Tips for “Stacking” Genie+ Ride Reservations
One of the most common questions we’ve received about Walt Disney World’s new Genie+ service is how it’s possible to “stack” multiple Lightning Lane ride reservations. This post explains how you can stockpile selections to great success, with afternoons and evenings of line skipping at Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, or Epcot. (Updated February 2, 2022.)
Part of the confusion with using Genie+ to stack Lightning Lane reservations undoubtedly stems from Walt Disney World’s official verbiage that with Genie+ you can only “make one selection at a time, throughout the day” and that additional selections could be made once redeemed. As we’ve stressed from the beginning, that info was/is incomplete and misleading; the 120 minute rule also applies. (That post is a must-read if you’re unfamiliar with the 120 minute rule–this post assumes you already understand it.)
Additionally, see our “Speed Strategy” for Making Genie+ Lightning Lane Selections. Again, this is advanced knowledge that isn’t strictly necessary most days. However, if you’re visiting during peak season or any regular day and want a chance at doing Slinky Dog Dash–or the earliest possible time for any attraction, this approach is highly recommended. It might seem like overkill, but sadly, it is not.
Finally, 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.
The goal with that is to address the basics–the goal here is to take things to the next level with more advanced hacks and strategy…
In a nutshell, “stacking” Genie+ reservations is possible because of the 120 minute rule. If you prioritize grabbing Lightning Lane reservations for popular rides early in the day–my preferred approach and objectively better strategy for most people–you’re likely going to be holding multiple Lightning Lane reservations simultaneously so long as you continue making them whenever eligible. This is because your return times will be kicked out further into the future, and you’ll be able to make new selections prior to redeeming old ones.
This might be new territory for some Walt Disney World fans, but anyone who has experience with the legacy FastPass systems should be well-versed in stacking ride reservations. In fact, it was incredibly common and downright easy to be an “evening FastPass hoarder.” Same goes here. Really all you need to do is always make the most popular/higher priority Genie+ selections, and do so aggressively throughout the day. The basic premise is pretty simple–but it gets more complicated.
One of the big things with FastPass+ was that it didn’t allow conflicting ride reservations; like other recent Walt Disney World systems, it was “smart” and prevented guests from double-booking themselves.
Depending upon your perspective, Genie+ is a step backwards to a “dumb” system like paper FastPasses. It doesn’t care if you overlap ride reservations, and will let you know about a conflict but not prevent you from making conflicting plans. The one exception to this, thankfully, is when it comes to Park Hopping hours–Genie+ will automatically move selections to 2 pm if you start making them for a subsequent park and the return time clock otherwise hasn’t advanced.
This means the onus is on you to be mindful about not using Genie+ to make conflicting Lightning Lane selections. If you’re concerned about a time being too close to an existing Lightning Lane reservation, either choose a different attraction or wait 5-10 minutes for the return time clock to move forward and give you more of a buffer between them.
Despite the connotations, the “dumb” system is far better for savvy guests than the “smart” one. If I make Genie+ ride reservations for both Soarin’ Around the World and Spaceship Earth from 2 to 3 pm, plus Test Track at 2:15 to 3:15 pm, that is all very doable–even if I walk slowly between them. It’s far superior to spacing those out from 2 pm until 5 pm, as would’ve been required under FastPass+ rules. Overlapping plans benefits the diligent and makes it easier to book the next slew of ride reservations.
The following section exists for posterity’s sake. For anyone visiting Walt Disney World in 2022, what follows DOES NOT WORK ANYMORE!
Advanced Stacking Strategy (Obsolete)
The normal 120 minute rule still works. It’s an intentional feature of Genie+ that is there by design and was inherited from MaxPass and legacy FastPass. In other words, stacking can still be done in the intuitive, one-at-a-time sense. However, it’s no longer possible to leverage the advanced stacking strategy described in this section such a way that you can turn a single selection into multiple branches, and grow those exponentially.
Again, the *120 minute rule still works* and regular stacking is possible, just not the advanced hacks discussed in the following section. This makes complete sense and we can’t fault Disney for closing what was possibly an unintentional loophole. Definitely a bummer for those who like to hack, but that’s how it goes.
We are leaving this now-obsolete section here because it exploded in popularity among Walt Disney World vacation planners, and even though the loophole was closed back around Thanksgiving and it’s now February 2022, we’re still getting questions about it. Rather than pretending it wasn’t a thing, we want to address it here to point out it doesn’t work anymore. There’s really no point in reading any further in this post. Stop now unless you’re curious about this now-defunct loophole.
Prior to this loophole closing, eligibility for a new Genie+ reservation was triggered by your “last action,” for lack of a better term. This can either mean the 120 minute rule taking effect or tapping into a Lightning Lane…or both!
