deleted and reset your ticket kicking me out of Disney Genie+. I did not realize it until I was waiting in line at 7 Dwarfs Mine train and could book my next ticket and it said I couldn't access it because I was not in the park. The guest service stands could not help use reset our tickets and we had to go to either the front of the park or liberty street. We missed out on most of our morning with shorter wait times waiting in a line for them to refresh our ticket. Needless to say it left a sour taste in my mouth and I'm not a fan.
In a situation like that, with all the money you spend, that amount of backtracking and lost time should be recognized either financially via gift cards or with being allowed to pick a few additional lightning lane spots to replace the experiences you lost due to their glitch.
Hey AJ, I recently heard that resort guests that take advantage of early morning entry are limited to Fantasy Land and Tomorrowland in MK. Is that true, and if so, what are early morning entry guests limited to in the other parks?
Only rides in those areas are running during early entry hours. Also note that you want to be there at least 30 min before early entry time so you can get in line first before rides start running. You are only allowed to enter through those 2 lands too but once you enter you should be able to go to other lands but note that rides in other areas will not be operating until rope drop.
You can find a list of attractions open for early entry for every park on the disney website.
Great video. Where can I can the cheat sheet? Thank you
how does genie + and lightening lanes work with the DAS pass system?
I have used DAS by itself for my grandmother but not together. going in January and my 7yo qualifies for DAS but we will also have a 18yo and 14yo with us.
I need a video and details on WHY i cant purchase disney genie plus in advanced anymore! It shows I can only purchase day of a valid park admission day but i wanted to upgrade before my trip. Very frustrating and I would like some clarity on this!
Good day, sorry, I have Disney brain!!. Did you really say you could book Genie plus with your hotel package??? If I can do I have to buy it for eveyday?? Thanks
So if we are traveling on airplane and planning on visiting a WDW park starting at 1 pm, we can still buy genie + and book rides throughout the day?
This is great!! Would you be able to do the disabilities information that you make a return time? We would need that so is that like the Genie+?
Traveling in a family of 5 with one child that is under the height requirement for the rides. Do we only need Genie plus for the 4 people riding?
Can I buy Genie+ ahead of time? I am going to Disney World in April - Can I buy Disney + now or do I need to wait until the actual day of my visit to a Disney World Park?
i am not going to Dw until jan 2024. How do you practice booking rides and ahead of time
10:19 huh come again what 🥲🤣🤣
AJ, if i wanted to book RotR for individual lane and mickey&minnies on genie plus, which would you recommend booking first? Which would fill up first?
Rise first then Mickey. Even better if you are with another adult link your my Disney app and one adult target rise and one adult target Mickey.
Does this apply to Disneyland as well?
is genie+ worth it if you aren't park hopping and only going to be in Orlando for a week with 4 of those 7 days at each of the parks?
I miss the days of just going to the park without all these over complicated systems that keep you on your phone all day.
Me too. This all sounds horrible.
If i buy gennie plus can my son use it on his phone to book rides for him and his friend? He’s 17 and im sure wont hang with me the whole time. Or do we need one for each of us?
what is a "return time". Ive watched 10 videos and noone explains that
Around 14mins (?) On the travel day, if you land in the afternoon and purchase genie +, are you able to stack LL for afternoon???
I did this. I landed in Orlando at 1:00 PM and was going to Hollywood Studios. I booked Slinky Dog Dash at 7:00 AM. I kept refreshing until I got a return window that would work for my timing (after about 2 minutes, I secured a 3:00-4:00 PM return window). 2 hours after the park opened, I booked the Mickey and Minnie ride. We got in earlier than expected and didn't stack further, but we were able to get on everything else super easily with a LL. The only one we had to wait for was Millennium Falcon (45 minutes after we booked).
Can you explain return time?
You can no longer buy Genie+ before your trip. You can only buy it at 12am the day of your ticketed trip (and make reservations using it at 7am that day).
Hi, my son is under 3, so he doesn't need a ticket, but how does he get genie plus? We are a family of 5, so all of the others will be getting Genie plus. Or does he even need to get genie plus? Thanks in advance!
Does Genie + work on the days if you are going to the Christmas party. So like from 7pm till Midnight?
