Disney’s Genie+ replaced FastPass+ in Disney World as the system to help guests skip the lines at some attractions, and it’s been a controversial transition. The newer service costs money (compared to the previously free FastPass+), and it can be tricky to use sometimes.
Genie+ is how you can skip the lines!
We’ve experimented a LOT with the new system since we’re in Disney World every day. We have all kinds of resources to help you make the most of Genie+ if you choose to buy it when you’re in the parks. But Disney’s recent update about Genie+ has us a little confused….
In case you’re not familiar with Genie+, this paid FastPass+ replacement costs $15 per ticket per day. If you buy it, you can reserve Lightning Lane passes at several attractions in the Disney World parks. That means you’ll get to skip the line at those attractions!
Tower of Terror Lightning Lane
Here’s a quick breakdown of how it works: Beginning at 7AM on the day you bought Genie+, you can make Lightning Lane selections for 1 attraction at a time. You’ll use the Genie+ feature on the My Disney Experience app to make those selections, which include a scheduled return time. Once you’ve scanned into the Lightning Lane (which is what the physical line is called) at the attraction you reserved, you can make a new selection for a different attraction.
Lightning Lane entry
That’s a pretty broad look at the process. If you want more details about how it works, check out our step-by-step guide here:
Click here to see our step-by-step guide to using Genie+.
Recently, we noticed that Disney added some new language to the Genie+ website. The added information states that “on average, guests can enter 2 to 3 attractions or experiences per day using the Lightning Lane entrance if the first selection is made early in the day.”
©Disney
However, in our experience, that estimate of 2 to 3 attractions in one day is pretty low. When we’ve used Genie+, we can generally get on quite a few more rides than that! Some of the most popular attractions run out of Lightning Lane availability pretty quickly, but you can generally still book a couple of those popular rides if you’re ready to make your first reservation right at 7AM.
Jungle Cruise tends to fill up fast with Genie+.
In certain parks, like EPCOT, there are fewer rides available with Genie+ than in others, like Magic Kingdom. For example, Magic Kingdom currently has 22 attractions available with Genie+, while EPCOT only has 11. So it’s likely that the EPCOT attractions will fill up faster with Genie+ because there are fewer options for guests to choose from.
Spaceship Earth Lightning Lane
But even in the parks with fewer attractions (and thus more limited availability), we’ve been able to book several (if not all) of the attractions in one park in a single day by knowing how Genie+ works and being ready to make our selections as soon as we’re able to.
Soarin’ Lightning Lane
So we think that Disney kept their estimate pretty conservative on the Genie+ website. With the right preparation, you should be able to book more than 2 or 3 attractions per day in every Disney World park. Be sure to check out our guides to using Genie+ so that you’re as prepared as possible before your vacation!
Lightning Lane
And stay tuned with DFB for all the latest Disney news and updates.
Click here to see our FULL guide to using Genie, Genie+, and Pay-Per-Ride in Disney World.
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
Click HERE to See More About Disney Genie
Join the DFB Newsletter To Get All the Latest Disney News Delivered Right to Your Inbox! Click here to Subscribe
Have you used Genie+ in Disney World? Which parts confused you the most? Let us know in the comments.
Our handy (and portable!) ebook guides make sure you get the best deals and can plan a vacation of a lifetime.
I think this is Disney’s way of lowering expectations of the genie+ system. There are definitely ways to fully utilize the system but it takes a lot of additional research and most guests don’t want to do that.
I’ve obviously used the system much less than DFB but in my experience unless you plan to stay at the park from open to close 2-3 of the more popular rides seems in line with our experience.
On a side note, having to be on my phone at exactly 7am to fight for that first ride is just a crappy way to start a day of “vacation”
I think Disney needs to clean house in the management department and redeem thereselves
You have to get on right at 7:00 for both Genie+ and the pay rides. For example, going to Hollywood Studios, say you pay for Rise of the Resistance (Rise) right at 7:00. By the time you get to Genie+, you won’t get a time for slinky dog. Probably can do run away railroad, but it will be later. So 1-2 seems about right, especially if you are paying to get on Rise and aren’t spending the whole day at the park. Its really a goofed up system that milks you for a lot of money… especially if you don’t want to stand in line for 2 1/2 hours for Rise.
I’d be horrified to even see Disney make a Universal Express Pass because they would Charge for the unlimited at that point for $500 per person.
Disney has lost touch with people today in general, so sad to see what it has become.
Used it one day and got 2 rides in. It’s a waste of money. Never again.
SO that’s one less than we used to get guaranteed with the old Fastpass system. What a bargain!
