Hiya, Tim!
Welcome to planDisney –– I'm so glad you dropped by with a question about your upcoming visit. There are so many cool tech features to help make your Walt Disney World Resort visit a little more magical and the best part is that you can all of these things right from the
My Disney Experience mobile app. Top on this list for me is the Disney Genie+ service and Individual Lightning Lane access, where you'll be able to reserve a return time for those must-do attractions so you can experience them with a shorter wait. Let me share a few details about reserving those Genie+ Lightning Lanes to help you get ready for your visit.
Each day, you'll be able to purchase the
Disney Genie+ service at Midnight EST and begin making your first Genie+ Lightning Lane reservation at 7 AM EST (while you can stay up late to buy the service, I personally prefer to get some shut-eye and make my purchase right before it's time to book my first attraction). Once you make that first selection at 7 AM, you'll be able to make your next selection after you've tapped into the first one or two hours after the park opens (whichever comes first). From that point, you'll be able to continue making selections every two hours throughout the day. And here's the best part –– you don't need to be in the park to make those selections. So, if you don't plan to head to the park right when it opens, you'll still be able to make your selections from your Resort or wherever you happen to be.
While you might not be able to see exact wait times when you're making your selections (especially if you're choosing return times in the morning before the park opens), I recommend that you start using your My Disney Experience app a few days before you arrive to get a general idea of what the wait times for different rides look like throughout the day. To do this, open up the app and select "Tip Board" from the main menu. On the next screen, you'll be able to scroll through all the attractions at a given park to see the current waits for each queue. If you'd like to view a different park, simply tap "Change Park" under the date to view a new location. And if you know that you'll be in the park during a specific time (say, early afternoon), be sure to take a peek during that period because wait times will definitely fluctuate as the day goes on. Even though you won't be able the guarantee that the wait times will match up exactly with the day of your visit, this is a great way to get a feel for what things look like, and it's something I always check a day or two before I arrive.
Thanks for visiting planDisney, Tim. I hope this helped to answer your question, but if you need more information about this or any other part of your Walt Disney World Resort vacation, please feel free to stop by again –– we're always happy to help!
See Ya Real Soon,
Amy