Disney Genie is the new free planning feature that Walt Disney World added to the My Disney Experience at the end of last year. Even though the feature has been around for a while, it can still be hard to know everything you can do through this free option.
The tool allows Guests to select their must-do attractions, shows, and dining in the four Disney Parks. Then Disney Genie will provide a suggested itinerary based on those favorite selections.
As part of Disney Genie, Guests can also choose to upgrade by paying or Genie+ or Individual Lightning Lanes. These paid features give the bonus of allowing Guests to bypass the standby lines and save time in line.
If you haven’t been to Disney recently, these features are ones you probably haven’t used yet.
We have a few tips to help you use the Disney Genie features during your Walt Disney World vacation that can help you get the most out of all three options if you choose to use them.
Make It Work For You
The first tip for using Disney Genie is to make it work for your family. There are a lot of suggestions and ideas on the “best” way to use Genie+, Disney Genie, and Individual Lightning Lanes. Just because it is someone else’s best plan doesn’t mean it will be the best for your family.
There are two main ways to use Genie+. The first is to see how many attractions you can do using Genie+. When doing this strategy, you are looking to select the next available attraction not focusing on what the attraction is more on time.
Another way to use Genie+ is to ensure you get onto popular rides. With this strategy, you might not ride as many rides using Genie+, but you make sure you have shorter waits for popular rides like Test Track in EPCOT, Space Mountain at Magic Kingdom, or Tower of Terror in Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
You have to determine which method works best for your family. Don’t worry about how everyone else uses the feature instead, make it work for you.
You Don’t Need Genie+ Each Day
When Genie+ was first offered, Guests could add it to their Walt Disney World Package. By doing this, they had to add it to each day they had a Theme Park Ticket. Now, Guests purchase Genie+ the day of. With this change, Guests can choose which days they want to use Genie+ in the Parks.
With this option, you don’t have to purchase Genie+ for each Park day. Think about what you want to accomplish during the day and use that to help determine if the $15 cost per person is a good investment. If you want to visit the World Showcase in EPCOT and focus on the food booths, you might not want to use Genie+. Give yourself some flexibility with using it throughout the trip.
Always Have One Booked
Another tip we would give when it comes to Genie+ is to always have an attraction booked. As soon as you tap into a ride, you can immediately pull up your My Disney Experience and book another Genie+ selection. We highly recommend doing so.
By having a ride or show booked at all times, you are utilizing Genie+ the most. This will allow you to skip more lines throughout the day and see other fun like cavalcades.
Park Hopping
One of the great features of Genie+ is that once you purchase it can be used throughout the day at any of the Disney Parks you visit. If you have a Park Hopper (that allows you to move between Parks starting at 2), you can let Genie know this and make Genie+ reservations accordingly.
If you are a family that likes to hit the pool or take a nap, you can relax while making Genie+ selections for the Disney Park you plan to return to in the afternoon. This is a great way to set yourself up for a fantastic evening.
Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lanes Are Separate
It is essential to know that Genie+ and Individual Attraction Selection are separate. This means that you can choose to purchase a Lightning Lane for Rise of the Resistance without purchasing Genie+.
This is important for Disney’s Animal Kingdom and EPCOT, where there aren’t as many Genie+ attractions. It might be a good choice for some families to purchase Individual Lightning Lane for one of the headline attractions, such as Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, and do standby for the few other rides they want to ride that day. Just be aware of this option and think about what might be the best fit for your family.
Keep Looking
Our final tip for using Genie+ is don’t give up. It can be frustrating when you get on at 7 am only to not get the ride you were hoping for. Don’t give up! Keep refreshing the app (pulling down from the top) throughout the day. We often see random tips pop back up.
Pinning those at the top is an excellent way to see your top rides. This can make refreshing faster as it keeps those top rides as the focus instead of having to scroll to find them. If your top choice doesn’t show up right away, take a pause and keep checking.
Genie+ can seem confusing, but we hope that these few tips will make it easier for you to navigate this feature successfully during your Walt Disney World vacation.
