Disneyland Update – New Magic At What Cost?

Change is a constant at the Disneyland Resort, it’s always been that way… but the breathless pace these last few months has been hard for fans and visitors alike to keep up with. This week brings the certainty that Disney Genie will soon cast a spell on your future visits. But is it everything you wished for, or just another way to drain your wallet? We’ll take a look at what the program offers, what it will cost, and when it is likely to pop up. There’s also an update on Magic Key reservations, busier parks, and hungrier guests. Plus, all the latest news, refurbs, and construction…

Paid FastPass and More Mobile Planning on the Way

The time for complimentary FastPass has come to an end, and Disneyland has wasted no time removing FastPass machines from the parks. The space left behind is either being left awkwardly empty for now or being used for stroller parking. FastPass signage will soon sport “Lightning Lane” stickers. 

Lightning Lane is a product included in the $20/day Genie+ service headed to the parks later this Fall (or perhaps a bit later). The idea behind Lightning Lane is almost exactly like the old MaxPass system at Disneyland. For a single $20 daily fee you’ll be able to schedule express access to one ride at a time all day long. The new name is just an unnecessary complication. Think about the service as MaxPass and it all makes much more sense. 

Here are the Genie+ Included Disneyland Lightning Lane Attractions

• • Autopia
  • Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
  • Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
  • Haunted Mansion
  • Indiana Jones Adventure
  • “it’s a small world”
  • Matterhorn Bobsleds
  • Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
  • Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin
  • Space Mountain
  • Splash Mountain
  • Star Tours – The Adventures Continue

And the Included Disney California Adventure Lightening Lane Attractions

• • Goofy’s Sky School
  • Grizzly River Run
  • Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT!
  • Incredicoaster
  • Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!
  • Soarin’ Around the World
  • Toy Story Midway Mania

But there are two differences: 1) There will be no free version of FastPass as there was in the past. And 2) there will be a few rides which you can only schedule for an additional fee (not included in the $20 Geline+).  So, if you want to ride Rise of the Resistance, Radiator Springs Racers, or Spider-Man, you’ll have to pay up to $15 a la carte, and can only do so once per day. 

The Extra Cost Individual Selections Are (expected to cost approximately $7 to $15 each depending on day and demand)

• • Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance (Disneyland Park)
  • Radiator Springs Racers (Disney California Adventure Park)
  • WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure (Disney California Adventure Park)

Disney promises that standby will remain available should guests wish to ride again or if Lightning Lane appointments aren’t available.  

Along with Lighting Lane, Disney Genie will be added to the Disneyland App. Genie has two main components. The first is a free planning service which helps you discover the lowest wait times at rides and restaurants. There’s a lot of things Genie can do, and if it works as planned, you’ll always be able to head to the attractions you are most interested in at the times of day they have the most availability. You just tell Genie what’s important to you and the app continues to monitor park conditions all day to bring you suggestions. 

But, for an additional $20, Genie+ will also add the Lightning Lane access we discussed above. 

The new Genie and Lightning Lane service rolls out on October 19th at Disney World, and Disneyland will follow behind after taking a bit of extra time to work out any kinks discovered from the WDW rollout.  

We’ve posted everything we currently know about Genie here: 

Disney Genie: Everything You Need to Know About a Major Game Changer

There doesn’t seem to be much support for Genie online yet. There are a few reasons for that: 1) Disney fans generally hate change. But if something’s good, they turn around quickly. 2) Not everyone wants to use their phone all day while they are in a theme park. Technology has been placed at the forefront of your vacation. Use it, or be forever behind the other guests who do (the Genie users will be the first to get to rides and restaurants with a short wait, the rest of you won’t have that advantage). And 3) it’s not all free. In the past, guests could still use FastPass for free, even if they didn’t want to pay for the mobile-based MaxPass.  

We think it’s a mixed bag. We do think that with Mobile Order, park reservations, dining reservations, and lots of other little changes since the parks reopened, things have gotten too complicated. Genie will help organize all of that and use artificial intelligence to make many of those decisions for you (but you’ll always be able to override the system and make your own choices).  The down side is that you’ll likely have to pay an extra $15 (approximately) to ride Rise of the Resistance without an insane wait (same for Radiator Springs Racers and Spider-Man).  That might not sound too bad, but with Genie+ already costing $20 per person, that’s an extra $35 ($140 for a family of 4) if you want to do both the Genie+ Lightning Lane and the Rise of the Resistance extra cost Lightning Lane (for example).   

