Disney's Genie Plus

Are you and your family looking to make the most out of every single minute of

your Walt Disney World vacation? If you answered “Yes”, then Disney’s Genie+

might be a good option for you. The new Genie+ system allows guests with

theme park tickets or annual passes to make Lightning Lane reservations

throughout their theme park day to guarantee an opportunity to ride specific

rides throughout your day. The way that Disney has offered opportunities to skip

the lengthy lines has looked very different over the last several years.

*Update to Genie+ as of June 23, 2023

Starting June 27, Disney will begin offering a new pricing structure to how you use Genie+. The pricing will be based on which park you plan on visiting offering some cost benefits for those using Genie+ at Animal Kingdom and Epcot. It appears as though Park Hopper option will cost the most followed by Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. There is no word yet on if anything else will change besides the pricing structure. Stay tuned as new developments occur.

History of Skipping Ride Lines

If you enjoyed a Walt Disney World vacation before the pandemic began, then

you are more likely to have experienced the Fast Pass system that allowed you to

plan your rides for your vacation well in advance. With the Fast Pass system, you

were able to reserve three rides per theme park day of your vacation 30 days in

advance. With this system, there were also tiers to choose from. Fast Pass was

also included with booking a Walt Disney World vacation, adding no additional

cost to you. Many people absolutely loved this planning aspect of a Disney

vacation and believed that this system was nearly perfect. Before Fast Pass online, there were physical kiosks which guests would rush to so that they get physical Fast Pass Tickets printed off for the rides of their choosing. The days of Fast Pass are gone and have been replaced by the current version called Genie+.

How Does Genie+ Work?

The new Genie+ system is housed within the My Disney Experience app on your

smartphone. One of the biggest negatives to using Genie+ is that you have to

purchase this option the day of your theme park visit, and you need to wake up

before 7:00 AM to make your first Lightning Lane reservation. Gone are the days

of planning out your perfect vacation up to 30 days in advance, and in comes

early morning wake up calls to begin planning your perfect Disney day. Another

huge negative is that Genie+ costs you up to $29 per day, per guest, plus tax. The

cost depends on the demand and crowd level for that day. Genie+ typically

ranges from $20 to $25 with prices extending up to $29 for crowded times

throughout the year like Thanksgiving week, Christmas, and New Year’s week.

Each guest over the age of 3 needs Genie+ if they want to skip the long lines. This

can really add up for larger families. For your typical family of 4, this could cost

you an extra $100 per day plus tax. There are also some premium attractions that

cost extra as well. Though, you do not have to purchase Genie+ to purchase

these premium Individual Lightning Lanes.

A Typical Genie+ Day

What does a typical day using Genie+ look like? To maximum your money spent, I recommend waking up around 6:50

AM to make sure you have Genie+ purchased for all guests in your party. Then,

you can make your first Lightning Lane selection at 7:00 AM. I also recommend

purchasing up to 2 of those premium Individual Lightning Lanes for an additional

charge at this time. After this initial rush of booking Lightning Lanes, you must

wait until 2 hours after park opening or if you use that Lightning Lane, whichever

comes first. I will outline a typical day later in this article, along with all the

attraction offerings on Genie+. The main thing you need to understand about

Genie+ is that once the park opens, you can basically reserve a new Lightning

Lane every 2 hours throughout the day unless you use up your Lightning Lanes

first. So, there is an added benefit to reserving Lightning Lanes that come sooner

rather than later. I highly recommend downloading the My Disney Experience

app ahead of time and playing around with it to see which attractions typically are

in higher demand. Let’s look at the list of Genie+ attractions offered.

Magic Kingdom (19 Attractions)

*Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (Individual Lightning Lane – additional cost) $9 - $12

*TRON Lightcycle / Run (Individual Lightning Lane - additional cost) $20 - $25

“it’s a small world”

Barnstormer

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin

Dumbo the Flying Elephant

Haunted Mansion

Jungle Cruise

Mad Tea Party

Magic Carpets of Aladdin

Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Mickey’s PhilharMagic

Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor

Peter Pan’s Flight

Pirates of the Caribbean

Space Mountain

Tomorrowland Speedway

Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid

Hollywood Studios (14 Attractions)

*Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance (Individual Lightning Lane – additional cost) $20 - $25

Alien Swirling Saucers

Beauty & the Beast Live on Stage

Disney Junior Play and Dance!

For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration

Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular

Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway

Millenium Falcon: Smugglers Run

Muppet Vision 3D

Rock n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith

Slinky Dog Dash

Star Tours – The Adventures Continue

Toy Story Mania!

Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

EPCOT (12 Attractions)

*Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind (Individual Lightning Lane – additional

cost) $14 - $17

Disney and Pixar Short Film Festival

Frozen Ever After

Journey into Imagination with Figment

Living with the Land

Mission: SPACE

Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure

Seas with Nemo & Friends

Soarin’ Around the World

Spaceship Earth

Test Track

Turtle Talk with Crush

Animal Kingdom (9 Attractions)

*Avatar: Flight of Passage (Individual Lightning Lane – additional cost) $12 - $15

Dinosaur

Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain

Festival of the Lion King

Finding Nemo: The Big Blue…and Beyond!

It’s Tough to be a Bug!

Kali River Rapids

Kilimanjaro Safaris

Na’vi River Journey

As you can see, the Magic Kingdom has the most ride-based attractions. If the

premium Individual Lightning Lanes interest you more, you may opt to purchase

those individually rather than purchasing the Genie+ add-on. You can only book

up to 2 Individual Lightning Lanes per day and they can be at different parks (1 at

each of the 2 theme parks you visit that day). One benefit of Individual Lightning

Lanes versus choosing Genie+ attractions, is the ability to pick a time slot that

works best for you. If you want to ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train before your 5:30

dinner reservation, it is likely that you can find a specific one-hour time window

from 4:00 – 5:00 as opposed to taking what you are given. Genie+ attractions

release time windows beginning at the theme park opening time and as the day

progresses, the time windows get later & later in the day. In other words, the

later the time for an attraction, the more in-demand that attraction is and will

likely not have anymore available times to choose from the later in the day it gets.

They do run out and it depends on the day.

In Conclusion

Genie+ is a somewhat confusing system until you actually use it. Personally, I

enjoy what the system offers my family of four, two of which are under the age of

5. Genie+ saves us time waiting in lines and avoiding some meltdowns which are

guaranteed to occur at some point in a vacation. I do not enjoy the cost of Genie+

and wish that taxes weren’t tacked on top of the charge. However, time is money

when you are on a Disney vacation. The question is – what’s more important to

you – time or money?

Listen to the podcast to learn more about Genie+:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-joel-new-world-a-walt-disney-world-podcast/id1629745310?i=10

Would You Be Willing to Purchase Genie+?

• Yes
• No