Individual Lightning Lane Rides Moved to Genie+ at Disney World
Walt Disney World is once again tweaking the Genie+ attraction lineup, moving an Individual Lightning Lane selection from each park into the bucket for the paid FastPass+ replacement. This post takes a look at the changes, reasons why, and offers speculation for the future. (Updated April 14, 2022.)
Let’s start with the why of this. Basically, it’s a mix of heavy attendance and high use of the Genie+ system. As more thoroughly covered in Spring Sees Peak Season Wait Times at Walt Disney World, the last 3 months have been incredibly busy. March was the busiest month in the last 2 years, with February and April tied for #2. (Once the month is over, April 2022 will likely take the crown of busiest month.)
Suffice to say, the entirety of spring break season has been very similar to before Thanksgiving–the week that Genie+ Collapsed in Crowds. Before these rides were moved over to the Genie+ service, many readers complained of limited ride reservation availability. Since then, Walt Disney World has added a ‘warning’ that “on average, guests can enter 2 to 3 attractions or experiences per day using the Lightning Lane entrance if the first selection is made early in the day.” (Read more in Genie+ Really is Paid FastPass+ at Walt Disney World.)
In a nutshell, there have been many problems with Lightning Lanes and the paid FastPass service. Those first appeared during last year’s holiday season and since resurfaced this year during spring break season. These issues range from increased technical difficulties to limited ride reservation inventory with the whole system and technical infrastructure placed under greater usage.
From our perspective, the biggest “addressable” issue is that Genie+ Lightning Lane availability for many popular attractions was gone not long after park opening. Slinky Dog Dash was unavailable well before that, booking up for the entire day within minutes of 7 am.
There were virtually no worthwhile options by midday, meaning that even savvy users of Genie+ are likely only getting a couple of “good” selections per day. Novices or those visiting parks other than Magic Kingdom would likely be doing worse. Some readers reported only scoring 1-2 Lightning Lane selections via Genie+ for the entire day.
In an effort to remedy this, Walt Disney World reallocated one Individual Lightning Lane attraction per park to Genie+ during peak holiday travel dates last year–the weeks leading up to Christmas and New Year’s. That actually relieved quite a bit of stress on the system–but it also “helped” that those peak season holiday dates ended up being less busy than the week of Thanksgiving.
Likely seeing the exact same scenario starting to play out, Walt Disney World is once again moving Individual Lightning Lane attractions to the Genie+ ride roster. This time, it’s for a much longer window.
Through August 7, 2022, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway at Hollywood Studios, Frozen Ever After at Epcot, and Space Mountain at Magic Kingdom will be included in the flat-rate Disney Genie+ service and will not be sold a la carte as Individual Lightning Lane purchase options.
April 14, 2022 Update: Upon reopening, Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain at Animal Kingdom will also join the Genie+ roster:
We’d recommend anyone visiting Walt Disney World during the busy spring break and summer seasons follow our Walt Disney World Itineraries. In addition to that, below are our Genie+ ride rankings for each park, along with quick addendums for where each of the aforementioned attractions slot into those priorities:
Magic Kingdom Genie+ Priorities & Lightning Lane Ride Ranks – Space Mountain becomes the #3 attraction, with Splash Mountain dropped to #4 or #5 if you’re visiting sooner while the weather is still colder.
Hollywood Studios Genie+ Priorities & Lightning Lane Ride Ranks – Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway moves to #2, still a very distant second after Slinky Dog Dash.
Epcot Genie+ Priorities & Lightning Lane Ride Ranks – Frozen Ever After takes the title of #1, edging out Test Track by a bit based on what we saw over the holiday season.
Animal Kingdom Genie+ Priorities & Lightning Lane Ride Ranks – Once it reopens, Expedition Everest be #3, a good distance behind both T1 attractions.
Let’s turn to commentary on the why of this, plus thoughts on the future. Some of you, let’s call you the optimists of the group, might see this as a sign that Individual Lightning Lanes are “failing” and that’s forcing Walt Disney World to drop an attraction from each park.
