This has been a busy week for Walt Disney World announcements and not all of them have been met with excitement. I think the biggest change is that Genie+ will be no more as of July 24th and a “new” system will take its place. For a lot of us, this “new” system looks very familiar but with more $$$. For those that don’t know what Genie+ and Lightning Lanes are, this is a paid service to skip the lines in Walt Disney World. Genie+ was a confusing service so I thought I would break this new system down as best I can for those with trips coming up once it is in place.
Genie+
Genie+ is a paid service that allows you to book Lightning Lanes throughout your Disney day to ship the lines for rides and attractions. The way it worked was a little complicated and did require a lot of phone time throughout the day. You would have to purchase Genie+ first thing in the morning (7am or midnight for Disney resort guests) and make your first selection, you could book another one 2 hours later, another once you used the first one and so on throughout the day. The price could be anywhere from $15 to almost $30 per day per person! The complaints here were that you did not have the ability to plan ahead and sometimes Genie+ would sell out for the day before you were able to purchase. It was also expensive for families! There were also Individual Lightning Lanes that were not included in the Genie+ purchase that cost extra, usually $12-$20+ for one attraction.
Lightning Lane Multi Pass / Single Pass
Multi Pass
The new system is going to be the Lightning Lane Multi Pass and the Lightning Lane Single Pass. It is still a paid service and will work similarly to Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lanes but the biggest difference is that you will be able to purchase the passes in advance (7 days before for Disney Resort guests and 3 days for off property guests). When you purchase Multi Pass in advance you can also book up to 3 Lightning Lanes per day for the duration of your vacation. BUT, there is a tier system in place in every park except Animal Kingdom where you can only book one attraction from tier 1 and the other two from tier 2. I will include a full list below of the tiers but as you can imagine the most popular rides are in tier 1 and the others are in tier 2. Once you have scanned in for your first Lightning Lane you can book another but can never hold more than three at a time. The pricing will vary by date just like Genie+ does where it is more expensive at busier times.
Single Pass
The Lightning Lane Single Pass will be like Individual Lightning Lanes. You will only be able to purchase 2 of these a day at most. Attractions for this service are not included in the Multi Pass. You will also be able to book these in advance from what I am understanding. Here is a list of the Single Pass Attractions:
The complaint with this new system is that although the advanced planning is nice, it does take away the opportunity to be more spontaneous if that’s what you prefer. If you wait to do it that day you run the risk of all the attractions you would like to do being sold out and other than those initial 3 bookings you made in advance you have no guarantee you will get one for anything else you are interested in doing. For those that had finally mastered the Genie+ system and stacking their Lightning Lanes this change is not a welcome one.
Conclusion
I’ll be honest, I am slightly indifferent to this change other than just being frustrated that it’s not a change for the better really. We have not used Genie+ other than an Individual Lightning Lane one time. If you were going to Disney World in the golden era of Fast Pass+, which was free, then you will notice that this “new” system is the exact same thing as that but with a price tag. I have read a lot of reactions to this announcement and maybe the one that made the most sense was that if this is what Disney wants to do then why not just go to a MaxPass system like Universal has where you pay the flat rate for the luxury of skipping the lines and you don’t have to book times for anything you just go through the MaxPass line. I’ll be honest I have never used MaxPass either but I don’t see people complaining about it like I do Genie+ and Lightning Lanes. It seems to work pretty well from what I can tell and doesn’t include the stress of booking the Lightning Lanes and being glued to your phone. Plus it’s included in deluxe resort stays, Disney should definitely do that for deluxe resort guests!
I suppose I’ll leave it at that, not my normal I love Disney post on this one since this is not something I am really in love with. If they asked me I would say they should still have this service be free for guests, everyone is paying enough already in my opinion. Either way, I know this service can be helpful for some so I am glad it is still there for them and it is positive that you can now plan ahead. I hope breaking all this down is helpful and that this service will help you have a great time on your next trip to Disney World! Thank you for reading along and have a magical day!