Disney Genie, Genie+, and Lightning Lane FAQ for Walt Disney World

Aug 19, 2021 in "Disney Genie"

Posted: Thursday August 19, 2021 7:06am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Disney Genie, Genie+, and Lightning Lane Frequently Asked Questions for Walt Disney World

Learn more about Disney's announcement and launch of Disney Genie.

FAQ Updated June 10, 2024

1. What is Disney Genie?

Disney Genie is a digital service that is part of the My Disney Experience app available at no additional cost. The service is designed to plan your day at the Walt Disney World theme parks, including a personalized itinerary that maps out the entire day based on your preferences. Disney Genie will display current and forecasted future wait times.

2. What is Disney Genie+?

Disney Genie+ is an 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 will require an Individual Attraction purchase.

3. What are Individual Attraction Purchases?

Attractions not included as part of Genie+, such as Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and Remy's Ratatouille Adventure, will require an individual attraction purchase for access into the Lightning Lane. Prices will vary by date, attraction and park. Throughout the year, prices may be lower on some days and higher on other days. This option may be purchased at up to 2 different attractions each day.

4. If I don't want to buy Genie+ or individual attraction purchases, can I still ride?

All attractions will still have a standby queue or a virtual queue.

5. When did Disney Genie and Genie+ launch at Walt Disney World?

Disney Genie+ launched on October 19 2021.

6. What is the difference between Genie and Genie+?

Disney Genie is the planning service that creates itineraries and is free for all visitors. Genie+ is a paid option to provide Lighting Lane access to certain attractions.

7. What is a Lightning Lane?

The Lighting Lane is the new name for the FastPass queue, and can be accessed via Genie+ at participating attractions, or via an Individual Attraction purchase at a limited number of high-demand attractions.

8. How much does Disney Genie cost?

The basic Disney Genie service is free to all guests visiting Walt Disney World.

9. Is Disney Genie a new app?

Disney Genie is accessed via My Disney Experience, the existing Walt Disney World app available for iOS and Android.

10. When can I add Genie+ to my ticket?

Genie+ at Walt Disney World now starts at $15, and may go as high as $39 per person per day (plus tax), depending on the date and park. You can purchase through My Disney Experience on the day of your visit. Pre-arrival purchase is not possible. WDWMAGIC provides detailed pricing data and historical trends for Disney's Genie+ and Lightning Lane purchases at Walt Disney World.

11. What attractions are available for Lighting Lane access via Genie+?

Magic Kingdom

Disney Genie+ Lightning Lane 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
The Barnstormer
The Magic Carpets of Aladdin
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Tiana's Bayou Adventure
Tomorrowland Speedway
Under the Sea ~ Journey of The Little Mermaid

EPCOT

Disney Genie+ Lightning Lane Selections

Disney and Pixar Short Film Festival
Journey into Imagination with Figment
Living with the Land
Mickey & Friends
Mission: SPACE – Green
Mission: SPACE – Orange
Remy's Ratatouille Adventure
Soarin’
Spaceship Earth
Test Track
The Seas with Nemo & Friends
Turtle Talk with Crush

Disney's Hollywood Studios

Disney Genie+ Lightning Lane Selections

Alien Swirling Saucers
Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along
Disney Jr. Dance Party
For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration
Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
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

Disney Genie+ Lightning Lane Selections

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
Na'vi River Journey
The Animation Experience

12. How many Disney Genie+ selections can I make and when can I make subsequent selections?

You can make one selection at a time throughout the day. Once you use one, you can make another. Your first Disney Genie+ Lighting Lane selection can be made at 7am, regardless of whether you are staying at Walt Disney World Resort hotel or offsite.

In most cases, you are eligible for another Genie+ Lightning Lane selection as soon as you tap into the Lightning Lane entrance at the chosen attraction. If you do not tap into the attraction, you are eligible for another Lightning Lane selection at the end of the arrival window for the current selection or 2 hours after your prior election was made.

Suppose your first Lightning Lane selection is further out than 2 hours from park opening, for example, 2pm. In that case, you can make a second Lightning Lane selection 120 minutes following the official park opening time.

