It’s a VERY big day in Disney World today, and we’re taking you along with us!

Magic Kingdom
Today is the first day of Disney World’s new Disney Genie service. The revamp to the My Disney Experience app includes free offerings (like personalized itineraries and predictive wait times), the new PAID Genie+ that has replaced Fastpass+, those pay-per-ride selections, and MORE. We’re making our way through the parks today to learn EVERYTHING there is to know about how Genie+ works, so get ready to follow along!
Yep, we’re LIVE from the first day ever of Disney Genie. Let’s see how the day goes! Stay tuned to this post because we’ll be updating it ALL DAY with EVERY. SINGLE. DETAIL.
What is Genie?
We’ve made a few posts explaining Genie, Genie+, and Individual Attraction Selection. Here are the basics:
- Disney Genie: FREE planning service to help you optimize your day in the parks
- Genie+: PAID service, FastPass+-like replacement, can select a return time to use a ride’s Lightning Lane 1 at a time throughout the day, over 40 attractions in Disney World are included, cost if $15 per day per ticket
- Individual Attraction Selection or pay-per-ride: PAID service for select, highly popular attractions that are NOT available through Genie+, you pay individually to select a return time to use a single ride’s Lightning Lane
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
Read THIS before you use Disney Genie!
Changes to the My Disney Experience App
The first thing to know is that the Genie services are built into the My Disney Experience app. In order to access Genie, however, it appears you’ll need to UPDATE your app. If you don’t see an update automatically prompted for you on your mobile device, go to your designated app store and select the My Disney Experience app. There, you should see an option to update the app and you can download the update. That is how some of our DFB staff were able to access it.
After you’ve downloaded the update, you’ll head into the My Disney Experience app and log in. On the app, you should see a screen pop up all about Disney Genie and how it can help you plan your day in the parks.
Once you’ve gotten past those screens, you should see details about Disney Genie near the top of your My Disney Experience app.
When you’re ready, you can hit “get started.” On the next page, you can select “start now” and then…
…link or select your park tickets.
You can also hit the tip board option instead or the “my day” option from earlier screens to take a look at the Genie+ tip board and My Day sections without any park tickets linked.
Since we were looking right before 7AM ET, things were still greyed out. Once it hit 7AM ET, we pulled down to REFRESH the screen. This is a big one. One of our reporters noted that the screen did not automatically refresh at that time, so you’ll want to make sure you pull down to refresh.
Why is 7AM so important? Well, it’s the first time that you can select Lightning Lane selections for Genie+. If you’re staying at a Disney World hotel or select other resort hotels, it is also the first time that you’ll be able to book an Individual Attraction Selection. And 7AM is the first time you’ll be able to sign up for a virtual boarding group for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure if you’ll be heading to EPCOT as your first park of the day. So be sure to set those alarms!
Click here to see why 7AM just got WAY more hectic in Disney World!
While staying at a Disney World resort gives you early access to those pay-per-ride selections, we wondered whether you truly NEED to stay at a Disney World hotel to get the best pay-per-ride choices?
Click here to see our thoughts!
Booking Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lane Selections
Again, to make sure your process goes smoothly, be sure to link your tickets and set up your full My Disney Experience account BEFORE attempting to use Genie+.
Purchase & Booking Times
Here’s the breakdown:
Genie+: Starting today, guests will be able to purchase Genie+ in advance as an add-on to a ticket or vacation package, but it will have to be added on for the entire duration of the trip. If you don’t want to add it on for the duration of the trip, you can add on single-day use of Genie+ via the My Disney Experience app on the same day of your visit, starting at midnight. Also, if you’re an Annual Passholder, you will only be able to buy Genie+ on the same day of your visit (not in advance).
Keep in mind that while you can purchase Genie+ at midnight on the day of your visit, you won’t be able to actually make your first Lightning Lane selection for Genie+ until 7AM on the day of your visit!
Individual Attraction Selection or pay-per-ride: When it comes to Individual Attraction Selection, these can only be purchased on the same day of your visit on the My Disney Experience app.
The first purchase for your Individual Attraction Selection can be made at 7AM on the day of your visit if you’re staying at a Disney World Resort hotel, the Disney World Swan and Dolphin Hotels, and Shades of Green.
Reminder that your first Lightning Lane selection can be made at 7 am if you are staying at a Disney resort! 🧞♂️ #DisneyGenie pic.twitter.com/nplMLdguFz
— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) October 19, 2021
One big thing to note is that Genie+ and Individual Attraction Selection will actually cost MORE than you expect. While Genie+ is $15 per person per day in Disney World, there is an added tax you’ll have to pay for, which brings it to almost $16.
