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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Splash4eva2 days ago

Unless money was a make or break decision. Why would anyone want to wait in line willingly when there is another option?

DisneyDreamer084 days ago

Yep been there 😂 I won’t say getting both LLs is impossible but you would likely have to try multiple times throughout the day. When my kids were younger, we would rope drop one and LL the other.

arich354 days ago

We could but with a 5 and 4 year old, we try to avoid 45+ minute waits lol. We do have extra magic hours on Monday when we go next month so we will probably try to hit those two rides for sure.

Purduevian5 days ago

Remy sometimes has a 1:48pm drop time. It's not every day but it's your best shot if Remy is sold out for the day

DisneyDreamer085 days ago

Are you able to wait standby for one? Both have queues that are mostly indoors (Frozen more so) so maybe book Remy first and if you can’t get Frozen maybe try to wait standby. I know that can be tough if you are traveling with kids. I was there in August with my 13 year old and we opted not to do LL for our Epcot day. We did Remy at rope drop and figured we would just wait standby for Frozen. The posted wait was 45 minutes but I timed it and we only waited 25. So you never know, you might get lucky.

Purduevian5 days ago

If anyone is curious what a non-resort guest can get my booking window opened today. I got HM 8:30am, pooh bear 11:20, Tiana 4:20 Nemo 9:40, SSE 1050 and Frozen 12:05. I hope to push everything up but not bad for not getting the on-site perk. EDIT: In case anyone cares. The same night I booked things I was able to move Pooh Bear to 9:30am, Tiana to 3:15pm, and Nemo up 10 mins to 9:30am. Honestly if I had my full choice of LLs at 21 days out, this is pretty much what I would have picked outside of pushing Nemo and SEE to park opening.

nickys5 days ago

Both these LLs can sell out before park opening. Unless you get lucky with picking one up when new ones drop through the day, it’s going to be hard. Not necessarily impossible but unlikely, unless you are going at a quiet time. Remy sells quicker than FEA. If you tapped into your first DHS LL at the park opening time you might get FEA. It all depends on when (time of year) you go. I would book whichever is more important to you. If you skip Luminous you could jump in line then. Otherwise at least you only have one queue to wait in.

arich355 days ago

We are not rope drop people at all. What are the best chances to get both Remy and Frozen on the same day? What are the chances to get one of them for the evening if we do Hollywood Studios first?

JD806 days ago

I just got back from a 3 park day with hoppers trip. Essentially use it like G+ but you have 3 tracks instead of 1. If you see a S tier attraction open always snag it. I always had 1 or 2 stacked for later in the day and when I had a few seconds refreshed for earlier times. LLMP is useless for EPCOT or AK. In EPCOT it mostly acts as a LLSP for either Frozen or Remy. Whatever one you don't get just rope drop.

MickeyLuv'r6 days ago

Sure, but you only get a limited opportunity to modify times, assuming you plan to book your options as soon as you are eligible. You choose your 3 attractions, and then MDE spits back 3 passes. If you are booking your passes the same time as the hordes are booking their passes, then the earliest time options will change on you the more you try to look at different attractions and times. So, to some extent, within the above framework, you should choose rides you want to ride. I agree with your prebook #1. After that, it gets a bit murkier. If I look now for MK for 11/8 the times I get: iasw -2pm (on 11/10 same) buzz 2:40 (same) Dumbo 2pm (same) HM 4:25pm (on 11/10 6pm) teacups 2pm (same) Philarmagic 2:40pm (on 11/10, 3:40pm) PotC 2:10pm (on 11/10, 3:55pm) Monsters 2:40p (same) Aladdin 2pm (same) Barnstormer 2:45pm (on 11/10 2pm) Pooh 3:35pm (on 11/10, 4pm) Speedway 2pm (same)' LM 2:40pm (on 11/10, 2:50pm) If MDE gave me ANY pass that is within 2hours of park opening, I didn't bother trying to toggle around too much. If you choose a lamer ride as 1 of your initial 3, you can, but you'll be making a bit of a trade-off when you are in the park. You might get a small advantage picking your 4th pass, but you will be sacrificing the ability to do a major ride while standbys are short. Hitting short standbys= potential re-ride using a LL pass. Day of, my system was not that elaborate. I toggled a little between the best available and the next available worthwhile pass. As with G+, Dumbo, teacups, Philarmagic, and Monsters are always available, but the LL pass also doesn't impact your wait for those rides. Kali does sell out on hot days, but it doesn't rank higher than the safari, IMO. I mean, for me, missing Kali is not much of a loss. I had no trouble getting it when I ranked it #4 after the safari on a hot day. Na'vi is a good #1, then I chose Safari and EE. If you do DIno as a standby before 11am, it will probably be walk-on. Wow, today looks really slow at AK. At 1:30pm" FoP=35min, Na'vi =40, Safari =25, Dino/bug= 10, EE/Meet Pals =15, and TriceraTop Spin 5. As a small aside, it bugs me that the name of the ride is TriceraTop Spin. The animal is spelled triceratops.

Dranth6 days ago

I know you said you wanted honest feedback about your plan so apologizes up front, but this is exactly why I was so down on the switch to LLMP from G+. Our window just opened up yesterday and I looked at everything, planned one day, thought about having to slog through 9 more and just said nope. Being able to make choices based on how we felt in real time was so much more relaxing. We've gone from purchasing G+ most days to one day of a 10-day trip. Not having to plan really does make the LLPP very appealing. I won't buy it because one, it is overpriced and two, we don't NEED to go on every ride but I can certainly see the appeal. Anyway, hopefully someone else who has used it will chime in with some useful feedback.

Purduevian7 days ago

Honestly looking for some feedback on my LLMP strategy for those that have been in the parks and used it. First I grouped the rides into tiers based on how early they sell out via thrill data: Tier Magic Kingdom EPCOT DHS Animal Kingdom S Tiana Remy SDD, TSMM Navi A JC, HM, Pan, Pooh Frozen TOT Kali (hot weather) B BTMRR, SM, Mission Space MMRR, RNRC Safari C Buzz, Pirates SSE, Soarin Alien, MFSR Dinosaur, Everest D Barnstormer, Dumbo, Small World, Speedway, Mermaid Everything else Star Tours Prebook 1: If S tier is available, book it regardless of time. If no S tier available, the best ride within 5 hours of park opening Prebook 2: The best ride you can get within 3 hours of park opening Prebook 3: The best ride you can get within 1 hour of park opening Day of booking the next LLMP priority list An S tier attraction if available Do you have anything booked for the next 90 mins? If yes, move to 3. If no, select the best ride available in the next 90 mins Is there a A tier attraction that is available to you in the next 6 hours? If yes, book it. Are any B tier available in the next 4 hours? If so book it. If no, move to 5. Are any tier 4 available in the next 2 hours? If so book it. If no, move to 6. Book the best ride available regardless of time. [/LIST] Obviously, there is more to take into account especially in EPCOT with the size, but does this seem like a good general guideline?

Lilofan18 days ago

Can't remember how my mom did it when back in the day in the 1970s we has a stainless steel lid container outside our front door to our house. The milkman delivered 6 to 8 glass bottles of milk then at the end of the week we left the empty bottles in the container for pick up.