Paid FastPass has finally come to Walt Disney World confirming years of rumors! The good news is the new Disney Genie+ program is remarkably similar to the Disneyland MaxPass program that guests have raved about since it was introduced to the west coast.
The new Disney Genie+ feature is a paid upcharge to the regular Disney Genie service which effectively replaces the previous FastPass+ system. Disney Genie+ allows you to book reservations for attractions from the My Experience App. The feature includes access to nearly 40 attractions at the Walt Disney World theme parks that previously offered FastPass.
Keep reading for everything you need to know about Disney Genie+ at Walt Disney World.
You can read all details on Disney Genie+ at Disneyland in our guide.>
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Disney Genie Free Features
Walt Disney World guests all have access to the free Disney Genie features which exists as a part of the My Experience app. The features that are offered will be a huge help for guests planning their vacations by offering personalized itinerary options or pre-selected touring plans based on your interests.
The greatest perk of these new features? They also include forecasted wait times which is information that Disney has likely always had and is now sharing with guests! This will be a huge asset to planning your day at the parks.
The Disney Genie free app features include:
- Personalized itinerary planning
- Continually updated tip board
- Forecasted future and current wait times for attractions
- Virtual assistant
- Mobile order
- Restaurant wait list, check in and reservations
- Attraction virtual queues (available at select attractions)
These features can be based on a guest selecting an itinerary based on a favorite group of characters (Star Wars, Disney Princesses, Classic, etc.) or guests can customize their own plan. Disney Genie will offer its own suggestions throughout the day based on the way things are going in the park. It might make a suggestion to go ride an attraction with a forecasted low wait or to place a mobile order before lunch when the parks might get busier.
Since Walt Disney World can be intimidating for new guests, this is an amazing feature! And for repeat Disney fans that love to plan, this is going to be so much fun to play around with.
Walt Disney World Disney Genie+ Program 
Disney Genie+ is part of Disney Genie as a paid program that allows guests to book advance reservations for attractions and skip the lines. This new program has completely replaced the previous FastPass+ at Walt Disney World and all guests must use it if they want access to the previously named FastPass lines. FastPass lines are now called Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World.
Disney Genie Plus will cost $15 per person per day which is a similar cost to the previous MaxPass program at Disneyland which was extremely popular. Guests can hold one reservation at a time for a ride and book them all through the Disney Genie feature in the My Experience App.
Disney Genie+ Lightning Lanes Replace FastPass
What we once called FastPass lines are now referred to as Lightning Lanes! Once you pay the upcharge for Disney Genie+ you will be able to access the Lightning Lane and skip the standby line.
Most of the rides that previously offered FastPass are included in the attraction list since they already have the Lightning Lanes already built in.
Guests will be able to book their first ride reservation at 7AM on their park days and Walt Disney World hotel guests will be given first dibs before off-site hotel guests to book ride reservations further in advance. It's great that Disney is still keeping a perk like this for on-site hotel guests!
Guests can still utilize regular standby lines or virtual queues for attractions if they don't want to purchase Disney Genie+.
Disney Genie+ Upcharge for Select Attractions
There are a few select attractions that aren't included with the Disney Genie+ program that guests can purchase individually for access to the Lightning Lane. The price for this access will vary depending on the day and time which is usually based on how busy the parks are.
Individual Lighting Lane- Magic Kingdom
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
- Space Mountain*
Individual Lighting Lane- EPCOT
- Remy's Ratatouille Adventure
- Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
- Frozen Ever After*
Individual Lighting Lane- Hollywood Studios
- Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
- Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway*
Individual Lighting Lane- Animal Kingdom
- Avatar Pandora Flight of Passage
- Expedition Everest
Guests can book for everyone in their party and prices vary for each attraction depending on day and wait times. You can book access for up to two Individual Lighting Lanes per day. You are given the choice of what time you want to ride when you make your purchase in the Genie app.
All attractions still offer traditional standby or virtual queues with Lightning Lanes receiving priority- just like the way FastPass+ worked.
