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Genie+ and Disney with a Kid

Hi guys! Having not been to a Disney park since 2016, I've yet to experience the new Genie, Genie+, and Lightning Lane. I find a lot of the information online to be sort of confusing, so I figured this was the place to ask about it. I am going to Disney with my three year old in April (yes, I will be looking at all the new creds and crying because he's not tall enough for many of them... I don't know how my heart can take it other than knowing I'll be back later in the year, I guess!) and I am really trying to minimize my time waiting in lines. He's quite tall for his age and is able to get on most rides, but like many three year olds, has next to no patience. Is Genie+ worth it? How exactly does it work with booking ride time slots? Also, from my understanding, is Lightning Lane included in the Genie+ but then there are a few rides you have to purchase separately? Also, for each park, what is the main attraction to get to first either in early entry or otherwise? We're staying on properly so we do get the early entry, but is everything open during that half hour window? Do the character lines get long and is it worth it to use up a line skip on the characters?

One other question not pertaining to rides or early entry, what would be your best suggestion for a specialty restaurant? I figure we'll probably do one or a character dining experience while we're there. I've done Akershus, but he's not really into the princesses.

Thanks for the help!
 

Nitefly

Hyper Poster
Edit - this was written without reading the context that you were travelling with a 3 year old, who I doubt would be able to go on many of the long line rides anyway?

There are many YouTube videos that explain the system in detail in respect of how it’s used in practice, which will be far more useful than a written explanation - so I recommend watching a couple of those. Make sure it’s a fairly recent vid as it’s changed a little bit in the first couple of months that it launched.

As to whether it’s worth it… if the cost will put you uncomfortably over budget, then it’s something to balance out the pros and cons of.

Otherwise, if you’re just trying to decide how to use disposable money then I’d say, yes, it’s absolutely worth it - particularly if you are visiting during a busy period. The ‘paid lightening lane’ one-offs are also worth it.

The downside is that it can initiate ‘over-planning’, but the benefits can be massive: effective strategy and time slot management can reduce Hollywood Studios to a morning of mostly walk on rides, as opposed to a day of brutal 2 hour+ queues.

Our day at Hollywood Studios went something like this:

At 7am on my phone I booked in for Rise of the Resistance (extra cost) and my wife also booked us in for Slinky Dog. This was pretty stressful and required two phones, plus getting up early. These had 3+ and 2 hour posted wait respectively when we virtually walked onto them. We rope dropped Tower of Terror, walked onto Rock and Rollercoaster… the only thing we couldn’t escape was queuing for Smuggler’s Run (about 50 mins). Anything else was then a Genie+ walk on, including Mickey and Minnie’s - we just booked it a couple of hours in advance after doing Slinky Dog.

So I think we escaped at least 7 hours of queuing that day, at the cost of around $30 dollars per head. We avoided a similar amount of queuing at Magic Kingdom.

There are alternative strategies though. Rise of the Resistance was also about a 15 minute queue at park close, for example.
 
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spicy

Giga Poster
Agreed Genie + is quite confusing when trying to work out how it all works online. I did a 2 week trip in September to WDW and bought Genie + everyday, I will try my best to answer a few of the questions;

Is Genie+ worth it? Most definitely, it's an annoying added expense but it's a must-buy imo. It was fixed at $15 per person in September but I believe it can go up or down depending on availability now. It was well worth it we hardly queued the whole time we were there.

How exactly does it work with booking ride time slots? As you are staying on property every morning you will get access from 7am. Off property begins at 8am I believe. So you get a bit of an advantage to book the attraction you want.

You will need to get up at 7.00, get on the WDW app, pay for your genie + for the day and then start booking.

You can only book 1 lightning lane per person and can then book your next one in either 2 hours time or when you have scanned your magic band to access the lightning lane (whichever comes first.)
Tip - Once you have scanned your magic band, book your next attraction right away whilst still queueing in lightning lane.

Lightning Lane included in the Genie+ but then there are a few rides you have to purchase separately? In September these weren't included in Lightning lane:
Magic Kingdom: 7 Dwarfs Mine train
Hollywood Studios: Star Wars: ROTR
Animal Kingdom: Avatar: Flight of passage

You can book these at 7am at the same time as your lightning lane - each pass was around $14 per person.

