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Disney World’s NEW & FREE Genie planning service is now available for everyone to check out. ©Disney The free Disney Genie service is a planning tool that is meant to help optimize your day in the parks, help you plan the best path for your day, show you wait times, help with dining arrangements, and more. This free service is meant to be very smart and useful in terms of really helping you get the most out of your day, but just how smart is it? We put it to the test and here’s what we’ve found. As a quick recap, 3 NEW services just launched in Disney World: FREE Disney Genie — the planning service to help you optimize your day which is built into part of the My Disney Experience app. Genie+ — the paid FastPass+ replacement that gives you the ability to select a return time to ride an attraction through the Lightning Lane (basically the old FastPass lane). These selections can be made 1 at a time (with some exceptions) for 46 rides in Disney World. Individual Attraction Selection — Disney’s pay-per-ride service where you pay to use the Lightning Lane at an individual, high demand ride. You can buy a maximum of 2 of these per day. ©Disney Again, as we noted above, the FREE Disney Genie service is meant to help coordinate your day and really optimize your plans. Essentially, what you do is tell Genie what you like, things you must see, what your existing dining plans are, etc. ©Disney You can give Genie your top picks of things you really want to see so that it can help factor that into the plan for your day. ©Disney Then, Genie provides you with what is essentially a recommended schedule for your day, including recommended attractions in the order you should ride them in, good times to visit these rides, forecasted wait times, and more. Where to next? Genie is meant to integrate basically all of your plans into one intuitive service — so, it’s meant to take into account things like dining reservations, wait times, and the interests you’ve marked down. Genie is also meant to continuously update as things change in the park so that it can best optimize your plans. But, how smart is Genie in practice? Well, we put it to the test to find out. ©Disney One thing we tested was Genie’s integration with Genie+. Specifically, we were interested in how Genie would respond if we marked an attraction as one of our must-do items, which would then theoretically add it to our recommendations in the Genie app. But, then we also scheduled a Lightning Lane time for that ride with Genie+. Would Genie recognize that we booked a Lightning Lane and no longer recommend that we visit the ride through our normal day? Would it still show us a recommended time to visit the ride (outside of our return time) and show us standby waits for it? Splash Mountain Lightning Lane The short answer is: Yes and no. We know — it’s kind of confusing. For some of our reporters, they weren’t being recommended rides they had already been on with Genie+. However, other reporters kept having the same rides recommended to them, even though they had already used their Lightning Lane pass for the ride through Genie+. For example, one reporter was repeatedly recommended to ride Mad Tea Party, even though he had already been on it! Mad Tea Party Basically, when you pick your priority rides at the beginning of the day (or before), Genie will keep offering them to you, even if you’ve already been on the ride. You will have to physically edit the list with the rides you haven’t been on yet. You can also tell Genie to stop recommending a certain attraction, it just takes a few clicks and a little time. It would be much simpler if there was an “already rode it” button we could push! ©Disney So basically, Genie, Genie+, and Individual Attraction Selections aren’t effectively communicating with each other with what you’ve already done that day, you have to make it work for yourself by removing those recommendations. If you’re trying to ride as many rides as possible in the parks, you’ll have to take matters into your own hands, because Genie doesn’t seem to want to recommend a day like that. ©Disney But, again, some of our reporters didn’t experience this. One was given excellent recommendations that filled up her time in the park effectively. The only must-do ride Genie didn’t recommend for that reporter was Soarin’, but that was probably because she didn’t have time in her schedule with the other Lightning Lanes that were booked. ©Disney The smartest feature of Genie is probably the projected wait times. Genie can stick a ride between your plans that it knows you want to do and that you have time for, according to the projected wait. For example, we were recommended to go ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train when it was a 60 minute wait. Now, we didn’t want to go wait an hour for Mine Train, so we didn’t — but, Genie was smart in making the recommendation because that was the lowest wait time for the remainder of our time in Magic Kingdom (before we planned to park hop) and we had that time in our schedule. ©Disney BUT, that doesn’t always happen. We also experienced gaps where we had nothing to do and Genie wasn’t giving us any recommendations, so it’s kind of hit or miss. Another potential issue is with Genie giving you recommendations for what time you should eat meals in the park. This is great if you’re flexible, but some families might want to eat earlier or later than the suggested time! ©Disney And, along the lines of food, your food recommendations can change. For example, we were told to eat at Fairfax Fare for lunch later in the day, after we told Genie were were going to park hop. But, as the day went on, it changed the recommendation to Backlot Express. This is probably due to Genie managing crowds and trying to send you to less crowded areas. Fairfax Fare So, is it smart in that sense? Yes. It’s trying to give you less crowded places to eat. But, it’s not smart enough to recognize that you don’t want to eat at certain restaurants! Genie doesn’t know if you like Backlot Express or not, it just knows that it’s less crowded there than other places. Backlot Express What we’ve gathered is that if you want a chill, go-with-the-flow day in the park with some recommendations from Genie, it’s a good experience. But, if you’re trying to ride as many rides as possible in a day, it might not be not so great at creating that schedule for you. It will really depend on the day and the park. ©Disney Of course, keep in mind that we tested this just as Genie and its related services launched. All of the systems are subject to change or be updated in the future. We’ll keep an eye out for more updates and we’ll keep sharing the latest Genie news so you can make the most out of this service on your next trip. Stay tuned for more! Click here to follow along with our first day using Disney Genie! All About Disney Genie, Genie+, and Individual Attraction Selection READ THIS Before Using the New Genie Planning Tool in Disney World Check Out the FULL List of Rides Included With Genie+ in Disney World See What Rides You Can Pay EXTRA For in Disney World & How Much They’ll Cost Learn What Rides Are Included With Genie+ in Disneyland (Plus the Ones You’ll Pay EXTRA to Ride) You CAN’T Re-Ride Disney World Attractions With Genie+ You CAN’T Cancel Pay-Per-Ride Selections in Disney World Get the Answers to All of Your Burning Questions About Disney Genie See Why You’ll Want to Stay in a Disney World Hotel When it Comes to Disney’s Pay-Per-Ride System Here’s What Annual Passholders and Magic Key Holders Need to Know About Genie+ See 5 Ways Genie+ Might Surprise You Learn About How Disney Genie Can Be Your Personal Assistant in Disney World Click HERE to See More About Disney Genie Join the DFB Newsletter To Get All the Latest Disney News Delivered Right to Your Inbox Click here to Subscribe Will you be using the free Genie planning system during your next trip to Disney World? Tell us in the comments! The post How Smart is the FREE Genie Planning Service in Disney World? first appeared on the disney food blog. View the full article

To Disney, or not to Disney — THAT is the question. (But the answer is easy: Disney all the way!) Some of the decisions you have to make during your Disney vacation are pretty straightforward. Holywood Studios Crowds Where will you eat? Where will you sleep? What days will you visit which parks? But some decisions sneak up on you and can, potentially, catch you off-guard. Check out our video below about 11 Problems in Disney World NOBODY Expects!  Are you a DFB Video subscriber? If you hit the button below, you can subscribe to our channel and catch up on ALL of our latest episodes! Check out our latest video and then comment below: If you’re planning to visit Disney World soon! The post DFB Video: 11 Problems in Disney World NOBODY Expects first appeared on the disney food blog. View the full article

'The Soul Of Jazz: An American Adventure' Comes To Museums Across The Country | Disney ParksView the full article

Disney Genie launched in Disney World yesterday, and we tested out all of the new features. ©Disney There is the free Genie, which helps you plan your day in the parks, and there is also Genie+, which costs $15 per day, per person and has replaced the FastPass+ system in Disney World. There are also individual rides that you can pay to skip the line of using the Lightning Lane (old FastPass+ lane). These include 2 high-demand rides in each park and they vary in price, which can also change based on demand. These rides can also sell out of their Lightning Lane passes for the day, which has already happened to one ride in Disney World today! Rise of the Resistance in Hollywood Studios has yet again sold out of Individual Lightning Lane passes for the rest of the day. ©Disney This happened yesterday as well. The Individual Lightning Lane passes go on sale to Disney hotel guests starting at 7AM and go on sale to other guests at park open, which was at 9AM today. Yesterday and today, the passes for Rise of the Resistance were sold out by around 10AM. Rise of the Resistance Entrance So, if you definitely want a Lightning Lane for Rise of the Resistance, make sure you make it a priority in the morning before it possibly sells out! Rise of the Resistance’s Lightning Lane is $15 per person, as of right now. Otherwise, you’ll have to wait in the standby line to get on the ride. Rise of the Resistance Standby Line Stay tuned to DFB for more Disney Genie news and updates! Click here to see how the first day of Disney Genie went in Disney World! All About Disney Genie, Genie+, and Individual Attraction Selection READ THIS Before Using the New Genie Planning Tool in Disney World Check Out the FULL List of Rides Included With Genie+ in Disney World See What Rides You Can Pay EXTRA For in Disney World & How Much They’ll Cost Learn What Rides Are Included With Genie+ in Disneyland (Plus the Ones You’ll Pay EXTRA to Ride) You CAN’T Re-Ride Disney World Attractions With Genie+ You CAN’T Cancel Pay-Per-Ride Selections in Disney World Get the Answers to All of Your Burning Questions About Disney Genie See Why You’ll Want to Stay in a Disney World Hotel When it Comes to Disney’s Pay-Per-Ride System Here’s What Annual Passholders and Magic Key Holders Need to Know About Genie+ See 5 Ways Genie+ Might Surprise You Learn About How Disney Genie Can Be Your Personal Assistant in Disney World Click HERE to See More About Disney Genie Join the DFB Newsletter To Get All the Latest Disney News Delivered Right to Your Inbox Click here to Subscribe Will you be paying to go on Rise of the Resistance on your next Disney World trip? Let us know in the comments! The post A Popular Disney World Ride Has SOLD OUT of its Lightning Lane Passes Yet Again first appeared on the disney food blog. View the full article

This year, the Disney Conservation Fund (DCF) is thrilled to award grants to 60 nonprofit organizations leading critical efforts to create a healthier home for people and wildlife.http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DisneyParks/~4/yIxrbBnB5GwView the full article

