Learn everything you need to know about Disney Genie+ and the Lightning Lanes in Disney World. These are the new FastPass+ and are line-skipping services you need to pay for. You need to understand a few rules before using them, and there are many tips to learn before booking.
See below our complete guide to make the most out of Genie+ and Lightning Lane services during your trip to Disney World in Orlando.
After reading this article, check out our tips on saving a lot of money on your trip to Orlando. It’s the most popular article on our blog and will definitely help you with all your trip planning. You’ll find many great tips that will save you A LOT of cash and get you great deals besides ways to set up your entire trip to Orlando easily.
What’s the difference between Disney Genie, Genie+, and Lightning Lanes?
Disney World used to have the FastPass line-skipping service, which has been replaced by the Disney Genie Service. In that, you can find the Genie+ and the Lightning Lanes.
We will explain in detail what each of them means, but to summarize, Disney Genie is free and a way to plan your day with Disney’s algorithm according to your interests. Lightning Lanes are individual fast lanes booked by time, and Genie+ is a service that allows you to book several Lightning Lanes. Check out below for more information on each of them!
What is Disney Genie?
Disney Genie is a free service available in the My Disney Experience App. It’s an algorithm that helps you decide your itinerary in a Disney Park according to your interests. It also shows standby wait times, show times, dining availability, and more information relevant to your park day.
At the My Disney Experience App, you will select your favorite Disney movies, characters, and interests within the theme park attractions. Disney Genie will suggest an itinerary based on your picks, with times to visit each attraction and where to eat. It’s an entirely free service for everyone and a good way to help plan your day.
What are the Lightning Lanes in Disney World?
Lightning lanes are the line-skipping queues at attractions in Disney World. Those fast lanes were previously called FastPass, and now they are the Lightning Lanes. You can purchase them individually or through a package named Genie+. In front of the attractions, you will see the signages indicating the regular stand-by queues and the Lightning Lane one.
As you will see below, not all attractions from the theme parks have their Lightning Lanes available in the package of Genie+. That means you will have to buy separate Lightning Lanes for some of them if you want to skip the regular queue and get the fast lane.
What is the Genie+ in Disney World?
Genie+ is what replaced FastPass. It’s a package of Lightning Lanes that you can purchase. It works per day, and per park, so you must buy daily if you want to skip the lines of all the parks you will visit in Disney World. It works through the My Disney Experience app, so you must buy and manage your booking there.
Using Genie+: how to book your Lightning Lanes
As we said, Genie+ works through the My Disney Experience app. You can purchase there, with a valid Park Reservation, for all your party. Let’s say you are traveling with three other people and the four of you bought your tickets together. You can’t purchase Genie+ only for you; you must buy it for all four people at your party.
After purchasing it, you can book Lightning Lanes for almost all attractions in the park except the two most popular ones. Let’s build a scenario: you will spend the day in Magic Kingdom at Disney World and purchase Genie+ for you and your family. You can book Lightning Lanes for all attractions at MK except the two most popular ones. Disney shares the included attractions in Genie+, so you can check that at the My Disney Experience App before booking it.
If you want, you can buy Genie+ and individual Lightning Lanes for the most popular attractions in the park. That way, you will spend more money but skip lines for almost the entire park.
Rules for using Genie+
You can purchase Genie+ after midnight on the day you have your park reservation. We recommend waking up early, buying it, and then booking your first reservation at 7 AM – which is the time you are allowed to book your first ride. You can book another ride reservation once 120 minutes have passed or after you ride your previous reservation- whichever comes first.
Remember that even though you book your first ride reservation at 7 AM, the 120-minute rule won’t kick in until the park officially opens.
Let’s suppose at 7 AM you book your first Lightning Lane to 9:30 AM. If the park opens at 9 AM, you must wait until you ride the first attraction to book your next Lightning Lane. You can book ride reservations every 120 minutes throughout the day until the park closes.
It’s important to know that you can only use the Genie+ selection once per attraction. Suppose you want to ride something more than once; you will have to use the standby line.
Also, if you don’t show up to one ride reservation, you will lose it and have to wait 120 minutes. So if you change your mind about a certain selection using Genie+, it’s better to cancel it so you can replace it with an attraction you will ride.
