In this post we discuss how to use Genie+ successfully at Animal Kingdom in in 2024, including our Animal Kingdom Genie+ priorities and the best rides for Genie+ at Animal Kingdom. We also discuss individual Lightning Lane access and how to make sense of Lightning Lanes, standby lines, single rider, and Genie+ at Animal Kingdom.
Related Posts
We also suggest reading our Walt Disney World Genie+ guide for a complete understanding of the Genie+ system.
Your Genie+ strategy should work in tandem with your Animal Kingdom rope drop strategy (including Early Entry, if you have it). What you pick on Genie+ will impact / depend on what rides you’re able to get to in the morning.
To hear more about specific rides, check out our Animal Kingdom rides guide. We also have a one-day Animal Kingdom itinerary that talks broadly about planning your day at the park.
THE BASICS OF Animal Kingdom Genie+ and Lightning Lanes
Again, you’ll want to check out our Walt Disney World Genie+ guide to make sure you really understand Genie+, but we want to give those of you who are just looking for the basics a quick intro.
Genie+ Allows You To “Skip The Lines” At Walt Disney World
Genie+ is a paid (roughly $15 to $40 per person, plus tax, depending on the day) skip-the-line system at Walt Disney World. By purchasing Genie+ for the day of your visit to a Disney World park, you’ll be able to make bookings to access “Lightning Lanes” which are shorter lines than the regular “standby” lines that most rides have.
We’ve put “skip the lines” in quotes because you’ll usually still have some wait with Genie+, it’s just much shorter than the regular wait. A typical wait with Genie+ is 5 to 10 minutes. A long wait with Genie+ might be a 20 minute wait for a ride that has standby waits of 100+ minutes.
Not all attractions are included in Genie+. Some attractions don’t have Lightning Lanes and some attractions with Lightning Lanes aren’t included in Genie+.
At Animal Kingdom, TriceraTop Spin does not have a Lightning Lane, and Avatar Flight of Passage has a Lightning Lane but is not a part of Genie+. To access that Lightning Lane you’ll have to make a separate purchase. We discuss the included attractions at Animal Kingdom later in this post.
Within Genie+, you can hold one Lightning Lane reservation at a time—with one exception we’ll cover next. That means if you have a reservation for Na’vi River Journey from 3PM to 4PM, you have to wait until you use that reservation (during that window) before you can book another one.
The exception is that if you book a Lightning Lane via Genie+ that starts more than two hours in the future, you can book another Lightning Lane via Genie+ after waiting two hours. If you make your first selection before the park opens, the two-hour clock starts running when the park opens.
Just to be clear, a lot of times you’ll hear this told the other way—that the “rule” is 2 hours and the “exception” is if you can use the Lightning Lane sooner than that. It’s really the same way of saying the same thing, and which is the rule / exception on a given day will just depend on crowd levels and what rides you go on.
You can’t choose what time you book your Genie+ reservation for. You have to grab the time that is available when you’re booking, and these times will (mostly) roll forward as the day goes on until they run out.
This means if you open Genie+ at 7AM for a 9AM park open, you might be able to book any ride for 9AM to 10AM. But when you check after using that reservation at, say, 9:30AM, you might see some rides available from 10AM to 11AM, some rides available from 12:05PM to 1:05PM, and maybe even a ride is sold out for the day.
There is some flexibility here, either due to Disney releasing more inventory or guests cancelling. You might refresh and see an available time jump back from 2PM to 12PM, but for the most part, you need to plan for these times to roll forward. (Refreshing works much of the time, but it’s time consuming, and battery consuming, and not something you can completely count on.)
Finally it’s worth noting that right at 7AM—when Genie+ bookings open—the app doesn’t show specific return times. This is because they can change quite quickly (within seconds). This isn’t a huge problem, though, because you’ll decide what ride you’re grabbing at 7AM ahead of time.
Genie+ During Special Events
Genie+ is only available during regular park hours at Animal Kingdom. It is not expected to be available for special events held before or after regular park hours, like Animal Kingdom After Hours. It also isn’t available during Early Theme Park Entry or Extended Evening Hours.
Park Hopping With Genie+
Genie+ comes in two flavors—single park and Multiple Parks. If you buy it for a single park (you pick which park and they have different prices), you can only use it at that park. If you buy the Multiple Parks option, the service is good at all four parks once you purchase it for a given day (just remember you’ll need park hopping privileges to make bookings at multiple parks).
We have posts on two-day Disney World trips and three-day Disney World trips.
