Disney Genie. Disney Genie+. Lightning Lanes. Individual Lightning Lanes. This all just started at Walt Disney World, but what the heck does all of that mean for my Disney vacation?
When Disney first announced details about the new Disney Genie planning system, it felt like a lot of information to digest. And that’s because it IS a lot of information to digest. And it seems so confusing – so how are you supposed to know what is what, and how to use this new system to create “your best Disney day”?
Today’s post is going to center on the two paid aspects of the new system. The complimentary part of this planning tool – Disney Genie – has a lot to it as well, and is somewhat being overlooked at the moment because all of the discussion has centered on the paid aspects of the program. Understandably. But the “basic” Genie is intriguing, and I’ll devote another blog post just to that part in a few weeks.
For now, let’s dive into what you really want to know: what are the paid versions, what will they cost, and do I even need them?
First, let’s get the names straight, so we are all talking about the same thing.
- Lightning Lane is not a paid service. Lightning Lane is a *lane*, literally the old FastPass lines that have been renamed. How you access those Lanes depends on which paid service you purchase.
- Disney Genie+ is one paid option for guests wishing to access the Lightning Lane. This service gives you arrival windows for Lightning Lane entrances at most attractions and entertainment across all 4 theme parks, one at a time throughout the day. Think of this as similar to the old paper FastPasses that you used to get back in the day at the parks, before FastPass+ began.
- Individual Lightning Lane/Individual Attraction Selections (ILL/IAS) is the second way to enter the Lightning Lane entry as an “á la carte” purchase. This paid option lets you choose a time to arrive at up to 2 attractions each day (purchased separately). These attractions are NOT included in the Disney Genie+ Service.
Got all that? Now let’s look at how Disney Genie+ works.
Disney Genie+ service is available for $15 per Guest/ticket per day. This is available as a same-day purchase for a single day through the My Disney Experience app.
Once you have Disney Genie+ service, you can book the next available arrival window for your first experience via the My Disney Experience app beginning at 7:00 AM on the day of your visit. Note that you are not choosing a time, but rather will be given the next available timeslot. Once you’ve redeemed your initial selection (or the arrival window has passed), you can make another selection using the app, up to park closing. If your arrival window selection is more than 2 hours away, you may be able to make a new selection earlier – the app will let you know when you are able to make a new Lightning Lane arrival window selection. While you can change your Genie+ selections as needed throughout the day, you can only use the Lightning Lane at the same attraction once per day.
OK, now let’s see how the Individual Lightning Lanes (ILL) will work.
ILL access to Lightning Lanes will be available to buy via the Disney Genie section in the My Disney Experience app on the same day of your visit. In this case, you are choosing the time you want to go, and you cannot change the time once you purchase it. IAS allows you to select up to 2 different attractions per day, and while you can’t select the same attraction twice, you can select them in two different parks if you have park hoppers.
As to the cost of ILL, prices will vary by date, attraction and park. For example, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure will be $9 per person on October 19 and $11 per person on October 23. As another example, on both those dates, Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain will be $7 per person, while Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance will be $15 per person. Throughout the year, prices may be lower on some days and higher on other days.
Still with me? Great! Now that we have that all straight, let’s look at which attractions will be Individual Lightning Lane selections and which will be included in the Genie+ selections.
Magic Kingdom Park
Individual Lightning Lane Selections (Actual ILL options can and do vary depending on time of year. Refer to My Disney Experience for current selections.)
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
Disney Genie+ Selections
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
- Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant
- Haunted Mansion
- “it’s a small world”
- Jungle Cruise
- Mad Tea Party
- Mickey’s PhilharMagic
- Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor
- Peter Pan’s Flight
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Splash Mountain
- The Barnstormer
- The Magic Carpets of Aladdin
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
- Tomorrowland Speedway
- Under the Sea ~ Journey of The Little Mermaid
- Space Mountain
EPCOT
Individual Lightning Lane Selections (Actual ILL options can and do vary depending on time of year. Refer to My Disney Experience for current selections.)
- Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind (also available as a virtual queue, but NOT stand-by)
Disney Genie+ Selections
- Frozen Ever After
- Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
- Disney and Pixar Short Film Festival
- Journey into Imagination with Figment
- Living with the Land
- Mission: SPACE – Green
- Mission: SPACE – Orange
- Soarin’
- Spaceship Earth
- Test Track
- The Seas with Nemo & Friends
- Turtle Talk with Crush
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Individual Lightning Lane Selections (Actual ILL options can and do vary depending on time of year. Refer to My Disney Experience for current selections.)
- Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
Disney Genie+ Selections
- Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
- Alien Swirling Saucers
- Beauty & The Beast Live on Stage
- Disney Jr. Dance Party
- For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration
- Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular – Returning December 19, 2021
- Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
- Muppet*Vision 3D
- Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster
- Slinky Dog Dash
- Star Tours
- The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
- Toy Story Mania!
Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park
Individual Lightning Lane Selections (Actual ILL options can and do vary depending on time of year. Refer to My Disney Experience for current selections.)
- Avatar Flight of Passage
Disney Genie+ Selections
- Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain
- Celebration of the Festival of the Lion King
- DINOSAUR
- Feathered Friends in Flight!
- It’s Tough to Be a Bug!
- Kali River Rapids
- Kilimanjaro Safaris
- Naʻvi River Journey
- The Animation Experience
Now, it’s important to note that these tiers can change during different times of the year (and it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect this to happen during the busier seasons.)
So now that you understand the differences between all of this (hopefully), let’s talk about if you need either or both of these paid systems – or none at all.
The answer is that this is going to vary by family, by time of year, by priorities, and even by budget. You don’t *have* to pay for either Genie+ or ILL access to the Lightning Lanes. With good planning, use of virtual queue boarding groups (currently in place at Remy’s and expected to continue there), and smart use of Early Entry hours, you can utilize standby lines quite well. But if you want to try to avoid some – or many – lines, then it’s not a bad idea to consider using these systems in some fashion. Keep in mind: you don’t have to buy Genie+ in order to buy ILL. They operate independently of each other, so you can totally get Genie+ for some days, and not others. Likewise, you could look at the ILL rides and see which ones your family *has* to ride, and maybe get ILL for those rides only. Or, you can get Genie+ for every day AND get ILL rides as well. It’s really up to you.
And while it all seems overwhelming right now, as with all things new, in time it will seem less so. The biggest takeaway to me is how much flexibility there is with Genie+ and ILL, and I love that.
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