Disney Genie+: What is it & how do I use it?

Gone are the days of Fast Pass - say hello to Genie Plus and Lightning Lane! For a first-timer, Genie+ can feel really intimidating. Enter our quick guide which will give you all the essentials you need to know! I’ll be speaking primarily about Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando Florida, but know that Disney Genie is available at Disneyland in California as well.

Let’s start with some basics!

Disney Genie and Genie Plus are all accessed through the My Disney Experience App on your mobile device.

Disney Genie: Disney Genie is your complimentary planning tool to help you organize and plan out each day of your vacation. You can select which park you will be attending each day, add dining reservations, and note which shows you’d like to see. Genie will magically make suggestions for you throughout the day and shows current wait times for attractions!

Disney Genie+: A paid service that allows you to access the Lightning Lane for available attractions once per day at a specified time. There are a variety of rides available at each park that offer Lightning Lane entrances. Through Genie+ you’ll select a time to return to that ride to enter the Lightning Lane.

Lightning Lane: Lightning Lanes have effectively replaced the old “Fast Pass” lanes at select attractions in each park. Many rides will have a stand-by queue and a Lightning Lane to “skip the line”.

Individual Lightning Lane: Within each park, there can be up to two rides not included with Genie+ where you’ll need to purchase an individual Lightning Lane entrance to access the Lightning Lane for that ride. These entrances can only be purchased once per day and are typically for more popular or new rides within the park.

Pricing & Purchasing

Disney Genie is a free service provided to everyone! Dinsey Genie+ starts at $15 per ticket per day and pricing can vary based on demand. If you are traveling over a holiday, expect that price to be closer to $20-$22 per ticket per day. Pricing for individual Lightning Lane selections varies by ride and day but typically ranges from about $8 to $23 per person plus tax. You do not need to purchase Disney Genie+ to purchase individual Lightning Lane entrances since the individual Lightning Lane rides are not accessible through Genie+.

Disney Genie+ can only be purchased on the day of your visit, starting at 12:00 am. (Pre-purchasing Genie+ with your ticket is no longer available.) Individual Lightning Lane and Genie+ selections can be purchased/made starting at 7:00 am on the morning you are visiting the theme park. It’s also important to note that Genie+ is based on availability, so it’s possible on busy days that it could sell out. We suggest purchasing Genie+ no later than 7:00 am. We will go over strategies for getting the rides you want further down!

Pro Tip: Be sure to have your desired payment method connected to your My Disney Experience App prior to your departure.

How It Works

Disney states that “On average, Guests can enter 2 to 3 attractions or experiences per day using Lightning Lane entrances if the first selection is made early in the day.” When we were in the parks in the summer of 2022, our average was much higher. Our group was 2 - 6 people depending on the day and we got onto almost all of the rides we wanted utilizing Lightning Lane!

Lightning Lane selections begin at 7:00 am on the morning you are visiting the theme park, so make sure you have your speedy fingers ready - return times sell out quickly for popular attractions!

Prior to selection time, make sure you’ve “Set up your day” in the My Disney Experience app and selected a park for that day, who will be in your booking party, and favorited the first ride you’d like to get on so it sits at the top of your Tip Board. (Don’t worry, we will help you plan all this out ahead of time!)

At 7:00 am on the dot, make your first Genie+ selection and book it. You’ll want to pick the earliest return time that you can. If you’re purchasing an individual Lightning Lane, now is the time to make that selection as well.

Pro Tip: If you are traveling with multiple adults, we suggest that one person makes your first Genie+ selection and one person makes your first individual Lightning Lane selection so you get the best times available.

Have some breakfast and then proceed to the park. Head to the attraction at your selected return time to scan in! You have 1 hour from the start of your return time to scan into the Lightning Lane with your park ticket or Magic Band.

Pro Tip: You can scan in up to 5 minutes prior to your return time and 15 minutes after your window.

