EXCLUSIVE: Disney Launches New "Genie X" Service To Go Alongside Genie+
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April Fools
01-Apr-2022 |
Last year, Disney discontinued Fastpass+ and introduced Disney Genie+ which costs $15 per day. This allows guests to book access to the "Lightning Lanes" (previously Fastpass+ entrances) at select attractions - just like how Fastpass+ used to work - but now on the day via the My Disney Experience app. After the first few months of the service, Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Chapek said that at least 33% of all guests are purchasing Disney Genie+, which analysts estimate is increasing the company's revenue by at least $100million a year.
To capitalise on this momentum, we were invited to an exclusive Zoom call with Walt Disney Company executives, who kindly took the time to share with Mickey From The UK their upcoming plans to introduce another new service. This new service allows guests to be able to pay to skip the line ahead of the people paying to skip the line.
"This will be incredible," CEO Bob Chapek told us. "Guest satisfaction will only increase with this new service" he continued. "Guests have been telling us that the number of guests ahead of them in the Lightning Lane was unacceptable and they struggled to justify the $15 cost. So, we took our main company focus from growing Disney+ subscribers and poured our efforts into how to rectify this problem" he said.
The new GenieX official logo
The new service will be called GenieX. Each attraction at Walt Disney World will eventually have 3 queues. Standby, "Lightning Lane" (accessed through the purchase of Genie+) and then "Lightning Lane X" (accessed through the purchase of GenieX). Construction will begin adding a third queue to attractions in the summer of 2022 and will begin with the attractions at the Magic Kingdom.
To differentiate between Genie+ and GenieX, Disney is using the Will Smith live action Genie character. "The live-action Aladdin movie made over $1billion at the box office in 2019" CEO Bob Chapek said. "This shows how much our guests loved the movie." he continued. "And now with the limelight on Will Smith due to his Oscars controversy, there's no better time than now to bring his portrayal of the Genie character back into the spotlight."
© Disney
We asked CEO Bob Chapek why he chose "GenieX" for the name of this new service. He told us "Guests love Genie+, but when coming up with a new name, Genie- (A.K.A Genie Minus) gives the illusion that you're getting less, Genie% (A.K.A Genie Divide) again gives the illusion of getting less, Genie= (A.K.A Genie Equals) doesn't make any sense, but GenieX (A.K.A Genie Multiply) expresses how we can multiply shareholder value by at least x2."
Until this stage of the conversation, we assumed that GenieX was pronounced "Genie Ex", but it will be in fact pronounced "Genie Multiply".
"GenieX will cost $30 per guest, per day, while Genie+ will remain at $15 per guest, per day. What's even better..." CEO Bob Chapek said with delight. "... Is guests can purchase both!" he cheered.
However, we were told there are some caveats. The separate Individual Lightning Lane attractions will remain separately priced (for example, at Rise of the Resistance). Individual Lightning Lane purchases will continue to use the standard Lightning Lane queue. Due to attractions moving in and out of Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lane selections, a third queue will be added to all attractions. Keep in mind though, guests who purchased an Individual Lightning Lane are forbidden to enter the Lightning Lane X queue unless they have purchased GenieX as well. Any attempts to access the Lightning Lane X with your Individual Lightning Lane purchase without paying for GenieX that day will result in your Individual Lightning Lane purchase being void, with no refund given. So guests are strongly advised to make sure they go through the attraction's standard Lightning Lane queue with their Individual Lightning Lane purchase, and not the Lightning Lane X queue to avoid this issue. That is unless you've purchased GenieX for the day, of course. In that situation, you can use either the Lightning Lane or Lightning lane X with your Individual Lightning Lane purchase. "The simplicity of these new services are unmatched in our industry" CEO Bob Chapek said proudly.
To kick start the program, if you purchase Genie+ first and then GenieX on the same day, you can claim a $1 Gift Card to spend at any Walt Disney World retail location, as long as you have the park hopping option attached to your tickets. This gift card can be picked up at World Of Disney at Disney Springs between 9 pm and 10 pm on any Tuesday or Thursday. "Guests love the World Of Disney," CEO Bob Chapek said.
Edit April 2nd: Congratulations making it to the end. This was our 2022 April Fool's article.
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