At the end of 2021, Disney’s Magical Express will be discontinued and will conclude its service to and from Orlando International Airport. As of this writing, Disney has yet to announce their own replacement program that will shuttle guests from the airport to their resort hotel, but Mears, the company that operated Magical Express, has announced what they will provide. Disney’s Magical Express Mears Connect will launch right after Magical Express is discontinued, so it’s important to get the rundown on what exactly this new service is, how it’s similar to Magical Express, and how it’s different! Let’s remember why Mears Connect is here in the first place! Mears Connect isn’t just a new service for guests looking to travel to Disney World from Orlando International Airport — as of January 1st, 2022, for many guests it will be one of the ONLY ways you can travel between Disney World and the airport (without having to rent a car or hunt down a rideshare or taxi), since Disney’s Magical Express is suspending its service. Did you know in Florida it’s legal for a child to ride on a bus without using a car seat/booster seat? For many families, this was an appealing aspect of Magical Express that will be lost when the service goes away. Renting a car or using a rideshare means potentially struggling with bringing or renting car seats or finding a rideshare that can accommodate you to make sure you can properly restrain your child. Mears Connect could possibly be a more stress-free solution for families with younger children. Magical Express Shortly after it was announced that Disney’s Magical Express would be discontinued, Mears, who was the operator of Magical Express, announced that they would continue to provide transportation to and from Orlando International Airport. Orlando International Airport So, what exactly is Mears Connect, and what is it NOT? Let’s dive into the important details so you know exactly how your Disney World vacations may change in 2022 and beyond! Click here to read more about Disney’s Magical Express being discontinued. So, what exactly IS Mears Connect? Debuting on January 1st, 2022, Mears Connect is the official Mears-operated replacement service for Disney’s Magical Express. Mears bus And guess what? You can book Mears Connect NOW if you have a 2022 trip! However, before you book, let’s take a detailed look at the similarities and differences to Magical Express. How is it SIMILAR to Magical Express? Mears Connect will provide the same essential service as Disney’s Magical Express: ground transportation to get you to and from Orlando International Airport during your Disney World vacation. No matter which Disney World owned-and operated-hotel you’re staying in, Mears Connect will get you there! Mears bus at Disney’s Old Key West Resort The timing of Mears Connect will be similar to Magical Express for your return trip to the airport as well. Standard service will pick you up from your hotel for a trip to the airport up to three (3) hours prior to your flight departure time for domestic flights, and up to four (4) hours prior for international flights. Orlando International Airport So, the basics are definitely the same between these two bus services, but the similarities kind of end there! This won’t look or feel exactly like what Magical Express was, not to mention that you’ll have to BUDGET for ground transportation from now on if you’re planning on using Mears Connect (more on that in a sec!). Traveling to Disney World in 2022? Click here to find out how to make a Mears Connect reservation! How is it DIFFERENT from Magical Express? One of the big differences guests may notice right away is what will likely be a lack of “Disney” theming aboard Mears Connect. While the website does state that there will be “entertainment for you and your party while you ride,” we wouldn’t expect those iconic Magical Express buses and the perfectly times in-transit videos to be around anymore. Get ready to say goodbye to these signs! There are additional hotels being serviced by Mears Connect! In addition to the Disney owned-and operated-hotels, guests can use Mears Connect to travel to the Disney Springs area hotels, the Four Seasons, the Gaylord Palms, Bonnet Creek, Shades of Green, and more! J.W. Marriott Orlando Bonnet Creek Resort and Spa We reached out to Mears Connect regarding baggage retrieval, and we were told that “you will retrieve your luggage from baggage claim and bring it to our reception area to board your vehicle to your resort. We are looking into other options, more to come!” So, it sounds like your luggage may no longer “magically” appear in your hotel room upon arrival; you may have to retrieve it yourself from baggage claim. If you’re familiar with Magical Express (pre-COVID), guests would receive yellow tags in the mail shortly before their trip. You’d stick these tags on any bags you want Disney to take care of and, after getting off your plane at MCO, would simply head straight to the Magical Express — no need to get your luggage from baggage claim. You’d be reunited with your bags in your hotel room later. This was a perk of Magical Express many will be sad to lose. Orlando International Airport There are also TWO options for Mears Connect: Standard and Premium. Standard will feature shared transportation aboard a motorcoach bus and will feature monitored wait times. Premium will offer direct service with limited wait times. The final, and perhaps the biggest difference, is that Mears Connect will not be complimentary like Magical Express. Click here to read about the current status of the OTHER replacement ground transportation option in the works at Disney World! Will Mears Connect cost anything? Yes! The other major difference between Magical Express and Mears Connect is that Mears is NOT offering a complimentary service. There are two price levels travelers can choose from: Standard and Premium. Orlando International Airport Standard service will cost $32 per adult and $27 per child (ages 3-9) for round trip service. A one-way standard service trip right now costs $16 per adult and $13.50 per child. So let’s take a ​​family of four, which includes two adults and two kids. A round trip service using the standard option with Mears Connect would cost this family $118, while a one-way standard service trip would cost this family $59. ©Mears Transportation Premium service, meanwhile, costs a bit more. Premium service costs $200 round trip for up to four (4) people. Additional guests cost another $55 each. For the extra costs, premium service includes a limited wait time as well as direct service to your hotel. Mears’ graphic also implies that Premium service may be offered in a smaller vehicle like a van or private car, but that hasn’t been officially announced at this time. Premium is only being offered for round trip service at this time. ©Mears Transportation Keep in mind that these are introductory rates, which may change as we get closer to the service launching in January. Prices may also vary based on date, the number of people in your party, and the location to which you are traveling. Click here to read more about Mears Connect pricing. It’s clear that there are some major changes coming your way if your Disney World vacations always included a trip aboard Magical Express! Here are some of the key takeaways to keep in mind: If you are staying at Disney owned- and operated-hotel, ground transportation to and from the airport will no longer be included by Disney in your vacation. You will need to plan to book and pay for Mears Connect separately. Or consider other options, like renting a car, using a rideshare, a taxi service, or perhaps even booking a limo ride. You will be responsible for collecting your own luggage, so add that time into your arrival plan and coordinate that with your travel party and your vacation itinerary. With Mears Connect also providing service to other hotels and resorts in the Disney area, your travel time to your hotel may get a bit longer, unless you pay extra for the Premium service. So you’ll need to take that into account if you have any dining reservations or immediate plans on your arrival day. Make sure you give yourself plenty of time between when your flight touches down and when you can realistically arrive for your dining reservation. While bus transportation will still be an option to bring you to and from the airport, it will now come with a fee and may have a little less “Disney” in its theming. If Magical Express was something that your family relied on, just be aware that you’ll now need to budget for ground transportation! We’ll keep an eye on the rollout of Mears Connect this January, as well as any alternate transportation options in the works! There are even more BIG changes on the way to Disney World in the coming months! Click here to learn more. Join the DFB Newsletter to get all the breaking news right in your inbox! Click here to Subscribe! Don't Miss Out on Any Disney Fun! Order Your Copy of the 2021 DFB Guide to Walt Disney World Dining Today! With more than 750 pages, the 2021 DFB Guide to Walt Disney World Dining is full of tips and planning tools developed by Disney World experts over 30+ years of visits. We've done the research for you, so you'll know just which spots will uniquely suit your family's needs! With mini-reviews of every single restaurant, bar, lounge, kiosk and more; an entire chapter on the best snacks in Disney World; full Disney Dining Plan analysis (and how to get FREE dining); and a full chapter on discounts and deals; you'll have everything you need to plan your best vacation yet. Click here to order your copy of the 2021 DFB Guide to Walt Disney World Dining E-book with code WDW2021 to save 25% off the cover price today! Use code WDW2021 at check-out for 25% off the cover price today! http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/ready-to-shop-button.png Our guides are backed by a 100% money-back guarantee, so you have nothing to lose. Will you pay to use Mears Connect on your next Disney World vacation? Let us know in the comments! The post Important Facts About the New Mears Connect Magical Express Replacement Coming to Disney World first appeared on the disney food blog. View the full article

DISCLOSURE: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning when you click the links and make a purchase, we receive a commission. Did you know Disney has an official fan club you can join?? ©D23 It’s called D23 and you can become a general member for free! But, you get more perks if you pay to become a Gold member. Perks include access to exclusive merchandise, events, and more. And, sometimes you can get discounts on Disney merchandise, which is exactly what’s happening right now! ALL D23 members can get 20% off a purchase of $65 or more on shopDisney now through October 31st! ©Disney Just use the code “D23SPOOKY” when you checkout on the website. Use it to get exclusive D23 merchandise like this 50th anniversary pin set! ©Disney || Get exclusive merchandise on shopDisney! This pin set is exclusively for Gold members. Click here to get the pin set This discount even applies if you have a D23 general membership, which, again, is FREE! You can sign up for a membership online right now to take advantage of this discount. Or, you can become a Gold member and have access to even more perks. You’re so golden The discount only applies online at shopDisney and ends on Halloween, so go get some discounted merchandise while it lasts! Stay tuned to DFB for more Disney merchandise news and updates. Click here to get shopping on shopDisney! Join the DFB Newsletter to get all the breaking news right in your inbox! Click here to Subscribe! Are you a D23 member? Let us know in the comments! The post Attention ALL D23 Members: Get this Online Discount Before it’s GONE! first appeared on the disney food blog. View the full article

Whether you’re the Great Gonzo spending the night in a Haunted Mansion, or a trapeze artist telling the history of Disney Animation through your craft, there is always something happening at Disney Parks! Beginning today, Disney+ subscribers can take a deeper dive into what it takes to make the magic come alive through storytelling and artistry.http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DisneyParks/~4/iQM-ZsB9MLQView the full article

Well, the day has finally arrived — Disney Genie has officially launched at Disney World. ©Disney And we’re still learning the ins and outs of using the service which helps guests figure out what their priorities are and plan their days at the parks. Guests can buy Genie+, which allows you to skip the line at lots of Disney World attractions, or you can also pay an extra fee for select rides through Individual Attraction Selection. You’ll find all these features on the My Disney Experience app. But sometimes things happen at Disney World, and rides break down or get closed for one reason or another. What if you’ve paid for an Individual Attraction Selection and that ride is closed? Well, here is what we’ve learned. This morning, we purchased a pay-per-ride reservation for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance in Disney’s Hollywood Studios. We got a reservation for later in the day, but as we scanned in for the ride, the ride shut down temporarily. Rise is Closed Temporarily We did not receive an automatic refund for our reservation. Instead, we got an “experience redemption,” which was basically a boarding pass for Rise of the Resistance that was good for any time until the end of the day. Experience Redemption Pass This pass was only good for Rise of the Resistance (no other rides), and it allowed us to go through the Lightning Lane on Rise of the Resistance one time at any time during the day. Lightning Lane sign at Rise of the Resistance We asked a Cast Member what would happen if the ride never reopened during the day, and they informed us that we would be refunded. But if the ride reopened at any point (whether we rode it or not during that time), we would not be refunded. Rise of the Resistance Entrance Do note: Once we got this boarding pass, we COULD make another Individual Attraction Selection for our day (normally, each guest can reserve up to 2 in a day). That is because this Experience Redemption Pass was no longer seen as an Individual Ride Selection in the system. When a ride breaks down and then re-opens, it’s considered “in recovery,” so guests who have the redemption pass can buy passes for another ride. So, we were technically able to pay for a third Individual Attraction Selection in one day. ©Disney Later in the day, Rise of the Resistance opened back up, and we were able to get on the ride. It’s open! The line was pretty long for the Lightning Lane (likely because the ride was down for a while), but not nearly as long as the standby line. Lightning Lane Line But our luck with this ride was just not great today. While we were on the ride, it broke down again. Rise is back down When we got off the ride, we got another “experience redemption” that was also good for one ride on Rise of the Resistance (using the Lightning Lane) any time until the end of the day. And later in the day, the attraction broke down again and we were given our third “experience redemption” pass. Look out for the blue umbrella! Disney has said that guests will not receive refunds for the pay-per-ride attractions (even if they don’t ride it) unless the ride breaks down and does not reopen that day. But if your pay-per-ride reservation is moved or unavailable, head to a guest relations spot and ask about what options are open for you. Cast Members there might be able to help you re-arrange your plans or may be able to grant a refund depending on the said attractions’ situation. Guest Relations building at Hollywood Studios Again, Disney has said that refunds are not guaranteed, even if the ride breaks down and you’re unable to make the reservation. If you’re ever not sure on what you can do to fix your schedule, check with a nearby Cast Member or the Guest Experience Team (look for the blue umbrella!) to see what your options are. Remember, this is a new process and Cast Members are working through it and learning all the situations as well! So patience and kindness should really be practiced towards those Cast Members!! We’re doing our best to keep you updated on everything about Disney Genie, so stay tuned for more tips and tricks! Learn How to Buy a Pay-Per-Ride Reservation Here All About Disney Genie, Genie+, and Individual Attraction Selection READ THIS Before Using the New Genie Planning Tool in Disney World Check Out the FULL List of Rides Included With Genie+ in Disney World See What Rides You Can Pay EXTRA For in Disney World & How Much They’ll Cost Learn What Rides Are Included With Genie+ in Disneyland (Plus the Ones You’ll Pay EXTRA to Ride) You CAN’T Re-Ride Disney World Attractions With Genie+ You CAN’T Cancel Pay-Per-Ride Selections in Disney World Get the Answers to All of Your Burning Questions About Disney Genie See Why You’ll Want to Stay in a Disney World Hotel When it Comes to Disney’s Pay-Per-Ride System Here’s What Annual Passholders and Magic Key Holders Need to Know About Genie+ See 5 Ways Genie+ Might Surprise You Learn About How Disney Genie Can Be Your Personal Assistant in Disney World Click HERE to See More About Disney Genie Join the DFB Newsletter To Get All the Latest Disney News Delivered Right to Your Inbox Click here to Subscribe Will you be using the Individual Attraction Selection at Disney World? Let us know in the comments. The post The Attraction We PAID to Ride Broke Down THREE Times in Disney World -- Here's What Happened Next! first appeared on the disney food blog. View the full article

