If you’ve visited the parks recently, you may have found them buzzing with guests. With summer just around the corner, big nighttime spectaculars enticing visitors, and graduations taking place at schools everywhere over these next few weeks… your next trip to Disneyland is likely to be very busy. But there are some additional things you’ll want to know that could impact your park experience in the weeks and months to come. We’ll take a look at Genie updates that may be headed to Disneyland, a variety of construction projects around the resort, a project to change front gate access, and a huge change for cast members that could seriously impact Disneyland’s ability to fully staff the parks. Let’s take a look…
Genie Magic… At What Cost?
Bob Chapek is proud of Disney Parks and Resorts. They are making more money per guest than ever before. In fact, guests are now spending an average of 40% more per person than in 2019. A big piece of that revenue increase is the addition of Genie+ and Lightning Lane. And, because it’s a cash cow, Disney is reluctant to limit the number of people willing to buy (if a guest buys the $20/day Genie+ AND a $20 Lightning Lane for Rise of the Resistance, they’ll have just spent $40 on top of their daily admission on those two things alone). Unfortunately, that often means that the service is over-subscribed, causing lines to back up and standby guest queues to spill out into walkways.
While the issues caused by Genie at Disneyland have been profound, it is even worse at Walt Disney World, which has fewer rides per park than at Disneyland, and offers even more Lightning Lane attractions. After months of guest complaints and a failure to deliver on the promise of rapid access to attractions, Disney World will be putting the brakes on Genie. They will stop selling the service in advance of guest visits and instead only allow it to be purchased on the day of a visit to the parks. Further, Disney may limit the number of Genie+ sold each day so they can ensure the access promised.
Could the same changes be coming to Disneyland? It’s very likely as the operation of WDW and Disneyland become more and more synchronized. And, since Disney has been touting those huge increases in guest spending at their shareholder meetings, the easiest way to continue increasing revenue is to continue increasing prices. To justify increased prices, Disney needs to deliver on the promise of shorter waits. So, don’t be surprised if the cost of Genie, and Individual Lightning Lane access start going up soon. Disney had originally intended for the services to be dynamically priced, and now that the skip-the-line services have been around awhile and there is plenty of usage data, Disney can fairly reliably price the service based upon expected demand.
How high could prices go? Well… how much would you be willing to pay to avoid waiting a couple of hours in line for Rise of the Resistance? And what would access to all the old FastPass rides be worth to you? Clearly $20 is too low if so many guests are using the service that its usage needs to be controlled.
Of course, just because people are willing to pay for a thing doesn’t mean they like it. Thousands of our readers have voted on Genie and it’s clear that they don’t like having to pay for attractions that they already paid for when they purchased a ticket to the parks.
Fantasmic! & Lion King Shows Kick Off May 28th
Fantasmic construction is nearing completion and the last touches are being completed on the stage at Tom Sawyer’s Island.
The big wooden walls around the lighting boxes and towers have come down. Smaller tarps remain in some locations around river’s edge. But the bulk of the work has been completed.
Still no word from Disney on virtual queue for this show. However, since it had FastPass before park closures, it would reason that it would use the same sort of virtual queuing system that is now in place at World of Color. In addition, various restaurants offer a Fantasmic Dining package. If you can snag a reservation, it’s the most stress free way to secure a viewing spot.
Tale of the Lion King premieres at Fantasyland Theater this week as well!
Over at the Fantasyland Theater, the set is being built for an expanded version of the Tale of the Lion King show.
The sets are being finished now, but it should all be complete this week.
And a bit of video of the stage and some activity on the set:
For more on all of the nighttime spectaculars and shows returning to the Disneyland Resort, please be sure to read and share our entertainment guide:
UPDATED: Disneyland Spectaculars & Entertainment Return – Everything You Need To Know!
Gateway Project
There’s a complicated project on the horizon that we caught wind of a while back, but it appears that it is nearly ready to move forward. With Magic Bands and MagicMobile headed to Disneyland sometime this year, the way we enter the parks and access Lightning Lane will soon become much more like Walt Disney World. Guests will be able to tap their phones or Magic Bands to enter the parks and tap at Lightning Lane attractions as well.
We could see changes start popping up at the front gates soon.
Guests currently scan the barcode on their tickets at the front gate and at attractions… but the Lightning Lane attractions all have big round disks on them where you will soon be able to tap as well (which should be much quicker than fumbling for your ticket bar code and getting it to scan).
