Over the past few weeks, there have been so many different announcements coming out of the Disney parks. One of the most important announcements was about the retirement of the previous FastPass system and the introduction of Disney’s Genie+ and Lightning Lane. Today we’re going to share everything you need to know about this new system and how it will impact your next Disney trip.
What is Disney Genie?
Disney Genie is a new digital service that will be used in both Walt Disney World and Disneyland. It will offer plenty of new tools and services that allow you to plan your next trip last minute without missing out on the fun of the parks. It aims to guide you around the parks and offer you tips to minimize your wait times at attractions. This feature will be built into the Disneyland app and the My Disney Experience app at Walt Disney World. It will help to personalize an itinerary for you based on the park you are visiting that day. It’s a free-to-use tool that anyone with a valid park ticket can enjoy. Just make sure you download the app before your trip to use Disney Genie when it launches this fall.
Disney Genie+
Moving on from Disney Genie, we have the Disney Genie+ service. This is the replacement for the FastPass system we’ve used for many years, and it’s a paid service with a daily fee. In Walt Disney World, this service will cost $15 a day, whereas this increases to $20 a day at Disneyland. The great thing about the Disneyland option is that you’ll also receive unlimited Disney PhotoPass downloads for the day, as it’s replacing the previous MaxPass service.
Disney Genie+ allows you to select certain attractions to reserve a pass for, where you’ll be able to ride at the next available return time. This won’t include all of the park’s attractions, as some will be sold separately via the Lightning Lane feature. You can only choose one ride or attraction at a time, and then once you’ve used that pass, you can select the next one. At the moment, we only know what a few of these attractions will be, but you can expect them to include Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run.
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Lightning Lane
The final part of this huge announcement was the addition of the Lightning Lane. ON top of the Genie+ options, select attractions will be sold individually, and you’ll be able to purchase up to two passes a day for the Lightning Lane. These will be the most popular attractions in either of the resorts, including Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. You can opt to purchase these passes independently, or you could add them alongside Genie+ depending on your budget. The pricing for this option hasn’t been announced yet, but it’s likely to change depending on when you are visiting. This is a great option for anyone who doesn’t want to miss out on some of the most popular rides and attractions but also doesn’t want to spend their whole vacation standing in line.
When Can I Start Using Disney Genie+?
The exact start date for this service is yet to be announced for Disneyland Resort, but Walt Disney World Resort has announced a date of October 19th! As far as when you can use this service on the day of your visit, if you are staying at a Disney hotel in Walt Disney World, you’ll be able to access all of the services at 7 am and book your first Disney Genie+ selection for the day. At Disneyland, you’ll find that you need to wait until you enter the park to use this service. One thing to keep in mind is that Disney will still be using the virtual queue for some of the attractions, and this will be run separately to these new features.
As you can see, there was a lot to unpack when we first heard the announcement about Disney Genie and the other new services. We can expect to learn more about the new offerings in the next few weeks, and we are excited to test out these options on our next trip. This is a great way to guarantee that your family or travel party gets to ride some of the top attractions in the parks, and it will help to reduce the amount of planning you need to do in advance of your next Disney vacation.