While that’s possible, we’re highly skeptical of that being the motivation for this. It’s true that Expedition Everest and Space Mountain have not sold particularly well for many dates, with near-immediate return times much of the time and lower standby waits, as well.
By contrast, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway and Frozen Ever After have been doing really strong numbers in the last few months, even on non-peak days. Both started out slowly for the first couple months after Genie+ debuted, but have had solid sales since. They would’ve both done well in the coming weeks when crowds are forecast to be higher.
Space Mountain likewise would’ve seen a bump in sales during spring break and summer. Ditto Expedition Everest once it reopens. It’s also difficult to say what good/bad sales look like for those under normal crowd levels, as ILL is pure profit. Even with near-immediate returns, those Individual Lightning Lanes might’ve been meeting expectations for Disney.
More likely, this change is being made to prevent Genie+ from being overwhelmed during periods of high demand, which is what it sounds like has been occurring during the Presidents’ Day/Princess Half Marathon crowd surge. When Genie+ is useless or guests feel they aren’t getting their money’s worth, there are long lines at Guest Relations, refunds are issued for Genie+ and guest satisfaction scores drop.
None of that is good for Walt Disney World, which is why this change is being made. I know many of us are overly cynical about Disney because of *gestures at all of the negative changes to the guest experience of the last 2 years* but there are not ulterior motives here. Quite simply, it’s to improve the guest experience.
Before we get carried away patting Walt Disney World on the back here, we should add the very important caveat that 3 of the 4 parks shouldn’t have Individual Lightning Lanes, period, because their eligible attraction capacity is too low to sustain the system.
Or, they should cap sales of Genie+ to make it more pleasant. Really, this is a matter of Disney (partially) “solving” a problem of its own creation. No applause necessary for that.
There are two ways of adding more attraction capacity at Walt Disney World, with the first being to build more attractions. Given that it’s taking them ~6 years to clone a launched motorbike roller coaster in a warehouse from Shanghai Disneyland, this doesn’t seem like a realistic short-term suggestion.
Another would be to add stage shows, character meet & greets, nighttime spectaculars, and parades. Some of those are low capacity and don’t help a ton. Another would be to add Lightning Lanes to things that don’t really need line-skipping. This happened during the FastPass+ era and “worked” pretty well (if success is measured by giving guests an option, not saving them time).
The final one is to remove Individual Lightning Lanes and roll those into the Genie+ service, which is what Walt Disney World is doing here. Prior to this change, that might’ve seemed like the least likely option, because money. However, the case could be made that including them with Genie+ would increase purchases of that system and/or guest satisfaction, and ultimately be a net positive for Disney’s bottom line.
It’ll be interesting to see whether Walt Disney World adopts the other approaches in the coming weeks and months. Will we see Festival of Fantasy Parade or Harmonious viewing at some point? More meet & greets added to the lineup? (On a tangentially related note, I’m downright shocked that Disney still hasn’t increased the price for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. It made sense over the holiday season as being “too soon,” but I’m surprised that change didn’t happen simultaneously with this news.)
Ultimately, this changes the equation for purchasing Genie+ when visiting Walt Disney World in the coming months. Previously, we’ve said that crowd levels in the 6/10 to 8/10 range were the sweet spot for buying Genie+, with it being unnecessary when numbers are lower and frustrating/less useful during peak season. This should expand that range in both directions, making Genie+ more useful in slightly lower and slightly higher crowds–but probably not on peak 10/10 days.
This does nothing to alter the “frustrating” part of that–unless Disney IT magically irons out a decade worth of problems in the coming months, intermittent tech problems will persist. However, assuming you don’t mind some My Disney Experience glitches and email codes, Genie+ is an absolute no brainer for Magic Kingdom. The same is true for Disney’s Hollywood Studios, so long as you go in with a strong strategy and awareness that availability for headliners goes fast. Epcot is more of an open question, with my gut saying it’s probably going to be hard to score both Test Track and Frozen Ever After in the same day. The best-value approach there will be Park Hopping between DHS and Epcot.
