Disney is making major changes to the way you plan your vacation and we’re unpacking all the details.
The new Disney Parks planning service, Disney Genie has FINALLY gotten an official release season and we’ve learned a lot more details. The new service will offer guests different levels of services (some free, some not) to help plan a personalized itinerary in both Disney World and Disneyland. But, what is Disney Genie and more importantly — how much will it cost?
Disney Genie (Complimentary Service)
First off, some good news: The base Disney Genie service will be completely free to all guests of Disney World and Disneyland! The new service will be available through the MyDisneyExperience app for Disney World, and the Disneyland app for Disneyland Resort.
This complimentary service will include:
- Personalized Itineraries & Tip Board (with Attractions Status, Showtimes, Dining Availability, and Standby Wait Times)
- Forecasted Future Wait Times
- Virtual Assistant
- Restaurant Wait List, Check-In, & Reservations
- Mobile Order
- Attraction Virtual Queues
Disney Genie+ (Available for Purchase)
The next level of the service is Disney Genie+. This will be replacing the now-retired Fastpass+ service in Disney World and MaxPass in Disneyland. As a note, Fastpass+ was a free service and Disney Genie+ is paid.
The price for Disney Genie+ is $20 per ticket per day at Disneyland Resort (the same price as the previous MaxPass service) and $15 per ticket per day at Disney World. Guests will be able to purchase in advance, but will not be able to make their selections of rides until day of.
This level of the service will include:
- Lightning Lane (the replacement for the Fastpass or MaxPass queue) for more than 15 attractions at Disneyland Resort and more than 40 attractions at Walt Disney World Resort (one selection at a time, throughout the day, subject to availability)
- Disney World Disney Photopass Augmented Reality Lenses
- Disneyland Disney Photopass downloads from the day
- Audio Experiences
Individual Attractions
You can also purchase Lightning Lane for some individual attractions not included in Disney Genie+. This purchase can be made in addition to or instead of Disney Genie+.
At this time, pricing for this option has not been announced but it will vary by date, attraction, and park. Keep an eye on AllEars for the pricing as we get closer to the launch of Disney Genie.
These selections will include higher-demanded attractions like Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Radiator Springs Racers, Rise of the Resistance, and more.
While an official launch date has not been announced, Disney Genie will make its debut this fall at both Disneyland and Disney World.
Stay tuned to AllEars for all of the details about Disney Genie. We’ll be unpacking the new service and answering your questions!
Click here to read what Disney CEO Bob Chapek had to say about Disney Genie!
What do you think of the pricing? Tell us in the comments!
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Very sad about new charges with pass service and transpiration, when ticket price is the same or more. Also there the convenience of the dining plan gone. For my family having the days planned out worked well for them. Looking at other vacations to take the whole family.
When using geni + and making reservations will it be for your entire friends group? Or does each person have to make LL reservations?
Hi Barry! As of now, Disney has not confirmed exactly how this will work. We will update once they do!
Not in favor of a new pay to play option…but if you’re going to do it, why not just raise ticket prices $15 for everyone, and keep the existing fast pass system? Let people book two in advance of their trip and one the morning of. Pricing the general public out of the park makes the experience a more exclusive one, and hurts the brand.
My wife and I discussed the total cost to visit for a week. Although we’re already committed to this fall, future trips may include heading to Europe, Central America etc. If the cost to visit Disney is going to continue to increase, other destinations are going to become more appealing, and are truly an immersive experience vs. a made to look like the original experience.
Seems like Disney has gotten greedy. They opened too soon in my opinion. Covid is killing people in Florida! It seems nobody cares!
Yet another cash grab. Walt must be spinning in his grave at how his vision for somewhere affordable for families is now pricing people out of coming.
Once the novelty of the anniversary is over, I can see WDW having loads of empty rooms as it is not worth staying onsite.
Look at the international WDW message boards. Many can no longer afford to stay on site, general consensus is that Universal have a better value offering and people are making their next booked trip their last.
