UPDATE 07/24/2024: The Genie+ service has now been retired at Disney World in Orlando. View my Lightning Lane page to learn all about the new service. The Genie+ functionality at Disneyland California remains the same, just renamed to Lightning Lane.

Disney just announced that the Genie+/Lightning Lane services are starting on Oct 19th at Disney World park. It will start at a future date at Disneyland park.

UPDATED 10/20/2021 – The following information has been updated to reflect how this works now that it’s live…at least as of today. If anything changes, I’ll update again.

If you were used to the old FastPass/MaxPass systems, this is not that much different. Mostly just different names for things.

Lightning Lane is the name of the physical line that you go into to do either type of ride when your return time opens, even though they seem to use it interchangeably for the ride pass names too. That’s what most people get confused about. Think old FastPass lane.

Genie+ are the “regular” rides that you use to be able to get FastPasses/MaxPasses for, it’s just that you pay a fee in order to pick those passes now.

Individual lightning lane/individual a la carte rides are the more popular rides at each park that they used to limit you to two also, it’s just that you have to pay for them individually now. They’re not included even if you buy the above Genie+ service, and you can buy one or both of these without buying Genie+ if these are all you think you need ride passes for. You can do the Standby line for the rest. Somebody start a petition to give these a better name though. I vote for Aladdin+. I think the long, bad name is what’s confusing folks.

I hope this helps clear some things up for you. I know this all sounds confusing and looks like alot of info, but it’s really not once you’re looking at the app and doing it in person. Just read and do your research ahead of time and you should be able to make use of this strategically to ride the most rides you can in a day. If you need help, let me know.

INCLUDED RIDES

The following chart shows the rides that will be included in each park as part of the overall Genie+ purchase vs the individual a la carte ride purchases for the high demand rides when this service first launched. Check the MDE app for the updated list of rides though.

Note: Free Standby lines or Virtual Groups are still available if you don’t want to buy any of these.

Note: The Genie+ service/rides and the individual a la carte rides are two different things. One does not affect the other. The available rides are different for each. You do not need to buy Genie+ in order to buy an a la carte ride pass. You can hold passes for both types of rides at the same time. They can even overlap, though try to avoid scheduling things that close together. You don’t want to risk missing your return window for one of them.

PRICING

The cost for all of the regular Genie+ rides is a one-time fee per day, not per ride. You can only use it once per ride, but you can ride as many rides as you can fit into your day.

The cost for the individual a la carte rides will vary per ride (more popular = more expensive) and day (more crowded = more expensive). I’ve seen examples ranging from $10 for Everest on a weekday to $20+ for Rise of the Resistance.

You can only choose up to 2 individual rides per person per day. You would pay the cost of each one when you buy it. Paying for the first ride doesn’t mean you get the second ride included. You pay separately for each of these 2 rides. If you have hoppers, you can split your two between 2 different parks, if you want, but make sure your 2nd ride is after the time you can hop. Click the Change Park link to pick the park that you want to get your pass at.

WHEN TO BUY

For the Genie+ service, you can buy it one day at a time, starting at midnight on the day you want it. I recommend that you just buy it the morning of the day you want it, instead of staying up til midnight, since you can’t book your first Genie+ ride until 7am each morning anyway. So, you might as well just buy the Genie+ service right before you’re about to book your first ride for it. You don’t have to be inside a park to do it either. Just stay in bed.

The individual a la carte rides can only be bought each morning too. There’s no pre-buying for these. If you’re staying at a Disney resort, you can book your individual rides at 7am ET. If you’re not staying at a Disney resort, then you can book them at the official park opening time for whichever park you want to book your ride at. You also don’t have to be inside a park at either time to book them.

Note: You don’t have to buy Genie+ or individual a la carte ones for everyone in your party either. If you have someone who won’t be riding most of the rides that’ll need passes, then it may not make sense to buy it for that person.