Purchasing Genie+ for Animal Kingdom
Before we get to strategy, let’s talk about how you get Genie+ (and Lightning Lanes) to begin with.
When can I purchase Genie+?
Genie+ will be available for purchase at midnight the morning of your park visit, and you need to make sure you’ve purchased it by 7AM because that is when Genie+ selections will open for all guests.
How much does Genie+ Cost?
The price of Genie+ varies by the day. It begins at $15 (plus tax, so about $16) per person per day, but prices have hit $39 and we expect $45 by the end of 2024. A typical day is priced around $20 to $25. Everyone in your group needs to have Genie+ if they plan to use the Lightning Lanes for the Genie+ attractions. If someone in your party isn’t going on the rides via Genie+, then of course they don’t need Genie+.
Since Disney is rolling out new single-park options, we’ll see that each day basically has five prices—one for each of the parks and one for the Multiple Park option. Here’s the pricing for September 18, for example:
Multiple Parks: $23/person
Magic Kingdom: $23/person
Hollywood Studios: $21/person
EPCOT: $17/person
Animal Kingdom: $15/person
We expect Animal Kingdom to be the cheapest of the four parks most days in the near future.
Is Genie+ at Animal Kingdom Worth It?
Generally, you don’t need Genie+ at Animal Kingdom if rides are your biggest priority. On one of the busiest days of 2023, you’d have waited about six hours in total for the five rides on Genie+. That’s not a small amount, but since we’re talking about peak crowds in a park that’s usually open at least 10 hours (and ignoring that you could ride some rides early, before waits go up), it shows that the rides are pretty easily handled without Genie+.
Where Genie+ makes a difference is (1) it will keep you out of those lines altogether and (2) it will make it easier to see the entire park in a day. Besides rides, there are shows and several zoological experiences at Animal Kingdom. On a typical day you can probably do the entire park without Genie+. On a peak day you’ll need Genie+ to experience the entire park.
The final factor to highlight here is extra hours access—Early Theme Park Entry and Extended Evening Hours. If you have access to those perks (and will use them), you’re less likely to need Genie+.
Without Early Entry, Genie+ is still more of a convenience than a necessity. If you have a full day at the park, you don’t need it as long as you’re willing to wait in a few lines. With it, the park is a breeze and you’ll have plenty of time to take in the shows, zoological trails, and other non-ride attractions.
All that said, I want to be transparent—we buy Genie+ any time we’re planning a full day at the parks. We understand well that the cost of a Disney World vacation is tough to swallow. But we also find that the additional cost for three or four days of Genie+ is usually small relative to the cost of the trip and allows us to have a smoother overall experience.
If your park hopping, you’ll probably want to buy Genie+ for Multiple Parks (not just for Animal Kingdom). Then you’ll attempt to get as much done at Animal Kingdom early before moving onto another park.
Individual Lightning Lane Purchases
In case you forgot, there are rides at each park that not a part of Genie+ and that require you to buy access to their Lightning Lanes Individually. At Animal Kingdom, as of this update, Avatar Flight of Passage is the only ride with an Individual Lightning Lane. It has a regular standby line (i.e. no virtual queues to worry about) if you don’t want to pay, and is also a part of Early Entry.
If you decide to purchase individual Lightning Lane access at Animal Kingdom, you’ll make your purchases at:
7AM if you’re a guest of a Disney resort (select partner resorts maybe included, we don’t know yet) or
At the time the park opens if you’re not a guest of a Disney resort.
Is it worth it to buy a Lightning Lane for Avatar Flight of Passage?
If you have Early Entry at Animal Kingdom (and will arrive early to use it), you probably don’t need to buy a Lightning Lane for Avatar Flight of Passage. Since we usually buy Genie+, we personally prefer to arrive early and ride Flight of Passage rather than spending even more money on the day.
If you don’t have Early Entry, but do have a full day, you probably don’t need to buy a Lightning Lane for Avatar Flight of Passage. You will need to be prepared to accept a 90 minute wait for the ride in this case.
If you have a full day at Animal Kingdom and are willing to spend some money, it’s usually going to make more sense to buy Genie+ than the Flight of Passage Lightning Lane.
If you’re only spending part of your day at Animal Kingdom and you don’t have Early Entry, the best way to get as much done as possible is going to be to buy a Lightning Lane for Flight of Passage.
7AM Priorities at Animal Kingdom
Since Animal Kingdom doesn’t have any virtual queues, you don’t have too many things to juggle at 7AM. If you’re a Disney resort guest, you’ll have to do both your first Genie+ booking and your individual Lightning Lane purchases at that time. (If you’ve got two people in your party who can use their phones, you should each be able to handle one of these).