The first person to be Mickey Mouse at Walt Disney World was a secret. But not to Doug Parks. Doug Parks, center, one of the earliest Disney World cast members sits with Melanie and Lowrey Parks, Doug's brother, in 1971. The photo was originally printed with a Sentinel story about Central Florida newcomers. (File / Orlando Sentinel) The identity of the first man to wear the Mickey Mouse costume at Walt Disney World was long a secret. But not at first. In July 1971, the Orlando Sentinel wrote a story about Doug Parks, a Winter Park resident, and his experiences of being the first and, at that point, the only character that was a WDW employee. The article ran on Page 8A as a sidebar to a story about hundreds of people auditioning to work as characters; Magic Kingdom was less than three months from its opening date. Parks is described as 21 years old, a native of upstate New York, and 4 feet, 9 inches tall. His sister-in-law told him that Disney World was looking for short people, says the 1971 article, written by reporter Tom Fielder. “It appealed to me right away. … I had sort of a natural ability for the job,” he said. “I had finally found a spot for small people that not only paid well but valued them highly.” Mickey's 90th Birthday This Orlando Sentinel archive photo shows Disney Co.'s Marty Sklar, the legendary former head of Disney Imagineering, waving as he takes the stage with Minnie and Mickey during the EPCOT 25th Anniversary ceremony, at Disney World, Monday, Oct. 1, 2007. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel) trax 00103095A (Joe Burbank / Orlando Sentinel) In late October 1971, Parks appears in another Sentinel article, this time as part of a series of vignettes about Central Florida’s population explosion. It appeared in Florida Magazine, a Sunday supplement to the newspaper. In this piece, we learn that Parks had an interest in automotive engineering, was a former track star, and that he had followed two older brothers to Central Florida. And he’s listed as 4-foot-7 at this point. The job is described as secretive with “employer-erected barriers discouraging all but the most dedicated from chatting with him about his work.” Parks was hired in April 1971. There were three Mickeys in the Disney World workforce by the second story, and Parks was “busily training substitute ‘mice’ who’ve also holed up here,” the story says. The hush-hush nature of the Mickey Mouse club as well as other Disney characters continues. Current cast members are unlikely to reveal that’s their job, referring instead to being a “friend of Mickey,” sometimes with a wink-wink-nudge-nudge but frequently not. In the first story, Parks said he enjoyed the job but that he sometimes considered leaving. “But then I stop and realize what the Disney people have done for me, and what I mean to them — so I decide to stay,” he said. He stayed 39 years. After the 1971 articles, Parks drops off the Sentinel radar, appearing again only after his death in 2010. He was 60 years old. Even then, his obituary skirts the issue. The Sentinel refers to him as “the man widely believed to be the first Mickey Mouse at Disney World.” And his family was “reluctant” to spoil that magic. He worked other jobs during his Disney tenure, including in the mailroom, as a hotel “secret shopper” and for the reservation center, where he scheduled trips for important people, Ralph Parks, Doug’s brother, told the Sentinel. In the Mickey role, he traveled to South America and Canada. He was known for making model cars, collecting Disney memorabilia and his sense of humor. “Known to crack Disney-related jokes, his motto was ‘that’s all rat’ or ‘you will always be all rat’ or just plain ‘all rat,’” the 2010 story says. After his death, the resort sent a letter to the family without using the MM word. “For four decades, Walt Disney World was a better place, thanks to Doug and his contributions,” Meg Crofton, then president of Walt Disney World, wrote. “He was an important part of our business of making dreams come true.” Mad Tea Party The Mad Tea Party ride at Disney World's Magic Kingdom opened in 1971 without a roof. The covering was eventually added in 1973 (along with the central teapot) due to Florida's extreme weather conditions. (Jim Hicks / Orlando Sentinel) Getting into characters Fun facts from the July 11, 1971 story about Walt Disney World character auditions: ➤ Disney was looking to hire 90 people for 45 characters. Disney saw about 700 candidates in one day. ➤ The pay would be about $2.05 an hour. ➤ The auditions included skipping across the terrazzo floor at the Orlando Youth Center to demonstrate agility, a point of emphasis. ➤ Auditions were grouped according to height. Shorter folks were earmarked for Mickey and Minnie; those with more height were Goofy material. ➤ Reasons shared by applicants for wanting the Magic Kingdom gig: for gas money, to meet people and because it’s “something I want to try.” Dewayne Bevil Orlando Sentinel

Can you believe it’s been more than three years since we first introduced the Disney Aspire program? That means that for the past 1,095+ days, our education investment program has been empowering employees to put their education and career #DreamsWithinReach, proving that a dream is a wish their hard work makes. And we knew there […]http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DisneyParks/~4/vieyKhYo9_wView the full article

Disney World’s new planning service Genie left its metaphorical lamp and launched in the resort’s app Tuesday to a mixed reception as guests praised its concept, but scrutinized its price points and accessibility. Guests wait in line at the entrance to Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Train attraction at Disney’s Hollywood Studios on the first day of the Genie Plus pass program, Tuesday, October 19, 2021. Genie Plus sold out for the day. The ride is one of two in the park excluded from Genie Plus access, although guests can purchase day-of Lightning Lane passes. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel) Mike Bard and his family spent part of their visit to the Magic Kingdom Tuesday idly standing in Frontierland refreshing his phone, trying to connect to the Genie+ service they paid for to no avail. “The fact that we had to pay an extra $60-something for this service — I expect it to work,” he said. Disney World’s new planning service Genie left its metaphorical lamp and launched in the resort’s app Tuesday to a mixed reception as guests praised its concept, but scrutinized its price points and accessibility. While the base service is complimentary, its paid tier Genie+ allows guests to pay $15 per person per day for access to over 40 rides across Disney’s four parks. Guests can also pay extra to skip the line for the resort’s most in-demand attractions. Parkgoers have criticized Disney for the line-skipping service, called Lightning Lane, because it charges a premium for ride reservations that used to be free through the now-defunct FastPass+. Visiting from Petaluma, Calif., Bard and his wife Eileen paid a “steep” nearly $110 for Lightning Lane access for themselves and their two kids. Genie+ cost them around $65 after tax, and four seats on Seven Dwarfs Mine Train cost an extra $42, he said. It “remains to be seen” if the cost was worth it for their trip, Eileen Bard said. “We’re used to the $20 [MaxPass access] per ticket [at Disneyland] that comes with the photo, it comes with the FastPass lane and all that,” she said. “So that was worth it just for the photos, and to be able to [use the] mobile pass. This feels like a similar service, but they’re going to charge you more for it.” “You get less for more money,” Mike Bard added. “So as the consumer, it’s not exactly great.” Genie+ adds significant expense to a Disney trip. A family of four, like the Bards, could spend $60 more before tax at the parks per day, or $240 total for a four-day, four-park trip, and still have to pay more for faster access to popular rides like Rise of the Resistance or Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. Genie+ follows a larger trend of local theme parks charging for faster access to entertainment. Comparable skip-the-line services to Genie+ cost $139.99 at Universal Tuesday afternoon for the Express Pass, which gives visitors the chance to skip the line once per ride at specific attractions. SeaWorld’s Quick Queue cost $14.99 for unlimited line-skipping privileges at six of its most popular rides. The price for individual access to Lightning Lane attractions varies by attraction and day. At the Magic Kingdom Tuesday, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train cost $10 per person and Space Mountain cost $7. Epcot visitors who couldn’t snag a virtual boarding pass to Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure at 7 a.m. or 1 p.m. could spend $9 per person for access to the ride Tuesday, and a place on Animal Kingdom’s Expedition Everest would cost them $7 each or time in the standby line. Some visitors, like Tyra Anderson, said Genie+’s pricing seemed reasonable to them. Visiting the Magic Kingdom for the first time from Hermanville, Miss. with her family, 32-year-old Anderson had not purchased Genie+ Tuesday morning but said she was considering it to make their visit easier. “It will definitely help take some of the edge off of the huge experience that is Disney World,” she said. “... We’ve seen the lines, so we know that it can get a bit hectic.” She called the app “well put-together” and “very user-friendly,” but other Disney visitors felt differently. Many at the parks Tuesday said Genie was difficult to navigate at first and reported having connection problems. “It wasn’t super intuitive off the bat, but I kind of got the hang of it after a little bit,” said Daniel Mulinix, 28. “It wasn’t too bad. Going forward I think [it] would be easy.” Some said they gave up on using the service after encountering technical issues. Jocelyn Stockton, from Seattle, said she was frustrated Genie+ kept bumping the reserved times for her family of four to experience their booked attractions. “I can’t plan my day if I don’t know the [reservation] time,” she said. “... It’s just confusing.” At Hollywood Studios, some guests without Lightning Lane access reported waiting over three hours for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance after the ride went down in the afternoon. Some visitors using Lightning Lane said they still waited almost an hour. Mulinix and his wife Ariel, both of Bloomington, Ind., got off the ride at 3:30 p.m. after entering the line at 2 p.m., when their Lightning Lane group was initially called. Ariel Mulinix, 26, said she did not regret paying $15 each for the opportunity to bypass the line even though she had ridden the ride before. Her only concern about the Lightning Lane process came after an employee told the couple they were not guaranteed a refund if the ride stayed closed through the afternoon. “It’s definitely worth it,” she said. A Disney World spokesman who declined to be identified said Wednesday visitors would automatically receive a refund for individual Lightning Lane selections if a ride does not reopen for the rest of the day after a closure. If the ride reopens but a visitor is unable to ride due to individual circumstances, they would have to contact guest relations for a refund. Samantha and Jay Markiewicz said they had a Lightning Lane reservation to board the ride at 11:50 a.m. when it stopped working, and they rejoined the line later in the afternoon only for the ride to shut down again. The couple, visiting from Detroit, Mich., waited another 45 minutes until they were finally able to ride for their first time. “It was better than [waiting standby for] three hours,” Samantha Markiewicz, 28, said. “It was a little frustrating still, but at the end of the day, we just wanted to get on it. That was the most important thing.” Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this article contained an incorrect fee for the MaxPass system at Disneyland. Katie Rice Orlando Sentinel

Disney’s new planning tool, Disney Genie, launched today in Disney World and we’ve been checking out exactly how it works in the parks. ©Disney We’ve shown you step-by-step guides on how to use the free version of Genie, Genie+, the paid program that replaced the old FastPass+ system, as well as Individual Attraction Selections AKA pay-per-rides attractions. Now that we’ve had some time to test all of the new features out, we’ve come to some conclusions. So, here are our biggest takeaways from the first day of Genie! 1. The value of Genie+ can change We’re sure many of you are wondering if Genie+ is worth the $15 per day, per person to have access to reservations for the Lightning Lanes of 46 rides. Well, we’re here to tell you — it depends. If you’re visiting the parks on a weekend or other busy times of the year like the holidays, then it could be worth it to be able to wait significantly less time to get on rides. Splash Mountain Lightning Lane And, we definitely think it’s worth it in Magic Kingdom, because the park has so many rides! More rides means more availability when it comes to reservations for Lightning Lanes. You can book your first Lightning Lane for park open and then book another one once you’ve scanned into your first ride, repeating this process throughout the day to maximize the amount of rides you can go on. “it’s a small world” Lightning Lane Sign But, there are other times in other parks where it might not make sense for you to spend the money on Genie+. In Animal Kingdom or EPCOT during less busy times of the year, you might not even see long waits around the parks. But, you could also be in a situation like we experienced in Hollywood Studios today, where the Lightning Lane reservations booked up quickly for popular rides, and the remaining attractions had very low wait times, so you couldn’t use Genie+ to its full potential. And, since high-demand attractions in all of the parks are part of the rides you can pay individually for to use the Lightning Lane, it might make more sense for you to just pay for those rides instead of Genie+. Toy Story Mania But, we do definitely recommend Genie+ for really busy times like spring break and around Christmas! And, do note that rides that were completely booked earlier in the day can have availability open up again later on, so keep checking the app. 2. Genie is smart…sometimes Genie is a very advanced program that shuffles through thousands of itineraries to make sure it’s giving you the best options. It is really good at recommending rides that fit into your schedule and are at the lowest wait times they will be for the majority of the rest of the day. It does this through forecasted wait times, which are also available for guests to see at attractions around the parks. ©Disney However, what Genie doesn’t do well is keep up with what you’ve already done throughout the day. We had reporters get recommended the same ride that they had already been on, even when they used their Genie+ Lightning Lane reservation for the ride. ©Disney This didn’t happen to all of our reporters, but it did happen to some, so definitely be aware of it. Genie could benefit from having an “already rode this” button so it doesn’t keep recommending you the same ride. You can remove recommendations, it just takes away from the time you’re supposed to be saving by using Genie. ©Disney There are still some awesome features with the free Genie program, though. You can see how long virtual queue waits are now, which wasn’t available before. Also, the dining features are amazing! Genie puts all of the dining options from the park you’re at in one place which shows the next mobile order windows available, reservations available, and wait list availability with estimated wait times. It’s a lot easier to find out all of your dining options now! 3. There are some glitches There are a few glitches or flaws in the program that we found when trying it out today. For example, if you want to book an Individual Attraction Selection for the park you’re planning to hop to later in the day, you have to specifically search for the ride you want. It will not show up on your Tips Board or My Day area on the app. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train Lightning Lane You also are only allowed to book one Genie+ Lightning Lane reservation at a time, but with exceptions. So, if at 7AM when you’re allowed to start booking reservations you book a Splash Mountain Lightning Lane for 7PM, you can book another Lightning Lane, but not until 120 minutes after park open. The best way to get the most out of Genie+ would be to make your first Lightning Lane reservation as early as possible, because you can book another one as soon as you scan into your first ride of the day. So, if you got lucky, you could keep scanning and booking Lightning Lanes throughout the day without having to wait that 120 minutes. Pirates of the Caribbean’s Lightning Lane It’s also important to note that if you get a redemption pass from a ride, which could be given to you if the ride you have a reservation for is down, it doesn’t count toward that “one ride at a time” rule. You can go ahead and book another Lightning Lane reservation. This also applies to Individual Attraction Selections — you can only make 2 per day, but if you get a redemption pass for one of the individual attractions you paid for, you can pick another pay-per-ride attraction and technically go over your limit. 4. You can get around paying for Individual Attraction Selections There are 2 high-demand rides in each park that are a part of the pay-per-ride options. You can pay individually to use the Lightning Lanes of these rides and they all have different pricing, which can change depending on demand. Here’s a look at the rides and their pricing as from today: So, the only way to use the Lightning Lane to skip the line at Seven Dwarfs Mine Train or Space Mountain is to pay for them individually. But, you could avoid doing this and still get to go on the rides with short waits. If you are a Disney hotel guest, you have Early Theme Park Entry to all of the parks, which gets you in 30 minutes before opening. You could use that early morning time to ride both of the pay-per-rides before their lines get too long! Avatar Flight of Passage The only place this might not work as well is in Hollywood Studios. Since Rise of the Resistance is super popular, we would suggest rope dropping the other pay-per-ride option — Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. Because if you rope drop Rise, you could still spend a long time in line, and then you’ll miss that early morning window to take advantage of short lines at Runaway Railway. Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway There is also a way to avoid paying for the Lightning Lane on Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. Since the ride uses a virtual queue system, we suggest trying to get a boarding pass for the ride first (which opens at 7AM). If you’re not successful, then you can spend the money to use the Lightning Lane for the ride. But, the only pay-per-ride attraction we saw run out of availability was Rise of the Resistance, so you would probably be okay trying for the virtual queue first. 5. Genie makes better suggestions if you tell it your interests You can tell Disney Genie your preferences so it gives you better suggestions. Tell it what rides you like, restaurants you want to eat at, and your favorite characters — the more you answer, the better recommendations Genie can give you. We definitely recommend doing this ahead of time, not during the start of your park day when you’re trying to book Lightning Lanes and such. Give it all the info beforehand so it can start out by giving you good recommendations. ©Disney Genie also recommends things that are not as well know at Disney, which is really cool! For example, we got a recommendation to go see Sergio, the performer in EPCOT’s Italy pavilion, which casual Disney World fans would probably not know about otherwise. It’s a great way to make people aware of the unique entertainment offerings around the parks! 6. You can’t do Disney World without a phone anymore To truly get the most out of your time at Disney, you have to be able to use a mobile device for Genie. It’s where all of your dining plans and availability, ride reservations, recommendations, and more are located. So, unless you really don’t mind potentially waiting in long lines or not knowing the least crowded dining options, a phone is very much necessary. ©Disney Those are all of our biggest takeaways from the first day of Disney Genie in Disney World. Remember, it was only the first day, so things can still change in the future. We’ll keep you updated will all the Genie news and updates, so stay tuned to DFB for more! Click here to see more from the first day of Disney Genie! All About Disney Genie, Genie+, and Individual Attraction Selection READ THIS Before Using the New Genie Planning Tool in Disney World Check Out the FULL List of Rides Included With Genie+ in Disney World See What Rides You Can Pay EXTRA For in Disney World & How Much They’ll Cost Learn What Rides Are Included With Genie+ in Disneyland (Plus the Ones You’ll Pay EXTRA to Ride) You CAN’T Re-Ride Disney World Attractions With Genie+ You CAN’T Cancel Pay-Per-Ride Selections in Disney World Get the Answers to All of Your Burning Questions About Disney Genie See Why You’ll Want to Stay in a Disney World Hotel When it Comes to Disney’s Pay-Per-Ride System Here’s What Annual Passholders and Magic Key Holders Need to Know About Genie+ See 5 Ways Genie+ Might Surprise You Learn About How Disney Genie Can Be Your Personal Assistant in Disney World Click HERE to See More About Disney Genie Join the DFB Newsletter To Get All the Latest Disney News Delivered Right to Your Inbox Click here to Subscribe Will you be using Genie on your next Disney World trip? Let us know in the comments! The post Our 6 Biggest Takeaways from the First Day of Disney Genie first appeared on the disney food blog. View the full article

