What is Disney Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lane?

October 14, 2022
9:16 pm
Disneyland Resort, Parks & Resorts, Walt Disney World

What in the world is Disney Genie, Disney Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lanes? In this post we break it down for you so that you and your travel party can decide whether or not this service is for you! We’ll go through what each service is, what it allows access to and of course, how much it is!

Disney Genie

Let’s start out with the basics! Disney Genie is a complimentary service offered in the MyDisneyExperience App. Its goal is to try and create the best Disney day inspired by your party’s top interests. It also provides some planning features, like a personalized itinerary that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to try and map out your day with suggested attractions and dining options. It also shows you when the best time would be to visit certain attractions or dining locations. Disney Genie service will continue to offer new suggestions throughout the day as you progress through your Disney day!

Now of course, this is not perfect, and we have found many times where what Disney Genie suggested, was just not something that we wanted to do. You have the option to remove and change things. This service seems to be just a “guide” or “template” that can help some.

Disney Genie+

Disney Genie+ is everything mentioned with Disney Genie, but for a separate purchase, per person, per day, this service allows guests to make selections for Lightning Lane entrances that are offered through the service. This allows you to spend less time in line and is basically utilizing what used to be called the “Fastpass+ Lane”. Now, Genie+ does not open up every attractions Individual Lightning Lanes. There are 1-2 attractions/experiences that are it’s own Individual Lightning Lane, more on that in the next session. Here is a a current breakdown of the list of attractions currently included in Genie+.

Walt Disney World

Magic Kingdom Park Experiences

Lightning Lane Entrances Offered Through Disney Genie+ Service
Experiences offered (subject to change without notice*):

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade
Dumbo the Flying Elephant
Haunted Mansion
“it’s a small world”
Jungle Cruise
Mad Tea Party
Meet Cinderella and a Visiting Princess at Princess Fairytale Hall
Meet Mickey and Minnie at Town Square Theater
Meet Princess Tiana and a Visiting Princess at Princess Fairytale Hall
Mickey’s PhilharMagic
Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor
Peter Pan’s Flight
Pirates of the Caribbean
Space Mountain
Splash 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 Experiences

Lightning Lane Entrances Offered Through Disney Genie+ Service
Experiences offered (subject to change without notice*):

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

Disney’s Hollywood Studios Experiences

Lightning Lane Entrances Offered Through Disney Genie+ Service
Experiences offered (subject to change without notice*):

Alien Swirling Saucers
Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage
Disney Junior 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 Starring Aerosmith
Slinky Dog Dash
Star Tours – The Adventures Continue
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror™
Toy Story Mania!

Animal Kingdom Park Experiences

Lightning Lane Entrances Offered Through Disney Genie+ Service
Experiences offered (subject to change without notice*):

Festival of the Lion King
DINOSAUR
Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain
Feathered Friends in Flight!
Finding Nemo: The Big Blue…and Beyond!
It’s Tough to Be a Bug!
Kali River Rapids
Kilimanjaro Safaris
Meet Favorite Disney Pals at Adventurers Outpost
Naʻvi River Journey
The Animation Experience at Conservation Station

Disneyland

Disneyland Park

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

* Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance requires an individual Lightning Lane purchase.

Disney California Adventure

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

* Radiator Springs Racers requires an individual Lightning Lane purchase.

Now how does one book these attractions, how many can I book at a time, when can I book, is there a limit. First, watch the videos below, then after that, read what’s after the videos. After that, you’ll be a pro at Disney Genie+.

To book attractions through Disney Genie+, go inside the MyDisneyExperience App, click on Disney Genie+ “Purchase Today”, select the guests who you’d like to purchase Disney Genie+ for, and confirm purchase. Then, the “Tip Board” and “My Day” page will show up. On “Tip Board”, you can see wait times at the different parks, and the next available time to book a Disney Genie+ slot. It is worth noting that you can’t choose a specific time, it’s simply the next time available. Beginning at 7:00 AM ALL guests, both those who are and aren’t staying on property can book their first Disney Genie+ attraction booking. From that point, guests need to either tap their ticket at the attraction terminal, or wait 2 hours from booking you can then choose from two methods for booking additional attraction bookings.

