A Guide to Disney’s Genie & Genie+, & Lightning Lane: Simplified

There is a lot going on in the world right now, but once you arrive at Disney World the positivity and joy takes over. There is no way to describe the feeling of being at Disney Parks other than magical. You are transported to a land of kindness and love, where people are enjoying quality time with loved ones and making memories to last a lifetime.

Disney’s Genie

Planning your Walt Disney World or Disneyland Resort vacation can be an overwhelming experience, but it doesn’t have to be! The Disney Genie Service is a complimentary virtual trip planner, accessed through the My Disney Experience Mobile App. Disney Genie is the ultimate planning tool that guests can use to maximize their time in the theme parks and cut down on the amount of time they spend waiting in line.

Your “My Day” tab is where you’ll find Disney Genie recommendations and any plans you’ve made, including dining reservations, Disney Resort hotel reservations and activity bookings. The Custom Tip board was our favorite place to check during our park days. Here you can find showtimes, dining times, and estimated wait times for your Disney day! You can even order food, make dining reservations, check into restaurants, and request to join a virtual queue. We were able to snag an 11:45 AM reservation to Cinderella’s Royal Castle the day before our visit (score!).

Disney’s Genie+ and Lightning Lane

You can add Genie+ to your park ticket for $15/person per day, and it is well worth it. The Disney Genie+ features Lightning Lane selections on 40+ attractions for your entire day. With this, you can book arrival times throughout the day for attractions with very little wait, and you can overlap times (which you were unable to do with FastPass). You are only able to make one Genie+ reservation at a time. Once you have gone on that ride and fulfilled your reservation, you will then be able to make a new Lightning Lane reservation. You can schedule your first Lightning Lane selection at 7 am, regardless of whether you’re on-site, off-site, Annual Passholder, DVC, etc. Your second selection can be made 2 hours after the park opening. Side note, my youngest called Lightning lane “Thunder Pass” and I thought that was adorable.

Individual Lightning Lane

Individual Lightning Lane attractions is Disney’s pay-per-ride service that lets guests skip the line at one attraction at a time.  It’s like line-skipping a la carte. Individual Lightning Lane attractions are not included in the Genie+ service.

If you are staying at a Disney World Resort, reservations for Individual Lightning Lane attractions can be made starting at 7:00 am on the day of your visit to that theme park. For off-site guests, reservations can be made starting at park opening each day.  If the park opens at 9:00 am, that’s when you can start making Individual Lightning Lane selections. Staying on site gives you a big advantage here.

Individual Lightning Lanes currently available by park:

Magic Kingdom

• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
• Space Mountain

Epcot

• Frozen Ever After
• Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind (beginning May 27, 2022)
• Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure

Hollywood Studios

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

Animal Kingdom

• Avatar Flight of Passage

I know it can seem confusing or overwhelming, this was our first time using it. That being said, once you open the app and actually interact with it – it all comes full circle and you will get the hang of it! My best advice is to keep checking the tip board – new reservations pop up constantly from cancelations or adding new time slots, and we were able to ride pretty much everything with Lightning Lane at all the parks.

Now, go ahead and plan the most magnificent Disney trip for your family! Oh and definitely go with photo pass – the magic shots and fact that you basically have a group of professional photographers at your disposal simplifies everything!

Until next time…