Also, depending on how crowded the day is and which park you’re at, you can pick n choose which day or park you even need to buy them at. You might have a higher wait tolerance for the standby lines than someone else, or one park has more high wait time rides than another, or one day of your trip could be more crowded than a subsequent less crowded day where you may not need the ride passes as much. So, you do not have to buy it for every day of your trip if you don’t need it.

Note 2: The ability to buy the Genie+ service will not run out, but good/available time slots for the rides that you can book a Genie+ pass for can indeed run out as it gets later in the day, so don’t wait too long to buy it.

* You especially have to watch the times for the individual a la carte passes. These CAN run out. I’ve heard that they were sold out of the ones for Rise of the Resistance within minutes of park opening, so definitely buy these early if you’re sure you want to ride or check often on how far out they’re already booking if you want to wait til later to pull the trigger.

If the parks have opened already, you should check the Tip Board tab in the MDE app first to see what the current wait times and next available pass time slots are to see if it’s worth buying.

PICKING RIDES

You can only select one Genie+ pass at a time, starting at 7am each morning, but you can pick the next one as soon as you use the current one.

When you pick a Genie+ ride, you can only take the next available time slot that’s showing in the app for that ride. You can’t pick one for a different timeframe like you can for the individual a la carte rides, so make sure that the next slot is one that you can do. If you find yourself not able to make a selected Genie+ ride, make sure to reschedule or cancel it before your window opens.

Tip: If you bought the Genie+ option for multiple parks, you can even change your park in the app and pick your next pass for a ride in the next park before you hop over. You don’t have to wait til you get there to book it.

If your selected Genie+ pass is more than two hours away, you can pick the next one approximately 2 hours from when you selected it, or 2 hours after the park opening time if the one you picked at 7am is later than 2 hours after that park opens. The app will tell you when you can pick the next one. Think about this and be strategic! You may be able to hold more than one Genie+ pass at a time this way. However, whenever possible, try to pick a ride with the next closest time slot so you can constantly be riding something and not waiting at least the two hours too often. The exception is, if it’s a very popular ride that could run out of passes quickly, grab whatever time you can get and then try to modify it every so often to see if an earlier time becomes available.

Tip: The return line for most of the Genie+ rides have two scanner checkpoints where you have to scan your Magic Band or ticket to enter during your window. As soon as you scan past the second scanner, you can go into the app and grab your next ride. You don’t have to wait til you’re done riding.

You can book your two individual a la carte rides for the day right away when your window opens (7am or park opening time). You don’t have to wait til you use one before booking the 2nd one for these. But, you have to buy each one separately. It’s not like a shopping cart concept where you put both in your cart and then checkout. You just click on one ride in the list, buy it, then go back to the list and buy the 2nd ride. If one of the ones that you want to buy is at a different park than the currently selected one, click the Change Park link to change it.

Just be careful spreading out the times to ones that you’re sure you can do. Make sure they don’t overlap with dining reservations or nap times!!

Note: Individual a la carte rides cannot be changed, canceled, or refunded, so choose these times carefully!

If you intend to hop, think through if you want to grab one for the next park instead of using up both in your first park. Think how long the standby line might be by the time you get to the next park, and be strategic in picking your two for the day…if you even want/need to use both.

Tip: You are still able to get a free virtual boarding group for some rides that are doing Virtual Boarding Groups, and also buy an Individual Lightning Lane pass for it. So, if you really love the ride, this would be the only way to ride it twice in a day, since virtual boarding group rides don’t have a walk-up standby line. I recommend trying for a boarding group at 7am first, and then deciding if you need/want to buy a pass.

RIDING ISSUES

You are allowed a grace period of 5 minutes before your return window and 15 minutes after your window to scan in if you intend to ride it.

For both types of rides, if you miss your window entirely, the system will treat it as if you’ve ridden it anyway. You won’t be able to select it again to ride later that day since you can only ride any ride one time per day. You would have to use the standby line after that.