Anything that will speed up the front gate process will be a good thing. This is one change we are looking forward to. And for those of you tired of scrolling through your Disneyland app to find your admission, MobileMagic will allow you to add your admission media or Magic Key to the Apple or Google wallet on your phone for quick access.
Staffing Crisis on the Horizon
We began receiving messages a few days ago from concerned cast members who heard that Disney wants to do away with the current points system and replace it with something a little more draconian that does away with the points. The points system was a way to keep track of an employee’s attendance. No shows, out sick, clocking in late and other attendance occurrences all have different point values. When an employee reaches a certain level, discipline begins. It’s a flexible system that has been in place for decades and it mostly works.
However, Disneyland is going through a very hard time trying to staff back up to meet the current park demands. And, things have changed in the labor market. Fewer people seem willing to work at Disney wages, many who have come back are disenchanted working understaffed positions which often leave them working extra hard and often extra hours because someone else either called out sick, suddenly quit, or there was simply no one available to work a shift. And many new hires don’t last long or leave just after getting paid their signing bonus (an incentive program Disney is using to entice potential new employees). Frustrating for both Disney and its employees.
So, Disney has decided that the best way to make sure employees show up is to take away the lenient and flexible point system and track actual hours an employee is out. Here’s how one union explained the new policy to their members:
While the new policy might make sense at first glance to a full time employee or someone working at a regular company that pays a living wage, all this new Disneyland policy will accomplish is forcing sick employees to show up for work out of fear they will be fired. That will mean more employees spread their illnesses around to each other and possibly guests as well. Essentially, forcing employees to work while sick in the middle of an ongoing pandemic.
Disney forgets that the point system was created because they have a huge pool of employees who are in school, need to work two (or more) jobs to make ends meet, have kids, or other situations which require flexibility. Disneyland’s schedulers are notoriously HORRIBLE at honoring employee requests for time off, shift changes to accommodate 2nd jobs, school schedules, exams, dr. appointments, sick kids, etc. The Disneyland operation is just so huge that often the schedulers just run their programs and make the schedule stick whether it works or not. With the point system, it was possible for many employees to make it all work. But under the new system, it will just take a couple days of illness for yourself and then staying home with your child who caught whatever you had and you’ll potentially be fired.
We find this move curious as we can’t see how it will improve Disney’s ability to staff shifts or hire more workers. If anything, they could find themselves in a staffing crisis by mid-summer once enough employees have been fired while trying to cope with multiple rounds of whatever the latest variant is and taking care of their families at the same time. Is Disney not paying attention to the nationwide health and staffing issues? Most companies are trying to be MORE FLEXIBLE at this time, not less, to entice a new generation of employees who have different sensibilities than your average middle-age manager.
We understand Disney’s need to staff a shift. Most of the employees of the company probably get it as well. But it doesn’t seem like this new policy will do anything to solve the problem Disney is trying to fix. We sincerely hope Disney will do some deeper soul searching and speak with employees about ways to ensure shifts get filled and more workers actually stay on the job. You might be surprised by the great suggestions your front line workers come up with to help the company succeed.
New Orleans Square Revised
To prepare for the epic return of Fantasmic AND accommodate the overflow crowds of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, some major revisions were recently made to the walkways of New Orleans Square. The huge elevated viewing platforms have been removed, with smaller gardens constructed in their place.
For the last couple of months, New Orleans Square felt like a maze of wooden walls. But most of those walls have now been removed. All that was left on Friday were some barricades and watchful cast members blocking freshly poured concrete in front of the River Bell Terrace. The construction walls around the Fantasmic lighting tower pits have also been removed.
On Royal Street, the caricature artists have returned.
A lot of additional walking (and nighttime viewing) space has been reclaimed from the old platforms.
The walkway between the Perfume shop and Crystal shop is now blocked with a wall while the area in front of French Market is repaved.
But don’t worry about that big old tree in front of the restaurant. It appears to be just fine as they redo the walkway and patio.
Yo Ho Yo Ho – Pirates of the Caribbean Returning Early July
Disneyland is targeting an early July return for the crowd-pleasing boat ride. The Disneyland app lists its return as July 1st. But that date could still slip. That also gives Disneyland operations about one month to figure out nightly Fantasmic crowd flow before Pirates returns and causes potential gridlock in the area. While, in the past, the Pirate’s queue begins to lessen as guests claim their spots along the river for the big show… anything new (or newly returned) at Disneyland draws a crowd these days. And that means there is the potential for an epic Pirates line to interfere with an epic Fantasmic crowd. Of course, Disney will need to prevent that from happening.
