Disneyland will roll out the new Genie mobile app later this week with a pair of Lightning Lane options that will charge a premium for front-of-the-line access on some individual attractions at the Anaheim theme park.
The new Disney Genie service will debut Wednesday, Dec. 8 as part of the Disneyland mobile app that will be a replacement for the retiring free FastPass and paid MaxPass line-cutting options.
SEE ALSO: Why Genie+ may make sense for daily Disneyland visitors — but might not for passholders
Disney’s new personal assistant service will be divided into three parts – the free Disney Genie option, the paid Disney Genie+ alternative and the upcharge individual Lightning Lane access.
The $20 Disney Genie+ service will offer front-of-the-line access to 19 rides at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. Lightning Lane access for three of the most popular attractions – Rise of the Resistance, Web Slingers and Radiator Springs Racers – will run $7 to $20 per ride with prices varying by day.
SEE ALSO: Will Genie+ help keep Disneyland ticket prices down?
Disneyland and DCA visitors can start using Genie as soon as they have a reservation to the parks. The Genie app will start making live recommendations at 7 a.m. on the day of the visitor’s reservation. Individual Lightning Lane reservations can be made after visitors enter the park.
Disney Genie rolled out in October at Walt Disney World in Florida. Since the East Coast launch, Disney has adjusted the number of attraction and restaurant recommendations and the amount of free time in between activities based on feedback from visitors. Disney will continue to update the service to adjust Genie+ attraction callback times to avoid creating longer than usual standby queue wait times.
SEE ALSO: Will Disney Genie fill every Disneyland ride and restaurant to capacity?
Genie works like a navigation app on your smartphone to help visitors plan their day at the parks.
Disney Genie will help Disneyland visitors make customized itineraries geared to their interests at the best times and in the most optimized order. Just tell Disney Genie what you want to do and the app will evaluate millions of options to create the optimal itinerary. Change your mind and Genie will re-optimize your day. If you’re undecided, Genie will offer park navigation tips, recommend rides and help make dining reservations.
SEE ALSO: How Disneyland Genie+ prices compare to other theme park line-skipping passes
The free Disney Genie service will include personalized itinerary planning, dynamically-updated tip boards, forecasted attraction wait times, attraction virtual queues, mobile food ordering recommendations, restaurant waitlists, check-ins and reservations and a virtual assistant that can answer theme park queries.
The free service will build personalized itineraries that offer advice on how to reduce attraction wait times and a tip board that displays each visitor’s favorite rides, restaurants and entertainment at a glance. The dynamic itinerary can change in real-time if it rains, a ride breaks down or your kid needs a nap. A wait time forecaster will recommend the best time during the day to ride an attraction using Disneyland’s industrial engineering data.
SEE ALSO: Will Disney Genie+ make Disneyland wait times shorter or longer?
The $20 Disney Genie+ is essentially identical to the $20 MaxPass that Disneyland and DCA have offered since 2017. MaxPass was a paid version of the free FastPass that offered the ease and convenience of making FastPass selections via the Disneyland app.
Nearly 20 attractions at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure will be part of the Disney Genie+ service — including Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain and Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run.
SEE ALSO: Here’s how the Genie+ itinerary planning app works
Visitors will be able to book one attraction at a time using Disney Genie+ – just like MaxPlus. The paid service includes unlimited PhotoPass downloads at Disneyland.
The upcharge Lightning Lane access will allow visitors to pay for FastPass-like access and schedule return times for three individual attractions – Rise of the Resistance, Web Slingers and Radiator Springs Racers. The Lightning Lane Select attractions will not be part of the Disney Genie+ collection of rides.
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Genie+ and the individual Lightning Lane options are sold separately and can be purchased together, individually or not at all. All Disneyland attractions will continue to have a standby queue.
The Disney Genie app was unveiled during the D23 Expo in August 2019 at the Anaheim Convention Center. At the time, Disney Genie was set to debut in late 2020 – but then the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the launch of the app was pushed back. Initially, Disney Genie was intended for only Disney World, but now Disneyland is getting the app as well.