Disney Genie Plus At Disneyland- Simple Guide!- 2024

If you’re visiting Disneyland Park soon you need to know about Genie Plus! Disney Genie Plus at Disneyland starts at an additional $30 per person per day, but the cost can go up depending on crowd levels and demand. Using Disney Genie Plus can save you a ton of time waiting in long lines, but if you don’t understand how to use it, it can be a waste of money. In this post I’ll cover everything you need to know about Genie Plus including how to use it efficiently on your Disneyland visit. Make sure you read this before you head to Disneyland!

The Disney Genie Plus system can seem overwhelming at first. No worries! I’ve used Genie Plus extensively. This guide will teach you how to use it like a champ! I’ve also included helpful information so you can decide if Genie Plus is right for your group. Maybe it’s an add on you’ll decide you don’t need.

I have created a few touring plans that include Genie Plus to help you navigate the parks while using this system. These plans will help you maximize your time in the parks and avoid the longest lines! If you’re looking for a step by step guide to your day, you’ll want to grab one before your trip!

Genie Plus Podcast Episode

I dedicated a whole podcast episode to Genie Plus at Disneyland. Check it out! I think it will be really helpful for you.

Discount Disney Park Tickets And Hotels

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I have a bunch of hotel reviews that might be helpful for you if you’re still trying to decide where you’d like to stay. 

Disney Genie Plus At Disneyland

What is Disney Genie Plus?

Disney Genie Plus is a paid upgrade that gives you access to the Lightning Lane on select attractions throughout Disneyland and California Adventure on the most popular rides. Genie Plus is the system at Disneyland that has replaced the old fast pass/Max pass system. Using the Disneyland app, you can select the next available arrival window. and enter the attraction when it’s time, using the Lightning Lane. With Genie Plus, you to skip the standby line and get to use the Lightning Lane instead.

The Lightning Lane is always shorter than the standby line, so you’ll save time waiting in long lines(especially if you follow my tips, so keep reading!).This will allow you to enjoy more attractions during your visit!

There’s also an “a la carte” Lightning Lane option available for the two most popular attractions at the Disneyland Resort. We’ll cover that in a minute.

What Is Disney Genie?

Disney Genie service is a complimentary service(free) that is automatically on your my Disney experience app. The Genie will give you recommendations tailored to your specific interests and create an itinerary for you based on the information you give it. In the “My Day” tab, you’ll find Disney Genie recommendations and any plans you have made including dining reservations. Your plan will update throughout the day and (in theory) help you make the most of your visit.

Their recommendations on the “My Day” tab are pretty unhelpful. While great in theory, many guests are complaining that the Disney Genie never actually recommends most of their top attractions. It only let you choose 4 attractions for the day and often doesn’t even send you to ride those attractions! I’ve done testing on this and it was a disaster. The system seems inclined to send guest to less crowded areas of the park and to attractions with low wait times, even if they are not on their “to-do list”.

Check it out but use it with caution and be smart. I don’t think following it step by step is the right option for most Disney guests. Following it exactly may give you a Disney day that is far from the day full of exciting attractions you had imagined. Trust me, I’ve spent an entire day following their plan and I missed out on all the top attractions!

The Tip Board section of the Disneyland App is much more helpful. It shows current wait times for all the attractions and gives you the latest show times as well.

Disney Genie Plus At Disneyland

Photo Pass Is Included With Disney Genie Plus

Photopass is included with your Genie Plus purchase! I love photopass! You can download and share all the photos taken by Disney photographers throughout the parks and you get access to all of your ride photos. You’re going to love using photopass! Pictures make the best souvenirs. So, I’m really glad this is included with Genie Plus.

Also included with Genie Plus is Disney PhotoPass Lenses. This is a fun way to capture the magic of the Disneyland theme park through the Disneyland App! You can add magic through PhotoPass lenses to your own photos and videos that you capture in the parks!

An Audio Imagineering Field Guide is also included with Genie Plus. Through the app, you can discover the parks in interesting new ways and listen to behind-the-scenes insights and stories during your visit. I was really excited about this. I love audio tours at museums and this works similarly. The only problem is, it’s very hard to hear the information because of the business and noise in the parks. It would be easier to enjoy this feature if you have headphones.

Disney Genie Plus Attractions- Which Rides Are Included

Select attractions offer entrance through the Lightning Lane when you have Genie Plus. The Lightning Lane limits you to one ride on each eligible attraction per day. So, you can only ride Space Mountain one time per day using the Lightning lane.