NEW: Until August 7th 2022, Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway, Frozen Ever After and Space Mountain will be included with the general Genie+ service and NOT be a separate lightning lane purchase. After this date in August, these rides will revert back to their individual selections.
Genie+ Lightning Lanes- Magic Kingdom
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
- Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant
- Haunted Mansion
- “its a small world”
- Jungle Cruise
- Mad Tea Party
- Magic Carpets of Aladdin
- Mickey's PhilharMagic
- Monster, Inc. Laugh Floor
- Peter Pan's Flight
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Splash Mountain
- The Barnstormer
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Genie+ Lightning Lanes- EPCOT
- Disney and Pixar Short Film Festival
- Journey into Imagination with Figment
- Living with the Land
- Mission Space: Green & Orange
- Soarin' Around the World
- Spaceship Earth
- Test Track
- The Seas Nemos & Friends
- Turtle Talk with Crush
Genie+ Lightning Lanes- Hollywood Studios
- Alien Swirling Saucers
- Beauty and the Beast- Live on Stage
- Disney Jr. Play and Dance!
- Frozen Sing-Along Celebration
- Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular
- Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run
- MuppetVision 3D
- Rock ‘n Roller Coaster
- Slinky Dog Dash
- Star Tours- The Adventure Continues
- The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
- Toy Story Mania
Genie+ Lightning Lanes- Animal Kingdom
- A Celebration of Festival of the Lion King
- DINOSAUR
- It's Tough to be a Bug!
- Kali River Rapids
- Kilimanjaro Safaris
- Na'vi River Journey
- The Animation Experience
- Feathered Friends in Flight
All of these attractions and shows are included with your Disney Genie+ purchase. You can reserve a Genie+ Lightning Lane reservation once every two hours or once you've redeemed your Lightning Lane reservation. You can only book one Lightning Lane reservation once for each ride but you can still use the standby ride if you want to repeat your favorites.
Walt Disney World Genie+ Tips and Tricks
We know that learning an entirely new service at Walt Disney World can be overwhelming, especially when considering the amount of parks that use it! Here are my best tips to help you save time and best maximize your use of Walt Disney World Genie+!
- Everyone can book their first Genie+ at 7AM. Be ready on the My Experience App to be book this first Lightning Lane reservation! Keep in mind that if the time to redeem your pass is more than 120 minutes out, you will not be able to book a ride reservation until 120 minutes until after the park officially opens. The ‘120 minute' clock starts when the park opens- not at 7AM when you book your reservation.
- Disney Hotel Guests can book the individual Lightning Lane attractions (separate from your Disney Genie+ included list!) as early as 7AM for the day of their hotel stay. This is a big advantage, especially for rides that run out like Rise of the Resistance, so make sure you take advantage of this if you're staying on property. Regular guests can only book access to these attractions when the park opens.
- Know when you can book your next Genie+ Lighting Lane pass! You can book a new ride reservation every 120 minutes or once you've redeemed your current Lightning Lane pass. Set an alarm on your phone to help you keep track! Book your next reservation in line once you've scanned in, you will be able to book the next one immediately.
- Refresh the app! When other guests cancel their Lightning Lane pass reservations, those previous reservations are then released back into the app for others to select. So even if a ride is out of reservations for the day or the return times are way later in the day, you could potentially get the chance to still ride using this method. Refresh often throughout the day!
- If you are late to your Lighting Lane reservation you do have a grace period of 5 minutes. Try tapping your Magic Band or discussing with a cast member but be nice- Disney is not required to allow you to redeem your pass if you missed your arrival time!
- Annual Passholders will need to purchase Disney Genie+ for each day of their visit, there is currently no add-on option for passes.
- If an attraction you have a reservation for breaks down you will be issued a Multiple Experience pass which you can use on any attraction within the same ‘tier' of what you originally booked. The app will tell you which rides qualify!
When Should I use Genie+ at Walt Disney World?
