Last Updated: March 21, 2024
This post is intended to contain all key information on Genie, Genie+, Lightning Lane, and Individual Lightning Lane attractions. If you find any errors, have suggestions for additional information to include, or make note of any changes to processes and procedures, reply in the thread below and I will update this lead post. Once you’ve mastered the basics below, take a look at the pinned Genie+ Strategy & Planning Thread in La Cava for a deeper dive.
Genie
Genie is a free plug-in to the My Disney Experience (MDE) app that allows you to build an itinerary in advance and adjust your plans as you go. Genie offers suggestions for attractions or meals as your day progresses, which you can add to your itinerary or ignore.
Lightning Lane
Lightning Lane (LL) is a special entrance for those who have paid for / received the privilege (more on how below) that bypasses the standby queue and requires only a short wait to board the ride. Most Lightning Lane queues join the standby queue before any pre-shows; however, some elements of the queue may be bypassed.
Genie+
Genie+ costs a variable amount (typically in the range of $15-39) per person per day + 6.5% tax and allows each guest to make a limited number of reservations to use the Lightning Lane on select attractions. Genie+ can be purchased for a single park or for multiple parks. The single-park MK cost is typically the highest and is equal to the multiple parks cost. EP and AK single-park is typically the lowest cost. Below is the list of eligible attractions for each park:
MK
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
- Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
- Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant
- Enchanted Tales with Belle
- Haunted Mansion
- “it’s a small world”
- Jungle Cruise
- Mad Tea Party
- Meet Ariel at Her Grotto
- Meet Cinderella and a Visiting Princess at Princess Fairytale Hall
- Meet Mickey 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
- The Barnstormer
- The Magic Carpets of Aladdin
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
- Tomorrowland Speedway
- Under the Sea — Journey of the Little Mermaid
AK
- Festival of the Lion King
- Dinosaur
- Expedition Everest
- Feathered Friends in Flight
- Finding Nemo: The Big Blue … and Beyond!
- It’s Tough To Be a Bug
- Kali River Rapids
- Kilimanjaro Safaris
- Meet Favorite Disney Pals at Adventurers Outpost
- Na’vi River Journey
- The Animation Experience at Conservation Station
HS
- Alien Swirling Saucers
- Beauty and 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
- Slinky Dog Dash
- Star Tours
- Tower of Terror
- Toy Story Mania
EP
- Disney and Pixar Short Film Festival
- Frozen Ever After
- Journey Into Imagination With Figment
- Living With The Land
- Mission: SPACE (Green & Orange)
- Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
- Soarin’ Around the World
- Spaceship Earth
- Test Track
- The Seas With Nemo and Friends
- Turtle Talk With Crush
Rules:
- No Advance Purchase Guests may NOT purchase Genie+ in advance for the duration of a multi-day ticket at WDW.
- Day-of Purchase Guests may purchase Genie+ day-by-day beginning at midnight (or any time after that) on the day of your visit. You can only buy one day at at time.
- First LL Reservation All guests may apply for your first LL reservation at 7am on the day of your visit
- Return Time The 1-hour return window assigned for your LL reservation will be the next available time (similar to old Fastpass / Maxpass); you may not select a later time. LL reservations are distributed sequentially until all times are gone.
- Additional LL Reservations A guest may apply for additional LLs at the earliest of:
a) Once you tap in (at the second tap point, if applicable) at your most recently booked LL attraction
b) The end time of the return window (excluding the grace period) of your most recently booked LL attraction
c) The later of:- Two hours after you book your most recent LL
- Two hours after official opening (i.e., not the early entry opening) of the park where the LL selection is located (your first LL selection can be either where you are starting your day or where you are hopping). Note: If you are able to use your first LL (e.g., at AK) before the opening of the park where your second LL is located (e.g., at Epcot), the 2-hour window for your second LL will start at the opening of the 2nd LL’s park.
- Limitation on Stacking Each LL yields exactly one LL using the rules in part 5; i.e., EITHER when tapping in OR when the return window has lapsed (subject to 2-hour rule); NOT both.
- Park Hopping If you are eligible to hop, you may apply for a LL reservation at the other park(s) beginning at 7am for any available return time.
- Attraction Repeats You may NOT receive a repeat LL reservation for any attraction within the same day. (There is no limitation on re-riding using the standby line.) If you cancel or modify a LL before using it, you may re-book that attraction.
