It has been a wild ride since Disney Genie+ was first announced for Disney World.
©Disney
Before Disney Genie+ launched, we were told that it would be $15 per ticket, per day and that guests would only be able to book one attraction at a time. That latter part turned out to be not entirely true, as we were introduced to the world of “stacking” Genie+ reservations and the 120-minute rule. And now, all of that is changing!
What is the 120-Minute Rule?
First of all, let’s clarify that these rules ONLY apply to Disney Genie+, they don’t affect Individual Lightning Lane Selections. If you book your first Genie+ choice in the morning for later in the day, then you can make a second Genie+ Lightning Lane choice once 120 minutes has passed (if you book before park opening time, this countdown starts at park opening time).
Hello, Genie!
So here’s what follows that — you can book a second Genie+ selection when:
- You have used the first one you booked.
- Your first return time window has ended (if you miss it).
- 120 minutes have passed since you booked your last one.
©Disney || The message you’ll get if you try to book too early
That’s how the 120-minute rule plays into all of this. Now, let’s dive into the changes.
What Has Changed?
Previously, guests could use this 2-hour rule to master the system and keep two or more Genie+ reservations at a time all day long. They would do this by scheduling their first Genie+ selection at 7AM for a time at least two hours after the park opened. Then, at that 2-hour mark, they could book a second selection. Every time they used one of their Genie+ passes, they’d be able to book another, effectively holding two (or more) Genie+ reservations at any given point throughout the day.
©Disney
Here’s an example of how that would’ve worked in the past, assuming our imaginary guest goes to Hollywood Studios:
- At 7AM when Genie+ reservations drop for everyone, you book a pass for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster from 12PM-1PM.
- At 9AM, Hollywood Studios opens and your 2-hour countdown begins to book your second Genie+.
- At 11AM, you book a Genie+ pass for Tower of Terror from 1PM-2PM.
- At 12PM, you scan into Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. Once you have passed all the checkpoints, you book a new Genie+ reservation for Toy Story Mania for any time later in the day.
- At 1PM, you scan into Tower of Terror and book another Genie+ reservation for Alien Swirling Saucers at any time later in the day.
- Now, you’re consistently holding two Genie+ reservations at a time.
©Disney
But now, it seems like you can no longer do it this way! You can still make use of the 120-minute rule, but once that original Genie+ selection is used, you’ll be limited to booking one Genie+ Lightning Lane selection at a time. Here’s an example:
- At 7AM when Genie+ reservations drop for everyone, you book a pass for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster from 12PM-1PM.
- At 9AM, Hollywood Studios opens and your 2-hour countdown begins to book your second Genie+.
- At 11AM, you book a Genie+ pass for Tower of Terror from 1PM-2PM.
- At 12PM, you scan into Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. Since you have used your original Genie+ reservation, you are limited to holding one at a time.
- You won’t be able to book another Genie+ until you use the Tower of Terror one or until two hours have passed since Tower of Terror was booked. (In this case, that is 1PM.)
Peter Pan’s Flight Lightning Lane
You can still hold two or more Genie+ selections at a time if you make use of the 120-minute rule, the difference is that now you won’t be able to keep it that way all day long. Even if you scheduled your first Genie+ really late in the day and booked a new one every two hours so that you’re holding four or five Genie+ Lightning Lane reservations at once (which would be pretty challenging to do), you’d still have to obey the laws of the 120-minute rule. That would require using all of your Genie+ selections first or waiting another two hours to book another.
©Disney
Confused yet? Don’t worry, it’s a lot to take in. We’ll continue to visit the parks and try this system out to get the best handle on it. And we’ll make sure to let you know if Disney World decides to make any more confusing changes!
Click Here to Learn More About Disney Genie+!
All About Disney Genie, Genie+, and Individual Attraction Selection
BIG Genie+ Changes Being Planned For Disney World
FULL List of Rides Included With Genie+ in Disney World
3 Tips to OUTSMART Genie+ in Disney World Right Now
Please Stop Skipping These Genie+ Hacks in Disney World (They Really Work!)
