Disney World and Disneyland guests will now have to pay for FastPasses

19 August 2021, 10:52

By Alice Dear

@According2Al

Disney have made some big changes to the way guests will visit their parks, and not everyone is happy about it.

Disney World and Disneyland will have to pay for their FastPasses from this Autumn, it has been announced.

The FastPass system, which was free to peopler visiting the magical parks, is being replaced by something called Lightening Lane.

The new scheme will cost guests visiting either Disney World or Disneyland up to $20 each.

From this Autumn, people who want to skip the queues to meet their favourite characters or ride their favourite rollercoaster will now need to be part of Disney Genie, a new section added to the Disney Parks app.

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Disney Genie is a new system which will help guests plan their day, working out the fastest way to get everything done, depending on the person's preferences.

It also gives people access to the new FastPasses, Lightening Lanes, which you'll only be able to access if you are using the paid service of Genie+.

People will have to pay $15 for Lightening Lane privileges when visiting Disney World, which can be used on over 40 attractions, and $20 at Disneyland, where it can be used on over 15 attractions.

The new system has not been met with enthusiasm from many Disney Park fans, who have accused the brand of simply trying to make more money.

One person commented on the changes: "Seriously, you're going to start charging people (who are already paying a fortune just to get into the park) to have fast pass which used to be free?! Absolute joke!! Disney you are losing sight of everything and going straight for the money!"

Another said: "This is horrible. By catering to the wealthy with paid fastpass you will lose SO many middle class families. My family has made the trip to WDW all the way from Canada 13 times, but now? As if. This is a terrible shame. Pathetic, obvious greed. No magic left."

However, Disney Parks chair, Josh D'Amaro, has explained to CNN Business that Disney Genie and Genie+ are just another way people can get the best out of their visits from the park.

He said: "We've had 60 years of experience in theme parks.

"So we know exactly how people are behaving, how the attractions are behaving. We know exactly how to optimise a day. So with technology advancing, we're able to take all that information and all of that data that our industrial engineers have and serve it up in a very convenient way to our guests."

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