Everything Genie, Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lane - Please Read Posts 1-7

[gottalovepluto]

Read the preliminary info on the system here on the DIS and you’ll find your answers and probably some much needed further information.

 

[DisneyFive]

1). Yes
2). Yes
3). About $16 per person per day including tax

In case you did not know, starting June 8 you cannot pre-purchase G+

Dan

 

[scrappinginontario]

Ok, Genie+ Question: If I buy in advance:

1) Do I have to buy for all my 7day ticket?

2) If yes then if I change my days (reservations) will the Genie move with the days?

3) Is there a way to tell how much paying before hand will cost me? Or do I have to call?

TIA

The posts on oh 1 of this thread will also answer your questions plus more.

 

[HuskieJohn]

I read the first handful of posts and still have a question about park hopping with ILL$

I want to verify that I am able to book both of the ILL$ at 7am. First one for the first park I attend that day (my reserved one) and a second park (Obviously making the reservation time for after 2pm).
Or do I have to wait 2hr or some other amount of time? The 7am part for the 2nd ILL$ is the only thing that I did not see on the first posts.

 

[GBRforWDW]

I read the first handful of posts and still have a question about park hopping with ILL$

I want to verify that I am able to book both of the ILL$ at 7am. First one for the first park I attend that day (my reserved one) and a second park (Obviously making the reservation time for after 2pm).
Or do I have to wait 2hr or some other amount of time? The 7am part for the 2nd ILL$ is the only thing that I did not see on the first posts.

Yes, when booking ILL$ for non reserved park, you should only see times available after 2pm, but you can book both at 7am as long as you're staying on site.

 

[MainMom]

Question: We leave on 5/31 and have Epcot reserved for that day. We have park hoppers. DD and I were playing around with genie+ for today 5/26. It lets us edit selections & pin rides for Epcot for 5/26. It lets us change parks. However, there is no edit selection button for the other 3 parks. Is this something that will show up on the 31st (and after?) Is it only showing me Epcot because I have the reservation in a few days? Will we be able to change our hop to park or do we have to keep selecting it?

 

[3gr8boys]

This thread is so helpful! We decided to do Genie+ every day of our trip because our kids are young/will find lines tough and this is probably going to be our only Disney visit with them. I'm starting to think about our strategy for stacking and using Genie+ and feel confident about rides, but don't know how it works with shows. We are interested in Indy, Lion King, and Beauty & the Beast. I saw that they were all Genie+ -- but does it make sense to use Genie+ for them? Do they generally get long lines and fill up? When would we show up if using Genie+ -- just before the show starts? Would that mean we're all the way in the back for all of them? Sorry if these are dumb questions, this will be my first trip back to Disney in 20+ years!

We did not use LLs for shows. We found that shows (Indy and such) and show-like attractions (bug's life, Philharmagic etc) were great for filling time between LLs for rides.

 

[Kir]

I’m looking for some advice. My family is heading to Disney in Nov. The predicted crowd levels should be 5 and below each day we’re actually in the parks. I was not going to get Genie + ahead of time, figuring we’d try our luck for a day or two first and see how it goes without it, or just buy it for MK days. However, we’re a family of 6 and I’m worried that if the cost of Genie + jumps significantly, we won’t even have the option of grabbing it for a day or two. So for those of you who are Genie + savvy and have used it in the parks on low to medium crows days, do you have any thoughts on whether I should bite the bullet and add it to our tickets before June 8th, or take the gamble and wait on purchasing on a day by day basis? Any advice is sincerely appreciated since we have zero Genie + experience.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I’m looking for some advice. My family is heading to Disney in Nov. The predicted crowd levels should be 5 and below each day we’re actually in the parks. I was not going to get Genie + ahead of time, figuring we’d try our luck for a day or two first and see how it goes without it, or just buy it for MK days. However, we’re a family of 6 and I’m worried that if the cost of Genie + jumps significantly, we won’t even have the option of grabbing it for a day or two. So for those of you who are Genie + savvy and have used it in the parks on low to medium crows days, do you have any thoughts on whether I should bite the bullet and add it to our tickets before June 8th, or take the gamble and wait on purchasing on a day by day basis? Any advice is sincerely appreciated since we have zero Genie + experience.

