Disney Genie+ becomes Lightning Lane Multi Pass at Disney World – The Points Guy

Do you like sleeping after 6:55 a.m. and not living on your phone while on vacation? If so, Disney has good news for you.

One of the biggest complaints about Disney World’s Genie+ system, which replaced the old FastPass+ program to reduce your wait time in 2022 (and added a cost; the old system was free), was that To really maximize service, the family planner ended up spending some time on his phone selecting and changing attraction reservations starting at 7 a.m. each day during his “vacation.”

Disney heard these comments and announced last year that changes were coming – and now we know what those changes will be.

Starting July 24, Disney Genie+ is getting a makeover.

Guests who want to use lines with shorter wait times will be able to plan some of their day’s attractions before their visit. Genie+ as we know it, which gives you access to shorter wait times for multiple attractions throughout the day, will be rebranded as Lightning Lane Multi Pass. Individual Lightning Lane attractions, which are often newer attractions not included in the Multi-Attraction Pass, such as Tron Lightcycle/Run and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, will be called Lightning Lane Single Pass.

Here’s everything you need to know about how Disney’s Lightning Lane passes work for visits starting July 24 and beyond.

How to book several days in advance of your visit

Starting July 24, guests staying at a Disney Resort hotel will be able to purchase Lightning Lane passes up to seven days in advance for the entire length of their stay (up to 14 days). This includes the Walt Disney World Swan, Dolphin and Swan Reserve and Shades of Green hotels, in addition to official Disney hotels. Previously, this happened from midnight each day of your trip. All other guests can plan up to three days in advance.

You can purchase a Lightning Lane Multi Pass, a Lightning Lane Single Pass, or both. The My Disney Experience app will have a streamlined process for consolidating these purchases into one transaction instead of having to make them separately. It is not necessary to purchase Lightning Lane Multi Pass to purchase Lightning Lane Single Pass selections and vice versa.

In some ways, it’s very reminiscent of FastPass+, the predecessor to Disney Genie+. With FastPass+, you can make three attraction selections before arrival, either 60 days away (for on-site hotel guests) or 30 days away (for all other guests). This narrower booking window seems to be a step up from FastPass+, as you’ll likely have a better idea of ​​your other vacation plans, such as restaurant reservations and other activities, when your booking window opens.

Lightning Lane Multi Pass

With the introduction of the Lightning Lane Multi Pass, guests can purchase and make up to three Lightning Lane selections for one park per day before their visit. Not only can you choose which attractions you want to visit, you can also choose what time you want to do it.

On the day of your visit, you can make additional Lightning Lane selections throughout the day after you have used one. If you have Park Hopper tickets, you can make subsequent selections to any of Disney World’s four theme parks. This is all done using the My Disney Experience app.

This is a huge change from Disney Genie+, which only allowed you to choose the next available window, although many people used this as a strategy to “stack” Lightning Lanes for use later in the game. daytime. Now that you can choose three travel times before your visit, you can opt for times later in the day if you’re up late or early in the morning if you prefer to arrive when the parks open. If your plans change after making your selections, you will always have the option to change your arrival window.

The ride pre-selection process also resembles FastPass+ for those who remember how it worked pre-pandemic.

The Lightning Lane selections will be divided into two groups. You can build one from the first group, which includes top attractions like Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Peter Pan’s Flight at Magic Kingdom and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Frozen Ever After at Epcot. Your other two selections will include all other attractions available at the park of your choice.

The pricing structure will not change and will always vary depending on the date and park. The service currently starts at $15 per person per day and sometimes rises to $39 per person per day during busier seasons, like the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays and spring break.

Lightning Lane Single Pass

Lightning Lane Single Pass (formerly Individual Lightning Lane) will work much like it does today, allowing you to choose a time to visit Disney’s newest and most in-demand attractions, but now you can make that purchase and choose your travel window. arrival in advance. .

Currently, the only rides that will require the purchase of a Lightning Lane Single Pass are Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, Avatar Flight of Passage, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Tron Lightcycle/Run, and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.

Attractions included in the Lightning Lane Single Pass are not included in the Lightning Lane Multi Pass and require a separate purchase if you wish to avoid the normal queue (which, for some of these rides, is a virtual queue ). You can purchase up to two of these selections per day, the same limit as currently.

Prices vary by day and attraction and generally range from $7 to $25 per person per attraction.

Conclusion

This is the latest in a series of changes aimed at making visits to Disney World less stressful.

Early last year, Disney reinstated free self-parking for on-site hotel guests and added free digital photo downloads when purchasing Genie+ (which will remain with the new system) . Late last year, Disney reintroduced all-day park visits and removed the theme park reservation requirement for most guests.

The free scheduling portion of Disney Genie will remain, which is a handy tool when you want to check wait times, get route suggestions, or play with fun photo filters.

It should be noted that these changes only apply to Walt Disney World. Disneyland will adopt the new naming conventions for Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Lightning Lane Single Pass starting July 24, but the way you shop and make selections at Disneyland will remain the same.

While this update requires a little more planning before you arrive, it should make your time in the park (and your sleep schedule) more enjoyable during your vacation. We’re happy to see Disney removing some of the barriers that made it harder to enjoy the magic of a Disney World vacation and making the planning process easier and more fun.

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