Genie+ and Lightning Lane, Explained

The Genie is out of the lamp. Genie, Genie+, and Lightning Lane have all arrived at Disney World and Disneyland. These services not only replace FastPass, FastPass+, and MaxPass, but they represent a radical shift in the Disney Park-going experience. Whether you’re planning your first trip to Disney World or you’re a Disneyland Magic Keyholder who visits monthly, it’s incredibly important to understand how these systems work.

Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as having three wishes, or even as straightforward as the old FastPass systems. In the first entry in our Guide 2 Disney Genie, I’m going to break down the different aspects of how Lightning Lane works, highlight what the differences are between Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lane attractions, and provide a clear picture of what all the new terminology means.

Update August 17, 2023: We added a video explainer of Genie+ and Lightning Lane to the Gudie2WDW YouTube channel, which is included below. We’ve also updated this article to reflect the changes Disney made to Genie at both Disney World and Disneyland over the past few months. Disney World started including per-park pricing options, and added functionality for Genie+ Lightning Lane modifications.

The Genie+ lineup has changed at Disney World, with the closure of Splash Mountain, the reopening of two princess experiences, and the debut of Tron Lightcycle Run. Also, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway opened with Individual Lightning Lane at Disneyland.

Genie+ and Lightning Lane Explained in Under 2 Minutes – Video

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What is Disney Genie?

Disney Genie is a free service included in the MyDisneyExperience and Disneyland apps. Disney Genie is a new interface that provides smart recommendations, predicted wait times, and an overview of available dining options. It’s a much cleaner and simpler interface for most of the things you will be using the Disney World and Disneyland apps for.

What is Lightning Lane?

The best place to start for understanding the new paid systems is to understand what Lightning Lane is. Lightning Lane is the new name for the FastPass line. Like FastPass before it, Lightning Lane is a separate entrance for attractions that provides guests with a reservation a shorter wait time. For example, the standby queue for Space Mountain might be 60 minutes long. But if you can enter the Lightning Lane, your wait time will be drastically reduced to 5-10 minutes. An easy way to think of it is that Lightning Lane = shorter line.

How do you get in the Lightning Lane for an attraction? There are two different ways to access the Lightning Lane, depending on the attraction. For the majority of attractions at Disney World and Disneyland with Lightning Lane, you get access to the Lightning Lane through Genie+. However, for a select number of the newest and most popular attractions, Lightning Lane can only be accessed through Individual Lightning Lane selections. Both of these systems will be explained below.

What is Disney Genie Plus?

Genie Plus (or Genie+) is a paid add-on for your Disney World or Disneyland ticket. For a daily fee, you get one-at-a-time Lightning Lane access to a wide list of attractions. Most of the attractions that featured FastPass are included with Genie+, with a few key exceptions. With Genie+, you can make your Lightning Lane selections starting at 7 am at Disney World, or once you enter the park at Disneyland. Like the old FastPass system, you make your reservations one at a time. Once you’ve used your next reservation or 120 minutes have passed from when you made your reservation (whichever is first), you can then make a second Genie+ Lightning Lane reservation, and so on. Currently, Genie+ only allows access to the Lightning Lane once per attraction per day, so you cannot reride the same attraction with Genie+ twice or more in one day.

Genie+ also includes a few extras, such as PhotoPass Lenses, which are augmented reality filters in the Disney World and Disneyland apps. Genie+ at Disneyland also includes PhotoPass picture downloads. PhotoPass is not included with Genie+ at Disney World, but Genie+ does include on-ride photos at WDW.

Here’s the lineup of Disney World and Disneyland Genie+ Lightning Lane attractions.

Magic Kingdom Genie+ Lightning Lane Selections

• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
• Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
• Dumbo the Flying Elephant
• Enchanted Tales with Belle (Reopening 2-19-23)
• Festival of Fantasy Parade
• Haunted Mansion
• “it’s a small world”
• Jungle Cruise
• Mad Tea Party
• Meet Ariel at Her Grotto
• Meet Cinderella and a Visiting Princess at Princess Fairytale Hall
• Meet Princess Tiana and a Visiting Princess at Princess Fairytale Hall
• Meet Mickey at Town Square Theatre
• Mickey’s PhilharMagic
• Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor
• Peter Pan’s Flight
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Space 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

Epcot Genie+ Lightning Lane Selections:

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

Hollywood Studios Genie+ Lightning Lane Selections:

• Alien Swirling Saucers
• Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along
• Disney Jr. Play & Dance!
• For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration
• Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
• Meet Olaf at Celebrity Spotlight
• Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
• 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!

Animal Kingdom Genie+ Lightning Lane Selections

• Celebration of the Festival of the Lion King
• DINOSAUR
• Expedition Everest
• Feathered Friends in Flight!
• It’s Tough to Be a Bug!
• Kali River Rapids
• Kilimanjaro Safaris
• Naʻvi River Journey
• The Animation Experience

Disneyland Genie+ Lightning Lane Selections

• Autopia
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
• Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
• Haunted Mansion
• Indiana Jones Adventure
• “it’s a small world”
• Matterhorn Bobsleds
• Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
• Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin
• Space Mountain
• Splash Mountain
• Star Tours – The Adventures Continue

California Adventure Lightning Lane Selections

• Goofy’s Sky School
• Grizzly River Run
• Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT!
• Incredicoaster
• Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!
• Soarin’ Around the World
• Toy Story Midway Mania
• Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure

How much does Genie+ cost?

