Disney Genie, the new planning service on My Disney Experience, has been around for a while now.

The service has things like a new system replacing FastPass+, personal assistant features, and customized itineraries. Disney Genie could have a huge impact on your trip to Disney World, so let’s take a closer look at everything we know about this service.

Disney Genie

Disney Genie is a free service available on the My Disney Experience app. It works to simplify and personalize your park experience, giving you suggestions based on the interests that you select in the app. It also provides real-time updates on things like weather closures.

And, Genie will update if you change your plans, too. So, if you have it on your planner that you want to ride Space Mountain that night, but end up riding it early in the day, it will adjust your plans accordingly.

Genie uses Bluetooth to know if you’ve already done something so it shouldn’t recommend it again. In our experience, we sometimes get duplicate recommendations even when we’ve done something already, so there may be some optimization yet to come.

The program is constantly looking at things like wait times to figure out the best plan for you. And, every time Genie puts together an itinerary, it’s comparing it against thousands of others to make sure it’s the best one, continuously reoptimizing throughout the day.

You are also able to do things like chat with a Cast Member in the app, swap and edit your recommendations, or slide a bar to let Genie know how long you’re planning on being in one park before you park hop to another. Genie also tracks your distance walked and wants to minimize you running back and forth across the park. So, it will give you the must-dos for the area you’re in while you’re there.

Your tip board in Genie shows you a list of everything from wait times, Lightning Lane availability, forecasted waits, and the things you have booked for the day.

The dining board shows you everything available for Quick Service and Table Service restaurants, so you’ll be able to see the next order window at Quick Service spots and the reservation availability and walk-up list status at Table service restaurants. Warning! If Genie says a spot is unavailable, tap into its page to check for sure. We’ve sometimes seen the dining board say there’s no availability when there IS availability. Genie will also remind you about when your window to make advanced dining reservations opens before your trip.

This complimentary service provides guests with a more personalized Disney Park experience. It’s not perfect and we don’t recommend following it rigidly, but it’s a great tool to help you navigate the theme parks. The tip board certainly makes it easier to check wait times!

Understanding Disney Genie in 500 words or less!

Disney Genie+

Within Disney Genie is the paid Genie+ service, which replaced the FastPass+ system in Disney World. Genie+ is optional, not required, and allows guests to make reservations to skip the line of certain rides and attractions like they did with FastPass+. But, with Genie+, you now enter attractions through the Lightning Lane (AKA the old FastPass+ lane) when it’s time for your reservation.

There are 54 attractions included under Genie+ — here is a full list:

Magic Kingdom

• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
• Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
• Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade
• Dumbo the Flying Elephant
• Haunted Mansion
• “it’s a small world”
• Jungle Cruise
• Mad Tea Party
• Mickey’s PhilharMagic
• Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor
• Peter Pan’s Flight
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• See Mickey at Town Square Theater
• See The Princesses at Princess Fairytale Hall
• Space Mountain (through August 7th, then returning to be an individual Lightning Lane selection)
• Splash Mountain
• The Barnstormer
• The Magic Carpets of Aladdin
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
• Tomorrowland Speedway
• Under the Sea ~ Journey of The Little Mermaid

Animal Kingdom

• Celebration of the Festival of the Lion King
• DINOSAUR
• Feathered Friends in Flight!
• It’s Tough to Be a Bug!
• Kali River Rapids
• Kilimanjaro Safaris
• Naʻvi River Journey
• The Animation Experience at Conservation Station

EPCOT

• Disney and Pixar Short Film Festival
• Frozen Ever After (through August 7th, then returning to be an individual Lightning Lane selection)
• Journey into Imagination with Figment
• Living with the Land
• Mission: SPACE
• Soarin’ Around the World
• Spaceship Earth
• Test Track
• The Seas with Nemo & Friends
• Turtle Talk with Crush

Hollywood Studios

• Alien Swirling Saucers
• Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage
• Disney Junior Play & Dance!
• For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration
• Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
• Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway (through August 7th, then returning to be an individual Lightning Lane selection)
• Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run
• Muppet*Vision 3D
• Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
• See Disney Stars at Red Carpet Dreams
• See Olaf at Celebrity Spotlight
• Slinky Dog Dash
• Star Tours – The Adventures Continue
• The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
• Toy Story Mania!

