There’s a new way to skip the line at Disney. What to know about FastPass replacement
With Miami-Dade public schools the state’s last to start on Monday, this is the last vacation weekend for many Floridians. And who, among them, really wants to spend more than an hour in line to ride Space Mountain at Walt Disney World when this weekend’s Orlando temperatures are forecast in the low 90s with a heat index warning between 100 and 105 degrees?
Just in time, on Wednesday Disney rolled out its new Genie service app at its parks in Florida and California. The company boasts that Genie can help parkgoers streamline their visits and slash some of those wait times.
Genie, a digital service built into the My Disney Experience and Disneyland apps, replaces FastPass, FastPass+ and Disney MaxPass at Disney World in Orlando and Disneyland in Anaheim, according to WESH2.
How Genie works
Tapping your phone, you lift the lamp on this Genie and tell the digital assistant what you’re specific interests are.
Are you with young kids who want to hit a specific park attraction?
Should we go on the ride now or consider stopping for a bite to eat if there is a better time when the Splash Mountain line might not be so long?
“Genie is going to take all the input and tell you, ‘This is what you should do and how you can have the most fun possible in a Disney park.’ That’s game changing,” Disney Parks, Experiences and Products Chairman Josh D’Amaro told Disney fan site D23.
There is also a paid version, Disney Genie+, that accesses the app’s Lightning Lane feature for $15 at Disney World ($20 at Disneyland) that does what the free, and now deleted Disney FastPass, did, more or less.
Among the features fans will probably tap into, Lightning Lane lets park visitors find ways in advance to avoid long waits at the over 40 Orlando attractions like Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run and Haunted Mansion.
Less time sweating in line, more time to buy stuff. Disney ain’t stupid.
Or, as D’Amaro says: The audio, video and augmented reality dreamy Genie “relieves pressure to make sure you’re maximizing your time.”
The Disney Parks blog has a rundown on Genie’s powers, er, services.
This story was originally published August 19, 2021 at 12:48 PM.