Note: If a ride is down during the return window of your selected pass, just hang tight a bit. Don’t go canceling it. They’ll most likely convert Genie+ passes automatically to basically an “anytime/anything” pass that you can use now any other time that day for any other Genie+ ride, and you can let that golden ticket sit in your account til you need it. I suggest saving it for a ride later that you really want that doesn’t have any more passes at a convenient time for you or that’s already sold out. You might even be able to use it to ride something twice this way. Just use this golden ticket strategically too. In the meantime, you can get the next pass for another ride and continue on as usual. Having the golden ticket doesn’t count towards the one-at-a-time concept.

If an individual a la carte ride goes down, they’ll likely assign you a later time for that same ride, or refund you the cost of the pass automatically. Keep an eye on your app to make sure that it reflects that. The process for these individual ones has been changing, so I’ll try to keep up with it.

MORE INFO

If you’re not seeing the new Genie features in your app, make sure to update your app, or log off n log back in, or even reinstall the app. You can’t miss it if it’s there.

Definitely try to become familiar with the new Tip Board and My Day screens and play with those free Genie features to become familiar with them before your trip. You can even set up your preferences for each day (click the Change Day link) ahead of time so that the itinerary suggestions it tries to offer you reflect what you want to potentially do. This part is free to do. You will just get an error message if you try to buy any rides, so don’t bother doing that yet.

Tip: For those of you who are familiar with the old My Plans listing and want to see your trip plans that way again, you can go into the tile menu screen and select the “Future Plans” tile. It won’t reflect the new Genie features, just the traditional park and dining reservations info, but it’s a clean way to get a list of your reservations. It only shows future days though, not the current day, so be sure to screenshot the next day’s reservations by the night before if you want it for the next day.

Biggest Tip: Make sure to bring a big enough battery pack to keep your phone charged all day, especially if you’re the one who primarily does the planning for your group. So much is dependent on your phone now.

To read my short bullet points of Genie+, check out my blog post here.

To read my earlier recap of Genie+, check out my blog post here.

To read the full specifics from Disney, check out Disney’s Genie+ page.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or want to add this to your Disney bookings.

If you’re planning to “set sail” on the new Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser experience at Disney World, start getting ready! The maiden voyage is going to be on March 1, 2022!

Bookings for the general public start on Oct 28th! Some affinity group members such as DVC, passholders, and Disney Visa holders can even book in the weeks beforehand.

Booking can only be made over the phone directly with Disney Reservations or thru an authorized Disney travel planner, like me. There are very specific details to the booking and cancellation policies that are very different from the usual Disney resort bookings, so pay attention to the details.

For a quick recap on the Galactic Starcruiser, check out my blog post about it here.

For more detailed information, read Disney’s site page about it.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or are interested in booking.

Exciting news! Disney World is bringing back more live entertainment! Meeting characters and seeing live shows are a key part of a Disney visit. That’s what makes these parks so special and different from typical amusement parks.

They’re saying, while we are not ready for hugs and autographs, there will be opportunities for one on one time with characters. I take that to mean that we can at least get close enough where they’ll pose for individual selfies and chat with you, even if from a slight distance, rather than just walking around a balcony or open space in the distance. They are supposed to start becoming available in various meet n greet spots around mid November.

On Oct 1st, they restarted a few shows around the parks. In the Magic Kingdom, there is a new morning welcome show with Mickey & friends on the castle stage and the piano player is back at Casey’s Corner. The Dapper Dans, Main Street band, and character calvacades have been performing already. In EPCOT, the Taiko Drummers are back in Japan, Sergio the juggler is back in Italy, and a band is back on the Canada stage. In Animal Kingdom, the performers around Asia and Africa are bringing music to the streets. In Hollywood Studios, the nighttime projection show and the Indiana Jones Stunt show are returning soon, while the Beauty and the Beast show and the Disney Jr dance parties have restarted already.

