Park Hopping Strategy & Tips for Genie+ at Disney World
Park Hopping is a good way to use Genie+ to make the best Lightning Lane ride reservations. By doing two parks, you can extend your day at Walt Disney World, save more time, and also save money by not buying the paid FastPass service every day of your vacation. This post explains how to Park Hop with Genie+, selection strategies, and more. (Updated April 24, 2022.)
It’s important to understand that Genie+ is not equally valuable at all of the parks or even worth purchasing. Our recommendations have strongly cautioned against purchasing length of stay tickets with Genie+ already included, because it’s simply not necessary every day of your trip. No sense in wasting money where it’s not needed.
There are two parks where Genie+ is absolutely advantageous: Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Even at DHS, using Genie+ doesn’t work the same way (or as well) as at Magic Kingdom. Then there’s Epcot and Animal Kingdom, which only offer a few attractions each that’ll save significant time via Genie+ and making Lightning Lane ride reservations. That’s where Park Hopping comes into play…
Let’s start by discussing how to Park Hop in the Genie+ service, which is to say how to book Lightning Lane reservations in a different park than where you’re starting. Since the system defaults to wherever you’ve made your Park Pass reservation, you’ll need to switch away from that park.
Do this by navigating to the Tip Board via the + button at the middle bottom of My Disney Experience or the hamburger button on the bottom right. Towards the top of the screen, you’ll see the park name and the park. Just below that, click “Change Park.”
A pop-up will appear giving you the option to “Select a Park.” Choose whichever one you want to visit next, or wherever you want to make your next Lightning Lane selection. You’ll then see the “Tip Board” for whichever park you chose, and its current Genie+ Lightning Lane options. If you do this early in the day, the times displayed will likely be before 2 pm.
Despite this, you can start making Lightning Lane ride reservations via Genie+ before Park Hopping time, if you so desire. In fact, you probably should do this, as afternoon waits are worse than morning waits. This means you’re better off doing as many attractions via standby lines at your first park, and building up a stockpile of Lightning Lane selections at park two or three.
In previous posts, we’ve noted that Genie+ is mostly a “dumb” system. Despite the negative connotation, this is actually a good thing. It simply means that Genie+ won’t stop you from double-booking yourself.
If you want to make multiple ride reservations from 3 to 4 pm, for example, it’ll let you do that. You’ll see a warning that you have overlapping plans, but the system doesn’t prevent you from making them like FastPass+ did.
One (positive) exception to this is with Park Hopping. If you have a Disney Park Pass reservation in one park and try to book a Lightning Lane selection via Genie+ for a second park that’s before 2 pm, the system will automatically adjust the time to start at 2 pm. In the above screenshot, you can see with a “time changed due to park hopping” message.
Depending upon how and what you book ride reservations, this means you could potentially end up with multiple selections in that 2 to 3 pm window.
During most normal park days, things won’t work out that way. Rather, you’ll be booking Lightning Lanes for your first park so long as it’s advantageous, before moving on to the second park, prioritizing the most popular attractions in that park.
However, you might want to spend morning at the pool or outside the park, in which case booking a Disney Park Pass for a different park and then switching is a potentially savvy way to “force” the clock forward.
There are probably other potential use cases where you’d want to start booking the second park early–so much of this is circumstantial. The point is that you should be mindful of return times, overbooking yourself, and time slot availability.
Most of the time, you’re not going to run into this issue–you’re going to be using Genie+ to book Lightning Lane ride reservations once every 120 minutes. The return time clock will likely advance beyond 2 pm for your second-highest priority attraction after that 120 minutes has elapsed.
There are a couple of elements of the Genie+ system that make it especially attraction and conducive to Park Hopping. First, the no re-ride rule. This means you can’t use Lightning Lanes repeatedly to bypass lines on Na’vi River Journey, or your favorite attraction.
Second, the aforementioned weak Genie+ attraction lineups in Animal Kingdom and Epcot. At best, each of these two parks have 3-4 attractions worth using Lightning Lanes. The rest are holdovers from the FastPass+ days; they’re ‘consolation prizes’ to make sure there were enough attraction selections to go around for everyone booking the park to hold 3 FastPasses. On all but the busiest days of the year, there won’t be any lines to skip for these shows and lower-profile attractions.
