The Disney Parks are a mainstay of American culture. Walt Disney masterminded an experience to which millions of us flock year after year. And through the years, Cast Members and Imagineers have continued to come up with ways to optimize the guest experience. Introducing their newest innovation: Disney Genie Service.
The FastPass+ and MaxPass systems of WDW and Disneyland have been retired. Since their suspension with the parks’ reopening, we have speculated quite a bit about what the future queue systems would look like. Today we have some answers.
Disney Genie
Disney Genie is a complimentary and convenient new digital service designed to create your best Disney day.
Built right into the My Disney Experience and Disneyland apps, Disney Genie service will maximize your park time, so you can have more fun. It includes a personalized itinerary feature that will quickly and seamlessly map out an entire day. From specific attractions, foodie experiences and entertainment, to general interests like Disney princesses, villains, Pixar, Star Wars, thrill rides and more – just tell Disney Genie what you want to do and it will do the planning for you.
As Disney fanatics and travel planners, we MousekeMoms think this is fabulous! If this app delivers as promised, it will take all the guesswork out of your park day. How? Even if you have a detailed itinerary, things happen at the park. You have to be able to pivot Disney Genie will continue to update your itinerary throughout your day, so you can be more spontaneous and go with the flow.
Disney’s ultimate goal is always to maximize your experience, but your perfect experience may be different from someone else’s. You can now create your very own personal tip board to instantly see your favorites. It will display current AND forecasted future wait times, helping you predict when you might experience quicker entry to attractions.
You’ll also use Disney Genie to join a virtual queue at certain attractions, make dining and experience reservations, mobile order food at many locations, get help from a virtual assistant and more.
Lightning Lane
That all sounds great, right? But what about FastPasses? Whether you were on Team MaxPass at Disneyland or team FastPass+ at Walt Disney World, we all loved being able to skip the queue on at least some attractions. Sadly, these features have been retired. Enter the new Lightning Lane.
Standby queues and Virtual queues (on select attractions) will still be available. And while virtual Queues can be accessed with Disney Genie, access to Lightning Lane is only available with the purchase of Disney Genie + for select attractions. For some of the E-ticket attractions, you’ll be able to make Individual Attraction Selections for an additional fee.
While we don’t know what pricing will be for the individual attraction options, we do know that you can opt to purchase a combination of options. It seems as though different attractions will be available with the different options. Here is the word directly from Disney:
- Disney Genie+ service (available for purchase): For the price of $15 per ticket per day at Walt Disney World Resort and $20 per ticket per day at Disneyland Resort, choose the next available time to arrive at a variety of attractions and experiences using the Lightning Lane entrance. You can make one selection at a time, throughout the day – from classics like Haunted Mansion to thrill rides like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and newer favorites like Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run (attractions subject to limited availability). This convenient option is the next evolution of the fan-favorite Disney MaxPass service from Disneyland Resort. Disney Genie+ will also include Disney parks-themed audio experiences and photo features to capture your memories – augmented reality lenses for those visiting Walt Disney World Resort and unlimited Disney PhotoPass downloads from your day if you are visiting Disneyland Resort.
- Individual attraction selections (available for purchase): Schedule a time to arrive at up to two highly demanded attractions each day using the Lightning Lane entrance – like Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at Magic Kingdom Park and Radiator Springs Racers at Disney California Adventure park (subject to limited availability; attractions not included with Disney Genie+). Pricing for this option will vary by date, attraction and park and will be announced closer to launch.
When using Lightning Lane service, selections will be made on the day of your visit. While familiar to Disneyland guests, this is a departure for those of us used to WDW’s advanced FastPass booking system. There will definitely still be some strategy involved, as you can only select one Lighting Lane choice at a time, and they are subject to availability. We look forward to figuring all that our with and for you, and to getting some more answers. Stay tuned right here as the details unfold. And in the meantime, let us know your thoughts and questions. This one has the interwebs abuzz! What do you have to say???
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