Disney’s Genie+ is a service that allows you to purchase individual lightning lane selections for $15 per day or as a package for $329 per year.
In 2021, Disney introduced Genie+ to provide park guests with Lightning Lane access to rides, which are essentially shorter lines than the standard queue. It has also prompted some confusion over the actual price of the service and what is a customer paying for. In this article, let me provide viewers with an understanding of Genie+’s various costs.
What is Genie+ and How Does it Work?
Editor: Genie+ is Disney’s paid line-skipping service that was launched in 2021. It provides the guests with access to the Lightning Lane entrance points of more than 15 attractions at each Disney World theme park. These Lightning Lane lines generally have a much shorter wait time than the standard lines, where you just wait and take your turn.
Those who get the Genie+ services are allowed to access the Lightning Lanes one time per the specific attraction one time in the day which helps people to avoid the long regular line. You can book attraction rides in the My Disney Experience app, but not for a group; they are booked per person and based on the availability of the ride.
The service is from when the park opens, to when the park closes. It is another boarding group for the rides.
What is the Cost for Genie+ Per Guest?
The cost of Genie+ service depends on the park and it is $15+$tax per guest per day. This applies to children and adults of all ages, including but not limited to those who are three years and above.
Therefore if you have a family of four including children under the age of three, it would charge you $60 per day to include everybody in Genie+.
To sum it up, the per-guest cost is the same for all guests regardless of the time of the year that they come to the restaurants. There are specific amounts per individual per day which are fixed for each of the services offered.
However, there are some Lightning Lanes that are exclusive to each attraction and cannot be purchased through Genie+. These have prices that are ala carte, which are approximated to be at $7 per individual per ride. More on that later.
Does Genie+ Ever Cost More Than $15 Per Person?
While the Genie+ service is typically $15 plus tax per guest daily, there are a few situations where pricing can vary:
Annual pass holders: Some of the select Annual Pass tiers have the option to purchase Genie+ for a lower per-day price. For instance, Incredi-Pass and Sorcerer Pass members have access to Genie+ which costs $11-12 per day.
Resort hotel guests: Those who have booked with select Disney Resort hotels can have early theme park entry with lower Genie+ prices. For instance, the Deluxe Resort guests were found to be paying $13 for the day while Value Resort guests paid $14.
Promotional offers: Certain dates include low crowd levels or special events: Disney may provide discount services for Genie+.
Other than the instances mentioned above, where guests can enter without paying for Genie+ Lightning Lane – hotel guests, pass holders, and occasional promotional days – guests should be prepared to spend $15 per person per day.
Does Genie+ Work on All Rides?
Nevertheless, Genie+ only allows you to pay for sustained access and shorter wait times at more than 15 of the best attractions in each Disney World theme park but does not include all park rides.
Several of the most popular E-Ticket attractions have replaced the service with individual Lightning Lane access for an additional per-ride charge over the base price of Genie+.
Examples include:
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is one of the attractions in Magic Kingdom.
- Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure at Disney World Epcot
- As you may know, there’s a new attraction at Epcot called Frozen Ever After.
- Space Mountain, theme park/attraction at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom
The cost of each of the Lightning Lanes also differs as per the date, the popularity, or the specific ride. This usually costs between $7-$15+ per person per attraction.
Therefore, pay attention – although Genie+ lets you bypass lines at many popular attractions, there are things in attractions that are newer or much more popular for which you have to pay per person to get into an attraction’s Lightning Lane entrance.
When Should You Purchase Genie+?
Genie+ access can be purchased in advance for the full length of your stay before ever getting to Disney World in the form of tickets/vacation packages. This fixes the per day rate and to have a feel of how it costs, it will cost 300 us dollars per day.
Still, it most likely is wiser to start doing so and only purchase Genie+ on the days when you think they would be most useful for you. Each listener and every day of a trip differs from the other.
Purchasing and using Genie+ as one enters the parks is convenient if changes are to take place due to factors such as; rain, congested attractions, children’s needs, and so on. However, there are concerns that there could be a rise in the price to $15 per person; thus, it is a bit of a give-and-take situation.
Should you be on Disney property, you can even use Genie+ to purchase activities inside the park and pay for them using your hotel room to avoid using cash or cards within the park.
Does Genie+ Guarantee Shorter Wait Times?
Though one can have shorter waits with Lightning Lanes than with standby lines, it is not clear whether Genie+ entails shorter waits in particular. You never quite know just how many people will be at that entrance dubbed as the Lightning Lane.
In general, most Lightning Lane waits are ranging from 15-30 minutes. But in the extreme cases of peak demand, the additional load could be longer 35-45+ minutes of queues. You cannot get your money back if you are not satisfied with the waiting times in Lightning Lane.
So manage expectations. Genie+ does make guests much more favored than members of the standby line, however, it doesn’t guarantee a much shorter wait time. It is advisable to search blogs and forums to get prepared for relatively long queues depending on the season, type of ride, etc.
Conclusion
Thus, determining which guests may benefit most from Genie+ comes down to the following factors:
It is enormously difficult to give a general answer to the question of whether Genie+ is “worth it. ”This boils down to what you are willing to spend, what your desire is, the kind of trip you would like, and how much company you can handle.
Overall, those who are coming to the park for the first time and want to see Disney’s most-visited attractions get the best value out of Genie+. Those who are only visiting the resort relatively often, and trying to get as many ‘magic hours’ as possible to be spent on highly coveted attractions also stand to gain.
However, those who come to the park multiple times a week and do not want to stand in a standby line for a considerable amount of time can skip Genie+ some days if the highlight attraction is riding some of the most popular attractions multiple times.
The main point is knowing what you are getting – the chance to get on several leading attractions ahead of the standby line but not the first crack at fast pass entry. Evaluate carefully Lightning Lanes’ usage at the right time, as well as choose the most suitable days for the Genie+ plan.
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