The first, is what many call the “Churning” method. This method can be done by getting the earliest booking for a preferred attraction possible, then as soon as you have past scanning into that first attraction, you can book your next attraction. This process is done repeatedly through the whole day. The possible issues with this approach? It depends on crowds, you could have a booking to do one attraction at park opening, and then by the time you go on the first ride and are ready to book your next one, the next available time slot could be hours away, possibly even booked up depending on crowds and popularity of the attraction.

Another popular method is called the “Stacking” method. This method can be done by trying to book your Disney Genie+ attractions later in the day beginning at 7:00 AM. Then two hours after park opening, you can book another attraction close to the same time slot of the first attraction. After two hours from booking you’re second, you can book your third. This can be repeated every two hours and if done right, you can get on rides back to back to back.

It’s worth noting that you DO NOT need to be in the park to book Disney Genie+ experiences unless your at Disneyland. In addition, once you have booked a Disney Genie+ booking for a particular attraction, you can not book another booking for the same attraction. Also, you have to purchase Disney Genie+ service daily if you wish to use the service for each day you’re at the parks.

It can be confusing the first time you use it, so let’s look at a sample day to give you an idea of how to best utilize Disney Genie+. This example will be in The Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. The only difference at Disneyland would be that you couldn’t make your first selection until you arrive at the park for the day.

7 a.m. — Reserve a Genie+ Lightning Lane reservation for Jungle Cruise with a return window of 9 a.m. to 10 a.m.
8:30 a.m. — Arrive at The Magic Kingdom for rope drop (or Early Entry if you are staying in a Disney World hotel) and use the standby queue to ride Space Mountain.
9 a.m. — Ride Dumbo the Flying Elephant or “it’s a small world” via the standby queue.
9:30 a.m. — Ride Jungle Cruise via your Lightning Lane and make your next Genie+ Lightning Lane reservation for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad between 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m.
10 a.m. — Visit a character meet-and-greet, Tom Sawyer Island, or ride the Liberty Belle riverboat. Alternatively, you could have lunch and find a spot for the noon parade.
1 p.m. — Ride Big Thunder Mountain via the Lightning Lane and stack your first evening Genie+ Lightning Lane Reservation for Peter Pan’s Flight between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m.
While stacking afternoon and evening Lightning Lane reservations, you can check the Disney Genie Tip Board for attractions with short wait times or even head back to the hotel and cool off in the pool for a couple of hours.
3 p.m. — Make another Genie+ Lightning Lane reservation for Haunted Mansion between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m.
5 p.m. — Make another Genie+ Lightning Lane reservation for Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.
6 p.m. — Redeem the Genie+ Lightning Lanes you stacked throughout the afternoon. Eat dinner, watch the fireworks and rest so you can do it again the next day.

This is strictly shown as a SAMPLE DAY and does not necessarily mean that this is what you should do as far as attraction picks.

Individual Lightning Lane

Finally, Individual Lightning Lanes, which we have discussed above. This is not something entirely different. With Disney Genie+, you pay for access to most attractions “Lightning Lanes”. But, for “Individual” Lightning Lanes, it’s in the name. Individual attractions that’s Lightning Lanes aren’t available with Disney Genie+ and must be purchased À La Carte. These attractions are typically the most popular/newest attractions. Here is a list of attractions for each park:

Magic Kingdom Park

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
TRON Lightcycle Run

Epcot

Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Avatar Flight of Passage

These attractions can be booked at 7:00 AM for guests staying on property. For those staying off property, they can begin booking at park opening. They are booked the same way as Disney Genie+ selections, the only difference, when you select the time slot available, you are then brought to a checkout screen.