Hey Howdy Hey Ben and welcome to planDisney!
I love that you are in the planning stages of booking your trip to Walt Disney World Resort. One of the best parts about planning is the options that you will have. There are so many great things offered at the parks and resorts that it might seem tough to figure it all out! Not to worry Ben, I've got you covered. Let's review a few things to get you started.
If you know which resort you would like, you can search for and select the resort from the
website. Once you do, you should be prompted to put in your travel details such as dates, party members and such. Once you move to the next step of selecting your room, you should see some options between the blue area mid-screen of your travel details and the actual room offerings. Here you will find several buttons you can select to either book a room only, package (including theme park tickets) and any special offers the dates and room may qualify for. Select the appropriate option then move on to selecting the right room for you.
Once you do select your room, the next screen will take you to select your theme park tickets. Here you can book the number of tickets you wanted to as well as any options such as
Park Hopper to your tickets. On the right of the screen, you should get an updated total for the amount based on your selections.
One big and recent change with visiting the parks is not only needing your park tickets but also a
Theme Park Reservation to enter. You should be reminded of this step when going through your purchase but make sure NOT to forget this step as you will not be allowed in the parks without them!
With regards to FastPass, that system was great when we had it, but sadly we had to see it go when the parks closed for COVID. Since that time, we have been introduced to its replacement,
Genie+. This works similar to the old FastPass system in that through your
My Disney Experience app, you can book return times for attractions, now called
Lightning Lanes. The details are different, however. This is now a purchased option that you can purchase on the day of your trip to the park through your My Disney Experience app. You can purchase at midnight on the day of your park visit but you cannot start making Lightning Lane selections until 7:00 a.m. EST for those Guests staying at a Disney Resort Collection hotel. You are then able to book your next Lightning Lane selection 2 hours after the park officially opens or when you tap into your first selection.
Another thing that you need to consider with Genie+ is
Individual Lightning Lanes. These are reserved for the very highly popular attractions in each park such as
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind in EPCOT. These are separate from standard Lightning Lanes. You might be able to secure a
virtual boarding group for this attraction or wait in a traditional stand-by line.
Whew! A lot of information there, but take some time to look into those options and let us know if you have any other questions. We are happy to help!
Happy Planning,
Nick