Magic Kingdom is the most effective park for purchasing Genie+ at Walt Disney World on peak dates in 2023. For at the present time with Lightning Lanes, I examined my technique for skipping standby strains to see how a lot time may very well be saved when Park Hopping to Magic Kingdom.
This Genie+ picture report walks you thru my step-by-step day in MK, with my Lightning Lane choices & return instances, experience reservation screenshots, what I achieved within the afternoon and night at Magic Kingdom, and ideas on the finish about whether or not Genie+ is well worth the cash at Magic Kingdom. It additionally consists of technique and different helpful recommendation, plus loads of ineffective and random commentary.
As fast background for individuals who are unfamiliar with it, Genie+ is the paid line-skipping service at Walt Disney World and Lightning Lanes are the previous FastPass queues. All of that is booked within the My Disney Experience app and may be fairly difficult and overwhelming. If you’re new to the Genie+ service, this submit is a poor place to start out. Instead, see our Guide to Genie+ at Walt Disney World & Lightning Lane FAQ. That regularly-updated useful resource is a superb leaping off level should you’re confused, overwhelmed, or need technique to higher leverage Lightning Lanes.
As famous up prime, this run-through was achieved when Park Hopping to Magic Kingdom, which meant that each one of my experience reservations have been for two pm or later. I did this not as a result of it’s the most effective method to Genie+ at Magic Kingdom. Quite the opposite, the truth is. This is the one park at Walt Disney World the place it’s doable and productive to make use of Genie+ for the total day.
However, it’s additionally simple and environment friendly to make use of Genie+ for a full day at Magic Kingdom. This is true with crowd ranges from 5/10 to 10/10; Magic Kingdom is the one park the place Lightning Lanes by no means buckle underneath the burden of colossal crowds. That’s nice information for precise company spending time within the park…much less so for repeated ‘stress tests’ of the system. They all basically yield the identical outcomes, and turn out to be pointless with out including new ‘angles’ to the itinerary.
I’ve already achieved run-throughs of a day earlier than MNSSHP or MVMCP and one other after I’ve slept-in and nonetheless used Genie+ at Magic Kingdom. For this, I believed I’d take that pondering to an excellent higher excessive, and begin in a totally different park, use Genie+ for a headliner or two there, after which bounce to Magic Kingdom at 2 pm to see simply how a lot I may nonetheless accomplish.
The “problem” is that this shiny thought dawned on me whereas on the bus to Animal Kingdom for Early Entry, at an time after I was sleep and caffeine-deprived. My pondering was principally, “I’m already up, might as well do this!” And so I did.
Had I given it any extra thought past that, I might’ve realized that I used to be going to perform actually the whole lot throughout Early Entry at Animal Kingdom. The finish consequence can be a second experience on Na’vi River Journey with no wait. Don’t get me unsuitable, I take pleasure in Na’vi River Journey. But it’s not one thing I must do twice in a single morning. (In an ideal world, it could be an early afternoon escape from the warmth and crowds.)
With even 2 minutes of level-headed pondering past that, I might’ve realized this identical technique would’ve been exponentially higher when paired with a morning at EPCOT or Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Had I simply waited a day to do that, it could’ve been an awesome check for an attraction-packed day at Walt Disney World. Kids, that’s why it’s all the time vital have a giant cup of Mountain Dew to start out your day.
While it’s not what I did on at the present time, it’s very simple to piece collectively my Genie+ days and Early Entry at EPCOT or Disney’s Hollywood Studios and give you a full-day run that works very well.
Basically, the plan for EPCOT must be reserving your #3 attraction. You ought to be capable of knock out at the very least 2 of the three headliners plus Soarin’ throughout Early Entry and the primary hour after park opening, so make a Lightning Lane choice for whichever you anticipate not having the ability to accomplish. After that one single choice, begin making Lightning Lane experience reservations for Magic Kingdom points of interest.
The method for Disney’s Hollywood Studios may be much more aggressive. Start by following our tried and true Strategy for Early Entry at Disney’s Hollywood Studios (I’ll have an replace to that for 2023, nevertheless it’s nearly unchanged) to knock out three of the most well-liked points of interest within the park.
