Disney Lightning Lane and Genie+ Passes—Is it Worth it?
Disneyland and California Adventures, Travel

Disney Lightning Lane and Genie+ Passes—Is it Worth it?

There are two options when it comes to elevating your Disney family vacation. To enjoy quicker entry to certain attractions, you can choose to add on these services “à la carte” for Individual Lightning Lane Entrances or have access to a select group of Lightning Lane Entrances (Genie+). 

Throughout the day, Genie+ service allows you to select the next available arrival window for Lightning Lane entrances at certain attractions, one at a time, after park entry on the day of your visit. For some of the most popular attractions, individual Lightning Lane entrances can be purchased up to two attractions per day, limiting one Lightning Lane selection per attraction per day (price varies depending on the day).
Disney Genie+ service is available to add-on to new tickets and existing ticket holders for purchase before your visit or the day of. Availability varies by date and is limited, so I do suggest purchasing this ahead of time, especially if you already know you want these extra services. Disney Genie+ pricing starts at $30 per ticket per day and varies by date.
A nice perk with the Disney Genie+ is also the access to unlimited Disney PhotoPass digital downloads from the Disney app. Throughout the parks there’s so many photo opportunities to take advantage of with many of the Disney characters and famous landmarks. These photos are taken by Disney’s dedicated cast members and uploaded for quick access. You can also enjoy complimentary digital downloads on select attractions without the Genie+ service.
Even if you aren’t a fan of Star Wars, you must try the Star Wars: Rose of the Resistance attraction. The production is so interactive and so well put together, the ride is so much fun and definitely one of the best.

Even if you aren’t a fan of Star Wars, you must try the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance attraction. The production is so interactive and so well put together, the ride is so much fun and definitely one of the best.

Since there are two different sets of attractions to choose from, you can choose to combine the two options. The following are the attractions that offer Individual Lightning Lane or Disney Genie+ Lightning Lane entrances.
DISNEYLAND
Attractions for Individual Lightning Lane Entrance include:
  • Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
  • Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
Attractions for Disney Genie+ Lightning Lane Entrance include:
  • Autopia
  • Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
  • Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
  • Haunted Mansion
  • Indiana Jones Adventure
  • “It’s a small world”
  • Matterhorn Bobsleds
  • Millenium Falcon: Smugglers Run
  • Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin
  • Space Mountain
  • Star Tours- The Adventures Continue
The Haunted Mansion line gets so long during the holiday season. The Genie+ Lightning Lane Entrance would help trim down that wait time to make more time to enjoy other attractions.
The Haunted Mansion line gets so long during the holiday season. The Genie+ Lightning Lane Entrance would help trim down that wait time to make more time to enjoy other attractions.
DISNEY CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE PARK
Attractions for Individual Lightning Lane Entrance include:
  • Radiator Springs Racers
Attractions for Disney Genie+ Lightning Lane Entrance include:
  • Incredicoaster
  • Guardians of the Galaxy-Mission: BREAKOUT!
  • Toy Story Midway Mania!
  • Soarin’ Over California 
  • WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure
  • Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!
  • Goofy’s Sky School
  • Grizzly River Run
  • The Little Mermaid-Ariel’s Undersea Adventure

It is definitely worth it if you have kids that are 40 inches or taller and are able to go on almost all the rides on the select attractions list. Those that are on the smaller side, can only go on a handful of the rides on the list, in this case, I feel like the lightning lanes would be good to have if you are also traveling with a child that would meet most of the height requirements on those rides or if you are traveling with more adults that would want to partake in those attractions.

At Disneyland Park, Lightning Lane for Rise of the Resistance and Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway are helpful to have since they are the newer attractions and tend to have longer wait times. Rise of the Resistance is one of the best, well produced rides for the older kids/adults and Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway is one of the best for the younger children.
At Disney California Adventure Park, Lightning Lane for Radiator Springs Racers is helpful, as the line for this is usually really long and this attraction does tend to break down often, so you wouldn’t want to waste your time waiting in line for it.
To me, time is money and almost never is someone able to buy time. In this case, you almost can and I feel that it is so worth it. Any trip to Disneyland already isn’t going to be a cost-effective trip, if you can, it is helpful to spend the extra to spend less time in line and more time exploring more around the Disney parks.
If you only have one day to spend on your Disney family vacation, I recommend getting both Genie+ and individual lightning lane passes. If you are doing Disneyland or California Adventure Park with just an infant or toddler, I would say the Lightning Lanes and Genie+ probably aren’t worth the extra spend since you won’t be able to use it to its full potential.
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