Hopefully, this is a sign that more things are getting back to normal soon. Now, we just need the parades back too!

There are so many new shows coming up!

There are two new nighttime shows at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom and EPCOT parks, and a TV special to celebrate the 50th Anniversary.

Search the Disney Parks Blog for the livestream videos – 9pm ET on 9/29 for EPCOT’S Harmonious show and 10:15pm ET on 9/30 for Magic Kingdom’s Enchantment show.

Then, Fri 10/1 primetime on TV, the 50th Anniversary special on your local ABC channel. Check your local listings.

Well, it’s been a nutty month. So many things going on! Here’s a quick recap of some of the recent happenings at the Disney World parks. Feel free to contact me if you want more info.

Early Theme Park Entry

Officially, starting Oct 1st, guests staying at the Disney resorts and certain partner hotels can get into any of the four parks 30 minutes before the stated opening time. I know, 30 minutes may not seem like much, but you’ll be surprised. In that time, you should be able to get onto at least one big ride and maybe in line for the 2nd before the crowds of non-resort guests get there. That’s a big deal to be able to knock out two major rides with lower crowds. Also, starting Sept 26th, guests can start experiencing this as a preview. You still need the usual park ticket and reservation pass to get in, of course. In addition, if you’re staying at a deluxe Disney resort and other select deluxe hotels, you can also stay 2 hours after park closing.

Boarding Groups Paused for Rise of the Resistance

As of this week, you do not get a boarding group to ride Rise of the Resistance anymore. It’s just Standby only, so be prepared to line up early. I’ve heard of several hour waits! They haven’t said how long this will go on for, so double check which method they’re using when you go.

Boarding Groups Needed for New Remy Ride

When the new Remy Ride opens in the France pavilion in EPCOT on Oct 1st, you will need to get a boarding pass to ride it. It sounds like it works the same way as the Rise of the Resistance boarding passes – use the same strategies, try at 7am or 1pm, etc. The crepe restaurant and the entire new section behind the current France pavilion will also open that day.

New Fireworks Shows Livestreams

If you won’t be in the parks next week for their debut, you can watch a livestream of the first preview shows from the Disney Parks Blog site! From EPCOT, Harmonious will stream Sept 29th at 9pm ET. From Magic Kingdom, Disney Enchantment will stream Sept 30th at 10:15pm ET.

Club Cool and Creation Shop Opened

Yes, Beverly is back! Phew! That’s all you wanted to know, right? LoL. All of the other sodas at Club Cool have been changed to new flavors though. I heard there might even be a new Beverly contender. The new store replacing MouseGears in EPCOT, called Creation Shop, has also finally opened.

Space 220 Restaurant Finally Opened

Finally! This restaurant has been in the works for years and has actually opened! From the vlogger videos that I’ve seen so far, it looks really cool! The food sounds good, but the atmosphere is the highlight here. That space elevator looks amazing! They should just make that a ride! Note, it has a slightly different pricey prix fixe menu for lunch and dinner, but there’s also a lounge where you can get ala carte small bites. Reservations are already gone through December though. If you want to eat here, book it first the second your dining reservation window opens.

Buffets are Back

Buffets are back at Boma, Biergarten, and Crystal Palace. I bet more will be coming soon. They had reopened as table service restaurants for the past few months, but recently, they changed back to their original self serve buffet format.

Polynesian Monorail Station and EPCOT Monorail Opened

The construction of the new Polynesian resort monorail station is finally done and the Magic Kingdom resort monorail now stops at the Poly again. In addition, the EPCOT Monorail is also running again, so you can take that between EPCOT and the Magic Kingdom area.

Fingerprint Scanners Used Again

They started using the fingerprint scanners to get into the parks again, so try to remember which finger you first used.

Steakhouse 71 Coming Soon

This is the new restaurant that is replacing The Wave at the Contemporary resort. The name is based on 1971, the year the resort opened. It is opening Oct 1st but reservations have already been filling up fast. The menu shows typical American fare for breakfast, sandwiches and burgers for lunch, and steaks for dinner, among other choices, of course. It all sounds good though.

