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5 Common Lies You’ll Hear About Disney World’s New Lightning Lanes


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Another day, another round of changes at Disney World.

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Hi, Mickey!

Now that Genie+ has been renamed to Lightning Lane Multi Pass (and Individual Lightning Lanes are now Lightning Lane Single Pass), we’ve been testing the system since the day it debuted to figure out all the idiosyncrasies. And, since we’ve had a chance to get to know the system, we’re busting common lies you’ll hear about Disney World’s NEW Lightning Lanes. 

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Genie+ is no more, and Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Lightning Lane Single Pass have officially rolled out at Disney World. And, while we do have pretty positive thoughts on the new system, we don’t blame you if you still have reservations. But we’re here to dispel some common lies you might be hearing about the new Lightning Lane system at Disney World.

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Goodbye Genie+

To catch you up on the changes, as of July 24th, Disney World has officially switched over to Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Lightning Lane Single Passes. Under the new system, you can:

  • Make Lightning Lane plans BEFORE you’re in the parks
  • Choose experiences and times prior to purchasing so you know what you’re getting with your purchase
  • Book Lightning Lane passes for MULTIPLE vacation days, all at once
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Lightning Lanes in Walt Disney World

Genie+ is now called Lightning Lane Multi Pass. This is an optional, PAID service available on the My Disney Experience app. Lightning Lane Multi Pass users are able to bypass standby lines and utilize the Lightning Lane (previously known as the FastPass line) at select attractions in the parks by paying a single fee for multiple attractions. 

When purchasing Lightning Lane Multi Pass, you can make up to THREE Lightning Lane Multi Pass selections in a park ahead of your visitAdditionally, you must choose from a list of available times as you make your attraction selections, and you can continue to hold up to three Lighting Lane Multi Pass selections at a time.

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©Disney

If you’re staying at a Disney World hotel (and select other hotels), you will be able to purchase and select your first three Lightning Lane Multi Passes up to seven days in advance of your check-in day for your entire stay (up to 14 days). If you are not staying in a Disney World hotel, you can purchase and select your first three Lightning Lane Multi Passes three days in advance.

Starting now, Disney is also using a tiered system for ride selections. (Remember how we said this sounded like FastPass+? Well, this might sound familiar!) Magic KingdomEPCOTand Disney’s Hollywood Studios all use this tiered system to group their rides, and from those initial three advance selections, you can choose one experience from a higher-tiered group and two experiences (or all three) from a lower-tiered group. Tiers do not apply at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. You can see the full list of ride tiers here.

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New changes hit Disney World!

With Lightning Lane Single Pass, you can pay a fee to utilize the Lightning Lane for an individual, in-demand attraction. The only major change here is that you can make your purchase before your trip in order to plan in advance! Just like the Multi Pass, you can select your first THREE Lightning Lane Single Passes up to seven days in advance if you’re staying at a Disney World hotel. All other guests can purchase and select their first three Lightning Lane Single Passes three days in advance.

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©Disney

Okay, now that you’re caught up — onto those pesky little lies.

You Have To Pay MORE To Park Hop

Lie number one is a BIG one, and we can totally see why! Before the changes, the Genie+ system featured a “multi-park” option that was priced the same as Magic Kingdom daily, where you’d have to pay a bit more to be able to park hop and use Genie+ in multiple parks on the same day. So, a lot of folks assumed a similar situation would be at hand with the new Lightning Lane Multi Pass system.

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Haunted Mansion Lightning Lane

But, that’s not the case at all! You only have to purchase Lightning Lane Multi Pass in one park — your first of the day — and you can use it in the rest of the parks as well, provided you have valid park hopper admission. So, even if you visit Animal Kingdom first where the price is, say, $18, and hop to Magic Kingdom later where the price is $25 (or something along those lines), you wouldn’t have to pay the difference at all!

Learn More About Park Hopping with the NEW Lightning Lanes at Disney World

You Can Only Book One Day at a Time with Date-Based Tickets

Folks with date-based tickets can only book one day at a time starting three days out?! That is simply just NOT true.

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Lightning Lane

In fact, Disney’s official language on the website reads, “Guests with date-based theme park tickets (which require the Guest to choose a start date at the time of purchase) can purchase 3 days before the first day of their ticket, for the total number of valid admission days on their ticket.”

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Lightning Lane

So, if you’ve got date-based tickets — don’t be disadvantaged by thinking you can only book one day of Lightning Lanes at a time. If you have tickets for four consecutive days, for example, you can book all four days’ worth of Lightning Lanes three days before your first park visit. This can come in handy when trying to snag the more popular rides! Annual Passholders and those with non-date-based tickets are still only able to book day by day, though, so keep that in mind.

You Can Only Use 3 Multi Passes Per Day

A common myth we hear is that once you’ve chosen your three Multi Pass rides for the day — that’s it, you can’t book anymore. FALSE. As soon as you use your first Multi Pass of the day, you’re able to book another, and so forth. The only caveat here is that you can only hold three Multi Passes at any given time.

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Lightning Lane

But, you can continue to book new Lightning Lanes each time you use one, so we recommend refreshing and refreshing and then refreshing again to snag a ride at a time that works for you! And, keep in mind that you can only purchase two Lightning Lane Single Passes per ticket, per day.

You Can Use a Multi Pass at a Ride More Than Once

This is one that actually hasn’t changed with the new Lightning Lane system! Even with Genie+, you could only use a Lightning Lane once per day at any given attraction. The same is still true with Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Single Pass.

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Lightning Lane

So, if your kiddo really loves Journey Into Imagination with Figment, you can book a Multi Pass for the ride — just once — and then you’ll have to wait in the standby line over and over again each time your kid wants to ride it. But, hey, at least it’s not “it’s a small world…”

You Can’t Get the Hang of It

This might be the biggest lie of them ALL! Change can be scary — especially when you’re dishing out hundreds or even thousands of dollars on your Disney World trip. But trust us when we say that you can totally get the hang of this! From our experience using the new system, Disney has actually made it much easier for anyone to use — not just people who do this for a living. We’ve got SO many tips, tricks, guides, and more information about the new Lightning Lane system at Disney World, and as we learn more, we’ll keep sharing with you along the way!

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Lightning Lane

We’re running a number of experiments with the new Lightning Lane Multi Pass system to answer ALL of your questions. Don’t want to miss a thing? Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to catch all of the latest. You can also follow along on our social channels like Instagram and Facebook.

In the meantime, we’ve put together some guides for you!

Make sure you stay tuned to Disney Food Blog for the latest updates and news!

How To Use the NEW Lightning Lane System at Disney World

Join the DFB Newsletter to get all the breaking news right in your inbox! Click here to Subscribe!

WE KNOW DISNEY.
YOU CAN, TOO.


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Oh boy, planning a Disney trip can be quite the adventure, and we totally get it! But fear not, dear friends, we compiled EVERYTHING you need (and the things to avoid!) to plan the ULTIMATE Disney vacation.

Whether you're a rookie or a seasoned pro, our insider tips and tricks will have you exploring the parks like never before. So come along with us, and get planning your most magical vacation ever!

When are you heading to Disney World next? Tell us in the comments.

The post 5 Common Lies You’ll Hear About Disney World’s New Lightning Lanes first appeared on the disney food blog.

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