Unfortunately this is a really tough call.

We visited in late Jan/early Feb (med crowds) and purchased G+ for 3/8 days and it was perfect. 2 MK days and 1 DHS day. We didn't feel we needed it at Epcot or AK so didn't feel the need to purchase for entire trip, or even both of our DHS days.

The challenge is, if there is a price jump, how much will it increase? That's the big unknown so there's really no way to guide you. I guess I'd look at the total cost of upgrading it now. How many days are your tickets? Do you have park hoppers? Is there an option to drop the PH option to free up funds for Genie+? That's what we did and we didn't miss hopping at all.

I will say I did bite the bullet last night and purchased PH and G+ last night for our DL trip in Aug as I'm not even sure if the same thing is or might be happening there. Figured by adding it now it gave me more time to budget for the known costs rather than the possible unknowns.

Hope this helps even a little bit.

 

[Kir]

Unfortunately this is a really tough call.

We visited in late Jan/early Feb (med crowds) and purchased G+ for 3/8 days and it was perfect. 2 MK days and 1 DHS day. We didn't feel we needed it at Epcot or AK so didn't feel the need to purchase for entire trip, or even both of our DHS days.



The challenge is, if there is a price jump, how much will it increase? That's the big unknown so there's really no way to guide you. I guess I'd look at the total cost of upgrading it now. How many days are your tickets? Do you have park hoppers? Is there an option to drop the PH option to free up funds for Genie+? That's what we did and we didn't miss hopping at all.

I will say I did bite the bullet last night and purchased PH and G+ last night for our DL trip in Aug as I'm not even sure if the same thing is or might be happening there. Figured by adding it now it gave me more time to budget for the known costs rather than the possible unknowns.

Hope this helps even a little bit.

Lol! Yes, you helped.

“Figured by adding it now it gave me more time to budget for the known costs rather than the possible unknowns.”

That right there is some sound logic I can go on.

Our last trip was in 2018 and it was our first time without PH. Our kids were 6 and under at the time, so shlepping a double stroller on and off a bus to park hop seemed crazy. But we also found we didn’t miss it at all so I didn’t purchase PH tickets for our upcoming trip.

 

[DrummerBoy523]

At the 7 o’clock window we made a reservation for 1030. We had to cancel that. We made another one for later in the day. Will we still be able to make one at 11 AM?

 

[scrappinginontario]

At the 7 o’clock window we made a reservation for 1030. We had to cancel that. We made another one for later in the day. Will we still be able to make one at 11 AM?

It will depend what time you cancelled and rebooked. If it was before park opening then you will be eligible to rebook 2 hours after park opening. If it was after park opening it will be 2 hours after you rebooked.

If you attempt to book another LL it will show you what time you are eligible to book your next LL.

 

[mom2febgirls]

This year I am celebrating my 50th and am going to all the Epcot festivals (fortunately I bought an AP when they briefly went on sale last fall). For Food and Wine my DH is joining me. We bought him a PH with G+ in advance, is there some way for me to buy G+ in advance or do I have to wait until the morning of?

 

[HeiHei2018]

If we have a Test Track LL booked through G+ and it closes for rain, I assume we will get a LL pass good for other rides. Does anyone know what rides that would cover (Soarin, FEA, etc)? Trying to prioritize Epcot G+ selections.

 

[scrappinginontario]

This year I am celebrating my 50th and am going to all the Epcot festivals (fortunately I bought an AP when they briefly went on sale last fall). For Food and Wine my DH is joining me. We bought him a PH with G+ in advance, is there some way for me to buy G+ in advance or do I have to wait until the morning of?

No and currently it is causing some challenges. These challenges may or may not change on Jun 8th when Genie+ can no longer be purchased in advance by anyone.

I would recommend reading the posts on the first page of this thread and in particular, post 7 which explains how AP is working right now and what steps you may need to take due to purchasing G+ in advance for one of your tickets.

