Disney’s New Genie and Genie+ Service

Make your theme park visit easier and more fun by harnessing the power of Disney’s new digital itinerary services built right into the My Disney Experience app.

You’ve Never Had a Friend Like This!

Ever wish you had a Disney friend along with you in the parks? A digital friend who could show you the best ways to enjoy popular attractions? Or see beloved Characters? Or even find fan-favorite foods? Well, here’s a way that wish can come true!

Introducing Disney Genie service and Disney Genie+ service, conveniently built into the My Disney Experience app. It’s like having a genie in the palm of your hand.Whether you’re a first-timer or a seasoned pro, tap into them both to enjoy a whole new host of features that help you get the most out of your visit to Walt Disney World Resort.

You Have the Fun While Disney Genie Service Does the Work

Our complimentary Disney Genie service creates your best Disney day inspired by your party’s top interests. Upon launching Disney Genie service in the app, you’ll have the opportunity to share what you’d like to do in a few easy steps. You can plan specific attractions, foodie experiences and entertainment, and special interests like Disney princesses, villains, Pixar, Star Wars, thrill rides and more.Disney Genie service will then grant you a personalized itinerary that seamlessly and smartly maps out your special day—with updates that continue from morning to night. And, Disney Genie can even remind you when you’re eligible to book dining reservations and activities within our Enchanting Extras Collection.

When you let Disney Genie service be your guide, you’ll have quicker access to up-to-date park information, so you can be more spontaneous and have more fun—in the moment and on the go.

Be sure to download the latest version of the My Disney Experience app, so you can take advantage of all of these features:

Tailored Recommendations – You’ll receive attraction and dining recommendations inspired in part by what you told Disney Genie service you’re most interested in doing. It even displays a good time to go to an experience and an idea of the forecasted wait. Need to swap a recommendation out? No problem. Like many popular navigation apps, Disney Genie will continue to offer new suggestions throughout the day, so you can make the most of your time during your visit.
A Personalized Daily Itinerary – Your “My Day” tab is where you’ll find Disney Genie recommendations and any plans you’ve made, including dining reservations, Disney Resort hotel reservations and activity bookings. You’ll also be able to virtually chat with a Cast Member who can help answer any questions that arise.
A Custom Tip Board – This new feature will let you see estimated wait times for your top attractions, entertainment and dining. You’ll also be able to order food, make dining reservations, check into a restaurant, request to join an available virtual queue (currently at Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure), and even book arrival times for our new Lightning Lane entrance at select experiences if you’ve purchased Disney Genie+ service.

Disney has essentially replaced their complimentary FastPass+ program with their new paid Genie+ Lightening Lane program.

Take Your Day to the Next Level with Disney Genie+

In addition to getting all of the great features that come with upgrading to the complimentary version of Disney Genie service, purchasing Disney Genie+ service will offer even more convenience and flexibility, for $15 per ticket per day. It’s the very best way to get the absolute most out of your visit—so you can spend more time enjoying the magic with family and friends.

Enjoy the Magic You Want with Less Wait – Save time waiting in line by purchasing Disney Genie+ service! This new service at more than 40 attractions and experiences throughout the Walt Disney World theme parks lets you select the next available arrival window for the new Lightning Lane entrances. You can make one selection at a time throughout the day—from classics like Haunted Mansion and thrill rides like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad to newer favorites like Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run (experiences subject to limited availability). With Disney Genie+, you can select Lightning Lane arrival windows across multiple theme parks for those who have the Park Hopper option.

Beginning at 7:00 AM on the day of your visit, you’ll have the opportunity to secure your first arrival time.

Plus, you’ll also enjoy these additional features:

Disney PhotoPass Lenses – Access special Disney PhotoPass Lenses for your mobile device, allowing you to explore magical new augmented reality effects.
Audio Tales – Discover the parks in cool new ways through fascinating fun facts and behind-the-scenes insights you can listen to during your visit.

