Recently we’ve seen some HUGE Disney news announced.

FastPass+, FASTPASS, and MaxPass will not return to Disney World or Disneyland. A NEW, FREE planning service called Disney Genie is coming soon will help you optimize your time in the parks. But, if you want to skip the standby lines in the parks, you’ll have to purchase one of Disney’s new PAID FastPass-like services — Genie+ or Individual Attraction Selection. It’s a LOT to take in, but the main thing to take away is that if you want to skip the standby lines, you’ll have to pay for it. We asked our readers whether they would do that. Here’s what they said.

Quick Overview

Before we get into our readers’ responses as to whether they’d pay for Genie+ (one of the 2 paid services Disney recently introduced), we wanted to give you a quick breakdown of the new services Disney has announced.

Since we’re trying to be brief we’re going to make use of another post we did where we explained the core elements of these 3 services in 500 words or less. You can click HERE to check out that post, but the core information is below:

Disney Genie is a FREE planning service built into the My Disney Experience App and Disneyland App. You will tell Disney Genie what you want to ride, what types of things you like, etc. and Disney Genie will create a personalized, flexible itinerary for you. With Genie, you’ll be able to see forecasted wait times, mobile order your food, chat with a virtual assistant, see walk-up waitlist availability, make restaurant reservations, adjust your plans, and more. Plans will continuously update to help you get the most out of your day. Essentially, Genie is designed to help you plan your day and optimize your plans.

Disney Genie+ is a PAID FastPass-like service. It costs $15 per day per ticket at Disney World, and $20 per day per ticket at Disneyland. If you pay for this service, you’ll be able to see when the next available time is to use various rides’ Lightning Lanes (i.e. FastPass+ lanes). You will select the next available time to use the Lightning Lane for whatever ride you want, and when your time arrives, you can visit the ride and use the Lightning Lane (skipping the standby line).

Once you’re done with that ride, you can make another Genie+ Lightning Lane selection — 1 ride at a time, throughout the day. Over 40 attractions will be available through Genie+ at Disney World, over 15 attractions will be available through Genie+ at Disneyland. NOT all attractions will be available through Genie+.

While most guests can purchase Genie+ in advance (though the situation seems different for Annual Passholders), you cannot make a Genie+ Lightning Lane selection until the DAY OF your trip. At Disney World, guests can make their first Lightning Lane attraction at 7AM on the day of their visit. At Disneyland, the first Genie+ Lightning Lane selection can be made once you’re in the park.

Select, highly popular attractions (like Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at Magic Kingdom, Radiator Springs Racers in Disney California Adventure Park, WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure at Disney California Adventure Park, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure at EPCOT) will NOT be listed on Genie+.

That means that even if you pay for Genie+ you will NOT be able to select a time for/use the Lightning Lane at those attractions. Instead, if you want to use the Lightning Lane for those attractions, you’ll have to pay for the attractions INDIVIDUALLY. (We aren’t really going into that in-depth in this post — you can see more about that here).

That’s a basic overview of the 3 services, but of course, there’s a lot to break down from there.

If you want more information about Genie, Genie+, and Individual Attraction Selection — click here!

Would You Pay for Disney Genie+?

Alright, let’s get to the poll! For our poll on Instagram, we asked our readers whether they would pay for Disney Genie+ (that’s the service that is priced at $15 a day at Disney World, $20 a day at Disneyland, and gives you the ability to select the next available return time to use select attractions’ Lightning Lanes, and you can make 1 selection at a time throughout the day). And…the results were pretty split.

Overall, 53% of our readers voted “no” (this came out to 7,468 votes), while 47% of our readers voted “yes” (6,569 votes). The “no’s” had it, but just barely!

Yes, I’ll Pay

From the yes category, we received a few comments. One reader told us that they begrudgingly voted “yes.” That reader said that they’re planning their first trip to the parks and it’s a big one. They probably won’t be back for several years, so they said they felt like they’ll have to pay for Genie+ to really make the most out of their trip and not get stuck in lengthy standby lines.

Another said they also voted “yes” because they felt like they’d have no other choice. Essentially, they noted that it’s either pay for Genie+ or stand in a (potentially) long standby line.