The same applies to pay-per-ride selections.
Click here to see more about how these services will cost you MORE than expected.
How to Purchase/Book
In terms of how to purchase Genie+ and Individual Attraction Selection, we’ve got step-by-step guides for you.
Click here to see the step-by-step guide to purchasing Genie+.
And click here to see the step-by-step guide to purchasing Disney’s pay-per-ride selections.
Here’s a quick summary of what one of our reporters did when it came to booking selections. One reporter came fully prepared.
At midnight, they purchased Genie+ and then provided the free Genie service with information about preferences of rides they’d like to go on, dining for both parks, etc.
They also told Genie that they would be park hopping starting at 2, providing the system with as much information about their day as possible.
At 7AM this morning, they then used the “Get Started” option to plan their day. First, they joined the virtual queue for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and were able to get a group.
Then, they looked to see whether they could also book a pay-per-ride selection for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, and they were in fact able to do so.
Then, they worked on picking their first Genie+ selection, and opted to go for Test Track in EPCOT.
And finally, they were able to book a pay-per-ride selection for Rise of the Resistance. Remember that you can only make 2 pay-per-ride selections per day.
Another one of our reporters was busy grabbing a Lightning Lane selection for Splash Mountain. Here’s what it looks like once that reservation is confirmed.
Another reporter focused on getting a Rise of the Resistance pay-per-ride selection.
Booked our Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance Lightning Lane ⚡️for 10:50 am. It was $15 as an individual attraction selection #DisneyGenie pic.twitter.com/Viw8aVLj0F
— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) October 19, 2021
120 Minute Rule
When it comes to Genie+ Lightning Lane selections, there’s an important 120 minute rule now in place you should know about. It can be a bit complicated, so we invite you to CLICK HERE and learn all about it.
Basically, if you book a Genie+ Lightning Lane for later in the day, you might be able to get another Lightning Lane selection for earlier in the day, but you’ll likely have to wait 2 hours — either after park opening or after the time you made your first selection — in order to book another Genie+ option.
The rule could have some big impacts in terms of what return time you might want to select for your first Genie+ Lightning Lane to really help you get the most our of your day.
Click here to see more about this rule.
Rider Switch
If you plan to use rider swap in the parks, you might be wondering how it works with Genie+ and pay-per-ride.
We looked into the situation today. You can CLICK HERE to see the latest updates on how this program works in conjunction with Genie+ and pay-per-ride.
Our Experiences in the Parks
Across the Parks
Across all 4 parks one big thing we noticed is that there really wasn’t anything in terms of signage about Genie+, other than the Lightning Lanes themselves. We also didn’t see any signage promoting Genie+ or encouraging guests to purchase it. Though we were able to find a Genie+ map.
More guests may be inclined to purchase the services if they are more heavily promoted in the parks, and it is possible that will happen in the future. So keep in mind that our experiences on Genie+’s opening day are just that — what we experienced. Things are subject to change!
Magic Kingdom
If you are on the Tip Board, you can refresh and scroll down to see the options available at the park you’re looking at. You can also hit “change park” on the top to change your selections.
Note how right at 7AM ET, when we scrolled down, we were able to look at the first Genie+ Lightning Lane return times in Magic Kingdom, most of which started right at 9AM. We were also able to look at pay-per-ride selections. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train was priced at $10 and Space Mountain was priced at $7.
Sometimes those Lightning Lanes can get a bit backed up, like the FastPass+ lines used to, so be sure to watch out for that and look for the end of the line!
A bit of a backup at the Peter Pan’s Flight Lightning Lane pic.twitter.com/e66YBuzICq
— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) October 19, 2021
EPCOT
At EPCOT, for shows you could see the next showtimes and the next Genie+ Lightning Lane times.
We could also see that the prices today for EPCOT’s pay-per-ride options were $9 for Frozen Ever After…
…and $9 for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure.
Keep in mind that these prices will vary by park, date, and attraction.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
For shows, you can see how Genie indicates the next showtime for Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage, and when the Lightning Lane return time would be.
In terms of pay-per-ride selections at Hollywood Studios, the prices today were $8 for Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway…
…and $15 for Rise of the Resistance.
Pay-per-ride selections at Disney’s Hollywood Studios started filling up pretty quickly though.