When we were there in February, I got slightly higher yields than 2-3 rides per day, but only slightly. I made my first Genie +, and well as individual lightning lane attraction reservations right at 7. So that would give me a total of 1 Genie+ ride, plus 1-2 of the individual lightning lanes not included in Genie+. Typically, I got the first available ride, which in some cases typically in the early afternoon because of how many other people were also doing the same thing.
But because I couldn’t make another Genie+ till 11 am, 2 hours after the parks opened (at that time in February), that meant a lot of attractions did get snapped up – and wouldn’t be available till later in the day. So even though I can technically hold two Genie+ attractions at a time, and replace one once I’ve done a ride, because those rides ended up being later in the day there just wasn’t time to do a Genie+. And in a lot of cases, the leftover rides available on Genie+ had such short wait times that using Genie+ wasn’t really a great option.
Additionally, if I decided to change the attraction at all, my 2 hour time count would start all over again, which was frustrating. I did find it kind of useful for Magic Kingdom especially; probably would only use individual lightning lane at Animal Kingdom. I’m on the fence for Epcot and Hollywood – I think there it depends entirely on what areas of the park you want to focus on.
I agree with Jnoel completely. That is a crappy and very stressful way to start your vacation especially if you don’t live close. Disney is going too far. I am planning on going in November and I’m already stressed about it. It will probably be my last one sadly. It used to be so easy and fun.
This seems like a poor way to “sell” this experience. For $15 dollars you can have a shorter line for 2-3 attractions (so rides, plays, and soon Meet and Greets). That is almost the same price as a Lightning Lane. I can understand wanting to understate the amount of value this experience adds to overall customer satisfaction.
The concept of Genie+ is just fine, but the operation is leaving me scratching my head. There is a cluelessness behind it. You’d think Disney would have better handle on how people actually work their way around the Parks and attractions. Last trip, while I didn’t use Genie+ I fired it up just to see what it would suggest. If I had followed it I would have gotten to my three choice attractions, but I would have wasted my time on attractions I’ve never had any interest in. I used my own tried and true methods, not only got too the three I told them I wanted, but many many more and waited a max of an hour. Keep working on it Disney, but don’t toot your horn yet
I would say 2-3 rides is accurate of our experience. We also woke up at 7 am to add rides. I dislike Genie+ compared to fastpass.
I am stressed out when I go to bed, worrying about getting the ride I want at 7:00 am..which keeps me awake!
Not fun.
So spend thousands of dollars going to Disney, be awake at 6:45am to be on your phone at 7:00am to score a ride, then pay $15 per person per day to get on other rides… Yeah sounds like fun!
We are lucky that we live 25 minutes from Disney and are Annual Passholders, so we can go when we want, and not have to worry about getting on rides or making dining reservations.
But I feel for others who sink tons of money into a Disney vacation and don’t get as much back in terms of enjoyment. I hope the rumors of Chapek’s contract not being renewed are true. If Disney is to survive, new and improved management/leadership needs to be brought in.
I hope management at Disney reads these comments. I most likely won’t go to WDW again unless rides can be scheduled in advance. I want to have a plan, dining reservations set beforehand. I’m not getting up at 7am and stressing about the day. This is supposed to be a vacation!
I would think that disclaimer (if people read it) would deter a lot of guests from purchasing it. I’ve used it a few times and definitely exceeded 2-3 attactions, however I think guests struggle the first day they use it. Bottomline, Genie+ should be eliminated because it slows down the standby lines and likely isn’t a net decrease in wait time for guests over the course of an entire visit. Management is happy though because the spend per guest is up. Sadly the only way Genie+ is probably going away is if they increase the number of pay to ride attractions in each park so Disney can offset the revenue loss of Genie+.
I still have no idea why they think its acceptable or fun to release slots at 7am each day. Why not something like 10am, a couple of days in advance? It honestly puts me off going back. I used to love the planning side of it all but now it just seems anxiety inducing, as does their insistence on applying mobile technology to everything! That combined with the removal of extended evening hours for value and moderate resorts really takes the shine of WDW for me. I know I’d be disappointed with all the changes and it would ruin the great memories I have made.
We are in Disneyland now. You aren’t allowed to make lightening lane or Disney Genie + purchases until your actually in the park. If you try it, it will tell you that your party doesn’t have access. You have to have your phone GPS on. Extremely difficult!!!!! Some rides don’t offer access although Disney says they are on the list. We were in DW back in July and never had the issues there that we have here. DL has been our home park for 14 years. So frustrating! Disney is losing its appeal!