But, we are looking forward to the ease of intelligent navigation built into the free version of Genie… assuming the system can handle 50,000+ guests all trying to use it at the same time in the parks over spotty wifi and with cellphone batteries constantly being drained.  

Genie is going to have a learning curve. Some folks will love it, some will hate it, but we’ll all have to learn to leverage it if we want to make the most of our time in the parks. 

I’ll be using the free version of Genie for sure. I likely won’t use Genie+ unless I’m visiting with friends from out of town who are prioritizing rides. And I’ll probably save the extra cost Lightning Lane rides (like Rise of the Resistance and Radiator Springs Racers) for special occasions. If most Magic Key holders do the same, then the standby waits shouldn’t be horrible. But if everyone pays the $20 for Genie+, we’ll see standby wait times balloon.  

Last week we asked whether paid access to attractions was a good thing or bad, and the results were overwhelming that you don’t like it. 

But what about the rest of Disney Genie? Do you like the idea of the artificial intelligence helping you plan your day? 

Magic Key Hubbub 

Our comments about the lack of Magic Key park reservations in last week’s Update really struck a nerve. At the time of our publication, the entire month of October and most of the weekends for the rest of the year had booked up for park reservations. However, after the uproar, almost the entire month of October opened back up for Magic Key holders later in the day last Monday. But it didn’t last long, dates have tightened back up again as key holders rushed in to snag the newly available dates. Weekends through the end of the year are almost entirely booked.  

It’s clear that Disneyland has once again increased the capacity of the park. Most days this past week were very crowded, especially in the evenings. However, while the parks felt packed, and lines for food, beverages, and outdoor vending carts were longer than we’ve seen since the parks reopened, though ride wait times weren’t as bad as you might expect.  

Our photos from Friday and Saturday show New Orleans Square and Fantasyland packed to the gills. And Main Street with guests shoulder to shoulder for fireworks.

Even an hour after fireworks, Main Street is still a mess. 

Unfortunately, all the attention on lack of park reservations appears to have resulted in an expansion of park capacity by Disney, which means busier parks with strained food and beverage service and weekends booked solid again. 

Whenever Disneyland posts about Magic Key, they get slammed with negative comments: 

With park reservations booking so far out, should Disneyland halt sales of new Magic Keys until there’s greater availability?  

Do you feel you are getting your money’s worth out of your Magic Key, or do you feel that you’ve been bait and switched by Disney into buying expensive passes you can’t use?

Food Fail

We’ve been growing increasingly uncomfortable with the difficulty getting food quickly in the parks on busy days. At first, we chalked this up to staffing and reopening issues, but Disney has moved to near normal operation on almost everything else… but one thing they continue to frustrate guests with INTENTIONALLY is how difficult they’ve made it to order food!

Most restaurants at the Disneyland Resort have removed all but one or two of the registers to intentionally increase lines so guests will be enticed to mobile order. However, many guests don’t seem to like Mobile Order. They want to do what they’ve always done in the past, just show up when they are hungry and order something.  As early as 4:30pm on Saturday, Cucina Cucamonga already had a massive and very slow-moving stand-by line to order from the single open register. This was a situation repeated at many quick service establishments across the resort. Hungry guests don’t make happy guests. 

It’s all so counterintuitive, if a guest wants to buy something… TAKE THEIR MONEY and make them happy! Don’t force them to jump through hoops to buy a bottle of water or get something to eat. This is customer abuse for no good reason.  Every other theme park in the world will let you walk up to a window and order food. And, because food service is so dysfunctional, many more guests are overtaxing the limited outdoor vending carts. It is now common to see insane lines for popcorn, beverages, and just about everything else. This is one area where Disneyland is really seriously failing their guests and it simply must be fixed. When the parks aren’t busy, there’s no reason to force a guest to mobile order, but when the parks are busy, Mobile order is often overwhelmed and doesn’t work right. So, in neither case does Mobile Order make your day better, it’s just an unnecessary complication for guests, for frustrated food service workers, and a terrible waste of company resources. I’m sure I’m not alone in saying PUT THE REGISTERS BACK AND STOP MAKING IT DIFFICULT TO BUY FOOD!!!

