08/14/2022
Hello ,
For those of you who are going to take their first trip to Disney and for the folks who have not been in a while, I wanted to take a minute and talk about the new fast pass system Genie+. Genie+ is a paid system. It will cost you $15 per person per day. For a family of 4 on a 4 day trip that is an extra $240. The newest rides also charge a premium typically around $15 per person per ride. Just riding one of these rides per day will add an additional $240 to the price tag. Is it worth it? See below:
Genie+ Lightning Lane passes have 3 different pools that guests reserve from; resort guests, non resort guests, and passholders. I mention this up front because that could have affected my experience. For Disney World we are passholders and it is possible in this case that the passholders have more competition per day for a limited resource. I was able to start making reservations from off property at 7 am. Tip: turn off wifi. I have had issues with the app when my phone was on my wifi but it worked perfectly running on the GSM network.
Hollywood Studios - All passes quickly were for early evening for all of the E ticket rides. There was not enough other stuff to make reservations for and even though Rise of the Resistance costs extra the reservations were full by 7:01. Sadly most people are using this like a lottery ticket to get on Rise of the Resistance and like the lottery there is a good chance you just wasted your money. Use Genie+ at your own risk. I did not find it of value here.
Animal Kingdom - Same problem. I had a little more luck but chances are 2 or 3 lightning lane reservations is the max for this park on a busy day.
Epcot - Ratatouille is the big draw at the moment. (I went before Guardians of the Galaxy opened so the dynamic may have changed somewhat.) Like Rise it does charge an extra premium. Chances are you will get a Lightning Lane reservation but once again the park just doesn't have a lot of rides. You are doing well to get 3 passes on a busy day.
Magic Kingdom - Works well. There is enough to do that there were lots of rides available even on a busy day. Some favorites were booked up but is took a while. We were able to get 5 or 6 Lightning Lanes in. Once Tron opens, this may change the dynamic a bit but with park attendance still capped, I thing Genie+ works well here.
Disney Land, Islands of Adventure - we only had a one day parkhopper ticket and we did Islands of Adventure in the morning and Disney Land in the evening. Best money I have spent. We managed 12 Lightning Lane reservations between the two parks. Genie+ worked like a charm even when we park hopped. Each park had enough going on that there was usually a pass available usually within an hour or so. I don't know if that was because I was a ticketed customer instead of a pass holder or if (more likely) there are just more things their to accommodate more people.
Let me know your thoughts and experiences........