Disney Genie+ JUST debuted in Disney World, and we have so many tips to share with you! ©Disney With Genie+, the free Disney Genie system, and Individual Attraction Selection, there’s a lot to learn these days and that can be a hefty task. Is it worth it to navigate the complicated waters of the new tech? Well, today we challenged ourselves to see how many rides we could do in one day using Genie+ and Individual Attraction Selection (pay-per-ride) to find the answer to that question! What Limits Already Exist With the New Systems? Let’s start by discussing Disney Genie+. It costs $15 per ticket per day (plus tax) and includes the ability to book a return time for an attraction, during which time you’ll be able to use that ride’s Lightning Lane and skip the standby line. You’ll only be able to use an attraction’s Lightning Lane if you purchase Genie+ and reserve a time to visit that attraction in advance. On top of that, you can only book one Genie+ selection at a time, unless you fall under a specific rule. Scanning our card to get in a Lightning Lane You can only use Genie+ on each attraction one time per day. So, if you book an early morning pass for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, use it, and then want to ride Thunder Mountain again later in the day…you’ll need to wait in the standby line. So keep that in mind during your trip! ©Disney Genie+ is available for over 40 rides in Disney World. Click Here to See Our Guide to Buying Genie+ Not all rides are available through Genie+. Select highly popular rides are NOT included in the $15 Genie+. In order to skip the lines at these rides, you’ll need to use the Individual Attraction Selection feature or pay-per-ride. With this service, you’ll pay to use the Lightning Lanes at these rides individually. The price will vary depending on the ride and season. You may only buy two pay-per-ride selections per person for each day. Click here to see how to book and buy pay-per-ride attractions. How Many Rides Can You Do in One Day? So, utilizing Genie+ and Individual Attraction Selection, just how many rides did we get through in each of the parks today? We had several reporters in the parks testing this out — one in Magic Kingdom, one in Disney’s Animal Kingdom, one in EPCOT that later hopped to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and one that spent the majority of their day in Hollywood Studios. Magic Kingdom At Magic Kingdom, our reporter started making Individual Attraction Selection purchases at 9AM, when the park opened, since they weren’t staying at a Disney World hotel. They also made their first Genie+ Lightning Lane Selection at 7AM. And…by 5:20PM ET they had done nearly EVERY SINGLE ATTRACTION that has a Lightning Lane — either through the Lightning Lane itself or through the standby line. For Lightning Lanes specifically (either as pay-per-ride or Genie+) they did: Splash Mountain, Barnstormer, Dumbo, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, “it’s a small world,” Tomorrowland Speedway, Mad Tea Party, Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan’s Flight, and Pirates of the Caribbean. Haunted Mansion Lightning Lane When we reached out to this reporter last, they were working their way through some final things in Magic Kingdom and already had a Lightning Lane scheduled for Jungle Cruise. NEARLY EVERY RIDE IN MAGIC KINGDOM FOLKS! EPCOT At EPCOT, we also rode attractions through a mix of standby, pay-per-ride, and Genie+. In terms of Lightning Lanes (either pay-per-ride or Genie+), our reporter in EPCOT got through Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Test Track, Spaceship Earth, Soarin’, and Living with the Land. Soarin’ In addition to that, they were able to ride Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure using the virtual queue, and rode Frozen Ever After in the standby line thanks to a recommendation from the free Genie planning service. All of that was done by about 4:15PM. Then, this reporter hopped over to Disney’s Hollywood Studios for some more fun! Disney’s Hollywood Studios At Hollywood Studios, the reporter who hopped over from EPCOT arrived and was able to ride Rise of the Resistance using the pay-per-ride selection they had made early in the morning. They were also able to ride Tower of Terror using a Lightning Lane all by about 5:30PM. Rise of the Resistance A separate DFB reporter spent their morning and has spent some of their afternoon in Disney’s Hollywood Studios. This reporter was able to specifically use Lightning Lanes to ride Aliens Swirling Saucers, Toy Story Mania, and Slinky Dog Dash. This was done by about 4:38 PM. This reporter had quite an interesting experience though. They made their first Genie+ Lightning Lane selection at 7AM for Slinky Dog Dash, but the return time for Slinky Dog Dash wasn’t until 4-5PM. They were then able to make another Genie+ selection 2 hours after Disney’s Hollywood Studios opened due to the 120 minute rule. The fact that they had to wait those 2 hours to make the next Genie+ selection could have had a large impact on their day. Alien Swirling Saucers Also, this reporter purchased a pay-per-ride selection for Rise of the Resistance. When their return time arrived, the ride went down, so they got a redemption pass to come back later. The ride reopened and they were able to ride until…the ride broke down AGAIN and they were evacuated. They then received another redemption pass. That impacted their day as well. Aside from those rides, the reporter was able to ride some other attractions utilizing single rider or standby. Disney’s Animal Kingdom Finally, we reach Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Much like Magic Kingdom, our reporter was able to do a LOT in this park. Ultimately, our reporter went through nearly every ride at Disney’s Animal Kingdom utilizing either (and sometimes BOTH) the standby and lightning lanes. Expedition Everest Specifically, our reporter was able to ride the following rides using Lightning Lanes (either pay-per-ride or Genie+ as appropriate): Expedition Everest, Navi River Journey, Flight of Passage, Kilimanjaro Safaris, DINOSAUR, and Kali River Rapids. Many of the attractions here had pretty short wait times though. In fact, there were many where the use of a Lightning Lane really made no difference in terms of wait time. But there were others, like Flight of Passage, where there was a substantial difference. Click here to get a look at the wait times with Genie+ and pay-per-ride. Those are the results of today’s experiment! Many of our reporters got to do quite a lot by utilizing a combination of pay-per-ride, Genie+, and the standby/single rider lines. In some parks, particularly Magic Kingdom, the use of Genie+ and pay-per-ride was helpful. In a park like Animal Kingdom, the use of Genie+ was not really as impactful, though the purchase of a pay-per-ride for Flight of Passage was beneficial in terms of cutting down on wait times. If getting through as many rides as possible is your goal in Disney World, carefully consider what park you’ll be visiting and how Genie+ or pay-per-ride could impact your goals. Stay tuned to DFB for all the Disney Genie+ news, updates, tips, and advice for your upcoming trip! Click here to see more about our experience with Genie+! All About Disney Genie, Genie+, and Individual Attraction Selection READ THIS Before Using the New Genie Planning Tool in Disney World Check Out the FULL List of Rides Included With Genie+ in Disney World See What Rides You Can Pay EXTRA For in Disney World & How Much They’ll Cost Learn What Rides Are Included With Genie+ in Disneyland (Plus the Ones You’ll Pay EXTRA to Ride) You CAN’T Re-Ride Disney World Attractions With Genie+ You CAN’T Cancel Pay-Per-Ride Selections in Disney World Get the Answers to All of Your Burning Questions About Disney Genie See Why You’ll Want to Stay in a Disney World Hotel When it Comes to Disney’s Pay-Per-Ride System Here’s What Annual Passholders and Magic Key Holders Need to Know About Genie+ See 5 Ways Genie+ Might Surprise You Learn About How Disney Genie Can Be Your Personal Assistant in Disney World Click HERE to See More About Disney Genie Join the DFB Newsletter To Get All the Latest Disney News Delivered Right to Your Inbox Click here to Subscribe Do you think this makes Genie+ worth it? Let us know in the comments! The post How Many Rides Can We Do in a Day With Genie+ and Pay-Per-Ride in Disney World? first appeared on the disney food blog. View the full article

