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Royal Caribbean - Independence of the Seas - Our REVIEW

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We recently set sail on a 3-day Bahamian cruise aboard Royal Caribbean Cruise Line's Independence of the Seas departing from Port Canaveral, Florida.  Our review is for this specific cruise only. Our boarding time was scheduled for 11:00am on embarkation day so we decided to head down to Florida a day early to avoid missing our cruise.  We stayed at the Hyatt Place Hotel in Titusville, Florida which is about 20-30min from Port Canaveral.  It made for an easy commute to Port Canaveral. Fun Fact: Embarkation is the process of loading a passenger ship    On the morning of our cruise, we left our hotel at 10:00am which turned out to be the perfect time to get us to the boarding station at 11:00am.  As we crossed the Martin Andersen Beachline Expressway, our excitement level went through the roof at seeing the various cruise ships in port.      Our terminal was Terminal 1, which is Royal's main terminal at Port Canaveral.  The signage at the port was good at getting us to the right
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Disney Genie Service Coming To Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort

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UPDATED 8/20/2021

UPDATED 10/8/2021

"Coming this fall to Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort, Disney Genie is a complimentary and convenient new digital service designed to create the best Disney day for guests."  This is the message Disney wants everyone to walk away with since, after all, they have retired FastPass+ service at Walt Disney World Resort and MaxPass at Disneyland Resort.  The Disney Genie Service at Walt Disney World Resort will launch October 19, 2021.  The Disneyland launch has not been released yet.

If you're familiar with services like TouringPlans.com, Disney Genie is Disney's version of this trip planning software.  Integrated directly into the existing MyDisney Experience app and Disneyland app, Disney Genie will build out an itinerary based on guest preferences.  The technology will take into account wait times, walking distances, existing dining reservations, and more to generate the most time efficient way to experience the parks.  It will also display future forecasted wait times so you can choose when to visit certain attractions.  You'll still be able to join virtual queues for select attractions, book dining and other experiences reservations, use mobile food order, and even ask a new virtual assistant questions throughout the day.  Disney Genie will be FREE for all guests.  You can begin using the Disney Genie features beginning at 12am each day of your visit at Walt Disney World Resort and upon entering either park at Disneyland Resort.  Valid theme park tickets and park reservations are required.

But what about the retiring FastPass+ and MaxPass service?  That's where Disney Genie+ comes into play.  Disney has changed the FastPass+ and MaxPass queues to "Lighting Lanes".  For $15 per ticket per day at Walt Disney World Resort and $20 per ticket per day at Disneyland Resort, you'll be able to choose the next available time to arrive and enjoy select attractions via the lighting lane.  (The list of attractions for this service has not yet been released.)  (The list of attractions has been released and is available here.)  You read that right...no more 60 day advanced reserving of attractions.  You will now choose your attractions the day of and only one at a time at that.  And if you have the Park Hopper ticket option, Disney Genie+ can be used across multiple parks.  You can make attraction selections beginning at 7am each day at Walt Disney World Resort and upon entering either park at Disneyland Resort.  You can add Disney Genie+ to your reservation in advance of your stay by contacting your travel agent or logging into your MyDisney Experience account if you booked your trip yourself or your can purchase it the day of your visit using the MyDisney Experience app or Disneyland app.  Valid theme park admission and park reservation required.

All attractions will continue to have their standard standby queue and attractions currently using a virtual queue will continue to do so.  Yep...you still need to rush to be the first to get that coveted boarding pass for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.  Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance no longer is a virtual queue attraction...it is now standby.

But wait, there's more.  Another Disney Genie option is the "Individual Attraction Selections" option.  This option lets guests choose up to two (2) highly demanded attractions each day to use the Lighting Lane on.  (The list of attractions for this service has not yet been released.)  (The list of attractions has been released and is available here.)  It's unknown which attractions will be considered "highly demanded" and if they will be separate attractions than what is covered in the Disney Genie+ option.  This will also be a paid service and pricing will vary by date, attraction, and park.  Guests of Walt Disney World Resort hotel can begin purchasing their attraction lighting lane passes beginning at 7am each day of their stay.  All other theme park guests can begin making selections at the posted park opening time.  At Disneyland Resort, guests can begin making their selections upon entering either park.  Valid theme park admission and park reservation required.  Our understanding is that if you want "everything" you'll need both the Disney Genie+ option and the Individual Attraction Selections option...we're not 100% on that, but we'll update this post when we find out more.  Attractions for the Disney Genie+ option WILL NOT be the same attractions available for the Individual Attraction Selection option.  Depending on which attractions you want to experience, and how you want to experience them, you may need to purchase both options.  Prices will vary by date, attractions, and park and, for Walt Disney World Resort, will only be available in the MyDisney Experience app.  However, for example, Remy's Ratatouille Adventure will be $9 per person on October 19 and $11 per person on October 23.  As another example, using these same dates, Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain is $7 per person while Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance will be $15 per person.

The Disney Genie+ service will also include Disney parks-themed audio experiences and augmented reality lenses at Walt Disney World Resort and unlimited Disney PhotoPass downloads at Disneyland Resort.  Guests at the Walt Disney World Resort will need to purchase the Memory Maker service for unlimited downloads of their PhotoPass photos.

Please keep coming back to this blog post for more information; including the Individual Attraction Selection pricing and which attractions both of these options will apply to .

Your can visit our Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort pages for additional information.

You can also check out this video:


We'd love to hear your thoughts on this new service.  Please comment below to keep the conversation going.



Location: Orlando, FL, USA

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