Disney has just changed how Disney Genie+ Lightning Lane selections work, potentially closing a “loophole” that seasoned guests have been using to create rolling “stacks” of Lighting Lane return times. In this article, we’ll explain what was possible as recently as this week, and what has been changed.
Hacking Disney Genie+
The “120-Minute Rule”
We’ll start with a simple concept known as the 120-Minute Rule. This rule states that you can make a new Lightning Lane selection 120 minutes after you made your previous selection. If your previous selection was made before the official park hours (as is the case because Disney allows your first selection to be made at 7am), then the 120 minutes don’t begin counting down until the official park hours begin for the day. Here’s the rule:
120-Minute Rule for Disney Genie+
- Next Lighting Lane selection available 120 minutes after previous selection, OR
- 120 minutes after park opening if initial selection made before park opening
This was a pretty standard rule back when paper FastPass was a thing and what made paper FastPass easy to understand was that your next available booking window was printed on the ticket.
With a basic understanding of the 120-Minute Rule, let’s take a look at another concept – redemption events.
Disney Genie+ Redemption Events
On the Walt Disney World website, Disney says that “You can make one [Genie+ Lightning Lane] selection at a time, starting at 7:00 AM on the day of your visit”. Furthermore, Disney says that there are redemption events that qualify you to make your next selection. Disney says that “Once you’ve redeemed your initial selection (or the arrival window has passed), you can use the app to check your My Day itinerary or Tip Board to see when you’re eligible to make another selection.” So, in that quote, two Genie+ Redemption events are outlined:
Disney Genie+ Redemption Events
- Once you’ve redeemed your initial selection, OR
- The arrival window has passed
That “OR” will play a pretty big part in the “Advanced Stacking” section of our article, but let’s start with the basic version of Disney Genie+ stacking first.
Disney Genie+ “Stacking” (Basic)
A term that gained traction back when Disney Genie+ debuted was “stacking”. So what is Disney Genie+ stacking? Stacking is the accumulation of Lightning Lane return windows throughout the day to load up on return windows towards the end of your day. In short, stacking was possible because of the 120-Minute Rule described above. Let’s take a look at an example at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, which is the park where stacking is likely to be found the most.
- At 7:02am, you make a Slinky Dog Dash Lightning Lane reservation for 4:25pm to 5:25pm. We’ll call this Lightning Lane 1 (LL1)
Disney’s Hollywood Studios opens at 9am, starting the clock for the 120-Minute Rule on LL1
- At 11am, the LL1 120-Minute Rule expires and counts as a redemption event. You make a Tower of Terror Lightning Lane reservation for 5:30pm to 6:30pm (LL2). The clock immediately begins for the 120-Minute Rule on LL2
- At 1pm, the LL2 120-Minute Rule expires and counts as a redemption event. You make a Toy Story Midway Mania Lightning Lane reservation for 7:30pm to 8:30pm (LL3). The clock immediately begins for the 120-Minute Rule on LL3
- At 3pm, the LL3 120-Minute Rule expires and counts as a redemption event. You make an Alien Swirling Saucers Lightning Lane reservation for 5:45pm to 6:45pm (LL4). The clock immediately begins for the 120-Minute Rule on LL4
- At 5pm, the LL4 120-Minute Rule expires and counts as a redemption event. You make a Frozen-Sing Along Lightning Lane reservation for the 6:30pm show (LL5). The clock immediately begins for the 120-Minute Rule on LL5
This is an example of basic Genie+ stacking, and really a good technique if you either want to wait in standby lines at the beginning of the day or even if you want to spend most of the day relaxing at the resort and making new selections from the pool bar as redemption events occur and you qualify for new selections.
The basic Genie+ stacking has not been affected and remains an option for guests. In this next section, we’re going to describe “Genie+ Advanced Stacking” – a concept that was likely a loophole that was exploited by guests.
Disney Genie+ Stacking (Advanced – Loophole)
Since the service launched in mid-October, Disney Genie+ has had an Advanced Stacking loophole that some of the most seasoned guests have been able to take advantage of. In our experience, that loophole has been closed this week and guests are no longer able to do Genie+ Advanced Stacking. Here’s what the Genie+ Advanced Stacking loophole was:
For the Disney Genie+ Advanced Stacking loophole, let’s take a look at a morning spent at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
- At 7am, you make a Na’vi River Journey Lightning Lane reservation for 9:35am to 10:35am (LL1).