Hello, DFB friends! It’s time for another edition of what’s new at Magic Kingdom. Cinderella Castle Magic Kingdom continues to add more 50th anniversary merchandise and there’s more construction, so let’s discuss! Magic Kingdom Food Updates The Lunching Pad, a quick service restaurant in Tomorrowland, has added the “If You Had Wings” menu option, and they’re actually Caribbean jerk chicken strips served with a side of Lays chips or a Cutie orange for $10.49. Lunching Pad If You Had Wings They’re pretty much your average Disney World chicken strips with Caribbean jerk seasoning on the breading, but we enjoyed them! They were not too spicy and had a great flavor. Check out our review of these chicken strips here! We found a new 50th anniversary Mickey Popcorn Bucket! He’s $18 and you can get $2 popcorn refills too. Mickey’s outfit is blue and gold with lots of EARidescent details. Castle Selfie! He comes with a 50th branded lanyard for easy carrying around the parks. Our Mickey bucket even got to travel around Disney World! PHOTOS of our Mickey popcorn bucket living its best life! Magic Kingdom Construction Updates Signs advertising the Disney Enchantment fireworks show are now up in the Hub grass areas. For awhile these signs were just blank. Enchantment Sign The Magic Carpets of Aladdin finally got a Lightning Lane sign! Lightning Lane at Magic Carpets And at “it’s a small world,” the Lightning Lane sign has reappeared. Lightning Lane At Mickey’s PhilharMagic, the attraction’s sign is gone and now covered. The attraction closed on October 11th and is scheduled to reopen on November 12th with a new scene from Coco. PhilharMagic Construction In Tomorrowland, RIP FastPass+. The last FastPass kiosks have now been removed. No more FastPass kiosks Let’s move onto some merchandise! Magic Kingdom Merchandise Updates Main Street Bakery It’s only October but you can already get a Starbucks Holiday Tumbler and Ornament at Main Street Bakery (aka Starbucks). The ceramic tumbler has images of a Christmas tree, Santa, and lots of holiday decor! You can get it for $24.99. This legally has to be filled with hot cocoa at least once during the holidays, right?! The tiny tumbler ornament has the same design as the big tumbler, and it costs $14.99. What a little cutie Imagine a better way to sip your coffee on Christmas morning! You can find these festive items at Main Street Bakery. More PHOTOS of the Starbucks holiday items! Main Street Confectionery At the recently reopened Main Street Confectionery, you can find really unique details like this display featuring original candy bar packaging and fun facts! Did you know that Snickers was named after the Mars family’s favorite horse? Candy history on display! If you’re a trivia person, you’ll love reading about the original colors of M&Ms and how long it takes to make skittles! Check out these hidden details at the Main Street Confectionery! Also in Main Street Confectionery are these $40 50th Anniversary EARidescent M&Ms in Minnie and Mickey-shaped containers. No, that’s not a typo. They cost a whopping $39.99. These guys do not come cheap The champagne-colored (they actually look like brains to us!) milk chocolate M&Ms have a somewhat sparkly design with a stamp of the Cinderella Castle on one side, but we’re still scratching our heads over both the price AND the color. How did no one see the problem with these M&Ms? Emporium In Emporium there was a new-to-us 50th Anniversary Zip-front Hoodie for $64.99. Sweatshirt The back of the sweatshirt has the 50th anniversary art design we’ve seen on many 50th items, along with the Fab 5, and the sleeves have the gold Walt Disney World logo. Back of Sweatshirt There are also matching 50th Sweatpants if you want to go all out! Sweatpants And this Halloween Nightgown for children is $26.99. Trick or Treat Nightgowns There are also new 50th anniversary nuiMO accessories for $12.99 each, with lots of new festive options for nuiMO collectors! New nuiMO accessories And we found a new 50th Anniversary Slap Bracelet featuring favorite Disney characters and the 50th anniversary Cinderella Castle logo. 50th Slap Bracelet Whether you want to dress up yourself or your nuiMOs, there are 50th anniversary options! Frontier Trading Post There are new Funko Pop Haunted Mansion Pins for $15.99 each! This pin is a grinning Hatbox Ghost… Haunted Mansion Pin …while this one is the Organist from the Haunted Mansion. Haunted Mansion Pin These spooky cute pins are limited release, so don’t wait! Plaza del Sol Caribe The Pirate Treasure Chest trinket box has been restocked at the Pirates of the Caribbean shop. You can get it for $39.99. Treasure Chest There are new 50th Anniversary Engraved ID Tags you can get from this machine inside the store. Engraving Machine The tags feature the Disney World 50th anniversary artwork we’ve seen. ID Tag Imagine this ID tag on your luggage for your next Disney World trip! Crystal Arts Crystal Arts had new Christmas items, like this Crystal Ornament for $105 and Crystal Poinsettia plant for $150. New Holiday Crystals There were more crystal holiday items as well, from ornaments to decorations! Christmas Items They’re pricey but SO pretty. Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe The Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe had a restock of the Mickey Light Up Ornaments. Look how they glow! Restock of Light Up Ornament The ornament is shaped like Mickey with “Merry and Bright” and silhouettes of Mickey and Minnie. Main Street Cinema The Vault Collection released a Classic Mickey Plush for $49.99. We’ve previously seen the Minnie Plush here. Plush Mickey And if you’re into bike shorts, you can now get new Vault Collection Bike Shorts! New Bike Shorts The bike shorts have the Disney World logo on one leg and Cinderella Castle on the other leg. Tomorrowland Light and Power Co. Three new Disney Apple Watchbands were released at $34.99 each. There’s a new Kingdom Hearts band… Kingdom Hearts Watchband …another band with Woody and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story… Woody and Buzz Apple Watchband …and a colorful Toy Story print! Toy Story Watchband Make sure you double check whether these bands are compatible with your Apple Watch! Bonjour! Village Gifts We spotted a new 50th Anniversary Metal Sign Set for $59.99. Metal Signs It comes with three signs with retro Disney designs! Metal Signs And new 50th Anniversary Vinylmations was released, with each figure costing $14.99. Vinylmation There was also a Vinylmation set that sold out before we visited the store. Uptown Jewelers There’s a new Disney Parks Bulova Pocket Watch for $150. It comes in a mahogany box and the watch face has an image of Mickey and Cinderella Castle. Disney Parks Bulova Pocket Watch We also took a look at the new CRISLU Villains Jewelry Collection featuring earrings inspired by the Evil Queen, Ursula, and Maleficent. The top two pairs cost $125, while Maleficent costs $100. Villain Earrings And there’s a new red Vault Collection MagicBand covered in vintage Disney World souvenirs for $39.99. Vault MagicBand You can spot a retro Florida license plate among other Disney World nostalgia! Various Updates PhotoPass Disney PhotoPass added a new Super Zoom Magic Shot photo op near Cinderella Castle, along with a vintage ticket prop. Magic Kingdom Ticket Prop When you get your photo taken while holding the prop, the photo zooms out to capture Cinderella Castle too! Zoomed Out SuperZoom Shot There are also other PhotoPass locations with new vintage ticket props (but not Super Zoom), like this Magic Kingdom E ticket… The “E” Ticket …and this Magic Kingdom D ticket! The “D” Ticket We found the D ticket in Frontierland, and the E ticket in Adventureland. There are supposed to be three more retro props revealed so we’ll be watching closely! Check out more photos of these retro photo props here! Disney Genie The Disney Genie debuted in Disney World on October 19th, and we’ve been learning a LOT. This free service is accessible in all four Disney Parks, so it’s a big Disney World change. ©Disney In addition to the Genie’s free customized planning tools, guests can pay for add-ons like Genie+ and Individual Attraction Selection. So if you’re visiting Magic Kingdom soon, keep this in mind and check out our step-by-step advice for buying Genie+! Genie is live in Disney World — See what it was like! That’s all the news from Magic Kingdom for now! Keep reading DFB for all your Disney World news! A popular Magic Kingdom attraction is closing for a MONTH. Join the DFB Newsletter to get all the breaking news right in your inbox! Click here to Subscribe! Don't Miss Out on Any Disney Fun! Order Your Copy of the 2021 DFB Guide to Walt Disney World Dining Today! With more than 750 pages, the 2021 DFB Guide to Walt Disney World Dining is full of tips and planning tools developed by Disney World experts over 30+ years of visits. We've done the research for you, so you'll know just which spots will uniquely suit your family's needs! With mini-reviews of every single restaurant, bar, lounge, kiosk and more; an entire chapter on the best snacks in Disney World; full Disney Dining Plan analysis (and how to get FREE dining); and a full chapter on discounts and deals; you'll have everything you need to plan your best vacation yet. Click here to order your copy of the 2021 DFB Guide to Walt Disney World Dining E-book with code WDW2021 to save 25% off the cover price today! Use code WDW2021 at check-out for 25% off the cover price today! http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/ready-to-shop-button.png Our guides are backed by a 100% money-back guarantee, so you have nothing to lose. Are you surprised by any of the Magic Kingdom news today? Tell us in the comments! The post What's New in Magic Kingdom: A Mickey Popcorn Bucket and More Vintage Disney Merchandise first appeared on the disney food blog. View the full article

We’ve already tried a bunch of Halloween-themed treats in Disney World. Pumpkin in the Magic Kingdom There have been very chocolate-y Haunted Manson-themed treats, a refreshing Frozen Apple Cider, and even an over-the-top candy corn shake. (And that’s just in Disney’s Hollywood Studios!) The newest Halloween treat is coming to EPCOT instead! La Cava del Tequila announced on Instagram that they’ve got a new drink coming to the menu just for Halloween and Dia de los Muertos. But this isn’t just any drink. It’s a very interesting Halloween concoction that involves pouring Mezcal Ojo de Tigre through a machine… ©La Cava del Tequila …that then infuses it with candy corn essence. ©La Cava del Tequila The result is an orange-y liquor that we can only assume tastes just like candy corn! We don’t know exactly what this drink will be, but we’ve loved drinks from this spot in EPCOT before, so we’ll just have to trust them and find out. La Cava Del Tequila You can find La Cava del Tequila inside the Mexico pavilion in EPCOT. We’ll be looking out for this drink’s arrival soon, so stay tuned with DFB to find out more about it! Click Here to Check Out Reviews from All the Fall and Halloween Treats Around Disney World This Year Halloween at Walt Disney World Get a Look at All of the New Halloween Merchandise in Disney World Learn All About Disney After Hours Boo Bash at Magic Kingdom See Every Date That is Sold Out for Boo Bash Check Out the Full List of Halloween Treats Coming to Disney World See Photos and Reviews of the Fall and Halloween Treats in Disney World Take a Look at the Halloween Decorations in Magic Kingdom See Disney World’s NEW Halloween Ears Join the DFB Newsletter To Get All the Latest Disney News Delivered Right to Your Inbox Click here to Subscribe What’s your favorite seasonal treat in Disney World? Let us know in the comments. The post Disney World’s Latest Concoction Is Candy Corn-Infused Mezcal?! first appeared on the disney food blog. View the full article

We’ve been pretty jazzed about the latest addition to EPCOT’s American Adventure Pavilion, as “The Soul of Jazz: An American Adventure” exhibit arrived on a high note earlier this year. Soul exhibit at EPCOT If you’ve seen Pixar’s Soul, you’ll know that the film dives into the beauty of jazz music. And, it was only fitting for the matching exhibit to give visitors a “tour” of the cities that originated the genre and caused jazz to become so popular. However, that movement is continuing because the “The Soul of Jazz: An American Adventure” won’t ONLY be exclusive to Disney World anymore! Disney shared that “The Soul of Jazz: An American Adventure” will be going on its own little tour to three museums across the United States! The exhibit is set to travel to the New Orleans Jazz Museum in New Orleans on October 26th, American Jazz Museum in Kansas City, Missouri on December 10th, and the National Jazz Museum in New York City in February 2022. The Soul of Jazz: An American Adventure As a nod to Pixar’s Soul, you’ll be able to take a photo with Joe Gardner and his bandmates during the exhibit, as well as spot two sculptures inspired by Soul characters Dorothea Williams and Joe. The installments will contain a “collection of artifacts curated by local museums” to round out the featured items in the “The Soul of Jazz: An American Adventure” exhibit. A Peek Inside the Exhibit And, one of the coolest parts is that you’ll be able to interact with the Play Disney Parks mobile app outside of Disney World to learn more about the exhibit at the museums! Of course, you can always head to EPCOT to see it in the meantime as well. And, you can stay tuned with DFB for the latest Disney entertainment and news coming soon! 9 WEIRD things about Disney World nobody told me before my trip Join the DFB Newsletter to get all the breaking news right in your inbox! Click here to Subscribe! Don't Miss Out on Any Disney Fun! Order Your Copy of the 2021 DFB Guide to Walt Disney World Dining Today! With more than 750 pages, the 2021 DFB Guide to Walt Disney World Dining is full of tips and planning tools developed by Disney World experts over 30+ years of visits. We've done the research for you, so you'll know just which spots will uniquely suit your family's needs! With mini-reviews of every single restaurant, bar, lounge, kiosk and more; an entire chapter on the best snacks in Disney World; full Disney Dining Plan analysis (and how to get FREE dining); and a full chapter on discounts and deals; you'll have everything you need to plan your best vacation yet. Click here to order your copy of the 2021 DFB Guide to Walt Disney World Dining E-book with code WDW2021 to save 25% off the cover price today! Use code WDW2021 at check-out for 25% off the cover price today! http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/ready-to-shop-button.png Our guides are backed by a 100% money-back guarantee, so you have nothing to lose. Have you visited “The Soul of Jazz: An American Adventure” yet? Let us know in the comments below! The post This EPCOT Exhibit Could Be Coming to a Museum Near You! first appeared on the disney food blog. View the full article