Here are the Lightning Lane options included in Disney Genie Plus at each park:

Disneyland

• Autopia
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
• Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
• Haunted Mansion
• Indiana Jones Adventure
• “it’s a small world”
• Matterhorn Bobsleds
• Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
• Roger Rabbit’s Cartoon Spin
• Space Mountain
• Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway
• Star Tours: The Adventure Continues
• Pirates of the Caribbean(for a limited time)

California Adventure

• Goofy’s Sky School
• Grizzly River Run
• Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout!
• Incredicoaster
• Monsters Inc: Mike and Sulley to the Rescue!
• Soarin’ Around The World
• Toy Story Midway Mania
• WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure
• Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventure

Individual Lightning Lane Entrances

A couple of the most popular attractions at Disneyland are not included in the Genie Plus Lightning Lane system. The only way to ride these attractions is via the standby line or you can pay individually per eligible attraction and make a separate Lighting Lane reservation to enter the Lightning Lane entrance. Guests may purchase and select the next available return times for up to 2 attractions per day. You do not have to have Disney Genie Plus to add the individual Lightning Lanes to your day. The cost is based on demand and crowd levels. Plan on $7-$30 per attraction. Here are the individual Lightning Lane options for each park:

Disneyland

• Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance

California Adventure

• Radiator Springs Racers

Making Genie Plus Fit In Your Budget

If you’d like to use Genie Plus but aren’t sure how you can make it work in your budget, I have a few ideas. You could just add it to one or two days of your visit. Genie Plus is not an all-or-nothing thing. You can add it to just one or two days of your trip. So, keep that in mind.

You could also add Genie Plus to your entire trip, but make your trip a bit shorter to afford it. So, if you were planning on visiting for 4 days, you could shorten it to 3 days. The money you save by cutting out an extra day on park tickets, hotel, and food should cover Genie Plus for your group for your 3-day trip. Plus, because you have the Genie Plus your wait times on many attractions will be shorter allowing you to enjoy the parks fully during your 3 days, making the day you removed unnecessary.

Another way to make Genie Plus fit into your budget is to skip the park hopper option! Park hopping is expensive and many people find it to be a waste of money. There’s so much to see and do in each park, you really don’t need it. Save the money and put it toward Genie Plus.

If you know you want to use Genie Plus, make sure you purchase it at the time you purchase your park tickets! This way you’ll be sure you get it at the lowest price, since Disneyland can raise the cost of Genie Plus for the day based on crowd levels and demand.

I’ve got lots of ideas and strategies to help you save for your Disney vacation here. You can also find ideas for saving money while you’re in the park here.

How Does Genie Plus At Disneyland Work?

Using Genie Plus at Disneyland can feel a little complicated at first, but once you get the hang of it, it’s pretty simple! Here’s what you need to know.

If you purchased Genie Plus with your park tickets it will be on your Disneyland app and ready for you to use as soon as you enter the park. If you haven’t purchased Genie Plus for the day, you can purchase it as soon as you enter the park on the day of your visit.

You can add your whole group to your Disneyland app by scanning in their tickets. Then, one person will be able to make Genie Plus reservations for your entire group

You can make your first Genie Plus selection after you enter the park. Guests must be scanned into the park for the day to begin making Genie plus reservations.

Once you’ve made your first reservation, you will wait for your return time. When the time comes, you’ll use your Disneyland app to scan into the Lightning Lane so you can enjoy the attraction via the shorter line. If you have any questions about this, ask a nearby cast member. They’re happy to help!

You are not be able to make another Genie Plus reservation until you have scanned into the Lightning Lane for your current reservation. HOWEVER, there is an exception to that rule. If your return time is more than two hours out, at the two hour mark you’ll be able to make another Genie Plus reservation. So, at that point you would be holding more than one Genie Plus reservation. Just remember: you can make a new reservation as soon as you scan into your current reservation OR two hours after you make a reservation if the return time is later in the day.

Genie Plus allows you to use the Lightning Lane one time per day per eligible attraction.

How To Use Genie Plus Efficiently

There’s a little bit of strategy involved in using Genie Plus efficiently. I want you to make the most out of your time and money! So, I’ve come up with some tips that will help you maximize your time using Genie Plus.

For Park Hoppers

If you’re park hopping and using Genie Plus, you should plan to arrive early. I recommend arriving at the gates at least 30-60 minutes early. Rope dropping is a great way to start your day! You can read more about it here.

You can’t make your first Genie Plus selection until you are inside the parks. As soon as your ticket is scanned, make your first Genie Plus reservation. You should be able to ride that selection immediately. As soon as your Genie Plus reservation is scanned in, make your next selection. Making your next selection as soon as you’re able will enable you to ride more attractions.

