Hi Harry,
Welcome back to planDisney! The Genie+ Service, Individual Lightning Lane Purchases, and Virtual Queues all work together to make your day extra magical. My favorite thing about combining all of these services is that I spend less time in lines and more time shopping, eating, and enjoying attractions.
The beauty of these services is that they can all be used together in the
My Disney Experience app but they are separate and do not affect each other.
Disney's Genie+ Service enables you to reserve Lighting Lane entrances throughout the day. The Lightning Lane entrance will have a significantly shorter wait time than the traditional line. You can only reserve one attraction at a time or 2 hours must have passed since you made your last reservation. This comes in handy for rides that fill up quickly. A lot of times I will make my first reservation for a popular ride later in the day and then two hours later make a reservation for my first ride of the day. (I am also not a super early riser so this works for my family.) If you plan to hit the parks super early, this may not be the best way to maximize your selections but it will ensure you get to ride some of the more popular attractions.
Individual Lightning Lane purchases are completely separate from Genie+ and do not affect when you can make a Genie+ reservation. I love using the Individual Lightning Lane purchases because it offers guaranteed Lightning Lane entrance to some of the most popular attractions that often have lengthy weight times even when utilizing the Virtual Queues. You can purchase 2 of these experiences each day alongside Genie+ and Virtual Queues.
Virtual Queues are a great addition to the Disney World experience that is completely free. These are different from the Individual Lightning Lanes and Genie+ reservations because it does not give you access to the Lighting Lane. You will receive a boarding group number for your ride and sometime during the day, your boarding group will get called. When your boarding group is called, you will be able to come back and hop in line for the attraction. You will still wait in a normal line but since they limit the amount of people in a boarding group, it is not as long as it would be otherwise. Virtual Queues do not affect your Genie+ reservations or Individual Lightning Lane purchases.
Happy Planning,
Jenna