How Many Rides Can You Get On with Genie+? Disney World Guests Tell All

If you’re planning a Disney World trip for the first time since last fall, it’s quite possible that figuring out Genie+ is the bane of your existence at the moment. Is this new FastPass+ replacement actually worth the cost? And how many rides can you skip the line if you buy it? That’s what we’re digging into now.

Disney Genie+…the new way to skip the lines

In case you’re not quite caught up on the latest, Genie+ is the FastPass+ replacement that allows guests to skip the line at certain attractions. It costs $15 per person, per day, and guests can make reservations for Lightning Lanes (FastPass Lanes) at certain rides throughout the day. We’ve already discovered all kinds of tips and tricks for you to maximize your purchase if you do buy Genie+. But the big question on everyone’s mind right now is how many rides can you ACTUALLY get on with Genie+? We asked a bunch of Disney World fans — here’s what they said!

One of the main differences between Genie+ and FastPass+ (besides the fact that Genie+ is not free) is that you cannot reserve rides days ahead of time. With Genie+, you’ll use the My Disney Experience app to make Lightning Lane reservations one at a time. Once you scan into the Lightning Lane at one ride, you can make your next Genie+ reservation. (The exception is the 120-minute rule, which you can learn more about here.)

Learn more about the 120-minute rule here.

Reservations can (and do) run out, especially for more popular rides. So how many times will you actually get to skip the line? Disney updated the language on their Genie+ website recently to say that most guests will get on 2 to 3 rides with Genie+ per day. $15 to skip the line on 2 rides? It doesn’t sound like much, so our reporters investigated.

Splash Mountain Lightning Lane

Our reporters found that they could actually get Lightning Lane reservations for about 6 to 7 rides/shows in a normal day at any given park. (Note that the number of people in your group doesn’t affect this — you choose the Lightning Lane return time before inputting the number of people for your group, so unless you have a group of more than 12 people, the results are the same.) This number (6 to 7) includes bigger rides, smaller rides, and shows. In most parks, it’s possible to use Genie+ on 1 or 2 big rides, a few smaller rides, and a few shows.

Lightning Lane at Tower of Terror

In order to see if this was true for most guests, we recently reached out to our readers on social media to find out their experiences with Genie+ in Disney World. We asked how many rides people got on using Genie+ on their most recent Disney World trips. Here’s what they said!

How Many Rides Do Guests Get On With Genie+?

As you might expect, the responses were varied. Some people reported being able to get on many more attractions with Genie+ than others did. But with hundreds of responses, we started to see some overall trends.

Magic Kingdom

Most people reported being able to book between 5 and 7 Lightning Lanes in Magic Kingdom. One reader said, “Using Genie+, we did 6 in Magic Kingdom (plus 7 dwarves ILL).” Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is a pay-per-ride (or individual Lightning Lane) attraction, meaning guests have to pay a separate fee if they want to skip the line on this ride. It is not included with Genie+.

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train Lightning Lane

We saw several other readers reporting Magic Kingdom Lightning Lanes in this range, even from one guest who “arrived late to the park, at 11AM.” And a couple of readers reported even bigger numbers, with one guest saying, “Last week, we were able to get 10 Lightning Lanes in Magic Kingdom.”

Peter Pan’s Flight Lightning Lane

Although most people claimed they got on several rides in Magic Kingdom with Genie+, we did see some reports of fewer Lightning Lanes. One reader said they only got on 2 rides with Genie+: “The first one being a good one and the second one being a junk one. I prefer the original fast pass system by far!”

EPCOT

With EPCOT, many people reported lower numbers of rides with Genie+. One guest said, “In Epcot it wasn’t very helpful as most of the rides already had super low wait times. We really only used it for Soarin’.”

Lightning Lane at Soarin’

EPCOT has fewer rides in general, with only a couple of very popular ones. Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure is a pay-per-ride attraction, so the most popular rides on Genie+ in this park are Test Track and Frozen Ever After. Usually, these rides run out of Lightning Lanes earlier in the day, but guests should keep refreshing to see if more availability pops up later!

Lightning Lane Entrance

Smaller rides — like Spaceship Earth, Soarin’, and Living With the Land — generally have plenty of availability for Lightning Lanes. But sometimes the standby wait time for these rides is low enough that Genie+ isn’t necessary, like the guest mentioned earlier. One reader, who did use Genie+ for small rides as well as bigger ones, said they got on “6 Lightning Lanes at EPCOT.”

Living With The Land Lightning Lane

A couple of other readers reported that they only used 2 Lightning Lanes in EPCOT, so it “wasn’t worth it” for this park.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

From the many responses we received, most people reported getting on 3 to 4 rides with Genie+ in Animal Kingdom. Like EPCOT, this park has fewer big rides and several smaller rides that don’t usually have high wait times.

