We’ve said it once, and we’ll say it again—it’s been a weird year for Disney fans.
The 2020 pandemic changed a lot of things at Disney parks, instigating lengthy closures, changes in attendance patterns, and the introduction of new policies like required Parks Pass Reservations. Disney is, understandably, doing everything they can to recoup losses and get things back to normal, meaning we’ve entered a new era of company-wide belt-tightening. Perks like MagicBands, the Magical Express, and all-day park hopping have gone bye-bye while upcharges multiply.
It’s not a huge shock that the Fastpass+ system became an early casualty of the season—a shift now been confirmed to be permanent. Though much-loved by guests as a means of lowering waits for a few rides a day, the system came with some significant problems, primarily in the way that it threw off crowd control measures in the park and stand-by queue lengths.
We’ve long known that Disney has been pondering alternatives to FastPass+ at Walt Disney World. That alternative has arrived, and unfortunately, it’s going to cost you.
Starting in October, guests will have access to three new systems in lieu of Fastpass+. The first is a free update to the My Disney Experience app called Disney Genie, a service to help guests plan their days and determine the best rides to head to when (a concept that may end up proving an interesting circus in and of itself).
The other two additions are Genie+ and Individual Attraction Access, and these are where the controversy kicks in. Genie+ is essentially a paid version of Fastpass+, similar to Disneyland’s already-existing MaxPass or Disneyland Paris’ Premier Access. For $15 a day per guest, Genie+ will grant guests access to “Lightning Lanes” for specific rides, one at a time. These queues are essentially a rebrand of the Fastpass+ queues, only you won’t have to reserve your spot months ahead of time.
The key twist is that Genie+ will not grant access to Lightning Lanes for E-Ticket rides—to access those, you’ll need to use a different system called Individual Attraction Access. For a separate fee (that could be anywhere from $4-$50 per guest, per ride), guests can gain access to Lightning Lanes for Disney’s most popular attractions. Disney hasn’t released a list of these rides yet, but it’s safe to say that E-Tickets like Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and Avatar Flight of Passage will be on the list. Guests will be limited to two Individual Attraction Access purchases a day.
While not as restrictive as the olden days when guests had to buy tickets for individual rides, it’s still a form of pay to play, and it’s fair to see why many guests aren’t happy.
Despite our reservations, we want to give Genie+ and Lightning Lanes a fair assessment. Is Genie+ going to be a boon for Disney parkgoers or a source of all-new problems?
1. Pro – Planning a Disney day may get easier
I will admit that as a longtime Disney parkgoer familiar with strategies for reducing waits in line, the concept of Disney Genie (the free planning service) is difficult for me to wrap my head around. Most savvy trip planners go out of their way to do the opposite of what crowds are doing at Disney parks, sometimes using tools like TouringPlans.com as a guide. It’s hard to grasp how encouraging guests to all use the same day-planning system won’t backfire—veteran visitors may ironically be tempted to do the opposite of whatever the app recommends.
Despite this reservation, however, Disney has wowed us before with new technologies, and there are a number of potential benefits to the combination of Disney Genie, Genie+, and Individual Attraction Access.
For one thing, these systems may help make Disney parks easier to navigate for casual visitors. If Disney plays their cards right, they could actually use this system to cleverly encourage dispersing guests more evenly across the parks, meaning you won’t need to be a Disney expert to have some hints on where to go to hit lower queues. We don’t know enough about Genie yet to know how this will play out, but there are potential benefits for parkgoers overall if it is used smartly instead of just as a marketing tool.
As for Genie+ and Individual Attraction Access, for guests who are willing to save up, these two systems will likely take some of the stress out of planning a Disney day. Instead of feeling like you’re rolling the dice and hoping for a perfect string of short queue lengths, you’ll have access to something akin to the original version of Fastpass, allowing a continuous roll of attraction access in lower queues for most attractions. You also won’t have to make ride reservations 30-60 days ahead of time to secure the best spots—Genie+ and Individual Attraction Access will only be available to purchase the day of your visit. In this regard, Genie+ and Individual Attraction Access are a potential improvement over Fastpass+.
2. Con – Another upcharge!
There’s no way around this one—for most guests, the arrival of Genie+ and Individual Attraction Access sounds like a real pain in the wallet.
Disney has been rightfully criticized in recent years for pricing out the middle class—families who used to be the bread and butter of park business. It’s one thing when Disney adds upcharge experiences as potential enhancements to a Disney vacation—I’ve enjoyed a number of these on special occasions—but these used to be extras that didn’t affect other guests much.
The problem is that Disney has been solving budget problems by cutting perks for the average guest—the most notable examples have been MagicBands, the Disney Magical Express, and now, FastPass+. Disney tickets, dining, and resort reservations are already expensive compared to other theme park destinations. A free Fastpass system was one of the things that set Disney apart from competitors like Universal Studios.