 

[mom22boys]

I am completely new to Genie+. We haven't been to WDW since February 2020 (3 weeks before the shutdown). I have spent my afternoon reading different threads and posts to learn how Genie+ works and am wondering if anyone is having luck with early entry at MK and Genie+ to get a few rides in before taking a mid-day lunch and resort break? I understand that you can only have one LL secured at a time and that you cannot search for your next one until you have tapped in or waited the 120 minute period. But I am surprised that with all of the posts and threads I have read, no one seems to mention anything about Genie+ working well to get a couple of rides in in the morning. Does it just not work that way? Is the morning availability of LL just that limited? All of the posts seem to reference Genie+ for securing rides for the afternoon/evening. Thanks for the help.

 

[RAD]

I decided today to add the Genie+ option to tickets we had purchased before the last price increase. These were 6 day tickets for four of us so I figured that would be $360+tax. But when I went to the system to add the option it said it would be $544.20+tax which would be $22.675 per day. After a number of calls to cast members that transferred to others that couldn't answer why I finally got one that found out the answer. Since there was a price increase since I purchased these tickets I had to pay for that difference along with the Genie+ cost.

To me this is just wrong on Disney's part. This would be like an airline charging you the difference in a ticket price from what you paid to the current cost if you decided to add better economy seats (like United Economy Plus) or checked baggage after the initial purchase.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I decided today to add the Genie+ option to tickets we had purchased before the last price increase. These were 6 day tickets for four of us so I figured that would be $360+tax. But when I went to the system to add the option it said it would be $544.20+tax which would be $22.675 per day. After a number of calls to cast members that transferred to others that couldn't answer why I finally got one that found out the answer. Since there was a price increase since I purchased these tickets I had to pay for that difference along with the Genie+ cost.

To me this is just wrong on Disney's part. This would be like an airline charging you the difference in a ticket price from what you paid to the current cost if you decided to add better economy seats (like United Economy Plus) or checked baggage after the initial purchase.

Unfortunately this has been the case since tickets were increased in February. If you choose to purchase each day you will not be charged the increased price for tickets but, we also don't know what will happen Jun 8th. These is speculation that the cost of Genie+ will increase.

No real easy answer right now as there are a lot of unknowns.

 

[micandminforever]

I’m looking for some advice. My family is heading to Disney in Nov. The predicted crowd levels should be 5 and below each day we’re actually in the parks. I was not going to get Genie + ahead of time, figuring we’d try our luck for a day or two first and see how it goes without it, or just buy it for MK days. However, we’re a family of 6 and I’m worried that if the cost of Genie + jumps significantly, we won’t even have the option of grabbing it for a day or two. So for those of you who are Genie + savvy and have used it in the parks on low to medium crows days, do you have any thoughts on whether I should bite the bullet and add it to our tickets before June 8th, or take the gamble and wait on purchasing on a day by day basis? Any advice is sincerely appreciated since we have zero Genie + experience.

Also remember when planning The Christmas party will most likely be going on at MK so MK will be closing early those nights.

 

[g-dad66]

I am completely new to Genie+. We haven't been to WDW since February 2020 (3 weeks before the shutdown). I have spent my afternoon reading different threads and posts to learn how Genie+ works and am wondering if anyone is having luck with early entry at MK and Genie+ to get a few rides in before taking a mid-day lunch and resort break? I understand that you can only have one LL secured at a time and that you cannot search for your next one until you have tapped in or waited the 120 minute period. But I am surprised that with all of the posts and threads I have read, no one seems to mention anything about Genie+ working well to get a couple of rides in in the morning. Does it just not work that way? Is the morning availability of LL just that limited? All of the posts seem to reference Genie+ for securing rides for the afternoon/evening. Thanks for the help.

Using G+ in the mornings can be a good strategy too, especially for Magic Kingdom.

But if you get your first LL for something later in the day (like Slinky Dog), then you're not eligible for your second LL until 2 hours after park opening. (And if you don't book Slinky as your first LL for DHS, you probably won't get one).