The company got rid of the free FastPass+ and replaced it with two paid services that keep evolving.
Disney World fans have been forced to deal with a lot of change over the past few years.
First, the theme park had to move to a reservation system so that Walt Disney (DIS) – Get The Walt Disney Company Report could manage crowds during the pandemic. That meant that in order to visit one of the company’s four Florida theme parks, you needed both a valid admission and a reservation.
That’s an added wrinkle many Disney World visitors don’t like because it’s not always possible to get the park you wanted on the day you hoped to visit. That change particularly hurt local annual passholders because it’s no longer possible to simply drop in for a few hours on a whim. Now, you need a reservation and those can (and do) sell out.
That first change may be unpleasant, but it’s easy to understand why it happened. Disney needed more crowd control during the pandemic and those needs persist as the company has not fully reinstated capacity (and may never do so).
The second big change — getting rid of the free FastPass+ and replacing it with Genie+ and Lightning Lanes — has been far less easy for fans to stomach.
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What Are Disney’s Genie+ and Lightning Lanes?
Under the old FastPass+ system, park visitors could make reservations for times to ride various rides or attractions either 30 or 60 days before their visit (it depended upon whether they were staying on property). Under that system you could make three reservations and then could make another (if one was available) once those three had been used.
It was hardly a perfect system, but it was one that guests liked and, most importantly, it was free.
The new system consists of two parts. First, there’s Genie+ which gives the equivalent of a FastPass+ experience for some rides, attractions, character spots, and events for $15 per person, per day. You can only make one selection at a time and select rides aren’t in the Genie+ system. The rides that are not offered on Genie+ (basically the newest and most popular ones) can be reserved through a standalone Lightning Lane system. Pricing and availability for those varies by date, attraction, and park, according to Disney.
Disney Adds More Star Wars to Genie+
While “Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance,” the signature ride at Hollywood Studios Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, is an added fee Lightning Lane purchase, Disney still offers plenty of Star Wars through the basic Genie+ package. You can currently pick “Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run,” which is also in Galaxy’s Edge, as well as the older “Star Tours: The Adventure Continues” through the program.
Now, Disney will soon expand the Star Wars selections offered at Hollywood Studios to include three separate experiences, Theme Park Tourist reported. The new choices include separate opportunities to meet Darth Vader and Chewbacca, as well as a third choice to visit the “Star Wars: Launch Bay” exhibit.
The new offerings go into effect on July 17.
Disney has steadily added new options to Genie+ which benefits people who pay for it in a number of ways. More choices, first of all, means a larger chance you actually get to skip the line for the rides, attractions, events, or picture opportunities most important to you. In addition, some things only had a traditional standby line and adding a Genie+ option increases the value of the service.
Genie+, to be fair, is a paid service that offers less then the old FastPass+ free service but the company has been working to make it a good value.