Now in addition to all this you have Virtual Queue: This isn't an additional cost, it starts at 7am and is for Guardians of the galaxy at Epcot and I believe now Tron too.
You need to get into the enrollment queue at 7am, if you get in you are given a boarding group number. This will then give you a time you can ride that day.

Also, for each park, what is the main attraction to get to first either in early entry or otherwise? So these are the attractions where the lightning lane would sell out very quickly or you end up with a time later in the day if you don't book quickly:

Animal Kingdom: Kilimanjaro Safaris
Magic Kingdom: Big Thunder
Hollywood Studios: Slinky dog/ ToT
Epcot: Ratatouille/Frozen

Specialty restaurant? The new Space 220 at Epcot is pretty cool, I'd recommend that.
 
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Awesome information guys, thanks! @Nitefly you mentioned both you and your wife had to get up to do this on your phones- will I be able to do it for me and my son through one phone or will we run into problems with that? Or did you just have to use two phones because you wanted to book two attractions? Also my son is tall enough to get on basically everything besides Flight of Passage, Tron, and Rock n' Roller Coaster so the information was all still very useful.

@spicy do I get a magic band when I get to the hotel? How does that work? I'm usually quite good and independent at planning trips but feel a bit stressed since I will be the only adult on the trip and want to make sure it runs smoothly. For Guardians, is the virtual queue thing also just done on the Disney+ app? I'm doing two days at Magic Kingdom which will hopefully allow some of the stress to be eliminated as far as trying to get everything done.

Definitely glad that there is the extra hour advantage for staying at the resort hotel. I was teetering back and forth in terms of paying for on-site, but it seems like it will be worth it now. Are the standby queue times quite lengthy for some of the older attractions like Big Thunder Mountain, especially if you get there during the half an hour early entry time or near the time when the rest of the guests can enter the park?
 

spicy

Giga Poster
Awesome information guys, thanks! @Nitefly you mentioned both you and your wife had to get up to do this on your phones- will I be able to do it for me and my son through one phone or will we run into problems with that? Or did you just have to use two phones because you wanted to book two attractions? Also my son is tall enough to get on basically everything besides Flight of Passage, Tron, and Rock n' Roller Coaster so the information was all still very useful.

@spicy do I get a magic band when I get to the hotel? How does that work? I'm usually quite good and independent at planning trips but feel a bit stressed since I will be the only adult on the trip and want to make sure it runs smoothly. For Guardians, is the virtual queue thing also just done on the Disney+ app? I'm doing two days at Magic Kingdom which will hopefully allow some of the stress to be eliminated as far as trying to get everything done.

Definitely glad that there is the extra hour advantage for staying at the resort hotel. I was teetering back and forth in terms of paying for on-site, but it seems like it will be worth it now. Are the standby queue times quite lengthy for some of the older attractions like Big Thunder Mountain, especially if you get there during the half an hour early entry time or near the time when the rest of the guests can enter the park?

You will need to create individual Disney accounts for your whole party and then link them together on the WDW app (You can do this now). You can then select their profiles and buy Genie + and book lightning lanes for your whole party on one phone each morning.

Magic Bands aren't mandatory you can just scan your phone each time or if you have an Apple watch you can put your pass onto your apple wallet and the apple watch then works as your magic band. However if you want a magic band they sell them in every shop and they will link it to your Disney account in the shop if you ask them.

The Virtual queue is still through the WDW app, it's just like booking a lightning lane apart from you get a boarding group. The Virtual Queue also doesn't use up your lightning lane spot so can book both in the morning together.

It all sounds pretty confusing but once you start using the app after the first morning you will get the hang of it.

Staying on site is definitely worth it and has it's added benefits. If you get to Big Thunder during the early entry time it should be pretty much walk on, it was when I did that. Might be a bit busier now that Splash has closed though.
 
You will need to create individual Disney accounts for your whole party and then link them together on the WDW app (You can do this now). You can then select their profiles and buy Genie + and book lightning lanes for your whole party on one phone each morning.

Magic Bands aren't mandatory you can just scan your phone each time or if you have an Apple watch you can put your pass onto your apple wallet and the apple watch then works as your magic band. However if you want a magic band they sell them in every shop and they will link it to your Disney account in the shop if you ask them.

