First Thoughts On The New Genie System

If you've been keeping track of the Disney parks, you may have noticed that Disney did not bring back the FastPass system when reopening the parks in 2020. Recently, the company announced a FastPass replacement. This new system is called "Genie". Like all changes to the Disney parks, this has been met with a lot of criticism. Let's break down some features of Genie to see if it will actually be an improvement or a hinderance. 

FastPasses

Walt Disney World's previous system of FastPasses was fairly simple to use. If you had a park ticket, you could select up to three FastPasses 30 days in advance. There were a certain number of passes for each attraction and for each time slot. Each FastPass had an hour long time slot. For example, if you booked a FastPass for a ride from 1:00-2:00, you could get in line anytime during that hour.  Sometimes Cast Members would allow a 15 minute grace period on either end. So you could potentially get in line as early as 12:45 or as late as 2:15. If you stayed onsite at a Walt Disney World Resort hotel, you had the extra advantage of booking FastPasses 60 days in advance. 

    If you didn't book FastPasses in advanced - hakuna matata! There were FastPass kiosks in every single park. You could stroll on up and a Cast Member would help you out.  If you used up all 3 of your FastPasses  before the park closed, you could go back to the kiosks and book a 4th one!

    I've used the FastPass system in all three scenarios - as an off-site hotel guest, as an on-site guest, and as a same-day visitor. By far, the most advantageous one was the 60-day advancement booking as an on-site guest. The early access offered more options for my favorite rides at which ever times I wanted. When booking FastPasses as a same-day visitor, I typically was only able to book 1 FastPass that I actually wanted and the other 2 would go to waste. I still got to experience a popular attraction without wasting an hour in line so I was always happy about that. 

Genie

Directly from Disney's website, Genie will allow guests to: 

• Get Itinerary Updates from Morning to Night: Disney Genie will continue to update your itinerary throughout your day, so you can be more spontaneous and go with the flow.
• Find Your Favorites at a Glance: Create your very own personal tip board to instantly see your favorites. It will display current AND forecasted future wait times, helping you predict when you might experience quicker entry to attractions.
• Enjoy More Flexibility and Fun: Disney Genie brings existing planning features together in one place. Join a virtual queue at certain attractions, make dining and experience reservations, mobile order food at many locations, get help from a virtual assistant and more.

Genie+

In addition to the standard Genie system, Disney is offering Genie+. This is essentially the FastPass system with some new features. According to Disney's website:

• Disney Genie+ service (available for purchase): For the price of $15 per ticket per day at Walt Disney World Resort and $20 per ticket per day at Disneyland Resort, choose the next available time to arrive at a variety of attractions and experiences using the Lightning Lane entrance. You can make one selection at a time, throughout the day – from classics like Haunted Mansion to thrill rides like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and newer favorites like Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run (attractions subject to limited availability). This convenient option is the next evolution of the fan-favorite Disney MaxPass service from Disneyland Resort. Disney Genie+ will also include Disney parks-themed audio experiences and photo features to capture your memories – augmented reality lenses for those visiting Walt Disney World Resort and unlimited Disney PhotoPass downloads from your day if you are visiting Disneyland Resort.

• Individual attraction selections (available for purchase): Schedule a time to arrive at up to two highly demanded attractions each day using the Lightning Lane entrance – like Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at Magic Kingdom Park and Radiator Springs Racers at Disney California Adventure park (subject to limited availability; attractions not included with Disney Genie+). Pricing for this option will vary by date, attraction and park and will be announced closer to launch.

Biggest Con: Pay-To-Play

Disney is taking away a previously free service and charging people for it. And worse - it's a watered-down service. Instead of three free FastPasses, you now have to pay for only two. And they know people will shell out for it because this service is what they're already used to. It's difficult to imagine a Disney trip without FastPasses. And the free FastPasses are what makes Disney stand out in comparison to other theme parks where visitors are charged hundreds of dollars for the same service. This nickel-and-diming is just one more way Disney is continuing to price out the middle class. The people who pay extra for this service will either grumble and gripe about how they "have" to pay for this service in order to have a good time or they are already fortunate enough that the extra cost is nothing to them. It is important to remember that this extra cost may be everything to others. Some comments online have been quite nasty regarding the price increase. There are some families who save up for years to go on their once-in-a-lifetime vacation. Discriminating against different socioeconomic classes does nothing for anybody. I implore park fans to keep ALL Disney visitors in mind when forming opinions on Genie.