This is a great question! There are rides that are definitely more popular than others which will result in long, long wait times. These are the rides you want to prioritize your Walt Disney World Genie+ access for! Remember: the most in demand attractions are separate from what's included with Disney Genie+ and you pay separately for. This list only focuses on what is included in your $15 per day Genie+ bookings.
Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom has the most attractions of all the parks at Walt Disney World which makes Genie+ a must for this park! You will get the most bang for your buck with Genie+ at Magic Kingdom. For this park, I would recommend going with either Splash Mountain or Big Thunder Mountain for your first reservation time. There's a lot of great other attractions in that area of Magic Kindgom (like our MVPs: Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion) so there's plenty to do while waiting for your reservation to open up.
And as always, early mornings and evening will be your best time to ride attractions with lower waits! We've had great success with the rides in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland right before park closing, many are walk on!
Hollywood Studios
The most popular Genie+ attraction at Hollywood Studios is Slinky's Dog Dash so I recommend booking this ride first. When you arrive to the parks, you will have to wait at least 120 minutes (or less, if the time given to you for Slinky Dog Dash is earlier than that!) before booking another reservation. But you can then prioritize rides that have lower waits in the mornings freeing up the need to use Genie+ on them later in the day.
I suggest going to Tower of Terror and Rockin' Rollercoaster first thing in the morning at Hollywood Studios. Everyone else tends to run towards Slinky Dog Dash, Rise of the Resistance or Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway. When others zig, you should always zag! We have plenty of positive experiences riding both these rides in less than an hour on our mornings at Hollywood Studios.
I would definitely purchase Genie+ for Hollywood Studios as this is easily one of the busiest parks with plenty of popular attractions- it will be worth the cost.
Animal Kingdom
Easily the two most popular attractions on the included Genie+ list for Animal Kingdom is Kilimanjaro Safaris and Na'vi River Journey. I would book Kilimanjaro Safaris for Animal Kingdom- not just because of its popularity- but because the earlier in the day you ride, the better your experience because the animals are more awake!
This is a park you could skip the $15 per day purchase of Genie+ and instead opt to purchase the individual attractions (Flight of Passage is a must!) because the lines for the attractions included in Genie+ typically do not get that long until later in the day. If you are starting your day at Animal Kingdom, you can easily ride both Kilimanjaro Safari and Na'vi River Journey in the morning with no wait!
Epcot
The most popular attraction you can use Genie+ on in Epcot is Test Track so this is where I would prioritize making a reservation. After that then I would do Soarin' and save the other attractions for your ‘in-between' rides.
This is the one park where you could skip Genie+ since the two most popular attractions (Frozen and Remy!) are separate purchases. The other rides often have lower wait times, especially in the evening! But if you're park hopping to Epcot then absolutely use your Genie+ reservation to save time if you've already bought it for the day. We have always had good luck visiting Epcot in the evening and walking right on to rides so this is a helpful tip to keep in mind. Even the line for Test Track will calm down right before park closing.
Guests with Disabilities
For guests that qualify for the existing DAS program that Walt Disney World, that program will receive a few upgrades which is great news. Guests will now be able to book their return times for attractions using the Disney Genie service and can pre-enroll in the program before they arrive! This is a huge asset for guests with disabilities that often had to trek around the park trying to find cast members that can grant return times which has been trickier since the parks reopened.
Guests will be able to utilize live video chat to register for the program with a cast member up to 30 days in advance of their visit. During the video chat, guests can also select two experiences per day using the new DAS advance planning option.
For guests that don't want to use the Disney Genie service to book return times, cast members will still be available to give return times in person. You can read more about options for guests with disabilities at Walt Disney World in our guide.
Disney Genie+ Additional Perks
There are additional perks for guests that purchase the Walt Disney World Genie+ like augmented reality lenses for use throughout the resort and exclusive behind the scenes audio tours with appearances from Walt Disney Imagineers!
This is in addition to the ability to access the Lightning Lanes so guests get more with this upcharge with Disney Genie+ than just front of the line ride access.
Disney Genie Digital Overview Video
You can also watch the video above to see an awesome step by step of Disney Genie+ in action!
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