There’s little pressure on either task at Animal Kingdom, but we still prefer making our first Genie+ booking before moving on to purchasing individual Lightning Lanes.
If you’re not a Disney resort guest, you’ll just be making your first Genie+ pick at 7AM. You’ll wait until park opening time for your Individual Lightning Lane purchases.
Animal Kingdom Genie+ Priorities
This is a good time to remind you to check the height requirements at Disney World when booking Genie+, as you want to make sure you don’t wind up with any disappointed littles. While you’re at it, read about visiting Animal Kingdom with a toddler if it applies to you.
Animal Kingdom Genie+ Attractions
There are eleven attractions or experiences that are a part of Genie+ at Animal Kingdom (alphabetical order):
Animation Experience at Conservation Station*
DINOSAUR
Expedition Everest
Feathered Friends in Flight*
Festival of the Lion King*
Finding Nemo: The Big Blue…and Beyond!*
It’s Tough to be a Bug
Kali River Rapids
Kilimanjaro Safaris
Meet Favorite Disney Pals
Na’vi River Journey
Scheduled Shows & Activities at Animal Kingdom
I put asterisks on four of the eleven attractions because they occur on fixed schedules, and the Lightning Lanes just guarantee you seating if you arrive within the arrival window. This means their Genie+ times won’t “roll” forward slowly, they’ll jump to the next showtime. If you see one of these and it fits your schedule, fine, grab it. If a show is important to you, prioritize it.
Low Priorities for Genie+ at Animal Kingdom
“It’s Tough to be a Bug” won’t require much of your attention on Genie+. Might you use Genie+ to get on it? Sure! If the timing works out and you can use Genie+ to skip even a 15 minute wait, do it! But this will probably be later in the day after you’ve addressed higher priority rides.
Best Rides to Genie+ At Animal Kingdom
That leaves five rides—DINOSAUR, Expedition Everest, Kali River Rapids, Kilimanjaro Safaris, Na’vi River Journey, and a character greeting—Meet Favorite Disney Pals. Let’s address these one by one before trying to rank them.
DINOSAUR is probably the least popular of the rides, and particularly late in the day it’s common to see its waits drop to below 15 minutes. It’s also relatively secluded in the park, so waits don’t tend to move up as early as more central rides.
Kali River Rapids will vary in popularity with the weather (more popular on hotter days). Crucially—if you’re a hardcore planning nerd, which you are since you’re still reading this post—Kali River Rapids sometimes opens an hour later than the rest of the park. If you can plan to be there when it opens, you’ll avoid the need for Genie+ on this ride.
Expedition Everest is one of the best roller coasters in Disney World, but its Lightning Lane isn’t wildly popular. It might be more popular than Kali River Rapids on a cool day, but it won’t usually be anything to stress about. It also has a single rider line, which is a good backup if you somehow miss fitting it into your day.
Meet Favorite Disney Pals is a character greeting that usually features Mickey and Minnie. It often closes before the rest of the park, though usually not as early at Kilimanjaro Safaris. While it isn’t a popular first pick, the Lightning Lane often is the first to run out for the day.
Kilimanjaro Safaris is popular and the other attraction that often is the first to run out of Lightning Lane times. That said, it’s a long slow ride that can take a chunk of time out of your morning if you ride it too soon. For that reason, you probably don’t want it to be your first Genie+ pick of the day. Ideally, you’d be able to use your morning to walk onto one or two rides without using Genie+ (this gives you more flexibility with your picks).
Kilimanjaro Safaris also usually opens at the same time as the park opens to all guests (i.e. it isn’t in Early Entry), which makes it relatively easy to get on early in the day. Importantly, Kilimanjaro Safaris often closes earlier than the rest of the park, meaning it will have fewer Lightning Lane return times than the other rides.
Na’vi River Journey is slightly less popular than Meet Favorite Disney Pals and Kilimanjaro Safaris. But it’s much shorter than Kilimanjaro Safaris and located near where many of you will be starting your day anyways, at Flight of Passage. This often makes it a good first option on Genie+.
So I’d currently rank the Genie+ priorities at Animal Kingdom as follows:
Na’vi River Journey
Kilimanjaro Safaris
Meet Favorite Disney Pals
Kali River Rapids (hot days or if you can’t get there near its opening time)
Expedition Everest
Kali River Rapids (cool days or if you can get there near its opening time)
DINOSAUR
That’s just a “raw” ranking, though. We need to discuss why you might depart from it and how this all plays out during the day.