The Virtual queue is still through the WDW app, it's just like booking a lightning lane apart from you get a boarding group. The Virtual Queue also doesn't use up your lightning lane spot so can book both in the morning together.

It all sounds pretty confusing but once you start using the app after the first morning you will get the hang of it.

Staying on site is definitely worth it and has it's added benefits. If you get to Big Thunder during the early entry time it should be pretty much walk on, it was when I did that. Might be a bit busier now that Splash has closed though.

Awesome information, good to know about linking the accounts now though. I'm hoping Big Thunder and Snow White won't be too busy when I get there, and I'm hopeful since Tron will be open by then. It's beginning to sound a little less confusing now so thank you guys!
 

Nitefly

Hyper Poster
@LiveForTheLaunch to do what we were up to you will need two phones logged on under the same ID, with each of you going for a different attractions (you can book one normal genie booking and one ‘paid’ - although the paid ones are only available from 7am for hotel guests that have logged their reservation to their online account as well…!)

At the time, those bookings were all gone in about 10 seconds (well, the Slinky Dog one was borderline impossible) so two phones would be essential. But, that is a level of strategy that’s a bit turbo - I wouldn’t bother if you’re trying to look after a young child at the same time (and it’s just you and them). You will probably find that the ‘paid for genie bookings’ won’t ‘sell out’ quite that fast.
 

Nitefly

Hyper Poster
Staying on site is definitely worth it and has it's added benefits.

In respect of this… I’m not so sure that’s true.

The current value of Disney hotels is generally very poor IMO - they are bizarrely expensive.

An alternative for staying at a Disney resort all trip is just staying at one (a cheap one) for a couple of days to get the early entry perks.
 

spicy

Giga Poster
^ I guess it is down to personal preference and budget. I stayed at the Boardwalk and loved being a 2 minute walk from Epcot and 5 min walk from Studios.

Epcot is my favourite park though and I knew I would be spending more time there than any other park so I chose that hotel to be close by. It wasn't cheap and I agree the Disney hotels are extortionate and I definitely paid for the privilege.

It was worth it being within walking distance of both those parks and the early Genie + entry, early park entry, Disney transportation etc.. Personally it makes the holiday much more enjoyable not having to travel about driving a hired car around everyday to the parks.

Another huge benefit is being able to book your park reservations and restaurant reservations 6 months in advance. Off site you get 3 months and by then most restaurants will have been booked up.

Staying on site allowed us to book a desert party that we wanted and a firework dinner night package we wanted too. These packages sell out in minutes soon as they are released so you have got little chance of getting these booked when staying off site.
 
@LiveForTheLaunch to do what we were up to you will need two phones logged on under the same ID, with each of you going for a different attractions (you can book one normal genie booking and one ‘paid’ - although the paid ones are only available from 7am for hotel guests that have logged their reservation to their online account as well…!)

At the time, those bookings were all gone in about 10 seconds (well, the Slinky Dog one was borderline impossible) so two phones would be essential. But, that is a level of strategy that’s a bit turbo - I wouldn’t bother if you’re trying to look after a young child at the same time (and it’s just you and them). You will probably find that the ‘paid for genie bookings’ won’t ‘sell out’ quite that fast.

Ah okay, maybe I'll bring a second device but I'm not gonna stress about it too much. As long as we can minimize our waits without overplanning the entire day then we should have a good time. Maybe we will just go to Slinky first thing during early entry because I know he is very excited to ride that.

Yeah the Disney hotels are pretty ridiculous to be honest, but they had a 25% off promotion so we just went with the Pop Century resort. For the extra few hundred dollars than it would have been for a decent off site hotel, I find it worth it even for just the shuttle and early entry.
 

Nicky Borrill

Strata Poster
It's all way easier than it seems when you start looking into it... All you really need to know is 2 key things...

1) what time you can start booking Genie+, LL and Virtual queues

This has changed a few times since the system launched I think, and can, or at least could, vary, depending if you're staying on site or off site. So whilst it was 7am for Genie+ bookings in September, we were staying off site, so couldn't book Individual Lightning Lanes until park opening... Also, don't trust them to have kept everything the same by the time you travel, seems they are still fine tuning the system so they like to change things, youtube is key here... All Ears or Mammoth Club are great channels. You need to know these times so that you can be up and ready to book as soon as booking opens.