Genie+ Tips for the Most Crowded Days in Disney World and Disneyland
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I hate genie+!!! Just used it this weekend and it was so
Confusing I couldn’t get passes for rides near by I would have to walk
Across the park to use them! It’s so so so confusing and challenging 😥
Just went to Disney world last week. Used both the pay per ride and the genie plus.
The pay per ride proved to be a better value for us.
Genie plus was to put it mildly, a rip off. With the fast pass program we could plan our time at the park to be there and get back to recharge for a later park visit.
During this trip used genie plus 3 times (MK, Hs, and Epcot)
The most we used it was for two rides. We snagged early rides, then the booking window for other rides was so far in the future ( 4-5 hours) it was pretty much useless. Got to park at open ride the first ride at 915 next booking window for a good ride 330 pm. Save the money and buy the access to the new rides (which blew us away, Ratatouille, rise, and runway train are awesome)
I get paying for rides, but this was not well thought out by Disney in anyway. The app is awkward to use, the rides are to few to be relevant, and the price to high for return.
We went during “slow” period and it was bad. I can’t imagine during a peak period.
As note we have been going to Disney for the last 7 years with the DVC. I have experience what was and now what is.
So now we have to pay for a service that’s worse than the old free one. Goodby Disney. Hello Universal.
This all makes me want to vomit. The last thing any of us wanted was to make a trip to WDW MORE complicated!
Good Explanation. And as usual I’m still confused. We decided to not buy Genie+ on our upcoming trip. We might use ILL for ROTR though. We haven’t ridden it yet.
They did not change the right thing. Genie+ should be FREE!! YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF HOW GREEDY YOU HAVE BECOME!! Now only the stunning rich can have a magical vacation. Its so sad, now there’s no way I can bring my Granddaughters to disney anymore.. 😪
Hah! Not my idea of vacation Disney. Not spending my vacation on my phone the entire time. We will be going to Animal Kingdom so we can enjoy at our own pace stress free. Then on to Boca where we can just chill. Magic Kingdom was our favorite park but isn’t worth the hassle right now.
We were down in Disney World last week November 12 through the 19th and for two days we tried the genie plus, it’s turning out to be not worth the money, when you book your first one and then use it and then go to book another one there’s nothing left to book especially when the parks are crowded, the rides that are left to book are usually rides that you can only have a short wait for, we found that the genie plus is just not worth the money, it’s not worth it in Epcot and it’s not worth it in animal kingdom, if the parks aren’t busy then you don’t need Genie plus at all
I still don’t get why, WHILE ON VACATION, you’re being encouraged to be awake and ready to book at 7am every day just so you can get the most out of spending $15 on Genie+. Or the way you’re being handcuffed to your phone all day trying to keep up with your plans or ordering food. I understand that technology can really innovate and improve customer experience, but there comes a point where if it is overdone it actually inhibits and takes away from the magic and spontaneity of everything that was great about visiting a Disney park. I’m genuinely grieving for it a bit because it’s made me not want to go anymore. From the feedback I’ve seen, I feel like recent changes would not only ruin my experience, they would put a downer on all the good memories I have too.
Way to go, Disney! First, you leave your loyal fans and guests stranded at the airport by taking away Magical Express. Next, you replace the FREE Fast Pass system with a paid option. And now, you are restricting how guests can use the option that they should not of had to pay for in the first place. What is the problem here? When did Disney get so greedy and so anti-guest experience? What has happened to the “Happiest Place on Earth”…
Yeah, all that sounds good in theory. However, there are Lightning Lane quotas per day for each ride. So those slots get booked up quickly early on in the day. We bought a full day of Genie+ for three of us, at a cost of $45. We booked Toy Story Mania at around 8am. By the time we rode Toy Story Mania, we tried to make another LL reservation. All the rides we wanted were no longer available for the day, or only had availability right before park closing time. So we hopped over to EPCOT, where again, all the LL availability wasn’t until right before closing time. So we paid $45 for one ride.