Starting October 19th, you’ll be able to add Disney Genie+ service to your vacation package before your visit.

Guests are responsible for determining whether options and recommendations are appropriate for their party and for consulting all experience restrictions and advisories, including height requirements, health and safety advisories and accessibility guidelines.

Q What is the difference between Disney Genie service and Disney Genie+ service?

A Disney Genie is a complimentary digital service within the My Disney Experience app that can help you create your best Disney day. It will generate a personalized itinerary inspired by the things you tell us you want to do, offer tips for spending less time waiting in line, and also provide other helpful recommendations throughout the day.
Disney Genie+ service is an add-on option offered for purchase that lets you select arrival windows for our new Lightning Lane entrance at select experiences throughout the Walt Disney World theme parks. Selections can be made one at a time, throughout the day. The service also includes access to interactive Disney PhotoPass Lenses and audio tales, featuring fascinating facts and behind-the-scenes insights about the parks.

Q How and when can I purchase Disney Genie+ service?

A Starting October 19, Disney Genie+ service will be available to purchase before you arrive as an add-on to a ticket or vacation package. It will also be available as a single-day purchase through the My Disney Experience app. If you have an existing package, call your travel advisor to add Genie+ to your vacation package.

Q How can I access Disney Genie service?

A Disney Genie is a complimentary digital service within the My Disney Experience app that can help you plan your best Disney day. In order to take advantage of Disney Genie service and its features, be sure to download the app from the app store or upgrade to the latest version of the app if you already have it on your mobile device.

Q What kind of planning can I do with Disney Genie service before my visit?

A You can begin selecting your favorite things to do and mapping out your days prior to your visit. Any Lightning Lane attraction selections—either as part of Disney Genie+ service or as an individual purchase—can be made on the day of your visit to maximize flexibility up until your arrival.

Q When will I be able to add Disney Genie+ service to my vacation package or tickets?

A Disney Genie+ service will launch October 19 at Walt Disney World Resort. If you already have an existing package and would like to add Disney Genie+ service, please call your travel advisor.

Q Do I need to purchase Disney Genie+ service to book a Lightning Lane arrival time?

A There are 2 ways to select times to arrive at Lightning Lane entrances, purchase Disney Genie+ service or purchase entrance to an individual experience. Each option offers a different set of experiences to choose from.

Option #1: Through Disney Genie+ Service
This new service lets you select the next available arrival window for the Lightning Lane entrances, one at a time, throughout regular park hours. More than 40 attractions and entertainment experiences across the Walt Disney World Resort theme parks are included in the service—from classics like Haunted Mansion to thrill rides like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad to newer favorites like Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run (all experiences are subject to limited availability). Lightning Lane selections can even be made across multiple theme parks with the Park Hopper option. You’ll be able to make your first selection at 7:00 AM on the day of your visit. This service also includes access to interactive Disney PhotoPass Lenses and audio tales. It costs $15 per ticket per day.

Option #2: By Making an Individual Lightning Lane Entrance Purchase
Lightning Lane entry as an “á la carte” purchase will be offered at our most popular attractions not included in the over 40 Genie+ selections. This option can be purchased by all Guests—with or without the purchase of Disney Genie+ service—and lets you choose a time to arrive at the Lightning Lane entry at up to 2 attractions each day (purchased one at a time). Guests of a Disney Resort hotel can make their first purchase starting at 7:00 AM on the day of their visit. All other Guests can make their first purchase at the regular time the park opens. Pricing and availability will vary by date, attraction and park. Be sure to check the My Disney Experience app on the day of your visit for current prices and attraction availability.

Here are the attractions currently available with the Genie+ and individual Lightning Lane purchase:

Get Ready to Unleash the Magic of Disney Genie Service!

Be sure to reach out today with any questions and to get started planning your magical Disney vacation!

You Only Have 18 Summers. Don’t wait to travel with your kids!