Most premium rides have almost instant-access Lightning Lane passes…then there’s Rise of the Resistance 😬 pic.twitter.com/uPq7au7jvQ
— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) October 19, 2021
UPDATE: As of around 10:00 AM ET, pay-per-ride selections for Rise of the Resistance were unavailable.
A Cast Member indicated they could become available later in the day though, so we’ll be on the lookout for updates.
Click here to see more about the pay-per-ride selections selling out for Rise of the Resistance.
Later in the morning, Rise of the Resistance went DOWN.
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is currently down 💫 pic.twitter.com/u1ZES3Gmpb
— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) October 19, 2021
Today, one of our reporters did have a pay-per-ride selection for Rise of the Resistance when it went down. They were given a redemption pass to use for Rise of the Resistance at any time today, so long as the ride comes back up again. The redemption pass is ONLY good for Rise of the Resistance, no other rides.
We asked a Cast Member if we would get refunded if it doesn’t come back up. The coordinator said they did not know and to go to the Guest Experiences team or Guest Relations and they should be able to refund us. But, the Cast Member also shared that if the ride does come back up and our reporter chose not to ride it, they would not get refunded (or at least that was the Cast Member’s understanding).
Click here to see more about how you CAN’T cancel your pay-per-ride pass and what the refund rules are.
Later in the day, it was time to tap in for our Alien Swirling Saucers Lightning Lane return time!
Tapping in for our Alien Swirling Saucers Lightning Lane! 🧞♂️ pic.twitter.com/YqFEGz6eQd
— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) October 19, 2021
Rise of the Resistance is back up and running! 💫 The Lightning Lane queue took about 15 mins pic.twitter.com/VMvWLWQFsm
— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) October 19, 2021
And…Rise of the Resistance is stopped again. Sound on for the temporary disruption message 🔈 pic.twitter.com/8S0ZHiGeGW
— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) October 19, 2021
We were evacuated off of the ride, but received a recovery pass to return once it opens back up. pic.twitter.com/dEo4howuxF
— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) October 19, 2021
Rise of the Resistance is up and running again, with a Lightning Lane stretching all the way back to Black Spire Outpost pic.twitter.com/kdEKRJfxSc
— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) October 19, 2021
Rise of the Resistance is down for the third time today (and ALL three times our reporter has been inside trying to use her Lightning Lane pass😅). pic.twitter.com/MtQO5rZpOw
— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) October 19, 2021
This is BIG no bones day energy. Somebody call Noodle.🥺
— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) October 19, 2021
Getting evacuated out of Rise of the Resistance for the third time today. Should we try for a fourth? Or count our losses? 😅 pic.twitter.com/4JCvORpAZT
— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) October 19, 2021
This tweet wins 💫😂 https://t.co/Ws24ETObkr
— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) October 19, 2021
UPDATE: At around 4:54PM ET, more Lightning Lane availability popped up for Slinky Dog Dash — so it’s always a good idea to keep checking back on the app for updates.
Standby entrance to Slinky Dog is currently 65 minutes, and there are no Lightning Lanes left for the day. pic.twitter.com/Aq9azO5c5Z
— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) October 19, 2021
Later in the day, the Genie+ Lightning Lane access for Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run also became unavailable and showed as “not currently available.” But again, remember availability for these could reopen later in the day.
Disney World Lightning Lanes that are unavailable as of right now:
Jungle Cruise
Slinky Dog Dash
Rise of the Resistance
Smugglers Run
Test Track
Peter Pan’s Flight— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) October 19, 2021
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
At Disney’s Animal Kingdom, the pay-per-ride price for Avatar Flight of Passage was $11 today…
…while the pay-per-ride cost for Expedition Everest was $7.
This morning, one of our reporters went to rope drop Flight of Passage to see how that would compare to using a pay-per-ride selection there later in the day.
Rope dropping Flight of Passage this morning! The wait is currently posted at 50 minutes pic.twitter.com/e52RwAR5Dm
— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) October 19, 2021
Heading through the Flight of Passage Lightning Lane! 🌀 pic.twitter.com/YGqBoxDaXl
— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) October 19, 2021
“Today at Expedition Everest, you face the tough decision of waiting 10 minutes…or paying $7 to wait slightly less than 10 minutes” -Reporter Jared pic.twitter.com/AGliFW8N5S
— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) October 19, 2021
Wait Times
Curious to know just how long the wait was in the standby line vs. the lightning lanes? In some instances, the Lightning Lanes did help us ride attractions quicker. In other instances, the standby wait times were SO short that getting a Lightning Lane didn’t really make a difference.