2) You need to know which rides are Virtual Queue, which are individual Lightning Lanes, and which are Genie+, as well as which Genie+ rides have the highest demand.

So that you can get those rides booked first thing. The highest demand rides do run out, even at quieter times. Also, we went at a fairly quiet time, and Rise LL was selling out! In the case of Genie+ though, if it's not showing any times, keep trying throughout the day, they do often reappear as available several times a day for whatever reason. Again, all of this changes from time to time, so those youtube channels I reccomended are worth subscribing to, so that you can keep an eye on the latest info.

(As a side note, remember what I was saying about them changing the system constantly, they implemented a change just before our visit restricting people from booking slots in another park, that they plan to hop to in the afternoon, until the available slots were for 2pm or later. Made us rething park hopping plans. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, keep an eye on those Youtube channels, they really are doing god's work.)

Genie+ and Lightning Lane are absoloutely worth it, especially for a first visit, we used them every time we entered a Disney Park... And I wouldn't change a thing. I would go as far as to reccomend them for a first visit. However, If I were to return in the next few years, I wouldn't bother getting up early to get the top attractions, I'd just 'roll with it' and do the parks at a more relaxed, less regimented, pace, still with Genie+, but accepting whatever is available next or whatever is closest to our current location. Gaming the system totally does work, but it can be draining.
 
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Nitefly

Hyper Poster
Gaming the system totally does work, but it can be draining.

Yup - case in point, I gamed it all day for an evening at Hollywood studios where we had it lined up wonderfully to walk on everything. This is actually pretty easy to do…

… but only in a sense, as it requires patience and ‘all day refreshing your phone’ hoping to optimise the very best bookings (because you can always swap out slightly less advantageous bookings for the best possible). So my planned relaxing afternoon by the pool was ‘self-frustrated’ by the desire to maximise efficiency in the park later that day.

Really, that’s a ‘me’ problem. But if you’re prone to being a perfectionist to a fault, Genie+ does inadvertently encourage behaviour that’s quite detrimental to the idea of a ‘relaxing holiday’.

It was wonderful in the park when we got there, but at what cost…?

Edit: to make what I’m getting at clear, Genie+ bookings will never really ‘sell out’ (although many will later in the afternoon) because people inevitably cancel them etc throughout the day and more get released. So there is always an opportunity to get it. Mickey and Minnie’s has no more available? Refresh like a loon for 20 mins and you’ll probably get it.

…. it’s a good job I don’t gamble, as doing that sort of thing is subtly addictive. But it did also mean we rarely queued for anything when at WDW.
 
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(As a side note, remember what I was saying about them changing the system constantly, they implemented a change just before our visit restricting people from booking slots in another park, that they plan to hop to in the afternoon, until the available slots were for 2pm or later. Made us rething park hopping plans. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, keep an eye on those Youtube channels, they really are doing god's work.)
@Nicky Borrill okay I will check out those YouTube channels! I won't be Park Hopping, just one park per day because it's already going to be a lot of walking and stuff for my son so that won't be a concern.

… but only in a sense, as it requires patience and ‘all day refreshing your phone’ hoping to optimise the very best bookings (because you can always swap out slightly less advantageous bookings for the best possible). So my planned relaxing afternoon by the pool was ‘self-frustrated’ by the desire to maximise efficiency in the park later that day.
Yeah that's so tough because I want to maximize the time in the parks but also not be glued to my phone so I'm hoping to find a happy medium. If I have to miss a few things (hopefully not things I haven't ridden yet) then that's not a big deal because I'll likely be back in August. My son won't be back for a few years but he will be grateful for whatever we do, and let's face it, he won't remember much although he has been watching POVs of Slinky and is obsessed with Tower of Terror, Runaway Railway, Dinosaur, and PIrates of the Caribbean YouTube videos for some reason, even long before he knew we were going. So those will be essential, although I'm not entirely sure about Dinosaur since I've seen ten year olds wailing on that.
 
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