    The most interesting sentiment I've seen is that this will make people more reliant on their phones than ever before within the parks. There are still a few people who want to be on their phones for as little as possible at the parks. They want to look up and take in everything all around them. Now, you need to use your phone to make ride reservations, dining reservations, food mobile orders, hotel check ins, and even browsing for souvenirs. The Genie making frequent suggestions and alerts will have you glued to your phone screen the whole day. 

Additional Con: No Advanced Planning

    I've seen mixed attitudes towards this day-of planning. The bright side to this is that locals making spontaneous trips do not have to worry about all the FastPasses being snatched up. This can allow for non-planners to have the same chance as everyone else. One of the downsides is it is another perk taken away from those staying onsite. With Magical Express gone, free parking gone, and now the early access for booking FastPasses, and hotel prices increasing, there really is no reason to stay at an onsite hotel anymore. I hope more people realize this. If demand for onsite reservations goes down, Disney will be forced to re-evaluate. 

    It is said that Lighting Lane bookings will be available at 7am. I've heard concerns that this will overload the network and may cause technical difficulties, similar to what guests experienced with Rise of the Resistance Boarding Passes.  With the previous FastPass system, booking availabilities were more spread out. 

    This lack of advanced planning will cause stress for those who like to plan in advance. Perhaps a family is planning their entire day around two attractions. If the system crashes or is slow and they are not able to get the bookings, then their entire day will be ruined and they will have little time before arriving to the parks to re-strategize. 

Possible Pro: Crowd Control

The biggest reason for this new system (besides more money for the mouse) is crowd control. Over the last 5 years, the park's relationship with social media has boomed. Disney parks became not just a place just for once-in-a-lifetime family summer vacation or a spot for locals to hang out whenever. Now, it is a place to take a pic for the 'gram. People swarm to be the first to buy the newest merchandise or the first to try a new treat. People need to Disneybound, post a sick pic with a rare character, and vlog the a ride through of the latest attraction.  And I'm not criticizing my generation for this - I'm guilty of this as well! However, you cannot deny that Disney's popularity has exploded in comparison to the early 2000s. 

    In the early 2010's, there were plenty of planning websites with "life hacks" on how to beat the crowds: go during off-season, arrive early for rope drop, visit rides in a certain order, ect. But as of the late 2010s, these tips are useless. There is no off season. There is no slow time of day. Rarely do wait times ever drop below half an hour. In the past 5 years, visitors are constantly commenting on how busy the parks are. 

    The Disney Company themselves are partially to blame for this. In 2016, Disney changed the way tickets are priced. Now, the cost of tickets would depend on the time of year. Tickets would be most expensive during peak times (like summer and Christmas break) and less expensive during slower times (like January and September). This enticed people to visit during the off season. This is why there is no off season anymore. This strategy was great for the company to make money, but severely decreased guest satisfaction. People who have gone during the pandemic state the biggest perk is the reduced capacity. Now that capacity is increasing,  Disney needs to find another way to spread the crowds around.

    Genie has the potential to do this. Think about the most popular attractions. At rope drop, everyone stampedes for Seven Dwarfs, Frozen, Slinky Dog and Flight of Passage. And as more people enter the park throughout the morning, the longer these lines get. Perhaps Genie could suggest a portion of guests to go to a less-popular ride in the morning. This would spread around the crowds. 

Possible Pro: Planning Tools For Newbies

    In my previous post, I discussed just how unprepared some first-timers are when they arrive. People who do not care to do prior research will not have to anymore. They don't even have to talk to a Cast Member. They can just tell the app that their 5 year old loves Princesses and the app with plan out a day for them.  However, I can't see the planning aspect of this system beneficial for frequent visitors. I also mentioned in that same post that keeping your day flexible and wandering wherever your heart desires can lead to some awesome memories. Doing whatever your phone tells you to do takes the spontaneity out of a visit.

Final Thoughts

I am personally very skeptical of Genie and do not intend to use it. However, I will be waiting and watching. Perhaps the system will have some benefits. I'm optimistic that if the system is a complete failure, Disney will re-evaulate. However, I know Disney Park Stans well enough to know that people will pay for anything regardless of cost. Overall, Genie does not seem beneficial for me to use at all. Maybe others will find it useful. What are your thoughts on Genie?