The 2-Hour Rule

Only one experience can be booked at a time for Genie+. This means that you can make your next Genie+ selection one of two ways, after making your first selection at 7:00 am:

After you scan in for your return time

OR

2-hours after you’ve made your selection/2-hours after the park opens

Here are a few examples:

At 7:00 am you book a 9:00 am return time for Haunted Mansion. You arrive at the park and scan into the Lightning Lane at 9:15 am. You can now make your next selection.
At 7:00 am you book an 11:00 am return time for Haunted Mansion. The Magic Kingdom opens at 8:00 am today. At 10:00 am, you can make your next selection for Splash Mountain.
At 9:00 am you book a 1:00 pm return time for Splash Mountain. At 11:00 am you can make another selection for Pirates of the Caribbean at 1:30 pm. After scanning in at Pirates of the Caribbean, you can make another selection.

Pro Tip: Some rides have two scan points to prevent people from jumping into the Lightning Lane from the standby line. You will only be able to make your next selection after the 2nd scan point.

This can get a little bit confusing, but just remember that your return time allows you to enter the ride any time within the hour that you book!

Tips

Afternoon Selections: If you are planning to have a lazy morning and only arrive at the parks in the afternoon, you’ll still want to make your first Genie+ selection at 7:00 am. Just be sure to make a selection that’s later in the day for your first return time. Then every two hours, you can make another selection. This is commonly referred to as “ride stacking”. When you get to the park, you’ll already have a few attractions lined up and you won’t have to wait in line as long!
Stagger your return times: If the return time you want is not available, try staggering your return times around meals and shows you’d like to see! For example, if it’s 1:00 pm and the next available return time for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster isn’t until 3:30 pm, consider grabbing some lunch and then catch the 2:30 pm Beauty and the Beast show. By 3:00 pm, you’ll be able to make another selection before you even get on the coaster!
2nd Page Change: When making your Genie+ selections, there are two steps. The first button you click will have a return time listed. When you get to the second page where it asks you to confirm your return time, be sure the time listed is the one you want! If availability is limited, it may update the time on the second page to the next available time.
Party Size: You may see rumors online that the size of your booking party will limit your return time selections. This is not true! Genie+ does not take into account how many people are in your party.
Be patient and be flexible! New times are always becoming available as other people change their plans. Don’t feel like you need to run from one side of the park to the other, just to get the return times you want. Don’t forget to keep an eye on standby line wait times too!
Refresh, Refresh, Refresh! New return times can always pop up, so when you’re standing in ride queues, grabbing a bite to eat, or sitting down to watch a parade, refresh the tip board to see what new times are available!

Is it worth it?

This really depends on you and your plans! If you have a smaller family or are traveling as a couple and really want to get on as many rides as possible, Genie+ is probably a great option for you. This is especially true if you’ve never been to the parks before, or if this is a bucket list trip where you may not return for a few years.

There are of course a few considerations: If you are willing to “rope drop” (arrive well before the park opens to be the first one in) Animal Kingdom, you can probably get away with not purchasing Genie+ for this day. Animal Kingdom is a pretty small park, so if you’re there before the lines build up, you can get on a lot of rides in a small amount of time. Another thing to consider is if you are staying on Disney property (including the Swan, Dolphin, and Swan Reserve resorts), you’ll be allowed entrance to the parks 30 minutes prior to the general public. When we were at Hollywood Studios, we were able to use that 30 minutes to ride Micky & Minnie’s Runaway Railway and Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run all with relatively no wait time. If you are staying at a Disney Deluxe Resort, you’ll also have access to extra magic hours after the park closes, where lines will significantly reduce. If you have little ones, you likely won’t be taking advantage of these late hours!

Because there are so many rides at Magic Kingdom, I would definitely suggest purchasing Genie+ for this park at a minimum. If you have a large family I would suggest booking Disney’s VIP Tour service which gets you into all the rides Lightning Lanes and really maximizes your time. Ask me about this service if you’re interested!

Popular Rides

There is definitely a strategy for booking your attractions! Certain parks have rides that sell out all their return times almost instantly, so you’ll want to book those first. I’ve listed the most popular attractions for Genie+ at each park below, so if it’s your favorite ride, be sure to put these at the top of your list when 7:00 am rolls around!

Magic Kingdom:

Jungle Cruise
Peter Pan’s Flight
Splash Mountain

Disney’s Hollywood Studios:

Slinky Dog Dash
Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway

Disney’s Animal Kingdom:

Na’vi River Journey
Kilimanjaro Safaris
Expedition Everest
Kali River Rapids (hot days)

EPCOT:

Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
Frozen Ever After
Test Track

Let the magic begin!