This is your complete guide to help answer the question, what is Genie Plus at Disneyland? The Disney Company has always been on the forefront of technology development ensuring that all of their guests have the most convenient, modern experience. We saw this first touch of this in 2013 when Disney released the MyMagic+ platform. This is the platform where all technology lives at the Disney Parks. From your MagicBands to the My Disney Experience App. As with everything, Disney continues to improve its practices, hence creating the new Disney Genie and Disney Genie+ programs. At both Walt Disney World in Orlando, and Disneyland in Anaheim.
So, if you’re wanting to learn what is the Disney Genie pass at Disneyland, keep reading!
We hope you find this post helpful, and if you are planning a trip to Disney be sure to check out our other FREE vacation planning tools. Our goal at The Park Prodigy has always been to help you save time on your next vacation and find the cheapest Disneyland tickets! So if you’re ready for the new details on the Disney Genie, let’s read on.
The Genie+ Disneyland 2023 is a premium, pay to skip-the-line service. It is intended to allow guests to book passes to use the Lighting Lane at Disneyland. For a one time fee, guests will have access to book return times for the Lightning Lane entrance at certain attractions in the park. If you’re looking to cut down on waits significantly, this may be your best option. We will cover more pros and cons further along in this Disneyland Genie Plus Guide.
At the end of 2021, the Disney Genie Disneyland feature was officially launched in the My Disney Experience App. This marked the official retirement of the previous free FastPass system, Disney MaxPass. The feature’s are fairly similar in terms of guest experience. However the upside of the Genie Plus Disneyland 2023 is that PhotoPass is now included. That’s right! You will receive unlimited PhotoPass digital downloads with your purchase of Disney Genie Plus Disneyland.
Related Post: Complete Guide to Disney World Genie+
The Genie Plus at Disneyland is like your Golden Ticket to skip longer lines. Once you purchase and begin to book your Disney Genie+ selections, you will be given a return time for that attraction. As soon as that return time window opens, your MagicBand+ or your park ticket becomes your pass to use the Lightning Lane entrance to the attraction you’ve chosen. Once you’re there, scan in with the attending Cast Member, and you’ll be allowed to enter the Lightning Lane.
Now that we know how to get Genie Plus Disneyland, you probably want to know how you can purchase it! The first thing you will want to make sure you have is the My Disney Experience app. This is where all of your Disney vacation needs can be planned, as well as, where the Disney Genie lives. You will also be required to have a valid park pass and park tickets before you will be allowed to start your Genie Disneyland purchase.
Related Post: When Does Christmas Start at Disneyland?
Purchasing the Disney Genie+ gives guests access to book the Lightning Lane for Disneyland Genie Plus. In the My Disney Experience app, you will have a personal skip-the-line service, waiting for you to book available attractions to have shorter waits. Whether you’re planning on staying in one park the whole day, or park hopping to the other, you will be able to use the Disney Genie+ service in any park you visit!
Let’s go over what does Genie Plus include Disneyland in terms of rides.
Related Post: Best Attractions at EPCOT Ranked
Individual Lightning Lane selections are arguably, reserved for the most popular attractions in the parks. The attractions specifically for the Individual Genie Lightning Lane are not going to be included in your Disney Genie+ purchase. These are completely separate, a la carte style, with different prices for each ride. These prices will vary by day, and are in no way guaranteed to be one set price.
You can check out the pricing for all of the Disneyland Lightening Lane attractions here.
It is important to know the difference between Lightning Lane vs Genie Plus Disneyland due to the similarities in them. The Disney Genie+ is the paid version of the Disney Genie. This is where you can book Lightning Lane reservations for a select number of rides. Individual Lightning Lane attractions are where you can book individual, separate popular attractions without having to purchase Disney Genie+. Disney Genie+ attractions are included in the price for Disney Genie+, where Individual Lightning Lanes Disneyland passes are for more popular attractions where guests pay a fee to ride only one individual attraction.
Related Post: Complete Guide to Disney’s Virtual Queue
So, what are the best Disneyland Genie Plus Strategies for fully understanding how to use it? Here are the best ones we could come up with, since vacations can be stressful and these extra planning tools can be quite confusing.
A big Genie Plus Tips Disneyland of ours to make sure you aren’t missing any time, by stacking your Lightning Lanes AS soon as you possibly can. Even with all of the rules in place, if you strategically book your Lightning Lanes, you can easily stack them to make sure you’re set for the day. Stacking is when you consistently book Lightning Lanes as they come available, for later in the day, creating a stack of lightning lanes ready to go beforehand.