- No Show If you do not tap in for your LL reservation (no show), it is considered used once the return window closes (including 15-minute grace period) and you CANNOT get a repeat LL reservation for that attraction.
- Modifying or Cancelling a Reservation You may modify or cancel a LL reservation obtained through Genie+ (not the case with ILL - see below) any time up to the return window, including the 15-minute grace period.
- Limits per Day Other than the above, there is no hard limit on the number of LL reservations you can get in a single day, other than the constraints of time and subject to availability.
- Grace Period Return times are enforced similar to FPP: 5 minutes before and 15 minutes after the 1-hour window are generally ok (green light at taps); any time before or after the grace period is subject to CM approval. Note: For over a year, the grace period with green taps appears to have been extended to 119 minutes after the end of the return window. The 15-minute grace period is still in effect for modifying and cancelling, however.
- Attraction Closed If an attraction is temporarily closed during your window, the return time for your LL will generally be extended to the end of the day. An “Anytime Pass” can generally be used at other attractions listed at the bottom of the LL (may need to click “More…”).
- Overlapping Reservations If you attempt to book LL and/or ILL reservations that overlap or conflict with each other or with dining or other plans, MDE will not prevent you from proceeding.(Limitations on conflicting dining reservations still apply.) If you miss a LL/ILL/VQ return window due to an ADR, bring your receipt to show the CM at the LL entrance and they will typically let you in.
Tips
- High Demand LLs Slinky Dog Dash is one of the highest demand LL reservations, and usually runs out early in the day.
- Stacking Reservations You may hold multiple LLs at a time. For example, if you are arriving at 4pm on a day with 9am park opening, you could obtain one LL reservation at 9am with a 4pm return time, another at 11am with a 5pm return time, and another at 1pm with a 6pm return time (all subject to availability of those attractions and return times). See graphic illustrating this concept at this post. However, note the limitation on stacking in Rule 6 above.
- Lapsed Reservation You can reserve a new LL when the return window closes for a previous LL reservation (ie, it is considered “used”), but you can still use the lapsed LL in the 15-minute grace period.
- Staggered Openings You can take advantage of staggered park openings. For example, if your first park is Epcot with an 9am opening, but you are hopping to HS with a 8am opening, you could obtain your first LL for an attraction at HS at 7am, then you would be eligible to obtain a second LL reservation at 10am (2 hours after the 8am opening of HS), not 11am (2 hours after the 9am opening of Epcot), because your first LL reservation is for that park.
- Refresh Method Genie+ will often show you more availability if you continue to refresh the app while looking for availability for a specific attraction, as demonstrated in this post.
- Drop Times As with the old Fastpass Plus system, Disney will often add additional LL availability at certain times during the day. See the Advanced Genie+ thread in La Cava for details, including the current observed drop times.
- Order of Priority Generally the order of priority for LL attractions at each park is as follows (based on TP availability data linked below):
ANIMAL KINGDOM
Tier 1: NRJ
Tier 2: KS, EE, KRR, DINO
EPCOT
Tier 1: Remy > TT > FEA
Tier 2: everything else
HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS
Tier 1: SDD
Tier 2: RNRC > MMRR, TOT, MFSR > TSM
MAGIC KINGDOM
Tier 1: JC > PPF
Tier 2: HM, Space > BTMRR
Note: I do not include parades and Meet & Greets in my order of priority due to their niche appeal. Please refer to the data in the TP post if these attractions are a priority for you.
Individual Lightning Lane
Separate from Genie+, Individual Lightning Lane (ILL) selections can be purchased through MDE for a variable amount (plus tax) for the attractions listed below. Observed prices so far are included in parentheses – these are subject to change daily and are expected to increase with crowd levels. The minimum observed is $7 and $25 is currently the maximum, though this is subject to change with inflation or other adjustments.
MK
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train ($10-12)
- Tron Lightcycle / Run ($20)
AK
- Flight of Passage ($13-16)
HS
- Rise of the Resistance ($20-25)
EP
- Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind ($14-17)
Rules
- Genie+ vs ILL You DO NOT have to purchase Genie+ to purchase ILL selections (but you may use both services).
- Limits per Day Guests are limited to 2 ILL purchases per day (across all parks).
- Duplicates Guests may NOT select the same attraction for both of their ILL selections.