As of October 2022, Genie+ now has variable pricing depending on the date. Starting June 26, 2023, Genie+ now has per-park pricing at Walt Disney World.

At Disney World, Genie+ starts at $15 per day for the least busy days of the year. Prices have gone up to as expensive as $29 per day. You can find more information on Genie+ Lightning Lane pricing at Disney World here.

At Disneyland, Genie+ is $25 per day for advanced purchases. Same day purchases will be variable based on the date, and will start at $25 per day. (You are unable to pre-purchase Genie+ at Disney World.)

What is Individual Lightning Lane?

Individual Lightning Lane, or A La Carte Lightning Lane, is a separate per-attraction fee to access the Lightning Lane at a select few Disney World and Disneyland attractions. These are typically the newest and most popular rides, such as Rise of the Resistance. These rides are not included in Genie Plus, and the only way to access their Lightning Lane is to pay the per-ride fee. A few things to note:

• You do not need to purchase Genie+ in order to purchase Individual Lightning Lane selections.
• Individual Lightning Lane selections are limited to two per person per day.
• You cannot purchase an Individual Lightning Lane selection for the same ride more than once per day.
• Prices vary by attraction, and will vary day-to-day based on how crowded it is. For example, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train costs anywhere from $10-$12, while Rise of the Resistance costs $15-$25. You can find a full lineup of Individual Lightning Lane pricing here.

Here is the full lineup of Individual Lightning Lane attractions.

Magic Kingdom Individual Lightning Lane Attractions

• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
• Tron Lightcycle Run

Epcot Individual Lightning Lane Attractions

• Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind

Hollywood Studios Individual Lightning Lane Attractions

• Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance

Animal Kingdom Individual Lightning Lane Attractions

• Avatar Flight of Passage

Disneyland Individual Lightning Lane Attractions

• Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
• Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway

California Adventure Individual Lightning Lane Attractions

• Radiator Springs Racers

What is the difference between Genie Plus and Individual Lightning Lane?

Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lane are two different paid systems for accessing the Lightning Lane line. There are no overlap between the attractions included in each, so the attractions that are offered through Individual Lightning Lane a la carte purchases are not available through Genie+ purchases. This is made very clear in the Disney World and Disneyland apps.

Genie+

• Rolling one-at-a-time Lightning Lane reservations
• Can book the earliest available slot for each attraction only
• Reservations open at 7 am for all guests at Disney World. You can make reservations as soon as you enter the park at Disneyland.
• Guests can use the Lightning Lane multiple times per day at different Genie+ attractions. Limited only by availability and time – similar to old FastPass system. So you can make a Genie+ Lightning Lane reservation for an attraction, and then get a new reservation once you’ve used your first one or 120 minutes have passed, so on and so on until park closing, there are no Lightning Lane reservations left, or you’ve ridden on all of the Genie+ Lightning Lane rides.
• Genie+ reservations can be modified and cancelled.
• Starting June 27, Genie+ will feature single park options or a multi-park option. The multi-park option supports park hopping.

Individual Lightning Lane

• Up to two time individually purchased Lightning Lane reservations per day
• Can choose from all time slots available
• At Disney World: Reservations open at 7 am for resort guests, park opening for all guests. At Disneyland: You can purchase reservations as soon as you enter the park.
• Guests can only purchase two Individual Lightning Lane reservations per day.
• Individual Lightning Lane reservations cannot be modified or cancelled once they are booked. (Note: if the ride goes down during your Individual Lightning Lane window, you will be entitled to a refund if you can’t get on the ride that day.)
• Park hopping is supported.

Can Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lane sell out?

Yes, Genie+ can sell out at Disneyland and Disney World. This is rare and only happens on the most crowded days of the year. Typically, if you purchase Genie+ early in the morning you should have no problem buying it before it sells out.

Individual Lightning Lane will also sell out. Sell-outs are much more common, especially rides like Rise of the Resistance, which can run out of Individual Lightning Lane availability for the entire day early in the morning.

What about per-park pricing? How does that work?

Starting June 27, 2023, Genie+ features per park pricing at Disney World. Previously, there was one daily price for Genie+, which included park hopping. Now, if you are only visiting one park or only want to buy Genie+ for one park, you can save money buy purchasing a single park option. Here is the sample pricing that Disney released, although keep in mind that prices will change day to day based on demand.

• Multiple parks: $27
• Magic Kingdom only: $27
• EPCOT only: $18
• Hollywood Studios only: $24
• Animal Kingdom only: $16

Do you have any questions about how Genie+ and Lightning Lane work? Let me know in the comments below! And be sure to check out the next entry in our Guide 2 Disney Genie, which shows you how to enroll in the free Disney Genie service. You can find all of our Guide 2 Disney Genie articles listed below.