Hi Holly! Welcome to planDisney!
Disney Genie+ has become one of my favorite services to purchase to enhance my vacations at the
Walt Disney World Resort. Instead of waiting in long standby queues, I reserve
Lightning Lanes through the
My Disney Experience mobile app, one at a time, and wait in a much shorter queue. It's convenient and easy and I get to spend more time snacking my way around the parks. So I consider that a win-win!
In order for Guests to pay for their own Disney Genie+ Service, they would need to pay using their own My Disney Experience mobile app. If you were to purchase the service for your whole group, you would need to pay for everyone. However, once everyone has purchased the service, as long as they are connected to your account through the
Family & Friends list, you can be in charge of booking Lightning Lanes for everyone! And if you are concerned that they won't be able to make the initial purchase, you can meet in a common location any time each day before 7 a.m. (it goes on sale each day at 12 a.m. midnight) and assist them with purchasing the service individually. I usually do this when traveling with others who aren't as tech-savvy or familiar with the app!
Here are some other options:
1.) You may want to ask each member who is paying for their own Disney Genie+ Service to purchase a
Disney Gift Card ahead of time that is specifically for the service. While the pricing fluctuates each day, you can get a general idea of what it typically can cost by opening up the My Disney Experience mobile app, clicking on the three horizontal lines in the bottom right-hand corner (≡), selecting "Tip Board," selecting "Purchase for Today" next to the Disney Genie+ logo, and scrolling down and clicking "Get Disney Genie+ Service." Just keep in mind that if you are going during a usually very busy time, you may want to add more to your estimate. Once each Guest has purchased a gift card with the amount, they can give it to you, and you can go to the
Disney Gift Card website to combine them into one card (up to $1000). Then, you can use this gift card to make the Disney Genie+ purchase each day. Only one gift card will be allowed for the purchase, which is why you'll want to combine them.
2.) Depending on how comfortable everyone is, you may want them to simply give you the money ahead of time, and you pool everyone's money together and purchase the single gift card yourself.
3.) You pay for the service each day and they simply pay you back as you go. This is what my family and friends often do. You are usually emailed a receipt each time you make these types of purchases so you can easily keep track of what you bought and let people know what they owe. This method also involves less guesswork!
Holly, no matter how you decide to do it, you're going to absolutely love the shorter wait times. And as the resident planner in my travel parties, I know what an important responsibility this all can be. But I have no doubt you're up to the task. After all, you're here asking all the right questions.
Speaking of questions, if you have any others,
please don't hesitate to reach out again. I'd be happy to help you out. And not in the way that Gaston meant when he said he'd help Belle's father, Maurice, out!
Put our service to the test,
Matt