Genie Confusion

[MrPeetrie]

So, am I understanding there is a FREE Genie version, a PAY Genie+ version, and a PAY-PER-ATTRACTION feature?

The free version helps map out your day and makes suggestions (food, parades, meals) based on your inputs, correct?

Genie+ (for a fee) will allow me to make FastPass selections similar to the older paper FastPasses.

Lightning Lane allows me to purchase access to E-Ticket rides (limit two per day.)

Did I get that part right???

Now, can I purchase Lightning Lane access without upgrading to Genie+?

Are virtual queue and FastPass the same?

Do I now need to be on my phone exactly at 7am every morning if I want a shot at E-Ticket rides??

Am I the only one confused??? Heading down in august.

[Celakip]

Here are what I believe to be the correct responses to your questions:
Correct
Correct
Correct
Correct
Yes, you got that part right.
Yes
No
Yes, from what I have heard
Definitely not the only one confused. We head down in May.

[faline]

Probably the best way to get acquainted with the new system is to go to My Disney Experience and click on "Disney Genie Service" That will bring up a section with two tabs "Tip Board" and "My Day" If you click on "My Day", it will ask you to select a date. You can then add information into the system, telling it what rides/shows you want and where you are interested in eating. It will then return a suggested schedule to you. I tried it once but wasn't terribly impressed with the suggestions. Occasionally, I use the "Tip Board" tab. This always brings up information for Magic Kingdom and then you need to click on "Change Park" to select the park you want to see. I find this annoying. (If there is a way to keep it on your selected park, I haven't found it.) Also, the rides are listed in alphabetical order when I would prefer to see the rides listed by shortest to longest wait times. Each attraction will show you the current standby line as well as the time you can ride the attraction/see the show by booking Disney Genie+ service. If it is one of the rides that requires a separate purchase of Lightning Lane, it will provide that information for you. If Lightning Lane is already completely booked for the day, will tell you that Lightning Lane is not currently offered.

Virtual queues have been offered from time to time. I don't think any ride(s)/attraction(s) are currently offering virtual queues.

Good luck!!

[MrPeetrie]

If you have a FastPass reservation forthcoming, can you ALSO buy a Lightning Lane reservation? It must the FastPass time need to be expired before buying a Lightning Lane??

[PopPhan]

If you have a FastPass reservation forthcoming, can you ALSO buy a Lightning Lane reservation? It must the FastPass time need to be expired before buying a Lightning Lane??

The 'pay-to-ride' Individual Attraction Selections (IAS) are independent of the Lightning Lane (FastPass+ style) reservations. You can purchase your two per day IAS rides at the same time, with or without any Lightning Lane selections. Just note, as I stated, these are limited to two per day, not two per park.

[1DisneyNut]

Also to add to the confusion, lol, they removed three rides from the lightning lane individual selections. They are Space Mountain, Frozen Ever After and Mickey's Runaway Railway. You can no longer get individual lightning lanes for those three. They are Genie+ only.

I was there a few weeks ago and tinkered with the new systems. My experience and thoughts on it was Genie is about useless. It makes illogical suggestions that are nothing like how I would normally approach the park. I didn't care for it. Genie+ would select "fastpasses (don't really know what to call them now) that I did not care for. Individual Lightning Lane availability was gone on anything I would remotely consider paying the $15 per person. Then to top it all off, you pay for Genie+ or Lightning Lane and they are giving so many out for the popular rides, you still end up waiting in line for 20 and possibly 30 minutes if the parks are really busy like they were when I was there. So in my experience they have found a way to mess it all up more than it already was and on top of that charge for it. Why can they not understand that we do not want to look at our phones constantly while at the parks or pay to play after already paying a premium to be there? We left there and went to Universal and our resort there included their Express Pass and you simply just scan your room key/ ticket card and walk right in the Express Pass lanes. So simple, so easy, no stress, no planning, no staring at the phone or fighting a buggy poorly designed app. I don't know that the people that make the decisions at Disney World will ever get this figured out and quit burdening their guests.

[MrPeetrie]

The 'pay-to-ride' Individual Attraction Selections (IAS) are independent of the Lightning Lane (FastPass+ style) reservations. You can purchase your two per day IAS rides at the same time, with or without any Lightning Lane selections. Just note, as I stated, these are limited to two per day, not two per park.

Would you recommend these need to be made EXACTLY at 7 AM each morning, similar to wanting a boarding pass at Hollywood Studios??

[PopPhan]

Would you recommend these need to be made EXACTLY at 7 AM each morning, similar to wanting a boarding pass at Hollywood Studios??

The 'IAS' rides should be booked at 7am, otherwise you may not get them at all. You should also book your first 'Lightning Lane' attraction at that time, so that you can get another right around park opening.

Note what 1DisneyNut added - 3 rides have been taken off of the 'IAS' list, at least for the early part of the summer. I would assume this is to handle the higher crowds for Spring Break and early Summer (late-Spring?)

To be completely honest, I did not use Genie+ or purchase ANY 'IAS' rides on my January visit. I was able to hit those attractions early using the 30 minute 'Morning Magic' time allotment due to staying 'on property.' StandBy queues do get busier as the day goes on, so maybe Genie+ is the way to go.

[BriarRose0708]

THANK YOU! I was so lost and this has been super helpful. I agree with whoever wrote about the Universal system - I'd much rather they had used that model instead. It was so much easier.

[CleveSJM]

Book IAS at 7 but don't despair if they look gone after a minute or two. Keep looking especially at around :15, :30, :45, and at the top of the hour. They seem to release more throughout the day. Or it's people cancelling ones they booked. I was there on Presidents Day weekend and thought I missed out on Ratatouille and Rise of the Resistance because my phone/app locked up at 7AM. But at 7:15, Rise opened up. Be quick and jump on them but throughout the day I saw good fastpasses open up on rides that were saying they were gone. Keep refreshing the app while you wait in line.



The 'IAS' rides should be booked at 7am, otherwise you may not get them at all. You should also book your first 'Lightning Lane' attraction at that time, so that you can get another right around park opening.

Note what 1DisneyNut added - 3 rides have been taken off of the 'IAS' list, at least for the early part of the summer. I would assume this is to handle the higher crowds for Spring Break and early Summer (late-Spring?)

To be completely honest, I did not use Genie+ or purchase ANY 'IAS' rides on my January visit. I was able to hit those attractions early using the 30 minute 'Morning Magic' time allotment due to staying 'on property.' StandBy queues do get busier as the day goes on, so maybe Genie+ is the way to go.