Welcome back, DFB friends! We’re here with another What’s New at Disney’s Hollywood Studios! Hollywood Studios Entrance And, we’ve got plenty of updates to share with you! So, what are you waiting for? Let’s dive right on in! Hollywood Studios Food Update Grand Avenue Snack Cart Craving a treat to start off your morning? Well, you’re in luck because the Grand Avenue Snack Cart is officially serving up ooey, gooey Cinnamon Rolls! Cinnamon Roll Popcorn and Snack Carts And, while you’re stopping by the snack carts, you can even snack on something sweeter now that the EARidescent Cotton Candy is available for the 50th anniversary! A Cast Member told us that the pink and blue Cotton Candy we usually see were mixed together to form the beautiful lavender. EARidescent Cotton Candy Tower Hotel Gifts Since we are still in the midst of spooky season, you can snack on scary good candy with the returning The Nightmare Before Christmas items on the shelves of Tower Hotel Gifts! You can chew on themed Gummy Worms in the Jack Skellington Tin for $9.99… Nightmare Before Christmas Tin …or Jelly Pumpkins in the Jack Skellington Bucket! Nightmare Before Christmas Bucket You can stock the bucket with treats at home… Nightmare Before Christmas Bucket …after you finish all the candy inside already for $7.99! Nightmare Before Christmas Bucket Hollywood Studios Merchandise Update Mickey’s of Hollywood While you know we are all celebrating the 50th anniversary celebrations, Disney’s set of nuiMOs are too! You can find an entire collection of outfits to dress your favorite characters in, like the 50th Anniversary Top and Skirt Set… nuIMOs 50th Anniversary Merchandise …Hoodie, Sweats, and Backpack Outfit… nuIMOs 50th Anniversary Merchandise …Retro Athletic Set… nuIMOs 50th Anniversary Merchandise …Dress and Minnie Ears Set… nuIMOs 50th Anniversary Merchandise …and EARidescent Accessories Set for $12.99 each. nuIMOs 50th Anniversary Merchandise Also on the shelves at Mickey’s of Hollywood, you can find the Baby Yoda Art Set that you can use to make your own galaxy far, far away at home! Baby Yoda Art Set The set is HUGE with paints, pens, stickers, tools, and even MORE for $29.99. What a steal, right?! Baby Yoda Art Set Not all of us may have talents in art, but we can happily say that we are GREAT at finding Hidden Mickeys. So, we will wear the title of “Hidden Mickey Finder” loud and proud with the newest keychain for $9.99! Hidden Mickey Hunter Keychain Celebrity 5 & 10 The holidays are around the corner, and that means the temperature will be dropping soon! So, as you pull out those sweaters and jackets, you can put together the ultimate cozy outfit with the Minnie Mouse Beret for $19.99. Minnie Beret Our kitchen has basically become its own version of a Disney restaurant with how much themed kitchenware we have. Buuut, when the Home Collection Glass looks THIS beautiful with its golden Mickey details, it’s hard to pass up for $14.99. Home Collection Glass Speaking of big collections, the Vault Collection has finally arrived over in Disney’s Hollywood Studios (and we can’t seem to get enough of it)! Vault Collection You can find all sorts of items to take home with you, like keychains… Vault Collection …pins, patches… Vault Collection …stickers, and beyond! The question is — are you going to have a big enough shopping cart for all the Vault Collection items you’ll want? Vault Collection Dark Room You can also find other 50th anniversary inspired keepsakes with 50th Anniversary Medallions… 50th Anniversary Medallions …that are gold coins printed with our favorite characters and Disney World’s logo! 50th Anniversary Medallions Pressed Penny Machines You can also find 50th Anniversary Pressed Pennies that will make you want to try and collect every design! 50th Anniversary Pennies Legends of Hollywood Calling all retro fans! We’re throwing things back to the 90s with the newest Mickey Shirt on the shelves for $64.99 that’s bound to be one of the most colorful tees in your wardrobe! Are You Cool Enough to Sport This Shirt? Although Disney World is celebrating a momentous occasion, the Disneyland Alex and Ani Bracelet for $54.99 is still showing off that the California-based park is just as special too! Disneyland Alex and Ani Bracelet Once Upon a Time Oh, you thought that was all the anniversary merchandise? Well, there’s still MORE in Disney’s Hollywood Studios! You can wear the 50th Anniversary Slap Bracelet that features all our favorite characters in the EARidescent best on the front… 50th Anniversary Slap Bracelet …with “The World’s Most Magical Celebration” tagline on the back! 50th Anniversary Slap Bracelet We might drive cars around, but we’ve always dreamed about having a Magic Carpet as our vehicle. While you may have to wait for the Genie to grant that wish, you can use the Aladdin Keychain on your car keys in the meantime. Aladdin Keychain Rock Around the Shop You don’t have to be the ONLY ones celebrating the 50th anniversary in your household, because now your pups can too! Disney World is selling 50th Anniversary Dog ID Tags with design inspiration from the event… 50th Anniversary Dog ID Tag …that can be customized with your information on the back! 50th Anniversary Dog ID Tag Tatooine Traders In Tatooine Traders, you can find a few different Baby Yoda themed accessories! In your hair, you can wear the Baby Yoda Hair Scrunchie for $14.99… Baby Yoda Scrunchie …or you can carry around the Baby Yoda Soft Backpack during your space adventures for $39.99. Baby Yoda Soft Backpack Hollywood Studios Entertainment Update Pin Trading If you’re a fan of pin trading, then you’ll want to know about the BIG change that has come to the interactive park feature! Now, guests who want to participate in pin trading can select two numbers from a mystery board that will have a unique pin on the inside! We saw the mystery boards in place at spots like the Once Upon a Time, Hollywood Tower Gifts, Tatooine Traders, Frozen Sing-Along, and more. Mystery Pin Board But, a few locations like Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway still had the regular pin trading boards that have been around the parks previously. Regular Pin Board Hollywood Studios Construction Update Sunset and Hollywood Boulevard Now that Lightning Lanes have arrived with Disney Genie’s debut, that means it’s a bittersweet end to the FastPass program. And, the kiosks have disappeared from areas around Sunset and Hollywood Boulevard, since the Lightning Lanes are available strictly through mobile platforms. FastPass Kiosks Removed Also along Sunset Boulevard, the holidays have started to sweep in now that Christmas decorations are already popping up! We spotted the famous red and white tinsel stars… Christmas Decorations …along with projection screens that will welcome everyone to Disney’s own winter wonderland. The Holidays Are Around the Corner! Keystone Street Although there are a few more visible decorations for Christmas in Hollywood Studios, we also noticed a few plugs hanging on buildings around Keystone Street. We’re not entirely sure what they’re there for currently, but they could easily be fastened there for upcoming holiday decorations. Christmas Construction Well, that’s all for this What’s New at Disney’s Hollywood Studios! We’ll catch you next time for more updates. And, if you have any questions about your upcoming Disney vacation, let us know so we can help you find the answers. Join the DFB Newsletter to get all the breaking news right in your inbox! Click here to Subscribe! Don't Miss Out on Any Disney Fun! Order Your Copy of the 2021 DFB Guide to Walt Disney World Dining Today! With more than 750 pages, the 2021 DFB Guide to Walt Disney World Dining is full of tips and planning tools developed by Disney World experts over 30+ years of visits. We've done the research for you, so you'll know just which spots will uniquely suit your family's needs! With mini-reviews of every single restaurant, bar, lounge, kiosk and more; an entire chapter on the best snacks in Disney World; full Disney Dining Plan analysis (and how to get FREE dining); and a full chapter on discounts and deals; you'll have everything you need to plan your best vacation yet. Click here to order your copy of the 2021 DFB Guide to Walt Disney World Dining E-book with code WDW2021 to save 25% off the cover price today! Use code WDW2021 at check-out for 25% off the cover price today! http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/ready-to-shop-button.png Our guides are backed by a 100% money-back guarantee, so you have nothing to lose. What are you looking forward to seeing the most in Hollywood Studios? Let us know in the comments below! The post What’s New at Hollywood Studios: FastPass Ends and Christmas Decorations Appear (VERY Early) first appeared on the disney food blog. View the full article

There’s a lot going on in the Disney World parks today with the release of Genie, Genie+, and Individual Attraction Selection. EPCOT But besides these new features (which you can learn all about here), what else is new in the parks? We’re heading to EPCOT to check out some updates in new merchandise, construction, crowds, and more. Let’s go see what’s new! There weren’t any updates for new food in EPCOT (although there’s still plenty to eat between the ongoing Food and Wine Festival and new 50th Anniversary treats), so let’s jump into some updates with new merchandise. EPCOT Merchandise Updates We’re starting out at EPCOT’s main gift shop, the Creations Shop (located in World Celebration). Creations Shop At this spot, we saw a new 50th Anniversary jacket, which looks like the top half of a track suit. 50th Jacket It’s dark blue with an EARidescent gold 50th Anniversary logo on the front. Gold logo There are white stripes going down the sleeves as well. 50th Jacket Back In the same shop, we found a new Minnie Mouse backpack, which was covered in sequins! Minnie Mouse Backpack The bag is red, with Minnie’s iconic polka dots in white. It’s even got little Minnie ears on the top, complete with a red sequin bow. Too cute And nearby we found a fun Mandalorian-themed art set. The set came with a paint palette, some paint tubes, washable markers, crayons, colored pencils, watercolors, oil pastels, pencils, paint brushes, a mixing palette, a stencil, a sketch pad, eraser, pencil sharpener, ruler, scissors, and tape. Baby Yoda Art Set Basically, it’s got everything you need for some amazing art projects! Mandalorian Art Set You can get the set for $29.99. Head to the Creations Shop to find all of those treasures. And over in the World Showcase, we spotted more new items. In the UK pavilion, the Sportsman’s Shoppe partially reopened. Sportsman’s Shoppe You can find all kinds of UK sporting gear here, including soccer jerseys for Chelsea, Manchester United, and more. Inside the Sportsman’s Shoppe Over in the Italy pavilion, we found a new skirt that’s decorated with Italian scenes, plus Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Italy Skirt The skirt is yellow with red designs, and it has a ruffle down the front. Italy Designs You can get this skirt for $78. If you head to the China pavilion instead, you’ll find some accessories for your dog, including this hat! Dog Hat It attaches with a clip, and it looks like the perfect thing to get your pup ready for a party. Dog Hat Clip You can get this hat for $4.50. Yup, Fido’s ready to party Finally, we headed to the World Traveler gift shop because there’s a new 50th Anniversary Figment pressed penny there! World Traveler We found the penny machine… We spy Figment! …and got our Figment penny. Figment! Isn’t he cute? Figment 50th Anniversary Pressed Penny That’s all for our EPCOT merchandise updates, but during all of our shopping we noticed a few construction projects around as well. EPCOT Construction Updates In World Discovery, we stopped by Test Track and saw that the FastPass kiosks have been removed from this area. Test Track FastPass kiosks are gone They used to sit right in front of the ride, but you won’t find them there anymore. Since Genie+ is replacing FastPass in the parks (and it’s all accessed through your smartphone), we don’t need the kiosks anymore. No more kiosks We also saw some work being done on the Harmonious barges in the middle of the World Showcase Lagoon. Harmonious Barges There were construction vehicles on the main barge, likely for some routine maintenance or adjustments. Construction on Harmonious Barges We’ve been to see the new Harmonious show a couple of times now, so you can click here to check it out! Click Here to See the Harmonious Show in EPCOT Other EPCOT Updates One BIG update is that you can now use the Disney Genie in EPCOT (and all the Disney World parks). We’ve got all kinds of updates and information about this new system, so make sure to check out our pages on that. Here are a few that might come in handy: Click Here to See Our First Experiences With the Disney Genie Click Here to Learn How to Use the Free Disney Genie Click Here to Learn How to Buy Genie+ Click Here to Learn How to Buy Pay-Per-Ride Reservations In less confusing news, we saw some sea urchins wearing Mickey hats in the Seas aquarium (in the World Nature section of EPCOT)! It doesn’t get better than this! We learned recently that these creatures actually pick up things in their environment and put them on top themselves for camouflage, so when their keepers added some Mickey hats near them, the urchins picked them up and put them on! ©Disney When we went back later, though, the sea urchins had apparently grown bored of the Mickey hats, because they were just laying around the tank instead of on top of the creatures. The sea urchins got bored of the hats. And on our way out we said hello to Goofy, who was greeting guests from near Spaceship Earth. Goofy See ya later Goof! See ya real soon! Keep following DFB for more updates on what’s new around the Disney World parks and hotels. Click Here to See What’s New at the Disney World Hotels Want MORE Details About EPCOT’s MASSIVE Transformation? Future World Will Transform Into Three New Neighborhoods — Learn More Here A Revitalized Club Cool Is Now Open in EPCOT The New Creations Shop is OPEN and Has Replaced Mouse Gear Go Inside Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure With Us Check Out All of the Tasty Details About EPCOT’s New Crêperie Get a Closer Look at the New Nighttime Lights Coming to Spaceship Earth See More About EPCOT’s Upcoming Nighttime Spectacular -- Harmonious Learn All About Space 220, Which Has Officially OPENED in EPCOT What’s Been CUT From the EPCOT Transformation? See More Here! Learn More About the New PLAY! Pavilion Coming to Epcot! See All the Details You Need to Know About the Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind Coaster Coming to World Discovery Learn More About Journey of Water -- Inspired by Moana, Coming to World Nature Click HERE for All the News and Details about EPCOT’s Transformation! Join the DFB Newsletter To get all the latest Epcot transformation news right in your inbox! Click here to Subscribe! What’s your favorite ride in EPCOT? Let us know in the comments. The post What’s New in EPCOT: Mickey Hat-Wearing Sea Urchins and a Gift Shop Reopens first appeared on the disney food blog. View the full article