Stated differently, letting 120 minutes elapse is a “last action” that triggers eligibility for a new Lightning Lane reservation. Once those two hours have passed, you’re eligible. Tapping into a Lightning Lane is also a “last action” that triggers eligibility in Genie+ for a new Lightning Lane reservation.
If you make another Genie+ selection after 120 minutes but before tapping into the previous selection, you can also make another once you’ve tapped into the Lightning Lane. There are two “last actions” in that scenario, and the former does not obviate the latter.
This means you are able to score two Lightning Lane selections from a ride reservation that’s more than two hours into the future. Not only are you not penalized for choosing more popular attractions–you’re arguably receiving a windfall.
Where this gets more complicated is with Genie+ reservations that straddle the 120 minute rule, so to speak. Ones where you could tap in either before or after 120 minutes has elapsed. In the vast majority of cases, you will want to WAIT for those 120 minutes to pass before tapping into the Lightning Lane.
This is because the “last action” of tapping into the Lightning Lane eliminates the potential “last action” of 120 minutes elapsing, but not vice-versa. If you tap in at the 90 minute mark, for example, you never hit 120 minutes. As such, that “last action” never came to fruition. Conversely, you’re tapping in regardless–the 120 minute rule does not and cannot eliminate that.
Here’s a mnemonic device that might help, using an iconic Arnold Schwarzenegger film that’s beloved by all as inspiration: “Last Action Hero (1993) is longer than 120 minutes.” To be the last action hero of your Walt Disney World vacation, wait over 120 minutes before booking another Lightning Lane selection via Genie+ when possible.
Even if mnemonic devices aren’t your thing, at least we plugged one of the all-time cinematic classics. I think we all can agree that’s a huge victory.
Still confused? Here’s hoping a few examples clear things up…rather than make them worse!
During My Day Using Genie+ at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, my first Lightning Lane ride reservation was Slinky Dog Dash. As explained in that post, we strongly recommend booking this first—right at 7 am.
The screenshot above shows my Lightning Lane arrival window of 10:45 am to 11:45 am for Slinky Dog Dash. I tapped into this at 10:40 am, which I thought was a slick move because it gave me a 20 minute jumpstart over waiting until 11 am, when I could’ve made another Lightning Lane ride reservation pursuant to the 120 minute rule.
I was wrong. It was not-so-slick. Saving 20 minutes cost me an extra Lightning Lane reservation. Because the 120 minute rule was never reached, I was only able to make one Lightning Lane selection.
Had I waited until 11:00 am, I could’ve booked a new Lightning Lane pursuant to the 120 minute rule.
Then, I could’ve tapped into the Slinky Dog Dash Lightning Lane at 11:01 am. I could’ve immediately booked another Lightning Lane reservation via Genie+ because that was another “last action.” Get it? Two “last actions” for the price of one! (Huge props to Tristan who alerted me to this in the reader comments of a prior post!)
Here’s a more common example, and one you’ll invariably encounter at DHS. I tapped into my Tower of Terror ride reservation at 12:10 pm. After tapping in, I made my next Lightning Lane ride reservation—Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run for 5:40 to 6:40 pm.
The math whizzes out there will tell you that 5:40 pm is multiple 120 minute rules after 12:10 pm, making it impossible to *not* trigger both last actions. Be sure you make new Lightning Lane reservations at both points–first at the 120 minute mark and then again upon tapping into the Lightning Lane. This is how you’ll almost certainly end up with a stockpile of ride reservations in Genie+ later in the evening.
Here’s another example. I booked a Na’vi River Journey Lightning Lane reservation for 8:55 to 9:55 am. Even though the end of this reservation is only 115 minutes after park opening, its official end time triggers eligibility for another Lightning Lane reservation (and remember, you can tap in up to 15 minutes after the end of a Genie+ ride reservation).
Accordingly, I waited for the window to close, then used Genie+ to book a Lightning Lane for Kilimanjaro Safaris. Immediately after that, I tapped into the first Navi River Journey Lightning Lane checkpoint and immediately booked a Lightning Lane for Dinosaur. Doubling my Lightning Lane numbers so early in the day set me up for a huge day, and that wouldn’t have been possible with any other attraction at Animal Kingdom due to more immediate return times. (If this helps, think of it like compound interest–starting earlier pays bigger dividends in the future, but in the currency of Lightning Lane reservations rather than dollars.)
Another piece of advice: try to book a new Lightning Lane reservation after performing any “last action” in the park–or whenever you’re unsure about whether you can make a new Genie+ selection.
At worst, you’ll get the ‘not eligible’ error message above (which is oddly the only way of seeing the time when you can make another selection). At best, you’ll have surprise success.