We’ve shared details about our experience here!
Click here to get a look at those wait times for pay-per-ride and Genie+.
We spent our day in the parks truly testing how many rides we could get through using Lightning Lanes and (particularly at Magic Kingdom), the results might surprise you!
If you’re dedicated to riding AS MANY rides as possible, Genie+ and pay-per-ride could come in handy, depending on where you’re going.
Click HERE to see just how many rides we were able to do in ONE day by utilizing Genie+ and pay-per-ride.
Park Hopping
Again, you can let Genie know that you are park hopping, what park you’re planning to hop to, and at what time you’re planning to hop.
This helps the system know where you’re heading and then opens up potential choices for you to make at that park.
Additional Genie+ Features
If you buy Genie+, aside from making Lightning Lane selections, you’ll be able to check out some unique AR filters . These lenses can let you see Cinderella Castle throughout the years…
The new Disney Genie+ AR filter lets you take a photo with Cinderella Castle through the years. 🧁 pic.twitter.com/6xCE6GlImF
— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) October 19, 2021
…see Disney-themed constellations…
Constellations AR filter in Genie+ 🌌 pic.twitter.com/oo9i5OhTDj
— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) October 19, 2021
…or even turn your dog into a Disney movie star!
Be sure to check out these additional features when you purchase Genie+.
Click here to see more about the PhotoPass lenses on Disney Genie!
FREE Genie Features
Again, keep in mind that while Genie+ and Individual Attraction Selection cost money, the Disney Genie planning service is FREE. With this free service you’ll be able to get forecasted wait times, see standby wait times, get a sample plan for your day, and more.
Most premium rides have almost instant-access Lightning Lane passes…then there’s Rise of the Resistance 😬 pic.twitter.com/uPq7au7jvQ
— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) October 19, 2021
If you don’t like what Genie suggests for your day, you can swap the selections for more recommendations.
Not really into what #DisneyGenie is recommending? 🧞♂️ You can do a Swaperoo for more recommendations pic.twitter.com/XpmvpUG9Sw
— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) October 19, 2021
At one point, one of our reporters had a free gap in their day, and Genie recommended they head over to Frozen Ever After, noting that the wait was low.
Genie 🧞♂️ recommended we head over to Frozen Ever After to fill the gap in our plans—and is forecasting a low wait time. Currently, the wait is 60 minutes. pic.twitter.com/tjCxiGEDsK
— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) October 19, 2021
Actual wait time for Frozen Ever After ended up being only 28 minutes! ❄️
— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) October 19, 2021
Click here to see a FULL guide to using the free version of Disney Genie!
We also really liked that the free Genie service now provides you with an expected wait time for when you return to a virtual queue, like the one being used for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure.
Disney Genie now tells you what your wait will be when returning for a virtual queue! 🐭 pic.twitter.com/AHTubREKsa
— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) October 19, 2021
Additional Tips and Information
There is a LOT going on right now with several of our reporters in different parks working on testing the system in multiple ways. Here are some of our big takeaways so far:
- Our one reporter who had already told Genie where they were going, etc. said things were pretty intuitive this morning — so planning in advance and giving the system that information can be helpful.
- Some of our reporters noted that finding the pay-per-ride options could be confusing. They essentially had to go to the tip board and select the specific park where the ride is located to find it, so keep that in mind — you might need to go out of the normal screen for planning and off to the tip board to find those pay-per-ride selections.
- Some reporters were having issues changing their plans with the regular Genie planning service in terms of changing what things they wanted to see (but not ones they had a booked Lightning Lane for). One tried to remove a selection from their plans and got error messages.
We’ve learned a LOT about Genie+, pay-per-ride, and more today, and there’s still a lot to test in the future.
Click here to see our 6 BIGGEST takeaways from the 1st day of Disney Genie!
Want to make sure you’re not missing anything? Follow along with us on Instagram and Twitter. And remember to keep checking back here! We’ll be updating this post all day with EVERYTHING there is to know about the first day of Disney Genie!
Click here to learn more about Disney Genie!
Got questions about Disney Genie? Ask them in the comments!
The “no refunds if the ride is down and comes back up at some point” is straight BS. What a shocker.
So if you want to ride just the rides listed above it will cost you an additional $69.00 per person plus tax, plus the initial $15.00 per person. It’s not worth it to me but if you don’t pay to play, you have to wait in line for hours. Not to mention that it looks like most rides are fully booked, so you may not even get to use Genie+ for a lot of rides you want to ride on. How is this more convenient and guest friendly?
