A lot has changed in Disney World in January 2024.
Cinderella Castle
The Disney Dining Plan officially returned, park-pass reservation rules changed for date-based tickets, and all-day park hopping is back! On January 9th, all three of these things were updated to their new rules. However, we found a big issue for Annual Passholders regarding park hopping. But now, it seems to have been fixed!
Park pass reservations have officially been removed for all date-based tickets in Disney World! However, this excludes Annual Passholder tickets since they are not associated with dates. While Passholders will still need to make reservations for most days (except “Good-to-Go” days), they can enjoy all-day park hopping!
Disney World Annual Passholder Magnet
When we were trying out the new rules on January 9th, we noticed a bit of a hiccup in our plans. Since our reporters are all Annual Passholders, we quickly spotted a slight issue with Genie+ (the virtual assistant on the Disney World app).
When we planned to park hop before 2PM, we were not able to make Lightning Lane selections for any other park outside of our reserved park until AFTER 2PM. This followed the old park hopping rules and was a real bummer.
©Disney
At the time, we weren’t sure if this was a mistake or something that was going to be sticking around for Passholders. But now, we have confirmation that it is no longer a problem! On January 13th, we had a park pass reservation for Disney’s Animal Kingdom, but we wanted to hop over to EPCOT to ride Soarin’ Over California.
©Disney
We decided to try making a Lightning Lane selection (Disney’s paid “skip-the-line” system) for Soarin’ right away in the morning, for a time before 2PM. Turns out, it worked! We got a Lightning Lane for 9:05AM-10:05AM for Soarin’, well before 2PM.
©Disney
But we decided to try it again, just to be sure! We scanned into Animal Kingdom (where we had our reservation), then hopped over to EPCOT, rode Soarin’, and were able to book at Lightning Lane for Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway — all before 2PM!
©Disney
We’re SO excited to see this change! This is a game-changer for Annual Passholders. With the all-day park hopping and this update to Genie+, it doesn’t matter a whole lot that you need a reservation (that’s just a minor inconvenience). We hope you enjoy your park hopping and Lightning Lane riding!
For more Disney news, keep following DFB!
Learn more about Good to Go Days here!
Join the DFB Newsletter to get all the breaking news right in your inbox! Click here to Subscribe!
WE KNOW DISNEY.
YOU CAN, TOO.
Oh boy, planning a Disney trip can be quite the adventure, and we totally get it! But fear not, dear friends, we compiled EVERYTHING you need (and the things to avoid!) to plan the ULTIMATE Disney vacation.
Whether you’re a rookie or a seasoned pro, our insider tips and tricks will have you exploring the parks like never before. So come along with us, and get planning your most magical vacation ever!
Do you use Lightning Lanes when you park hop? Let us know in the comments!
The post Disney Just Updated Annual Passholder Genie+ Rules, and You’re Gonna Love This Change first appeared on the disney food blog.