We recommend this because it’s incredibly difficult to keep track of Genie+ bookings, especially later in the day when they’ve multiplied like Gremlins.
Genie’s “My Day” feature in My Disney Experience is nice for those doing a single park, but its organization is abysmal once you start Park Hopping. Random recommendations, park hours, directions, and other unsolicited advice are scattered among Lightning Lane reservations–which are often displayed out of order and not grouped by park. In other words, you should just try to book new reservations whenever it seems like maybe you’ll be able to do so.
Due to the top-heavy nature of the Disney’s Hollywood Studios attraction lineup, you almost certainly will be using the 120 minute rule a lot there. This means ride reservations made in the morning won’t be redeemable until afternoon, and by the time evening rolls around, you’ll have spawned a half-dozen or so Lightning Lane selections.
If you’re good at this and diligent about booking, Park Hopping will be a must. The no re-ride rule means you’ll run out of worthwhile attractions in your first–and maybe second–park and will need to move on. Aside from the no re-ride rule, the biggest limiting factor on how much you can accomplish is operating hours.
Ultimately, this is how I’ve ended up with huge stacks of Lightning Lane ride reservations for the late afternoon and early evening when using Genie+ at Walt Disney World. Simply prioritizing popular attractions and using the “last action hero” trick produces results similar to Dr. Honeydew and Beaker’s experiments with the Inflate-o-Matic! Unlike Waldo, you’ll actually want a ton of Lightning Lane reservations.
Like so much with Genie+, the learning curve isn’t nearly as steep with stacking in practice as it is in writing. Once I wrapped my head around how the “last action” rules worked to trigger more Lightning Lane selections, I quickly mastered it. (Just wait until you read the recap of my 3-park day yesterday–it’s absolutely bonkers.) With that said, it’s possible that this is a bug rather than a feature, and Walt Disney World will quickly close this “loophole” if Genie+ power users leverage the system to their benefit by too great of a degree. There were similar strategies with FastPass+, and those loopholes were never closed, so I guess we shall see!
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 “stacking” Lightning Lane ride reservations in the Genie+ system? Understand the “last actions” of the 120 minute rule and tapping into Lightning Lanes? Planning on being the “last action hero of your family’s Walt Disney World vacation? Thoughts on strategy for making Lightning Lane ride reservations in light of this rule and the ability to stack selections for later in the day? 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!
Ok. So, as of 2023, let’s say I have 2 attractions stacked after 6 pm made at 7 and 11am. THEN I make a reservation at 1pm for 1:30 for an “easy” ride. Can I make a new one after I tap in at 1:30 and effectively “roll” low capacity rides as your wife does until 6, or will I have to wait until 3 because I have the two stacked at the end of the day?
Thanks!
With the old Fastpass+ system, we found that once we were in the park and going through rides, we could have all members of our group make a reservation for a ride when we were eligible, but often they’d be for different times, and the cast members would let us all ride at the earliest reservation time. Any idea if that still happens? We were really able to maximize our time there with that.
I want to park hop. If I book a time at my 2nd park, will it ONLY default to 2 pm? am I right to think that I cannot book additional times at my 2nd park until I get there?
Thank you! Your posts are dizzying and so fun to read
Hi Tom, thanks a lot for this article, really helpful! I had to re-read this particular paragraph a few times to understand it, so maybe you could further detail it:
“Here’s another example. I booked a Na’vi River Journey Lightning Lane reservation for 8:55 to 9:55 am. Even though the end of this reservation is only 115 minutes after park opening, its official end time triggers eligibility for another Lightning Lane reservation (and remember, you can tap in up to 15 minutes after the end of a Genie+ ride reservation).”
– Park opens at 8am
– LL reservation for 8:55am to 9:55am
– At 9:55am the system will trigger eligibility for a new reservation (as it assumes you haven’t used your reservation and that this reservation slot has expired)
– You benefit from a rule that you can tap in up to 15 minutes after the end of a Genie+ ride reservation, thus being able to make a second LL reservation
In practical terms your reservation was from 8:55am to 10:10am. At 10:00am you´ve used the 120-minute rule to make a new reservation and at 10:02am you’ve tapped into Na’vi River Journey and could make a second reservation.
This absolutely does not work anymore. Please update it.
What doesn’t work about this anymore? (Aside from the section that’s clearly marked ‘obsolete.’)
We’re planning to do as you suggested above and do AK in the morning and park hop to DHS in the afternoon. Would it be best to grab a flight of passage LL as our first of the day then try for DHS LLs or go for all DHS from the start?
