Did you hear this week that there is a big permanent change to the Disney Genie Plus service?
When the service was first rolled out last October there were two rides per park which guests had to pay separately to access the Lighting Lane for. They were called Individual Lightning Lanes. They were not included with the $15 per person per day Genie Plus service. So in order to skip the lines on some of the most popular attractions you'd owe another $7-$15 per person per attraction! This was a point of frustration for a lot of guests. For a family of five, Genie Plus already cost $75 per day. Then they'd have to pay another $45 just to ride Space Mountain and $60 to ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train just at the Magic Kingdom! Then repeat this for each theme park, that adds up fast!
But back in the spring Disney announced that they were moving one attraction in each park from Individual Lightning Lane to Genie Plus for the spring break and summer crowds. The attractions were;
Frozen Ever After and Remy's Ratatouille Adventure in Epcot
Space Mountain in The Magic Kingdom
Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway at Hollywood Studios
and Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom
That was scheduled to end today, August 7th, but this week they announced that they will remain with Genie Plus. This allows guests to get more value out of their Genie Plus purchase and the opportunity to ride more attractions and save even more time. This means that guest no longer have to pay extra for those rides! If I had a extra $60 dollars, I'd be making my way right down to Casey's Corner to grab a Chilli Dog, Fries, and Mint Julip Slushie then later in the day I'd have to get a Mickey bar, and Soft Pretzel! Mickey shaped of course. Now there is only one ride per theme park that requires you to purchase an Individual Lighting Lane per person: Seven Dwarf's Mine Train $10-12 Guardian's of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind $14 Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance $15 Avatar Flight of Passage $14
In late June Disney added more Star Wars experiences to the park by re opening Star Wars: Launch Bay including meet and greets with Darth Vader, BB9 and Chewbacca.
Are you excited about these changes? What do you hope will be added to Genie in the future? What rides have you found beneficial when using Individual Lighting Lane or Genie+? Fun Tip- Did you know that you can select your preferences for Genie+ before you go? My next blog article will be on everything you should know about Genie + before go you even leave home. Be on the lookout!
Sydney Burkhart is a Vacation Specialist with Coasters & Castles Travel. She specializes in theme park destinations. She loves Disney the most. Her favorite attraction is Small World and favorite food is Casey's Corner on Main Street.
