Disneyland drops free FastPass system — and the new way to skip the lines will cost you
It’s the end of an era.
Disney announced Wednesday it is officially retiring its free FastPass system at Disneyland and Walt Disney World resorts in favor of a new system that will require guests to pay if they want to skip to the front of the line.
Enter Genie, Genie+ and Lightning Lanes.
Genie is a digital service built into the My Disney Experience and Disneyland apps that replaces FastPass, FastPass+ and Disney MaxPass at both Disneyland in Anaheim and Disney World in Orlando.
Genie, which is free, acts as a travel planner for your visit to the theme park of your choice.
Simply tell Genie the things you want to do — take a spin at the Mad Tea Party or ride Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, for instance — and it will create an itinerary for how to do it in the shortest amount of time, taking into account line lengths, show times and other factors.
Genie will keep updating that itinerary throughout the day so you can always be doing what you want, and will keep you posted on wait times at rides, can answer questions via a virtual assistant and more.
“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,’ ” Josh D’Amaro, Disney parks, experiences and products chairman, told Disney fan site D23. “That’s game changing,”
Disney Reports launches Lightning Lanes
While introducing Genie, Disney Resorts also announced it was ending its FastPass system in favor of new Lightning Lanes — a move that’s upset some fans of the parks.
The adjustment comes after Disney’s theme parks in California and Florida halted Fastpass distribution during their reopening following the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Lightning Lanes will act essentially the same as FastPass, letting you jump to the front of the line, but will feature a few key differences.
According to Disney, you will be able to use the Lightning Lane on only two “highly demanded attractions” per day. FastPasses had no daily limit.
Prices to use those lanes will vary by date, attraction and park, Disney said.
Lightning Lane selections have to be made on the same day of your visit — not ahead of time, as was the case with the FastPass+ system — and can be used across both Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Park.
All rides will still have their standard standby cues, and some newer rides such as Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance will still have virtual queues.
It’s not the first time Disneyland has charged visitors for the ability to skip long lines.
In the past, theme park goers have been charged for the MaxPass service, which offered guests the opportunity to reserve FastPasses on their phones for a set fee, though FastPasses themselves could still be obtained in-person at the rides for free.
Disney is also offering a step up from its free Genie service, called Genie+, that lets guests can pay $20 per ticket per day at Disneyland or $15 per ticket per day at Disney World to reserve rides throughout the day.
The new system is expected to launch at both Disneyland and Disney World this fall.
This story was originally published August 20, 2021 at 2:14 PM with the headline "Disneyland drops free FastPass system — and the new way to skip the lines will cost you."
%20Cropped.jpg)