I bought Genie+ on 2/4 before 7am on the day of, booked my first LL res for first available time at first desired ride in MK, which was for early afternoon already right at 7am, but then couldn’t make another LL res until 11am. I thought it was a glitch for the day but then it happened the next day as well at HS. The system was recognizing the two hour time period from the start of park opening not two hours from my first availability of booking at 7am having a room onsite. If I had booked a ride in the morning and then tapped into it I could have gotten another one earlier but I went with the recommended order to be able to do the rides we all wanted to go on for MK in one day. (It worked very successfully overall.) I just wasn’t able to use LL in the early part of the day but had a ton of stacked reservations for the end of the day. We were looping all over the park but were able to do it all. Our mileage for MK for the day was 12 miles though. I did get one random “bonus” reservation by trying to book them at off times throughout the day as well.
tom, your info was extremely useful for a one day whirl wind visit to magic kingdom the day after valentines day 2022. have you noticed genie + updating with somer changes, or was i a victim of a glitch? made my first LL reservation at 7 AM(jungle cruise). it was for 10:15AM. just to be on the safe side i tried to book another at 9:01AM but was denied, which i assumed i would be. after i scanned into jungle cruise at 10:15, i refreshed my app and tried to make another LL choice and was told i had to wait till 11AM. tried this two more times as i walked up to the boat with no success. this continued to happen the whole day as i scanned in and refreshed, closed the app, logged out and in, etc… the only time i was able to have two LL booked was when my 120 minutes expired before my current LL reservation was active. did i misread something on your tips, or has something changed?
No, you definitely should have been able to book another one once you “tapped in” to the current one (though note some rides have two tapstiles and you can only book another one after tapping into the second one). If you ever have an issue like this, talk to guest services and they should help you.
Sara
Since i had all 3 family members using the same account in the app are you saying all i would of had to do was simply just tap in one persons mobile pass into the other lightning lane scanner to be able to book another ride after tapping in?
Tom, just one thing I need to know. Let’s say I have a park reservation for EPCOT and then plan to hop to the Magic Kingdom later in the day. Will the system allow me to start making Lightning Lane reservations for the Magic Kingdom (or any other park) for after 2:00pm starting at 7:00am or do I have to make some at EPCOT first?
The strategy I want to employ is simple – don’t waste Lightning Lanes at EPCOT but instead start making them for Magic Kingdom starting with a very popular ride like Jungle Cruise and grab a LL for around 5:30pm in the morning and then through the day at 11:00am, 1:00pm, 3:00pm, and 5:00pm make additional LLs and then show up at the Magic Kingdom armed with five LLs while continuing to make more at 7:00pm and even 9:00pm if I am taking advantage of Extra Hours.
Based on my read of your posts I can do that correct?
Can you make separate lightning lane reservations for separate family members in your party? for example can my wife and son make reservations for one ride under the system, and my daughter and I can make separate lightning lane reservations ? we are all linked under the same login- do we separate? the kids are 4 and 8 so targeting different rides separately. thanks
Hello – is the “Obsolete” section still obsolete…or is there any chance that strategy works again now in February?
I am reading this on 2/2/2022, seeing there was an update today, and wondering the same thing. Is this whole stacking option still available, or is there a different way to beat the system? We are going to Disney World at the end of April.
Hi Tom! Any way you can mark the end of the “not accurate anymore” section in some way on this page? I’m reading on a phone and though I do understand the higher level stacking is closed, I’m not sure if the examples are defunct as well? Might be clearer if you added a line at the end of the defunct section – assuming anything after it is still accurate?
It’s my understanding that I should, for a day at HS, wake up at 6:45, purchase Genie+ for the day, pin Slinky dog to the top of my selections, close every other app, and pull down hard to refresh right at 6:59:59. Then I should choose the first available slinky dog, hopefully 9am. Then I should go to the park and do another ride (hopefully rope drop ROTR) and allow my 9-10 SDD to “expire” at 10, book a new ride (LL #2) right outside SDD queue, and then redeem my SDD LL before 10:15. After I check in through both turnstiles, I think I get another LL (LL #3)? Then I also get one at 11am, if the park opened at 9? But I don’t get one after I check into whatever I chose as LL #2 correct? I’ll read some more articles and try to find that solution if you don’t have time to answer. Just mostly wanted to ask for some sort of clear demarcation of what is defunct in this article or not. Thanks!
Did you ever hear if the strategy you wrote about would work correctly? I thought I understood what Tom was saying but was unsure when the obsolete section had ended. Thanks in advance for a reply.
Sorry Tom, not really understanding this Genie stacking thing. Can you please do it again in simpler terms? Many thanks
Thank you ! I think I finally get it. Examples were extremely helpful.
Can you please explain the difference between regular stacking and advanced stacking? I apologize if I’m missing it.
Are you able to book lightning lane reservations before you are checked in and in the park? We will be arriving to WDW around noon on that first day and would like to get as much in that afternoon as we can.