In this post I am going to look at the new Disney Genie App at Disney World. This new app looks to improve on the My Disney Experience App also used at Disney World guests by providing a more personalized service based on your preferences. So what is the Genie App?
A Walt Disney World vacation involves a lot of planning as there is a lot to see and do from rides and shows to dining experiences too. The aim of the Disney Genie App is to make this process for Disney World Guests easier. But will it achieve this and isn’t part of the fun in the planning?
What is the Disney Genie App?
Disney Genie is the next generation of vacation planning app for The Walt Disney World Resort. Guests will use the Disney Genie App to make customized trip itineraries and park touring plans. These will be based on their own preferences such as what rides they want to experience.
The App will potentially help guests make decisions on what they want to do inside the Disney World Parks. This could be useful as it can sometimes be confusing to choose which rides and attractions to head to based just on wait times.
By telling the App that you love Star Wars, Frozen or Thrill Rides it will help you to plan your park days efficiently especially with regards to making the most of your time.
“From a royal, princess-themed day at Magic Kingdom Park to a trip around the world at EPCOT for foodies and even a perfect day for thrill-seekers.”
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- Is Genie+ Worth It?
- Genie Plus at Magic Kingdom
- Genie Plus at Epcot
- Is Avatar on Genie Plus at Animal Kingdom?
- Genie+ at Hollywood Studios
Disney Genie App Launch Date
Disney launched the Disney Genie App October 19 2021 at Walt Disney World Resort. The App will be a complimentary digital service designed to create your best Disney day.
Disney State:
We’ve been listening to your feedback – you want planning to be easier, you want more flexibility and you want better tools to help you make the most of your visit – and that’s exactly what Disney Genie is here to do. We’ve made significant investments in this cool new technology, which guides you through our theme parks with tips that can help you reduce time in lines, discover magic around every corner and take the guesswork out of “what’s next.”
Disney Genie will Be Part of the My Disney Experience App
The new service will be incorporated into the My Disney Experience and Disneyland apps. As previously reported the Disney Genie service will aim to maximize your park time, so you can have more fun. It will include a personalized itinerary planning feature that will quickly and seamlessly automate an entire day.
More Confirmed Features:
Disney have confirmed that the Disney Genie App will have the following features included:
- 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.
Disney Genie Plus and Lightning Lanes
The Disney Genie App will offer some premium paid services. Below are the full details from Disney:
- 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.
Lightning Lane selections will be made on the day of your visit and can be used across all the Disney parks. This will be useful if like me you do a lot of park hopping. Attractions continue to offer a traditional standby queue, or a virtual queue at certain attractions like Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance – to maximize flexibility.
FastPass+ Has Been Retired at Disney World
FASTPASS, FastPass+ and Disney MaxPass services has been retired and replaced by the Disney Genie service. You don’t have to use the new service, but it would seem that this is very much aimed at gaining more revenue from guests.
My assumption is that the new paid services are aimed to get guest to pay prior to their park visits but also when they are already in the parks especially if they are finding busy on that particular day. You would think quite a lot of people will be tempted to pay for access to attractions on the day if they are finding things busy.
visit DisneyWorld.com/DisneyGenie and Disneyland.com/DisneyGenie for details for the service at WDW and Disneyland.
The History of the Disney Genie App
In 2019 at the D23 Expo, Disney announced, the Disney Genie App, a new digital assistant vacation planning app. we hadn’t heard any updates about it since, but….
That changed recently following an interview current Disney CEO Bob Chapek.
It was confirmed that the Disney Genie App was still in the works and would be coming to Disney World in the future during the interview.
The app has also been discussed by the Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products Josh D’Amaro, which we will go into.
What Did Bob Chapek Said About the New App?
In an earnings call on Aug 12, 2021, Disney’s Former CEO Bob Chapek spoke about the Disney Genie app. Here’s what Chapek had to say:
Chapek said: “We’ve made significant investments in sophisticated technology and tools, created a revolutionary new multi-tiered service we’re calling Disney Genie. We’re very, very excited about the new service. We’ll be providing additional details soon.”
“The goal of the user-friendly app is to create a better, more personalized, and customized experience for guests. Putting them in control and providing even greater flexibility and choice. They will be able to spend less time waiting in line and figuring out what attractions and dining options are available and more time having fun.”
“My Magic Plus was sticking our toe in the pond of this type of transformational work. Disney Genie is the program on steroids. This is going to revolutionize the experience. Guests are going to spend less time waiting and more time having fun in the parks with a dramatically improved guest experience that’s going to make their navigation of their day and planning of their day much easier.
“Essentially it is going to take the consumer preferences that we note from our consumers, given what we note from them, and blend that with basically industrial engineering data in terms of how the park is operating that day and meld them together to make suggestions on the fly that not only will lead to the improved guest experience and lead to substantial commercial opportunities for us as the guest navigates their days.”
“It certainly qualifies in my mind for materiality and transformational impact on our business from the yield standpoint.”
Will the Disney Genie App Include Advertising?
Chapek did state the new app will lead to “substantial commercial opportunities” for the company. This could mean quite a few different things but I would not expect to include any external advertising. However, it could possibly include the following functions:
- A paid FastPass system as he did say it will allow guests to spend “less time in line, and more time having fun.”
- Possible different tiers of paid access to the App.
- Targeted advertising based on your location at Walt Disney World, possibly for stores and offers at nearby locations.
- Possible paid services and extra experiences might be offered through the App.
What are the Benefits of Paying for Genie + and Lightning Lanes?
There are a few rides that can be difficult to get on at Disney World. A paid service for access to high demand attractions might should make it easier to ride the following:
- Rise of the Resistance at Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge
- Flight of Passage at Animal Kingdom
- Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
- Guardians of the Galaxy – Cosmic Rewind (when it opens)
- The Tron Coaster (when it opens)
Final Thoughts – What is the Genie App
I am looking forward to using Disney Genie on our next Disney World vacation. I will definitely test paid lightning lanes and the Disney Genie Plus service and report back to you my thoughts on the new app and give an honest review. I am disappointed to have lost free to use FastPasses though. Perhaps the Disney Genie Plus service could be offered free to resorts guests in the future? We’ll have to wait and see.
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For more Disney World Planning posts, guides and tips use the following links and take a look around Next Stop WDW.
Disney World Planning Guides and Tips
Disney World Rides and Attraction
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Thanks for stopping by.
Darren
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