Photo credits (C) Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Photo credits (C) Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Disney Announces Paid FastPass-Like Services And New Genie App

Starting this fall, Disney will roll out the new Disney Genie app – which will be part of the My Disney Experience app at Walt Disney World and the Disneyland app in California.  This is part of a series of changes that include dropping the current FastPass systems and creating new free and paid offerings.

Let’s take a look:

Disney Genie

Price: Free

The Disney Genie part of the app will offer personalized itineraries and will recommend attractions, dining, and entertainment based on your interests.

Disney Genie will:

  • Update constantly throughout the day.
  • Provide a personal tip board with your favorite experiences and will display current and forecasted future wait times.  This will help you determine when you might want to experience an attraction with the lowest wait time.
  • Pull together all your Disney plans in one place, including virtual queues, dining reservations, and mobile food orders.

Genie+

Price: $15 per ticket per day at Disney World; $20 per ticket per day at Disneyland

Genie+ is like the paid Disney MaxPass at Disneyland.  Choose the next available time to arrive at select attractions and experiences, by making one selection at a time.  It is much like the original FastPass system – you get one “reservation” for the next open slot, and after that reservation time passes, you can get another “reservation.”

Disney Genie+ will also include Disney parks-themed audio experiences and photo features.  It provides augmented reality lenses at Walt Disney World and unlimited Disney PhotoPass downloads at Disneyland.

Lightning Lane

Price: Varies by date and attraction, to be announced

Lightning Lane allows you to pay for and schedule an arrival time at up to two high-demand attractions each day.  This is much like the Disney World FastPass+ offering, but you make your selections on the day of your visit – not days or weeks in advance.

Disney did not announce pricing, but the similar paid service at Disneyland Paris costs about $9.50 to $18.00 per person, per ride.

Standby Still Available

Disney attractions will still offer a standby queue and, in some cases, virtual queues at certain attractions like Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.

Disney is retiring FASTPASS, FastPass+, and MaxPass offerings.

Disney is releasing paid FastPass-like services – what do you think?