As an annual Passholder I see no benefit to using Disney Genie. I have been going to Disney several times a year for 30+ years. With children. I do r really see a need. We plan our own days and have really always been happy with our success. So Annual Passholders do t waste your time even messing around with Genie. Just do what you always have. Those who aren’t AP well, still seems like a risk to use. Kind of stinks for non-AP to not be able to preplan their trip any longer. Have to plan it the day you go. Genie+ will lose its new appeal when customers see it for what it is. Greed.
Ditto Brendan !!
People keep your money and to poof to this Genie nonsense!!!! Bring back FASTPASSES !!!
If you plan on a future trip but have yet to purchase tickets or make hotel reservations, Can you use Genie to simulate what your trip may look like.? I would like to get used to the app before I go
We are at Hollywood studios today and we only got to ride Millennium Falcon smugglers Run all day with our genie+
Everything else we wanted to ride was fine by the time we could book it.
Super disappointed!!
Wasted $60 for us!
For the paid “fancy” ☺️ rides, can you select from time windows or just have to take next available? Would love to book at 7am the day we’re flying in for a time after we land, but not sure how that would work.
Thanks for the great updates!
Sounds like unless your fast on making a reservation for Rise of the Resistance, you could wait until late in the day (or evening) and then it would cost a family of four close to $65. What fun! Who says there is no Magic.
For those of us who are eligible for DAS, would it work about the same as before, or are there any changes that you are aware of?
I found Genie to be overall pretty easy to use today. I did notice that even without you telling it you were going to park hope (I never saw that option to start with), I was able to book a ride at any park when I had an available lightning lane pass. At one point however (In just trying things out), I tried to book a ride at 1:45 for park outside where I was at. The system came back and said – implementing park hopper hours, and it changed my time to 2:00 pm. I would have liked to have found something that would let me tell Genie that I was only going to be at Epcot until 5:00 pm, because it tried to schedule things for me all the way to close. Was there such an option that I just missed?
Much as I hated “get up 60 days before your trip and book FastPasses!” and have to plan all that time ahead, the stress of having to do it all at 7am is not an improvement, lol. Especially on what will be hotel Wifi! What if it’s slow or goes down?
Guess I definitely have to learn My Disney Experience, too.
Has anyone noticed the “My Plans” button is gone from the app. I’m in Disney today and downloaded the app. I was looking ahead to my vacation next year and noticed the button was gone. It just says “My Day”.
I contacted tech support and they told me to hit change date. You have to scroll thru all the calendars to get to the month you want – in my case March. Then hit the particular date to see your plans for that day.
It was so much easier before when you’d hit My Plans and all your plans were there to scroll thru. I think this new way is a little ludicrous. I used to scroll thru and see what I was doing each day. Now you have to back out and click on the next day on the calendar. I REALLY hope they fix this.
I understand from other insiders there is $.98 tax on this . So it is really $15.98 for each person. That can add up for a family.
This is stellar reporting! Thank you for informing us of the experience and for providing clear and specific examples. You covered a lot of material, and every bit of it will be really helpful on our next trip.
I’ve been an annual passholder for years and I must say I like old world Disney. Free fast passes and an easy peasy kind of day. From what I am reading here my head is swimming and it sounds too complicated to enjoy the day in the parks. I guess I am almost dreading my next visit. I live in Florida and we go up every month. We are skipping October and November to avoid the crush of the beginning of the 50th anniversary year, Seems to me Disney is just trying to make up for the billions of dollars they lost in the covid shutdown now with the addition of having to pay for everything that is no longer included in your annual pass, and now this Genie+ deal. Yikes!! Pretty soon no one will be able to afford a Disney vacation and that’s sad because it’s still an amazing experience and something every family should be able to afford. Right now I am not a very happy annual passholder!!
Despite the massive negativity for this thing, I’m cautiously optimistic. It’s going to make park days a lot more fluid. I do wish that staying at the resorts got you a little more than getting up at 7am. I’m not sure how to manage that while everybody else is still sleeping…
Here’s a way to make things easier. Stay home and quit giving Disney your money for this crap.
Was there any real advantage to being awake at midnight to purchase Genie+?
Hi!
Thanks for the great report!!!
I have a question please.
Can you book for your whole group at a time? Is it better to split up your group?
Can you choose who will be riding in your group? For example, we have some smaller children that won’t fit on all the rides.
Thank you!
