71 thoughts on “BREAKING: Paid FastPass Replacement Announced with Unveiling of Genie, Genie+, and Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World, Disneyland”

1. The price will triple (or more) in the next year.

2. dare we ask what this means for APs who once had a Fastpass+ privilege as part of their admission to the parks (and hopping) 365 days a year?

   pretty big push your nose in it kind of energy from Disney. They are over APs and experience, here for the day-guests and cash.

3. I hate it

4. Just horrendous. For a family of 4 staying for 2 weeks thats $840 extra. On top of resort fees/parking at $25 a time so total of $350 after paying for 2 week park tickets at £449 ($617)or £429 ($589) child. That would be $3,602 (£2,620) before hotel, car hire, flights or spending money.
   I think that’s the straw the breaks the camels back. I am done!!

5. Having not used the FastPass system, even I find this a little sad. My wife and I really wanted to go next year to try and see some of the stuff we missed (the nighttime shows, I wasn’t able to get on Rise of the Resistance, build your own lightsabers, etc.), but I’m really questioning it now because it sounds like this is just going to make things stressful instead of fun.

   Bit of a shame really, because I don’t handle thrill rides/roller coasters so Disney actually has a lot I can do, unlike some other theme/amusement parks out there.

6. Am I reading this right, does this basically announce that they will be expanding virtual queues for attractions? I’m assuming these will be free and will give a return time for a limited wait in a standby line (guessing 30 minutes or so). While the Lightning Lane will be a FP like wait where you can breeze right to the front.

   If you’re allowed to go do something else like watch a parade or have dinner while waiting in a virtual queue, that might not be so bad.

7. I am greatly upset at this…

8. It’s such a shame Disney wants to make guests pay for fastpass now, which was one of the few things left that was free. After removing complimentary magic bands to both resort guests and annual passholders, removing the Magical Express from the airport to WDW, all the while many experiences aren’t even back yet such as most shows, parades, wearing masks on rides and inside, meanwhile ticket and resort prices are increasing, now paid fastpass. Disney is not the same as they used to be even just a few years ago. Now Disney tries to squeeze every last dollar out of your pocket. I hope they change back to being magical again by changing the CEO (Mr. CHEAP-PEK)

9. I really have no idea how to feel about this. On one hand I’m excited to see how this affects the park-going experience, and on the other I hate the thought of my day at Disney being “automated”.

10. Genie? More like Gee-these services suck!

11. F Disney. We’re going in October for the last time in a long time. One gouge after another.

12. Guess I won’t be going to Disney anymore. After a nearly 30 year streak of going at least once a year, though more often than not, twice-yearly (pre-covid), this will break it. Tickets are already overpriced, and now they want to charge even more on top of that for fastpasses? It wasn’t enough to start charging outrageous fees for parking at their hotels despite no shortage of space? Their greed has gone too far, especially during a time when so many have already lost so much. Shame on whoever thought this was a good idea. Disney has lost its magic.

13. Honestly when I saw the prices for DLP I was worried. But $15 a day isn’t too bad. It sucks not being free but it’s barely noticeable when budgeting a trip to stay on site, tickets and park hoppers, parking, dining etc.

14. Knew this was coming.Still SAD.As annual passholders we’re going once or twice a week.Now at most once a week and will spend less on food etc.Universal Sea World looking better than ever!

15. No meal plan, no bounce back offers, tiered extra magic hours, no Fastpass, Magical Express retired, additional magicband fees, increased prices literally everywhere. My whole family has been going together every year, some of us even more then once a year together, since 97. They have officially made it impossible for my family to return as a group with all of us being able to afford it. It is extremely upsetting to watch them take more then they are giving now. Fully aware that this is nothing new but this all just feels like it’s happened simultaneously and without a single care for blowback, at least in the past they tried to soften the blow with some perk. It was already difficult for half of us to justify it in recent years. I can’t believe they aren’t at least offering this service free to on property hotel guests. The greed is so blatant. I hope this backfires on them, history of ‘stupid’ shows it likely won’t though. I’m sure the app will be a great platform at least.

16. Any news on if AP holders at WDW get this?

17. Is the Genie+ fee taxed?

18. This is why I am going to Universal. Pay to play. Disney is full of greedy Scrooge McDucks

19. I wonder if they are running out of previously free things to charge for? How long before we see paid monorail and bus rides.