Although not a feature of Genie+, there’s also the reality of operating hours, which makes starting the day at Animal Kingdom and ending at Epcot attractive. This allows you to extend your day by up to 3 hours, depending upon the season.
As a general matter, Park Hopping between Walt Disney World theme parks is available starting at 2:00 pm. We typically recommend those with it in their budget purchase Park Hopper tickets, and that’s doubly true now that Genie+ has debuted. (See other recommendations in Tips for Park Hopping at Walt Disney World.)
Then there’s Disney’s Hollywood Studios, which has 6-7 worthwhile Lightning Lane attractions that are worthwhile uses of Lightning Lane. (See our Genie+ Priorities & Ride Ranks for DHS.) The problem here is almost the opposite of what you’ll encounter at Epcot and Animal Kingdom. (Sort of.)
Instead of running out of good Lightning Lane options early in the day, these attractions run out of early in the day return times. After your first ride reservation, almost all of the return times at Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be in the late afternoon or evening. If you’re doing all day at DHS, this means you’ll have several hours to kill without any Lightning Lanes during that late morning to early afternoon window.
In addition to that, crowds at Disney’s Hollywood Studios are worse in the morning, usually peaking by 11 am. As such, it can be a better course of action to start at a different park and do attractions there via standby (or enjoy a morning at the pool, Disney Springs, or whatever). While doing that, book Lightning Lane reservations as eligible for Disney’s Hollywood Studios in the afternoon and evening.
(Speaking of which, see our Tips for “Stacking” Genie+ Ride Reservations. While Walt Disney World officially states you can only have one Lightning Lane ride reservation at a time, that’s not technically accurate. That post covers what is and is not possible in terms of stacking.)
By the time you arrive to Disney’s Hollywood Studios at 2 pm, you can have a stockpile of 4 Lightning Lane ride reservations (made at 7 am, 10 am, 12 pm, and 2 pm pursuant to the 120 minute rule, assuming a park opening time of 8 am). Realistically, you probably won’t be able to book anything good after 2 pm, but 4 solid attractions isn’t too shabby for a day with Genie+ at DHS.
If you’re able to score Slinky Dog Dash, Tower of Terror, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, and Toy Story Mania, this will save you well over 4 hours waiting in line. Mix in a couple of stage shows, and then do other attractions via the standby when wait times are lower during the last 2 hours the park is open.
Ultimately, combining Park Hopping with Genie+ is one of the best ways to use the paid FastPass replacement for Animal Kingdom and Epcot. It’s arguably a stronger strategy than doing all day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, but that’s largely because it’s so difficult to book more than 3-4 Lightning Lanes at DHS, and due to return times usually being later in the day there.
Disney’s whole goal with Genie+ is to increase per guest spending. Ironically, I could see the service enabling many families to cut a day from their Walt Disney World vacations thanks to it, or at least reallocate park time to pools. We’ve also been fairly strong advocates of Park Hopping, and Genie+ further reinforces that. Like the paid FastPass feature, there’s an up-front cost to buying Park Hopper tickets, but the option opens up more strategic and time-saving possibilities, while also stretching your vacation dollars further. Spending more money saves more time, which in turn can save you more money.
Additionally, see our Guide to Genie+ at Walt Disney World & Lightning Lane FAQ for foundational need-to-know info about this paid FastPass+ replacement. The Genie system is confusing and convoluted, so you might have a question or 17. That answers all of the most common ones we’ve been receiving from readers.
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
Did this help you understand how to Park Hop with the Genie+ system? Thoughts on strategy for making Lightning Lane ride reservations and the ability to stack selections for later in the day at a second or third park? Do you agree or disagree with my assessment? 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!
Hi , what if you have a dining reservation that is the same time as a genie + ride ?
Time is money so if you save time you save money. Now imagine if you don’t go at all how much time you’ve saved and how rich that would make you.
Just saying…
TO Mike: My IQ is not that high but I think you’ve come the closest to explaining String theory (the theory of everything in the WDW universe) but there is still no empirical evidence for it.
Hi, Tom. I have a Genie+ related question:
How can a Florida Platinum Pass Annual Pass holder gain entry to the parks using Genie+.