Also unlike the old FastPass+ program, you can only book one ride at a time. The exception to this comes in the form of the two-hour cooldown rule. Once you’ve booked a Genie+ reservation, you can book your next one after you’ve either used your first one OR after a two-hour cooldown (from the time you booked or from park opening, whichever comes last).

So, if you wake up and book Slinky Dog Dash at 7AM for 12PM and Disney’s Hollywood Studios opens at 9AM, you’d need to wait until two hours after park opening to book your next reservation. When you book your next one at 11AM, you’re back to the normal pattern of either booking after you use your reservation, or waiting for the two-hour cooldown until 1PM to book.

You are also not allowed to re-ride attractions through Genie+. So, if you go on Jungle Cruise at 10AM, you can’t make another Jungle Cruise reservation that day. You can just wait in the standby line to go on the ride, though!

If a ride you have a reservation for is down for some reason during your scheduled time to ride it, due to weather or technical issues, you won’t lose your reservation. Your reservation will be swapped for an Experience Redemption that you can use at any time during the day (and even at select other attractions) and you will be allowed to make a reservation for another ride.

Genie+ costs $15 per ticket, per day in Disney World.  Not all attractions qualify, either, so your favorite ride might not be eligible for reservations through Genie+. While guests can purchase Genie+ prior to their visit, they cannot make ride reservations until 7AM on the day of their visit.

Click here to see the difference between Disney Genie and Genie+!

Individual Attraction Selection

Then, we have Individual Attraction Selection, or pay-per-ride, which is also available through Genie and allows guests to pay for access to individual Lightning Lanes of certain high-demand rides. The rides available for pay-per-ride are NOT available through Genie+, so buying Genie+ for the day will not give you access to use the Lightning Lanes for these rides. Here is a look at the rides you can pay for individually to skip the line:

• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – Magic Kingdom
• Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure – EPCOT
• Avatar Flight of Passage – Animal Kingdom
• Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance – Hollywood Studios

The following attractions were originally introduced as Individual Attraction Selections but are included with Genie+ through August 7th, 2022:

• Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway – Hollywood Studios
• Frozen Ever After – EPCOT
• Space Mountain – Magic Kingdom

Expedition Everest was also initially introduced as an Individual Attraction Selection. The attraction is currently closed.

You can only pay for 2 of these rides per day. These rides each cost different amounts of money per person and that amount changes depending on things like what time of year it is or if it’s a weekend vs. a weekday. Think of it like surge pricing with Uber. Here are some of the prices we’ve seen so far:

• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – $10-$12
• Space Mountain – $7-$9
• Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure – $9-$11
• Frozen Ever After – $9-$11
• Flight of Passage – $11-$14
• Expedition Everest – $7
• Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance – $15
• Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway – $8-$10

Remember these can and likely will change.

If you’re eligible to park hop, you can make Individual Attraction Selections across two different Disney parks. However, once you make and pay for an Individual Attraction Selection, it CAN NOT be modified. So, once you pay for that attraction, it’s a done deal — you can’t switch it to a different ride or cancel it. You also will not get your money back if you can’t make it to that ride on time for some reason.

The only way you will be refunded is if the ride goes down for something like weather or technical difficulties and your time can’t be moved to later that day or a different day. If you do have an unavoidable situation though, speak to Cast Members at the blue Guest Experience stands around the park. Be nice and if they’re able to help, they’ll do their best!

And, keep in mind that both Genie+ and Individual Attraction Selection are optional, and standby lines will still be available across the parks.

What’s the difference between Disney Genie+ and pay-per-ride?

That’s our breakdown of Disney Genie! Stay tuned to DFB for more Disney Genie news, updates, and tips!

Click here to see more about Disney Genie!

Are you excited for the Disney Genie? Tell us in the comments!