20. “Disney Genie will continue to update your itinerary throughout your day, so you can be more spontaneous and go with the flow”. Sounds like they’re trying to schedule spontaneity now…

21. wow.. so not only are tickets to get into the parks more expensive, guests now lose out on the free fastpass option, unless they are willing to shell out $15 or $20 a day, per ticket.. so now a family that might have gotten a fastpass for radiator springs racers, guardians and soarin over at DCA, now has to pay an extra $80 bucks, assuming they are a family of four..

    talk about pinching pennies…

22. As usual Disney doing away with a great option in Fast Pass+ which already was technically a step back from the original paper fast passes from earlier on with limiting you to only the 3 but Disney being all about a cash grab now looks to charge you. So instead of making the experience of a Disney trip better for the average family let’s charge the family’s who can pay for a better trip do so and cause now more backups at the stand by que’s……..great job Disney as usual……2 steps backwards again

23. When will this be available and running? By October?

24. Please don’t let it launch until I get back home in early October. And let the number of Lightning Lane selections not be limited to a certain number per day, at least. Man, I have a lot of touring notes to change.

25. Im confused on how this will work. Will definitely expect info when this rolls out

26. What a disappointment

27. This entire thing is just so ridiculous. What a sick cash grab. The new annual pass tiers for Disneyland are already expensive enough. Also, doesn’t this remove any incentive to stay at the Disney resort hotels at Disney World? The entire reason why I stayed at a resort hotel during my last trip to Disney World was because it allowed you to select your fastpasses further in advance than other guests. With this system though, I would just stay off-resort. Not that I’ll be going to any Disney resort for a while with these new prices lol

28. Disney is really taking away everything that was so great about these parks…fast passes used to be free for all to use and now you have to pay. So sad the magic is dying. Really reminds you that Disney is first and foremost (at least now days) a business…

29. I certainly hope DVC Members get Genie+ as a perk!

30. Am I the only one who cried after reading this? My massively expensive vacation at the Poly just got even more expensive :(

31. Way to keep squeezing more money out of every visitor Disney!

32. oh goody
    another way to squeeze the last bits of money out of guests
    disney makes me sick

33. Woah, Disney is gonna be making so much money from this.
    I’ll never use it, but I can see thousands of others happy to pay.

34. Booooooooooo!

35. Just another way for Disney to make money. It’s not about the guests anymore.

36. I’m fully expecting that Disney will give Genie+ to all Deluxe Resort guests paying cash and Blue card DVC members for FREE. This would be in essence the onky benefit to a DVC blue card post covid!

37. Anyone who is a regular park goer doesnt need Genie to plan stuff for you. They know what they want. Paid fast pass or lightning lane (whatever you want to call it) just sucks! So my only perk is that i have to get up by 7 am every morning to plan stuff I normally had planned 60 days before. If flexibility was so important then why do we have to use the stupid reservation system! Just so frustrated right now with all this!!!!

    • completely agree. I get it for people who have never been, or go for the odd day here and there. However for families like mine that go for 3 weeks and like to plan before they go this will be a nightmare from the look of it. We go on holiday to get rid of our phones not constantly have them out…. Holidays are for lie ins and relaxing, not 7am alarm calls and an hour of frantic planning every day!!! I don’t mind a charge, but just PLEASE keep the advance planning for families who want it….

38. Ok. If Tom doesn’t spoof that video, on WDW News Tonight, it would be a major wasted opportunity.

39. This sounds too complicated and will no doubt significant increase the expense of having a decent trip. With so many people using the paid options, stand by line will move slower and slower degenerating guest experience for everyone else and effectively requiring purchase of these products unless you are willing to have a substantially curtailed guest experience. Disney parks experience as we knew it is officially gone for good.

    • Fewer people will be using the paid options than were using FastPasses in the past. This will decrease standby times at the expense of everyone not having a couple FastPasses per day.

      • That is a good point. I’m not a fan of the charge, but FP+ was available to everyone so the usage rate for Genie can’t be any higher than that.

40. whats the difference between the Lightning Lanes @ Genie+ ($15/Day) and the Individual Lightning lanes for select attractions ($$).
    Why would i pay again for individual rides, when its included in genie+ for a flat $15/day

    • New and high priority rides are not in the bulk Genie+ price, they are individually priced. So Haunted mansion jungle cruise and pirates are all with in the bulk price for genie+ while Mine train is not and is priced individually.

    • I believe it sounds almost like the tiers from old fastpass+……certain rides will be only available in certain package or choice options…..

      • Everyone is getting caught up in the Genie, but this part can simply be ignored. At the heart of this is just a reincarnation of MaxPass. MaxPass was a super great service which many people purchased. It’s a bummer that the regular fastpass system is gone, but the advantage is that the standy lines will be faster now than before, even with the Genie+ service.

