Disney Now Limiting Genie+ Sales, Guests Can No Longer "Plan Ahead" - Inside the Magic

Since Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios all reopened after the pandemic, we have seen crowds slowly begin to increase. Despite capacity not fully being back to what the pre-pandemic levels originally were, the crowds are still overwhelming.

Disney is always going to be busy no matter when you visit throughout the year, however, there are certain times of the year that are much worse than others. To combat these issues, Disney has employed several systems throughout the years to help, but the most recent version has been quite controversial.

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Disney Genie+, the paid aspect of the system, allows Guests to use the Lightning Lane when their return time strikes — which has replaced the previously free FastPass lane. Then both theme park resorts have separate options where Guests can pay varying costs per ride, per person to ride the attraction.

Disney Genie+ costs $15.00 per person per day for Disney World Guests and $20.00 per person per day at Disneyland. The cost for Disney Genie+ is slightly more expensive at Disneyland, and so are the a la carte options.

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Rise of the Resistance has hit costs of $20.00 per person per ride, which would essentially double the daily cost of Disney Genie+ if Guests wanted to Lightning Lane the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge attraction, as well as use the paid system for other attractions.

Recently, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Disney World’s newest ride, was added to this service. However, all of this changes today with the implementation of a brand-new rule that Disney has introduced which could make planning ahead a little harder.

It was announced a few weeks ago that Disney Genie would be changing and that Disney would start limiting how much Guests can plan in advance ahead of their vacation. Well, this change is officially in place starting today, June 8.

The new policy states that Guests Disney Genie+ will no longer be offered as a pre-arrival ticket add-on at Walt Disney World. This is set to last for the remainder of 2022 and all of 2023. Now, Guests will only be able to purchase Genie+ through the app on the day of your visit.

When talking about Genie, Genie+ and Lightning Lane, the Walt Disney World website states the following:

This unique new service lets you use our new Lightning Lane entrance at select attractions and experiences at the Walt Disney World theme parks. 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. You may make one selection at a time, starting at 7:00 AM on the day of your visit (experiences are subject to limited availability). If your theme park ticket includes the Park Hopper option, you can select Lightning Lane arrival windows across multiple theme parks.

You can make individual purchases within the Disney Genie service Tip Board or My Day itinerary in the app on the same day of your visit.

It is important to note that this change is only in effect at Walt Disney World, not Disneyland. Since this is a brand-new change, we are unsure of how it will affect Guests traveling to the Orlando, Florida Resort yet. Only time will tell if this was the right move for Disney.

Have you used Disney Genie or Genie+ yet?