You called the Genie? Genie + and Lightening Lanes.
Firstly Disney update this system regularly so keep and an eye online for updates. We did a huge amount of research when we used Genie plus and the lightening lanes we had a plan for each park and which rides were the priorities to try and reduce the queue times for us so we could enjoy all the others aspects of the parks.
AND GUESS WHAT -
Disney has decided to change the system again. Yes, Disney are going back to what seems like the old fast pass system. The Disney planning tool, Genie , will still be available but it’s the Genie+ paid for system that is changing. READ OUR UPDATED GUIDE HERE.
Honest advice - pay for Genie if you can afford to once in at least Epcot, Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. You can skip in Animal Kingdom, especially if you are staying on site and can use the early entry.
Lightning lanes can be expensive but we only used them a for a couple of rides including Flight of Passage and Rise of the Resistance. Tron was not open at the time we travelled but we would definately use one for that. Also the only big ride we missed was Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.
We would pay for Genie during at least one day per park, aiming to do all day and stack as many rides as possible. The days we don’t focus on rides we plan on doing the shows, shopping and characters, character dining etc to split the days up differently, so we had a day to soak in the park rather than constantly on a phone checking for slots on Genie and ammending reservations.
Disney also now split Genie up by a park hopper and non-park hopper option, honeslty we rarely park hoped so we would probably aim to stay in a park for the whole day and really hit it rather than hop to another park. If a park gets a bit much, resort hop - head out for a snack at the Grand Floridian at Gasparilla Grill or head to Trader Sams at the Polynesian take a break chill and enjoy it.
How to use Genie- to be honest download the app, log in as soon as you can and pay for Genie for the day, have a plan of rides you want to do and aim for the most popular first. Then get ready and head to the parks or book a slot for much later on in the day and chill out, but stack your rides.
So for example if we were doing Hollywood studios we would probably pick Slinky Dog Dash first, then 2 hours after park opening book the next one, we would pick either Smugglers Run or Minnie and Mickeys Runaway Railway or maybe Tower of Terror.
Once you have ridden a ride you will be able to select your next pick so try and pick them without enormous gaps, get out of sync with everyone whos doing it all every two hours - you get more options. So one day we did Swirling Saucers, then Middway Mania and then booked for Tower of Terror, built a droid had some lunch went back and did Tower of Terror then opted for some of the smaller ones and also a show.
We will ride anything thankfully there is no fear here! The bigger rides attract the bigger queues. So if you’re heading to Disney during a “quieter” time maybe give Genie a swerve especially if you’re not a huge ride fan. We are stuck to UK school holidays so can only go when its really busy so this may explain why we would pay for the Genie on future trips.
Top tip - have a plan for each park especially when paying for Genie or Lightenting Lanes. Decide priorities and stick to them where you can.
What are you planning on rope dropping, what have you booked a lightenting lane for and which rides use Genie?