So you’re all packed up and ready to get started on your first day of Disney World fun. You get your stroller ready, you pack your purse, you do everything to make sure your family is going to have the very best day ever. Oh, but don’t forget to purchase Genie+, right?
For those of you not yet in the Disney World latest lingo, Genie+ is the new way you buy FastPasses. They used to be free, but now you pay $15 per day and you get the FastPass system again… only now it is called Lightning Lane. That’s a little too simple though, because you can still pay more for some of the very most popular rides separate from the normal $15 you have to pay.
Anyway, you would think that $15 per person would ensure you have a major advantage, right? Think again.
Unlike leaving as much non-essentials in the hotel room as possible, buying Genie+ really doesn’t help you have a better day at Walt Disney World unless you arrive late in the day or the park is really, really crowded. At least, that’s been my experience. Although Disney is slowly getting better about estimating wait times, you still can expect to have significantly less wait in a queue than what Disney officially predicts. Sometimes that’s ten minutes, and sometimes (especially if it’s very late), a 45 minute official display may actually be a walk-on.
Surprisingly, it seems that Genie+ really doesn’t save guests all that much time, unless you’re really good at using it. While you can still use the system with impressive efficiency if you’re an aficionado, just like people once did with FastPass, for the average family it’s going to be very difficult to shave a lot of time off. Most groups try to book the big rides, and often those have huge waits that make sure you don’t use your Lighting Lane again for two hours or more. Most people don’t know that if you just show up when the park opens, you’ll likely be able to get on those uber-popular rides in half an hour. For a family of four, that’s going to save you at least sixty dollars per day, or more than two-hundred dollars for a typical vacation.
For another look at how all of this plays out in the real world, check out JoJo on YouTube:
