Sara,
Thanks for asking your question to planDisney!
You do not have to be in a park to make a
Genie+ or Individual Lightning Lane selection. You can be most anywhere. I have even been sitting on an airplane, waiting for it to take off from my home airport as I headed to the magic!
The biggest concern for you is ensuring that you have a good internet connection at that golden hour of ride selection. On a recent trip I was in my hotel room at
Disney’s Pop Century Resort, and my standard cell signal was getting a bit questionable. I made sure my phone was on the Disney resort room wi-fi, and I had no problem quickly making my selections. Of course, you also want to be sure to have the
My Disney Experience App downloaded and active on your phone as well.
BONUS TIP #1With the
Virtual Queue, the site says you must be in the respective park. However, for the morning queue you actually do not have to be in the park, since in most cases the parks would not be open at 7 am anyway. If there is an afternoon or evening queue, however, you would need to be in the actual park.
BONUS TIP #2The one consideration you must remember when making those attraction reservations if you are not in the park is with Genie+ rides. While you can select your ride time from available options with an Individual Lightning Lane selection, with a Genie+ attraction selection the time is set for you at the next available ride time. So, if you are not close to the park and your attraction time is coming up shortly, you might miss out.
Please feel free to
write me back directly with any follow-up questions.
Have a Magical Vacation!
Doug