How to use GENIE+ and Individual Lightning Lane
Genie+
Beginning at 7am the morning of your park day you can purchase Genie+. The price fluctuates but is typically around $20 per person. They do limit the number of Genie+ sold and have sold out on rare occasion but that is not the norm. This can seriously make your trip, and if you know how to use it, you're going to love it! If you watched the video above, we used it 7 times in one day at Magic Kingdom! And we buy it EVERY time!
Most people use Genie+ to book the most sought-after rides, however, there is a better way!
The secret: Instead of choosing the most desired ride(s) in the park (which typically makes you wait 2 hours to book your next Lightning Lane), take the first available. This allows you to schedule another Lightning Lane as soon as you use the first.
Here is how we do it:
1. Buy the Individual Lightning Lanes (ILL) available. (See ILL section below).
2. Rope drop the biggest attraction/or one you want to get on most.
3. Using Genie plus select the first available time slot in the area you want to start in!
4. As soon as you scan into each LL ride, select the next one! (Choose the closest one so your not walking all over!)
5. Enjoy the line skipping!
Genie plus hack with Mid-day Break!
We used a different approach for Hollywood Studios because I new (after a full day at Magic Kingdom the day before) we’d need a break! Here’s how to use genie plus if you are planning for a break in the day!
1. Buy genie plus and use your first selection to choose your #1 ride! We chose slinky dog! And picked 6pm so we could hit it on our return to the park.
2. Rope drop/Early Entry your #2 ride, and then hop on anything else with short/no wait. We did Smugglers run, Toy Story Mania and alien saucers.
3. Head out of the park (about 10am) and back to your hotel for some lunch by the pool, we even went back to the room for a nap! Be sure to set alarms, book as soon as your window opens and choose the first available time slot!
4. Return in time to catch your first genie plus ride, we did Minnie and Mickey’s Runaway Railway (MMRR), after you scan into each ride select your next ride at the earliest time slot and repeat!
5. Catch some shows, grab some dinner, meet some characters and then head to Fantasmic! This is a MUST see!
8. Hop on MMRR or Slinky Dog after Fantasmic as most people leave the park so the lines will be supper short! Then back to the resort!
Individual Lightning Lanes (ILL)
Each park uses ILL for its most sought after attractions. This is a pay per ride system and will cost around $20 per person per ride. Yes, this can be a lot for one ride, however, these rides typically run a 2+ hour long line! The time savings and enjoyability of skipping the line is well worth it! We also purchase this every time! Why? These are the best rides in the park, we hate standing in line, and the cost of getting into the parks is already so much, that we want to be able to do as much as we can…even if it costs a little extra! These, like Genie+ are also available for purchase at 7am on your park day, and here’s the breakdown:
Magic Kingdom - TRON, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
Tron also offers a virtual Queue, which is free to join, but not guaranteed. Typically offered at 7am, 1pm and sometimes 6pm for special ticketed events. You can use this to try to avoid paying for the ILL, or to go on a second time!
Animal Kingdom - Avatar Flight of Passage
Hollywood Studios - Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance (Virtual queue available, reference TRON above for details.)
EPCOT: Guardians of the Galaxy (Virtual queue available, reference TRON above for details.)
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