If you're considering Lightning Lane or Genie+Lightning Lane is an expedited queue service available for most rides within Disney theme parks. There are some exceptions to this for which you'll need to purchase Individual Lightning Lane access; this is generally the case for the most popular rides.
The Genie 120-minute rule says that you can make a new reservation at most 2 hours from when you made the last one, and this countdown timer doesn't change if you modify the reservation.
You may be out of luck for purchasing Individual Lightning Lanes for any attraction if you're staying offsite on high crowd days. Rise of the Resistance used to be the clear winner of the popularity contest here, and that doesn't hold true anymore either. At all crowd levels, Flight of Passage sells out first.
For individual Lightning Lane purchases, guests of a Disney Resort hotel and other select hotels* may make their first purchase starting at 7:00 am on the day of their visit. All other Guests can make their first purchase during normal park opening hours.
All guests, regardless of where they stay, are limited to a maximum of two pay-per-ride attractions per day and can only book a particular ride once per day. What about Annual Passholders? Annual Passholders will need to purchase Genie+ on the day(s) of their visit.
You can only use Genie+ on each attraction one time per day. So, if you book an early morning pass for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, use it, and then want to ride Thunder Mountain again later in the day…you'll need to wait in the standby line. So keep that in mind during your trip!
If you select a Lightning Lane through the Disney Genie and the return time is more than 2 hours after the current time and after park open, then after 2 hours you can go in and select your next Lightning Lane even though you have not redeemed your first one.
You can buy two individual Lightning Lanes each day. You can only buy an individual Lightning Lane for each ride once per day. So each guest gets up to two distinct individual Lightning Lanes each day.
Can Genie+ sell out? Yes.It can. Although it isn't common, we've seen it happen a few times during busier times of the year (like over the holidays and Spring Break).
In fact, usually the most popular rides are excluded for Genie+ guests. For example, Lightning Lanes aren't available through Genie+ for Disney World's Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, TRON Lightcycle/Run, Avatar Flight of Passage, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.
To book your next Lightning Lane selection, you must either redeem your first selection, or wait two hours, whichever comes first. Keep an eye on your Tip Board in your My Disney Experience app, because it will show you when you can book another selection!
One possibility is that the company has found the “sweet spot” for pricing during popular tourist seasons, and it's $35. Another is that price points have been “reset” and $35 is now the baseline for busier days, with the number only going higher when we enter the next big holiday season.
Disney states that this is being done because the goal from the outset has been to “launch, learn and evolve” after seeing how guests are using this service. To that end, starting June 8, 2022, the Disney Genie+ will only be offered for purchase through the My Disney Experience app on the day of your visit.
No matter how many parks you plan to visit in one day, you are only allowed to book two Individual Lightning Lanes. For example, you're planning to start your day in Hollywood Studios, but want to park hop over to Magic Kingdom in the afternoon.
You can only book two Individual Lightning Lanes per day.No matter how many parks you plan to visit in one day, you are only allowed to book two Individual Lightning Lanes.
When you book a Lightning Lane return time, you typically have a grace period of about five minutes on either end, meaning that you can tap in five minutes before the start time or five minutes after the end time.