Genie Plus, which was introduced to The Walt Disney World Company in October and serves as the fast pass replacement, is now getting more park perks added to its service.
Starting January 26, 2022, Disney guests that have downloaded and purchased the Genie plus service will find special character sightings added to the Lighting Lane line-skipping section. This new feature will allow guests to skip ahead to meet their favorite Disney Characters. This is a Genie wish come true because character sightings can have long wait times. ( Average Elsa and Anna wait time is up to 90 minutes… almost as long as it takes to watch the Frozen movie.)
The character sightings will be available at Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Disney is most likely testing out how this works, and will add the other two Floridian parks after.
Here’s a riddle for you:
Magic Kingdom’s and Hollywood Studio’s first round of character sightings has THE mouse, the princess who lost a slipper and whose home is in a park, a huggable snowman, and the only princess who has a job. Can you guess them?
Mickey Mouse, Cinderella, Olaf, and Tiana.
Mickey Mouse can be found dressed up in his 50th Anniversary EARidescent suit on Main Street USA, in the Town Square Theater. Disney has TONS of 50th Anniversary memorabilia, so snag yourself a sweatshirt and take a picture with the mouse responsible for it all!
Cinderella can be spotted swirling in her shimmery blue ball gown in Princess Fairytale Hall. Consider your Genie Plus download your official invitation to the ball!
Princess Tiana can be found for her princess sighting alongside Cinderella in Princess Fairytale Hall. You don’t have to kiss any frogs to experience this memorable moment.
Olaf will be ready for warm hugs in Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Celebrity Spotlight. No melting allowed!
The Character sightings are not the first addition to the Genie Plus service. During the busy holiday season, Disney did add pop up spots for certain parade line-ups to let users have a better view of the holiday spectaculars. However, this is the first addition that seems to be sticking around. The previous “line jumping” services (Fast pass and Maxpass) did offer character sightings as well. There is some speculation that adding these character sightings will increase wait times for non Genie Plus members, making the Genie Plus service even more attractive to Disney guests.
Disney’s Genie Plus has done way better than expected, as when it was first announced more than fifty percent of Disney guests said they would not be paying the additional $15 per person per day. Keep in mind Genie Plus was released during the 50th Anniversary and during the busy holiday season. That was a recipe for more magic, and when there’s more magic, there are longer wait times. This makes sense to why there were so many downloads and paid upgrades during the services first quarter.
We will keep you updated with any new updates, and all things Disney!