We’ll continue to keep you posted with on-the-ground reports and developments about Genie+ at Walt Disney World. As noted at the top of the post, we’ll be in the parks at Walt Disney World this weekend and next week to do more testing. Things are really busy right now with Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser and the start of the 2022 Epcot Flower & Garden Festival, but we’ll do our best to get updates out ASAP.
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 are your thoughts on Walt Disney World moving an Individual Lightning Lane attraction from each park to Genie+? Think it’s a sign of ILL failure, or a simple rebalancing of demand and capacity? Think it’ll turn into a permanent change anywhere? Do you agree or disagree with my assessment? 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!
With FastPass+, everyone got the 3 FastPasses up front and it was up to each person how and when they chose to get them set up. It was a pain to plan that far in advance and it wasn’t truly fair since Disney resort guests had an earlier opportunity than non-Disney resort guests. But for the most part, the people that planned are the people that waited in line the least. Now with Genie+, the difference isn’t in who plans but in who can afford the premium ticket. Percentage-wise, the additional premium may not be much but it can be too much for many. Even though I’m in a position to spend the additional money, I’m going to feel pretty lousy about exercising that financial advantage to get me out of lines.
The main problem with WDW is that Disney pits people against each other. They let in so many more people to the park than they have capacity for at attractions that the only way for one person to wait less in line is for somebody else to wait in line more. And the only way to solve this fundamental problem is to have fewer people in the park or more capacity on the attractions. I’m in favor of both. Disney really needs to focus on increasing attraction capacity more than increasing resort lodging capacity. And remember that adding capacity to attractions doesn’t necessarily mean building additional new attractions but it should mean doubling up capacity on existing attractions. Like with Tory Story Mania, adding more tracks to make the line go faster. Or even Dumbo with double the Dumbo. And of course any new ride should be set up with double the capacity – how did they not do this with Tron from the get-go?
I do think there is a place for some sort of priority lanes. Take Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, for example. If there were no priority lanes of any sort, that line would still be 90 minutes. And some people would wait in that line 3 times to do that ride still. And others of us would never get to ride it because we don’t want to wait that long for anything. So if everyone who was let into the park got a “ride-once” pass for 7DMT and all of the other high-demand rides, then they could get into that priority lane to use their “ride-once” at any time they wanted. Then the standby line is effectively for people that want to ride it a second time – and if there are people who want to wait 2 hours to ride it a second time, go for it. The rest of us will move on to something else.
The more Disney treats their customers like ATMs, the less they will feel like guests. At some point, the magic will be undercut by the Chapek-ing of the parks and people will start to turn on the company. Chapek will leave saying he got a lot of profit out of the business and the next person who comes in will be left with a problem of an eroded brand and demoralized staff and the blame will go to that person instead of Chapek.
You have stated everything perfectly. I wish that Disney management would see what they are doing to their guests. We just got home a few days ago. We don’t like what they are doing with the Genie setup, it is ridiculous! We didn’t pay for it or any rides. We are AP holders so we ignored it and done almost everything we wanted to do. I feel sorry for all the people that are wasting so much money and not getting what they paid for.
Thanks, Tom. My son and I are going on a Sunday, March 20, to DHS. I’m familiar with rope dropping and using Genie+ to build up a bundle of LLs in the late afternoon / evening. My plan is to rope drop for 2 or 3 rides, take a break for lunch and some shopping at Disney Springs, then back to DHS to cash in the LLs. My only concern is the Spring Break crowds and the ability to actually to build up LLs for the evening.
I like individual LL because it was like having 3 FP again. At 7 am you could book your 2 paid rides and your first genie plus. Now that they are moving MMRR and Frozen to regular genie plus that is going to keep Disney regulars like us from getting 3 definite favorites at one time. Now they will be in the genie pot and by the time your done with your first genie the top attractions will be gone or have 6 pm or after slots, which keeps you from doing any other genie plus between 10 and 6. This is frustrating! What are your thoughts on this?