My family and I were able to book 10 attractions at Magic Kingdom using Genie+ during our trip in February. I did book our first one at 7am and was able to stack some of our bookings. I also felt I was looking at my phone for most of the day as it seems to take continual planning to optimize use of the Genie+ system. I was also able to book attractions that filled up quickly and were unavailable. But, I had to continually refresh my screen until availability popped up, and so again,unfortunately, my focus was on my phone.
Disney has been receiving complaints and this is their way of cleaning it up. I love Disney, and we still go, but much less because of the crowds and special touches/perks that we now have to pay for. There’s no way to put a positive spin on replacing a free planner with a paid fast pass where you may not even get the ride you want, and you have to get up at 7am each day on vacation. Disneyland has a better system, but it’s much smaller so maybe translating it to WDW wasn’t feasible. Genie+ has not worked well for me or the people I know who have been lately- the top rides gone at 7:03 am, error messages, app crashes, having to be on your phone twice as much as before.
Each year we come we leave a little more disillusioned. We’ve found the crowds at Disney World (specifically MK and HS) to be more and more unsustainable. Even before Covid, we always plan trips for the less crowded times of year and still end up missing a lot because of the sheer volume of people. With young kids, we need a break in the day, so an average day sees 3 rides (not necessarily the ones we wanted) and then another 2 when we go back, and lots of time on or waiting for transport. Like the other commenters said, unless you’re willing or able to rope drop and stay all day, it’s difficult to get your money’s worth.
I obviously made a mistake buying Genie+ and park hopper for May. In 2019 we were able to plan ahead and book all our fast passes and dining reservations and had a great time. Now we’re paying more money for less experiences and the hassle of being on a cell phone all day, plus no guarantee we can hop to another park for dining reservations. Once the most magical place on earth is now one of the most stressful.
I think Disney is letting people know the truth. Popular rides won’t have enough G+ options throughout the entire day for everyone to ride using the Lightning Lane. You can get one at 7 am. Then, another 2 hours after park open, unless you are lucky enough to have your first be in the first 90 or so minutes of park open. In that case, you can book annother popular ride immediately, giving you a head start over the vast majority of people waiting for the 2 hour mark. By the time you try for your third ride booking, most if not all the popular rides are gone. If you DO manage to get more than 2 or 3 headliners using Genie +, you are on your phone a LOT. There is no “just enjoying the experiences” when you are trying to “fiddle faddle” to get the next ride, AND that can take hours to get another one to pop up…IF it ever does. 2-3 headliners at Hollywood Studios is on the upper end of reality, IMO.
Tried Genie this month at Magic Kingdom. Was able to ride 2 rides and spent $95 for our group. I will never use this product against. One of the worst ideas Disney has offered their guests in over 25 years that we’ve been going. Disney needs to clean house of their CEO, President and others driving the Disney experience in the ground. Very dissatisfied loyal guest.
I think Disney’s next strategy is to raise admission another $100 and allow you to ride 2 rides. They figured out that letting people use the old FastPass and ride a lot….was just wearing out the rides.
Very interesting to see everyone’s perspective. Being that I have been able to visit Disney World 5 times since this past Oct 2021 I only know what I have experienced. That is that my family, friends and I have seen very little value out of the Genie + system during our outings. We tried to purchase and login into Genie + right at 7 AM and have found non of the rides we wanted to put on our Lightning Lane available right from the get go. So as one person commented below we stopped doing that crappy process (we did this on 2 of the trips) to start our vacation day and waste that money. On 1 other trip due to the volume of people we purchased and used the Genie + starting at about 10 AM and we were able to get 1 lightning pass on one ride we wanted that day. Basically it was like paying for the individual lightning lane pass with the cost of genie + just for one ride. The last 2 trips we skipped genie + and just bought individual passes as needed and stood in line for a couple other rides and that was that. Pretty much the same experience from the other trips where we bought genie + but didn’t get anything really for it. So not sure how we feel about it other than it sure isn’t the fast pass experience from the past. Seems like if you stay at a resort you have a much better experience with it. So this wording in Disney’s description works if you are getting lightning lane passes for rides that most everyone in your party doesn’t really have on there must have list. Those rides seem to be always available on Genie +… We are due to be out there again in Sept. I’ll try and update this then…
Feel even better that our family has decided to take a break from Disney. A nice, LONG break.
I hope this is just Disney’s way of lowering expectations in order to be able to “over-deliver”. This way people can’t complain if they have bad luck with ride availability.
It would be very disappointing if this was Disney “softening the ground” for eventually setting a cap on the service. Nobody wants a 3 ride maximum.
