Our 1-day itinerary for Magic Kingdom utilizing Genie+ and Lightning Lanes presents a step-by-step plan for the park. Its objective is to reply questions, illustrate the method of how paid FastPass works in observe at Walt Disney World, and handle the most effective technique for trip reservations. (Updated March 3, 2023.)
This is a theoretical day at Magic Kingdom since there are unknowns and the Lightning Lane return instances right here aren’t essentially what you’ll get. That’ll range significantly based mostly on crowd ranges, what number of different friends purchase the Genie+ service, and quite a lot of different variables. If you need to see an instance of what we completed within the park, see My Day Using Genie+ at Magic Kingdom.
The excellent news is that Magic Kingdom is the “easiest” park for utilizing Genie+ at Walt Disney World, so it’s not basically that you just comply with a strict itinerary for undertaking so much through Lightning Lanes. There’s a variety of room for flexibility, which is essential since your plans and priorities will differ from what’s right here relying upon whether or not you’re eligible for Early Entry, characters are essential to your celebration, you do sit-down or counter service eating, and many others.
Another factor to know is that so much has modified with Genie+ in the previous couple of months. Some of those are throughout the board coverage or rule adjustments that apply equally to all parks at Walt Disney World. Then there are these particular to Magic Kingdom because of the latest return of a number of character experiences, together with Enchanted Tales with Belle and the Ariel’s Grotto meet & greet. As such, we’ve returned to refresh this itinerary as soon as once more.
In essence, this itinerary presents a run by means of of a standard day at Magic Kingdom utilizing each Lightning Lanes and standby strains. If you’re a kind A trip planner, hopefully this offers you some peace of thoughts about how Genie+ works. With that mentioned, needless to say there’ll possible be some fluidity with Genie+ and Lightning Lanes within the months to return as tweaks are made–so much has already modified because the techniques launched final fall.
This is meant to complement our Lightning Lane and Genie+ at Walt Disney World FAQ. A variety of you’ve got had questions, and we’ve tried to reply many of the widespread ones there. However, many are about particular situations and that FAQ could be so long as a Tolstoy novel if we addressed each there.
As mentioned within the aforementioned FAQ, there’s at the moment one attraction per park that sells particular person Lightning Lane entry and aren’t a part of Genie+. In Magic Kingdom, this attraction is Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. (Previously, Space Mountain was an Individual Lightning Lane trip, however it has been moved over to Genie+ completely.)
Anyway, on with our 1-Day Magic Kingdom Itinerary with Genie+ and Lightning Lanes…
7:00 am – Book Peter Pan’s Flight through Genie+ with a Lightning Lane return window of 9:00 am to 10:00 am.
8:30 am – Rope drop Space Mountain through standby throughout Early Entry. (If you’re not eligible for Early Entry, skip forward to Jungle Cruise.)
8:40 am – Do Astro Orbiter through standby line.
9:00 am – Cross the Central Plaza in entrance of Cinderella Castle and head to Adventureland for normal rope drop (park opening). Here, do Jungle Cruise, which is at the moment excessive on our Magic Kingdom Genie+ Priorities & Lightning Lane Ride Rankings.
If you don’t care about character meet & greets, you would possibly really need to learn that checklist of rankings as an alternative of this pattern itinerary. This goes to contain a variety of character stops that many households would possibly need to skip totally. If so, you’ll liberate a variety of time to do various things.
Parties bored with characters may additionally think about staying in Tomorrowland and taking a spin on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover. You’ll be capable to have a way more leisurely day than those that are additionally making an attempt to knock out meet & greets through the Lightning Lanes.
9:30 am – Do Peter Pan’s Flight through Lightning Lane (Genie+ trip reservation). Immediately upon tapping into the Lightning Lane, e book Meet Ariel at Her Grotto through Genie+ with a Lightning Lane return window of 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm. (If you skipped Jungle Cruise earlier than since you don’t care about characters, e book that as an alternative.)
9:45 am – Do the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh through standby line.
10:00 am – Do Haunted Mansion through standby line.
10:30 am – Do Pirates of the Caribbean through standby line.
