Last year, Guests visiting Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort were introduced to Disney Genie+, a paid system that took the place of Disney’s incredibly popular FastPass system. Disney Genie+ required each Guest in a party to pay a certain amount per day in order to access a ride’s Lightning Lane — the new name for the FastPass lane. While Genie+ used to be a set price, it now fluctuates based on the day of the week and the time of the year and can go as high as $30 per person.
Since its inception, Disney Genie+ has been unpopular with Guests. Even though now-fired CEO Bob Chapek touted how many people were purchasing Genie+ and how it was improving the “Disney experience”, a number of Guests admitted that they were only purchasing the product because they felt it was the only way they would be able to experience a lot of what Disney Parks have to offer.
In the year that Genie+ has been available, many Guests feel that the lines are worse than ever. Lightning Lanes have extended through entire lands, which is frustrating to both those who have purchased Genie+, and those who haven’t. Disney — and possibly returning CEO Bob Iger — have appeared to hear the complaints and have now clarified that they will limit just how many Guests can purchase Genie+ on a given day.
Theme park reporter Scott Gustin shared before and after photos of the changes made to the Disneyland Resort website:
Disneyland updated its Genie+ page in the past few days to include a line about the possibility of Genie+ sales being stopped based on demand. Screenshots of before and after.
Many who commented were shocked that Disney wasn’t limiting the number of Genie+ purchases already. Gustin then clarified that this might not be a change in the policy, but a website wording change, so Guests could be aware that they may not always be able to purchase Disney Genie+. We do not know how many people are allowed to purchase Genie+ every day.
With Bob Iger back at the helm, Guests are hoping that he will get rid of Genie+ and bring back the old FastPass system. The major complaints about Genie+ have been the lack of availability of rides and the fact that Guests need to pay to ride an attraction after already paying hundreds of dollars to get into the theme park.