The Disney Genie service is now live in Disney World, and we’ve been checking out ALL of its features. Rise of the Resistance While the Disney Genie planning service is free, guests do have the option to purchase Genie+ and/or Individual Attraction Selections. These paid services grant guests the ability to select return times to access the Lightning Lanes (or what used to be FastPass+ lanes) of different rides. But, just how long did we actually wait for rides using these new paid FastPass+ replacement services? Let’s go through a quick break-down of these new services. First, there’s Disney Genie — this is a FREE planning service that can help show you wait times, ride suggestions, suggestions for what to do next in your day, and more to help optimize your time in the parks. ©Disney Next, there’s Genie+. For Genie+, you’ll pay $15 per ticket per day in Disney World. Those $15 give you the ability to select the next available return times to use a ride’s Lightning Lane and skip the standby lane for that ride. You can use Genie+ to make 1 Lightning Lane selection at a time throughout the day (with some exceptions). Over 40 attractions in Disney World are included in Genie+. ©Disney Finally, there’s Individual Attraction Selection or pay-per-ride. Select, highly popular Disney World rides are NOT available through the regular Genie+ service. Instead, if you want to skip the lines at these popular rides, you’ll have to pay to use each ride’s Lightning Lane individually. You can only purchase a maximum of 2 pay-per-ride selections per day. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train Lightning Lane The idea behind Genie+ and pay-per-ride is that they can help you skip those (sometimes long) standby lines. But, just how long were the wait times today and how long did we wait when using a Lightning Lane? Magic Kingdom One of our reporters shared that they weren’t even timing many of their morning selections with Genie+ in Magic Kingdom because they were able to essentially walk right onto the rides they used Genie+ for. That same reporter shared that they never waited longer than 20 minutes for any of the rides they went on (both using the Lightning Lanes and through standby). Magic Kingdom Another one of our reporters shared their times and most rides were essentially a 5-10 minute wait when using Genie+. For example, Splash Mountain was a 4 minute wait using a Lightning Lane. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train was at a 60 minute wait for the standby line, but our reporter was able to use a pay-per-ride selection and only waited 6 minutes. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train For Space Mountain, the standby line was 30 minutes when they visited, but they were able to buy a pay-per-ride selection and ultimately only waited 6 minutes. Over at the Haunted Mansion, the wait time was 40 minutes. Our reporter used Genie+ and was able to go through the Lightning Lane and only wait 13 minutes (appropriate). The Haunted Mansion Also, at one point one of our reporters used a Genie+ Lightning Lane for Peter Pan and waited 10 minutes, in comparison to the 80 minute standby wait time. Click here to see our FULL guide to buying Genie+. EPCOT At EPCOT, we purchased a pay-per-ride selection for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure for early in the morning. We were essentially able to walk right onto the ride just as groups 1-20 for the virtual queue were being called. You can pay to ride Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure We also had a Genie+ selection for Test Track. At the time our Lightning Lane return time came up, the posted wait time was 35 minutes. With the Lightning Lane, we walked right onto the ride. Later, we got a Genie+ Lightning Lane selection for Spaceship Earth and walked right onto the ride, versus its posted wait time of 15 minutes for standby. Test Track For Soarin’, the posted standby wait time was 50 minutes. With our Genie+ Lightning Lane selection, we waited 5 minutes to get to the pre-show/concourse area with everyone else. At the land, the posted wait time was 5 minutes. With a Lightning Lane pass, we waited 2 minutes until the loading area. Living with the Land Also in EPCOT, we had an interesting Genie moment. We had a break during our plans and the free Disney Genie planning suggested we ride Frozen Ever After through the standby line, noting that the wait time was “low.” The wait time was posted at 70 when we walked in, but we only actually waited around 30 minutes. When we walked out, the posted wait time was 40 minutes, so it did appear that Genie knew that ride’s wait time would (according to trends) go down, as it truly did. Disney’s Hollywood Studios At Hollywood Studios we encountered some interesting issues as we had a pay-per-ride selection for Rise of the Resistance, which then proceeded to go down. We were able to ride it later, and during our ride…it broke down again and we were evacuated. #WeNeedMoreWishesGenie Rise of the Resistance’s Standby Line in Hollywood Studios Other than that, we were able to ride Alien Swirling Saucers with Genie+ and the standby wait was 30 minutes. Our wait with Genie+ was 5 minutes until we were basically next to load. In terms of non-Genie+ or pay-per-ride wait times, Tower of Terror had a 20 minute wait time in the morning and we were off the ride in 18 minutes. Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run had a 60 minute wait time, but we rode it through Single Rider in just 11 minutes. Of course, that was our experience today, but those wait times and experiences can vary. Animal Kingdom At Animal Kingdom, the posted wait time for Expedition Everest at one point was 15 minutes. We waited in the standby line and only waited about 4 minutes. With a Genie+ Lightning Lane, the wait was just about 2 minutes. At Navi River Journey, the standby wait time was 40 minutes, but with a Genie+ Lightning Lane, it was just 7 minutes. At another point in the day, it had a 50 minute wait time, and we waited in the standby line for 40 minutes. Pandora Flight of Passage, a very popular ride in the park, had a posted time of 75 minutes for standby. With a pay-per-ride selection, we were able to ride in just 8 minutes. Finally, over at the Kilimanjaro Safaris, the wait time for standby was 50 minutes, but our wait with a Genie+ Lightning Lane was just 5 minutes. At another point, we hopped in the standby line (when it was still at a 50 minute wait) and waited 24 minutes through standby. Kilimanjaro Safaris At DINOSAUR the posted wait time was about 15 minutes. We waited in the standby for 8 minutes. With a Genie+ Lightning Lane, the wait was 5 minutes. And that was our experience with wait times for Genie+ and Individual Attraction Selection. For some rides, like Flight of Passage, the Lightning Lanes did significantly cut down on wait times. For others, particularly spots like Expedition Everest, where the wait times were already SO low for standby, the Lightning Lanes really didn’t dramatically change our wait time experience. Expedition Everest Remember, you can’t cancel your pay-per-ride reservation, but you can cancel those Genie+ Lightning Lane selections and move them around to best fit your plans. Either way, you’ll want to be thoughtful about your choices to make sure you’re getting the most out of your day. Keep reading DFB for more Disney Genie news! Click here to see more about our day testing out Genie+ All About Disney Genie, Genie+, and Individual Attraction Selection READ THIS Before Using the New Genie Planning Tool in Disney World Check Out the FULL List of Rides Included With Genie+ in Disney World See What Rides You Can Pay EXTRA For in Disney World & How Much They’ll Cost Learn What Rides Are Included With Genie+ in Disneyland (Plus the Ones You’ll Pay EXTRA to Ride) You CAN’T Re-Ride Disney World Attractions With Genie+ You CAN’T Cancel Pay-Per-Ride Selections in Disney World Get the Answers to All of Your Burning Questions About Disney Genie See Why You’ll Want to Stay in a Disney World Hotel When it Comes to Disney’s Pay-Per-Ride System Here’s What Annual Passholders and Magic Key Holders Need to Know About Genie+ See 5 Ways Genie+ Might Surprise You Learn About How Disney Genie Can Be Your Personal Assistant in Disney World Click HERE to See More About Disney Genie Join the DFB Newsletter To Get All the Latest Disney News Delivered Right to Your Inbox Click here to Subscribe Have you tried the Disney Genie yet? Tell us in the comments! The post A Look at Wait Times With Genie+ and Pay-Per-Ride in Disney World first appeared on the disney food blog. View the full article

DISCLOSURE: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning when you click the links and make a purchase, we receive a commission. It’s almost time for the holidays and Disney is already giving us a taste of this year’s holiday merch! ©Disney Let’s take a look at some of the new holiday merch that just arrived on shopDisney! The Mickey and Minnie Mouse Holiday Loungefly is a brand new Loungefly backpack featuring Mickey and Minnie enjoying a festive ski trip! Made with simulated leather, this bag is a snowy white with a die-cut Mickey & Minnie that swings back and forth. ©Disney This bag is available for $85 on shopDisney! Click Here to Shop the Mickey and Minnie Mouse Holiday Loungefly The Mickey Mouse Holiday Pullover Hoodie for Women is a new hoodie that features a festive red and plaid text that says “joy” and has Mickey in the middle! ©Disney You can grab this hoodie for $49.99! Click Here to Shop the Mickey Mouse Holiday Pullover Hoodie for Women The Mickey Mouse Holiday Plaid Top and Skirt Set for Kids is an adorable kids’ outfit that’s family picture ready! This set has a lovely plaid pattern with little Mickey embellishments. ©Disney This festive set is $42.99 on shopDisney! Click Here to Shop the Mickey Mouse Holiday Plaid Top and Skirt Set for Kids The Mickey Mouse Bodysuit and Pants Set is the perfect winter outfit for your little Mouseketeer! It includes one long-sleeve bodysuit, one short-sleeve bodysuit, pants, and a cute Mickey hat. ©Disney You can get this set for $34.99. Click Here to Shop the Mickey Mouse Bodysuit and Pants Set! The Minnie Mouse Holiday Bodysuit for Baby is a cute little baby outfit that’s perfect for a festive photoshoot! This bodysuit features a tutu, puffy sleeves, gold accents, and a little headband with a bow. ©Disney You can grab this bodysuit for your little one for $22.99! Click Here to Shop the Minnie Mouse Holiday Bodysuit for Baby! We’re always keeping up with the latest Disney news, so stay tuned for more! Click Here to Read About More Holiday Merch! Don't Miss Out on Any Disney World Fun This Holiday Season! The DFB Guide to the Walt Disney World® Holidays 2021 is a one-of-a-kind resource that will help you get the most out of your holiday vacation at Walt Disney World. Preorder The DFB Guide to the Walt Disney World® Holidays 2021 now! It includes over 400 pages of must-have information, including: A full What's New!! chapter for the 2021 Holiday Season A full Monthly Schedule of Events for the Holiday Season How to avoid the crowds on Disney World's busiest days (and when Disney World closes their parks due to capacity!) ALL of the events, activities, and holiday additions in Walt Disney World. ALL. OF. THEM. And of course we'll tell you where to eat! ;-D Click HERE to Preorder your 2021 Guide now and get 20% off with code PEPPERMINT! As always, our e-Books are 100% guaranteed! If you don't love it, you get your money back! MORE Disney World Holiday INFO! Check Out ALL the Holiday Treats in Disney World Last Year (With Reviews!) Look Back at the 2020 EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays BEST of the FEST! How Much Will a Disney world Hotel Room Cost You to Visit During the 2021 Holidays? What do you think about this holiday merch? Let us know in the comments! The post Even MORE Holiday Disney Merch Just Dropped Online! first appeared on the disney food blog. View the full article

Starting Oct. 26, 2021, and into the following year, “The Soul of Jazz: An American Adventure” exhibit will come to three museums across the country: The New Orleans Jazz Museum in New Orleans, the American Jazz Museum in Kansas City, and the National Jazz Museum in Harlem.http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DisneyParks/~4/lebn8PRnwI4View the full article