10:45 am – Free time or a buffer in case crowds are worse throughout your go to. If you’ve already completed all or most of this, think about rewarding your self with one of many Best Magic Kingdom Snacks & Desserts List. (We’re going to depart some gaps on this itinerary so it doesn’t turn out to be too complicated or overwhelming–consuming is all the time a good way to fill the void!)
11:30 am – Score instant Walk-Up Waitlist availability at Skipper Canteen, an underrated eating gem (and arguably the park’s finest restaurant) that many Magic Kingdom friends are afraid to strive as a result of it’s “too exotic.”
11:30 am – While ready at Skipper Canteen, e book Meet Mickey & Minnie at Town Square Theater through Genie+ with a Lightning Lane return window of two:00 pm to three:00 pm.
Note: 11:30 am is chosen as a result of it’s 120 minutes after 9 am, which is in line with the 120 minute rule. This means which you could choose your subsequent Genie+ trip reservation both after tapping into your earlier one or after 120 minutes have handed, whichever is sooner. In this case, that’s 120 minutes.
12:30 pm – Recover from a feast of extremely adventurous and strange dishes corresponding to “grilled steak” and “fried chicken” by a quick hibernation throughout Country Bear Jamboree. Marvel at its bear-rific brilliance. Further feast restoration with a exhibiting of Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room. (In different phrases, that is about an hour of free time.)
1:25 pm – Meet Ariel at Her Grotto through Lightning Lane (Genie+ reservation).
1:31 pm – While within the Lightning Lane to satisfy Ariel, e book Big Thunder Mountain Railroad through Genie+ with a Lightning Lane return window of 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm. (If you skipped Space Mountain earlier than, e book that as an alternative.)
1:40 pm – Do Enchanted Tales with Belle through the standby line.
2:10 pm – While strolling to the entrance of the park, seize a snack from Gaston’s Tavern, Storybook Treats, or Friar’s Nook–all of which in Fantasyland and on the way in which to the subsequent cease.
Alternatively, you’ll be able to head in the direction of the entrance of the park to refuel at Main Street Bakery, which is the Starbucks in Magic Kingdom. In addition to espresso, Main Street Bakery has quite a lot of snacks and, often, a seasonal cupcake.
2:30 pm – Meet Mickey & Minnie at Town Square Theater through Lightning Lane (Genie+ reservation).
2:40 pm – Meet Snow White outdoors Town Square Theater
2:55 pm – Take PhotoPass household photographs round Main Street
~3:15 pm – What time is the three o’clock parade? On Main Street, it’s really about 15-20 minutes after 3 pm, because it takes a while for Festival of Fantasy Parade to make its solution to the entrance of the park. (If you don’t need to wait, you’ll be able to stroll in the direction of the parade by heading to Liberty Square or Frontierland–however we advocate Main Street for probably the most “iconic” expertise.)
3:31 pm – Book Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin through Genie+ with a Lightning Lane return window of 4:00 pm to five:00 pm.
4 pm – Do Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin through Lightning Lane (Genie+ trip reservation).
4:01 pm – Book Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid through Genie+ with a Lightning Lane return window of 5:00 pm to six:00 pm.
Note: We mentioned the 120 minute rule above, however you additionally ought to be capable to e book one other Genie+ reservation after tapping into your earlier one. That gained’t be related should you’re going for all high-priority choices, however grabbing some low-hanging fruit after reserving your entire high-priority choices could make afternoon touring simpler. (Pretty a lot something accomplished through standby within the first couple hours might be moved to the afternoon through Genie+ should you so need.)
4:15 pm – Embrace Walt Disney’s Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrowland through the Carousel of Progress and the PeopleMover. (Pretty wild that Magic Kingdom’s three most iconic points of interest–these two plus Country Bear Jamboree–don’t use Genie+ or Lightning Lanes. That’s a reasonably large oversight!)
5:30 pm – Do Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid through Lightning Lane (Genie+ trip reservation).
5:31 pm – Book one other character meet & greet: both Cinderella or Tiana at Princess Fairytale Hall with a 7:30 pm return time. Alternatively, e book a Lightning Lane for Pirates of the Caribbean, which is permissible since you probably did it through standby the earlier time, should you’re not into princesses.
