Changes at Disney

We hadn't been to Disney still 2018 so we expected some changes such as new rides but we were surprised that the FastPass system which allowed visitors to reserve a time for an attraction and skip a long line was gone. In its place is Genie which has an additional fee per day per park. The fees starts at $15 but can be as high as $35. Genie allows visitors to chose a time to see an attraction but there are stipulations on how many reservations can be made per day and how much time must be allowed between them. It's confusing. It's also possible to buy individual Lightening Passes for $10 to $25 per ride. Tickets for Disney are expensive enough without adding these additional fees! We were lucky because we visited the week before Thanksgiving week when the park wasn't crowded. That and rainy weather kept the crowds down. We had very short or no waits for most of the rides but by the weekend before Thanksgiving the waits at standby lines had risen to 70 minutes or more. 

We were also surprised by the early closing of Magic Kingdom on many days in November and December for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. An additional $159 to $199 ticket allowed visitors into the park from 7:00 to 12:00 for a special parade, fireworks, and shows. Everyone with a regular admission for the day had to leave. In all the times we visited Disney over the years we'd never noticed that the park closed early for this party. This isn't new but somehow it escaped our notice.

Pandora, Star Wars, Tron, Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railroad, Remmy's Ratatouille Adventure were all new since our 2018 visit but unfortunately the only one that's accessible is Remmy's Ratatouille Adventure but a malfunction caused a shutdown which then caused a long line so we skipped it. Even though the two rides in Pandora and the two rides in Star Wars are not accessible the worlds created for each of them are fantastic and definitely worth visiting. The setting for Star Wars is the Black Spire Outpost, a haven for smugglers and scoundrels on the planet Batuu. We did not spend enough time just looking around at everything that was created. It's amazing! The number of gift shops was a bit too much though. The Valley of Mo'ara is the setting for Pandora's most amazing sight — the floating mountains. Trees and vines (fabricated) have grown high enough to wrap around the floating rocks. Paths wind around the valley and through gardens of real and fantasy plants. This is a cool place to visit when it's dark to see the luminescent plants. Unfortunately I didn't get good photos of either Pandora or Star Wars.

There are a few other small changes. MagicBands which store admission information are no longer free but you can use your phone or get a free plastic admission card. High tech security scanners now allow visitors to walk through without stopping so there aren't any lines except for visitors with strollers or in wheelchairs. If a wheelchair visitor can not stand they are required to pat themselves down which I found rather amusing. 

The crackdown on people using wheelchairs to access the fast lines has made a noticeable difference in the number of wheelchairs in the parks. There are still plenty of older people using scooters but few wheelchairs. Now that the wheelchair lines are gone the only people given special priority are those who, physically or emotionally, can not wait in a long line. They must register for the Disability Access Service which means they can book a return time for an attraction. That time corresponds to the time they would have waited in line. 

We stayed at Fort Wilderness Campground again on this visit, Even though it's ridiculously expensive it's so convenient and allowed us to get free parking at the Disney parks. We had a Preferred Campsite which is wider than the Full Hookup Campsite we had in 2011 so I could deploy my lift and still be on the asphalt. 

Everything else is pretty much the same from our visits in 2011 and 2018. Disney  28.39555, -81.55372