I have a Platinum Pass, and there was only one day available for any park in October. Now, I see a total of 2 days available for my pass in November.
Meanwhile, regular theme park tickets are not blocked for any day or any park.
Any help you could offer would be much appreciated!
Let the hacking commence! (Once thing I could confirm about legacy paper FastPass is that there were disconnected machines to the very end.) Another difference between Genie+ and FastPass+ that seems more like a reversion to paper FastPass.
Does cancelling a G+ ride trigger a last action?
I guess you could call it that, but if you cancel a reservation you can simply rebook another. It’s a 1:1 trade, basically.
Can you use genie+ for an afternoon or evening if you are NOT also planning to visit a park in the AM? Like if you want to sleep in or just take a break from parks one morning/afternoon (or maybe on your arrival day). Can you reserve/stack lighting lanes at a park for later in the day without having a reservation/tapping in to a first park? Apologies if this was covered and I missed it.
I am also Curious about this. I’d love to stack my later afternoon/evening one day, but can’t imagine how I’d pull it off. (The park I want to do this at is MK). I’ve watched the return times and at 9/10 in the morning, most of the return times were still pretty early 12/1 at the latest. Even for the hard to get rides. I guess I’m curious if anyone has successfully done this.
Just make sure you are all linked as family / friends in he app
What’s the chances Disney will stop allowing this stacking?
Reading all your blogs about Genie+ and tips on stacking & hacking is making my head spin.
I get through most of the understanding and give up because i don’t have a current trip coming up – which I am GLAD
What I was told back in August is that Genie+ will continue to be tweaked as Disney learns more about demand, guest behavior, use of the system, etc. It’s very much still a fluid system for the first year or so.
That’s why I think Disney hasn’t put a lot of the specifics into writing. You’ll notice that Disney’s guides/explanations of Lightning Lanes and Genie+ are woefully incomplete, and it’s probably because they don’t want guests coming back and complaining about the specifics changing after they book trips.
I’ve been struggling to think through what you’ve said about Genie+ and how to best summarize it. The “Last Action” idea gets it halfway there, but there are wrinkles to what each action means if used correctly.
I’m thinking of the 120 min rule as “strings”, and tap-in-and-rebook as actions within a string. The morning can be spent accumulating strings that then play out in the afternoon – the more strings you gather, the more simultaneous rebooking you can have in the afternoon. The earlier you start the 120 min clock, the more strings you can get – so AK makes the most sense at 8 AM.
As an example – start at AK and book your first string at 8 AM, making sure your first LL cashes in during a window that is exactly at 10 AM (or potentially at 12 PM – most importantly, you don’t want to screw up your 120 min rule by restarting the clock by tapping in mid-120 min cycle). At 10 AM, you use the 120 min rule to start string #2, something after 12 PM. You can immediately cash in your 10 am LL to restart the 120 min clock, and tap-and-rebook for any time after 12 PM – this will effectively be “String 1, ride 2” or S1R2.
You’ll now have S1R2 and S2R1. At exactly 12 PM, your 120 min rule will allow you to book S3R1. You now have three simultaneous strings that you can start cashing in at will. Each time you tap, you rebook. Provided you’re likely tapping more frequently than every 120 minutes, you will continue to advance those 3 simultaneous strings, rebooking the next ride in the string as soon as you tap in. If you can work out another 120 min window, you can effectively start another string.
This is why park hopping makes sense – booking high demand rides at another park after 2 pm actually benefits you by not clogging up your early day 120 min windows. You can keep one string going for your starter park, scheduling on exactly 2 hour intervals, while booking every other string for your hopper park. Start with rope drops, then you get 2 starter park LLs (10 AM, 12 PM) and 4 strings activated (8 AM, 10 AM, 12 PM, 2 PM) by the time 2 pm rolls around and you reach your hopper park. Then you start cashing and rebooking your 4 strings like there’s no tomorrow.
I’ve clearly not put this in practice, so put me in my place if my theory is wrong!
You’re correct! 🙂
I like the string analogy–I almost used “branches” in the post since it’s a similar idea. I think what makes this click is going to be different for different people–that’s why I offered several examples and used comparisons to compound interest, Gremlins, Waldo from MuppetVision, etc. in addition to the “last action” term.
