Let’s face it, lines are everywhere in Disney World.  No one wants to spend their entire vacation in the parks hopping from one long line to another. The great news is there are so many tips to help you avoid waiting in endless lines so that you can maximize the magic in your day. 

Disney Genie can be a massive benefit if you know how to use it. The downside is that it can be unnecessarily complicated and intimidating.  

In this post, I will help break down the three components: Disney Genie, Genie +, and Individual Lightning Lanes.  Once you understand how they work you can decide if you want to use them as part of your line skipping strategy.

Let’s start with some basic definitions. 

Disney Genie: A free planning service included as part of the My Disney Experience App. 

Disney Genie +: Disney’s paid replacement of FastPass used to skip the standby line at many experiences and attractions.

Lightning Lane: A separate entrance line at an attraction that allows you to skip the regular standby line. Some Lightning Lane entrances are offered through Disney Genie +. Others must be purchased individually.  You can purchase either or both types. 

Individual Lightning Lane Selections (ILLS): These rides are not included in Genie +, and are a pay-per-ride option. 

All About Disney Genie

Regular Disney Genie is free and will give you recommendations on things to do in the parks. You will want to set this up in your My Disney Experience App before your trip. The app will allow you to enter your general interests, and what types of activities you want to do. 

You will be able to access real-time information such as forecasted wait times and get suggestions based on your location. 

Many times the recommendations are set to send you where Disney wants you to go for crowd control purposes. It may not make strategic sense to follow those recommendations, but if you are a more go-with-the-flow type of person then regular Genie might be a good bet for you. 

All About Individual Lightning Lane Selections (ILLS)

How much do ILLS cost?

Prices vary by date, attraction, and park. Currently, they are running between $10-$20 per person, per ride at Disney World.

How to Purchase

From the main menu in the My Disney Experience mobile app, select “Tip Board”.

Select an Individual Lightning Lane experience and follow the prompts to purchase.

What you need to know

You must have valid admission and a theme park reservation to the same park, on the same day.

You can purchase up to 2 different ILLs per day, one at a time. 

If you are staying at a Disney Resort you can make your first selection of the day at 7:00 AM.   All other Guests can make their first selection when the park opens.

What are the ILLS offered at each park?

Magic Kingdom

• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
• TRON: Lightcycle Run

EPCOT

• Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind

Hollywood Studios

• Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance

Animal Kingdom

• Avatar Flight of Passage

All About Disney Genie +

How much does Genie + Cost?

At Disney World, the price of Genie + currently ranges between $15 – $35 per person, per day plus tax.

How to Purchase Disney Genie +

You can purchase Disney Genie + after midnight on the day of your park visit. 

There are several places in the My Disney Experience app that will allow you to purchase Genie +. In your My Disney Experience mobile app, select “My Disney Genie Day”

From the “Tip Board” tab click the banner at the top “Disney Genie + Purchase for Today”

What you need to know

You must have valid admission and a theme park reservation to the same park, on the same day.

Guests can make their first Disney Genie + selection starting at 7:00 AM on the day of their park visit regardless of whether or not they are staying at a Disney Resort.

Disney Genie+ selections can only be made one at a time. You must redeem an existing Disney Genie+ service Lightning Lane selection or wait 2 hours—whichever comes first—before making another Disney Genie+ selection. 

Important note: If you make your first selection at 7:00 AM, the 2-hour wait rule will begin at park opening, not at 7:00 AM.  If the park opens at 9:00 AM, you would not be able to make another selection until you use your first reservation or 2 hours after park opening (so 11:00 AM) 

You can only ride an attraction once per day using Genie +. You would still be able to ride using the standby queue as many times as you would like.

Which attractions are included in each park?

Magic Kingdom

The Barnstormer

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin

Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade

Dumbo the Flying Elephant

Haunted Mansion

“It’s a small world”

Jungle Cruise

Mad Tea Party

The Magic Carpets of Aladdin

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Meet Cinderella and a Visiting Princess at Princess Fairytale Hall

Meet Mickey and Minnie at Town Square Theater

Meet Princess Tiana and a Visiting Princess at Princess Fairytale Hall

Mickey’s PhilharMagic

Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor

Peter Pan’s Flight

Pirates of the Caribbean

Space Mountain

Splash Mountain

Tomorrowland Speedway

Under the Sea~ Journey of The Little Mermaid

EPCOT

Disney and Pixar Short Film Festival

Frozen Ever After

Journey Into Imagination With Figment

Living with the Land

Mission: SPACE

Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure

The Seas with Nemo &  Friends

Soarin’ Around the World

Spaceship Earth

Test Track

Turtle Talk with Crush

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Alien Swirling Saucers

Beauty & The Beast Live on Stage

Disney Junior Play and Dance!

For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration

Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular!

Meet Olaf at Celebrity Spotlight

Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway

Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run

Muppet Vision 3D

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith

Slinky Dog Dash

Star Tours- The Adventures Continue

Toy Story Mania!

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park 

The Animal Experience at Conservation Station

Dinosaur

Expedition Everest

Feathered Friends in Flight

Festival of the Lion King

It’s Tough to be a Bug!

Kali River Rapids

Kilimanjaro Safaris

Nav’i River Journey

Using your Tip Board

The Tip Board screen is important when using Disney Genie +. This screen will show you the return times that are available for attractions.  Return times can fluctuate quite a bit, so understanding how to use your tip board properly is key. 

You can use the refresh function to try to get a better return time for the attraction you are looking for.  The best way to do this is to pin one or two attractions so they will remain at the top of your page when you refresh.  Otherwise, you’ll be wasting time and energy scrolling through a whole list of attractions each time. 

Note: If you have already made too many selections for your Top Picks, you can edit these selections to narrow them down to one at a time.

Once you get a suitable return time for that attraction you can follow this process for each ride you are looking for. Refreshing to get new return times can really help you to maximize the number of rides you are able to book with Genie + for the day.

Is Genie + Worth It?

As with many questions when it comes to Disney World planning, my answer is…. It depends.  

In general, it’s going to depend on if you are visiting during a crowded time and whether or not your group is going to want to ride all the rides.  It also depends on which park you are visiting.  

The top two parks that I recommend using Genie + and/or ILLs would be Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. That’s not to say that I don’t think it would be helpful for Epcot and Animal Kingdom too.  

For my family, we like to go hard and ride as many things as possible. We are also pretty impatient when it comes to lines. For us, it makes sense to purchase Genie + for the majority of our trip.  We usually don’t purchase many ILLs, and use other strategies for riding those rides. 

If you are traveling with small kids, and not as focused on the headliner attractions then skipping Genie + might be totally reasonable.

If you have more of a laid-back, spontaneous touring style you may find that the time constraints make your day more stressful. 

In any event, it pays to understand how the components of Genie + work so you can make the best choice for your family. Plus, if you do decide to purchase Genie +, you want to be sure you understand how to get the most out of it.  

I hope this breakdown was helpful.  If you have extra questions you can view the Disney website for information here.  Or drop me a comment below.  

Happy Planning!