Get ready! Another MAJOR change just hit Disney World…and you already know we’re covering it all for you!

Not only has Genie+ been renamed to Lightning Lane Multi Pass (and Individual Lightning Lanes are now Lightning Lane Single Pass), but it’s also completely changing how you do Disney World. We’ve been bringing you a look at the new system, but still need to answer one important question. So, let’s see how park hopping works with the new Lightning Lane system in Disney World!

As of July 24th, Disney World has officially switched over to Lightning Lane Multi Pass  and Lightning Lane Single Passes. Under the new system, you can:

• Make Lightning Lane plans BEFORE you’re in the parks
• Choose experiences and times prior to purchasing so you know what you’re getting with your purchase
• Book Lightning Lane passes for MULTIPLE vacation days, all at once

Genie+ is now called Lightning Lane Multi Pass. This is an optional, PAID service available on the My Disney Experience app. Lightning Lane Multi Pass users are able to bypass standby lines and utilize the Lightning Lane (previously known as the FastPass line) at select attractions in the parks by paying a single fee for multiple attractions. 

When purchasing Lightning Lane Multi Pass, you can make up to THREE Lightning Lane Multi Pass selections in a park ahead of your visit. Additionally, you must choose from a list of available times as you make your attraction selections, and you can continue to hold up to three Lighting Lane Multi Pass selections at a time.

If you’re staying at a Disney World hotel (and select other hotels), you will be able to purchase and select your first three Lightning Lane Multi Passes up to seven days in advance of your check-in day for your entire stay (up to 14 days). If you are not staying in a Disney World hotel, you can purchase and select your first three Lightning Lane Multi Passes three days in advance.

Starting now, Disney is also using a tiered system for ride selections. (Remember how we said this sounded like FastPass+? Well, this might sound familiar!) Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios all use this tiered system to group their rides, and from those initial three advance selections, you can choose one experience from a higher-tiered group and two experiences (or all three) from a lower-tiered group. Tiers do not apply at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. You can see the full list of ride tiers here.

With Lightning Lane Single Pass, you can pay a fee to utilize the Lightning Lane for an individual, in-demand attraction. The only major change here is that you can make your purchase before your trip in order to plan in advance! Just like the Multi Pass, you can select your first THREE Lightning Lane Single Passes up to seven days in advance if you’re staying at a Disney World hotel. All other guests can purchase and select their first three Lightning Lane Single Passes three days in advance.

But, a big question we had was how this would work with park hopping since there is no longer a “multi-park” option for Lightning Lane, and instead, each park is priced individually. Here’s a look at the pricing from the first day of the changes, July 24th:

• Magic Kingdom — $29
• EPCOT — $21
• Hollywood Studios — $26
• Animal Kingdom — $18

So, what would happen if you purchased Lightning Lane Multi Pass in Animal Kingdom for $18, and then later hopped to Magic Kingdom where the price was $29? Would you be charged the difference when making a selection in the My Disney Experience app? We’re thrilled to report that as of now, NO! We did the experiment ourselves when the changes rolled out.

You can see that we already had made Lightning Lane Multi Pass selections at Animal Kingdom, and when the app prompted us to choose another ride, we were given the option to switch parks altogether!

Based on our park hopping plans and timing, we chose “it’s a small world” as our first Lightning Lane for Magic Kingdom, fully expecting to be charged a difference upon confirmation.

But, it didn’t happen! We were able to select a Lightning Lane for Magic Kingdom while still in Animal Kingdom, despite there being no official “multi-park” option. Keep in mind you do need a valid Park Hopper ticket or Annual Pass for this to apply on your trip, though!

We also tried booking a Lightning Lane for Hollywood Studios while we were already in Magic Kingdom, and we were able to do that successfully as well by modifying an existing reservation. You can see that when we went to modify our Lightning Lane for Pirates of the Caribbean, we were able to switch between parks and switch our Pirates reservation to a Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster one in Hollywood Studios!

This also means that you are able to hold more than two Tier 1 rides, as long as the third is in a different park! Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster are all Tier 1 attractions.

But, keep in mind that you won’t be able to book Lightning Lanes across parks when making selections in advance. If you want to book Lightning Lanes in multiple parks, you won’t see a multi-park Multi Pass option the way you did with Genie+. It isn’t until you actually REDEEM one of those selections on the day of your park visit that you can choose another Multi Pass experience in the other parks, but you’ll need a valid Park Hopper ticket.

And, if you’re thinking about purchasing Lightning Lane Multi Pass for a cheaper park like Animal Kingdom and hopping to a more expensive park like Magic Kingdom to take advantage of not having to pay more — you might want to think twice about that.

When we tested the new system out, we were shocked at how quickly some of the Lightning Lanes for popular rides at Magic Kingdom got snatched up. By around 10AM, the only available return times for Haunted Mansion, for example, were 6:25PM or later, and then they were gone altogether. So, if you’re thinking about trying to get a “discount” by starting your day in a park with a less expensive Multi Pass option, just keep in mind that you might be left with less popular rides by the time you switch to the second park.

We’re running a number of experiments with the new Lightning Lane system to answer ALL of your questions. Don’t want to miss a thing? You can sign up for our newsletter to catch all of the latest and follow along on our social channels like Instagram and Facebook.

In the meantime, we’ve put together some guides for you! Take a look at some of our posts below:

• COMPLETE GUIDE to the New Line-Skipping Service at Disney World
• Why 7:00AM Doesn’t Matter Anymore in Disney World
• Disney’s New Lightning Lane System Has One HUGE Problem
• Breaking Down Disney World’s NEW Lightning Lane System in Under 1,000 Words

We know this is a massive change that can feel very confusing, but we’re here to experience it all with you in real time — we’re all learning together, so stay tuned to DFB!

HUGE CHANGES Hit Disney World Today – Come With Us To Test Them Out!

What do you think of the new changes? Tell us in the comments.

The post NEWS: Disney Just Simplified Park Hopping with Its NEW Lightning Lane System first appeared on the disney food blog.