Went to Hollywood studios today made a lightning lane for 10:45- 11:45 . This morning at 7 , Went on the ride tried to make another at 11:00 everything was 5:30 or later.We used to love DW
Now IT SUCKS….. 15th trip since 2010 it’s our last…. Never again
We had 9 adults and 4 children. Most of us have never been to Disney. Genie and lightning made this vacation a joke. I understand that covid-19 effected money making vacations. But also the working people as well. We all agreed it was all about Disney making more money only. If you could have gotten through to schedule the way it sounded, the money wouldn’t have been a big deal. But in most cases we only got a couple of rides total for our entire week. Disney will never be a place we all go fo family vacations. That we all agree on. Do NOT waste your time or money. There are better places to go.
We have a trip scheduled for May at a Moderate Resort and notice that they no longer qualify for staying in the park after hours-you can only take advantage of this if you stay at a Deluxe or above resort. When did this happen? It seems more and more perks are being taken away. That was one if the reasons we chose to stay on property. We could certainly find a cheaper place to stay. Very disappointing.
I just noticed the same thing last night! And Disney announced “surprising profits?” Literally at the expense of loyal fans who have been returning for years. Not a good move, Disney.
We were there Presidents day weekend. We got maybe 1 extra ride via LL..total waste of money and completely disappointed. Better off using paid LL only.
“I know many of us are overly cynical about Disney because of *gestures at all of the negative changes to the guest experience of the last 2 years* but there are not ulterior motives here.”
Can I just say I love love LOVE your writing style. Like… I find myself reading your articles for 2 reasons… 1. to learn and get new information and 2. just cauz its FUN! (I also have your thoughts and opinions on a very high pedestal…”well Tom says….” is a frequent sentence starter I use when explaining things to my here-for-the-food husband lol). Thanks for all your hard work and research!
I agree with ImisstheoldDisney
Just get rid of any system. At things like the Halloween party, there were no Fast passes. The lines were long, but they kept moving. And my husband gets really annoyed, crossing the park and being on the phone. I dread my upcoming May trip. Purchased rented DVC points or else I would cancel
We used Genie+ one day out of our eight day Disney trip during the first week of December. We were totally shocked by the uselessness of the service. Rides booked quickly and the learning curve associated with using Genie+ cost us. I think we booked two rides that day. The stress of getting bookings, looking at the phone every ten minutes to see ride times and the overall lack of magic was such a shame. We’ve been coming to Disney for years and that trip was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Disney needs to figure out how to bring back some guest satisfaction. We hated the trip so much that we booked our first trip to universal two months later to see if it’d be good fit for our kids (11&9). We stayed at a top tier resort and enjoyed “free” unlimited express pass while staying at a hotel with a 5 minute walk to the parks. It’s like covid never happened at universal. There were parades, meet and greets, shows; it was glorious! No booking express rides, rather you enjoy a totally unplanned day. We woke up late each day, strolled over to the park (ate breakfast in the park or citywalk, as there was zero need to rush to every single thing), and each express line was a 10 minute wait! It was AMAZING (minus the gross food at universal). I was amazed that Disney can’t take a page out of universal’s guest experience book. We liked it so much that we upgraded our tickets to AP holders and bought AP passes for our kids, so we can take them back this year. So in summary, Disney blows and universal is awesome. Hopefully Disney begins to value their guests in any apparent way, so longtime customers can consider returning without it being the “lamest place on Earth”.
I agree. There was a time when I would say that we were spoiled at Disney, in terms of organization, and Universal was so disorganized. I’m at a point where I’m considering a return to Universal instead of Disney and looking forward to it. The thought of waking up early (on your vacation) to try and find the kids rides, and see how you can make it work with your lunch or dinner reservations (park restaurants are usually booked way before your visit), while running all around the park, back and forth, for a ride, doesn’t sound very appealing. The point of staying at a nicer Disney resort was to take advantage of the option to preplan your day so it was all stress free. It just doesn’t sound very magical anymore. And I have the Disney card, which provides enough rewards points, to vacation at least once or twice for free every year. I’m seriously thinking of using my rewards on airfare to other places instead of a Disney vacation. Not the first time a new and improved management team loses focus on what matters to a Disney fan.
