Genie Plus Update: New Park Hopper Rule to Know About

Copyright Disney Parks & Resorts

Guest traveling to Disney World may want to take advantage of the newest feature in the My Disney Experience app the Genie Plus feature. Disney Genie+ costs $15 per person, per day in Disney World, giving paying guests the ability to book qualifying rides’ Lightning Lanes throughout the day. There are a few complicated rules that can prove confusing, so if you’re planning on purchasing Genie Plus we highly recommend you do plenty of research before the start of your trip.

Disney as just release a new Genie Plus rule that will impact guest using Park Hopper Tickets. When you plan your day in the My Disney Experience app, you can specify which parks you’re visiting, including if you’re Park Hopping. If you’re unfamiliar, Park Hopping currently begins at 2PM in Disney World, meaning you can’t switch to a second park until after that time. You also need a Park Pass Reservation for your FIRST park before you can Park Hop.

In the My Disney Experience app, you can select what time you’ll be Park Hopping and where. Previously, you could book Genie+ Lightning Lanes in your second park as early as 7AM (when Lightning Lane bookings open). In the past, Genie+ would default to showing you Lightning Lanes in your second park beginning around 2PM, since you couldn’t Park Hop until then anyway.

For example: if you were going to start the day in Hollywood Studios and then park hop to EPCOT,, you used to be able get on the app at 7AM and book a Lightning Lane in EPCOT for after 2PM. Genie+ would default to showing you Lightning Lanes that started at 2PM.

Now, this has changed. Instead of Park Hoppers seeing those defaulted 2PM available Lightning Lanes, you can’t book at all until the Lightning Lane shows 2PM availability for EVERYONE. Theoretically, this prevents 2PM Lightning Lanes from getting booked up early by Park Hoppers, and it puts everyone on an even playing field. But it does prevent you from taking advantage of this loophole as a Park Hopper. As a reminder, Genie+ shows current available booking times for everyone, meaning if you see a Lightning Lane open at 6:20PM, EVERYONE sees that same time available until it fills up and moves to the next time slot.

Remember that some Lightning Lanes sell out FAST — so you still might see some 2PM or later Lightning Lanes available early in the morning. As always, we hope this information help bring magic to your stay. Please contact us if your interested in visiting Disney World soon and would like assistance planning your trip at no cost! If you would like to stay up to date on the latest park news, please consider following us no social media and subscribing to our newsletter.