How to Buy Genie+ & Make Ride Reservations
Genie+ is a paid line-skipping service that replaces free FastPass+ for select attractions in each park at Walt Disney World. The service is now available to purchase for $15.98 per person, per day in the My Disney Experience app. This will dramatically change visiting Walt Disney World whether you buy it or not, and we’re here to walk you through the process for purchasing Genie+ and making your first ride reservation.
There are still a lot of questions about the whole Disney Genie system, and we’ve been doing our best to answer those in the Guide to Genie+ at Walt Disney World & Lightning Lane FAQ. However, launch day for Disney Genie marks the first opportunity we’ve had to actually get our hands on the app feature, so a lot of that is going to change soon.
Additionally, we have updated itineraries to get you ready to use the paid Genie+ service:
- 1-Day Magic Kingdom Plan w/ Genie+
- 1-Day Hollywood Studios Plan w/ Genie+
- 1-Day Epcot Plan w/ Genie+
- 1-Day Animal Kingdom Plan w/ Genie+
To start using the Disney Genie suite of offerings, you’ll need to update the My Disney Experience app to version 7 by visiting the Apple iOS App Store or Google Play Store. You can either click those links or open the respective app stores and search for My Disney Experience.
We’d also recommend setting up the free side of the service before doing this–we walk through the process in How to Set Up Free Genie Itineraries in My Disney Experience. Now, let’s pick up where that left off…
If you didn’t purchase Disney Genie+ as part of the itinerary builder flow, there are still a few options and prompts.
The most visible of which should be the purple banner (above at the bottom “My Day”) offering you the ability to “Take Your Day to the Next Level.”
After clicking that, you’ll see the above screen advertising the benefits of the Disney Genie+ service.
Click “Get Disney Genie+ Service” to begin the purchase process.
NOTE: This only applies to same day purchases, which require valid admission and Disney Park Pass reservations. If you don’t have both, you’re going to get a message to call or contact your travel agent. There’s really not much upside to doing that–just wait until your trip to add it on daily as desired (our recommendation) or buy length of stay tickets with Genie+ for each day (NOT our recommendation).
The transaction screen shows the final price ($15.98, not $15 flat!) after tax.
It’ll also show your contact info (phone & email) and offer payment options of gift card, Visa rewards redemption card, or debit/credit card. That’s a lot to personal info for me to block out and is pretty straightforward–all autofilled if you’ve used Mobile Order or anything have a credit card on file with Walt Disney World–so I’m going to assume you know the drill there. You’ve probably purchased something online before.
After confirming the order, you’ll receive a very long confirmation code that hopefully never needs to be re-typed anywhere.
From there, click continue and you’re deposited back out onto the “My Day” screen of My Disney Experience.
Now, let’s turn to your first Disney Genie+ ride reservation of the day.
As we’ve covered elsewhere, you can begin making these selections at 7 am, regardless of whether you’re an on-site or off-site guest. (I don’t know why it says “Buy at Park Open or if a Resort Guest at 7 am” given that we already purchased and are not resort guests.)
As of 6:59 am, all options were greyed out.
When the clock rolled over to 7 am, selections were still grey, so we scrolled to the top and pulled down hard for a refresh. Perhaps there’s a better way to do this, but it’s still day one. (Will update accordingly once we figure it out.)
Our top priority is Jungle Cruise, so we scrolled down and chose that–9 am return time as of 7 am.
By the time we took screenshots and got to the next screen, Jungle Cruise’s return time had already progressed to 9:05 am to 10:05 am. This is going to work just like legacy (paper) FastPass, with times progressing in tandem with guest selections. The higher the demand, the earlier they’re gone.
No reason for delay or reviewing our plans here–we quickly hit “Continue.”
Above is the confirmation screen. This whole process should look fairly familiar to anyone who has used MaxPass at Disneyland or even the virtual queues at Walt Disney World.
It even features a cute animation with kids wearing Minnie, Mickey, and Donald Duck hats passing Lightning Lane tapstiles.
Back on the “My Day” screen, Sarah now has Jungle Cruise showing as her first Genie+ Lightning Lane redemption.
It also shows the Magic Carpets of Aladdin as her next recommendation, which is arguably not the best advice ever. Giving the system the benefit of the doubt, perhaps this is due to proximity?
On another note, Sarah’s next Genie+ Lightning Lane selection is available at 9:00 am per the banner above. This is interesting since her Jungle Cruise window doesn’t open until 9:05 am.
We were previously advised that the clock would start ticking on the 120 minute rule at park opening, which would mean that this is not because of that (her selection was made at 7 am, so that would be 120 minutes later). Maybe it’s a 5 minute grace period from the Jungle Cruise window opening? Maybe it’s an error? I guess we’ll find out later today!
Speaking of which, there’s probably a lot we’re going to learn by using the paid Genie+ and free Genie services throughout today and this week. Don’t be surprised if things change, or how these features work in practice slightly contradicts prior information.
As noted in our other ‘how to’ post, we’re reserving judgment all of this. It’s still day one and we’ve yet to use it in Magic Kingdom yet. Speaking of which, we’ll be in the park today testing competing strategy (“competing” is probably the wrong word since Sarah will have Genie+) and will have a full report back on our results either late tonight or, more likely, tomorrow morning. If you happen to see us today or throughout the rest of the week—lots of field testing, research, etc. planned—please say hello!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of the paid Genie+ service? Planning on using it to skip standby lines, or do you prefer not to pay even more for an already expensive Walt Disney World vacation? Do you agree or disagree with our advice? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
I have spent so much already. Between Disney merriest tickets, Candlelight Procession dinner. And admissions tickets. I’m not purchasing Genie+ Admission to have shorter line time although I feel I may have to wait forever.