I was just there for my daughter’s cheerleading trip to Nationals at Disney. I stayed at Universal for the exact same reason. I enjoyed a relaxed morning and paid for the unlimited express pass. I stayed at one of their “budget” hotels. I was not expecting the quality and space in the room! It was spacious and had time
To move around. It was not crowded-no Murphy beds to pull down, to save space! It was nice to just go at my own pass, not needing to crisscross all over to get to a specific ride at a specified time. Universal has gotten something right. I love their park transportation. They are doing it right. I’m hopeful when they complete the Marvels world how the integration will be! So far, so good!
We just finished a five day vacation at Disney today. My very young children’s first visit, my millionth (or something like that). Definitely a rough week. Even booking our first genie plus ride at 7am, we would end up with a late afternoon time and then be struggling to get good times (or any times) for the rest of the day. At Hollywood Studios yesterday, genie plus was really just an individual lightening Lane for SSD. By the time we could book another pass, rocking roller coaster, tower of terror, and Millennium Falcon were all gone. Toy Story Mania was gone a few minutes after that. We booked some silly passes just because we could (star tours and Indiana Jones), but it seems wrong to count those as a genie plus advantage because THEY WEREN’T.
Bottom line, we felt a bit ripped off by the whole system, knowing we were paying on top of our original ticket price just to stay on a level playing field with others. It’s a bummer because my husband is not a big Disney fan and this trip will hurt any chance I had of getting the kids back there again this decade.
Also, did you know one side of ToT isn’t working right now? I’m sure that’s part of why the lines were so long for that ride and the passes went so fast. But only part of the reason.
Went with my 22 yr old and 16 yr old kids Feb 17-21, and it was our worst Disney trip ever. I had another one booked for September, but got home and cancelled it. I think I’ve (we’ve) finally outgrown Disney. It’s a nightmare. And I’m a savvy planner and ride scheduler. Just horrible experience. We all agreed the magic is gone. Very little resemblance to its former experience.
I would echo much of the above – a significant part of the appeal of FastPass+ was the ability to plan well in advance and lock in those three attractions. It built anticipation for the trip and took the stress out of the actual day at the park. Being able to roll FPs once those three were done was also an awesome option that it sounds like was a lot more flexible than the 120 rule on Genie+.
We have our first trip back since the pandemic booked for July and so far I haven’t added Genie+ at all. I’m tempted to just try our luck rope dropping and pay for the ILL rides we really want. In that regard, this announcement is actually kind of a bummer. Means we’ll have to shell out for Genie+ with no guarantee we’ll get the ride we care most about.
It’s all pretty disappointing.
We had a trip last week. We didn’t buy Genie or any rides. We rope dropped Rise one day and SDD another day. We also rode TOT after it started back up from being down, short wait. It works with this strategy. Just not going to be ripped off by the Genie. Rode what we could in the other parks, not everything, but had less stress without the Genie.
I just used Genie + this week and was not happy with it. I used it at MK and got the first ride at 12:45-1:45 (pirates of the Caribbean) which was great. I booked that at 7am. At 9am booked the next one for 3:00 (haunted mansion ). I thought I had two rides all set but as the day went on the rides I booked times keep changing to later in the day. Very unhappy. I paid $15 for and only got to use it for one ride and every ride I booked moved later to the end of the evening.
Wait, the times that you reserved through genie+ changed hours later? That happens? Also, how did you make your second reservation at 9:00?
Do you ever think they will ever add an additional price for pre-planning 30 or 60 days out again? For example, buy Genie+ the day of for $xx (current situation) or purchase Genie+ 60 days out and lock in your times for an additional $15 or $xx. One of the complaints I hear/read the most about is people want to ENJOY the parks and the vacation….not be stuck on their phones all day. The planning was actually part of the fun with my kids when we could talk about and lock in our first 3 rides. It was set. Why would they take that away???? How does that benefit them? I would think having data in advance allows them to plan more efficiently. Just my two cents.
Totally agree 100% – You are my Disney “Spirit Animal”
Agree totally. This is a great suggestion and hopefully may come to fruition. I’ll keep my fingers, arms and legs crossed
Yes to this!!!