What To Do To Avoid a Hungry Day at Disneyland?

Since Disneyland isn’t doing its best to help keep you fed, we wanted to share some helpful tips so you don’t end up hangry in the parks (and you sure do see a lot of guests snapping at their families and even other guests these days).  

Our Natalie Kipper collected these tips for you:

1. The best tip for busy day dining is to mobile order your entire day’s meals as early as you can. Look at menus for the park or parks you are visiting before the day of your visit and book all of your meals in one go first thing on the morning of your visit. You can even place your orders before you are actually in the parks. Sure, it’s hard to know when you’ll be hungry or what you’ll be hungry for that far in advance, but it sure does beat having hungry kids or spending an hour waiting in a standby line.  
2. On some busy days, mobile ordering is not an option at many places if you wait until peak dining times. Oftentimes such days also bring with them long standby lines for quick service dining locations. In these case, the best place to grab a bite is in Downtown Disney or outside the resort on Harbor Blvd. There are outdoor vendors, like Blue Ribbon Corn Dogs and California Churro Company, that serve up tasty food in a short amount of time. There are tables nearby where you can enjoy your meal as well. Wetzel’s Pretzels typically has little to no line and offers sweet and savory pretzel along with a hotdog-pretzel hybrid for something more substantial. And you can find quick service and fast casual options just across the street from Disneyland as well at a fraction of the cost and with far quicker service than you are likely to get at Disneyland. 
3. If you opt to wait in the standby line for food within the parks, try to eat at off-times. For example, get your lunch earlier at 11am or later at 3pm. And if you don’t mind missing the fireworks, the lines are typically much shorter around then as well.
4. Table service reservations are scarce. If you weren’t tenacious enough to score a reservation 60 days in advance in the middle of the night (and at unpredictable times), you may not be completely out of luck. Many restaurants also have a daily walk-up list option through the Disneyland app. You will need to be near the desired venue to activate this option, which is found on its dedicated page within the app. These walk-up lists can fill up quickly.

Finally, speak up! If you had trouble getting the kind of food you wanted when you wanted it, let Disney know. Park management seems to be totally unaware that guests are suffering. Even as other things in the parks have normalized, Mobile Order has not improved since the parks reopened, and in some cases has gotten worse. That’s only going to get better if guests speak up.  

Christmas Party

Disneyland’s decision to hold a specially ticketed Christmas party, Disney’s Merriest Nights, was hotly contested by fans fearful that if successful this year, fireworks and parades would end up behind a paywall next year. Tickets have been available for several weeks now, and even still the party has not sold out. With just a scant five dates to choose from for the party’s duration, there are still tickets available for the November 16th night.

Although only the November 16th date remains available, there is a note on the ticket page that even the sold out dates may add additional availability.   

Realistically speaking, we know that this party will eventually sell out. If there’s one thing that Disney has learned over the years (and the ongoing Magic Key situation), it’s that rabid Disney fans will eat up anything Disney makes available. For example, take a look at the incredibly scaled-back Halloween party at Walt Disney World. The after-hours “Boo Bash” featured very little theming, no full-scale parade or entertainment, and still charged a premium for it:

Magic Kingdom Boo Bash: Foolish Mortals or Happy Haunt?

Disneyland Projects and Construction

There’s so much more going on than the big items above. 

Plaza Point (Holiday Shop) on Main Street

The Photo Supply shop on Main Street is well underway to become the new Plaza Point Holiday Shop. While the focus will be Christmas, other holidays are expected to rotate through the shop throughout the year. 

That has us wondering what will happen to the Christmas Shoppe in Fantasyland.  The store was hastily shoehorned into the former Heraldry Shoppe (run by a 3rd party company), which in turn was booted out because Disney wanted to turn the space into FastPass Distribution for Peter Pan. When those plans were dashed by the realization that FastPass would just make the standby lines even longer, clogging Fantasyland walkways, Christmas merchandise was rushed into the store without the typical care and design expected from Disneyland’s shopping outlets. We hope to see this location given an overhaul, and while we’d love to see a villains shop here, whatever goes in deserves a little more thought and design effort.  