Some of the Genie Plus attractions are more popular and will have longer waits as the day goes on. For this reason, I suggest making Lightning Lane reservations for some of the more popular attractions earlier in the day, just to save some time. Guardians of the Galaxy and Toy Story in California Adventure and Space Mountain and Indiana Jones in Disneyland.

If you’re visiting during Halloween time or the Holidays, Haunted Mansion Holiday is incredibly popular. Return times book up quickly. Make that one of your first lightning lane selections.

Ride as many rides as possible before you’re able to park hop at 11 am. Once you park hop, do the same thing in the other park. You should always be holding a Genie Plus reservation. If you have to wait for a reservation time, fill in that time by seeing shows, having meals or riding other attractions.

For Non-Park Hoppers

If you’re spending the entire day in one park(not park hopping), you can take your day a little slower. I recommend arriving at the gates at least 30-60 minutes early. Rope dropping is a great option!

You can’t make your first Genie Plus selection until you are inside the parks. As soon as your ticket is scanned, you can make your first Genie Plus reservation, however you can wait for a little while before you start making selections to hit those lower rope drop wait times. I suggest waiting until about 90 minutes after the park opens to begin making Genie Plus reservations. Use that first 90 minutes to hit some rides that don’t offer Genie Plus and will have longer wait times during the day, or that you know you’ll want to ride more than once.

Some of the Genie Plus attractions are more popular and will have longer waits as the day goes on. For this reason, I suggest making Lightning Lane reservations for some of the more popular attractions earlier in the day, just to save some time. Guardians of the Galaxy and Toy Story earlier in the Day in California Adventure. At Disneyland, I suggest making earlier reservations for Space Mountain and Indiana Jones.

If you’re visiting during Halloween time or the Holidays, Haunted Mansion Holiday is incredibly popular. Return times book up quickly. Make that one of your first lightning lane selections.

Hopefully, this helps sort things out for you! I’m at Disneyland testing Genie Plus strategies frequently so I can share more information with you create helpful touring plans.

Multi Experience Pass

Sometimes when you’re using Disney Genie Plus, a ride that you have a Lightning Lane reservation for will go down. If an attraction is closed for any reason while you’re holding a Lightning Lane for that attraction, you will automatically get a multi-experience pass added to your Disneyland app.

This is a great thing! If this happens to you, it’s like you got a little sprinkle of Disney Magic! A multi-experience pass is good for lots of different attractions and even includes some that don’t have Lightning Lanes! If you’ve ever wished you could skip the line for Pirates of the Caribbean or Alice In Wonderland, this Multi experience pass will do just that!

Here’s how it works. Let’s say you were waiting on a Disney Genie Plus return time for Indiana Jones Adventure. You check your app and notice that Indiana Jones Adventure has been shut down! You start to feel sad, but then remember that this is actually a great thing because you’re going to get a multi-experience pass. The pass usually shows up pretty quickly on your app. Once it’s on your app, you can use it for lots of different rides! Indiana Jones(along with Space Mountain and Matterhorn) is a top-tier ride at Disneyland. That means that you can use your multi-experience pass for just about any attraction in the park except Peter Pan and Rise of the Resistance.

I like to use my multi-experience pass for Alice in Wonderland. That line is usually pretty long and I love skipping it!

You can find a list of all the attractions you can use your multi-experience pass on right on the pass. They’ll be a little button that you can click on that will give you a list of rides. This pass is good all day, so you can use it whenever you feel like it. Just don’t use it for Indiana Jones. Because since you never used your Disney Genie Plus return time for Indiana Jones Adventure, you can make another Lighting Lane reservation for it as soon as it’s operational again.

To use your multi-experience pass, just head to the attraction that you’d like to use it on and tell the cast member at the front that you have a multi experience pass. They’ll scan it for you and help you from there.

If you are holding a return time for a different lightning lane that’s not a top-tier attraction, the available attractions on your multi-experience pass will exclude the top-tier attractions.

Using A Touring Plan At Disneyland

If you’re feeling a little overwhelmed with the idea of using Genie Plus at disneyland, I’ve got you covered. Get ready for a stress-free Disneyland day with my awesome downloadable touring plans with Genie Plus! These plans are like your secret weapon to tackle the parks without dealing with crazy lines. I’ve broken it down step by step, so you can just relax and enjoy the magic. Whether you’re a Disney pro or a first-timer, these plans got your back. No more worrying about what to do next or waiting forever in lines. Just download the plans, follow along, and get ready for a day full of Disney fun – the easy way!

Disney Genie Plus FAQs

Here are some questions I’m often asked about using Disney Genie Plus.

Can I park-hop and use Genie Plus in both parks?

