Using Genie+ to Park Hop at Walt Disney World Just Got More Challenging

Disney Genie+ has been available for purchase for Guests visiting Walt Disney World since October 2021. The service allows Guests to select a return time for experience Disney Park attractions for the added fee of $15 per person, per day, with select attractions only available as Individual Lightning Lane purchases for $8-18.

Since the service launched last year, numerous changes have taken place. Previously, Guests lost the ability to purchase the service in advance of their trip as Genie+ is now based on availability. And Disney has gone back and forth multiple times on which attractions would be included as part of Lightning Lane vs. Genie+.

In its latest update, Genie+ has changed how Guests select the next available timeslot for attractions at the Park they are hopping to. The change, as expected, is a bit confusing so we’re breaking it down to help you know what to expect for the next time you use Genie+ at Walt Disney World.

Prior to the latest update, Guests who were planning to Park Hop after 2:00 p.m. (the only time when Park Hopping is allowed under Disney’s current Park entry system) would find that if they opened Genie+ earlier in the day and looked at attractions in the Park they were hopping to, the times would default to 2:00 p.m.

We know this is confusing, so we’ll try to break it down with an example. Let’s say you start your day in the Magic Kingdom, and when it is 10:30 a.m. you decide you want to Park hop to Disney’s Animal Kingdom and book a Genie+ time to ride Expedition Everest through Lightning Lane.

You open up Genie+ in the My Disney Experience app and see that the next time for Expedition Everest is at 12:00 p.m., but of course, you cannot ride at 12:00 p.m. since you are in the Magic Kingdom and Park hopping does not start until 2:00 p.m.

Still with us? Previously, if you had selected that 12:00 p.m. entry time for Expedition Everest, the system would default to a 2:00 entry as that is when Park hopping begins.

Now, for the changes. Let’s take that same scenario of you in the Magic Kingdom at 10:30 a.m. looking for Lightning Lane entry to Expedition Everest when you are able to Park hop at 2:00 p.m. With the change, if the next time is 12:00 p.m. you will not be able to book the Lightning Lane.

In contrast FastPass+, Genie+ only gives you the next available time with no option to select something later. The previous version of the system where it would default to 2:00 p.m. for Park hoppers was not consistent with the way that Genie+ is intended to work and that “bug” has now been changed.

The downside for Guests looking to Park hop is that this change means you’re going to spend more time scrolling on your phone during your trip. If 10:30 a.m. happens to be when you’re sitting down figuring out how to spend the rest of the day, but it’s too early for the time that makes sense for Lightning Lane after Park hopping, you’ll need to pull out your phone more throughout the day and keep checking for a time that does work.

Despite Genie+ causing confusion for Guests, especially given the program’s flexibility and numerous changes it has already undergone, Disney CEO Bob Chapek recently noted that about half of the Guests visiting Disney Parks purchase the ticket add-on, and its flexibility is viewed as a success by the company.

We will continue to monitor any further updates to Genie+ here on DisneyTips, and will be back with additional information as we have it.