One reader sort-of echoed those statements saying they’ll pay for Genie+, but they “won’t be happy about it.”

There are a lot of things at play that could affect Disney Genie+ and there are a lot of questions we still have about the service. Will Disney be limiting how many can pay for Genie+ per day? What will those return times look like? Presumably, they will vary by day, time, park, ride, etc., so it will be interesting to see just how many rides you could get Lightning Lane passes for in one day. How many people will opt to not pay for this service and how will that impact standard lines? There are a lot of questions that we might not get answered until the system is in place and we get the chance to use it.

Click here to see our answers to some of your Genie+ questions!

NO WAY

We also received quite a few comments from those who voted “no.” One reader said they wouldn’t be paying for “something that’s always been free.” And they indicated that they would spend their entertainment dollars elsewhere.

Note that FastPass has been included in the price of your ticket at Disney World and Disneyland for years, though Disneyland did have a PAID MaxPass option that Disney Genie+ is somewhat similar to. Click here to see what’s different about these services.

Another told us “This is ridiculous!! It’s expensive enough!!” We totally get it — a trip to Disney World can be incredibly expensive. We’re constantly trying to find and share tips with you that could help you save money on future trips, but unless you win a free trip to Disney World you’ll have to pay something to be and Genie+ will be a cost you’d have to add on top of that.

Just keep in mind that you are not required to pay for Genie+ or Individual Attraction Selection. Rides at Disney World will continue to offer standby and/or Virtual Queues depending on the ride.

Curious to know how expensive Disney might be in 10 years? See our post here!

On the Fence

Other readers were on the fence. One said they need that list of the over 40 rides that will be included with Genie+ (in Disney World, note that over 15 rides will be included with Genie+ in Disneyland) before they could make a decision. And yeah, we totally get that! Disney hasn’t shared the full list of rides that will be included in Genie+ vs. Individual Attraction Selection, but here’s what we know so far.

Disney has indicated that over 40 rides at Disney World and over 15 rides at Disneyland will be available through Genie+. Rides like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, and Haunted Mansion will be included in Disney Genie+.

But, some of those highly popular rides like Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at Magic Kingdom, Radiator Springs Racers in Disney California Adventure Park, WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure at Disney California Adventure Park, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure at EPCOT will NOT be available through Genie+. Instead, you’ll have to pay individually per ride for these to use their Lightning Lanes (maximum of 2 of these Individual Attraction Selections per day).

Another reader said that all of the extras Disney is charging for is giving them “a very negative feel for Disney,” despite their family’s love for Disney. They shared that because of the already high costs, their trips to the parks are “few and far between.” They said they said they actually don’t mind paying for the service, but also said that Disney already charges high prices. The reader shared, “Why add to the expense by nickel and dining everything?  This makes it harder for families who already struggle to pay for the trips. How are hard pressed parents going to give their children the best experience possible if they can’t afford to pay for these extras??”

One said they were “torn” and would be leaning on us more than ever with all this news. Truly, we’re thankful that many of you have turned to us with your concerns and questions about the service. Keep the questions coming, let us know what confuses you or what you’re not sure about — we truly want to hear that and want to see how we can help you decide what’ll be best for your trip.

Want to know more about Disney Genie? Check out some of our other posts, linked below:

• Click here to learn about Genie+ and Individual Attraction Selection, including what attractions have been listed for each and more details
• Click here to see what Annual Passholders need to know about Disney Genie
• Click here to see how and why you’ll pay for individual rides in Disney Genie+ with Individual Attraction Selection
• Click here to see more about the features of the FREE Disney Genie planning service (different than Genie+ and Individual Attraction Selection)
• Click here to see 5 MIND BLOWING features of the Disney Genie planning service
• Click here to see how Disney Genie+ is different from MaxPass
• Click here to see how being a hotel guest will benefit you with the Individual Attraction Selection service
• See answers to some of your Disney Genie questions

We’ll continue to keep an eye out for more updates about Genie, Genie+, and Individual Attraction Selection. Be sure to check back with us for more information.

Click here to see more about Genie, Genie+, and Individual Attraction Selection.

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 Will you pay for Genie+? Tell us in the comments!

The post Over Half Of Our Readers Will NOT Pay for Disney Genie+ first appeared on the disney food blog.