Genie+ and Lightning Lane socks. We will never do that again, unless something changes for the better.
Fast Pass was Soooooo much Better !
I would be *SO* thrilled if they just dumped Genie+ and returned to FP+. Just name your price Disney!
I am MORE THAN CONFUSED AND FRUSTRATED. The Fast Pass was PERFECT. The 120 minutes between Disney Plus lessons the number of rides you can go on quickly during a full day at the park. Please change it back to the way it was with Original Fast Pass. Thanks
This is bad news for people that want to pay extra money and think that they can use the lightning lane to constantly go from one ride to another (Like we saw some people doing 2 weeks ago at EPCOT) without having to wait. It devalues the use of Genie+. So less people will want to pay to use it now if they have to wait for 2 hours to use it again
Did not use the Genie + but Disney must work out a different system. We stood in line for over 100 minutes to ride Jungle Cruise. Actually didn’t move for over 20 minutes twice just to let Lightning pass people on attraction. This is totally unacceptable. I have been an annual pass holder for years but this is the last family trip we will take. Lines just were not moving. Please make efforts to streamline this new system.
Nope. No thank you.
I’m at the parks rights now and Genie-+ has been a total waste of money! I couldn’t book a LL for Soarin’ at a time convenient for our family so I picked TT. When I went Back after my 120 minutes mark the only Soarin’ LL was at 9! I would have happily paid for the FP+ to get at least 3 rides a day that I actually wanted. This system has only worked at MK. Disney needs to get their act together on this! I can’t imagine these changes will help those of us who paid for the service and have no rides available when we can actually be in the parks
Way too complicated. Universal’s version of fast pass costs more but it is not connected to your phone and you can ride eligible rides whenever you want but can only ride each one with a fast pass once a day. So much simpler. We will not be buying Genie + but will ride whatever has reasonable waits. If we don’t ride everything, oh well.
Just a mess!! Missed the FF system in July. Back to WDW in late October. Dislike Genie+ so much!! We are tied to tech everyday, all week, all year long. No longer a respite at WDW. Must be glued to phone and plan plan and plan. The old FP system was soooooooooooooooooooooooooonice!!! Destination wedding in FL Key West in Feb. Many are driving north to Orlando. Going to Universal instead because of – you name it.
Why doesn’t Disney just charge you $300, have you sit on a bench outside the main entrance and then bus you back to you resort (for an additional fee). It seems to be coming to that…and a lot of people would pay for that experience.
Wow. Not one positive comment on Genie+. Perhaps we should start calling it Genie- ?
I am so confused! Are Genie + and Lightning Lane separate booking entities? OR the same? It’s really quite a mess.
Remember when Disney World was a fun place to go?
Everyone frustrated by Genie + NEEDS to email Disney and post on social media. They won’t change it or improve it if we don’t voice our opinions LOUDLY!
We were there 9 days over the past week – Thanksgiving holiday – and it was an awful experience between the poor Ride technology breaking down on everything from Rise to Haunted Mansion and Genie tech not working and being changed mid- trip . It did not do well with the holiday crowds and I went to the GET people every single day… sometimes in tears! And I’m a Disney veteran. A FP and FP+ super user… it was so very frustrating… I will spend my $12K elsewhere next vacation!
Jessica, Lightning Lanes are the actual lines you enter when you use either Genie+ OR Individual Attraction Selections (pay-per-ride). Those are separate paid options for accessing the Lightning Lanes.
Every time I think I understand this Genie + system something new pops up. Could you PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE answer one question for me? If I book my first LL at 7:00 am, once I get to the park at 9:00 am I wait 2 hours till 11:00 and book my second LL. Say that second LL is a popular ride and I can’t book it until 6:00 pm. Can I book another LL at 1:00 pm (which is 120 minutes after the last one) or do I have to wait and use the 6:00 one before I can book another?
Can you use the Individual Attraction Selection (pay per ride) without using Genie +? I had a hard time trying to find it on my app.
