Genie+ and Lightning Lanes at Disneyland Start Date & Details!

Disney has officially announced the launch date for paid Genie+ and Lightning Lane line-skipping access for Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. We cover the new details & release date, the official answers to common questions, commentary, and more.

As a reminder for any Disneyland fans who haven’t been following the park news closely the last several months, free FastPass is gone and so is MaxPass. Both will soon be replaced by paid Genie+ and Lightning Lane line-skipping access. This system has three basic components. First, the free Disney Genie service in the Disneyland app that’s basically a personalized itinerary feature to map out a day. This doesn’t work at Walt Disney World and it’s unlikely to be any better in California, so we’re just going to ignore it–and would encourage you to do the same.

Second, the paid Disney Genie+ service you can purchase in the Disneyland app for $20 per day. This provides priority access to approximately 20 attractions between the two parks via Genie+ Lightning Lanes. Third, a la carte or Individual Lightning Lane (ILL) selections that can be bought at variable price points based upon demand. This will be offered at Radiator Springs Racers, WEB Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure, and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. Got all of that?

If not, you’re hardly alone. Although this uses MaxPass as the foundation, it has been unnecessarily complicated and bogged down with confusing and conflicting terminology. We’ve tried to help with our Guide to Genie+ and Lightning Lanes at Disneyland & DCA (this is already in the process of being updated with today’s new info!).

With that in mind, we have some new details based on Disneyland’s announcement today…

The launch date for the Genie system at Disneyland is December 8, 2021.

Disney Genie+ service will be available for $20 per guest per day. At Disneyland Resort, Genie+ will also include Disney parks-themed audio experiences and unlimited Disney PhotoPass downloads. It will not include PhotoPass AR filters like at Walt Disney World.

At Disneyland Resort, you must purchase Genie+ and make your Lightning Lane reservations after you enter one of the parks. This is true for Individual Lightning Lane selections, as well. Unlike Walt Disney World, nothing can be booked at 7 am. It’s all once inside the park, and there’s no on-site advantage.

Given the number of reader complaints we’ve received about having to wake up early to make Genie+ selections, this will likely be viewed as a welcome improvement by many guests. Of course, it does encourage arriving at rope drop and puts locals–who tend to roll up to the parks later–at a disadvantage. Nevertheless, we view this as a very positive tweak for tourists.

After December 8, 2021, guests will be able to purchase Genie+ prior to visiting as a ticket add-on. This will be possible via Disneyland.com, authorized third party ticket sellers, or travel agents.

Genie+ also be available for single-day use for existing ticket holders or Magic Key passholders. Purchases in 1-day increments will be possible via the Disney Genie service in the Disneyland app.

As mentioned above, Radiator Springs Racers, WEB Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure, and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance will offer Individual Lightning Lane as an “á la carte” purchase. This option will be available for all guests–with or without Disney Genie+ service.

Unlike at Walt Disney World, Individual Lightning Lane purchases will not allow the selection of a time slot–it’s the next available time for those, just like Genie+ Lightning Lane selections. You can purchase up to two ILLs per day. Pricing and availability will vary by date, attraction and park. At launch, these prices will range from $7 to $20.

Genie+ Lightning Lane attractions will be more or less the same as prior MaxPass options. In case you’re new to Disneyland or need a refresher, here’s the official Genie+ list of attractions:

Disneyland

• Autopia
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
• Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
• Haunted Mansion
• Indiana Jones Adventure
• “it’s a small world”
• Matterhorn Bobsleds
• Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
• Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin
• Space Mountain
• Splash Mountain
• Star Tours — The Adventures Continue

Disney California Adventure

• Goofy’s Sky School
• Grizzly River Run
• Guardians of the Galaxy — Mission: BREAKOUT!
• Incredicoaster
• Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!
• Soarin’ Around the World
• Toy Story Midway Mania

As is the case in Florida, Genie+ will provide guests the ability to book new ride reservations before using a prior one if the next available ride time is far into the future. Meaning that guests won’t be locked out of making new Genie+ selections if it’s the morning and the next available ride time isn’t until later in the afternoon.

Disneyland has officially confirmed that Genie+ will allow guests to make their next selection 120 minutes (2 hours) in the future even if they have not yet redeemed the first Genie+ selection. This is just like the former legacy or paper FastPass system–and how we’ve said this will work since the original announcement.

That’s it in terms of new details and information. Now, let’s offer some commentary on the Genie system’s upcoming launch at Disneyland.

Our Commentary

There’s far less commentary for Disneyland’s introduction of Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, and that’s in large part because the first half of this system feels very familiar. Genie+ is essentially a rebranded MaxPass with a modified presentation, a few attractions removed from the lineup, and no paper FastPass alternative.

Pricing is the same, added benefits of Genie+ are the same, and the mechanics of the Genie+ system sound very similar. Whereas Genie+ had almost nothing in common with FastPass+, there’s about 90% overlap between Genie+ and MaxPass.

With that said, Genie+ is not entirely the same as what existed at Disneyland pre-closure.

Critically, the MaxPass system was complemented by legacy FastPass. Even after the introduction of MaxPass, free paper FastPass kiosks remained available as an alternative at Disneyland Resort, meaning guests were not confronted with the Sophie’s Choice of spending money for MaxPass or waiting in nothing but long standby lines.

