WATCH OUT for Major Genie+ CHANGES Coming to Disney World Soon

UPDATE: Disney has announced some Genie+ changes. Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Frozen Ever After, Space Mountain, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, and Expedition Everest will REMAIN on the standard Genie+ service and will not be switching back to the pay-per-ride (Individual Attraction Selection) option. Click here to read our full post about the updates.

The story of Genie+ and Lighting Lanes in Disney World is a long and twisting one.

Splash Mountain Lightning Lane

Genie+ and Lightning Lanes are the paid replacement to FastPass+. There are two tiers to Lightning Lanes. There are the rides whose Lightning Lanes are available with the regular purchase of Genie+ for $15 per person per day, and then there are the Individual Lightning Lanes, or pay-per-ride attractions. Those pay-per-ride attractions are usually the most popular rides in each park, and guests must pay extra to skip the line at these attractions. (They’re not included in Genie+.) These individual purchases vary in cost from ride to ride, as well as by the time of year. A few months ago, Disney made changes to which rides were available as Individual Lightning Lane selections, and soon those changes will be coming to an end.

For a limited time, five Disney World rides were available with the regular Genie+ instead of as Individual Lightning Lane selections. Those five rides were: Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Frozen Ever After, Space Mountain, Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, and Expedition Everest.

Expedition Everest!

On August 7th, these rides will return to their status as Individual Lightning Lane selections, meaning that if you want to get a Lighting Lane for them (and skip the standby line), you’ll need to pay a separate fee. They will no longer be included with a Genie+ purchase. As we mentioned above, the price for Individual Lightning Lanes varies due to a number of factors and may cost anywhere between $7 and $17.

UPDATE: As noted above, Disney has announced some Genie+ changes. Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Frozen Ever After, Space Mountain, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, and Expedition Everest will REMAIN on the standard Genie+ service and will not be switching back to the pay-per-ride (Individual Attraction Selection) option. Click here to read our full post about the updates. Keep in mind that this is subject to change again in the future.

Tower of Terror Lightning Lane

Genie+ (the $15 flat rate) can be purchased beginning at midnight on the day you want to use the service, and you can make your first selection at 7AM in the My Disney Experience app. Individual Lightning Lanes can be purchased at 7AM each day, as well. You can make up to two Individual Lightning Lane purchases per day, and these rides often sell out early in the day, so if you’re interested in snagging one, we recommend logging into the My Disney Experience app and purchasing them as early as possible.

Lightning Lane selection in My Disney Experience ©Disney

Another thing that is important to remember when making Genie+ selections is that confusing 120-minute rule. The 120-minute rule pertains to when you’re able to make your next Genie+ selection. After you’ve made your first Genie+ (not Individual Lightning Lane) selection, you can make another one when:

You have used the first one you booked;
Your first return time window has ended (if you miss it); or
120 minutes have passed since you booked your last one (or 120 minutes after park opening, depending on the situation).

Number three is the 120-minute rule. Let’s say you book a Genie+ Lightning Lane at 9AM for Jungle Cruise with a return time later at 3PM. You can book your next Genie+ selection at 11AM, even though you haven’t used your Jungle Cruise selection yet.

Jungle Cruise

But if you make your first Genie+ selection for Jungle Cruise at 7AM, and Magic Kingdom doesn’t open until 9AM, you can’t make your next Genie+ reservation until 120 minutes after the park opens (11AM in that case).

Another thing to consider when it comes to Individual Lightning Lanes is that you can only purchase two per day, so if there are multiple that you are interested in, be sure to keep that limit in mind. The 2 rides do NOT have to be in the same park — if you have Park Hopper, you can book 1 Individual Lightning Lane in each of 2 different parks.

Space Mountain Lightning Lane

When the new change goes into effect on August 7th, these are the rides that will be available for Individual Lightning Lane purchase:

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at Magic Kingdom
Space Mountain at Magic Kingdom
Frozen Ever After at EPCOT
Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure at EPCOT
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind at EPCOT
Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Rise of the Resistance at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Flight of Passage at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park
Expedition Everest at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park

UPDATE: Again, as noted above, Disney made some Genie+ changes. Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Frozen Ever After, Space Mountain, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, and Expedition Everest will REMAIN on the standard Genie+ service and will not be switching back to the pay-per-ride (Individual Attraction Selection) option.