“Welcome Home!”

Those were the first words that I heard as I began to use the new My Disney Experience app at WDW last week. I was using the app to unlock the car gate at the Saratoga Springs Resort, while talking to a Security cast member. He was awesome and helpful, whereas the app wasn’t much so, but I am getting ahead of myself here.

Last week, my Disney obsessed family returned to Walt Disney World after 20 long months of being away due to the pandemic. We reserved our usual 1 BR villa with kitchen at Saratoga next to a feature pool there, planning to mix Disney dining and meals in our room. It is there that I will begin the story of using the new MDE/Genie+ app.

For those folks who have used the MDE app before, the experience is now enhanced with new features including the ability to unlock your hotel room, make dining and park reservations, purchase enhanced ride experiences and generally manage your entire trip from start to finish.

So, your question now is probably, “How well did it work?”

The answer is … results were mixed. I’ll cover the experience in sections below.

Doors and Resort Navigation

One of the first things you will see in the app after you have added your reservation is information about the resort and your room.

If you are logged in, you will have an option to unlock your door, using the embedded Bluetooth functionality of your phone. I found results here to be somewhat mixed, where sometimes I could unlock the door, and other times, I would be fighting to login. It is for this reason that I recommend ordering a magic band as its more seamless and the doors unlock immediately without having to login to an app.

Disney’s app is a great way to manage your stay, but until they resolve the login issue with 2-factor authentication and provide an easier experience by not having guests enter their email address randomly as the app times out, I can’t recommend the app being a full replacement for the magic band at the resorts.

Park Experience

Since our first day to the parks was a special ticketed event, Boo Bash, we had an interesting start to our experience, through the use of a new Magic Mobile pass.

The pass, pictured above, is accessed through your MDE/G+ app where its added to the Wallet on your phone. You can then use your phone to access park tickets stored in MDE, make purchases to your hotel folio and access virtual queue/lightning lane selections as if the phone was a park ticket or magic band.

While it took some time to get used to, it became a regular part of our park experience and one that I was even able to share with my 13 year old. Overall, I would consider this to be a good experience that Disney has done well since implementing it in the last year.

Genie Plus and Individual Lightning Lanes

There are some specifics about the app that you should know, both in general and on a per-park basis. For starters, know that the My Disney Experience and Genie + functionality are implemented seamlessly in the app. If you are a Disney PRO and have used the MDE app in the past, you will recall that you could see wait times for rides and make Fastpass+ reservations. This functionlity still exists, but is enhanced by the Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lane experiences.

As you can see below, the Genie Service is offered as soon as you begin using the MDE App:

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As you can see above, Genie has suggested that I visit Kilimanjaro Safaris at 3:15pm, plus has offered a Lightning Lane (LL) experience as part of the “Plus” experience that I have done for this day. In this case, Kilimanjaro is a included LL experience that I can choose 1x per day within a group of attractions. You can access this process by paying $15/day per guest.

In this example above, I could choose the Genie LL experience for Alien Swirling Saucers at 2:40pm. As soon as I checked in on the AS attraction, I could then select another experience from the list that the park has that I haven’t done yet.

Also, there is the concept of a “Select” Lightning Lane Experience, where you can purchase access to a popular attraction, and bypass the line.

As we review each park, we will cover which of these experiences are worth the cost versus simply standing in line or choosing the basic Genie + access. In some cases those are worth the extra money, in others, you can save your money for Mickey Ears!

Magic Kingdom

When visiting the Magic Kingdom, here are your options for Individual and Genie + Lightning Lanes:

Individual Lightning Lane Selections
Attractions include:

• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
• Space Mountain

Disney Genie+ Lightning Lane Selections
Attractions include:

• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
• Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
• Dumbo the Flying Elephant
• Haunted Mansion
• “it’s a small world”
• Jungle Cruise
• Mad Tea Party
• Mickey’s PhilharMagic
• Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor
• Peter Pan’s Flight
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Splash Mountain
• The Barnstormer
• The Magic Carpets of Aladdin
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
• Tomorrowland Speedway
• Under the Sea ~ Journey of The Little Mermaid

Our Recommendation: If you only have one day at MK, I recommend purchasing Genie+ to maximize your experience, but note that with good planning, you should be able to access many of these attractions with minimal waiting, except Seven Dwarves Mine Train.

Epcot

When visiting Epcot, here are your options:

Individual Lightning Lane Selections
Attractions include*:

• Frozen Ever After
• Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure

Disney Genie+ Lightning Lane Selections
Attractions include*:

• Disney and Pixar Short Film Festival
• Journey into Imagination with Figment
• Living with the Land
• Mission: SPACE – Green
• Mission: SPACE – Orange
• Soarin’ Around the World
• Spaceship Earth
• Test Track
• The Seas with Nemo & Friends
• Turtle Talk with Crush

Our Recommendation: Once again, the Genie Plus is a good option for the day if you are only here for 1 day. If you have a couple days, then you will likely be able to watch the times and get on many of the attractions without needing the pass.

That said, note Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure is brand new and is only accessible through the Individual Lightning Lane or Virtual Queue. If you are able to start your day early, then the Virtual Queue is a good option starting at 7am, and then you can forego purchasing the ILL for it. Either way, you do not want to miss this new attraction. It is a great ride experience!

Hollywood Studios

For Hollywood Studios, your options are:

Individual Lightning Lane Selections
Attractions include*:

• Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
• Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance

Disney Genie+ Lightning Lane Selections
Attractions include*:

• Alien Swirling Saucers
• Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage
• Disney Junior Play & Dance!
• For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration
• Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular – Returning December 19, 2021
• Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
• Muppet*Vision 3D
• Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
• Slinky Dog Dash
• Star Tours – The Adventures Continue
• The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror™
• Toy Story Mania!

Our Recommendation: Due to a shortage of experiences at this park, we highly recommend 2 days at the park with the purchase of both ILLs on one day and Genie + on the second day. The Standby line for Runaway Railway is over 90 mins on most days as is the line for Rise of the Resistance, which can reach 150-180 mins. On the Genie + side, we have seen lines for Slinky Dog reach 120 mins and Toy Story Mania at 90-120 mins.

Animal Kingdom

At Animal Kingdom, you have the following options:

Individual Lightning Lane Selections
Attractions include*:

• Avatar Flight of Passage
• Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain

Disney Genie+ Lightning Lane Selections
Attractions include*:

• Celebration of the Festival of the Lion King
• DINOSAUR
• Feathered Friends in Flight!
• It’s Tough to Be a Bug!
• Kali River Rapids
• Kilimanjaro Safaris
• Naʻvi River Journey
• The Animation Experience at Conservation Station

Our Recommendation: Due to the single rider line at Expedition, you can forego that pass as most times the line is rather short. Unless you are a huge Avatar fan, most of the attractions here have reasonable wait times and thus you can forego the Genie Plus and ILL purchases.

Conclusion

We will continue to update this post as we learn more about the app, and the experience evolves. The recommendations here are based upon what we observed in the first couple weeks of the app’s use when the crowds at Disney were still somewhat low due to the lack of international travelers.

I used the Genie+ app to plan my trip to Disney World, and it made things so much easier. It was great for navigating around all of the parks because it gave me step by step instructions on how to get from point A to point B with maps, pictures of what each attraction looked like, reviews of restaurants and attractions (in addition to some other fun stuff). If you’re planning a trip or vacation anytime soon but aren’t sure where you want go yet, this is an excellent option that takes out many steps in figuring out your itinerary. And don’t forget about our team! We’ll help map your perfect destination at no cost – just fill out our form here.