Disney Genie launched this week in Disney World, and we’ve been putting it to the test!

We figured out how many rides you can do using Genie+ and Individual Attraction Selection, how rider swap works now, and so much more. But, we thought we’d compile ALL of that information in one place for you, so here’s everything you need to know about Disney Genie!

Genie

Disney Genie is the free planning tool that is now a part of My Disney Experience. It will create a personalized itinerary for you to make your day run smoother in Disney World. After you link your theme park tickets to Genie, you can tell it your preferences — like your favorite rides, restaurants, and characters. Doing this allows Genie to give you better recommendations throughout the day. And, we definitely recommend doing this ahead of time so you can start your day off with good recommendations!

Forecasted Wait Times

Genie has features like forecasted wait times, which tell you what the wait times for a certain ride look like for the rest of the day. And, it’s good about recommending you rides at their lower wait times for the day that also fit into your personal schedule.

For example, Genie told us to go ride Space Mountain when it was a 30 minute wait because that was the lowest forecasted wait time for the rest of the day and we had a gap in our schedule.

See how smart Disney Genie is here! 

Park Hopping

You can also set parameters in Genie to tell it when and where you’re planning to park hop. By doing this, Genie will remind you when it’s time to park hop, and it won’t recommend you do things later in the day at your first park, since it knows you will have park hopped by then.

Another useful setting you can enter is if you have any height restrictions for rides, so it won’t recommend rides your little ones aren’t tall enough to go on!

Read MORE about park hopping with Disney Genie here! 

Dining Information

One of the best features of Genie is how it displays dining information. Genie will show you all the dining options in one place. For quick service spots, Genie will tell you the next available mobile order window.

And, for table service restaurants, Genie will show you if there are any reservations available (which you can then book through Genie) or if there is availability on the walk-up list, including how long the estimate wait is on the list.

Genie Flaws

Genie does have some flaws, though. It does not communicate very well with Genie+, so we did have instances where Genie would recommend us to go on a ride that we had already used Genie+ for. The only way you can get Genie to stop doing this is to physically remove these recommendations by telling Genie you don’t want to do them.

It’s also not ideal if you’re trying to ride as many rides as possible during your day, because it will recommend you do other things like watch entertainment or eat a meal instead of continuously recommending rides.

Genie+

Genie+ is the new program that has replaced FastPass+ in Disney World. It allows you to make reservations to use the Lightning Lane (old FastPass+ lane) for 46 rides across the parks, essentially letting you skip the standby line. It costs $15 per day, per person.

Buying Genie+

You can buy Genie+ before your trip by adding it to a ticket or a vacation package, but it has to be for the entire length of your stay. If you only want to buy Genie+ for select days, you can do it on the day of your park ticket beginning at midnight.

Genie+ Reservations

With Genie+, you can make reservations to use the Lightning Lane for rides starting at 7AM on the day of your park ticket. You can only make a reservation for one ride at a time, however, there is an exception to that rule. If the first Lightning Lane you book isn’t until later in the day, then you are allowed to book another one before it, but within certain parameters. You cannot book another Lightning Lane unless it’s been 120 minutes since you’ve booked your first one.

For example, say you want a Slinky Dog Dash Lightning Lane, but the only next time available is at 6PM. You can book that time starting at 7AM, and then you can book another Lightning Lane (for before 6PM) 2 hours after park opening. So, if Hollywood Studios opens at 9AM, you can make another Lightning Lane reservation starting at 11AM. Once you’ve scanned into that Lightning Lane, you can book another one, so you can potentially have 2 Lightning Lane reservations throughout the day.

Read MORE about the 120 minute rule HERE! 

This also applies if you book your first Lightning Lane after park open. Say you make your first Lightning Lane reservation at 1PM for a ride that isn’t available until 7PM, you can book another Lightning Lane starting at 3PM, 120 minutes after you booked the first one.

Due to this rule, we think the most effective way to use Genie+ is to make your first Lightning Lane reservation for as early in the day as possible, because once you scan into the first ride you have a Lightning Lane for, you can book one for another ride. So, if you start early, you can just keep scanning and booking rides throughout the day.

Learn more about stacking lightning lane reservations HERE!

The One Time Rule

It’s also important to note that you can only get a Lightning Lane for each ride once. You can’t book Splash Mountain repeatedly throughout the day. If you want to ride it again, you’ll have to wait in the standby line.