Booking individual Lightning Lanes
The way of booking Lightning Lanes for premium attractions is similar to Genie+. As we said, if you purchase the Genie+ package, you won’t have access to 100% of the attractions in the theme parks since the most popular of them only offer Lightning Lanes available for purchase individually. You can buy up to two of those most popular attractions per theme park daily, and the purchase is made in the My Disney Experience app in the Genie Service tab.
How much do Genie+ and individual Lightning Lanes cost?
The fees for buying Genie+ or individual Lightning Lanes depend on the day, attraction, park, and how busy your day is. Beginning with Lighting Lanes, they cost from $10 to more than $20, depending on the attraction and day you are booking. Those prices are per attraction and per person.
Genie+ begins at $15 and also varies accordingly to the time of the year and park, reaching more than $20 on the business days in Magic Kingdom, for example. Those prices are per person, per day, and per park.
Where can I use Disney Genie, Genie+, and Lightning Lanes?
You can use these three services in all four theme parks in the Disney complex as long as you have a valid park reservation, you can use them. As we said, remember that Lightning Lanes and Genie+ must be purchased per day, per park, and per person (and, in the case of individual Lighting Lanes, per attraction). So if you want to skip the standby entrance queues on multiple days, you must buy those extra services daily.
Park Hopping and Genie+
You can use Genie+ while Park Hopping; we even recommend it. For those who don’t know, a Park Hopper ticket is a category that allows you to visit multiple parks per day. General tickets only allow you to visit one park per day. If you are Park Hopping, simply purchase your Genie+ and, when booking rides in the Tip Board, just change the park and choose attractions from whatever park you are going to next on that day. Just remember you can only enter your second park of the day after 2 PM, so book your Lightning Lanes accordingly.
Tips to make the most of your trip to Orlando
Now that you’ve read everything about Genie+, Lightning Lanes, and the Genie service, choosing your hotel’s location makes the difference on your trip. Orlando is a big city, and it’s much better to stay in a region close to the main attractions to save time.
Check our article about the best neighborhoods to stay in during your trip to Orlando. It’s the best way to decide where to stay and to get a great hotel and a good deal. You will remain in the best region, close to the beaches and shopping, and enjoy even more your trip!
Orlando’s main attractions are very far apart, so tourists always choose to rent a car in the city. It’s the best way of transportation. With a car, you can enjoy your trip at its best, visiting all parks, malls, tourist spots, and even nearby cities. Miami is just 4 hours away!
Check our article about renting a great and cheap car in Orlando. We provide you with all information you need about renting vehicles in Orlando, with tips on finding amazing prices using comparators. It’s much cheaper than people think, and it is worth it because Orlando is a car-driving city.
Using your phone in Orlando?
Being able to use your cell phone on your trip is something vital. With a functioning SIM card, you can search for all the spots and attractions, access discount coupons and parking apps, check the weather, book restaurants, and even use map apps in Miami. And, of course, stay online on all your social media accounts!
We selected the best tips for using your phone in Orlando, where we indicate the cheapest way to use it all day and anywhere in the country. With mobile internet and a SIM card, you can have full access to the My Disney Experience app and book your Genie+, Lightning Lanes, and more.
What is the best way to get the cheapest Orlando tickets?
An essential part of your trip planning is figuring out where (and when) to buy Disney, Universal Studios, and other Orlando tickets. We’ve done much research and found the cheapest place to buy Orlando park tickets. We always buy ours there! It’s where you’ll find the best prices and where you can buy all the tickets for all the parks and attractions. It saves you money and time since you’ll book everything on the same site.
Don’t forget about the Travel Insurance for Orlando!
A crucial tip is to have International Travel Insurance before traveling to Orlando. No one should travel without it so that you can avoid significant problems abroad! It ends up being cheaper than people think. In our article on International Travel Insurance for Orlando, you can check everything you need to know about it: the best insurance companies, tips for hiring excellent coverage for a lower price, and ways to save a lot.
Must-see articles from Orlando:
- Best things to do in Orlando: learn all about the best attractions in Orlando.
- Best places to go shopping in Orlando: a complete guide to malls and outlets in Orlando.
- Orlando’s Best Parks: your go-to guide for all the parks in Orlando.
- Walt Disney World Parks in Orlando: the incredible parks of Disney World.