I have a question, do you get automatic lightening lane access immediately when you pick your attraction? Will all the attractions be available at all times? Or is it like fast pass and your time might not be till end of day? Because theoretically if that’s the case your 15$ may only get you a couple rides. If they were going to charge the should do it like universal, their system is expensive but easy to use.
For local annual passholders this is ridiculous. There are typically 3 of us so that would be $45/day. If we go 30 times is $1350!!!!!!!!!!!
This makes running over for a few hours completely impractical. I personally loved the old fast pass system where we could usually get at least 10-12 fast pass rides done in about 4-6 hours without having to spend all day in lines or paying extra.
I remember the documentary explaining why Walt wanted to build Disneyland and eventually Walt Disney World. He wanted a place where families could go and have fun together. It seems to me that this “new” Disney is making it so expensive for families to visit Disney and more complicating that it is ruining the spirit in which it was started. It is bad enough that we are all tied to our phones during the course of everyday life, but now we are tied to them during vacation too. The ticket prices continue to go up as well as the prices of their hotels and food; which is expected, from time to time. But this is totally ridiculous. we have been DVC members for 25 years. We have seen the “perks” given to us when we first bought into DVC slowly disappearing. Now, in addition to the continued price hikes for annual passes; families are being asked to pay extra for premier rides. We had always used our points for WDW; now we will stop being annual passholders and start using our points elsewhere. It was a FUN ride, Disney; but it is time to get off of it. I’m sure your success will continue and there will be thousands of people who will continue to visit your parks. However, it is really sad to see the spirit of Disney disappear.
To be perfectly frank, I’m disgusted and angered by this latest decision to now charge for FP access, though I can’t say I’m surprised, after the last couple months. I regret becoming a DVC member. Disney has systematically eliminated just about every perk, and many experiences that made it such a pleasure, and so much fun to visit: FP, Magical Express, free parking, extra magic hours, the Grand Floridian Orchestra, Mizner’s, etc…And who knows if they’re ever going to bring back annual passes, or Tables in Wonderland. (not that I’d buy an AP anymore, certainly not).
As most other commenters have noted, it’s all a money grab, plain and simple. We’re not guests anymore, just customers, whose $ is wanted. Before you know it, you’ll have to pay to ride the monorail, or use a bathroom! I have a trip planned for next month, which I’ll try to enjoy, then after that who knows.
I’ve heard one or two people suggesting that since Disney is a business they can do as they like and the market will eventually even things out; well yes and no. They are a business, but one which myself, and many thousands of others have a contract with. As far as I’m concerned, they’ve broken the contract. And I’m not just one, but one of MANY pissed off DVC members. I predict a huge backlash from this. I suppose I’ll exchange the points through RCI just so Disney won’t get my $, then sell my contract at some point.
Unfortunately, we will probably pay the extra when we go this December. We have already been once in 2020 and couldn’t obtain a boarding pass for ROR the day we went. Without paying, the odds will be against us again getting on it. We already upgraded to a Deluxe resort now that Deluxe resorts only get the extended night hours. We know people that have paid extra at Universal, they said worth every penny, but they were done with the park by 5 pm. People pay at Cedar point and say it worth it. Sadly this will probably be our last trip for many, many years.
As a senior citizen who enjoys going to Disney, this makes me rethink going back. They are nickel and diming us.
Well it was a fun ride. We have a visit planned for Oct/Nov and are taking our nephew for his birthday. That will be our last trip and the DVC points will be sold….at a pretty good profit I must admit. Disney has gotten too big for itself….the magic is gone for us.
Disney is not only charging hundreds of dollars to get into there parks. They are now turning into a carnival pay for each ride.
Money grab, money grab, money grab I am sick and tired of their added fees we will not be returning. We can spend our $7000 elsewhere.