Disney’s Animal Kingdom opens at 8am, starting the 120-Minute Rule for LL1
Now, because you have a Lightning Lane reservation that covers the 120-Minute Rule redemption event (10am), you either have the option to enter Na’vi River Journey before or after the 120-Minute Rule redemption event. Remember Disney’s definition of a redemption event – “once you’ve redeemed your initial selection, OR the arrival window has passed“? It turns out that wasn’t entirely true. What it should have read (up until recently) was “once you’ve redeemed your initial selection, AND/OR the arrival window has passed“.
With the Genie+ Advanced Stacking loophole, we’re NOT going to redeem our Na’vi River Journey Lightning Lane before 10am. Instead, we’re going to wait for the 120-Minute Rule redemption event.
- At 10am, the LL1 120-Minute Rule expires and counts as a redemption event. You make a Kilimanjaro Safaris Lightning Lane reservation for 11:20am to 12:20pm (LL2). The clock immediately begins for the 120-Minute Rule on LL2
- At 10:02am, you enter Na’vi River Journey using the LL1 reservation, triggering a redemption event using the Genie+ Advanced Stacking loophole. This redemption event opens an additional Lightning Lane eligibility, and you book the Festival of the Lion King show for 1pm (LL3). The clock immediately begins for the 120-Minute Rule on LL3
At this point, you have two rolling Lightning Lane selections (different from stacked selections in the basic section) that you can manage or even split further if you get a Lightning Lane that overlaps a 120-Minute Rule redemption event period. This allowed guests to have multiple rolling selections, which could be quite a leg up if park hopping or at a park with plenty of availability going into the evening.
What is the Genie+ Loophole?
So, what “went wrong” in the Advanced Stacking example above? In short, we were able to leverage two redemption events out of a single Lighting Lane selection (Na’vi River Journey in the example above, labeled LL1). Tom Bricker over at the Disney Tourist Blog documented experiencing the same behavior that we saw weeks ago. The expected behavior, based on verbiage found on the Walt Disney World website, is that you should only expect to have one redemption event per Lightning Lane selection. That is, either:
- Once you’ve redeemed your initial selection at the attraction entrance, OR
- The arrival window has passed
How Many Genie+ Loopholes Were There?
We have read reports of another loophole that allowed for a third Lightning Lane availability opportunity to be leveraged. In this “1-for-3” loophole, which BlogMickey.com did not test before today, attractions that had two Lightning Lane tappoints would produce a second Lightning Lane availability after using Advanced Stacking and passing the first tappoint, and a third Lightning Lane availability after passing the second tappoint.
Has the Genie+ Loophole Been Fixed?
We went out to Disney’s Animal Kingdom this morning to put the loophole to the test and found that we were NOT able to use the Genie+ Advanced Stacking loophole. The “1-for-3” loophole has also been fixed, by extension. Basic stacking remains in play.
We don’t necessarily think that the Advanced Stacking loophole was utilized by a lot of guests, at least on purpose. That said, it’s very possible and even quite likely that at least some guests were able to take advantage of the loophole unwittingly as the day went on and Lightning Lane return windows happened to overlap with 120-Minute Rule redemption events. This was especially likely at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, where selections early in the day wouldn’t have return windows until the afternoon or evening.
In theory, this fix should open up some more Lightning Lane availability as guests are truly limited to one selection at a time. Even though you can hold more than one Lightning Lane at a time with Basic Stacking, you’re really only holding one redemption event at a time as you wait for your return window to arrive.
For more on Disney Genie, Disney Genie+, and Individual Lightning Lane attraction selections, check out our articles below!
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
this “stacking” technique is a great tip. I might try that on our next trip. However, do you think Genie+ is worth it for a family that only spends the mornings in the parks and then spends afternoons by the pool? It seems like the morning availability is gone fairly early in the morning. So after your first selection you might be lucky to get one more morning lightning lane selection before their gone.
All these “rules” just to make the lightning pass workable a worth its cost. You practically need another app just to help you map out your plans for your plans.
Here is a thought… Stop re-enforcing bad behavior by giving additional $$$ to Disney and Chapek for Genie+.
Wow, this just makes genie+ totally not worth it. I bought it for all three days that I was at the parks last week and thought I had it figured it on the last day, which is exactly how you described as the advanced stack. Now having only one at a time virtually guarantees one or two uses per day at most. Fastpass+ was so much more user friendly. For example, I can’t even change lightening lane times for the same exact ride without cancelling the original time.
Most of the lightning lane spots for popular attractions were gone by shortly after park opening this week. The 2 hour rule is useless when there is nothing available.
Do away with ALL special lanes… Every persn waits in the same lines!
I will never go to a Disney park again! 3 hours and 7 minutes. For a 90 second ride is utterly Stupid!!!