So you’ve planned out your perfect Disney World trip.

Genie+

Your flight is booked, you’ve chosen your hotel, you’ve bought your tickets. You might also be figuring out your budget, which may include purchasing Genie+, which allows you to skip the standby lines at many of Disney World’s rides. But before you hit that “buy now” on Genie+, we want to warn you about something.

As we previously mentioned, Genie+ is the paid version of Disney Genie that lets you access the “Lightning Lanes,” more or less giving you shorter wait times at a lot of rides. Considering that time is money, Genie+ could very well be worth the purchase.

Lightning Lane

However, there’s something that some folks might not be considering when it comes to buying Genie+. During the fall and winter seasons, Magic Kingdom hosts Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party on select evenings. This means that Magic Kingdom closes to day guests at 6PM.

Sign at Magic Kingdom on a party night

Well, what if you buy Genie+ for Magic Kingdom on a party day? You’ll still pay the full price for Genie+ that day (the price is based on how much demand there is on any given day, a.k.a. “surge pricing”), but Genie+ is useless after 6PM. So essentially, you’re paying the same price for Genie+ in Magic Kingdom as you would on a non-party night, but you’re only getting to use the service until 6PM. On party days, Disney does not discount the cost of Genie+. Plus, Genie+ typically costs MORE at Magic Kingdom than it does at the other parks.

Skip the line!

Here’s an example for ya. Magic Kingdom hosted Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party on October 20th, meaning the park closed at 6PM to day guests. That same day, the cost to use Genie+ at Magic Kingdom was $27 — one of the highest Genie+ prices of the month. 

Magic Kingdom

Of course, you could also pay for the park hopping ticket add-on and hop on over to another park, but you’ll need to purchase Genie+ for multiple parks, which generally costs the same as Genie+ in Magic Kingdom.

You could park hop to EPCOT via the Monorail quickly from Magic Kingdom

Our best advice is to avoid Magic Kingdom on a party day and arrange to be there when you can stay later in the evening to get more bang for your buck with Genie+.

We’ll keep you updated on all Disney news, as well as offer up our best Disney tips, tricks, and resources, so stay tuned to DFB for more.

Whew. We know that planning a Disney World trip is A LOT. And this Genie+ thing can be so confusing – which is why we bring you posts like this so often. But we’ve also put together a complete guide in ebook format that gives you all of the info you need, all in one place! Use code WDW2023 for 25% off our DFB Guide to Dining at Walt Disney World.

Be Prepared For These Genie+ Changes When All-Day Park Hopping Returns In Disney World

How do you feel about paying full price for Genie+ on a Magic Kingdom day when there’s a party? Yes or no? Shout out in the comments!