Disney Dining Serving up the latest Disney Eats, Treats, News, and More!
Disney Genie+ has been unpopular with guests since it debuted. Unlike Disney FastPass it’s complicated, expensive, and requires you to be up way earlier than most want to be while on vacation. No one wants it. Yet people keep buying it because no one wants to wait in line either.
Related: Disney Announces MAJOR Over Haul to Genie+
Every Disney Resort around the world has some option to skip the lines. At Disney World and Disneyland it’s Genie+/Lightning Lane. Disneyland Paris, Shanghai Disney Tokyo Disney all have Premier Access. Each version is slightly different. For example, despite functioning exactly the same, Disneyland and Disney World charge different prices. At Disneyland Paris, you pay per attraction. The Parks in Asia all offer either single ride access or a pack of multiple “tickets” for Premier Access. common thread among all of them? They all cost extra. People willing pay it and as long as people keep paying, Disney will keep charging right? Not necessarily.
Credit: Disney
Tokyo Disney is celebrating its 40th anniversary and they’ve given guests an incredible gift: free Priority Pass! Priority Pass will function similarly to the way FastPass used to: access to a shorter line, one ride at a time. Beginning later this summer, this exclusive perk is only available for a limited time as part of the Resort’s anniversary celebration. Details are not yet known as to how guests will reserve their spots or how many priority access opportunities a guest can use in a single day.
Related: After Three Years, This Disney Park Has Finally Brought Back a Pre-Pandemic Practice.
This comes on the heels of Tokyo Disney discontinuing FastPass in February. For a while paid Premier Access and free FastPass coexisted at Tokyo Disney but sadly those days have come to an end. Priority Pass will take the place of FastPass, at least through the 40th celebration. After that, it is not known whether the service will.continue for a fee, whether it will remain free, or if it will go away entirely.
Credit: Disney
Despite their similar names, Priority Pass And Premier Access are different. Premier Access will still continue to be available…for a price. The Priority Pass will be free. The catch? Priority Pass cannot be used on Premier Access attractions. Priority Pass will be accepted at rides that formerly accepted FastPass.
Confused? Don’t be. Think of it like Genie+ at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. Rides that accept Individual Lightning Lane are not eligible for regular Lightning Lane Access. Want me to simplify it even further? It is essentially the same as the old tiered FastPass system at Disney World, except, you have to pay for tier 1.
Currently the list of rides eligible for Priority Access is:
Tokyo Disney
- Big Thunder Mountain
- Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters
- Haunted Mansion
- Pooh’s Hunny Hunt
- Monsters, Inc. Ride & Go Seek
- Star Tours: The Adventures Continue
- Space Mountain
DisneySea
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
- Aquatopia
- Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull
- Nemo & Friends SeaRider
- Raging Spirits
- The Magic Lamp Theater
- Turtle Talk
Could a free option like this come to Walt Disney World Or Disneyland? We hope so, though doubtful. As long as Genie+ remains profitable, it is unlikely that Disney will stop charging for it. Stranger things have happened though.
