Is Genie Plus free?

Well, to answer your question, Genie+ is not free for the guests of the Disney park. This is an add-on service that is available for purchase at Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort for a fee. Genie+ does allow guests to participate in the Lightning Lane entrance at some attractions and reduces the interaction with the normal standby line.

Launched in 2021, Genie+ is a new service at Disney parks that succeeded the FastPass or FastPass+ service that Disney had been using for several years before. While FastPass was a complimentary service that was available for all visitors, the new Genie+ service is paid per ticket per day for those who want to access it.

How Expensive Is Genie+?

The price for Genie+ is $15 per each guest per day at Walt Disney World, and $20 per each guest per day at Disneyland Resort. Those that wish to buy it, have to do it for every park ticket on the date that one books a park. For instance, a four-member family would purchase Genie+ at $60 for adding it to their Magic Kingdom tickets for the day.

This $15 per guest per day fee gives the entitlements and access to Lightning Lane that Genie+ offers. Guests who do not purchase it do not have choices in the app to utilize the Lightning Lane queues. The normal standby queues are still there for all guests regardless of whether they purchase Genie+ or not.

Why is There a Need for Disney to Offer and Even Require Guests to Purchase Genie+?

Disney opted for a paid Genie+ model in order to offer the guests a more efficient way of navigating the parks and to make money from the Lightning Lanes despite charging for them. The park closures and reduced visitor capacities in 2020 and 2021 influenced Disney’s income and profit significantly.

The change from the previous free FastPass system available before enables Disney to counterbalance operating costs on a larger scale now. Instituting a paid upgrade per guest, Genie+ has also become a rather lucrative proposition with the parks in little time. But as guests continue to flock and show a willingness to pay for Genie+, it has been sold out every day it has been made available.

What is covered under the Genie+ Pass?

For the $15-$20 daily fee, Genie+ includes the following features:For the $15-$20 daily fee, Genie+ includes the following features:

-Priority access to Lightning Lanes is more than 15 attractions in each park -The option to select one Individual Lightning Lane attraction at once -The ability to choose another Lightning Lane after one is used or after 120 minutes if unavailable for use

The list of rides is mostly made of the more popular ones which have higher standby wait times. It is true that which rides are available does depend on the park, whether it is Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom in Disney or Disneyland and California Adventure in Disney.

Some of the recommended rides usually consist of; Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Space Mountain, and Peter Pan’s Flight are some of the most preferred rides in Magic Kingdom. Over at Hollywood Studios, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, and Toy Story Mania are choices. For Epcot, some choices are Soarin’, Frozen Ever After, Test Track, and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure.

How Genie+ Distinguishes Itself From The Individual Lightning Lane

Besides Genie+, there is also the option of single Lightning Lane access for a limited number of the most popular attractions in each park. These are the ‘anchor’ experiences that always stay at the top of the wait time list. At WDW, those rides are:At WDW, those rides are:

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is an attraction located at the Magic Kingdom. Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure (Epcot) Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at Hollywood Studios Avatar Flight of Passage (Animal Kingdom)

In contrast to Genie+ access, which are included in the package, these are Individual Lightning Lane, purchased individually for a single ride only. Prices vary depending on the number of people in a group up to the range of $15 for a single ride.

For visitors heading to Disneyland, the individual Lightning Lane rides offered are:For visitors heading to Disneyland, the individual Lightning Lane rides offered are:

Radiator Springs Racers is a ride in Disney California Adventure Park. Web Slingers: A Spider-Man ride (Disney California Adventure). Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance (Disneyland)

Is Genie+ Effective in Reducing Wait Times?

It is, therefore, important to understand that, while Genie+ will reduce wait times through access to the Lightning Lanes, guests will still possibly experience some waits. The app also provides return windows based on when the next time slot is expected to be available. Some attractions may still show return times longer than usual due to crowd sizes and reflect a wait still incorporated.

There is also the effect of ride breakdowns affecting the business, and its capacity to operate efficiently. If an attraction has to stop because of technical difficulties, both Lightning Lane and standard lines can quickly fill up. Thus, guests pre-selected their choices not being aware that they may be interrupted, and Disney cannot avoid such scenarios as well.

Wise Ways of Using Genie+

For those visitors who wish to get the most out of their Genie+ purchases, there are a few tactics that can be used to attempt to avoid long backups. Some key tips include:

-Leverage flexibility if the return times are getting stretched more and more to be able to change it in the process. -Do not join Genie+ immediately at 7 AM when the rush increases- waiting for an hour or so may get better choices. -Curb expectations at the most visited attractions that have fewer Lightning Lane offerings than standby attendance -Stack attraction selections back to back later in the day if possible because pending arrivals reduce waiting times -Utilize times when there are few people such as during parades, lunch time, park opening or closing times.

As you can see for those Disney guests, Genie+ does indeed seem well worth the cost to reduce waiting. But it does entail a learning curve and it does call for guests to make an effort to check their tip board often. Mobile ordering, mobile check-in and standby queues also still need to be used most of the time.