Used it and 4 of us only got 2 rides in waste of money
Stayed on-site, reserved first one early morning. 3 was accurate, but could’ve done more since that was at 2pm. It didn’t allow additional reservations, even though there were openings b/c it noted we met our max (of 3). Only pd at HS while there mid-Dec and wouldn’t again. Rip off when only allowing the 3, which were ‘free’ w/ on-site wdw stays Feb 2020.
This new system to put it plainly sucks. The Fastpass system worked great and was more convenient and of course free. I won’t reiterate what most have already stated but the basic gist is this. You are on vacation, who wants to get up at zero dark thirty and get on your phone to pay to get rides and then be stuck on your phone throughout the day to get more. I want to relax and look around and enjoy the experience and not have my face in my phone all day . Disney needs to stop making more crap you need to be on your phone to be in Disney. My two cents!!
Disney should have made their statement clearer. (From experience) I would suggest: “On average guests will be able to ride 2-3 rides with Genie+ and it will be a BIG pain-in-the-neck. Guests will have to rise at 6:45 and may not get what they want. Guests will be on the Genie+ service all day and miss much of the magic. Guests will leave frustrated and poorer.”
People that say they booked 10 attractions are riding rides that you really don’t need Genie+ for! And you’d need to be there open to close because it takes 2 hours in between rides….unless again they’re rides with no wait that you don’t need Genie+ for. There’s a wait for all the good rides. Genie+ doesn’t even work at parks with limited rides like Epcot.
As a huge fan of Fastpass+, Genie+ seems like a truly disappointing product. I loved being able to play the “fastpass game” as some call it, scanning into a ride, then immediately hopping on the app to get another fastpass. I still remember one night at Animal Kingdom several years ago I was able to get like 9 fastpasses in a row for Expedition Everest, it was awesome lol. But sadly, something like that will never happen again. My husband and I last visited in October 2021 just before Genie+ launched, so we got a taste of experiencing the parks without any type of fastpass. And honestly, it gave me a new perspective. I realized I should focus on the rides, attractions, and experiences that I love the most, instead of just riding a ride for the 3rd time just because there was a fastpass for it.
My husband and I are talking about what future trips will be like, and I think this will be our new mentality. Not going to worry about how many rides we do in a day. We will truly focus on the things we love the most, even if that’s just enjoying an ice cream sandwich on the hub grass, or strolling around World Showcase, or rope dropping Gideon’s at Disney Springs lol. Future trips will not be as jam packed with rides, but they will hopefully be filled with just as many memories.
The entire Disney board needs to be go, and Chapek needs to be kicked out the door with them. This is all getting so bad that we have this dictator ruining the parks and vacations with all this idiocy phone mess. They are clueless Id say some Disney World execs need to be shown the door too. Its not enjoyable going anymore, they gripe about all this inclusion crap yet your not included as a guest if you dont buy into the lame app. You can barely ride anything now. Like others have said cleaning house has to happen or Disney is going to find itself in big troubles.
Genie+ is a really big disappointment. As others have stated, starting each day of your visit getting on the app at 7am is not for everyone. And for the remainder of your day you’re spending time selecting attractions at the same time you’re dealing with the little ones in your group. This is just another negative of “today’s Disney”
Remember when we used to use our phones to take pictures and videos of our families on vacation instead of being on them in a “Hunger Games” style battle with each other beginning at 7 AM of our vacation to ride the rides we already paid to ride? Walt wouldn’t let the people making these decisions in his parking lot, let alone in executive offices making these money-grabbing changes that take away from the experience he once dreamed of families having at his parks.
Besides the obvious money-centered decisions, it’s just so much harder to no longer be able to make dining reservations far in advance, then make your fast-pass decisions 60 days out to coordinate with those din. reservations so you’re not running all over the park the day of hoping you don’t miss that crucial, highly anticipated lunch/dinner at Be our Guest/CRT/etc. because the only last-minute G+ or LL spot for an equally highly anticipated ride you could get conflicted with that dining res? And you had to cover a lot of ground at MK with four generations of family including a 78 year old great-grandmother and a 3 year old great grandson to try and get to both and not lose out or have to make everyone choose between the two? Bob Paycheck, come down here with the regular folks for a day and watch all the grief you’re putting us through. You can’t see it from the Disney castle you’ve built for yourself.
Like is that a challenge? Because I kinda feel like that’s a challenge and I never run away from a fight.
I couldn’t agree more with Cory, yes the cost is beyond infuriating but it’s the fact that on vacation you have to be up at 7am on your phone to try and grab a lightning lane that if you don’t get (or can’t get till later) can then have an impact on your park day plans. I can get away with paying the $15 for Genie+ but at least allow us to book a few weeks in advance.
