In case you haven’t heard, there’s a new Genie in town, and he’s going to be very active at the Walt Disney World Resort VERY soon. There are 3 tiers to the new system: Disney Genie, Disney Genie+ and Individual Attraction Selections.
What’s Disney Genie?
Disney Genie is a free service that will be offered to all guests with valid park tickets. It’s going to offer a personalized day planner, a tip board, show wait times, have a virtual assistant, allow you to mobile order and enter virtual queues.
Nothing needs to be done on your part to take advantage of Disney Genie other than having the My Disney Experience app on your phone! And don’t worry, standby lines will still be available to all guests. Just make sure you have downloaded the most recent version of the My Disney Experience app to be able to take advantage of all these fun and free experiences.
What’s Disney Genie+?
Disney has eliminated the FastPass system that used to be offered with all tickets to the Walt Disney World Resort, and has replaced it with a paid service called Disney Genie+ and a second option for Individual Attraction Selections. These two new products will become available for purchase for the Walt Disney World Resort beginning October 19, 2021, and can either be done for the length of stay/ length of your ticket ahead of time OR on an individual day by day basis on the specific day you plan to visit. What time you can add that to your ticket and make your selections will depend on where you are staying, with earlier access being offered to Disney owned and operated Resort guests, guests of Shades of Green, and Guests at Disney’s Swan and Dolphin resorts at 7 AM Eastern, and guests not staying at those locations as of park opening each day.
In addition to entrance into Lightning Lanes, Disney Genie+ will also give guests access to special PhotoPass Lenses that only come with your Genie+ access. You’ll be able to have new augmented reality special effects on some of your pictures based on specific locations you are located in in the theme parks. You can download these photos/ videos to enjoy when you get home too!
You’ll also have access to Audio Tales, which will allow you to discover the parks in cool new ways with fun facts and behind-the-scenes insights you can listen to during your visit.
How much does Disney Genie+ cost?
Disney Genie+ service is offered at more than 40 attractions within all four theme parks. Access to “Lightning Lanes” for these attractions (aka the old FastPass queues) will be included for you when you purchase Disney Genie+ for a $15 per ticket, per day fee. You can add this access to your vacation package or individual ticket purchase ahead of time.
It must be done for the length of your entire ticket, and for all members of your traveling party that have tickets in your vacation package. If you only want to have it for a day or so of your stay, you’ll need to wait to add it within your My Disney Experience app (it’s NOT available via the website) on the specific day you want it. This will also allow you to not purchase it for everyone in your traveling party.
How does Disney Genie+ work?
Once Disney Genie+ access is added to your ticket, you will be able to make a Lightning Lane entrance time for one specific attraction at a time, for the number of days you have purchased it for. You may not made an additional Genie+ Lightning Lane reservation for any other attractions until after you have used your pending Lightning Lane reservation. You can modify the time/ attraction by cancelling and rebooking to any available time/ attraction that you prefer.
What are Individual Attraction Selections?
Within each theme park, there will be 2 attractions that are only going to be available via the regular lines or by purchasing access to the Lightning Lane via an Individual Attraction Selection purchase. These Individual Attraction Selections CANNOT be purchased ahead of time, and will only be available for purchase on the specific day you plan to use the selection, but you don’t have to purchase Disney Genie+ in order to buy an Individual Attraction Selection.
Keep in mind, you can only purchase TWO Individual Attraction Selections PER DAY. The entrances do not have to be in the same theme park, so if you are park hopping you can do one in the first theme park you visit, while the second one can be done in a different theme park you plan to visit later on in the day.
How much does an Individual Attraction Selection pass cost?
The cost of the Individual Attraction Selections will be based on the specific attraction you wish to purchase entrance for, as well as the specific date you will be visiting. This information will be disclosed to you prior to completing the purchase, and some days are more expensive than others. Keep in mind, unlike the Disney Genie+ selections, these cannot be modified or changed once purchased.
While it sounds confusing when you first hear about it, the “new” system is pretty much like the old system in the parks from years ago when everyone only had access to paper FastPasses, only now they’re electronic. You can only hold one Disney Genie+ attraction return time at a time, but you can hold the two Individual Attraction Selections at the same time that you have a Genie+ return time.
Are these add ons unlimited?
They are not limiting the number of people allowed to add Disney Genie+ to their tickets, but there may be instances where the specific attractions you want to get Lightning Lane access to no longer have available return times. The number of Individual Attraction Selections will be limited, and again, those are only available for purchase on the day you want to ride the ride, and only available via the app.
Keep in mind, the list of attractions is always subject to change and availability for both Disney Genie+ and Individual Attraction Selections. Don’t forget, regular lines and virtual queues for attractions that offer that WILL still be available, so if you do not want to add this, you do not have to. It might sound daunting, but I think it will be nice to go back to a system where people only hold a pass for one attraction at a time. Hopefully that will spread things out more, and allow more people to be able to enjoy their favorite attractions with lower wait times.
Thinking about a visit to the Walt Disney World Resort sometime soon? I’d love to help you out! Contact me today and we can start planning your next magical Disney trip!
Wondering about where you should stay? Check out these various Disney resort options, from Disney’s Art of Animation Resort to Disney’s Polynesian Resort or Disney’s Bay Lake Tower. There’s bound to be a resort that is perfect for your vacation.
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