Lightning Lanes at Disney World: Changes Coming to Epcot July 22!

The Lightning Lanes at Disney World have been simplified and enhanced in the last few years. Many of us are familiar with the old Fastpass+ system, which was later replaced with Genie+. Well, now we have Lightning Lane Multi Passes and Single Passes. And these name changes come with some amazing updates as well.

These updated Lightning Lane passes offer a combination of features from Genie+ and the previous FastPass+ service, including the ability to book experiences in advance. This means that you no longer have to stress out at 7:00 AM while on vacation, trying to secure all your desired experiences at once. Instead, you can do some of your planning ahead of time from the comfort of your home, making it much simpler to organize your itinerary around any scheduled reservations or experiences during your trip!

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Planning a Disney World vacation in 2025? Be sure to check out our guide to all that the Walt Disney World Resort has to offer this year! (Our guide for visiting Disney World in 2026 is now available as well!)

In This Post

What Happened to Genie+?

Lightning Lanes Basics

Attractions & Experiences Featuring a Lightning Lane

How to Purchase & Use Lightning Lanes at Disney World

What Happened to Genie+?

In order to fully understand what happened with Genie+, we have to go back to the beginning… Once upon a time, Disney World offered the complimentary Fastpass+ for guests to utilize before their vacation. Essentially, guests were able to reserve their place in line for up to three attractions weeks before their trip began. While some appreciated the convenience and ability to plan ahead, others missed the spontaneity of not having to plan their park days weeks in advance. But for the most part, this complimentary service allowed guests to pre-plan their days with little stress once inside the parks.

During the pandemic, Fastpass+ was suspended and eventually replaced with Genie+ in 2021. This brand-new paid service allowed guests to make same-day reservations for attractions, but it required them to wake up early at 7:00 AM to book their desired experiences. While a modified version of this system worked fairly well at Disneyland, it received mixed reactions at Walt Disney World, as many popular attractions were fully booked in seconds. Not only that… getting up super early in hopes of snagging a reservation was something guests had to do every single morning of their vacation.

As of July 24, 2024, Walt Disney World made yet another change. Essentially, they combined the two previous services in hopes of addressing all of the issues. The Genie+ system was renamed and adjusted to allow guests the ability to pre-book their attractions before their vacation once again!

Lightning Lanes Basics

The biggest change coming to Disney World is the ability to pre-book your experiences. You won’t be booking weeks in advance like the old FastPass+ system, but being able to book days before your park visit is a major improvement. Gone are the days of waking up super early trying to snag your reservations for the day!

Highlights

Lightning Lanes are an optional paid add-on to your park ticket, allowing you to save time waiting in line for some of the most popular attractions. Pricing varies from park to park as well as day to day, but many feel the cost is worth it… especially at Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. While the mechanics can seem complicated at first, the process is fairly simple once you get started.

If you’ve used previous systems (such as Genie+), there are some key differences to keep in mind.

Plan Ahead: You can now book your Lightning Lanes in advance. This includes both the Multi Pass and Single Pass options. Resort guests can make plans up to 7 days ahead of arrival, while non-resort guests can do so up to 3 days in advance. (This offers a significant advantage to those staying on Disney property.)
More Flexibility: Before you buy, customize your experiences and schedule. This means you can easily plan around your existing commitments and restaurant bookings.
Book Multiple Days: Once your booking window opens, you will be able to book your Lightning Lanes for the entire duration of your trip (up to 14 days).

Lightning Lane Multi Pass

By purchasing a multi pass, you can pre-book up to 3 experiences in the park each day. Once you’ve used your first pass in the park, you are then able to make additional selections. (Guests can hold 3 passes at a time.)

If you’re holding a Park Hopper ticket, you can choose experiences in other parks. And multi passes include photo perks as well… digital downloads of select attraction photos and videos from your day.

There are some key things to keep in mind, however. All of the Disney parks (except for Animal Kingdom) use “tiers” in the selection process. Guests are allowed to pre-book 1 experience from tier one and 2 experiences from tier two (or all 3 from tier 2). Also, there are most definitely attractions that sell out faster than others. You’ll want to be ready when your window opens, and book the “hard to get” passes first before they’re gone!