Cirque de Soleil Opening Soon

The new Cirque du Soleil® show in Disney Springs is finally opening Nov 18th. You can buy tickets now on the Cirque de Soleil site.

Animal Kingdom’s Nemo Show Being Reimagined

The Nemo show in Animal Kingdom hasn’t reopened since the Covid closure and they recently announced that they won’t be reopening anytime soon. When it does, it will be a new reimagined show, but no other specifics have been given yet.

EPCOT’S Candlelight Professional Returning

The Candlelight Professional is a popular show during the EPCOT holiday festivities where a celebrity narrator reads the Christmas story interspersed with songs performed by a majestic choir. It’s a beautiful show. It will be held most nights from Nov 26 – Dec 30th. No details on the celebrity lineup or dining packages yet though.

50th Anniversary Is Next Week

Yup, it’s going to be October 1st next Friday! September just flew by! So, that means the long anticipated 50th Anniversary of the opening of the Magic Kingdom park is finally here! All of the parks will have special decorations and lighting, Magic Kingdom and Epcot will debut their new nighttime shows, Animal Kingdom will debut a new daytime show, characters will have shiny new outfits and calvacades and make appearances in parks and resorts, golden statues of various characters have been set out around all four parks, and much, much more. There will be new anniversary floats bookending the current floats on the Electric Water Pageant. Of course, they will have tons of new merch and foods too! There will even be a TV show on ABC that night. Check your TV listings. The festivities will go on for the next 18 months, at least, so you’ll have plenty of time to make a trip over there! We plan to join in the fun! Come along!

This is all I can think of for now, but I’m sure more announcements will be coming from Disney. There seems to be something new everyday. There’s so much to keep up with. Some other big changes have already been discussed in my previous blogs, so check those too, if you haven’t already. Feel free to contact me if you want to discuss anything.

Disney World has revamped their annual pass program and just released the details of the 4 new tiers. If you’re interested, they’re going on sale Sept 8, 2021.

They are apparently limiting the number of passholders, so they can sell out. If you’re definitely set on getting them, you may want to do so sooner rather than later.

If you currently have an active annual pass, you won’t switch to one of the new ones until your next renewal, which will still have the renewal discount against the new prices, but you will get the increased park reservation count starting Sept 8th.

From what I’m reading so far, Florida residents can choose between any of the 4, DVC members can choose between 2, and non-residents who aren’t DVC members can only buy 1. Each of the 4 vary with the number of park reservations and block out dates.

The key differences between these and the old annual passes are that you can make up to 5 park reservations now (currently, it’s 3) if you’re not staying at a Disney resort (resort guests still get length of stay), but PhotoPass photo downloads are not included anymore. That is now an add-on that you can buy for the year if you want to get all of your PhotoPass/ride photos. That’s a bummer, but you only need to buy one for your group if you’re all linked in the MDE app. Water parks is another add-on too. But, passes still includes park hopping and various discounts and other perks.

I know the price of annual passes may seem daunting, but if you tend to go to Disney World more than once a year or if your one trip is more than a week, you may want to do the math to see if it’s more cost effective to get an annual pass instead of buying individual tickets. It includes discounts on shopping and dining at certain Disney locations, along with a few other perks that may add up to be enough savings for you to get a pass. You may also consider getting a pass for one member of your group just to get the discounts. If you’ve already bought park tickets for an upcoming trip, you can upgrade them to a pass before the last day of your tickets and apply the cost you already paid towards them.

The chart below summarizes the key points of the four different passes, courtesy of Disney.

You can read Disney’s full article here:

• WDW Annual Passes

I’m not sure if Disney will release more information than this, if there is anymore, but I’ll keep you posted if anything significant comes out. Feel free to contact me if you want to chat about this.