Which is one of many reasons why we think Lightning Lane may be headed to Pirates (money and all the additional walkway space in New Orleans Square and around the Tarzan Treehouse being other main factors). The entry to the attraction is currently ripped up, the digital portions of the sign removed, and lots of cables and electrical equipment is on site at the entrance to the attraction.
Unfortunately, Lightning Lane generally has a negative impact on standby lines… often causing them to cascade out into walkways and plug up traffic. That could create a perfect storm situation if Pirates was offering the standard version of the service, sending a massive queue out into the Fantasmic viewing area. But it’s also possible for Disney to perhaps suspend the standby line prior to Fantasmic and only operate the much smaller volume Lightning Lane for a couple of hours each night. They also tested a virtual queue scenario at Indiana Jones for a couple of months in anticipation of a situation just like this one. Unfortunately, that test didn’t go very well and resulted in huge winding lines that had to take over much of the Jungle Cruise queue as well as the Indy queue and took dozens of cast members to manage and enforce. The one advantage that a temporary virtual queue has is that Disney can control how many spots they book and at what times they should return. So Disney could severely limit the attraction capacity for an hour or two during those early days of high demand.
And by the time Pirates opens, the tree stump entry to Tarzan’s Treehouse will have been completely removed, freeing up lots of additional space and allowing the walkway between Riverbell Terrace and Adventureland to be used as a potential switchback far away from the Fantasmic viewing area.
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Blue Bayou
With Pirates closed, Blue Bayou is also taking advantage of the downtime to complete some minor refurbishment work. There is no official return date and the website simply says to check back for more details.
However, beginning June 24th, the restaurant is no longer listed on the Disneyland refurbishment list. But don’t get your hopes up too high, it also isn’t accepting reservations for that date… or any date. So we’ll have to wait a little longer to know for sure.
Andy Castro filmed a short clip of what New Orleans Square currently looks like:
And as seen from the Mark Twain:
Sub Lagoon Refilled and BEAUTIFUL!
I took the Monorail into the park this week. As we glided over the submarine lagoon, we saw a diver in the water.
That’s no mermaid…
The only evidence of construction at the lagoon is a large hoist and a lonely tarp covering the top of one rock. We sure would love for them to add the seals from Finding Dory.
Note that the buoy with the Mine, Mine, Mine seagulls is still missing as well.
As we suspected, the water has muted some of the bright colors of the coral and the lagoon looks beautiful.
Still no word from Disney on when this attraction will reopen. But a full lagoon is a very good sign.
Downtown Disney Construction
Since we’re already on the Monorail, let’s take a look at the Downtown Disney construction. It appears that there has been no movement at the dirt lot that use to be the AMC movie theater. But all those piles of debris have been removed.
And here’s what it’s supposed to look like when it’s done. Single story mid-century architecture and a new stage.
Bits and Bites
There are a few new things that caught our eye in various food locations. Some are brand new and other’s are just things we finally got to try:
Over at Paradise Garden Grill at DCA, the menu has been swapped out for an array of barbecue. When the park first opened, this was the Burger Invasion which sold a limited McDonalds menu. After the big DCA 2.0 redo which transformed this area into Paradise Gardens, this became a Geek inspired menu featuring skewers. It was pretty good too, but rarely busy. The park had recently been featuring menus inspired by whatever festival was currently running in the park. Between festivals the location was often closed entirely. Well, now you’ll find various grilled meats done in regional styles of BBQ. It’s a fun menu that’s perfect for summer season. Can’t wait to sink my teeth into Kansas City-style ribs and see if Disneyland does my hometown justice. But I will say that this menu needs a tri-tip or other sliced meat as well as a BBQ burger (not just an Impossible burger). And, I’d love to see some cornbread and big thick smokehouse fries.
Although Star Wars Day (May the 4th) is long gone at this point, there’s still some special Star Wars-inspired foods to enjoy, especially with Star Wars celebration taking place this week at the Anaheim Convention Center (along with the last Star Wars Nite this year). In the Grand Californian Hotel lobby, the snack stand is open for business and stocked with an assortment of Star Wars goodies.
At the Grand Californian Hotel, the snack stand in the lobby is selling a galaxy of fancy Star Wars themed treats.