One of the greatest Disneyland Genie+ Strategy we can give you is to keep refreshing your app. Some guests using the Disney Genie+ Lightning Lane or individual Lightning Lanes get discouraged when they open their app and don’t see any attractions they want. One of the most important tips we can give you is to keep refreshing!
Sometimes it takes 5-10 minutes of refreshing the screen of Lightning Lane selections to get an attraction you want. That is because the Disney Genie is a live system that is constantly changing, so Lightning Lanes are opening up and getting booked all the time. The app can be glitchy and you might have to constantly refresh, but something should eventually populate for a new Lightning Lane selection.
Using the free Genie tool, you can check out wait times all day to see which attractions are more popular than others. This is important because if a wait is under 30 minutes, and there are other attractions with higher waits, we would recommend trying for those instead. While you’re waiting for higher wait attractions that you’ve gotten a Lightning Lane for, you can ride lower wait attractions while filling up the time between Lightning Lanes.
Related Post: Complete Guide to Character Dining Experiences
If you’re visiting from Walt Disney World or maybe you have used the old Disneyland MaxPass system. You may be wondering, is PhotoPass included with Genie Plus Disneyland? And thankfully, we can say yes! This might be the make or break decision for you and your family when considering purchasing this service on your next Disneyland vacation. You will receive unlimited Digital Downloads from PhotoPass photos with your Genie+ purchase!
Related Post: Your Guide to Disney’s PhotoPass Service
When using Disney Genie+ while also needing to use the Disney Disability Access Service (DAS), things might be in your favor monetarily. While you absolutely can purchase Genie Plus Disney Land, you may be better off just using your DAS pass. The Disability Access Program allows a guest with a disability that prevents them from standing in a normal queue to do so virtually. This virtual standby system allows you to select a return time for an attraction that is calculated based off of the current standby wait time for that ride. You also are able to add the members of your party to your DAS pass, this will prevent you from waiting separately from your party.
So it is completely up to your digression if you want to add the Genie+ service to your DAS ticket! We think that between the two, DAS is a more comfortable and reliable service for guests with a Disability.
You can book Lightning Lanes for Genie + either after you’ve used the first one you’ve booked OR it has been 120 minutes (2 hours) since you’ve booked your last Genie+ selection, whichever comes first.
Once each member of your party has purchased Disney Genie Plus at Disneyland and their park ticket is linked to your app, you make make Lightning Lane selections for an entire group.
If you have purchased a Park Hopper ticket for your Disneyland vacation or you have a Magic Key that enables you to park hop, you do not need to purchase Genie+ again. Genie Plus at Disneyland is attached to you ticket, not the park. The service will follow you and give you access to rides even at a park you aren’t in! So, Does Genie Plus Work for Both Parks? Yes! One example from our experience is that we started our day in Disneyland and made a LL selection after park hopping hours for California Adventure Genie Plus Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout! This option gives you more choices of Disney+ selections to use throughout your day in the parks.
Related Post: Shop Discounted Disneyland Tickets
While Disney Genie, Disney Genie+, and Lightning Lane services were announced at the same time for both parks, their release date and some features are different. As we mentioned earlier, Disney Genie and Disneyland didn’t rollout until December of 2021. But that time, the services had already been in use for 2.5 months at Walt Disney World. This had guests asking, is Genie Plus available at Disneyland 2023? Thankfully it is, just slightly different. Among the rollout, some other notable changes come with the inclusion of PhotoPass downloads at Disneyland, and the amount of times you may ride a ride.
Disneyland:
Walt Disney World:
Related Post: What is the Best Disney World Park?
A: The Genie+ Disneyland 2023 is a premium, pay to skip-the-line service. It is intended to allow guests to book passes to use the Lighting Lane at Disneyland. For a one time fee, guests will have access to book return times for the Lightning Lane entrance at certain attractions in the park. If you’re looking to cut down on waits significantly, this may be your best option. We will cover more pros and cons further along in this Disneyland Genie Plus Guide.
A: At Disneyland you can use Disney Genie+ on these rides: Autopia, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, Haunted Mansion, Indiana Jones Adventure, “it’s a small world”, Matterhorn Bobsleds, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Star Tours – The Adventures Continue.
Our Disneyland Crowd Calendar is the best tool to help you get the most out of your time in the parks. We break down park crowds, park hours of operation, ticket prices, and average temperature. We also break down the best time to visit Disneyland based on specific times of the year and special events.
Don’t forget to check out our wonderful friends over at Theme Park Today, as well!