Disney Genie revealed - Walt Disney World's next generation of FastPass with pay-per-ride options

Aug 18, 2021 in "Disney Genie"

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Posted: Wednesday August 18, 2021 4:24pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

After years of speculation, Disney has finally taken the wraps off its Genie project and revealed how it plans to reshape the Walt Disney World theme park experience.

Disney Genie was originally announced back in 2019 and now Disney is revealing how it will work

Disney has today announced that Disney Genie, part of the My Disney Experience app, will arrive at Walt Disney World and Disneyland in fall 2021.

Genie+ will be available at Walt Disney World for $15 per person per day, and will include access to the Lightning Lane (previously the FastPass line), for one attraction at a time, with a designated arrival time. In addition, top tier attractions not included in Genie+ will be available for individual purchase at a price not yet announced. We understand from various sources that Disney will be asking between $4 and $24 per person, per ride, depending on the category of attraction.

Most attractions that were previously part of FastPass+ will be included in the flat-rate Genie+, but top-tier attractions and new attractions like Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and Remy's Ratatouille Adventure will require an individual purchase for Lighting Lane access.

Disney Genie overview

According to Disney, "Disney Genie service will maximize your park time, so you can have more fun. It includes a personalized itinerary feature that will quickly and seamlessly map out an entire day. From specific attractions, foodie experiences and entertainment, to general interests like Disney princesses, villains, Pixar, Star Wars, thrill rides and more – just tell Disney Genie what you want to do and it will do the planning for you."

Disney Genie features

Disney Genie will offer a number of free features that do not require the $15 Genie+ option, including:

Get Itinerary Updates from Morning to Night: Disney Genie will continue to update your itinerary throughout your day, so you can be more spontaneous and go with the flow.
Find Your Favorites at a Glance: Create your very own personal tip board to instantly see your favorites. It will display current AND forecasted future wait times, helping you predict when you might experience quicker entry to attractions.
Enjoy More Flexibility and Fun: Disney Genie brings existing planning features together in one place. Join a virtual queue at certain attractions, make dining and experience reservations, mobile order food at many locations, get help from a virtual assistant and more.

The Lightning Lane

The Lightning Lane entrance replaces the FastPass line, and is available for purchase via two services:

Disney Genie+ service (available for purchase): For the price of $15 per ticket per day at Walt Disney World Resort and $20 per ticket per day at Disneyland Resort, choose the next available time to arrive at a variety of attractions and experiences using the Lightning Lane entrance. You can make one selection at a time, throughout the day – from classics like Haunted Mansion to thrill rides like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and newer favorites like Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run (attractions subject to limited availability). Disney Genie+ will also include Disney parks-themed audio experiences and photo features to capture your memories – augmented reality lenses for those visiting Walt Disney World Resort and unlimited Disney PhotoPass downloads from your day if you are visiting Disneyland Resort.

Individual attraction selections (available for purchase): Schedule a time to arrive at up to two highly demanded attractions each day using the Lightning Lane entrance – like Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Space Mountain at Magic Kingdom and Radiator Springs Racers at Disney California Adventure park (subject to limited availability; attractions not included with Disney Genie+). Pricing for this option will vary by date, attraction and park and will be announced closer to launch.

Disney has not yet provided a list of attractions that will be part of the individual purchases, but we expect to see Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, Slinky Dog Dash, Space Mountain, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Test Track, Remy's Ratatouille Adventure, Flight of Passage and Kilimanjaro Safaris to not be part of Genie+ and instead require an individual purchase.

For all guests at Walt Disney World, the first Genie+ selection can be made at 7am on the day of the visit. Guests staying at Walt Disney World Resort hotels will be able to make individual Lightning Lane attraction selections at 7am, ahead of day guests who will not be able to make selections until the park opens.

Lightning Lane access to the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train will be priced individually and not part of the Disney Genie+ package

Lightning Lane selections will be made on the same day of your visit and can be used across multiple theme parks. Attractions will continue to offer a traditional standby queue, or a virtual queue at certain attractions like Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.

Star Wars Rise of the Resistance will be available for individual Lightning Lane purchases at a price to be announced

Disney is also making some enhancements to the Disability Access Service (DAS) program, including new options to enroll in the program pre-arrival and for DAS participants to select attractions directly in the app. These options will be available in addition to the existing, in-person DAS program.

Walt Disney World Annual Passholders will be able to add Disney Genie+ for $15 on the day of use, but there will not be an option to add it to the pass for use throughout the year.

Detailed overview of how Disney Genie works

Disney Genie, Genie+, Lightning Lane Frequently Asked Questions

See our Disney Genie FAQ for answers to common questions about the new service.