I thought I heard something in this video about the fact that when you buy Genie + you can purchase your photo pass photos for that day for $20 / day - is that accurate? I can't seem to find more info on that anywhere online! Can't find it again (quickly at least) in the video :(
Going to WDW in Sept. 2023. Something tells me Genie+ will change before then again
Truth
Do I need to purchase genie plus for each family member? Is it necessary for February trip?
Yes, it needs to be purchased for each person. Keep an eye on wait times the week before your trip to help decide if it's worth it. February can be slow, but sometimes there may be events or long weekends that can mean a skip in crowds and longer lines
@@DFBGuide thanks for the helpful tips.
Does genie plus work with Mickey's not so scary Halloween/ very merry Christmas events?
what do you mean by return time?
OMG this is so stressful!!!
Right!
It is not as stressful on the third day using this feature. Just remember that you have to get the lighting lanes as fast as you can. Book the most popular ones first. They go fast. Then when you book your First lighting lane, it will give you a time you can Redeem your 2nd Lighting Lane paid or not or you have to use the lighting lane you already have selected. YOU CAN stack lighting lanes as long as you 1 lay for one and two redeem on the time says or before. I had 4 lighting lanes at one time. 1 Virtual Qued. 1 Paid For. 1 Lighting lane I already booked 2 hours out. And 1 I just Booked right at the 2 hour mark allowed to book another ride.
I had 3 stacked for example
1 for 12:05 - 1:05, one for 1:00 - 2 pm and then one for 2:45 pm to 3:45pm and onother for 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm.
This is possible. Again one individual lighting lane paid for. One Virtual Que and 2 Geniue+ Lighting lanes.
It takes a lot of focus on your phone and timing but it can be done. It got us through the lanes.
You can ONLY use any lighting lanes twice in one day.
Great advice! Which ones are the most popular?
@@jazminmendoza7073 All the major coasters. And Peter Pan
Love all your videos! Being a complete Disney fanatic as a job. Yes! Lol! Question. I am an early bird. My family not do much. Can I buy lightning lanes and schedule for after opening and still take advantage of the 120 minute rule.
great video. as genie+ is different at wdw and dl/dca, can you make one for disneyland too?
Just to verify: If I purchase the genie plus for a park then hop to another park, the genie plus ‘hops’ with me. Thx!
Can you buy Genie plus for a 2 year old that doesn’t require a park ticket?
If someone with experience could help me that would be amazing! So is it better to try to schedule your lighting lanes one after another in the morning and ignore one’s that are already late out into the day so you could do more than one in an 120 minute period. Or is it better to snag ones later in the day and wait the 120 minutes? Also, if you cancel a lightning lane can you then immediately book a different one after the first one is cancelled?
Rope drop the early hours and use the lightening lanes in genie plus for your must do rides. Rope drop is where you take advantage of the first hour of park opening and lines tend to be shorter.
Yes. You can schedule another one after you cancel the one you had right away.
Thanks for making this video. We're heading there in a few weeks, and it has really changed since our last visit 3 years ago. We're basically turning over the day planning to our Disney-nut 26 year old daughter. The sad thing is we are not staying on Disney property this time. I just don't see the cost vs. benefit being the same as it used to be.
Heading there in three weeks and staying off property for the first time. Will feel different, I think.
@@cvn6555 So far so good here. Off property has not been a problem. Go USS Enterprise!
@@FusionMonkey847 Thank you. If you don't mind my asking how long is it taking to get from your rental to inside the parks?
@@cvn6555 Not long at all. This morning at EPCOT we got thru the parking gate fairly quickly. The parks are busy this week, more than we expected. But we are getting around without too much trouble.
@@FusionMonkey847 Thanks so much. Have a magical time!
On 4:25, I am surprise not to see Star Wars ride in the list under Hollywood Studios.
This is so great! I will be in Florida in just a few days to go to Universal and Disney and this will be a huge help.
Thanks for the informative video, I’m curious about stacking LL using the 120 minute rule. You mentioned getting to HS at 2pm only to find most of the LL gone, but if you take advantage of the 120 min rule couldn’t you potentially book your first at 7a, second at 11a (park open at 9a), third at 1p and so on?