Jessica, yes, you can use them separately. You do not need to purchase Genie+ in order to purchase an Individual Attraction Selection.
Steven, you are not alone in being confused. When you book your first Genie+ LL at 7AM, then enter the Park at 9AM (or whenever it opens), you will only have to wait out the two hours (we call it the 120 minute rule) if your first Genie+ is past 11AM. If, instead, your first Genie+ LL is somewhere between 9AM and 11AM, you will ride with that LL and then immediately make another one (unless you have a popular LL later in the day…more on that below). You only have to wait out the 120 minutes in the morning if your first Genie+ LL of the day is after 11AM (or two hours after Park open). If your second ride is later in the day, as in your example, you can “stack” Genie+ LL selections up until you tap in for your 6PM LL — but you’ll have to wait two hours between each one. So, if we go with your example and you tap into an attraction at 11AM, and you still have your 6PM LL in Genie+, you’ll have to wait until 1PM to make an additional Genie+ LL selection. Then another could be made at 3PM and another at 5PM. Does that make sense?
I think I understand, so I can’t book another once I use the one I booked at 7:00am. Say I use it at 11:30 I can’t another for 2 hours BECAUSE i have the one booked later in the day. I have to wait the 2 hours. But if I didn’t have one later in the day I could book one immediately after I used the 11:30 one Correct?
Sarah your response to Steven does make sense and also explains the PROBLEM EXACTLY. Waiting 120 minutes between rides limits the number of rides you can go on during the day and THE QUALITY OF THE RIDE. The Genie Plus DESTROYS THE SAVINGS AND THE CONVENIENCE OF THE FAST PAST. SOO SAD. THE DISNEY OF YESTERDAY HAS BEEN DESTROYED.
Steven, that’s my understanding, yes.
I’m spending week here in WDW. It’s been crazy crowded. We got here the Saturday following Thanksgiving 2021. The genie does not load most of the time. The lines are ridiculous. We waited 2 hours for Slinky Dog Dash. I did like the ability to buy walk on to Remy ride and rise of the resistance. I seriously doubt I will come back. I used to have the annual pass for a number of years. I loved Disney World, but no more.
Sarah, the overwhelming majority of comments from guests who have visited Disney World is NEGATIVE TOWARD THE GENIE PLUS. Do you think that Disney will bite the bullet, admit the mistake, take the loss and bring back the original FREE FAST PASS? Thanks
Ron, I wish I had a way to look into the future to see how Genie+ ends up working out. As with anything and everything Disney does, it is subject to change at any time, and we will report when/if it does. Based on the comments I read, you’re right that folks are, shall we say, displeased with Genie+ generally speaking. But whether that would lead to changes to the service, only time will tell.
We have been to Disneyland numerous times when we lived in California and to WDW many times also.
It was always fun and memorable. Walt Disney created Disneyland so families could go to a clean fun safe place with their children. In 1976 you could still get into Disneyland for $5 admission and buy individual tickets inside the park OR for $6.50 you got a ticket book that included admission. My how times have changed.
I will have to think long and hard about going back to Disneyland or WDW and I am a shareholder.
So essentially we are paying more and riding less! We went in October and purchased Genie+ and got to ride only 2 rides. First thing booking at 7 a.m. we got to ride one early and then had to wait all day to ride the 2nd ride. Not our plan to stay all day at the parks but I guess that is part of the plan, you must eat and buy stuff while you are waiting. Paid Lightening Lane for the new rides. I can’t see paying for some of the offerings that have been ridden over the years for free. At least Disney could have reduced entry price due to the additional prices for rides, but no.
How do you book both Genie+ and Individual LL rides if they both open at 7am? Can multiple people in your party be trying at the same time?
Hi Heather! If you’re booking a regular Genie+ LL and an IAS at the same time, yes, you can designate someone else in your party to book one while you book the other at 7am.
As of today (1/14/22), if you make a first Genie+ selection at 7am, the soonest you can make the next one is 2 hours after park opening (10:30 am). So that seems a change from what’s described.
Whoops, make that 1/14/23