It’s here, y’all — the Disney Genie has arrived in Disney World. Scanning our card to get in a Lightning Lane That means that you can now get custom itineraries and recommendations for park attractions with the free Genie (on the My Disney Experience app), and you can pay to skip the lines using Genie+ and Individual Attraction Selections (Pay-Per-Ride). We’ve already taken a look at how to use these features and some unexpected bumps we hit along the way. Now we’re explaining how rider swap works with the new Genie. Rider Swap is available for people who have some members of their group that can’t or don’t want to ride an attraction. So if there are 5 people in your group and one person is not tall enough to go on a ride, everyone (all 5) would go up to a Cast Member and request a rider swap. Space Mountain Rider Swap The Cast Member will scan your MagicBands (or park ticket), and then most of the group would wait in the standby line to ride the attraction while one person waits with the person who can’t ride. When the people who waited in line are finished riding, they can switch places with the one who waited behind, and the person who stayed behind would get to ride without waiting in line. This person (the one who waited) can bring one other person with them to ride (even if that other person already rode it with the first group). Alternative Access Entrance and Rider Swap So is this process any different now that Genie+ has entered the equation? Genie+ ©Disney For the most part, Rider Swap works the same way. If you’re just using the standby line, it works exactly the same way. With Lightning Lane reservations (either Genie+ or Pay-Per-Ride), there are a few things to keep in mind. You can’t cheat the system and buy a Pay-Per-Ride reservation for one adult and try to get rider swap for another person using that same reservation. If you want to use Rider Swap with your Lightning Lane reservations, the Cast Members will make sure that everyone who rides has a Lightning Lane reservation. Lightning Lane Entrance at Pirates of the Caribbean If you only have one Lightning Lane reservation, then only one person will be able to use the Lighting Lane, and everyone else who wants to ride will need to go through the standby line. Lightning Lane sign at Frozen Ever After For the Pay-Per-Ride attractions, you have to buy a Lightning Lane pass for each person who wants to ride. So let’s say that there’s a group of three people, and two of them want to ride Frozen Ever After. Both of those two will need to buy Pay-Per-Ride reservations if they want to skip the line. They can’t send one person through the Lightning Lane to ride, use Rider Swap, and then send another through the Lightning Lane with only one Pay-Per-Ride pass. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train Lightning Lane You CAN still use Rider Swap with Pay-Per-Ride by buying a Lightning Lane pass for everyone who wants to ride. Lightning Lane And the person who stays behind can still bring one additional person with them when they ride. Winnie the Pooh Lightning Lane Rider Swap changed recently from allowing multiple people to go on the ride with the one who stays behind to only one additional person. (So the first group gets to ride and then they swap with the one person who stayed behind, who then gets to ride with an additional one person.) Jungle Cruise Lightning Lane Sign Disney is heavily enforcing that Cast Members see the child/person who’s staying behind. It’s always been a rule that Cast Members need to see the person who’s not going to ride, but now this is being enforced more strictly. Keep following DFB for more updates and news about the Genie’s debut in Disney World! Click Here to Check Out Our First Experiences With the Disney Genie All About Disney Genie, Genie+, and Individual Attraction Selection READ THIS Before Using the New Genie Planning Tool in Disney World Check Out the FULL List of Rides Included With Genie+ in Disney World See What Rides You Can Pay EXTRA For in Disney World & How Much They’ll Cost Learn What Rides Are Included With Genie+ in Disneyland (Plus the Ones You’ll Pay EXTRA to Ride) You CAN’T Re-Ride Disney World Attractions With Genie+ You CAN’T Cancel Pay-Per-Ride Selections in Disney World Get the Answers to All of Your Burning Questions About Disney Genie See Why You’ll Want to Stay in a Disney World Hotel When it Comes to Disney’s Pay-Per-Ride System Here’s What Annual Passholders and Magic Key Holders Need to Know About Genie+ See 5 Ways Genie+ Might Surprise You Learn About How Disney Genie Can Be Your Personal Assistant in Disney World Click HERE to See More About Disney Genie Join the DFB Newsletter To Get All the Latest Disney News Delivered Right to Your Inbox Click here to Subscribe Do you use Rider Swap often in Disney World? Let us know in the comments! The post Rider Swap: How Does It Work With Pay-Per-Ride and Genie+ in Disney World?! first appeared on the disney food blog. View the full article

Disney Genie, Genie+, and Individual Attraction Selection (or pay-per-ride) have arrived in Disney World! Lightning Lanes have replaced FastPass lanes! We’ve been sharing all kinds of updates about the service in terms of how to buy Genie+, how to buy Individual Attraction Selections, and more. With Genie+, you’ll pay that set $15 per ticket, per day to select return times for Lightning Lanes at many attractions across the parks. But, when using Genie+, there’s an important rule you’ll want to be aware of. You can purchase Genie+ in advance of your trip by adding it onto a ticket or a vacation package for the entire length of your stay. Or, you can purchase Genie+ on the day of your visit, starting at midnight. ©Disney Regardless of when you buy Genie+, you won’t be able to make your first Lightning Lane selection until 7AM on the morning of your visit. Lightning Lane Entrance at Pirates of the Caribbean When you go to make your Lighting Lane selection, you’ll see a number of attractions available and what their next Lightning Lane return time is. For example, early this morning, we had the option to book a Lightning Lane return time for The Barnstormer at 9AM. ©Disney While many return times were early, some were already a bit later. For example, one of our reporters was booking their first Lightning Lane selection at 7AM this morning and the first return time they were provided through Genie+ for Slinky Dog Dash was not until 4-5PM. Because that Slinky Dog Dash return time was for a bit later in the day, it opened up a unique possibility for booking/holding more than 1 Genie+ Lightning Lane at a time. Slinky Dog Dash Here’s how things work, based on what we understand. Keep in mind, this is based on what we’ve experienced in the park or what we’ve confirmed with Cast Members. But, things are subject to change, and if we get more information that differs from what we’ve shared below we’ll be sure to update this post. You can generally only make 1 Genie+ Lightning Lane selection at a time throughout the day. Once you’ve used that selection or the return time for it has expired, you can make another one. ©Disney For example, let’s say at 10:00AM, you’re in EPCOT and you make a Genie+ Lightning Lane Reservation for Living With the Land for 10:30AM. At 10:30AM you use that Lightning Lane and then you can make another Genie+ Lightning Lane selection IMMEDIATELY. Living With The Land Lightning Lane What if your Lightning Lane return time is for later? Let’s say you’re in Disney’s Hollywood Studios at 12:32PM and you book a Genie+ Lightning Lane return time for Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run and the next available one is 6:30PM. You’ll book that later return time, no problem. If you want to book ANOTHER Genie+ Lightning Lane selection while you wait for that later return time to arrive, you’ll be able to do so 2 hours AFTER you made that initial selection. In other words, you’d be able to book another Genie+ Lightning Lane selection at 2:32PM. Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run What if you book that first Lightning Lane selection at 7AM (in advance of the park opening time)? If you book an early return time, you should be able to just use that and then immediately make your next selection. What if the return time for the ride you want isn’t until later though? From what we understand, if the Genie+ Lightning Lane return time you booked at 7AM is later in the day, you’ll need to wait 2 HOURS after the park opens to book another Genie+ Lightning Lane. Disney’s Hollywood Studios In our case, at 7AM one of our reporters was looking for a Genie+ Lightning Lane for Slinky Dog Dash and the first available was 4-5PM, so they booked that. Genie then told that reporter that they wouldn’t be able to book another Genie+ Lightning Lane selection until 11AM (2 hours after Hollywood Studios’ 9AM opening time). ©Disney At 11AM, our reporter booked a Genie+ Lightning Lane for Alien Swirling Saucers for around 12:30PM. They were then able to use that Alien Swirling Saucers and immediately after using it, they were able to book a Genie+ Lightning Lane for Toy Story Midway Mania. From what it looks like, because that later Lightning Lane return time was still at least 2 hours away, they were able to make another Genie+ selection after riding Swirling Saucers. Alien Swirling Saucers The Genie+ portion of the My Disney Experience app WILL indicate when you’re eligible to make another Genie+ Lightning Lane selection, so that’s what you’ll want to look at. More Lightning Lanes So, what’s the takeaway from all of this? Be sure to look at the Genie+ section of My Disney Experience to see when you’re eligible to make your next Genie+ selection Most importantly — try to make those Genie+ selections for EARLY times if possible. If you make it for a later time, you’ll likely be stuck waiting for 2 hours after the park opens or 2 hours after you make the selection before you can make another Genie+ selection. You’re likely better off either waiting in that ride’s standby line, trying to book it ASAP to get an early Genie+ return time, or watching it throughout the day and maybe booking it later. Also, keep in mind that this all applies to Genie+. It does not apply to Individual Attraction Selection or Disney’s pay-per-ride system. We’re on the lookout for more updates about this and we’ll let you know what we find. Stay tuned for more. All About Disney Genie, Genie+, and Individual Attraction Selection READ THIS Before Using the New Genie Planning Tool in Disney World Check Out the FULL List of Rides Included With Genie+ in Disney World See What Rides You Can Pay EXTRA For in Disney World & How Much They’ll Cost Learn What Rides Are Included With Genie+ in Disneyland (Plus the Ones You’ll Pay EXTRA to Ride) You CAN’T Re-Ride Disney World Attractions With Genie+ You CAN’T Cancel Pay-Per-Ride Selections in Disney World Get the Answers to All of Your Burning Questions About Disney Genie See Why You’ll Want to Stay in a Disney World Hotel When it Comes to Disney’s Pay-Per-Ride System Here’s What Annual Passholders and Magic Key Holders Need to Know About Genie+ See 5 Ways Genie+ Might Surprise You Learn About How Disney Genie Can Be Your Personal Assistant in Disney World Click HERE to See More About Disney Genie Join the DFB Newsletter To Get All the Latest Disney News Delivered Right to Your Inbox Click here to Subscribe Will you be using Genie+ or pay-per-ride during an upcoming trip? Tell us in the comments. The post What's the New 120 Minute Rule in Disney World and Why Should You Care? first appeared on the disney food blog. View the full article

Today has already been pretty overwhelming as we welcome the arrival of the new Disney Genie system in Disney World! ©Disney There’s the free Genie tip board in the My Disney Experience app, with suggestions for helping you plan out your day. If you want to really maximize your schedule, you can purchase the Disney Genie+ add-on to skip the standby lines for attractions and use the new Lightning Lanes. But if you want to use Lightning Lanes on some of Disney World’s most popular rides, you’ll need to purchase access individually — and Disney Resort guests get an advantage! The following 8 rides (2 in each park) are on the list of pay-per-ride Individual Attraction Selections. For these, you can use the standby line (or the virtual queue for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure) OR you can pay the individual price to use the Lightning Lane. They are NOT included with your purchase of Disney Genie+: Seven Dwarfs Mine Train in Magic Kingdom Space Mountain in Magic Kingdom Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure in EPCOT Frozen Ever After in EPCOT Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway in Disney’s Hollywood Studios Rise of the Resistance in Disney’s Hollywood Studios Expedition Everest in Disney’s Animal Kingdom Flight of Passage in Disney’s Animal Kingdom Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure So how do you book these rides? Disney Resort guests can make their Individual Attraction Selection purchases at 7AM on the day of their visit, but other guests must wait until park opening time to book them. This gives resort guests a 1-4 hour advantage for booking. But do you need that advantage? Lightning Lane sign at Frozen Ever After Since it’s the launch day, quite a few guests are in the parks checking out the new system. However, even with this influx of people, we’re finding that the Individual Attraction Selections aren’t “selling out” until a little later in the morning. So far, only Rise of the Resistance Lightning Lane reservations are gone for the day, and that didn’t happen until about an hour after the park opened. ©Disney At the time of publishing, Individual Lightning Lane options were still available for all 7 of the other rides, including the brand-new Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. Some of them even still have windows open within the next 5, 10, or 30 minutes — you could ride right away! ©Disney It’s also important to note that Disney Resort guests get Early Theme Park Entry, which allows you to enter any theme park 30 minutes before it opens to regular guests on any day of the week. If you arrive early enough to make use of this perk, you could save some cash by using that time to rope drop the Individual Attraction Selection rides (if they’re open) and avoid paying to use their Lightning Lanes later. This works especially well at Magic Kingdom, where Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Space Mountain are both available during Early Theme Park Entry. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train Basically, from what we’ve seen today, staying onsite will definitely allow you a little peace of mind in your planning (although it may crowd up your morning, there are quite a few things that drop at 7AM!). It may be more helpful to be a Resort guest on a particularly crowded day in the park — it is a Tuesday in October, after all — but it’s not necessarily a NECESSITY to be able to get the Individual Lightning Lane choices you want. You could hop in line first thing in the morning! Keep in mind, however, that it’s still the first day of this system and things are bound to change in the coming months, especially as the parks grow busier during the holidays. We’ll keep sharing updates throughout the season, so stay tuned to DFB! Click Here to See What the First Day of Using Disney Genie is Like! All About Disney Genie, Genie+, and Individual Attraction Selection READ THIS Before Using the New Genie Planning Tool in Disney World Check Out the FULL List of Rides Included With Genie+ in Disney World See What Rides You Can Pay EXTRA For in Disney World & How Much They’ll Cost Learn What Rides Are Included With Genie+ in Disneyland (Plus the Ones You’ll Pay EXTRA to Ride) You CAN’T Re-Ride Disney World Attractions With Genie+ You CAN’T Cancel Pay-Per-Ride Selections in Disney World Get the Answers to All of Your Burning Questions About Disney Genie See Why You’ll Want to Stay in a Disney World Hotel When it Comes to Disney’s Pay-Per-Ride System Here’s What Annual Passholders and Magic Key Holders Need to Know About Genie+ See 5 Ways Genie+ Might Surprise You Learn About How Disney Genie Can Be Your Personal Assistant in Disney World Click HERE to See More About Disney Genie Join the DFB Newsletter To Get All the Latest Disney News Delivered Right to Your Inbox Click here to Subscribe Will you be using the new pay-per-ride feature? Let us know in the comments below! The post Do You Need to Stay at a Disney World Hotel for the BEST Pay-Per-Ride Choices? first appeared on the disney food blog. View the full article