Lightning Lane Single Pass

Disney has a lot of popular attractions, but there are one or two in each park that are by far the most sought after. These rides still offer a Lightning Lane, but it’s an additional add-on that is separate from the multi pass. Single passes work just like multi passes and can be booked 7 or 3 days prior to your arrival, depending on whether you’re staying on property or not.

Attractions & Experiences Featuring a Lightning Lane

All four theme parks offer Multi Passes and Single Passes. Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios feature a two-tier system where guests choose one experience from the first group and two (or all three) from the second group. Animal Kingdom has fewer attractions, so all three choices are made from the same group. Each park also features one or two attractions that are available with a Single Pass only.

Magic Kingdom

Lightning Lane Multi Pass

Choose up to 1 from this group:
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
- Jungle Cruise
- Peter Pan’s Flight
- Space Mountain
- Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
Choose your other 2 experiences (or all 3) from this group:
- The Barnstormer
- Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant
- Haunted Mansion
- “it’s a small world”
- Mad Tea Party
- The Magic Carpets of Aladdin
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
- Mickey’s PhilharMagic
- Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Tomorrowland Speedway
- Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid

Lightning Lane Single Pass

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
TRON Lightcycle / Run

Epcot

Lightning Lane Multi Pass

Choose up to 1 experience from this group:
- Frozen Ever After
- Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
- Soarin’ Around the World (through July 21, 2025)
- Test Track (beginning July 22, 2025)
Choose your other 2 experiences (or all 3) from this group:
- Disney and Pixar Short Film Festival
- Journey into Imagination with Figment
- Living with the Land
- Mission: SPACE
- The Seas with Nemo & Friends
- Soarin’ Around the World (beginning July 22, 2025)
- Spaceship Earth
- Turtle Talk with Crush

Lightning Lane Single Pass

Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind

Hollywood Studios

Lightning Lane Multi Pass

Choose up to 1 experience from this group:
- Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
- Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run
- Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
- Slinky Dog Dash
Choose your other 2 experiences (or all 3) from this group:
- Alien Swirling Saucers
- Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage
- Disney Junior Play & Dance!
- For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration
- Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
- Star Tours – The Adventures Continue
- The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
- Toy Story Mania!

Lightning Lane Single Pass

Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance

Animal Kingdom

Lightning Lane Multi Pass

Choose up to 3 experiences:
- DINOSAUR
- Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain
- Feathered Friends in Flight!
- Festival of the Lion King
- Finding Nemo: The Big Blue… and Beyond!
- Kali River Rapids
- Kilimanjaro Safaris
- Na’vi River Journey

Lightning Lane Single Pass

Avatar Flight of Passage

How to Purchase & Use Lightning Lanes at Disney World

When to Purchase:

Disney Resort guests are able to purchase passes up to 7 days in advance of their stay. *Resorts include all Disney Resort hotels, Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel, Walt Disney World Swan Hotel, Walt Disney World Swan Reserve, and Shades of Green Resort.
Non-resort guests are able to purchase passes up to 3 days in advance of their visit.

Passes can be purchased for days you have valid theme park admission beginning at 7:00 AM Eastern Time on your first day of eligibility, and you can make reservations for your entire vacation up to 14 days. (So, if you’re on the West Coast, don’t forget to set your alarm!)

How to Purchase and Use Passes:

Download the My Disney Experience app.
Connect everyone in your travel group on your Family & Friends list. That way, you can make plans for everyone on your list who is eligible.
When you’re ready to purchase
- Open the My Disney Experience app and tap the Lightning Lane Passes section on the home screen.
- Select a date and theme park.
- Select a Lightning Lane Single Pass, a Lightning Lane Multi Pass, or both. (Multi Pass allows you to choose up to 3 experiences, and Single Pass allows you to choose 1.)
- Follow all of the prompts to complete your purchase until you receive a confirmation.
- From there, you can tap “Plan Another Day” to purchase another day or “View My Day” for details about your selections.
If you need to make changes and modify a reservation, tap the Lightning Lane Passes section on the app’s home screen to locate your plans. You can change your selected park and/or date in advance up until the moment you redeem your first Lightning Lane selection of the day. You can also change each elected experience and/or arrival window in advance up until the start of the arrival window. *Subject to availability.
On the day of your visit, you can use the My Disney Experience app to book additional experiences once you redeem a Lightning Lane Multi Pass selection or once the arrival window has passed.