We used to go every year or two from the UK but with the significant price hikes, removal of offers such as free dining and with the additions of things like Genie+ and the park reservation system we have given a lot more thought for the next trip to be at universal and a villa and just skip Disney completely as it just isn’t fun anymore.
Did the most at MK but I may have been lucky because we did much more than 3 rides during our stay in March.
I know this article is about Disney World, which I’m sure is much different than Disney in Anaheim. I haven’t yet been to DisneyWorld (hopefully I’ll get there one day!) I would just like to add that I’ve used Genie+ in Disneyland a few times and had a great experience using it. We used it for several rides and felt like we definitely were able to do more than we normally do. I don’t find it to be any harder or easier than fastpass was. Between Genie+ and single rider lines we do pretty good.
We found Genie+ to work better at HS by stacking every two hours LLanes for later in the day or evening. Start at Epcot, enjoy Epcot, stack LLanes at HS every two hours, then hop to HS. Using Genie+ at AK or Epcot is not productive. Or start at AK then stack LLanes at MK every two hours for the evening; then hop to MK later. We Did this on our last trip. We had 5 popular MK rides stacked by the time we park hopped there. We used the LLanes before and after the fireworks then used the empty standby lines during the fireworks.
Jnoel, Aaron, and Jack: Stopped reading all comments after reading these three. Could not agree more with these three posts. Hate Genie+. Vacation does not equal the frustration on a phone and dealing with times that impact dining reservations. We loved our fast-passes. DH said he will not go back due to this system. This is the person that got me hooked on Disney. He literary said, “It is time to sell our DVC contract at GF.” I feel we should wait to see about a new CEO and time will bring about change. And now the political mess….. OMG!!!
This may be close to the truth, first not all rides or attractions are part of the Genie plus program, second those most popular rides that you might want to use the pass on are very often broke down.
Disney is on self-destruct mode in fast forward
Vay- cay- shun. Say it loud! Supposed to be less stress. More fun. 2-3 rides ???maybe the ones you really like …maybe. Only get the 7 AM shot at it IF….I say IF…you can afford to stay at their resorts. Tied to your phone not your family and friends. More $$$$ for less enjoyment. Yup….CYA Disney folks with your pitiful disclaimer to keep expectations low. You obviously hear us but don’t intend to fix the thing we are so upset about. Remember….vay-cay-shun. Just not with you. You’ve forgotten what it means to people who work hard to to have one. Sorry, Walt.
I agree with Frank Haney’s comment and this sums it up: Disney is on self-destruct mode in fast forward.
TDO better wake up and chapek just needs to get out of the picture.
Just remember, when you are on your phone at 7:00am, and trying toschedule a meal to get some overpriced/under-portioned food, that Bob Chapek’s BASE Salary is $32.5 MILLION per year.
Love these comments, especially ENC! All so true. No one wants to be on there phone continuously in the parks, which is the ONLY way you can score rides and many of those later rides are ones that don’t have a bad wait time anyway. It used to be that you could expect at least TEN experiences on a day in a Disney Park and many of us had many more than that when we used Fast Pass wisely. Now, I wonder if you can have ten experiences in a day without having to pay extra money.
We haven’t been in a year, and not sure we will be going back anytime soon. Doesn’t sound like fun anymore.
I would like to see DFB test this with a group the size of a normal family like 5 people. I can hardly believe your experience would yield the same results. The magic is lacking the prices are crazy and the sheer need to get up at 7 am for a ride reservation on top of the insane park tickets is just a sign that Disney needs a reality check. Where did all the magic go! This from a DVC and AP holder!
Visited WDW APRIL 3-8. There were huge crowds. We had an 8 yr old and a 2 1/2 yr old. In order to keep their enthusiasm and not stand in line all the time, we purchased Genie plus. We found the best strategy was to focus one or two “lands” per day. Managed to get on at least six rides via lightning lane the first day. Yes, we did have to wake up at 7am every day to get that first ride, but missing those lines was worth it.
The remaining days we garnered at least 3 LL rides and paid for two attractions—-Rise of the Resistance and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Both appeared to break/close shortly after riding them. So it was a relief not to wait in a 3 hr line and be disappointed!
My best advice is to alternate your park days with “rest” days…swimming, movies etc. That pavement can wear everyone out, especially since none of the Trams were operating in the parking lots.
That’s just wrong. I used to park hop all 4 parks and get fast passes for almost every major ride in a day. If I didn’t park hop, I got 6-7 rides done in a day. Bring back Fast Pass+ and stop paying for Genie+.