- No Minimum Guests may purchase only one ILL in a day (not required to purchase two). You do NOT need to purchase an ILL for all members of your party – you can select which individuals you purchase for for each attraction independently.
- On-Site Purchase On-site guests are eligible to purchase BOTH of their ILLs beginning at 7am on the day of their visit.
- Off-Site Purchase Off-site guests are eligible to purchase BOTH of their ILLs beginning when the park they want to reserve an ILL in officially opens. On-site guests may NOT purchase ILLs on behalf of off-site guests in the same party until park opening.
- Return Time Guests may select the time of their ILL (1-hour window) for any time during the operating day, subject to availability (similar to ADRs).
- Park Hopping If you are eligible to hop, you may purchase an ILL at the other park(s) for any available return window.
- Cancellations There are no cancellations, modifications, or refunds allowed with ILL purchases per the official terms of service. However, if you have a legitimate reason (illness, injury, chicken-out, etc.) and ask Guest Services politely, they will often issue a refund as an exception.
- Attraction Closed If the attraction is closed during your return window, your return time will generally be extended to the end of the day
- Refunds If the attraction remains closed throughout the day, you may receive an automatic refund, or be able to obtain a refund or gift card with value equivalent to your purchase from Guest Services. Any other refund requests are subject to approval by Guest Services.
- Grace Period Return times are enforced similar to FPP: 5 minutes before and 15 minutes after the 1-hour window are generally ok (green light at taps); any time before or after the grace period is subject to CM approval. While there have been reports of extended grace periods, it is not recommended to intentionally make use of them for paid ILLs. However, it’s worth trying to tap in if you are running late for reasons outside your control.
Tips
- High Demand ILL Disney employs ILL for the most popular rides in each park, so on high-crowd days, it’s not uncommon for them to sell out prior to off-site guests being eligible to book at park opening. However, keep an eye out for additional reservation times that often pop up at random times throughout the day. Off-site guests will generally only be able to book evening times for popular ILL attractions.
- New Attractions Keep an eye on the news when a new attraction is opening. Disney will often shuffle which attractions are used for both Virtual Queue and ILL when a new attraction debuts.
- Offsite Drops Additional inventory of ILL selections may be dropped when offsite guests are eligible (at park opening). If you are an on-site guest and are unable to secure an ILL at your preferred time, try again right at park opening. (This has varied since launch.)
- Drop Times See note on drop times for Genie+ above.
Virtual Queue
Virtual Queue (boarding groups) is currently used for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and Tron: Lightcycle Run, and is expected to be used for other new attractions during their debut. For more information on joining a virtual queue, see this thread.
Tips
- VQ + ILL When both VQ and ILL are available for a specific attraction, you CAN get both. (Note that with ILL, you skip the ~30-minute wait that those using the Virtual Queue typically wait in, but miss some pre-ride elements.)
Rider Swap (RS)
Rider Swap Genie+, ILL, and Virtual Queue can be used with Rider Swap (which is also available for Standby riders - continue reading below). To skip the Standby line, all riders must have a LL reservation (or Boarding Group, if applicable). Non-riders (i.e., children under the height requirement) do not need a LL reservation.
After reporting to the LL, a CM will scan all LL reservations and assign a RS pass to Group 2 riders (1 adult waiting with non-riding child(ren) plus one repeat rider). Group 1 riders will enter the L immediately. Group 2 will return to the LL after Group 1 rides. One rider is able to ride twice (once in the first group, once with the waiting adult). The RS pass does not need to be redeemed immediately, but each guest can only have one RS pass at a time (two adults and respective repeat riders in a party CAN have a RS pass for separate attractions but the RS holders may not overlap).
Using Rider Swap without a LL reservation / Boarding Group works the same way, except Group 1 must wait in the Standby line rather than using the LL. Group 2 returns to the LL entrance. No one needs a LL reservation if Group 1 intends to wait Standby. Instead, everyone gets in the Standby line and at a certain point, a CM will assign a RS pass to the Group 2 riders, at which point Group 2 and any non-riders may exit the queue. In many cases, you can send runners up to the CM checkpoint to get MagicBands / admission scanned while the rest of the party waits in line to save time.
Disability Access Service (DAS)
DAS is compatible with Genie+, ILL, and VQ. Guests may use all four systems together or separately. See this post for further information.
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