Tom, I just wanted to say how useful these posts are. We’re Disney frequent flyers who had made good use of the ability to select return times in FastPass+, since we *hate* getting up in the morning (no rope drop for us, ever). Through your excellent explanations, I can see how to hack this system from the comfort of my resort room, meaning we won’t miss any of our favorites and probably will get more done once we finally stroll into the parks (usually as the early families are leaving). We’ll get to test this on our next trip the week before Thanksgiving. Thank you!
Thanks for the kind words!
I’m worried about overwhelming people with this flurry of posts, but I think having good foundational info will help planners come out ahead–and minimize unnecessary spending with G+ and LLs!
I was trying to re-find, which I thought I read somewhere, that you can buy your party members Genie+ in one app and do the lightning lane for everyone – is that correct? Just wanting to ensure we can make it so both of us can get the same ride schedules with just one person doing the work. And thanks for your posts – it makes me reconsider buying this for a day or 2 during our holiday vacation, where we are going during the busiest time ever.
I am curious about your 3 stack of Epcot rides you displayed between 2 to 3:15. Were you then able to grab additional LL selections after each tap in? And would it be most advantageous to tap immediately after a 120 minute window elapsed?
Strong work on this, as usual.
Yes and yes.
The end of this post really hits home for my family. Rising prices mean our trips are down to 2-3 days at Disney. Genie+ is perfect for fewer park days, while staying off property. It also happens to coincide with our growing kids’ schedules, as I am more reluctant to take them out of school for days at a time.
The wildcard for us (and, it sounds, for others) is how this will work on busy days – like long weekends/holidays. I hope for some Thanksgiving testing, though you’ve more than earned some time off 🙂
I really wonder how Genie+ and other initiatives will impact average length of stay–and location of stay. Some of the latest changes have felt like bending over to pick up pennies as dollars fly over their heads.
Long-term, I think the biggest beneficiary of all this is Universal Orlando. I know it’s not for everyone, but if I were splitting time between the two and on a tighter budget (or simply wanted better bang for my buck), I’d absolutely stay at Universal.
I plan on re-testing strategy once the holiday season kicks into high gear. Definitely not on Thanksgiving, though. Gotta watch the Lions lose and eat a ridiculous amount of food!
Does the 120 minute clock start at early opening for onsite guests or standard opening?
Standard opening.
The more you write about it, the more I am excited about trying Genie+. I think the stacking option and the park hopping compatibility is going to make this system an overall improvement over Fast Pass+ that people will be more satisfied with (once we’re used to it.)
“Once we’re used to it” is the key.
People are really struggling right now having had zero firsthand experience. That’s totally understandable given that it’s entirely an abstraction, and a complicated one at that. I’m doing the best with these explanations, but they can only help so much!
Awesome!
I pulled a day with DHS morning, DAK afternoon, Epcot evening utilizing G+ to hit most major attractions, despite having no specific agenda and not entering DHS until close to 10 am. Curious to hear your experience doing something similar – I wouldn’t be surprised if you could basically experience every attraction at these 3 parks in one day, including doing ROTR and FOP standby. I was skeptical of G+ but it was easily the best $15 I’ve spent in a while.
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The more I read about it the more Genie+ reminds me of the Disney Dining Plan. There are situations where it is worth it, but in most cases the amount of effort/planning/gaming the system needed to hit that point seems high for my tastes. I’ll just stick to a solid touring plan and deal with some lines (honestly the expectation some people seem to have of being able to go to the busiest theme parks on earth and not encounter crowds has always baffled me).
Could you put together a 1-day Animal Kingdom/Epcot itinerary using Genie+? We’re actually going the end of November. We have 3-day Park Hopper tickets, and I was looking at doing a HS/AK day, but may do a AK/Epcot day based on your recommendation (with HS and MK the other two days). Thanks for the awesome blog!
Over the weekend (possibly slipping into early next week), we’ll have a series of posts: DAK morning, Epcot afternoon/evening, and DHS evening. Not itineraries per se, but reports on our experience that should easily translate to itineraries. Hopefully those will help!