The truth is that some of the families that could benefit the most from systems like Genie+ and Individual Attraction Access are going to be the ones who will have the hardest time accessing it as raising costs have already stretched vacation budgets to the limit. For Passholders who visit frequently, the cost will be even more difficult to justify.
Another painful pill to swallow when it comes to Genie+ is that it won’t help guests get onto Disney’s most popular attractions, such as Avatar Flight of Passage or Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. To get Lightning Lane access to E-Ticket attractions like these, guests will have to pay a completely separate fee for the Individual Attraction Access program. While you don’t have to have Genie+ to access this option, the costs will likely rack up quickly for families trying to reduce wait times overall.
We understand that there will be benefits to a paid system like Genie+ and Individual Attraction Access, perhaps even benefits for parkgoers overall, but it’s understandably exasperating for many guests to see more upcharges while perks continue to be removed.
3. Pro – Genie+ won’t affect queues as negatively as Fastpass+ did
One of the most reasonable arguments I’ve heard in favor of Genie+ and Individual Attraction Access is that the new system will likely fix one of the biggest problems of FastPass+.
FastPass+ had a very curious effect on Disney queue lengths. Every ride has a maximum capacity for the day (something we’ve seen vividly displayed in the limited slots available for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance). In order to ensure FastPass+ guests had reasonably short waits compared to those in stand-by lines, Disney reserved a large portion of ride capacity for Fastpass+ guests. Some estimates we’ve heard have put this capacity as high as 60-80%–a big number that dramatically increased stand-by line lengths.
The high number of slots-per-ride set aside for FastPass+ also had a negative effect on crowd control within the parks. Queues serve an important function as “crowd sponges”, corralling guests into designated areas so you have fewer people wandering around in thoroughfares. This concept is part of why Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge felt so empty its first year—the whole land is a giant series of well-designed crowd sponges like queues, shops, and restaurants.
Setting aside 60-80% of ride capacity for FastPass+ caused a significant increase in crowd congestion—instead of having guests waiting in lines across the parks, they filled thoroughfares. This is likely one of the prime reasons why Disney re-instituted stand-by only as part of their pandemic responses. The more people you have socially distanced in queues, the less congestion you have in other areas.
As a paid service available to purchase only on the day of your visit, it seems unlikely that Genie+ and Individual Attraction Access will require 60-80% of ride capacity. You also will likely see a major decrease in “throwaway Fastpasses”, where guests made reservations months ahead of time but chose not to use them, throwing off the algorithm further. The combination of these issues suggests that we are likely to see improvements to stand-by queues and crowd congestion overall compared to the original FastPass+ system.
4. Con – Stand-by lines will likely be longer than they are now
While we are likely to see improvements to stand-by waits and congestion as compared to Fastpass+, the catch is that we’ve already been living in a world without FastPass+.
Since the reopening of Walt Disney World in summer 2020, Disney has limited attraction access to stand-by lines only, with the only exception being exclusive virtual queue access to Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. As of October 2021, this whole system is getting flipped on its head—not only is Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance switching to a stand-by queue (more on that in a bit) but Genie+ and Individual Attraction Access are arriving, and that arrival is going to be felt in some way.
It’s nigh-on-impossible that stand-by queues are not going to increase with the arrival of these two new systems since they will require an allocation of daily ride capacity. For rides with low demand or high capacity, this difference will likely be unnoticeable, but the effect could be more significant on high demand attractions or on very busy days when more guests are willing to shell out the funds to reduce time in line. We are hopeful that the difference won’t be dramatic, but depending on how popular the system becomes, it could make a notable difference in wait times on some attractions as compared to current trends, meaning longer stand-by waits for guests unwilling to purchase the new service.
5. Pro – It’s a good alternative to VIP tours for guaranteed ride access
In the past, one of the only ways you could guarantee access to Disney attractions was to book a Disney VIP tour, where a cast member guides you through the park from ride to ride, allowing you extremely short waits for most rides. These tours are a pretty incredible experience, but they are understandably out of most families’ price range.
For families taking a once-in-a-lifetime Disney vacation, Genie+ and Individual Attraction Access offer an enticing alternative to shelling out for a VIP tour—you may not get a personal guide, custom itinerary, and front-of-line access, but you will reduce your time in line and potentially guarantee access to some of Disney’s most popular attractions.
While Passholders and frequent visitors might scoff at the concept of paying for Genie+ and Individual Attraction Access, these two systems could prove game-changers for visitors taking a once-in-a-lifetime Disney vacation. If you’re only getting one shot at enjoying the Most Magical Place on Earth, you’re understandably going to want to make the most of that experience. Genie+ and Individual Attraction Access will offer a means to do that besides VIP tours.
In particular, paying for Individual Attraction Access could mean the difference in getting onto Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, Disney’s most popular attraction to date. Speaking of which…
6. Con – It might seriously jack up access to Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
If there is one negative to the Individual Attraction Access system that we are least happy about, it is this one—it may become a lot harder to get onto Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.