With the new rule, guests with Genie+ will have to wait to book a Lightning Lane at the park they’re hopping to until the return time reaches 2PM or later for all guests - regardless of whether or not they’re park hopping. So, if you’re booking a Lightning Lane for the park you’re hopping to later, you’ll have to wait until the next earliest available window is 2PM or later.
Per DFB
The short answer is yes! As long as the booking window for the Hollywood studios ride is after 2 pm, you can book. And for rides like slinky dog and tower of terror, the windows will be after 2pm pretty soon after the bookings open at 7am!
Has anyone heard IF the dining plan is coming back and what the restrictions are going to be
I went with a group of 8 last February and we literally didn’t wait in line once it was amazing when you could do two individual lightning lanes AND genie plus ride before park Eve opened. We got SO MUCH DONE before rope even dropped. I’m nervous going next month because now we can only do one ILL and one genie plus. Going to cut in on my stacking rides 😂
So if I want to do the Animal Kingdom Safari I have to do this
Can two different members of your party log on at 7 and book? For example, could one person could book a ILL and another person could book a regular LL?
yes
Is the email address for the cheat sheet still valid? I am receiving error messages. Thank you
I just got back from WDW and it seems as though you can't buy Genie+ until the day of, but I'm wondering if that ended up being the case because I bought only a single day parkhopper? I'm not sure why it didn't pop up as an option at checkout, it definitely did when i booked for two days last year
That changed at the beginning of summer. Now you can’t buy ahead, just day of.
Perfect timing for this, we’ll be at parks in less than a month
One confusing thing I've noticed between a few of your videos and your Disney cheat sheet is the terminology you use for the individual lightning lanes.
In this video, at first it sounds like the "individual lightning lanes" and the "a la carte rides" were two different features, but about halfway through it was indirectly clarified that they're the same. In another video, the same feature is referred to as "Individual attraction selections" or IAS.
It's a bit confusing when it's your first time hearing these terms and one feature is labeled differently across your mediums/content. Maybe they are different features? Would love to know more about how these connect
not sure how to get your newsletters
Bruh that’s so complicated. They just need to make an option of an express ticket just like universal studios, it was just so convenient
So can you use Genie+ for the entire group or does each person need to do it individually?
You need to buy Genie+ for each person in the group, but you only need one person to do that and one person can book the lightning lanes for everyone.
At 7:38 they show a screenshot where you can see ‘Your Party’ and that is where one member of the party can book a LL for everyone
How do I get the newsletter?
you can sign up here: www.disneyfoodblog.com/the-disney-food-blog-newsletter/
What would you do first, book a queue for guardians of the galaxy or book a lightning lane for something else at 7am?
I pretty much did everything with my genie plus app at Disney magic kingdom do any things I cannot get on was the jungle Cruise and that was pretty much it we did everything else Wish you were still free with fast passes but the mouse needs cheddar
I thought you could book the Lightning lanes like Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind at 0700 even if not staying in the park? Is this not correct? We will be staying offsite but planned to attempt to book the ride at 0700.
So all guest can begin making Lightning Lane reservations ($15/person/day) at 7 AM however only Disney hotel guests can make individual Lightning Lane reservations (fluctuating price/1 ride through during your chosen return window) at 7 AM. All other guests are able to make individual lightning Lane reservations at park opening time.
At this time, guardians of the galaxy: cosmic rewind is an individual Lightning Lane ride so you would not be able to book it at 7 AM staying off property.
The Disney World website includes rules for both the lightning lane and the individual lightning lane on their website so you can see the most up-to-date info there
@@KateS1980 be aware that only the regular lightning lane entrances can be booked at 7 AM off property! individual lightning lane entrances are 7 AM for hotel guests and park open for all others at this time
@@eliseg0001 so as I understand it, LL for Cosmic rewind goes pretty quick at 0700, meaning staying off site you won't be able to get a booking for it in the morning.
@@markwebb4154 you may not be able to book the ILL for in the morning but I've seen ILLs still available for Guardians thru 4pm. You can also try for the Virtual Queue for Guardians at 7am as long as that's your park reservation for the day. I got group 80 and we were called at 145pm.