Hi Gary!
Welcome to planDisney! I'm so glad that you found us hEAR to assist with your Disneyland Resort vacation planning question! I'm happy to be your planEAR today.
You seem like you're really on top of planning your upcoming Disney Days, Gary, in that you've done your resEARch about the brand new Disney Genie service. There are technically three levels to using this new digital assistant.
Disney Genie Service is complimentary for all guests and makes suggestions for your park days based on selections you've made informing this hand-held friend how you'd like to spend your time; would you like to get in as many thrilling attractions as possible, or would you like to focus on the smaller attractions for the mini Mouseketeers in your party? The good news is that you can start setting up these types of selections now in your
Disneyland Mobile App and then make adjustments as your vacation nears and even after you've arrived for the day!
Disney Genie+ Service is a paid upgrade that is similar to the old MaxPass system that not only includes the above planning help, it includes access to more
Lightning Lane attractions as well as all in-person and on-ride
PhotoPass photos taken each day of purchase. At the current time, there are two ways to purchase the Disney Genie+ add-on: the first is at the time of your Theme Park Admission Ticket purchase, which must cover all planned park days; the second way is day-of, upon arrival, after you've already entered the theme park. While this does mean for you, Gary, that if you have a multi-day ticket you'll need to make a Genie+ purchase each park day, I actually like this option better than adding it ahead of time because the individual day option gives you a chance to try it out and decide if you even want to add it on to any additional theme park days. This daily purchase will take place in your
Disneyland Mobile App.
Lastly, the third kind-of level to using Disney Genie+ is by
purchasing Individual Lightning Lane admissions to some of the most popular and/or intense attractions. You'll see the option for individual lane purchases in your Disneyland App after you've added Genie+ for the day, for each day of planned use.
Bonus Tip: My friend and fellow Panelist
Tara explains in this answer how to link to other tickets and Genie+ purchases in your party so you can all plan your Disney Days together.
I hope that this helped to clEAR things up a bit, Gary! Don't forget that you can start making
Dining Reservations starting 60 days out from each day you plan on being at Disneyland Resort. And if you have any more questions about your upcoming Disneyland Resort Vacation, We're All Ears!
~Kristen