With just a week to go until the Disney Genie suite of offerings debuts at Walt Disney World, we’ll be putting together a series of articles designed to help clarify some of the many questions that guests have about the new Disney Genie and Disney Genie+ offerings. In this article, we’ll tackle the concept of a Lightning Lane, and how you can pay to skip the line at Walt Disney World.

What is Lightning Lane?

Lightning Lane, simply put, is the line that bypasses the standby line at many of the Walt Disney World attractions. This queue is often filled with far fewer guests, resulting in shorter wait times for Walt Disney World rides.

If you have previously visited Walt Disney World theme parks, the Lightning Lane is the exact same queue that previously allowed guests with a FastPass+ pass to bypass the standby queue. Disney has simply rebranded it to align with the new direction of paid skip-the-line offerings.

Here’s a look at the name change at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – the physical queues remain the same.

Here’s another example at Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.

So, how should we think about Lightning Lane? It was perhaps said best during a recent Travel Agency training webinar – Lightning Lane is a place, not a product.

That begs the question: how do I get access to Lightning Lane?

How to Access the Lightning Lane

In order to gain entry into the Lightning Lane, you can purchase one of two products: Disney Genie+ or Individual Lightning Lane purchases.

Individual Lightning Lane Purchases

We’ll start with the easier of the two products to understand, Individual Lightning Lane Purchases (or Individual Attraction Selections).

If you’ll want to skip the line at some of Disney World’s most popular rides, you’ll have to make an a la carte purchase called an Individual Lightning Lane purchase. This option will be available for all Guests – with or without Disney Genie+ service – and lets you choose a time to arrive at up to 2 attractions each day (booked one at a time).

Here’s a list of the attractions that are only available via an a la carte Individual Lightning Lane purchase (read: NOT included with a Disney Genie+ purchase).

Pricing for an Individual Lightning Lane purchase ranges from $7 to $15 per person, per attraction. This pricing can and will increase over time, but will start at that range when the Disney Genie suite of offerings launches October 19.

So, what about all of the other attractions that used to offer FastPass+ skip the line passes? That’s where Disney Genie+ comes in.

Disney Genie+

For the purposes of this article, we’ll be dumbing down the Disney Genie+ offering into what is perhaps its greatest part right now – skip-the-line access at over 40 attractions. That said Disney Genie+ will grow into a product that includes much more than just Lightning Lane access. At launch, it will also include PhotoPass filters and Audio Tales. Disney Genie+ is more of a suite of exclusive offerings, but for our discussion in this article, let’s stay focused on how Disney Genie+ will help you skip the line.

If you want to skip the line at attractions like Haunted Mansion, Test Track, Slinky Dog Dash, Kilimanjaro Safaris, or more, your only option will be via a Disney Genie+ purchase (priced at $15 per person, per day). Here’s the full list of included attractions.

We’ll cover the nitty-gritty of how to make selections within the My Disney Experience app in another article.

What Attractions Offer Lightning Lane?

We went over the attractions earlier, but here’s a full list of attractions that have a Lightning Lane.

Magic Kingdom Park

Individual Lightning Lane Selections
Attractions include*:

• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
• Space Mountain

Disney Genie+ Selections
Attractions include*:

• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
• Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
• Dumbo the Flying Elephant
• Haunted Mansion
• “it’s a small world”
• Jungle Cruise
• Mad Tea Party
• Mickey’s PhilharMagic
• Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor
• Peter Pan’s Flight
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Splash Mountain
• The Barnstormer
• The Magic Carpets of Aladdin
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
• Tomorrowland Speedway
• Under the Sea ~ Journey of The Little Mermaid

EPCOT

Individual Lightning Lane Selections
Attractions include*:

• Frozen Ever After
• Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure

Disney Genie+ Selections
Attractions include*:

• Disney and Pixar Short Film Festival
• Journey into Imagination with Figment
• Living with the Land
• Mission: SPACE – Green
• Mission: SPACE – Orange
• Soarin’
• Spaceship Earth
• Test Track
• The Seas with Nemo & Friends
• Turtle Talk with Crush

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Individual Lightning Lane Selections
Attractions include*:

• Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
• Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance

Disney Genie+ Selections
Attractions include*:

• Alien Swirling Saucers
• Beauty & The Beast Live on Stage
• Disney Jr. Dance Party
• For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration
• Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular – Returning December 19, 2021
• Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
• Muppet*Vision 3D
• Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster
• Slinky Dog Dash
• Star Tours
• The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
• Toy Story Mania!

Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park

Individual Lightning Lane Selections
Attractions include*:

• Avatar Flight of Passage
• Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain

Disney Genie+ Selections
Attractions include*:

• Celebration of the Festival of the Lion King
• DINOSAUR
• Feathered Friends in Flight!
• It’s Tough to Be a Bug!
• Kali River Rapids
• Kilimanjaro Safaris
• Naʻvi River Journey
• The Animation Experience

Does Lightning Lane Cost Money?

As we’ve tried to explain so far, Lightning Lane is a physical place, not a product. That said, the products that give you access to the physical Lightning Lane queue do cost money:

• Disney Genie+ ($15 per person, per day)
• Individual Lightning Lane ($7-$15 per person, per ride)

Is There a Free Option?

Yes, the standby queue and (on occasion) Virtual Queue will remain free to all guests and is included with the purchase of your theme park ticket or Annual Pass.

All attractions will either have a traditional standby queue or Virtual Queue that will always be free to join.