With Disney Genie+ now over a year old, we wanted to take a moment to speculate about the future of the offering. Disney Genie+ is back in the news again after Disney announced variable, date-based pricing that will see the offering cost anywhere between $15 to $22 (and maybe more next month), but that doesn’t really fix Genie+. With free skip-the-line a thing of the past, and very likely never to return, we wanted to talk about some of the things that are wrong with Genie+ and speculate how Disney could improve the offering.
First, let’s talk about one of the top complaints we hear about Disney Genie+. Beyond the complaint that FastPass+ was free and Disney Genie+ costs money (no going back now), one complaint we hear a lot is that FastPass+ allowed you to book three attractions in advance and Genie+ demands a 6am wakeup call for a single attraction at a time. This is fair. For years, Disney World required so much pre-planning (and it still does) that having something not in place until the day of your visit feels off. Because Disney Genie+ can only be purchased on the day of your visit, we can’t see Disney adding a “pick three” option at 7am anytime soon. The stress of trying to secure Slinky Dog Dash is probably enough at 7am, but adding in the ability to pick two more attractions seems like a lot of stress on the system and you. As a matter of fact, the 7am drop is so broken that Disney World has to literally hide what’s going on.
Another complaint we hear a lot of is not being able to select a Genie+ Lightning Lane return time that works for your day. When using Disney Genie+, you are presented with only one option when choosing when you want to skip the line: the next available time. Of course, this won’t always work with your day, but Disney seemingly doesn’t care. If you just got done riding Space Mountain and you get an immediate return time for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, better start walking. However, with the Individual Lightning Lane (pay per ride) product, you can choose what time you want to ride – so the functionality exists within the app, it’s just that Disney World doesn’t want to offer it for the Genie+ product. So, how can Disney World address those top two complaints? We think the answer might be Lightning Lane Attraction Bundles.
With the hypothetical Lightning Lane Attraction Bundle, you would be able to purchase the “Mountains” bundle and get a Lightning Lane entrance for Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and Splash Mountain. Not only will you be able to get access to multiple attractions with one purchase (complaint #1), but we also posit that with a Lightning Lane Attraction Bundle, Disney could get rid of the return window (complaint #2) and simply allow you to use your skip-the-line pass whenever you’d like during the day.
Not a fan of the “mountains”? How about a “characters” bundle where you can meet the princesses at Fairytale Hall, Mickey Mouse at the Main Street Theater, and Ariel in Fantasyland (that’s coming back, right Disney?). Want to slow things down even more? Purchase the “amazing shows” bundle and get access to the Frozen Sing-Along, Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage, and the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. There might even be a day when you can build your own bundle, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
As far as pricing on the bundle, that’s above our pay grade, but we could see some value in securing multiple attractions or experiences at one time and removal of sometimes-stressful arrival windows.
What do you think? Would a Lightning Lane Attraction Bundle be something you’d like to purchase? Let us know in the comments below or on social media.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!