For your first Lightning Lane choice, select Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run. Return to this as early as doable (with out sacrificing low standby waits) after which instantly e-book a Lightning Lane for Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway upon tapping into Smugglers Run. Return to that as early as doable, and e-book Toy Story Mania upon tapping into Runaway Railway. Then proceed with reserving Magic Kingdom Lightning Lanes. (I can do full posts fleshing out these Park Hopping methods in some unspecified time in the future if there’s curiosity, however that ought to cowl the fundamentals it is advisable to know to execute.)
Had I chosen a kind of different two parks for this check, not solely would my Lightning Lanes have been extra helpful, however the day would’ve been extra seamless. I might’ve gone immediately from reserving DHS or EPCOT Lightning Lanes to my prime priorities in Magic Kingdom.
Instead, I needed to wait round for over an hour after I used to be eligible to make one other choice following Na’vi River Journey. This was because of a change made final late summer time or early fall; the Genie+ system not routinely advances experience reservation instances to start out after 2 pm. Instead, it’s important to look ahead to the return instances to naturally attain that.
My “problem” was that each time Peter Pan’s Flight or Jungle Cruise received near 2 pm return instances, a experience reservation refill would drop and begin the entire course of once more. Those are air quotes round downside as a result of that is nice for many precise park company, and additional underscores why the “Genie+ makes you wake up at 7 am!” claims are suspect.
To make sure, being up at 7 am is the most effective plan of action–particularly in order for you Slinky Dog Dash, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, or Frozen Ever After. However, it’s not strictly crucial even for any of these, and definitely not something at Magic Kingdom. So lengthy as you make your first Lightning Lane choice 1 minute earlier than park opening, you’re in excellent form at Magic Kingdom.
I used to be lastly in a position to make my Peter Pan’s Flight Lightning Lane choice at 9:35 am.
That’s 36 minutes later than I might’ve preferred on this state of affairs, however not the top of the world. Had I achieved this check at EPCOT or DHS, I might’ve made this choice even later. The distinction is that I might’ve been pulling and utilizing wonderful Lightning Lanes within the meantime, slightly than simply ready round for the clock to advance at Animal Kingdom. Lesson realized.
Since I used to be Park Hopping to Magic Kingdom, I used the “stacking” method to Genie+ Lightning Lanes thereafter.
Above is my stockpile I collected by reserving according to the 120-minute rule. Even should you began at EPCOT or Disney’s Hollywood Studios and didn’t e-book your first Magic Kingdom Lightning Lane till 10 am or later, you ought to be capable of e-book all of those on most dates. Jungle Cruise and Peter Pan’s Flight usually have Lightning Lane availability till round 3-4 pm.
After arriving at Magic Kingdom and knocking out Peter Pan’s Flight and Space Mountain, I continued reserving extra Lightning Lanes as proven within the screenshots above. (I used to be in PhilharMagic when my subsequent reserving window opened, therefore the delay in reserving “it’s a small world.”)
You would possibly discover that I didn’t comply with our Magic Kingdom Genie+ Priorities & Lightning Lane Ride Ranks in making these. That’s as a result of time was my greatest enemy, and persevering with to make choices that have been 120+ minutes into the longer term would’ve restricted my complete variety of (helpful) Lightning Lanes.
Instead, I opted for earlier return instances. If you take a look at the timestamps within the screenshots above, you’ll see simply how shut collectively many of those have been booked. My purpose was to knock out as a lot as doable, as shortly as doable. As quickly as I tapped into one Lightning Lane, I’d reserve the subsequent–ideally one thing increased precedence and considerably close by, however not all the time.
I opted for this method as a result of wait instances are longest throughout the center of the day, and fall off a cliff throughout dinner, fireworks, and thereafter. When I did “it’s a small world,” for instance, its posted wait time was 55 minutes. Later that very same night, it could be a walk-on.
To that you simply would possibly say, “so just do it later in the evening.” Fair sufficient. The downside with that’s there’s solely a lot you are able to do throughout these night hours. Riding “it’s a small world” then comes with a chance price of another extra well-liked attraction with minimal wait.
In the top, that is as a lot an artwork as it’s a science. After you get previous the highest 3 or 4 Lightning Lanes which might be objectively the most effective, the whole lot else is extra of a judgment name. I virtually didn’t e-book Haunted Mansion as a result of I assumed it’d be a walk-on after the fireworks; if truth be told, it was nonetheless (one way or the other) a forty five minute posted wait time with an prolonged queue suggesting that was fairly near correct.