Lightning Lane sign at Kilimanjaro Safaris

One guest said that, even with Park Hopper and only being in Animal Kingdom for half the day, they used Genie+ for 4 rides. The ride that usually runs out of availability the fastest in the park is Kilimanjaro Safaris, so a couple of readers recommended booking that ride at 7AM if you want to go on it.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

One reader summed up Genie+ in Hollywood Studios very well: “Hollywood Studios is a wildcard.” About using Genie+ in this park, they said, “One of our trips we did okay. One – hardly any.” Because there are so many popular, big rides in this park (and relatively few smaller, “filler” rides), many of the Lightning Lanes fill up quickly.

Slinky Dog Dash Lightning Lane

Another guest said, “The only time I used it was our latest visit to Hollywood Studios, and we got just 2 rides. By the time our 2-hour window passed on the second one, all the other rides we wanted had no availability.”

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster

Other guests had better luck. One said, “We used Genie+ only in Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, and we did 5-6 Lightning Lanes per day, arriving late to the park (11:00 am).”

Tower of Terror Lightning Lane

We saw several reports of 4 to 5 Lightning Lanes in Hollywood Studios, with several people saying they only got on 1 or 2 of the biggest rides (like Slinky Dog Dash or Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster).

Some Takeaways…

Magic Kingdom is the best park for Genie+.

With a lot of smaller rides that don’t usually sell out of Lightning Lanes, Magic Kingdom might be the best park for Genie+. One guest said, “We got 5 [Lightning Lanes] in Magic Kingdom (which was definitely the best bang for our buck).”

“it’s a small world”

Another guest reported that their group got “7 at Magic Kingdom” and only “3 or 4” in the other 3 parks.

Lightning Lane

So if you’re only going to buy Genie+ for 1 park, our readers advised using it for Magic Kingdom! Then you can skip the line at several rides that can get long wait times but don’t usually run out of Lightning Lane availability (like Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin).

It depends on if you use Genie+ for smaller attractions.

Although you COULD use Genie+ on several rides and attractions in each park, most guests only want to use it on bigger attractions. There are usually plenty of smaller rides available, but with limited time in the parks, some people simply aren’t interested in visiting those attractions at all.

Alien Swirling Saucers

One reader said that some of the Lightning Lanes they booked were “totally unnecessary because the lines were short anyway,” but they used Genie+ because they had bought it and wanted to make the most of it. So if you use Genie+ on several of these smaller attractions (which groups with younger kids might be more likely to do), we think you can book much more than 2 to 3 Lightning Lanes in one day.

Barnstormer

However, if you’re only interested in those super popular rides (like Slinky Dog Dash, Test Track, Jungle Cruise, and Splash Mountain), you probably won’t get on more than 2 or 3 rides in each park. And in some parks — like Hollywood Studios — it’s tricky enough to get more than 1!

Jungle Cruise

We’d recommend booking one popular attraction right at 7AM (which is when guests can make their first Genie+ selections each day) and then rope-dropping to a different popular ride. (Rope-dropping just means getting to the park before opening time and speed walking straight to the ride you’re interested in.)

You can still rope-drop popular rides and wait in standby lines!

And keep in mind that some popular rides aren’t included in Genie+ at all. Right now, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Rise of the Resistance, and Flight of Passage are all pay-per-ride. That means you’ll have to pay a separate fee in order to skip the line on those rides.

You’ll get on more rides if you do research ahead of time.

Several of our readers that reported getting on more rides with Genie+ noted that they’d done a lot of preparation ahead of time. One reader said, “To be fair I’ve watched everything DFB has put out on Genie+ so I was super prepared!”

Lightning Lane

Another reader passed along a few tips that helped them find success with Genie+: “Knowing days ahead of time which rides we wanted to prioritize, immediately checking for the next reservations when we were in a queue for a Genie+ ride, refreshing like mad if times weren’t agreeable, and getting up before 7AM to book the first ride immediately at 7AM.” This reader noted that their group got on 6 to 7 Genie+ rides per day in each park, with a peak of 10 to 11 rides in Magic Kingdom.

Splash Mountain

If you’re preparing for a visit, check out these resources to help you make the most of Genie+:

In general, it seems like Disney’s estimate of 2 to 3 Genie+ rides per day is a little low for most of the parks. Especially if you do your research ahead of time, you should be able to get on more rides than that in a day. Keep following DFB for more tips as you plan your upcoming vacation!

Click here to check out some recent Disney Genie+ CHANGES.



All About Disney Genie, Genie+, and Individual Attraction Selection

Click HERE to See More About Disney Genie

Join the DFB Newsletter To Get All the Latest Disney News Delivered Right to Your Inbox Click here to Subscribe

Have you used Genie+ in Disney World? Let us know your thoughts about it in the comments!

The post How Many Rides Can You Get On with Genie+? Disney World Guests Tell All first appeared on the disney food blog.