Animal Kingdom Genie+ Planning
Now that we’ve covered the Animal Kingdom Genie+ priorities, we need to talk about how to actually put together a day at the park.
What Genie+ Reservation should I grab first at Animal Kingdom?
If you have and are using Early Theme Park Entry, grab Kilimanjaro Safaris as your first Genie+ reservation. If you purchase the Lightning Lane for Flight of Passage you can just start your morning at Na’vi River Journey. You could probably then be at Meet Disney Pals right when it opens with the rest of the park.
If rides are a higher priority for you, you could try and squeeze in some combination of Expedition Everest, DINOSAUR, and Kali River Rapids instead. Then you’ll head to your Genie+ Lightning Lane at Kilimanjaro Safaris.
If you have Early Entry but you’re not purchasing the Lightning Lane for Flight of Passage, you’ll try to get on that first. You might have time to get on Na’vi River Journey right after that, but if you don’t you can try for a Lightning Lane later.
If you don’t have Early Theme Park Entry, grab Na’vi River Journey. You’ll start your day with Kilimanjaro Safaris (since it isn’t a part of Early Entry) and then maybe have time to squeeze Expedition Everest, Kali River Rapids, or DINOSAUR in before making a long trek back to the other side of the park. Personally, I’d try and time my Genie+ selection to get Na’vi River Journey with a window from 30-90 minutes after park open to allow me to ride at least one ride after Kilimanjaro Safaris.
What Genie+ reservation should I grab second, third, etc. at Animal Kingdom?
The above strategies combine rope drop and Genie+ so that in most cases you’ll have ridden Kilimanjaro Safaris and Na’vi River Journey by this point. The worst case scenario from those strategies is that you start with Flight of Passage, don’t have time for Na’vi River Journey, and go straight to a Lightning Lane for Kilimanjaro Safaris.
In any case, we like Meet Disney Pals as a second pick. Generally, Meet Disney Pals has attractive return times early before running out quickly as the day goes on. If you open the app to make your second pick and see a good time for Meet Disney Pals, it’s an easy second pick.
If you haven’t done Na’vi River Journey yet, you’ll probably want to consider if for your third pick (or your second pick if it’s more important to you than the characters). But you might see quick return times for DINOSAUR, Expedition Everest, and Kali River Rapids that make those worth quickly visiting.
Once you’ve covered Na’vi River Journey, Kilimanjaro Safaris, and Meet Disney Pals, you’ve got a lot of freedom. If any rides are surprisingly busy, you might prioritize them. If they’re not busy, you might instead grab a showtime and just ride standby for a few rides.
Or you might plan your next rides based on geography. We have a toddler, so our morning usually continues with a stop at the Boneyard for them while we takes turns riding DINOSAUR.
Example Day At Animal Kingdom with Genie+
Here’s an example morning Emily and I spent at Animal Kingdom with Genie+ (Lightning Lane activity bolded). Since we had Zoe with us, we had to ride some rides separately. This example actually uses a different approach than what’s discussed above (and it skips Meet Disney Pals). That said, I like how it shows some versatility in using Genie+ at this easy park.
6:30 Purchase Genie+
7AM Select Kilimanjaro Safaris Genie+ LL
7:44 Arrive
8AM Park Opens
8:15 Everest (Kenny, walk on)
8:21 Everest (Emily, walk on)
8:36 Kilimanjaro Safaris (posted 15, 6 LL)
8:40 Grab DINOSAUR LL (8:45 - 9:45)
9:16 DINOSAUR (Kenny, walk on / used LL)
9:33 DINOSAUR (Emily, same)
9:35 Grab Kali River Rapids LL (9:50 - 10:50)
9:50 TriceraTop Spin (posted 5, actual 3)
10:10 Kali River Rapids (E, walk on / used LL)
10:18 Kali River Rapids (K, same)
10:18 Grab Na’vi River Journey LL (12:20 - 1:20)
12:20 Avatar Flight of Passage (Kenny, posted 70, actual 89)
12:41 Navi River Journey (posted 50, 2 LL)
12:54 Lunch at Satuli Canteen
2PM Lion King Show (space available at 1:45, used LL)
You can see we took the approach of getting through DINOSAUR and Kali River Rapids before booking Na’vi River Journey. This left us a two-hour gap, which we used to wait in line for Avatar Flight of Passage.
How To Spend One Full Day At Animal Kingdom
We have a full post dedicated to our one-day Animal Kingdom itinerary.
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