The Best Genie+ Strategy for Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Disney’s Hollywood Studios is a very popular Disney Park at the Walt Disney World Resort that invites Guests to step into their own big-screen adventures with amazing attractions and experiences that bring Hollywood to life. The Disney Park first opened on May 1, 1989, as Disney-MGM Studios and later changed its name in 2008, but the main theme has always been the same- bringing Hollywood to life.
Guests who visit Disney’s Hollywood Studios today can experience some of the most immersive and thrilling attractions and experiences at the Walt Disney World Resort in areas like Sunset Boulevard, Toy Story Land, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, and Hollywood Boulevard.
With popular attractions including Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, Slinky Dog Dash, Toy Story Mania, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith, and Star Tours – The Adventures Continue, it’s no surprise that the Disney Park can be extremely crowded on busy days.
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Instead of just accepting the crowds and spending tons of time waiting in lines, effectively losing time, Guests want to make the most of each moment in Disney’s Hollywood Studios and be able to enjoy as many attractions and experiences as possible.
One of the best ways to do this is to take advantage of the Disney Genie+ service, which essentially replaced the FastPass system that Guests had come to know and love over the years. Disney Genie+ is an additional purchase that costs a fee per person per day, and the fee varies depending on the day of the week, time of the year, and Disney Park.
Guests could find themselves paying anywhere between $15 and $22 per person per day, depending on when they plan on visiting the Walt Disney World Resort.
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In order to use the Disney Genie+ system, Guests have to download the My Disney Experience App, activate an account, link their tickets, and be sure to make a Disney Park reservation for a specific day for Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Once all of these steps have been completed, they are ready to start using the Disney Genie+ System to help save time on a day in the Disney Park!
Disney Genie+ can be purchased through the My Disney Experience App any time after midnight on the day that Guests are planning to visit Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and the real work begins at 7 a.m. each morning.
Disney Genie+ offers Guests the chance to book Lightning Lane access to attractions throughout Disney’s Hollywood Studios and assigns them specific windows of time to return and enjoy the experience with little to no wait time, effectively saving lots of time that would have otherwise been spent waiting on line.
Before they can start booking at 7 a.m., Guests should create a plan for their day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and decide which attractions are their top priorities for enjoying. Popular attractions like the ones listed above are the best Disney Genie+ Lightning Lane selections as they tend to have the longest lines, so Guests should choose one of those options as their priority for 7 a.m. booking.
The best way to score an amazing time for a Disney Genie+ Lightning Lane selection is to log onto the My Disney Experience App at 6:58 a.m. and begin to refresh the page just before 7 a.m. Once the selections officially open up, Guests should immediately select the experience that is the highest priority to them and book a return window. So let’s say that Guests are most interested in enjoying Slinky Dog Dash; that should be their priority when the 7 a.m. window opens.
An important note to consider: Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is not available as a Disney Genie+ Lightning Lane selection. This extremely popular attraction only features a standby queue which is always lengthy or is available as an Individual Lightning Lane purchase.
This additional purchase is an option for other popular attractions across the Walt Disney World Resort, including Avatar Flight of Passage in Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind in EPCOT, and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train in the Magic Kingdom, and requires an additional purchase that can also be made at 7 a.m.
Guests looking to enjoy Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance have to make the choice at 7AM whether they want to prioritize booking that Individual Lightning Lane first or booking other experiences on Disney Genie+ first.
After booking their initial Disney Genie+ Lightning Lane selection at 7 a.m., Guests have some downtime as their next selection can either be made once they tap their MagicBands at the return time for that experience or two hours after the Disney Park opens. So, for example, if a Guest has a 9:30 a.m. return window for The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, they can book another Disney Genie+ Lightning Lane selection once they tap at that attraction.
Alternatively, if their first return window isn’t until 4 p.m. and Disney’s Hollywood Studios opens at 9 a.m., they can begin to make additional selections at 11 a.m. (or two hours after Park opening).
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Once Guests are eligible to book additional Disney Genie+ Lightning Lane selections, they should immediately reserve more return windows to continue to save lots of time, avoiding lengthy standby lines. While the priority should always be on popular attractions that tend to have longer lines, Guests can also stack return windows for less busy attractions like Muppet*Vision 3D, Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy, and Alien Swirling Saucers.
Even saving twenty minutes avoiding the standby line at each of these attractions adds up and leaves more time to enjoy other experiences throughout the Disney Park.
And there, we have a strategy for effectively using the Disney Genie+ system to save time and enjoy as much as possible in Disney’s Hollywood Studios! Guests should be sure to plan ahead, prioritize popular attractions with lengthy wait times, strategically stack return windows to save additional time, and decide on how high of a priority riding Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is for them. Doing all of these steps will ensure an amazing day in Disney’s Hollywood Studios!
