Should You Buy Disney Genie+ at EPCOT?
We’ve got one more Walt Disney World theme park to discuss with regards to Disney Genie+.
EPCOT currently offers Lightning Lane reservations for either nine or ten attractions, depending on how you count them. How many are worthwhile, though?
Credit: Disney
We’ll decide as we talk about Disney Genie+ at EPCOT.
The Absolutes
As I mentioned in the Lightning Lane cheat sheet, I don’t view Disney Genie+ at EPCOT as a necessary purchase.
In truth, I think it’s kind of a waste. As it is, I’m always begging people to hang out at EPCOT more.
This park offers the best value of anything at Walt Disney World. What I mean by that is the wait times are primarily short, but the attractions are phenomenal.
During most weeks, the average attraction wait time is 20 minutes, perfectly manageable for a park with only about a dozen attractions.
Still, Disney Genie+ will serve a purpose here. It’ll guarantee you short waits in line for two of the most popular rides at Walt Disney World.
I’m referencing Test Track and Soarin’ Around the World. Park officials surprised me by placing Frozen Ever After in the pay-to-ride Lightning Lane program.
With Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure opening recently, EPCOT’s two Lightning Lane choices don’t include Test Track.
Image Credit: Disney
That’s the ride that has historically required the longest wait at EPCOT. For this reason, it should be your highest priority when booking.
Soarin’ isn’t always a must, as its rides seem reasonable on many days thanks to its relatively new third theater.
That expansion solved many of the queuing issues Soarin’ had previously faced.
Even so, I view an EPCOT visit without a ride on Soarin’ as a failed day. So, I strongly recommend that you reserve Lightning Lane reservations for both.
In doing so, you’ll go a long way toward guaranteeing an impeccable park visit.
The Probables
Here are the other possible Disney Genie+ options at EPCOT:
- Disney and Pixar Short Film Festival
- Journey into Imagination with Figment
- Living with the Land
- Mission: SPACE – Green
- Mission: SPACE – Orange
- Spaceship Earth
- The Seas with Nemo & Friends
- Turtle Talk with Crush
Technically, Mission: SPACE is the only current Disney ride that you can book twice via Disney Genie+.
Park officials have separated the two since they don’t share the same standby lines.
Credit: Disney
Realistically, you’d only need a reservation for the Orange version, which tends to have double the wait times as the Green side.
Still, I suspect you’ll want to pick one of them for your visit. Similarly, no sane person goes to EPCOT and skips Spaceship Earth.
Please understand that the lines here are generally reasonable, averaging a 20-minute wait in 2021.
However, Spaceship Earth possesses a strange traffic pattern, overcrowding first thing in the morning and early in the afternoon.
So, a Disney Genie+ reservation here will save you some aggravation.
The Might as Wells
We’ve only chosen four out of a possible eight Disney Genie+ selections thus far. So here’s where things take a turn.
You honestly don’t need a Disney Genie+ reservation for anything else. I’ve tracked these wait times religiously, and nothing else even matches Spaceship Earth.
Is using a Lighting Lane pass for The Seas with Nemo & Friends worth the trouble? I mean, you’ll probably either walk right on the ride or come very close.
So, booking this Omnimover ride satisfies the primary purpose of Disney Genie+. You’ll skip the line and thereby maximize your park day.
Do you need to book this? Absolutely not. It’s just something nice you can do.
Similarly, Living with the Land hovers around 12 minutes for its average wait. It’s a terrific ride, though, especially when you need a break.
I don’t think you’ll complain if you book either of these attractions on Disney Genie+.
You just won’t maximize the value the way you would with Slinky Dog Dash or Na’vi River Journey.
The Absolutely Nots
Okay, we still have two or three selections available, depending on what you’ve decided thus far.
Photo Credit: ChipandCo.com
Now, we’ve entered the comical part of the conversation. The Disney and Pixar Short Film Festival is excellent, especially when it’s showing Feast.
Still, if you ever wait 20 minutes in line for this one, well, it’s probably Christmas week. So it’s usually a complete waste of a reservation.
The same statement applies to Turtle Talk with Crush. Both these are show attractions that run several times per hour.
You should never have to wait for more than one performance to experience either one.
By process of elimination, the only remaining choice is Journey into Imagination with Figment.
Over the past few weeks, the worst weekly wait time average for this one was 15 minutes, while the shortest was six minutes.
Friends, if you cannot wait in line ten minutes for a ride, you shouldn’t be at Disney.
As such, I view all these as hard passes. But, having said that, they’re all fun experiences, especially for kids.
Credit: Disney
So, if you have the Disney Genie+ reservations to burn, you might as well use them. Or you could…
Rope Drop Possibilities
My favorite aspect of Disney Genie+ is that you can use it at multiple parks. You get eight reservations no matter what.
Park hopping sign
At 2 p.m. each day, you can switch to a different park. Now, this approach doesn’t work as well as EPCOT at other places.
I say this because EPCOT opens later, which means you probably won’t get done here as quickly.
Even so, you should finish up by the late afternoon, at which point you can head to a different park.
Once you have your plans finalized, you can book a Disney Genie+ reservation at the next park.
Popular attractions like Slinky Dog and Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run may have sold out by then. You’ll still find plenty to do, though.
The beauty of this strategy is that the Disney Skyliner at the back of the park connects EPCOT to Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Meanwhile, the monorail connects EPCOT to Magic Kingdom at the front of the park.
You can also catch a bus to Disney’s Animal Kingdom, although it closes the earliest of the four gates. So, you must act faster to have playtime here.
By saving some Disney Genie+ reservations for Rope Drop, you’ll get to enjoy the best of both worlds, skipping the lines at multiple parks.
Personally, I view this as a better use of the eight available reservations than spending them on Turtle Talk with Crush and Journey into Imagination with Figment.
You may prefer calmer park days, though, which is a smart approach. I’m reckless to a point of fault.
Feature Image: Disney
