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’m a little confused about how to purchase Genie + – I didn’t do it initially, but want to add to a couple of my days (not the full trip). When I click the purple banner, that says purchase Genie + it links me to my reservations, but I don’t see where to purchase? In your NOTE – you mention something like this. Does this mean I can only add on the day I want to use Genie+ at this point? Sorry, I’m sure you cover it, but I am not sure I follow…
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So there really is no on-site advantage for us staying at the Dolphin now? Considering canceling that and booking an AirBNB since we planned on driving to the parks anyway. I’d have to pay for theme park parking but save on resort parking.
This will likely take a few weeks (or even months!), but I’m looking forward to figuring out how much time it takes for “tickets” to “sell out,” or at least push past 11am, which is when paper Fastpasses really became useful.
I think either demand is going to fall off these initial numbers, and a lot of people are going to be buying Genie+ when they don’t actually need it. (I experienced both of these over at Universal two weeks ago, when crowds were much lower Mon & Tues than Wed because HHN ran Wed through the holiday Mon. That definitely drove Universal Express usage up Wed, yet I still saw people purchasing the passes every day I was there.)
Hi Tom,
Going to AK and Epcot on same day and want to get Genie+ and Lightning Lane passes for Remy’s Ratatouille and Frozen Ever After. The tricky part is I want to go to AK in the morning and Epcot at night. Does this mean that I would have to wait until 2pm to buy the LL passes for Epcot? If that’s the case I fear they will sell out by then–especially for Remy’s. What if I change my park reservation to Epcot and buy the LL passes at park opening time for for afternoon time slots and then switch back the park reservation to AK. Will I lose the LL passes I bought? Will I be able to use the genie+ at AK in the morning?
Going to AK and Epcot on same day and want to get Genie+ and Lightning Lane passes for Remy’s Ratatouille and Frozen Ever After. The tricky part is I want to go to AK in the morning and Epcot at night. Does this mean that I would have to wait until 2pm to buy the LL passes for Epcot? If that’s the case I fear they will sell out by then–especially for Remy’s. What if I change my park reservation to Epcot and buy the LL passes at park opening time for for afternoon time slots and then switch back the park reservation to AK. Will I lose the LL passes I bought? Will I be able to use the genie+ at AK in the morning?
Just read an article that the pay to ride, Rise of the Resistance Lightning Lane sold out before 10am on opening day of this option. It was the highest priced individual ride of all the individually priced lightning lanes at $15, the entire cost of Genie+!! Everyone else wanting to ride had to wait in Stand-by line with wait times ranging from 75-120 minutes. I’m not sure how many lightning lane slots Disney offered, but I’m sure it was quite a few and they have stumbled on a cash cow because regardless of how many people whine and moan they will still pay the extra fees or someone else will. Disney will continue this trend of nickel and diming its guests until it starts affecting the bottom line. For the moment the profits are rising so things will not change at Disney regardless of how many negative articles, comments, etc. are made because for now there is always someone willing to pay!!
First off I’d like to say I disagree with this move but it’s totally understandable considering the supply and demand of Economics 101 for the best Disney experience. Lest we all forget Disney is a “For Profit” company and is acting accordingly. What amuses me are the people trying to deter others from buying the Genie+ after spouting off 2-4 other experiences they paid extra for. Simply put, is that the demand for Disney is high at the moment, especially since the US lifted the international travel ban after almost 2 years!! The demand is high so Disney is going to make money however they see fit. They will adjust accordingly as the tides change but at the moment they are seizing on an opportunity to make up for the losses over the past year+. As I said I don’t like it but it is understandable because people will pay for it, so much so that early returns are already showing that standby lines are now showing, at times, to be shorter than the genie+ return time. So do you need it?? Probably not, but it will soon become the new norm as Disney works it to their favor!!
You know, fast pass worked perfectly, there was no reason to change it. I agree the lightning pass could be cool for day passers only. But when your spending $6000 or more for your family to stay at a Disney resort on Disney property, the fast pass policy should have stayed. I had no idea Disney and its pocket hungry cronies would stoop so low as to make rides more a la cart. The fact that this policy passed the board is udderly frightful… You are only hurting the middle class Americans who love your park and by the way are most of your customers. We have no perks anymore for being a Disney guest and staying on your expensive properties. Don’t get me wrong I love the place but the magic seems to be getting farther and farther away from feeling like Disney cared for families to Disney only cares about taking more of our hard earned and saved money. There are some families that would never be able to afford a Disney Vacation and now its even more expensive unless you don’t mind standing an a line for an hour or two per ride. To charge customers extra like your a cheap carnival is a slap in the face to your most loyal customers.
My wife & I are going in Dec. When I buy DG+ for each of us are we both able to make LL and IAP reservations individually or are they limited to one selection per group?
Max,
See following post. Perhaps it can be confirmed by this blog.
https://wdwnt.com/2021/10/guide-how-to-stack-lightning-lane-selections-with-genie-in-my-disney-experience/
Tom-I added Genie plus to our upcoming park days. Are used to be a pro at the fast pass plus. I think after using the new genie plus I’ll get better. My question is, can you only ride one attraction per day with a lightning line? How long do you have to wait until you schedule your next G plus ride? As soon as you ride your first one? You can go to another one or do you have to wait two hours?Can you please explain a little better.?
Would someone who has the DAS be ineligible for the paid LL rides, or can they still get a DAS via standby? My mom loves doing Everest and MMRR (especially MMRR. Sometimes she doesn’t go on Everest when she has a lot of pain and it jostles her around too much.), but that’s my main concern.
On a side note: I’m still hoping for discounts for APs for the 50th. The fact that they’re not doing anything more other than the usual is really disappointing.
So, what’s the verdict on being able to select that second LL? Is it 120 minutes after you book the first or 120 minutes after you tap into first or the park opens (whichever is first)?
@Maggie Thanks for the info!
So it’s basically the same as Paper Fastpass and not FP+.
It’s going to be hard for NON rope droppers to get LL for some of the more popular attractions.
Slinky was all booked at 10:30, so it’s one thing to get up at 7:00 AM but if you don’t plan on being there are rope drop, you have to get up at 7 and monitor the return time until it reaches the hour you want.
FP+ was not perfect but selecting your return time was useful.