UNBELIEVABLE. They continue to take away and eliminate all that was great about staying on property like choosing your fastpasses earlier than other guests and discontinuing bus service from airport. They continue to find ways to gouge. There is now no distinction from their greedy competitor Universal. it is already an expensive ticket that i could justify it because of what you got for your money but now it is close to unmanageable for most families. i have been a long time Disney fan, we used to go every year, but now it looks like it will be a long time before we go back which saddens me because we had to cancel our trip because of COVID last year. Hey Genie, my 3 wishes are that Disney would stop being so greedy and give us all affordable options. Disney decision makers are officially VILLAINS in my book.
I agree 100%. I must admit, your 3 wishes sentence gave me a chuckle. Well said.
Disney world is a shell of it’s former self, every trip I have taken since 2001 has gotten a little bit worse in the different things taken away, crowd size increase, price hikes, expensive add ONS etc. Just one more thing to squeeze every last dime from visitors. Lines will be just as long but now we will get to pay for them to be long. There are no real perks anymore, other than included transportation, which will probably be the next thing to change. I’m sure Chapel already has it brewing in his mind.
I have to admit when I read the initial news I was pissed… but now that I see photo pass is included, it’s a little easier to swallow. Yeah, it’s an extra $80 per day for a family of four, but factoring in the $200 I would have spent on Memory Maker does make me fee a little better.
i am almost shocked that Disney wants to screw their guests even more. Anything that was free or helped attract average people is now gone. Seems the new Disney Chapek land is all about those with money.
Less Magical. I don’t want to be on my phone the entire trip. Last trip for us.
I would rather get 3 “free” fastpasses and have to plan in advance, then pay more money for an already expensive trip. Now this could mean missing out on some favorite rides, which means losing some of the magic.
At $15/20 per day, most people will pay that. Will that make the lightening lanes longer than the stand-by lines?
Disney used to be my escape from reality. Disney trips were just too hassle-free to resist. Now, it feels like just another tourist trap looking to squeeze every last cent out of it’s customers. (they can no longer call us guests)
I will still go to WDW, but far less so. I have reservations for March at Vero Beach and I will use my points for other things like cruises and RCI exchanges. When I do go to WDW it won’t be for 7 days in the parks either. It will be like 4 and I will sit by the free pool and go to Disney Springs and just relax in the room.
Bad news…..starting next summer there will be an additional fee to sit by the resort pool.
Sarcasm of course but don’t put it past them
You keep referring to the stand by line is still free. IT IS NOT FREE. You pay for it with the park ticket fee or annual pass, etc. I guess you may refer to it as a perk. Well what happens when WDW takes that perk away? Like so many other perks. Now the park fee or pass would only get you into the park and then apparently WDW would be charging to ride each and every ride. I believe that just might happen.
So is the regular photo pass going away as well?
I don’t think so. Reading the post on Disney’s official website, the PhotoPass downloads are only included for Disney Land, not Disney World. The Disney World side of it only includes some augmented reality stuff.
Disney! Come on!…this was a great opportunity to really change the paradigm. Genie plus should be $100 at least. You are going to take a public relations hit taking away fast pass no matter the price, beit 20 bucks or 400 bucks…go whole hog and make this a limited sale, extremely expensive add on for extremely short lines. 20 bucks a person for a 7000 dollar vacation…? Yeah, everyone is going to pay that. This isn’t a line mitigation feature, it’s just a price increase akin to resort fees. Hopefully this 20 dollar is a trial run and genie plus costs 5x that by the new year.
It feels a lot like the paper fast pass system in the old days. I am ok with $15 per day. It is better than some other parks.
Would add about $575 to my trip that’s costing me $12k already. Not a lot in the grand scheme of things, but it took me 4yrs to save for this trip. Luckily buying it is optional and I ain’t buying it. I’d rather do an extra day at each park and wait in the lines… sorry disney, you ain’t getting my gold.
