Hi Larry,
Thanks for stopping by planDisney with your question! Your magical vacation is just a few weeks away, so I am sure there is a lot of excitement in your household!
I hear you loud and clear, and I was a little nervous about purchasing
Disney Genie+ for the first time too. I can let you know that after using it successfully multiple times, I love the convenience and flexibility that it provides.
I recommend waiting until you are on your vacation to purchase it. The price per day is the same whether you add it to your entire vacation, or just get it each day. That way, you can use it for a day or two and decide if you really like it.
I'm not sure if you remember the very first FastPass system where you had to go to machines inside the parks to get your FastPasses. If you do remember that, having Disney Genie+ is kind of like carrying one of those machines around with you. Instead of getting FastPasses, you get Lightning Lane access. Beginning at 7 AM, you can make your first Lightning Lane selection. Typically, once you've entered the Lightning Lane for that ride, you can make another selection, and continue this way throughout the day. Now, the exception to this rule would be if, for example, at 10 AM you went to make a Lightning Lane reservation for
Jungle Cruise, and the next available time was 5 PM. You won't have to wait until 5 PM to book your next Lightning Lane, but you will need to wait 120 minutes, which would be 12 noon.
I don't know which park you are planning to visit first on your vacation, but I found that
Magic Kingdom was one of the easiest parks to really get the hang of using Genie+ because there are so many rides and shows that have Lightning Lanes.
There's more to Genie+ than shorter wait times. There are some really fun photo filters that are exclusive to guests who purchase Genie+. In
Disney's Hollywood Studios we loved one that features Baby Yoda.
Now, there may be some parks you go to where you decide that the attractions you most want to ride aren't included in the Genie+ purchase. Some of the most popular attractions, like
Remy's Ratatouille Adventure in EPCOT require an Individual Lightning Lane purchase to skip the standby lines. It's possible that your family may decide to forgo getting Genie+ on some days and use the savings to purchase an Individual Lightning Lane for a "must do" attraction. Of course, you can always purchase both Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lanes, but these two methods for skipping the standby lines are completely independent of one another.
Hope this helps. Have a magical vacation!
Diane