It’s safe to say Disney World will never stop changing and adapting. Blink and it may suddenly look totally different.
Cinderella Castle
Wednesday, October 11th saw a bunch of Disney World news regarding new pricing and park hopping. Focusing on the latter, we learned that new park hopping rules will be implemented on January 9th, 2024 (the same day most Disney World guests will no longer need park reservations). If all of the rule-changing and necessary vacation adjustments weren’t confusing/overwhelming enough, another wrench, albeit a positive one, just got thrown into the mix.
Disney announced that all-day park hopping will return to Disney World, beginning January 9th, 2024. The days of waiting until 2 PM to enter the next park are (almost) officially over! Soon, anyone with a Park Hopper add-on to their regular park ticket or an Annual Pass can visit another theme park at any point during park hours.
This change is exciting and something we’ve been hoping for since the Park Hopper returned in 2021. The limitations of park hopping have been frustrating, to say the least, and reverting back to all-day park hopping is going to allow park-goers to fully utilize their time in the parks. That being said, with this change comes a domino effect. Specifically, the new park hopper rules will likely have some major effects on the Genie+ service. We’ve compiled some things you should be aware of and prepared for regarding Genie+ when the new park-hopping rules go into effect next year.
Genie+ Changes
Terror of Terror at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
As of now, Genie+ can be accessed on the My Disney Experience app and can be purchased on a day-by-day and person-by-person basis. Genie+ creates an umbrella of once-per-day use of select use of Lightning Lanes, instead of having to purchase Lightning Lane access separately. Users may make their first Disney Genie+ Lightning Lane reservation at 7 AM on the day of their visit and then their next either two hours after the selection or once the current reservation is fulfilled.
A Multiple Parks option does exist for Genie+ for those utilizing a Park Hopper and follows similar rules with different pricing. So with the new park hopping rules, what about Genie+ will be affected? A lot, potentially.
Lightning Lane
For starters, the Multiple Park option for Genie+ becomes much more viable. Disney World is massive so it takes a minute to travel between the parks. With a 2 PM start time for park hopping, you’re already limiting yourself with how much time you can spend at the second park. Whether or not you’ve created that perfect routine for park hopping with this limitation in place, it’s still a limitation at the end of the day. The new rule change will erase that limitation and give more freedom to the Park Hoppers. In turn, park hopping becomes more viable as does the Multiple Park Genie+ service. You’ll spend less time wasting time at a park you’re ready to move on from and more time at a park you want to be at.
Mine Train!
Due to current park hopping rules, Genie+ users would have to constantly check their phones to see ride availability at their next park for time windows after 2 PM. Starting next year, that will be a thing of the past. Now, you don’t have to plan so far ahead and can select time windows that fit you and your family’s itinerary.
Speaking of time, the park hopping rules may affect Genie+’s time rules. Right now, you can begin making Lightning Lane reservations at 7 AM. With the new park-hopping rules, Genie+ could be subject to a time overhaul and Disney may move off that 7 AM time slot to accommodate park-hopping and changing itineraries. Nothing has been officially announced yet so we can’t say this change is a certainty, but we’ll be sure to keep you updated when we know more.
Virtual Queue Changes
Journey of Water virtual queue
While also not announced (we’re still in the infancy of this breaking news), we do anticipate changes happening to the Lightning Lane and virtual queue processes. Similar to Genie+, it is possible that booking before 7 AM becomes a reality. Right now, only guests of Disney Resorts Collection Hotels can purchase individual lightning lanes at 7 AM. Perhaps the increased hours of park hopping change that.
Virtual queues have been a major change to the Disney Parks and are seemingly here to stay. You can join a virtual queue at daily distribution times, such as 7 AM. or 1 PM. Typically, the later virtual queue distribution time can only be accessed when you’re in the specific park with said virtual queue. It’s very possible that with Disney World doing away with the 2 PM. Park Hopper restriction, the need to be within the park to access the virtual queue is lifted as well. While the time window to book may not change, easing the restriction of being present in a select park at a certain time would certainly be a welcomed change.
Transportation Updates
Disney Bus Transportation to Hollywood Studios
While not exclusively about Genie+, the new Park Hopper rule could affect transportation, which will in turn change how you use Genie+. As we already mentioned, using the Multiple Park Genie+ option was tricky, as park hopping in itself is a difficult task to do at Disney World. However, with restrictions being eased, the opportunity to park hop will be the best it’s been in years.
With a higher demand for going from park to park, we think it’s fair to anticipate new park-to-park bus routes being created to meet the demand. Of course, a multitude of transportation options already exist at Disney World to get you from A to B. That being said, the bus system still has the least amount of restrictions, even if it can take a chunk out of your day (the wait times can be unpleasant). With a likely increase in park hopping, we expect bus routes to be affected and bus transport frequency to be increased to keep up. Again, nothing has been officially announced, but we will keep you posted the minute we hear anything.
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As Disney World continues to evolve and change, we will continue to keep you in the know and provide tips wherever we can. Be sure to regularly check out our blog for the latest and follow DFBGuide on YouTube for the best Disney World tips, tricks, and hacks!
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Disney please stop beating the drum and cheering out loud when you give back to us something that it doesn’t cost you any money to do. I’m talking about eliminating park reservations and bringing back park hopper. If you want to bang the drum and do something that would make your guests THE HAPPIEST, BRING BACK THE FREE MAGICAL EXPRESS ANDTHE FREE FAST PASS WITH THREE RIDES WELL IN ADVANCE OF OUR ARRIVAL. It would be appreciated and you can do it Disney with all of the money that you have made over the past few years. Give some of it back to us in ways that would be appreciated and deserved.
I totally agree with Ron! Let’s go Disney!