GREEDY, GREEDY, GREEDY. I HOPE PEOPLE WILL RESPOND BY NOT GOING UNTIL THEY CHANGE THIS
So this great improvement will cost $15/person but not include all rides available. For those you will pay an additional fee!? And park ticket prices keep increasing to basically walk thru the turnstiles. Looks like 2022 will be our last trip to any Disney pproperty. So what’s next, paying to use the transportation system on property?
Don’t give them any more ideas…
Honestly, sad and disappointed. Mainly disappointed. Especially after the insane prices announced for the new Star wars hotel, you’d think WDW would want to do a PR spin to make themselves feel more inclusive to their guests. I hope this idea goes the way of Fast Pass plus. I was always proud of WDW for not sinking as low as other parks to require guests to pay for a cut the line service, but I guess the pandemic has made everyone rethink their priorities – and it’s obvious that money is now the Disney priority.
I have a trip scheduled for Disney World in January 2022. It will be my last trip to Disney. I can spend my money elsewhere. They have greedily taken enough of my money. So glad I didn’t get an annual pass or DVC.
I think that it’s just making it harder for folks to afford a vacation at Disney, which is a terrible shame.
OUTRAGEOUS!!!!!!! if is already becoming cost prohibitive and now you add on an additional fee just to get on the rides???? where does it end? i am a stockholder, an annual passholder and DVC member and i am floored that they want to get a little deeper into my pocket. this system will definitely separate separate the haves from the have-nots. SHAME ON YOU
I have to say this decision is pretty disheartening. Taking away free Fastpass and replacing it with paid is bad enough, but then to have an additional E-Ticket+ tier that you have to pay even more for is absurd. People are already paying hundreds of dollars a day for park tickets and now just to get to ride the rides in a day there’s an expectation to pay even more, in some cases on a ride by ride basis? Disney has never been cheap or even affordable exactly, but the changes to early morning hours disadvantaging any non property guests and now this is creating even more of a classist feel to the experience.
I used to go to WDW every two summers and my family would stay at a time share off property and we would just rope drop parks that were not scheduled for early morning resort guest entrance to avoid walking into the park to lines and get a Fastpass for some major attraction. Now I guess we get to walk into any park with 30+ minutes of resort guests already inside and unless we are shelling out another $80/day for a family of four we get to live and die by standby.
Are they going to limit the lightning lane to 1x per day like Universal had done at least or are all standby people going to have to watch as LL people get to re-ride multiple times?
This is better than I expected, and I’m OK with it – it’s basically MaxPass with a new name for both resorts, and actually cheaper at WDW, with some additional perks. Getting rid of FastPass+ means you don’t have to plan your ride schedule 2 months in advance (or to rush to your computer the morning of your 60-day window hoping to get an FOP reservation), which is nice. Making it a paid service rather than a free one should limit the wait time in the Lightning Lines, and limit its impact on standby lines.
I was worried everything was going to be pay-per-ride, which would have been very unpleasant. But $15/day/ticket isn’t too expensive of an add-on, especially since you don’t have to buy it every day of your stay.
For comparison, the Six Flags Great America Bronze Flash Pass (which is similar to the Genie+ service, but just for the lines) is $60/day/ticket. Genie+ is certainly a better deal than that!
Your going to love the new pay bathrooms! They will take Disney Dollars, that Chapek will sell for $2 each.
That is no joke. I expect WDW to do it.
In addition, it will need to be scheduled in Genie + to come back at a later time to use the lightning lane. Then the restrooms will be tiered according to what you have to do in there. $5.00 for doing number 1 and $10.00 for number 2. $2.00 to use toilet paper. $1.00 to use soap and water to wash your hands.
Richard, expect to receive a job application in the mail from Chapek any day now. They like your ideas.
Not as expendsive and cheaper than Disneyland. ONLY FOR SO LONG MY FRIEND !!!!!!!!!
To quote Prince John from Robin Hood, “squeeze every last drop out of those insolent, musical peasants.”