I will not pay “again” for a ride that in the past was part of the very expensive tickets I already purchased. So greedy of Disney!
If no one uses this hopefully it will go away. Such a bad idea
Wow! What a lot of great information! My daughter and family are going in two weeks and I shared this wonderful article with her.
However, I have a stupid question. I have always heard you need to refresh your screen, but have no idea how you do that! Can you explain? Thanks so much!
How does the DAS pass work with the new Genie + system?
Lois, you’ll be able to pick and choose which members of your party pick up a Genie+ selection at any given time. So, like you said, if you have smaller riders who can’t experience an attraction or grown riders who just don’t want to, you do no have to use a Genie+ selection on them. You could try to book something separately for them during that timeslot so they’ll also have a selection in the system.
Our pleasure, Ann!
Carol, I agree that My Plans was convenient. We found that if you search for it (use the magnifying glass at the bottom of the app), you can access the screen. Not as convenient, but I hope this helps.
Brad, Disney says it’ll maintain DAS as it was pre-Genie, but there are some advantages to using the new DAS features added to Genie. Now you can pre-register online via video chat with a Disney Cast Member. When you do that, you’ll be able to book two DAS selections per day of your trip, so that means you’d go into each day with two pre-made DAS selections. You’ll also still be able to get DAS selections, one at a time, but you’ll now have two ways to get your one-at-a-time selections. You can use the original way: go to the ride and talk to the Cast Member for a return time OR use the self-selection tool that’s been added to Genie. You won’t have to navigate to the attraction to make the self-selection in the app, and you’ll get a return time right through the tool. This could save some back-tracking and steps, which for many will be a help. Let me know if you have other questions about this.
John, I had trouble getting the app to do this for me yesterday (from home, trip not scheduled until next spring), but I would definitely recommend playing around with it or checking out our YouTube channel for tips and tricks (video(s) coming soon!).
Ronjon, just to clarify, you do not need to pay for Genie+ ($15 per day) in order to book the Individual Attraction Selections, so unless you really want Genie+, you could opt not to use it.
Dorothy — not a stupid question at all! On most screens you can just pull down on the screen and release to refresh. Sometimes you might have to tap out of the screen and back into it (i.e. tap into a different topic, then tap back into the topic you need).
John, our reporters tell me no, there wasn’t really an advantage to purchasing day-of Genie+ at midnight. They noted that you will get Audio Tales and AR filters right away, so if you intend to be up for a while at midnight or before 7AM, it might be fun to play with those. I want to add one caveat: if the Parks are really busy — like Christmas or New Year’s Eve busy — this could be different. But as far as I know, Disney hasn’t said they’ll ever “sell out” of Genie+ services, just that some attractions may become unavailable for those claiming Lightning Lane passes throughout the day. Does that make sense?
Kelley, with the Individual Attraction Selections (the FANCY rides), you do get time options and can select the one that works best for you.
Stacey, you can tell Genie when you plan to Park Hop and what time you plan to be in your next Park. It should adjust according to those pieces of information.
Ronjon, your comment got me wondering about rides that “sell out” with Genie+. Our reporters tell me that rides don’t necessarily “sell out”, but the windows can become fully booked, which would mean your return window could be some time from your search (i.e. you might have to make your Genie+ selection window for four hours later or something like that). You can try refreshing the screen in the app over and over to see if you get better return time options, and we have seen rides that appeared to have no windows available come back with more available ride times later in the day. So it’s something to keep looking for if a person really wants to get the most out of the service. (I know this doesn’t really help with your overall feelings about Genie+ and Individual Attraction Selections, but I wanted to share this info in case anyone found it helpful.)
DFB Sarah, thank you for the response, I know this is early in the game so to speak, but having used the old DL max pass I wasn’t sure if the midnight purchase would ply a role or not, given popularity… we are going to WDW December 4-11, so hoping the few rides that we think could sell out … don’t. I’m glad to see all of the other answers you provided as well, I need to prepare for battle… DAS used to be simple for me to get, 90% disabled vet, can’t sit more than 30-60 mins, can’t stand still either, have to keep moving, hoping the new system is simple enough to get, but hearing horror stories from some that have sat up to 10 hours trying to pre register, glad that’s an option now.
John, the good news with DAS is that Disney is saying they’ll also maintain the “old” way of doing it. So you can still go to Guest Relations and register on your first day and use your card for the duration of your trip. This would also mean you’ll need to go to the attractions and speak to a Cast Member for a return time (rather than booking a return time in the app, which will be available November 1 onward).