Disney announced that they will be doing away with MaxPass and FastPass+ at Disneyland and Disney World. It had been widely speculated that both services would be going away, but now Disney has made it official, and has shared information on its replacement, Genie and Genie+ with Lighting Lane. This new program will launch within the existing My Disney Experience App, on a future date.
Here is everything we know about the service and our thoughts about what we currently understand it to be. This understanding could change as more information is released and people begin to use Genie and Genie+ in the parks.
Genie and Genie+ have been talked about by the Disney Company for a while now, but now they have offered more concrete information. The service will work as your personal road map to Disney parks on a daily basis, using years of data, Disney cast members have built a system that forecast future wait times, showtimes, and best times to do various Disney experiences based on over 60 years of knowledge and expertise. The program will update in real time throughout the day based on many different factors and what guests have indicated has their preferences. There are two levels to the program, Genie and Genie+.
WHAT IS THE SAME?
Genie and Genie+ will allow guests to put in their desired activities for any given day in the park and the program will spit out the “ideal” map of the day. For example; if I say that I want to do Big Thunder Mountain, eat at Pacos Bill, and see Mickey and Minnie at town hall, the app will come back and tell you what order and when you should do these particular activities. Go to Big Thunder Mountain now, because there is a less than average wait, then go see Mickey and Minnie, the projected wait time is 30 mins, then go to Pacos Bill for the short wait time using mobile order. This is a service that will be available to all guests entering the park on any given day.
Don’t know specific activities that you want to do, you can choose from categories of experiences, such as Star Wars or Princesses and the Genie will recommend activities for guests to do!
In App chat. Need to know what time the last monorail runs, simply use the in-app future to text a cast member and receive a response.
Experience Tip Board, this will show you current wait times, showtimes, and when the next reservation at table service restaurants are available. An amazing touch to this is forecasted future wait times for certain attractions.
The Dining Tip Board finds where to eat with current mobile order availability or table service availability, all in one easy place. You can even join a table service waitlist without being at a restaurant.
WHAT IS DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GENIE AND GENIE+
The first major difference is the price. Genie will be free to all guests while Genie+ will be a paid per day service, $15/per day/per ticket at Disney World and $20/per day/per ticket at Disneyland. Meaning a family of 4 will cost $60/day at Disney World and $80/day at Disneyland. This service will include over 40 attractions at Disney World and 15 at Disneyland. Most of the classics rides such as Haunted Mansion and Big Thunder Mountain will be included in this service. We do not have the full list yet.
Genie+ will allow guests to select one attraction at time to return at a later time and use the new Lighting Lane. This is very similar to MaxPass at Disneyland.
Additionally there will be certain attractions that will be pay-per attractions, similar to the system released by Disneyland Paris earlier in the year. This experiences will be pay-per-person. Disney has not released the list of these attractions, but we can guess they will included Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Rise of the Resistance. We also do not know the pricing yet.
Immersive Audio Experiences, there wasn’t a lot released on this, so we are assuming there will be more information to come on this.
Annual Passholders at Disney World and Magic Key holders will be able to add Genie+ at the day of their visit during the initial launch.
Guests staying on property at Disney World will be able to make their first selection at 7am from their resorts and all other guests will need to wait until they are in the park. This is a huge advantage or staying on property at Disney World. At Disneyland all guests will be able to make their first selection when they enter the park. Lighting Lane (the pay per attraction option) selection will be available to resort guests staying on property at 7am, all guests once they are in the park at both Disney World. These passes are limited and based on availability.
This is a lot of information to decipher and this is what we here at Magical Wanderlust Adventures understand it to be true at this time. As more information becomes available our understanding might change.
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