41. I LOVE IT! Bring it on!

42. I hear a lot of people are confused. Genie = My Disney Experience. Lightning Lane(LL) = Fast Pass(FP). Genie+ = LL bulk price and photopass. $15(or $20) Gets the access to LL(FP) With Genie+. Some rides (new ones) have individual LL price and not in the bulk price. LL works the same of FP did with one at a time rather then how FP+ was 3 at a time. This would be the big change I would make. Allow 3 LLs at one time but I know I’m dreaming lol.

    What I don’t like is feeling like we are reverting to a ticket book system without the lower admission cost. At least its not the completely Paris model or Universals express pass for $90. Good ol’Chapek, taking something that was a perk, and free, and making it an upcharge just like Extra Magic Hours/After Hours.

    • and is it $15 per person, or per party.
      I have 3 kids & my spouse, Do i pay one fee of $15 since theyre all on my disney experience account? or 5x$15

      • It seems to be per person, unfortunately. This will hit big families hard financially. Per person, per day ($15).

      • Per person for sure and it’s $20 at Disneyland. And TOTALLY worth it! Just as MaxPass was and will be again under a new name.

      • Yes, for each person. But it’s well worth it even though costly. If visiting for an entire day, you will save a minimum of four hours of time that would be spent in lines.

        If visiting multiple weekdays on your trip, and you may return and do the same within one year, an annual pass (Magic Key) can make sense. I did that with my young family a few times.

    • Yes – if anything, regular admission prices should be lowered at least a bit, to help people try to fit Genie+ and Lightning Lane premiums into their park-going budget. It’s already pretty pricey just to get into a park, and now some people will just do standby queues.

      • I agree but this is Bob Chapek we are talking about, ticket prices are like going to increase next month as they always seem to in September. Would love to see an add to the annual passes but that isnt going to happen either lol.

43. Tom is so based, just said all the facts. Tokyo Disney seems like the superior experience now with the older fast pass system (only 1 at a time but can get a new one as soon as you redeem it) and it’s also cheaper. What a sad time to be a Disney fan, and just to make it even worse, Ratatouille is boarding group only. Literally turning Disney into a pay per ride. So sad.

44. i wonder when cheapact will stop trying to squeeze every last nickel out of the customers?

45. Do we know if Disney will add this feature on for a fixed price for Annual Passholders? Similar to how Disney added Max Pass options for a fixed price on their old Annual Passports?

    • They won’t be

    • That is unknown at this time. It was an available option before, and it’s likely to be again.

46. Okay, so it seems like it’ll be a big shock to our systems at first but I can get used to it eventually. One good thing, I think? Tiers will be no more? I can’t see things being classified as Tier 1 or Tier 2 (like with the old FP+) with the new LL system (already changed in all my touring notes now from everywhere it said FP before)….just that certain rides will be like a premium LL you pay for separately, while other rides (basic ones like maybe HM, JC, BTMRR) are included in the $15 per day per person/ticket service for LL. I hope to simplify the touring notes even further soon by taking out all “Tier” info. And maybe now someone could do both FoP and NRJ in Pandora with LL access, possibly, instead of having to pick one for FP and do standby for the other (or you’d have had to book the second one later once the initial 3 FPs were used in the day). At least THAT part might seem simpler now. Someone correct me if I’m wrong about Tiers being gone now, thanks. Maybe it’s just something we’ll learn when they announce all the possible LL rides (basic Genie+ and premium offers).

47. This is still better than Disneyland Paris’s deal. I find it tolerable and I’m sure it will work out better than fastpass+. It’s more like the old fastpass, except a small price. It’s like increasing the ticket price by $15/day. And then you pay individually for the most popular rides.

48. Now I truly miss the “pre-pandemic” days of Disney World..

    I remember a couple days before the announced shutdown, I visited and enjoyed my 3 fastpasses that I made earlier in the day while at work… didn’t think that would be the last.

    To think I’ll NEVER be able to enjoy those solo trips of quickly getting on 3 attractions of my choice for “free” during the last hours of the park, breaks my heart. Truly disappointing, and I HOPE it backfires on Disney, but I see it obviously bringing in more money. I will not be contributing. Thank you Universal for the Premier Annual pass with express after 4pm.

49. Does anyone know if staying on park property will have any perks to this? Will genie plus be given to resort stayers?