If you’re merely studying about Genie+ and haven’t but used it, this flexibility may be overwhelming and result in the misguided conclusion that Genie+ is simply too difficult or complicated at Magic Kingdom. That couldn’t be farther from the reality. The salient level right here must be that quite a lot of totally different approaches are workable, and you may nonetheless obtain wonderful outcomes following an “imperfect” plan and never zealously following inventory technique.
Ultimately, I ended up utilizing Genie+ to safe 10 Lightning Lane choices throughout this half-day Park Hopping to Magic Kingdom. I may have scored at the very least one other 3 for the night hours, however they might’ve been largely ineffective. I additionally may’ve prioritized meet & greets throughout the afternoon and moved a few of these Fantasyland darkish rides to the night, however I had no real interest in that. (Had I began the day in Magic Kingdom, it’s protected to say I may’ve achieved all the meet & greets by way of Lightning Lanes along with the whole lot right here.)
Based on posted wait instances at my return instances, I saved over 8 hours ready in standby strains with these 10 experience reservations. Even if 2-3 hours have been knocked off that because of the disparity between posted v. precise wait instances at Walt Disney World, I nonetheless would’ve saved at the very least 5 hours of ready in line.
However, it’s additionally price acknowledging that I waited in longer Lightning Lanes (all through my days doing these assessments, not simply at Magic Kingdom) than ever earlier than. For those that missed it, this was mentioned at nice size in What Went Wrong During Spring Break at Walt Disney World.
Above is a take a look at the “it’s a small world” return line, which was over 10 minutes lengthy. Below is Peter Pan’s Flight, which was 17 minutes. Those have been two of the most important offenders, however others had 5-10 minute waits. So adjusting for that, my time saved was most likely nearer to 4 hours.
From my perspective, Genie+ continues to be simply “worth it” at Magic Kingdom by way of the time v. cash price calculus. And that’s with out even bearing in mind what I may’ve achieved within the morning by way of Lightning Lanes at EPCOT or Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Genie+ just isn’t nice each day in each park at Walt Disney World. It can prevent plenty of time in EPCOT or Disney’s Hollywood Studios, but additionally be very nerve-racking and require exacting technique or a robust refresh sport to attain Lightning Lanes for many headliners. The one park the place Genie+ is persistently worthwhile is Magic Kingdom. Not solely will it prevent plenty of time ready (until the group stage is 4/10 or decrease), nevertheless it’s not nerve-racking and requires much less display time.
With the opposite three parks, the argument may very well be made {that a} sturdy itinerary, arriving for Early Entry, and staying till park closing would yield related or superior outcomes to utilizing Lightning Lanes. In reality, that’s an argument I might make after my experiences testing the whole lot throughout Spring Break 2023 at Walt Disney World. Savvy technique beats Genie+ within the different 3 parks.
That’s not true with Magic Kingdom. Not solely is Genie+ the most suitable choice, nevertheless it’s the best and best. The sheer variety of points of interest and straightforward availability of mid-tier and above Lightning Lanes makes it the clear-cut winner. It could sound difficult on paper, however the takeaway right here must be that almost any method–and even none in any respect–will yield nice outcomes at Magic Kingdom.
I didn’t begin reserving Lightning Lanes till after park opening and didn’t begin utilizing them till after 2 pm, and nonetheless saved a number of hours ready in line and had a extremely productive day on the park. This is frequent when utilizing Lightning Lanes at Magic Kingdom, however far more troublesome when utilizing different approaches for this explicit park.
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Learn about motels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To lower your expenses on tickets or decide which sort to purchase, learn our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets submit. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips submit takes a singular take a look at intelligent gadgets to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, the most effective place to start out is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for the whole lot it is advisable to know!
Your Thoughts
Thoughts on my partial day in Magic Kingdom utilizing the Genie+ service throughout Spring Break 2023? Have you had related success utilizing Lightning Lanes whereas Park Hopping? Do you agree or disagree with my evaluation that Genie+ works greatest at Magic Kingdom? Any questions we will help you reply? Hearing your suggestions–even if you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!