For more about the Star Wars foods you can enjoy for a limited time and during the last Disneyland After Dark: Star Wars Nite event, take a look at our review below:
Star Wars Day in the Disney Parks – MAY THE 4TH BE WITH YOU!
Continuing the Star Wars theme, over at Black Tap in Downtown Disney, there are milkshakes that draw inspiration from the Light side (vanilla shake) and the Dark side (wild cherry shake).
Speaking of Black Tap, the eatery is having a “Go Coconuts” summer with a Thai Coconut Curry Chicken Burger (Spiced Ground Chicken, Green Coconut Curry Sauce, Chilis, Cilantro, Toasted Cashews, Coconut Lime Aoli, Served With Fries for $23) and a special Coconut Macaroon Classic Shake for $14. I need to try that chicken burger.
This & That
Tired? Imagine how I feel! But we’ve got just a bit more for you and a nice surprise at the end.
The Soul of Jazz Exhibit Coming to Downtown Disney
When Disney-Pixar’s Soul was released, there was an accompanying exhibit that was displayed at Walt Disney World’s EPCOT park. The exhibit entitled “The Soul of Jazz: An American Adventure” showcases the history of jazz through the eyes of Soul’s main character Joe Gardner. While this exhibit used to be exclusive to EPCOT’s American Adventure pavilion, last year it took a tour across the country to various jazz museums. If you’re a fan of Soul and jazz, you’re in luck since “The Soul of Jazz” will be coming to Downtown Disney. The limited-time exhibit will be featured at the old ESPN Zone starting June 1st. More details will be announced closer to the opening date of the exhibit.
For a sneak peek of what to expect, take a look at our initial coverage for “The Soul of Jazz” exhibit at Epcot:
Pop-Up Shop in DCA
Embarcadero Gifts, the tiny store across from The Little Mermaid attraction, continues to remain shuttered. But there is some retail activity taking place.
Right now, there’s a small pop-up shop in front of the store that is stocked with mostly Stitch-related items. A little bit of an odd choice considering its proximity to The Little Mermaid, but everyone can use a little more Experiment 626 in their lives!
Huge Pride Collection Arrives
After years of a wink and a nod “Rainbow” collections during Gay Pride month, Disney has released a fully official collection of “Pride” merchandise this year. The line is in four parts: items inspired by Star Wars, items inspired by Pixar, items inspired by Marvel, and items featuring Disney characters. There are a variety of spirit jerseys, pins, mugs, hats, and shirts in adult and kids sizes.
My absolute favorite item is the BB-PROUD Star Wars droid:
The Marvel items feature a really empowering message.
Of course, no collection is complete without a Minnie headband.
Disneyland Blooms
It was a gloomy week in Southern California, with the resort under almost constant cloud cover. But the vivid colors of the gardens and attractions was more than enough visual candy to make this a stunning week to visit. Here are some of the favorite photos of the week from Mike Kindrich and myself.
The mini Tink is the daughter of one of our staff. There’s always an extra amount of joy when a child dressed as a character gets to meet that character in real life. ✨❤️✨
Have you met Fortune Red? You’ll find him tucked away at 21 Royal Street in New Orleans Square.
Planted rooftops? there are at least a couple of them in the resort… First up is Harbor Galley…
And not far away is the Briar Patch…
There are beautiful blooming trees all over the resort in a variety of colors…
And lots of baby geese and ducks. These guys were almost as popular as Tinker Bell nearby.
And there’s nothing beautiful about this statue. Sort of looks like he just had his wisdom teeth pulled. But I love weird things like this in theme parks.
There has to be an inside joke behind this. Someone contact me and fill me in.
At first glance, this lagoon between Pixie Hollow and the Hub is charming…
But then you notice that the water was dyed blue to hide the broken fountain equipment. Unfortunately, the bubble hoses are coming loose and floating to the surface. They really need to either fix this or just pull all the hoses up so it doesn’t look so abandoned.
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Let’s Hear From You!
It was a mixed bag of good and bad news today. What caught your eye? How much would you pay for Genie+? How much would you pay for Rise of the Resistance? If Disney has been having trouble staffing the park, will throwing out a decades old attendance system for something much more strict help them hire and retain more cast members? Was Fantasmic an important missing ingredient for you? And are you looking forward to Tale of the Lion King? Let’s hear from you below!
Looking for more Disneyland news and views? Watch my live video from the park the day we shot this update…
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