Tom, thanks for all you do. Great information. Do you think this change moves the needle on whether to purchase Genie + if staying at a Deluxe Resort or DVC Resort? Extra Early morning and Extra Evening perk still seems to be the way to go for MK and Epcot w/o park hopper tix, therefore I wouldn’t think to purchase Genie + those days. Maybe purchase only for days/parks that the Evening hours are not available?
I wouldn’t count on totally great experiences for the extra evening hours. We were just there the first two weeks of February. The MK extra evening hours were well worth it, but the Epcot extra evening hours was not a positive experience both nights we went. The ride times were still quite long and cast members blocked World Showcase around Norway all the way to near France. They will not let your stroll through the countries, to even just enjoy, nor to get to the Remy ride. We were not pleased with how it was set up. I think deluxe resort guests should be given a band and the remainder of the guests should have to leave that way they do not need to block WS. When they promote these extra hours, they do not expose the truth about them. Also, besides the Creations Shop, drinking spots were open but nothing else obviously so they could make even more ,only on selling the alcohol! Very disappointing!
If you have a park hopper pass and want to use genie plus in both parks, do you have to buy it twice, once for each park you are in?
No; you just switch parks in the app. You can jump back and forth (meaning, book an evening one at Epcot, and then still book your next open window at Magic Kingdom). But you can’t hold a reservation for the second park that starts before 2 p.m. park hopper time.
I’m glad they’re making this change. Disney World is starting to become the land of the haves and have-nots.
I’m hoping Tom or someone can clear up a question I have about Genie+. I visited the parks in December with my son and mother, and not wanting to spend the day trying to entertain them both while waiting in long lines, I purchased the Genie+ for us. We had a park hopper, and started the day in Animal Kingdom, but I knew that Test track was an absolute must for my son, which is a ride that I think is OK and kind of fun, but so not worth waiting 60 minutes for. So I made it my first selection, but the earliest I could get was 7PM. So I figured that was fine and in another 120 minutes I could make another selection and try for something at AK or HS. Apparently I vastly misunderstood how the system works, because at 9:30, when I tried to make another selection, it said I was ineligible. I asked a customer service cast member, and she said that because my first selection was after 1:00 PM, I could not make another selection until after 1:00 PM. I went back and could find nothing about this rule on Disney’s website. Does this make any kind of sense? And I was in fact finally able to make a selection after 1:00 PM- when my selection was pretty much limited to getting to the front of the living with the land 10 minute wait line!
Jennifer, you don’t state what time you made the Test Track reservation, but you imply that it was at 7:30 AM. My family and I also visited in (late) December. We found that in the situation you describe, we could not make a second selection until two hours after the park (our first park) opened. That was annoying, but not as bad as you describe (we didn’t have to wait until 1 PM).
Personally, I think that if the first Genie + reservation you are given is later in the day, that you should be able to go ahead immediately and make one for early in the day. However, I actually prefer the old system where you could book Fast Passes in advance. Now, you still have to do plenty of advance planning for a trip, but you also have great uncertainty about what Genie + selections (or ILL in the case of Rise of the Resistance) you will be able to get and when, which is stressful and can even possibly cause family disharmony in a large, multi-generational group (which shouldn’t be what Disney wants). Also, it causes you to have to be checking your mobile phone during the day.
I think it might have been because 1pm is 2 hours after Epcot opened?? Not absolutely sure though. Sorry this happened, I know it had to be crazy frustrating!
I don’t know about the 1:00 pm part. However, you mentioned that you tried to get a second at 9:30 am, which is never possible, because the 120 minutes doesn’t start when you make your first selection, it starts when the park opens. Hope that helps!
Not that I want to make it more expensive but the simplest way to decrease the number of Genie+ bought is to increase the price like every other place does with fast pass. That makes it a better experience for those who purchase it and less people will because it’s more expensive
I disagree, I don’t think paying more ever makes it a better experience for those who purchase it. I wish nobody could have a fast pass and everyone had to just wait their turn…same fairness for all income levels and it would actually be more enjoyable. We’d all be able to stay off our phones, not have to rush all the way across the park to make it to a line at a certain time, and best of all we wouldn’t have to wait an extra 2 hours per line while we watch Disney let all the rich people skip us.