    • It sounds like thus far the only real perk for people staying on property is that they can book their first LL (& buy Genie+ in the process) at 7 am the morning of their park day (every morning they’re going to the parks) whereas people NOT staying on property have to wait until they’ve physically entered the park, at whatever time they get there or at park open time (not sure). Genie+ won’t just be given to resort stayers but they can access it earlier in the day than non-resort stayers (and AP holders, presumably).

50. I suppose as a DIS shareholder I should be pleased with this “new” way to make money from a previously free perk (FastPass)… after all, bottom lines matter. I’m also not surprised with this further complication as a park visitor; my experiences at WDW have been steadily declining since around 2013, so much so I’d given up hoping for improvement and just been praying things don’t worsen. But I will say this: I’ve been a season/annual passholder for over 15 years, and this is my last. I can afford the “upgrades,” but I can’t under any circumstances justify the expense. I used to call WDW my second home. Perhaps I’ll enjoy the parks more in my final six months of visiting knowing I’ll never be back.

51. Booooo! Big thumbs down for disney on this one, another way to price increase on top of price increase.

52. I really don’t like the $15 fee per person per day. The problem with this is that you pay $15 in advance but may not get the LL you want. I think a better way would have been to allow us to check if the attraction we want has available LL passes and if so, allow us to select it and make payment. One at a time, pay only for what you select and make the price something more reasonable for a single transaction ($3.00 per?). The way it is now, you can pay the $15 and not be able to get what you thought you payed for. Poorly thought out system Disney, unless your only objective is to maximize the amount of dollars you can get each day. What happened to Walt’s dream?

53. This seems so complicated and/or cumbersome. Same goes for the previous iteration of Fast Pass. By what I can tell, most rides will have two lines. One the “regular line” and the other “Lighting Lane.”

    Genie will be a new app that suggests an itinerary or acts a tour guide for you but doesn’t really schedule any rides. Your regular park admission gets you use of Genie and access to the “regular line.”

    If you pay $20.00/$15.00 per ticket per day, then you can use Genie+ on the App which gets you access to most Lighting Lane lines (which may as well be the “FastPass”). The only difference is that while Fast Pass allowed you to select your rides far in advance of you showing up in the park, now people will be on an even playing field only being able to select day of. That being said, it will be a mad dash day of, instead of a crap shoot in the month(s) leading up to your visit.

    While $15 to $20 is a money grab, it’s not going to break anyone’s bank…but at the same time, I don’t see much of an advantage to just standing in the regular line. But what do I know?

    The REAL ADVANTAGE (and where you can say this is a “play for the rich” on some level) is on the VERY FEW (but likely best) rides that only allow you to use the PAID “Lighting Lane” or the regular line. In this case, people will be able to pay, who knows, but let’s say $8.00 – $20.00 per entrance to access the Lightning Lane (no availability on $15/$20 Genie+ apparently). Unfortunately, if you’ve got the money (but not enough money to go on a VIP tour), then you will only get this “benefit” if you are willing to pay for it 2 times per park per day on what appears to be 2 separate rides (can’t pay twice to ride the same ride)…say “Rise of the Resistance.” To top it off, it appears you will also be bound by availability.

    All of this to say is that Disney likely just raised the price of admission by $15-$20 per ticket per day, evened the playing field with regard to pre-scheduling “FastPasses”, and are allowing you to either wait in line at the best rides OR shell out for Genie+ PLUS a one time Lightning Lane access on two separate rides on each day.

    I’m not a fan of these systems at all. I far prefer the theoretically very expensive Express Passes used at Universal (and other parks) that don’t put limitations or schedules. I would have also been on board with a pay per ride for the best rides (with no limitations). If I want to ride Rise of the Resistance 3 times (for example) and am willing to pay $50/ride – let me. It is still a heck of a lot cheaper than a VIP Tour…and even the VIP tour doesn’t give you that particular benefit when it comes to that ride.

54. Good! Hope it keeps the riffraff out!!

55. Disney will regret this paid Paid Lightning Lanes & Genie+. They are going to lose business & upset people. I had a great Fast Pass+ system worked out to do everything that I wanted to do over several days. Disney getting rid of free Fast Pass+, Disney’s Magical Express, & Extra Magic Hours will push more people to the parks of their far distant competitor Universal. This is not about guest experiences anymore, now it is only about making extra $ & that is wrong. I don’t like Universal, but they will definitely benefit from Disney’s mistakes.

56. Can you just buy the lightning lane instead of genie plus. Say animal kingdom I only want to ride flight of passage and expedition Everest and dont want the lower tier rides.

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