Example. At 7am, you book a Lightning Lane selection for Haunted Mansion at 2pm in Magic Kingdom. The park opens at 9am, so you are then eligible to make another Lightning Lane selection for a ride time from 11am. This means at 11am you will have two Genie+ Lightning Lane reservations.

In short, assuming the park opens at 9am, your latest booking times will be: 7am, 11am, 1pm, 3pm, 5pm, 7pm, 9pm.

Using the above booking times, and assuming that your first reservation is for later in the day, it may be possible to stack three or more Genie+ Lightning Lane reservations at one time.

13. How many Individual Attraction purchases can I make?

You can schedule a time to arrive at up to two highly demanded attractions each day using the Lightning Lane entrance.

14. What attractions are not part of Genie+ and require an Individual Attraction purchase?

Magic Kingdom

Individual Lightning Lane Selections

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
Space Mountain
TRON Lightcycle Run

EPCOT

Individual Lightning Lane Selections

Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind

Disney's Hollywood Studios

Individual Lightning Lane Selections

Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance

Disney's Animal Kingdom

Individual Lightning Lane Selections

Avatar Flight of Passage

15. Do I have to buy Genie+ before I can make an Individual Attraction Purchase?

No. Individual Attraction purchases can be made via Disney Genie without needing the Genie+ add-on.

16. When can I purchase Individual Attractions for Lightning Lane access?

Walt Disney World Resort hotel guests can purchase up to 2 individual attraction selections for Lighting Lane access at 7am on the day of visit. Available to Disney Resort hotel Guests and Guests of Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Hotels and Shades of Green.

Non-resort hotel guests can make a purchase when the park opens.

17. When can I make Genie+ selections?

At Walt Disney World, all guests can make the first Genie+ selection at 7am on the day of the visit via My Disney Experience.

18. Will Genie+ and Individual Attraction purchases be available during Extended Evening Hours and Early Entry for Walt Disney World Resort hotel guests?

No, only standby lines will be in use during these times.

19. Do I have to purchase Genie+ for the entire length of my trip?

Genie+ is purchased on a day-by-day basis, and is not linked to a trip length.

20. Can I pay to ride Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance or Remy's Ratatouille Adventure?

For Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and Remy's Ratatouille Adventure, you will be able to buy Lightning Access as an Individual Attraction purchase.

21. How does Genie+ and individual attraction purchases work for Annual Passholders?

Genie+ can be purchased by Walt Disney World Annual Passholders on the day of the visit. No discounts are available.

22. What has happened to FASTPASS and FastPass+?

The original FASTPASS and FastPass+ have been retired and replaced by Disney Genie and Genie+.

23. Can I modify a Genie+ selection?

Yes. Using the My Disney Experience app, guests can now modify an existing booking without first canceling a reservation and making another booking. This only applies to Lightning Lanes that are part of Genie+, and not those that are Individual Attraction Purchases

24. Can I book an Individual Attraction Purchase at the same time as a Genie+ Lightning Lane selection?

Yes. It is possible to have a Genie+ reservation at the same time as an individual attraction purchase. Disney Genie will detect this and advise you that you have an existing plan in the same window, but it will let you make the reservation.

25. What payment methods can I use to buy Disney Genie+ and Individual Attraction selections?

My Disney Experience accepts the following payment methods:

Disney Gift Card
Disney Rewards redemption Card
Credit or Debit Cards - Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, Diners Club, JCB and UnionPay
Click to Pay

26. How can I find out pricing for Genie+ and Lightning Lane selections?

WDWMAGIC now provides detailed pricing data and historical trends for Disney's Genie+ and Lightning Lane purchases at Walt Disney World.

Whether you're planning a family trip, or you're a Disney enthusiast who wants to stay informed, our platform empowers you with invaluable insights in a single at-a-glance page. Try it out now at https://www.wdwmagic.com/genieprice.htm

Discuss on the Forums

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DranthJan 19, 2025

He was asked about the past and not specifically FP or FP+ but in context, FP+ is my understanding and would match the reports of cast members on the ratios they would use to let guests through each line.