If it all looks dark for a Christmas store, that’s because much of the old Heraldry shop was left as is. Slats were added to the walls to hang ornaments, and suits of armor and other details were slowly removed and replaced even after the Christmas items were put on display. 

Muppets Haunted Mansion Promotion in the Parks

We’re happy to see the charming Muppets Haunted Mansion special on Disney+ being promoted in the pdarks. As guests make the long walk from the Parking Structure to Disneyland, they’ll come upon a crypt that features Muppet Haunted Mansion props and images. 

In Disneyland, the Opera House has added some Muppets Haunted Mansion displays to the Haunted Mansion exhibit already installed there since 2019.  

The regular display tells the story of how the Haunted Mansion came to be and features early concept art and development information. 

The Muppets Haunted Mansion have been tied in off to the side and it’s a fun addition. 

I watched the Disney+ special and it’s absolutely charming, a must-see for any Haunted Mansion or Muppets fan. What I particularly loved was how much of the Mansion made it into this movie, and the loving but humorous way the script was written. It’s both classic muppets and deeply Haunted Mansion inspired at the same time. 

Note the wallpaper. Those faces may remind you of the mansion at first, but these are muppet ghosts! 

There was a tremendous amount of creative artistry employed in the set design. But adding whimsical Muppet details to the Mansion is a very delicate balancing act. They struck the perfect creepy tone, but in a very muppet way. 

Leota is played by Ms. Piggy. 

An extended trailer plays in the lobby with an intro and conclusion recorded just for this exhibit. 

You can read our review of Muppets Haunted Mansion here: 

Welcome Foolish Mortals to Our Muppets Haunted Mansion Review

Construction Projects

I’m going to do a brief construction overview today since we’ve covered it heavily in recent weeks and we’ve already bored you to tears with at least 4,000 words. 

Pelican Landing will add riverside seating near Harbour Galley in New Orleans Square. The restaurant remains open for now, but does have a refurbishment coming up soon. 

ToonTown projects

The two visible projects in ToonTown are the walkway paving and Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. 

And just inside the land you can’t help but notice the huge facade for Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. supports for the new facade have been installed on the show building.  

And some red safety netting has popped up in the construction zone. 

Nemo Lagoon Drained for Refurb

The lagoon has been drained. The subs are being painted, and you’ll see trash bags piled up. We assume they’ve just been cleaning up the gunk that’s collected over the last year and a half since the ride was operated. 

Monorail Still Testing

No reopening date just yet. But with temperatures starting to moderate, we expect it to reopen to guests soon. 

DCA

While most of the fun is over at Disneyland, there are a few projects at DCA as well. 

Paradise Lagoon draining/Fountain maintenance

This is a major refurbishment folks. It takes a lot of effort and money to drain the lagoon and later refill it (especially during a growing drought). Disney works with the water authority to slowly treat and insert the water into the aquifer. Of course, that’s just a piece of the puzzle as the fountain platforms are adjusted and repaired and fountains refurbished. We hope to see World of Color again next year. 

DCA Cappuccino Cart

The coffee cart near the Pacific Wharf bridge may look a bit different to you. It’s been completely refurbished, has a new sign, new menu, and is already pulling in big crowds. The big addition here is a breakfast burrito and another for lunch. When the lines get long at the restaurants throughout the resort, little options like this become even more important. 

Refurb List

Attractions currently under refurbishment:

Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage: (July 12th-Winter 2021)

Main Street Photo Supply Co./ Plaza Point Holiday Shoppe: (August 31st-October 16th)

Tarzan’s Treehouse: (September 1st-October 28th)

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad: (September 7th-November 4th). 

Although this one still has a way to go, the trains have been seen testing.  

Sailing Ship Columbia: (September 20th-TBD)

And some upcoming refurbishments

Harbour Galley:  (October 18th-November 19th)

it’s a small world Holiday Install: (October 25th-November 10th)

Indiana Jones Adventure: (November 8th-10th)

This & That

And now for a few more stories from around Disneyland that you’ll find interesting:

Extended Holiday Hours

We’re quickly approaching the holiday season, which means Disneyland’s hours of operation will be extended. Beginning November 12, which is the first day of the holidays at the Disneyland Resort, Disneyland park will remain open through midnight and Disney California Adventure will close at 10pm. We’re looking forward to enjoying a cup of hot chocolate and meandering down Main Street to look at the decorations and lights.