Discuss on the Forums

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Purduevian16 hours ago

https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/lightning-lane-drop-times.984387/ This is what I've come up with so far (haven't looked in awhile, maybe I'll check again soon). If you are willing to pay, people have stated touring plans has a list as well. If you do pay for touring plans, don't share any of the information that is behind the payway! Good luck!

DisneyCane16 hours ago

My favorite thing to do with legacy FP, was to start the day in Epcot and, right before we left around 11:30, grabbed another TT FP with something like a 6:25 to 7:25 return time. Then go to another park and return to Epcot in the evening and get a "bonus" ride of TT with barely any wait. Those were the good ole days! With FP strategy we once took my sister-in-law to WDW for a single day and were able to ride all of the headliners at all 4 parks on a moderately crowded day.

nickys18 hours ago

You can but you will have the same restrictions as if you’d pre-booked them. Same park, little overlapping etc. A strategy for just booking one would be a very early return time so that once you tapped in you could then book any tiers in any park.

osian21 hours ago

Quick question - we know you can have three rolling LLs with MP, but you can only book a new one when you've used one up. So can you only get three rolling LLs if you've booked your three in advance? For example, if you've only booked one in advance then on the day when you're in the park can you book another two before you've used the first one?

arich351 day ago

Are there known drop times for Epcot rides day off?

wdisney90001 day ago

In Legacy FP days my brother and I did the same at Epcot rope drop (sans breakfast at Sunshine Seasons). We'd average 2 or 3 rides on TT and Soarin, SSE and usually 1 or 2 rides on El Rio Del Tiempo (now Gran Fiesta Tour) and head out of the park after getting lunch. And we loved getting an extra FP each before getting lunch (usually at Electric Umbrella) and handing them to a random couple on our way out.

MickeyLuv'r1 day ago

Right, and since we don't know when our BG will be called, and we have so little control over our LL return times, WDW has to allow a significant amount of grace. The day I was there Tiana's had some down time, so when it reopened we got in line, but we also had LL passes for 3 other rides. When we got in line for Tiana, according to the posted wait, we should have been okay to use our next LL, but then Tiana's took so stinking long, that we missed our next LL window entirely (SpaceMtn.?) By the time we got off Tiana's, we were well into the time window of our NEXT LL, which I think was Pirates, so we used Pirates first. It was afternoon in August, so plenty hot outside, and we had planned to take an afternoon break. Crossing the park twice wasn't going to happen. This is just one example when something beyond our control caused us to miss a LL window entirely. Early on, I tried to change some of the LL times, but it isn't feasible because there's a dearth of availability.

MickeyLuv'r1 day ago

I don't really see how they can close the loophole of allowing late LL use, at least not while: 1. they are still using BG 2. rides are unreliable 3. TS meal lengths are variable in a way that is unpredictable 4. we don't control our LL times. When booking the 3 initial passes, users don't get to choose return times, they are assigned. users are allowed to shuffle the times, and you can make them a bit later if you want, but as soon as you try to change them MDE shuffles the return times in a way that is somewhat random, and gives you later/worse return times with every shuffle. Once you are in the parks, you have no control over return times. Again, users can refresh, but the times assigned are random. The earliest time I could get for Tiana's was 3:30pm, and that was booking LL's exactly at 7am at 7days out. I would have much preferred an earlier time. I really wanted to be out of MK. After agreeing, I attempted (7days out at 7:01am) to refresh for an earlier pass, and all I got was much worse times, like 7:45pm, and even late PM options dried up within a few minutes.

MisterPenguin2 days ago

FP and Genie+ has always been 5 minutes early and 15 minutes late. The same for VQs and ILL. EXCEPT... GotG:CR stopped caring how late you were for ILL or VQ. 2 hours. 5 hours. They didn't care. Even if other VQ rides did care. Especially TRON, which was super strict. Unless you started to cry in front of the CM. Now?!... who knows. It's cats and dogs living together.

co100642 days ago

Used the new system today at DHS and have surprisingly been able to redeem all the multi-pass rides by now (1:45pm local time). I definitely prefer this to system to Genie+, but I may have had a different experience if I was staying off-property.

Purduevian2 days ago

Gottcha, I did a quick google search and lots of planning sites give the 15 mins, but I couldn't see anything on it from Disney. So: Officially official: Be on time Unofficially official: 15 min grace period In practice: 2 hour grace period Reality: Unlimited grace period at CM discretion

nickys2 days ago

That’s what CMs will tell you. Or what Plan Disney might say. 😁

Purduevian2 days ago

What does "Officially" even mean then if the light turns green after 2 hours?

nickys2 days ago

Officially it’s a 15 minute grace period. In practice though, the 2 hr grace period after the end time was in effect for G+ and is still in effect for LLs. And yes, the light turns green.