Hello Karen,
Thanks for visiting planDisney. Planning a vacation to Walt Disney World is so exciting, but it can be a challenge to keep up with all of the changes.
FastPass+ has been retired. Gone are the days when you had to log on to My Disney Experience 60 days before your vacation and make selections for your three favorite attractions. The only things you'll need to consider reserving prior to your vacation are dining reservations and any special experiences like a visit to
Savi's Workshop to build your own lightsaber. Be sure to check out the
Enchanting Extras Collection for tours, events, and services that might add even more pixie dust to your vacation.
Now, if you're thinking you'll have to wait in standby lines for everything, think again! The old FastPass queues have been converted to Lightning Lanes. These express queues for over 40 attractions throughout the parks can be accessed by purchasing
Disney Genie+. The cost for this benefit is $15 per person, per day. With Disney Genie+ you can book Lightning Lane reservations one at a time on the day of your visit, beginning at 7:00 a.m. for resort guests, or at park opening for guests staying off property. Once you've redeemed a selection, you can make another, and continue making selections throughout the day. If you want to book Lightning Lanes for later in the day when you think wait times might increase, you can, but you'll need to wait 2 hours between booking selections.
Keep in mind, you can only make one Lightning Lane reservation for each available attraction on any given day. If you LOVE Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, you can use Lightning Lane once, but if you want to ride it again, you'll need to wait in the regular line.
Wait, there's more! There are Individual Lightning Lane purchases that you can make for 2 of the most popular attractions in each park. You'll pay separately to enter the Lightning Lane for these attractions. The price varies by date. For example, Expedition Everest could be $7 per person on one day, and then be $9 on a more crowded date. You don't need to purchase Genie+ to access the Lightning Lane for these attractions. So, if you're in EPCOT and you really don't mind the wait times for most of the attractions, but you know you HAVE to ride Remy's Ratatouille Adventure, you may decide to purchase the Individual Lightning Lane for that attraction but not purchase Genie+.
You can choose to purchase Disney Genie+ ahead of time for your entire vacation, but adding $15 to each person's ticket per day can really add up. You might find that you don't necessarily need or want it in every park. This is where Disney Genie+ gets fun. It's completely customizable, and you can determine what you want to purchase after you've scoped out the crowds. If you are in EPCOT in the middle of the week and wait times for the attractions are relatively small, you probably won't need it. However, if the next day you find yourself in Magic Kingdom with huge crowds, you can purchase Genie+ for that day only.
If you don't already have it, you'll want to get the My Disney Experience app on your phone. That is how you'll book your Genie+ reservations during your vacation. You can get familiar with the app and the free
Disney Genie planning service in advance, and then you'll be ready to decide if Genie+ is right for you on your vacation.
Hope this helps. Have a magical day!
Diane