Selling Out/Filling Up

Also, with Genie+, rides can lose Lightning Lane availability throughout the day. On the first day of Genie, Slinky Dog Dash showed no Lightning Lane availability at one point, but then as the day went on, more availability was added — so, make sure to keep checking Genie throughout the day.

What Happens When a Ride Goes Down?

If a ride is down during your scheduled time to use its Lightning Lane, you will be given a redemption pass.

These passes do not count toward the “one ride at a time” rule, so you can go ahead and make another Lightning Lane and that pass will be there for you to use when the ride goes back up.

See what happened when the ride we PAID to ride went down THREE times!

Is It Worth It?!

After testing out Genie+ at all 4 Disney World parks, we came to the conclusion that currently, it’s most worth it in Magic Kingdom. The park has the most rides, and therefore had the most Lightning Lane availability throughout the day. As for the other parks — in Animal Kingdom, the wait times have been pretty low across the board, so we didn’t really feel like we needed to use the Lightning Lane for rides. Then, in Hollywood Studios, popular rides lost availability quickly and less popular rides all had low waits, so we didn’t feel like we got to use Genie+ to its full potential.

We would definitely recommend Genie+ for Magic Kingdom, but we think it will have more value at the other parks during busier times, like the holidays or even on weekends! Also, note that buying Genie+ gives you access to new and interactive PhotoPass lenses and special Audio Tales you can listen to around the parks!

See the new PhotoPass lenses here!! 

Individual Attraction Selection

In each park, there are 2 high-demand rides that are not included in Genie+. These are rides that you have to pay individually for in order to use their Lightning Lanes. The prices for these rides are all different and will change based on demand, like surge pricing with Uber. Here’s a look at the list and the prices on the first day of Genie:

Individual attraction selection costs we’re seeing so far (reminder that these can vary)

Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure: $9
Runaway Railway: $8
Rise of the Resistance: $15
Space Mountain: $7
Seven Dwarves Mine Train: $10
Frozen Ever After: $9
Flight of Passage: $11
Everest: $7

— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) October 19, 2021

And you can see the weekend pricing here!

Can I Cancel or Modify My Reservation?

You can only purchase 2 of these rides per day and you cannot modify/cancel them once they’ve been purchased. So, if you pay $15 for Rise of the Resistance then decide you want to switch it to Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, you can’t. It’s like buying a movie ticket — it’s non-refundable and has a set return time.

Can Individual Attraction Selections Sell Out for the Day?

These rides CAN sell out for the day. The past few days, we’ve seen the Lightning Lane sell out for Rise of the Resistance, so if that ride is a high priority for you, make sure you buy its Lightning Lane as soon as possible. You can buy Individual Lightning Lanes starting at 7AM if you’re a Disney hotel guest. For all other guests, you can buy them starting at park open.

Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure

Something interesting we found with these is that you can actually ride Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure twice in one day! We first booked a boarding pass with the virtual queue, then we paid for a Lightning Lane, so we had 2 times to ride Remy’s.

Park Hopping Problems

One issue we did encounter though is with park hopping. Even if you tell Genie you will be in a different park after 2PM, it won’t give you recommendations for these particular rides in your second park, it will only show the ones in your first park. You have to go and search for the ride you’re looking for in order to buy its Individual Lightning Lane.

Booking As A Hotel Guest

We also came to the conclusion that you might be able to around having to buy any of these Individual Lightning Lanes if you’re a Disney hotel guest. Since Disney hotel guests get Early Theme Park Entry at every park, you could go into the park 30 minutes before open and ride the two Individual Attraction Selection rides in the standby lines, since wait times are usually lower during this time.

The only park this might be tricky for is Hollywood Studios, since Rise of the Resistance still tends to have a longer line in the morning, so you probably wouldn’t also have time to go ride Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway.

Redemption Passes

And, the same rule about redemption passes we explained with Genie+ also applies to these rides. If your Individual Attraction Selection ride is down during your time to ride it, you will be given a redemption pass for when it goes back up. This won’t count toward your 2 rides per day — you can go ahead and buy another Individual Lightning Lane even if you had already bought 2 for the day.

That’s everything you need to know about Disney Genie! We hope Genie is magical for you on your vacation, whether you use the free planning tool or the paid Lightning Lane options. Stay tuned to DFB for more news updates on Disney Genie!

Still have questions about Genie+? We’re answering ALL your questions HERE! 

Have any other Genie questions? Ask them in the comments!

The post Don’t Want to Read 100 Different Articles About How to Use Disney Genie? Just Read This. first appeared on the disney food blog.