Ariel's Grotto added to the Lightning Lane line-up at Magic Kingdom

Jan 22, 2023 in "Ariel's Grotto"

Posted: Sunday January 22, 2023 7:58am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Ariel's Grotto reopens today at Magic Kingdom, and the meet and greet experience has now been added to the park's Lightning Lane line-up.

"Meet Ariel at Her Grotto" is now included with Genie+, giving access to the Lightning Lane as part of the ride reservation service.

Disney Genie+ is a purchase option within the Disney Genie service that makes the former FastPass line available at select attractions, now called Lightning Lane. Certain headline attractions are not part of Genie+, and Lightning Lane access at those attractions requires an Individual Attraction purchase which varies in prices.

Learn more about Disney Genie from our recent articles, including a Disney Genie FAQ, and Genie discussion on the WDWMAGIC Forums.

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surfsupdon9 hours ago

I am truly happy your trip was great. I apologize that my post illicited strong emotions from you as I never intended to offend. I love a Disney vacation as much as the next- my post implied that as far as line skipping goes, Universal does it better. And I still runDisney on the regular. I still visit Disney fairly regularly, but I am there solely to run their races and visit Parks with a gifted free ticket. As such, I purchase Genie+ and, for my tastes, it is always so annoying. But I am still a huge proponent of Resort stays, dining, recreation, water parks, and runDisney. All the stuff outside of the Genie+ bubble. Thank you for your response :-)

allgiggles10 hours ago

I used to LOVE roller coasters (and some thrill rides)!!! We would go to a few different amusement parks every year just to ride the roller coasters. But as I've gotten older, my body doesn't tolerate them very well. I can do something like 7DMT, but Slinky Dog Dash was a once and done for me and thankfully I rode it just before we were leaving the park because I didn't feel well for the next hour or so. I finally gave up on BTMRR and Space Mtn. on our trip in 2022. And I haven't ridden any coasters at other parks in probably 10 years. It kills me not to be able to ride them anymore but it's not worth feeling sick for a few hours just to ride one particular ride. And motion sickness meds either don't work for me (the non-drowsy ones) or make me too drowsy to enjoy anything else. I also tried the pressure point wrist bands. No luck.

Jrb197911 hours ago

You not into thrills and coasters?

allgiggles11 hours ago

We have no desire to do a trip to Universal so your little analogy is wasted on us. Four of our five kids have been there for a day or two and said that was more than enough for them and they have no desire to go back (and one of them regrets cutting 2 days off of their Disney trip to go there). I've never had any desire to step foot in those parks and my kids experiences just confirmed what I already knew: it's not a park I'm interested in going to. So we'll continue to spend our money buying G+/ILL at Disney to skip the lines. I can use Disney Math (and believe me, I'm very aware that it's Disney Math...I'm good with numbers) to justify whatever I want to -- it's my money to spend how I wish. I don't need anyone's permission to spend my money or *not* spend my money. And you can go ahead and continue to use your Universal math to justify your choices. We all get to decide how to spend our money. Oh, and I wasn't on my phone all day using Genie+. I'd schedule something; set an alarm on my phone for 5 minutes before our next schedule time; put the phone away. I'd use my phone for maybe 5-7 minutes every few hours. I didn't walk around constantly looking at my phone -- it spent the vast majority of the day in my pocket. We just scheduled our next ride and went off to do standby lines until our next LL came up. We aren't the type of people who have to constantly be trying to get something "better" so we weren't constantly trying to modify our existing reservations. Our plan worked great and we got on everything we wanted to and more and had nice long breaks every afternoon. People *not* using G+ use their phones more than I did with G+.

Disney Glimpses16 hours ago

For me it's paying obscene amounts of money and getting less than what we used to get for free. It'd be one thing to charge and then at least be on par with FP+.

wedenterprises16 hours ago

It's not even the cost for me, it's the complicated stress of it all...plus the 7am stuff, the virtual queue "race"...everything. Explaining the system to a newbie brings about laughter within the first few seconds.

JohnD16 hours ago

I definitely wouldn't ask that of anyone. It occurred during my trip because circumstances kept us up past midnight after our HS day. As we were already awake we purchased G+ for Epcot after midnight and before we went to sleep. I would still recommend waking up at 6:30, do the pre- and at-7am routine then go back to sleep if that is what you want to do.

networkpro16 hours ago

I think this tune is apropos in more ways than one : B.o.B – Bend Over

Purduevian16 hours ago

No Reason to wait if you are already awake or have someone not on the trip, but asking guests to stay up to 12:01am and then be back on their phones at 6:59am to make the first LL every day of their trip would be a little insane.

JohnD19 hours ago

"Night before" still means after midnight. Two weeks ago after a long day at HS, we didn't get to sleep until after midnight. Before we went to sleep and since it was already after midnight, we used the opportunity to purchase G+ in HS for "today."

arich3519 hours ago

I have clients down there and I have been buying it for them the night before just to be safe, no reason to wait and forget and get screwed

JohnD21 hours ago

Wow. Before park open. If you want to purchase G+ for that day, my rule of thumb is to always purchase before 7am. Granted, if staying off site, ILL is at park open. But you can always choose your first G+ at 7am and need to do VQ at 7am. The lesson is: Don't wait.

DCBaker21 hours ago

Genie+ at Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios and the Multiple Parks option have sold out.

threvester1 day ago

Is there any new news on the pre-book coming back?