I like how they forgot to mention that it was $15 PLUS TAX to purchase this thing. I mean, I doubt that changes anyone’s mind but it’s another example of the nickel and diming that’s become commonplace recently.
Can you book Genie+ for all of the people in your paty? There is a message for me under How to Purchase: “You can add Disney Genie+ service for Guests who have the same admission type as you. Otherwise, remaining party members will need to add it via their personal Disney account.” We have two people in our party who are Annual Passholders, two other adults that have tickets, and two children with tickets. Am I not able to buy for everyone?
Our reservation has my partner’s name as the primary person. When I tried to link our reservation in Genie to my account, it wouldn’t let me because it says it is already linked to him. I can still see our plans in the app, and Genie pulled up the first day and correct park for our trip in February, but every time I go in to Genie specifically, t’s like I am brand new and it won’t allow me to link to our reservation #. It’s the first day, so not worried – just an unexpected experience.
Looking forward to your field use reports. The whole thing sounds like a total PIA. Forced to make park reservations, up before 7 am every park day, being a slave to the phone, paying more than ever, etc. etc. I really hope your experience is different than what I anticipate.
@Max
From what I have seen that is *possible* but would be really hard to pull off. When selecting LL return times with Genie+ it seems to only offer the next available…so you would have to wait for something to book up until your desired start time. Also you’d have to make sure your return times don’t overlap. And *also* I am seeing reports that if you book at 7am for a later time, you actually cannot make your next selection until 120mins after the park has opened. That last one might be a glitch that gets resolved but it is hampering plans in the meantime.
Newbie here. Upcoming family trip in December (4 days). If I have advanced dining reservations on some of my days in “My Plans” will the Genie (free version) or Genie + version see and plan around those times on the app? Or will its recommendations conflict with ADRs? Trying to decide if it’s worth doing the G/G+ route or just do the previous 1-day plans from this site and possibly purchase the a la carte ride Lightning Lane option. Thanks!
@Rebecca S Yes! All my park reservations remained the same, and I can see them preloaded in my future days.
@DisneyGenie or others who upgraded their existing tickets: If I add Genie+ to my existing park tickets, will I still keep the park reservations that are associated with the tickets?
Great morning posts. Looking forward to your real world application reports over the next week or two.
Waaaay too soon to decide the effectiveness or helpfulness of these options to everyone in the park on any given day.
I just hope this is a positive for all because even non-users will be affected.
Sorry if you’ve answered this before but if you plan a half day evening, could you potentially have up to 4 or 5 Genie+ reservations at the same time ?
7AM reservation for a 3 PM ride
9AM reservation for a 4 PM ride
11AM reservation for a 5 PM ride
1 PM reservation for a 6 PM ride
@Nathan — ROTR sold out as of about 10am. None of the other Individual purchase attractions are even close to selling out.
Hi Tom,
Thanks for the information.
I was wondering what the status of the a la carte options were. Did any sell out early? I see that RotR is sold out currently. I will be in the park starting the 21st but not staying on a Disney on site hotel. I think this means that I could only purchase a la carte tickets once the park opens where people on site can purchase at 7am. Will I get an opportunity to purchase an a la carte for RotR?
Anyone see anywhere that the technical requirements are posted for the latest update necessary for Genie on My Disney Experience? I have an iPhone6 and it won’t cut it as Apple doesnot support it getting ios13 which is needed for the latest version of MDE. What are the options, besides skipping a house payment to buy a new smartphone?
I have an existing vacation package kicking off on Thursday. I am adding Genie+ for the whole trip just to try it out! I was able to go into my package online and modify the ticket type from Park Hopper to Park Hopper with Genie+. I had to pay the balance of the modified package, which was the $15 plus tax per day for the length of the entire stay. I found this very straightforward to do myself online if anyone is looking to add Genie+ to their existing vacation package. I’m curious to see how this will go!
I really hope they update this to allow you to add on Genie + before the day of your visit. Getting up and being ready to make your first selection at 7 am is early enough. I don’t want to factor in another 10 minutes to get it all set up by 7.
Almost 10am, looking at G+ return times on it’s first day… I would have to call the first day a major success. Tons of remaining availability almost everywhere. Only DHS is showing some constraint — Every ride still available, but some being pushed into the evening.
Im planning a trip for my large family for next week. The DisneyExperience App is telling me that in order to purchase Genie+ I have to call the number (FOREVER HOLD TIMES!) or call my travel agent (who knows less than I do about Genie+ and will just have to call the number.)
there are no in-app links that take me anywhere to be able to add Genie+ on my own. UGH!!!
Im really feeling stressed about getting shut out of our upcoming vacation!!!
This only applies to same day purchases, which require valid admission and Disney Park Pass reservations. If you don’t have both, you’re going to get a message to call or contact your travel agent. There’s really not much upside to doing that–just wait until your trip to add it on daily as desired (our recommendation) or buy length of stay tickets with Genie+ for each day (NOT our recommendation).
(Also added this to post!)
Thanks for the information and great site.
If I have already purchased our tickets for a January trip, how can I buy Genie+ for our trip??
I would like to purchase it prior to our trip.
Jury’s still out for me on how much we’ll use it…thinking it’s going to be a necessity in Hollywood Studios for sure at the very least! Hoping we can get by without it at least some of our park days in early November!