6 pm – Do Big Thunder Mountain Railroad through Lightning Lane (Genie+ trip reservation).
6:15 pm to 7:25 pm – Open time to perform any points of interest that weren’t potential earlier resulting from crowd ranges, plus dinner. Columbia Harbour House could be our advice for a faster however high quality meal.
We’d additionally advocate catching the final efficiency of Mickey’s Magical Friendship Faire at Cinderella Castle–test the instances information for showtimes.
7:30 pm – Meet Cinderella or Tiana and a Visiting Princess at Princess Fairytale Hall through the Lightning Lane.
8:00 pm – Do “it’s a small world” through standby line.
8:45 pm – Grab a final minute spot for Disney Enchantment in Fantasyland with a view of each Cinderella Castle and Beast’s Castle above Be Our Guest Restaurant. This is just not a really helpful “one and done” fireworks viewing location (try our viewing location ideas for Magic Kingdom fireworks), however you’ll be doing one other night time in Magic Kingdom later.
~9:30 pm to 10:45 pm – Open time to revisit favourite points of interest, revisit rides which can be higher at night time, or do issues that weren’t possible earlier within the day resulting from crowd ranges.
~10:55 pm – Race to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, leaping in line simply earlier than park closing.
This assumes Magic Kingdom closes at 11 pm and Disney Enchantment occurs at 9 pm. These instances ought to be adjusted if Magic Kingdom closes at an earlier hour. The salient level is that you’re not paying for Individual Lightning Lane (ILL) entry to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train by doing it on the finish of the night time. Moreover, no new ILL friends shall be coming into the queue as soon as the park closes. It’s all standby at that time, which implies a faster-moving queue!
Once once more, this was a step-by-step day in Magic Kingdom utilizing Genie+ based mostly on assumptions about capability allocation and demand. Some or all of those assumptions might be off and never replicate what you really expertise whenever you go to Walt Disney World–however the identical might be mentioned of any itinerary. We suppose that is in all probability ~75% correct, and on the very least, ought to illustrate how a day might look utilizing the Genie+ service.
The level right here is as an example how Genie+ might show advantageous for days you choose to buy the add-on. Personally, I’d purchase strategically, and certain just for one Magic Kingdom day plus one DHS day and perhaps EPCOT now that Frozen Ever After and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure are included. That’s simply me, although, as somebody who is comparatively frugal but in addition acknowledges that “vacation time is money.”
Finally, even with a variety of stuff you’d be capable to accomplish throughout the center of the day eliminated for the sake of simplicity, this itinerary would possibly look overwhelming. Just needless to say your previous itinerary with FastPass+ or present one additionally would possibly look fairly intimidating to the uninitiated. Like all issues Walt Disney World, it’ll turn out to be less complicated and extra intuitive as soon as put into observe.
Ultimately, it ought to be comparatively simple to make use of Genie+ at Magic Kingdom. We’ve already accomplished so a number of instances, and discover it to be the most effective and most laid again park for the paid FastPass service, and that’s largely resulting from its extra strong trip roster and higher Lightning Lane return instances. With that mentioned, we acknowledge Genie+ isn’t for everybody–significantly those that don’t being glued to their telephones or are on a good funds. As such, we’ve an amazing 1-Day Magic Kingdom Itinerary Without Genie+ and Lightning Lanes that’ll assist you’ve got an amazing day with out the upcharge!
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Learn about inns on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To lower your expenses on tickets or decide which kind to purchase, learn our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets put up. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips put up takes a novel have a look at intelligent gadgets to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, the most effective place to start out is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for every part it’s good to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Was this 1-Day Magic Kingdom Itinerary w/ Genie+ useful as an example how paid FastPass works in Walt Disney World’s flagship park? If you’ve put this to observe, had been you capable of accomplish all of this in a single day at Magic Kingdom? Did you buy Individual Lightning Lane entry to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train or do it on the finish of the night time? Have any questions we didn’t reply with the above? Still confused by how Genie+ or Lightning Lanes work? Do you agree or disagree with our assessments? Other ideas or issues? Any questions we will help you reply? Hearing your suggestions–even whenever you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!