LaketravisJan 19, 2025

Was the bolded referring to FP, FP+, or both? My point was that FP+ was prototyped and engineered to become a pay-for feature from the outset. They knew exactly what they were doing at each phase - increased availability and heightened awareness of the FP+ offering came at the expense of substantially increased SB wait times. Of course it was not sustainable but again, it was intentional. As well as eventually establishing consistent yet reasonable SB wait times regardlesss of current park load (yield management) while maintaining the perceived need to purchase an alternative. So here we are today, over ten years later where the majority of park attractions have consistent wait times no matter how lightly or heavily loaded the parks are yet the perception of needing to pay more for "quicker" access is maintained. Yup, it's been years since 4 hour wait times at WDW were featured on the national evening news. Quite the delicate balance, mission accomplished. Oh, but wait - where is that price point that causes pain and decline in revenue? Have they found it? Are they paying attention to the sacrificial revenue lambs that are suffering at the expense of LL sales? We shall see.

DranthJan 19, 2025

Operationally, it was a problem by the end. The vast majority of line capacity was coming through the FP lane. We had some information posted by Len just a few weeks back spelling this out: Current LL: When asked about FP era: 75-80% is ridiculous and not sustainable. I don't like an offering going from free to paid any more than anyone else but logically, it makes sense if you are a business and you need to reduce utilization. It reduces use through customer self-selection even before the tighter controls you can place on the product as well as makes stockholders happy with a new revenue stream. Paid line skips, revamping DAS access (not commenting on if this was right or wrong, just that it was done), and attendance levels more in a manageable range given park capacity have all combined to make a trip completely doable without needing a line skip on most days for most people.

LaketravisJan 19, 2025

FP+ wasn't a problem, it actually served as the model for a revenue based system. I was given a Magic Band and a prototype app in 2012-2013 and told I could pick three rides a day in addition to pulling paper FP's over the course of several visits that year. At the last "meeting" of our focus group we were asked to rank FP+ over/under FP against various metrics and also to put a dollar amount (bracketed choices) on the value we thought FP+ brought. I of course put $0 but obviously my opinion didn't mean crap 😂.

DranthJan 19, 2025

Sure, technically they could have done anything but getting FP+ usage to drop to the current levels of LL would have required a massive reduction making it essentially useless without massive changes to how it worked (number of selections, re-rides, additional selections post using three, etc.). I would say it was both. FP+ was a problem that had to be fixed. It needed to change so that it wasn't eating so much capacity. Charging for a skip the line service is one way to accomplish that goal. That it also created a new revenue stream just made it the obvious best choice from a business point of view.

PurduevianJan 17, 2025

I mean obviously Standby and Rope drop are options. However, the quantity/frequency that I am able to get on attractions will get worse if they move to a LLPP/Standby only system.

Disstevefan1Jan 17, 2025

I have also see posts here saying families were able to get on attractions without having to purchase LLMP so there are ways.

PurduevianJan 17, 2025

I sure hope not... I don't have the money for LLPP and I can typically do everything I want to do in a day with LLMP. And before someone comes in to tell me that the standby lines would be so short if they got rid of all the skip the lines I would still be able to do everything I wanted with a minimal wait... My "worst" trip to Disney was in October 2021 right before G+ launched and there was no skip the line (still had a great time, just not as good of a time). If the options were LLPP or standby online, I would visit a lot less.

Disgruntled WaltJan 17, 2025

For sure. They've basically looked at all aspects of their parks and resorts and said, "Why aren't we profiting from _____?" Then they made it so they are.

nickysJan 17, 2025

Hang on, is this why you think they introduced G+ rather than free FP+? That there were too many people using it that they decided it didn’t work. I think they simply decided this was a way to get some new revenue. Paid versions were already in place at DLP and at least one of Tokyo and Shanghai (possibly both) before WDW. When it was first rumoured the discussion included variations of all existing options. So they saw good sales in the other parks and wanted the revenue.

Jrb1979Jan 17, 2025

I personally think they need to get rid of LLMP and just have the Premier Pass. Keep that limited.

PurduevianJan 17, 2025

How would reducing the number of passes help the people buying LLMP? Wouldn't that just make rides sell out faster, causing people to get less lightning lanes per day, thus devaluing the upcharge? Disney for sure wants people to feel like LLMP is worth it so they buy it next time/tell their friends they should buy it.