New Disneyland Ambassadors

Disneyland announced their new Ambassadors for 2021-2022, and I was there to welcome Mark Everett King Junior & Nataly Guzman to their new roles.

Here’s a little bit about the new Disneyland Ambassadors:

Nataly Guzman works in Guest Relations and is a VIP hostess. In 2010, she started her Disneyland Resort career at World of Disney. She’s also been a Traditions assistant and Disney University facilitator. She enjoys photography, drawing and painting and is a big fan of all things Star Wars.

Mark Everett King Jr. is a stage manager in Disney California Adventure park attractions. He started his Disneyland Resort career in 2013 in Food and Beverage, was a test and adjust project lead in Avengers Campus and a facilitator for Step into the Magic. He volunteers in youth mentorship programs and his hobbies include fashion, fitness and, going to theme parks.

We were the first media outlet to interview the new Disneyland Ambassadors. Take a look at the video below to hear from them yourself! And with the new Disneyland Ambassadors, we also said a fond farewell to the previous ones, Justin and Raffa. As much as we have loved seeing Justin and Raffa back in the parks again, it’s time for them to move into different roles within the company after their extended 3 year run. Take a look at the video to hear from the incoming and outgoing Disneyland Ambassadors!

For more about the Disneyland Ambassadors and to watch the entire ceremony, take a look at the article below.

Welcome Disneyland’s 2021/22 Resort Ambassadors – Nataly & Mark!

Halloween Happenings at Walt Disney’s Mansion!

Walt Disney’s Historic Storybook Mansion in the Hollywood Hills presents THREE special ticketed opportunities on Sunday, October 17th. Beloved Imagineer and TV personality Terri  Hardin Jackson will teach a how to carve a pumpkin like an Imagineer class. There are special tours of the mansion. And there will even be one spooky ghost tour of this real-life haunted mansion!!! 

• 11am – Pumpkin Carving session with Walt Disney Imagineer, Terri Hardin Jackson:  Television personality Terri Hardin Jackson (current judge on the Food Network’s “Outrageous Pumpkins”) will lead you through one of her celebrated pumpkin carving workshops – Limited to 20 guests
• 10am & 1pm – Tours of Walt Disney’s Storybook Mansion and special chat with Walt Disney Imagineer Terri Hardin Jackson.  After the chat, you’ll tour the interior of the beautiful estate and learn some seasonal spooky secrets this special place has collected through time.
• 2:30pm – Halloween-time tour of Walt Disney’s Storybook Mansion.  We celebrate Walt Disney and also learn some of the spooky secrets this real-life haunted mansion.

For tickets and more information, visit: Walt Disney Mansion October 17th Events Page HERE 

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Nightmare Before Christmas LIVE

Discount Tickets and Giveaway

We’ve got something really cool for you folks. See The Nightmare Before Christmas with live performances from Danny Elfman, Ken Page, and Weird Al Yankovic! Best of all, MiceChat readers get a big discount. Be sure to USE CODE:  MICE25

Nightmare Before Christmas Live: TICKETS HERE

AND… we’re giving away a pair of tickets each week between now and the event. You can enter by doing three simple things:

1. 1. Share the link to this article on social
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   3. and use the hashtag #JackIsBackMC

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Let’s Hear From You

Wow! Lot’s to digest. How is your Magic Key experience going? Do you think new sales should be suspended until reservations are more available? What are your thoughts on Mobile Order and standby for restaurants? Should Disney make it easier for people to eat? Genie/Lightning Lane is coming VERY soon, it’s absolutely going to change the way we all visit the parks. What are the good parts and concerning parts of the new program?  

I sincerely appreciate you reading all the way to the end like this. It was a challenging night. Had to switch from typing on my computer to my iPhone half way through the night due to a keyboard malfunction. It made typing this update incredibly difficult (and I hate auto-correct more than ever). So please forgive any strange formatting errors. I did the very best I could under the circumstances.  (The sun is coming up, that’s my deadline, I turn to dust if the daylight hits me). 

Now it’s your turn. Let’s hear your thoughts on the week’s big Disney stories…

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And just a few more photos that really didn’t fit into the update that I still want to share…

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