Yes! When you purchase Genie Plus, it’s good for both parks! You get the most value from your Genie Plus if you’re using it with a park hopper ticket. One thing to be aware of: you cannot park hop until 11 am. This means that if you’re at Disneyland and want to get a Lightning Lane reservation over at Disney California Adventure, you’ll need to wait until the return time for the attraction you want to ride is after 11 am. You can make your reservations from either park.

Is Genie Plus Worth The Cost?

I get this question constantly! It’s a hard one for me to answer. So, I’ll tell you what I tell everyone: Maybe. Genie plus may be worth the extra cost for your group, but it may not be. Please don’t feel like it’s necessary to purchase Genie plus to have a great trip. It’s not. Genie Plus is convenient and will save you time waiting in line. But, if the added cost blows your budget- don’t do it! You can still have a great time without it. I have noticed that Disney is inflating the posted wait times. So, you can expect to wait about 10-15 minutes less than the posted wait times at most attractions.

Before you rush to buy it, make sure your kids are tall enough to ride most of the Genie Plus rides. There’s no sense in buying it for your smaller children if they’re too small to ride the bigger attractions. I’ve got a full article on the height requirements at Disneyland. You can find it here.

If I’m visiting by myself or with just my husband, I’ll add Genie plus. An extra $30 is worth it for me to skip the standby line on 21 attractions. If I’m visiting with my family of 6 for only one or two days, I may add it on because the time we save waiting in line would allow us to enjoy more of the parks. However, If I’m visiting with my family for 3-5 days I probably would not purchase it for each day. The added expense would be too much for my budget and we would have enough time to wait in the standby lines.

You do get the most value from Genie Plus when you use it with a park hopper ticket. Disney Genie Plus can be used for both parks with one purchase. Meaning, you don’t have to purchase it again if you hop over to the other park.

My favorite part about Disney Genie Plus is that it gives Disneyland guests options. They can choose to wait in the standby line. They can choose to pay for Genie plus. They can choose to add individual Lightning Lanes. I love that it gives people more options to decide what’s best for their group. There’s no one choice that’s right for everyone. I think it makes the Disneyland resort better, overall. If you’re on the fence about it, don’t purchase it with your ticket. Give it a try for one day and see what you think. You can always add it later if you like it!

When Can I Start Making Lightning Lane Reservations?

You can start making your lighting lane reservations as soon as you’ve scanned into the park for the day. Once you’ve scanned in, you can make lightning lane reservations from anywhere. So, if you decide to head back to your hotel for a mid-day break, you can make another lightning lane reservation from your hotel! Just remember you have to be scanned into the park first for the day.

Can One Person Make Lightning Lane Reservations For The Whole Group?

Yes! One person can make all of the Lightning Lane reservations for your group. Up to 10 people. You just need to add everyone’s tickets to your Disneyland app and everyone needs to have entered the park for the day. You can add people to your Disneyland app under the tickets and passes section. Once you have everyone added, when you go to make a Lightning Lane reservation, you’ll be able to select which guests you’d like to include in the reservation.

How Often Can I Make Lightning Lane Reservations?

You can make a new Lightning Lane reservation as soon as you scan into your current reservation OR two hours after you make the reservation. Whichever comes first. You’ll be able to see what time you can make your next reservation on the Disneyland app. I like to set a timer on my phone so that I can make my next reservation as soon as it’s available.

Does Using Genie Plus Drain My Phone Battery?

Using the Disneyland app in general will drain your battery. Plus, you’ll have your phone out constantly to take pictures and videos of your amazing vacation! So, make sure you have a portable charger of some kind. I like to put my phone on low power mode as soon as I enter the park to help conserve the battery. I have a post about charging your phone at Disneyland here that will give you some good ideas and tips.

Phew! That was a lot of information about using Disney Genie Plus at Disneyland! I hope it was helpful and informative. If you do decide to use Genie Plus, it can feel a little overwhelming at first, but once you do it a couple of times you’ll get the hang of it and it will become simple. It’s a pretty intuitive system.

Disneyland Planning Help

I’ve got bunches of information on planning a Disneyland trip that will be so helpful for you! Start with my complete guide to visiting Disneyland. It’s a step-by-step guide for planning your vacation that will be helpful. Check out my top 10 Disneyland tips and my guide to when to visit Disneyland to help you pick the best time for your vacation!

I have a planning phone call that’s super popular! In this phone call, I can answer all of your Disneyland vacation questions and give you lots of tips and info tailored just to you and your group!

Make sure to check out my podcast for lots of Disney planning information! You can find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Just search for “Mix In Some Magic” Follow me on Instagram for more Disney tips and lots of Disney tips and fun!