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3. Do something about Genie+

Image: Disney

When the 50th began and visitors unanimously reported burning, roiling hatred of the paid-for-line-skipping-system Genie+, it seemed possible that Disney would save face by officially axing the system when the anniversary celebration ended – likely by pretending they'd always meant for it to be a temporary "exciting offering" tied to the 50th. Those fantasies are over. Let's face it; it seems highly unlikely that you will ever again get "priority boarding" on Flight of Passage at Disney World without paying for it.

Especially as Disney tries to make its streaming service perpetually profitable (a venture that approximately no company has yet succeeded in), Disney's highly profitable Parks, Experiences, & Products department will pick up the slack... and since paid-for line-skipping is industry standard, remembering "the good ole days" of free FastPass is about all that fans can do. But that doesn't mean Disney is stuck with Genie+.

Image: Disney

It would be nice if, even just for the Disney100 celebration, Disney tried something new. Make Genie+ free to all while keeping Individual Lightning Lanes as paid-for add-ons; use Disneyland's system, which activates once you enter the park instead of at the ridiculous 7 AM wake-up; return to FastPass+ with week-out bookings for $10/day; abolish it all and offer just Universal Express-style $200 once-per-ride line-skip passes, leaving fast-moving Stand-by lines for the rest of us. With good will tanking and guest experience suffering, fans are returning home and telling everyone they know how ridiculously awful Genie+ is... and if it doesn't disappear, soon those guests will.

4. Bring back... everything else that's been taken away

Everyone knows that Disney Parks have had a big "takeaway" problem over the last few years. The hard stop of the pandemic gave Disney the cover it needed to kill nearly every "free" (that is, included) perk and benefit of visiting a Disney Park or staying at an on-site hotel. We tracked the end of eight services that – for many – meant that the "Disney bubble" had officially, irrevocably burst.

Image: Disney

Millions of guests have felt the increased prices and lowered standards that have hit the parks post-pandemic – most of them coming home to tell friends and family how outrageously expensive Disney World has gotten, and how your day is filled with app-based micro-transactions. More troublingly, though, millions more don't yet know that the next time they visit Disney World, they won't get Magical Express airport transportation, FastPass, free MagicBands, or package delivery that literally amount to hundreds and hundreds of dollars in added expense for a family, on top of ever-rising park admission, airfare, and rental car prices.

Disney CEO Bob Iger has admitted that in their "zeal to grow profit," Disney was "too aggressive" in their pricing schemes over the last few years... and to be fair, in January 2023, the company officially returned free parking to guests of Disney World's hotels. But the laundry list of services pulled out from under guests goes much, much deeper, and with Disney netting $3 billion in profit last fiscal year, guests who keep the Parks division absurdly profitable seem justified in suggesting that they deserve those perks back.

5. Face the future

Image: Disney

In a 2023 shareholders meeting, Bob Iger reported that Disney planned to spend $17 billion over the next ten years at Walt Disney World. It's an impressive figure, even when you recognize that that includes all of the infrastructure work Disney undertakes in Florida, the cost of ever-expanding hotel and DVC inventory, and that it's about equivalent to the amount Disney spent in Florida over the last ten years.

Still, even assuming that amount will be divvied up in the same portions as it was over the last decade, that would likely still mean several high-profile new "lands" with major attractions, several reimagined or overlayed attractions, and rotating entertainment and shows, too. For sure, some of those projects haven't even been dreamed of yet. Many more are early on in the "Blue Sky" development process and may never come to be. Trust us, after the 2022 D23 Expo and its announcements of maybe-sorta-kinda-one-day-just-putting-it-out-there lands, fans don't need teased.

Image: Disney

But it does make sense to start making Disney World's next steps public. As it is, the D23 Expo in 2022 was memorable for being the first in history in which zero new rides were announced. None. Instead of painting a picture of where Disney was headed, the Parks Panel left fans scrambling to figure out if Disney was going anywhere, leaving the already-announced 2024's Tiana's Bayou Adventure as the farthest-out project on Disney's public schedule. That was par for the course for Chapek's era.

But it would be nice to see Imagineering empowered and some real, concrete plans come together. Disney100 isn't just the conclusion of Disney's first century; it's the launch of its next. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to show fans where Disney is going, and how it's going to get there. Big, bold, ambitious, timeless projects might lie ahead... but we don't know. And to get fans back on Disney's side, Disney100 serves as a perfect excuse to reorient, reintroduce, and redirect Disney World into the future...

 
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