In fact, that was a huge basis for us becoming proponents of MaxPass—it wasn’t upcharge or nothing. Free FastPass didn’t offer the same upsides, but with a bit of hustle, Disneyland guests who didn’t pay extra could still put in the “work” and beat the crowds.

Now, there will be no such free option, aside from simply waiting in the standby line. That’s a distinction that absolutely cannot be overlooked, and puts guests who don’t pay the upcharge at a distinct disadvantage.

That’s not the only key difference. In addition to the free FastPass option being retired at Disneyland, an a la carte Lightning Lane option will be introduced for headliner attractions, which will not be eligible for booking via the Genie+ upcharge. This means guests who want to efficiently experience every attraction at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure will be paying more than $20 per day—the cost will be higher, either in money or time.

In other words, the Individual Lightning Lane carve out diminishes the value of Genie+ as compared to MaxPass, and disproportionately so since the 3 excluded attractions are not-so-coincidentally the ones with the longest wait times at Disneyland Resort.

As with MaxPass, none of the Fantasyland dark rides are included with the Genie+ service. This has nothing to do with wanting those easily accessible to families. It’s that these quaint attractions were all built half a century ago, when Disneyland operated very differently.

There’s barely enough physical space to accommodate the current lines, and there’s literally nowhere to add a Lightning Lane. Fortunately, you can knock out all of them pretty quickly with a solid Disneyland Rope Drop Strategy.

We were fans of MaxPass prior to its untimely demise, and expect to be mostly on board with Genie+ at Disneyland despite some inarguably negative changes. With that said, these modifications with Genie+ and Lightning Lanes do change the equation to some degree.

For a party of four spending three days in the parks, that amounts to a total cost of $240 if choosing Genie+ over waiting in the standby lines. While that cost is not insignificant, it is absolutely worth the premium. That likely amounts to an additional 5+ attractions per day even over the most efficient itinerary done only via standby lines. (Plus whatever value you ascribe to the PhotoPass downloads.)

For us, the Individual Lightning Lanes are a totally different story. Even though a bundle like Genie+ ends up having a per attraction cost, it’s theoretically unlimited. Moreover, it’s part of a larger package that effectively conceals how much you’re paying for each.

Personally, my max for any individual attractions is $0. While I’m definitely unrepresentative of all guests, consider how many Magic Key Passholders, DVC Members, and other repeat visitors there are at Disneyland. Some regulars probably have a higher threshold than I do, but how many are going to pay for individual rides? Our guess is a low percentage–lower than we’ve seen at Walt Disney World thus far.

Speaking of the Florida parks, you might’ve caught Genie+ Collapsed Under Crowds at Walt Disney World during the week of Thanksgiving. Disneyland fans might be surprised by all of these issues, given that MaxPass never had problems like that–even with an Annual Passholder add-on.

That all comes down to the eligible attraction roster and capacity, which is the biggest difference between the two coasts. Disneyland has many more attractions than even Magic Kingdom, and despite its reputation, DCA is a solid second gate. The two are also about a football field apart, meaning that Park Hopping is commonplace.

Combined, Disneyland’s two parks have close to the ride roster of all 4 parks at Walt Disney World. On top of that, WDW removed two popular attractions per park for Individual Lightning Lanes and there are no nighttime spectacular or parade viewing areas as possible selections, meaning Walt Disney World’s already thin roster for Genie+ was made even weaker.

It’s no coincidence that even though Magic Kingdom is by far the most popular and attended park at Walt Disney World, it has had the fewest issues with availability of “good” Genie+ Lightning Lane selections. That’s because it has the most eligible attractions. The situation is even better at Disneyland, so we’d expect that the same will almost certainly hold true.

Ultimately, there’s a lot less to say about Genie+ and Lightning Lane when it comes to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. That’s because, as compared to Walt Disney World, this is not nearly as seismic of a shift. Genie+ is very similar to MaxPass, a system we recommended to tourists and came to greatly appreciate.

At this point, we’d say that the biggest wildcard is whether Genie+ at Disneyland is simply MaxPass with a new coat of paint, or the underlying technology that has been incredibly problematic and glitchy at Walt Disney World. We’re hopeful that it’s simply the MaxPass infrastructure, rebranded, because that’s the obvious course of action to take. Don’t fix what isn’t broken. In which case, it shouldn’t have the myriad errors and woes that have plagued Genie+ at Walt Disney World, beyond availability.

Even if Genie+ at Disneyland works flawlessly–and there are no guarantees of that–this is still a downgrade as compared to MaxPass and paper FastPass. Not having any free option aside from standby lines taints our previously high opinion of the offering, even if it is basically the same thing but with a new name. Moreover, it’s not totally the same thing—the a la carte Lightning Lanes dilute the value of Genie+ as compared to MaxPass. That’s not a huge deal to us as we’re now visiting as tourists who feel pretty confident we can work around that limitation with early mornings and late nights in the parks.

Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!

YOUR THOUGHTS

What do you think of Genie+ and Lightning Lanes? If you’re visiting on or after December 8, 2021 will you be buying Genie+ or Individual Lightning Lane access? Do you prefer fast-moving standby lines only, or the FastPass and standby combo? Interested in how Disneyland will implement the new system? Agree or disagree with our assessment? Other thoughts or concerns? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!