We’ve already seen one change for this ride that is likely connected to the arrival of Individual Attraction Access: for the first time ever, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is switching to a stand-by queue. The primary reason cited for this is low attendance levels at Disney’s Hollywood Studios due to the pandemic—indeed, on several recent days, boarding groups for Rise of the Resistance stayed available most of the day, something that has never happened before.
It’s hard not to see an ulterior motive to this change, however—a multi-hour queue for Disney’s most popular attraction is going to be a very enticing selling point for Individual Attraction Access. For this ride, Disney can really charge whatever they want and guests will pay for it.
There are a number of ways this new “pay to play” route for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance could make things more difficult for the average guest. If there is an attraction where we are likely to see increased stand-by waits due to the high use of Individual Attraction Access, it is this ride. If Disney chooses to return to using the virtual queue, it’s likely going to mean a smaller number of guaranteed boarding groups are made available, as well as longer waits for those with boarding groups.
The real problem with this scenario is it is going to test Disney’s integrity for preserving a quality guest experience—it really is in the company’s best interest to make the stand-by queue for rides like Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance as long and miserable as possible to encourage visitors to purchase Individual Attraction Access instead. We really hope Disney doesn’t go this route, particularly after the shade they threw at Universal regarding 10 hour attraction waits.
We’re hopeful they don’t go this route, but it is a very real possibility. It’s likely that access to this ride will prove the most expensive Individual Attraction Access purchase in Disney parks—that high cost, as well as the 2-purchases-per-day limit may curb this problem, but this is, admittedly, one of the negatives of the system we are most nervous about.
7. Pro – The service will specifically appeal to out-of-state guests
Remember what we mentioned about once-in-a-lifetime trips? If anyone is going to benefit from the arrival of Genie+ and Individual Attraction Access, it is out-of-state guests.
Florida residents are offered some very nice perks to encourage frequent visits to Walt Disney World. Along with access to Disney’s most affordable Annual Pass options, resort discounts, and special ticket offers, Florida residents have the benefit that many can visit Walt Disney World easily and frequently. Even for those who choose to fly in from the far reaches of the state, travel costs are low compared to those required of out-of-state visitors.
Out-of-state visitors to Walt Disney World already start at a higher price—tickets are more expensive for non-Florida residents, and travel costs like gas, flights, rental cars, and more have to be considered. While some families may be able to pull off a yearly Disney vacation, most have to space those vacations out much further.
Genie+ and Individual Attraction Access are going to prove a very enticing option for this group, particularly for families visiting during busy seasons like holidays. While the cost of the service may put it out of price range for some, others may plan the cost of Genie+ or Individual Attraction Access into their budget to guarantee getting the most out of those special Disney vacations.
For some families, use of this system may even save a trip that looks like its heading for disaster due to unusually high crowds and queue waits. While an extra upcharge is never fun, the new system gives these families options that they did not have before.
8. Con – Passholders are getting the short end of the stick
On the flip side, Genie+ and Individual Attraction Access definitely pang as a negative to one specific group: Annual Passholders.
Longtime Passholders are already feeling a little salty this season—passes have increased in cost while decreasing in value. A number of perks included free with passes have been cut, ranging from the already-mentioned Magic Bands to continued limited access to the parks due to the Parks Pass Reservation system and park hopping limitations.
For most Annual Passholders, Genie+ and Individual Attraction Access may prove a hard sell for those who are already paying a premium for frequent access to the parks. Most Passholders can take the tack that if they can’t access a ride one day, they know they can come back at another time. There is no discount or special version of Genie+ or Individual Attraction Access for Passholders—it is very clearly designed with out-of-state or one-time visitors in mind.
The worst-case scenario is that the arrival of this new system is going to mean noticeably increased wait times for Passholders who aren’t willing to shell out even more money to Disney. If a Passholder catches an attraction that has an unusually high number of Genie+ or Individual Attraction Access users, it’s going to make it harder to access those experiences, further devaluing the Annual Pass program. While Passholders may choose to occasionally spend the extra funds to utilize Genie+ or Individual Attraction Access for special occasions, it’s just not a sustainable option for frequent visitors, particularly for families.
Ideally, we hope Disney will come up with some sort of accommodation or means of access to some of the benefits of the system in a way that’s sustainable for Passholders—the nature of the system may make this impossible though.
Our thoughts regarding Genie+ and Individual Attraction Access are mere speculation at this point—there’s no way to tell how these new systems are going to affect Disney parks, particularly Walt Disney World, until they’ve been around for a while. Whether Genie+ and Individual Attraction Access end up being a good or a bad thing for guests, we’ll just have to wait and see.
What do you think of Genie+ and Individual Attraction Access? Let us know in the comments or on Facebook!
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