NEWS: New Digital Offering, ‘Disney Genie,’ Coming to Disney World

As technology continues to be ever-present in our lives, Walt Disney World is pushing forward to offer a new digital offering that will help you plan and enjoy the Walt Disney World Resort like never before. Catch more details below.

Here are all the details from Disney Cast Member Avery Maehrer:

You ain’t never had a friend like this! Moments ago, at D23 Expo 2019, details were unveiled by Disney Parks, Experiences and Products Chairman Bob Chapek for “Disney Genie,” a revolutionary new digital offering set to debut in late 2020 that will enhance the way you plan for and experience a trip to Walt Disney World Resort. Joining other innovations like the MagicBand, Disney Genie is being designed to help you make the most out of your visit, whether you’re a first-time guest or a seasoned pro.

Disney Genie will make planning easier and more fun by providing customized itineraries geared to your interests, right at your fingertips – from a royal, princess-themed day at Magic Kingdom Park to a trip around the world at Epcot for foodies and even a perfect day for thrill-seekers. Certain features of Disney Genie will also be available through your preferred travel professional.

Sometimes you may know exactly what you want to do, but may not know the best time or order in which to do it. You’ll be able to tell Disney Genie what you’d like to experience, and it will quickly evaluate millions of options to present you with an optimal day. And best of all, it’s flexible! If you change your mind for any reason, Disney Genie will re-optimize your day.

Disney Genie can also send you real-time tips and updates, including recommendations for experiences it thinks you’ll love, helping you navigate the theme parks with added convenience and comfort. If you don’t want to worry about making reservations in multiple steps, Disney Genie will even take care of that for you.

This represents yet another way we are using creativity and innovation to connect guests with the stories and characters they love, and to help them make lasting, magical memories with the family and friends they cherish most. Over the past several years, Disney parks have become more seamless and enjoyable through other digital offerings, such as mobile food ordering, the Play Disney Parks app, online check-in and so much more.

RELATED ARTICLE: 8 DO’s and DON’Ts for Using the My Disney Experience App

by Christy Caby

The My Disney Experience App is extremely helpful and links everything to your Magic Bands, which help to ensure that all aspects of your vacation are at organized and ready for you to enjoy.  There are several things that you should definitely know as you are using the app to plan and enjoy your Disney vacation:

8 – DO set up the free account!

The account is completely free to set up and it invaluable in helping to plan and organize every aspect of your vacation to Walt Disney World.  You can use the web interface or the mobile application to set up and manage all of the details of your account including all reservations, park tickets, resort reservations, preferences, celebrations, etc.  You can even put in notes about your vacations and mark favorite attractions.  It is extremely helpful and did I mention that it is completely free?

7 – DON’T forget to add the other members of your party.

Once you have set up an account, you will want to make sure that each member of your party has a profile so that you can link them to all of your reservations. They can then set up their own free account and then complete a friend request to connect with you so that you can add each other to reservations and plans.  If they don’t have an interest in an account or aren’t old enough to manage their own, then you are able to add them as a friend and manage their profile yourself.  You will still be able to add them to everything.

6 – DO ensure that all of your reservations are linked.

This is especially important!  To get the most use out of the application and to ensure that you have all of your reservations managed in a single place, you will need to make sure that they all appear on the reservations tab.  If you don’t see one there, you can easily link them and add the appropriate members to the group.  This will help keep you from missing anything and planning the other aspects of your trip around the reservations.  You must also make sure that your Magic Bands are properly linked to your account and to each member of your party.  Your Magic Bands are how you will access most of these reservations and park admission.

5 – DON’T forget to validate your address, credit card information, etc. is up to date.

It will save you a lot of time if you make sure that you have full and complete information in your account.  The mailing address is very important since this is where your Magic Bands, Magical Express info and other items will be mailed to.  You definitely don’t want these items getting lost in transit.  Your credit card and billing information is used to hold all of your dining reservations (in most cases it WILL NOT be charged, though).  The credit card information is also used for your resort charges, which you can also set a pin number for to help protect your accounts.

4 – DO make sure you have downloaded and gotten comfortable with the application.

Before you go on your vacation, you will want to download the app to your phone.  It is a free app in the app store on your phone.  Once downloaded, you will be able to log into your account.  Be sure to spend time getting comfortable with the app so that you know where to find everything.  You will be able to see attractions at each park, all of your reservations, FastPass+, etc. for the day, park hours and more.  It gives you a lot of information to keep you organized and get the most out of your vacation right at your fingertips.

3 – DO filter the wait time list.

After a recent change to the App it has become a bit more difficult to figure out how to view wait times for the attractions. In the main menu, you’ll see the “Wait Times” has returned, after being removed for a short time. However, when you click on this it shows a very long list of every single attraction at every single park. You can, however, filter down the list. On the top left side of the App there is a filter option. Press on that and you’ll be able to choose a park. Then you’ll be able to view only the attractions for that park instead of all of them!

2 – DO keep up to date with show and parade times.

Disney prints and distributes Times Guides at the front of the park, but you really don’t need them!  You already have this information in the app and can easily find it all.  The evening shows and the parades are even grouped together so that you can see the times for everything and plan which you will attend.  The showtimes for each show are in there so you can see when the next show is before making the journey over there.  It is extremely helpful!

1 – DON’T feel stuck in a single park for FastPass+.

Gone are the days of the FastPass+ selections getting limited to one park in a single day!  With the original system, you had to make three selections for a given day, all in the same park.  Now, with changes to the system, you still have to use your initial 3 FastPass+ selections at one park, but after you have used those, you can make new selections, one at a time, for any park.  So before you head over to your next park, secure those FastPasses on the App!