Hey Howdy Hey Janet and welcome to planDisney!
I love it when a good plan comes together and sounds like your big vacation is coming up soon! Thank you so much for your question about adding Genie+ to your vacation, I mean what better way to navigate the parks than with your own personal Genie amirite? There are a few details that we will get into but let's start with the basics.
You can purchase
Genie+ through your
My Disney Experience app starting at midnight on the day of your park visit. With the purchase of Genie+, you will then have access to booking
Lightning Lane return windows for many attractions in the park you will be visiting that day. As long as you will be staying at a Disney Resort Collection resort, you will be able to make your first Lightning lane return time at 7:00 a.m. EST. You will be able to make your next selection 2 hours after the park opens or when you tap into redeeming your first Lightning Lane return window, whichever is first. You will then have a similar experience the rest of the day, book one Lightning Lane and the next is available either 2 hours from the last booking or when you tap into redeem your Lightning Lane.
As far as who will need to have the My Disney Experience app downloaded on their smart device depends on how you wanted to use it. To redeem your Lightning Lane return windows, you would either need MagicBands for everyone or set up a
MagicMobile Pass for everyone on your smart device. If others wanted to help to book these Lightning Lane return windows, they are more than welcome to download their own My Disney Experience app on their smart device and as long as everyone is traveling together and connected they can make the Lightning Lane reservations as well. But not everyone needs to have their own setup to have access to Genie+.
One other thing to be aware of as you are finalizing your plans is
Individual Lightning Lane purchases. In all 4 parks, there are very popular attractions such as
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance in Hollywood Studios that you will not have access to through Genie+. You will have the option to wait in the standby line or purchase an Individual Lightning Lane return window for a specific return time to experience the attraction. There is a list of these attractions at all of the parks online that will be a good resource to look at as you are planning on which attractions in each park are on the "Must-Do List".
I hope this information helped to clear up the terrain of Genie+ and its general usage. If you have any further questions about Genie+ or anything at all about your upcoming trip, don't hesitate to stop back and let us know, we would be happy to help!
Have a Magical Day,
Nick