Genie + and Lightning Lane

Genie+ is an add-on service that you pay for on a per day basis that allows you to make Lightning Lane reservations. Lightning Lane is a service that Disney offers that lets you experience certain attractions with minimal wait. You can also purchase Lightning Lane access to certain very popular attractions without paying for Genie+.

It's honestly all pretty confusing these days. There are now 4 ways to queue up for attractions:

  • Standby: this is basically just standing in the regular line. You get in line, and wait until it's your turn. Simple, straightforward.

  • Genie+ Lightning Lane: paying for Disney's Genie+ service allows you to reserve certain attractions to ride via a special, shorter queue. You'll make your first reservation at 7 am., and can make additional reservations as you use them, or starting 2 hours after park opening, whichever is sooner. You can then make them every two hours thereafter on a rolling basis. Purchase Genie+ through the My Disney Experience app. You'll also use the MDE app to make all Lightning Lane reservations.

  • Individual Lightning Lane (ILL): separate from the Genie+ Lightning Lane, you can purchase the ability to skip the standby line for certain high demand attractions. This is in addition to Genie+ ride reservations, and having one does not affect the other. You need not have paid for Genie+ to be able to purchase ILL access to attractions.

  • Boarding Groups: When new attractions are opened, Disney will sometimes use Boarding Groups to distribute access. That morning, at 7 a.m., you'll use the app to request the ability to ride the attraction and (if you're lucky) you'll be provided with a boarding group. The groups will be allowed to ride in order, so you can do whatever you want to do until your number is called, at which time you can go ride the attraction. You may also hear this described as a Virtual Queue. The only attraction that currently uses Boarding Groups is Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind.

To obtain your Lightning Lane reservations, you'll do the following:

  • The night before, make sure you are logged into the MDE app, and set an alarm to make sure you are awake and ready to make your selections at 7 am SHARP. You should also make sure you have a credit card on file.

  • You will need to purchase Genie+ to be able to make Genie+ ride reservations. You can purchase it at midnight the day of your reservations. If you're awake at midnight, you should purchase it then. If not, build in time in the morning to purchase it well before 7, but in any event before the next step. Note that Genie+ sales are now limited, and they can sell out, so get it at the earliest possible opportunity if you need it, especially during busier times.

  • Shortly before 7 am, go to the My Genie Day tab on the MDE app, and open the Tip Board. This is where you'll make all of your Lightning Lane reservations, regardless of whether its through Genie+ or ILL.

  • The MOMENT it becomes 7 am, refresh the page and navigate to the Lightning Lane reservation you'd like to make. Click through, select a time, and confirm as quickly as possible.

To obtain your Boarding Group, you'll do the following:

  • The night before, make sure you are logged into the MDE app, and set an alarm to make sure you are awake and ready to make your selections at 7 am SHARP. You should also make sure you have a credit card on file.

  • Shortly before 7 am, go to the My Genie Day tab on the MDE app, open the Tip Board for Epcot.

  • The MOMENT it becomes 7 am, refresh the page, click on the attraction, and request a Boarding Group.

  • If you don't get a Boarding Group at 7 am, you can try again at 1 pm, and/or purchase a Lightning Lane reservation for the attraction.

Lightning Lane Booking Tips

  • Do not dawdle. When looking at the tip board, you'll see a time for the next available Lightning Lane times, but these are subject to change as other people book. Once you click through, you'll be presented with another time, and once you actually confirm, you may have yet another time. To ensure that your actual reservation time is as close to the time you see, move quickly through the screens.

  • If you don't get what you want right away, try again. Disney does release additional Lightning Lane reservations over the course of the day. There's not a lot of rhyme or reason to when, and it's not something you can rely upon, but if you do your best at 7 am and come up empty, it's worth continuing to check periodically.

  • If you're going for both a Genie+ Lightning Lane and ILL at 7 am, consider using multiple devices if you have the option. I go for one on my phone, while my wife goes for the other on my iPad.

  • Note that the Genie+ Lightning Lane and ILL systems are essentially separate, and you can hold Genie+ reservations and ILL reservations at the same time. Moreover, while you can only book one Genie+ Lightning Lane reservation at a time, you can hold as many as you're able to accumulate, and the time periods are allowed to overlap (unlike FastPass+, for those that are familiar with that system).