Hey there, Allan! Welcome to planDisney!
You only have to wait a little longer before you are partying at The World’s Most Magical Celebration! With so much celebration magic in the air right now, it’s the perfect time to visit Walt Disney World! Not that there is ever a non-perfect time to visit.
It’s exciting to see that you are familiar with Disney’s new Genie Service! While you can not make lightning lane selections in advance like the previous Fastpass+ system, it’s still very simple to plan out your Theme Park days with Disney’s Genie Service.
With Disney’s Genie+, Guests can reserve their first lightning lane entrance starting at 7 a.m. the day of their Theme Park Visit. After making your initial Genie+ selection, Guests must use their first Lighting Lane Entrance or wait 2 hours after park opening before they can make an additional Genie+ reservation. I recommend that you reserve a Lightning Lane entrance as close to Theme Park open as possible for your first reservation, this way you can choose your next reservation earlier. For example, at 7 a.m. on your Magic Kingdom Park day I recommend reserving a Jungle Cruise Lightning Lane entrance for close to park open - let’s say 8:45 a.m. After you tap into the Jungle Cruise queue, you can make your next reservation.
Similarly, Individual Lightning Lane purchases start at 7 a.m. the day of your Theme Park visit, but only for Guests staying in a Disney Resorts Collection hotel. Guest staying off-property can purchase their first Individual Lightning Lane Entrance once the Theme Park is open. Further, Individual Lightning Lane purchases are available for all Guests - with or without the Disney Genie+ service.
Here are the steps that I follow to grab reservations for my family.
1. Open the MyDisneyExperience app
2. Navigate to the Disney Genie Service in the app
3. Select the "Tip Board" and make sure the park is correct (it always defaults to Magic Kingdom Park for me each time I open the app)
4. Locate the attraction you would like to reserve
5. Choose "Book Experience" under the Disney Genie+ option
6. Confirm your party and follow the prompts
Be sure to review the reservation time on the final confirmation screen. In my experience, the time displayed initially is not always the same when you reach the final step.
For purchasing your Individual Lightning Lanes, you can follow the steps outlined above and choose "Purchase" under the Individual Lightning Lane option for your attraction instead of "Book Experience."
I hope this helps, Allan!
To Infinity and Beyond,
PG