Posted by VacationDesign

“One day…we’re going to take the kids to Hawaii!”; “We really want to travel over to Europe, but we’re waiting until the kids are older”; “We really want to go out West and see the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone, but our summers are just too busy”. Do any of those statements sound familiar to you? The average American family doesn’t think they spend enough time together (guilty). Between school, work, sports, and extracurricular activities it’s no surprise that we are all feeling disconnected and burned out. The best way to reconnect with your loved ones is to get away. No distractions and no excuses: just you and your kids (or Grandkids) spending “quality time”, enjoying each other’s company and maybe even experiencing an unfamiliar culture together. “Next Year, maybe” turns into the year after that… and so forth… until you “blink” and you’re sitting at their high school graduation wondering what the heck happened!

Travel is proven to be a wonderful learning tool for children. Seeing how people live in other countries can open their minds and hearts and expand their imagination exponentially. Here are a few things that travel can provide for your family:

1. It can create lasting relationships… both between your own family members and people you meet while on the road. These folks that you run into along the way give you a glimpse of what life is like outside your regular circle of friends and can give you a fresh perspective on how other cultures live. A client told of one dinner in Lausanne, Switzerland when a spiked-hair, and heavily tattooed Aussie spent some time joking with her daughter and playing with her kids’ meal toy. At home, she would probably have been scared to death of him!

2. You can learn another language… There is something very exciting about being able to throw around a few words in French, knowing how to say hello and thank you in Portuguese, or ordering off of a menu written totally in Italian…and hoping you don’t end up with something inedible! And… knowing that if you do accidentally order goat’s testicles, that your whole family will still be laughing about it 20 years from now!

3. It gives you and your kids perspective… Meeting folks from other cultures will teach you that the way you look at the world (maybe through the distorted lens of our mass media) is not the way everybody does – and that you could be dead wrong about some things! We have had many meaningful conversations about why Europe is so far ahead of the U.S. in its transportation infrastructure, why people of Native Hawaiian descent still protest becoming a part of the US, and why so few French and Italian teenagers feel the deep temptation to drink alcohol to excess like ours do here in America. One client was fascinated that about 80% of the locals they met in Italy said… ”AAAhhhhh, Asheville?” when he told them he was from North Carolina. Who knew?

Are you reading this and thinking “Boy…I’ve always wanted to see the Colosseum with my kids”? If you want to do it now, you’ve probably always wanted to. You’ve imagined it, daydreamed about it, envisioned it. Guess what? Now’s the time to DO IT! I have several vacations on my desk right now for folks just like you, who are ready to finally take their 16- and 21- year-olds to Europe before they leave the nest… or who are celebrating a high school graduation with a trip to Hawaii – the destination chosen by their son. Remember… you only have 18 summers!

Book a call with me today to chat about your hopes and dreams!

No matter what happens, here’s how you can be the best travel companion

Posted by VacationDesign

Whether you’re going for a couple of weeks or even for months together, there are some foundational things that are critical to making travel with someone else successful. Ashlea Halpern is an editor at Traveler magazine who recently spent a year globetrotting with her boyfriend. Here are some of her best tips for making it work so you can come back from your journey stronger than ever.

Get clear on what you’re good at and what you’re not good at — and play up each other’s strengths. You might be awesome at small details, or you might be more of a big-picture kind of person. Either one is fine, of course — but be honest with yourself about where you excel. Use your gifts to help make the trip better, and let your travel partner do the same. If you hate navigating and you’re no good at it, then don’t insist on being the one to find the hotel at 11pm in a city of ten million people. Find another way to get that done. When you see yourself and your companion get more done when you balance each other out, then differences don’t have to be catastrophic.

Go ahead and step out of your comfort zone, but be clear about your boundaries. Yes, traveling is all about expanding and learning, and it’s good to try all kinds of new things. But don’t be afraid to set limits. If you absolutely do not want to go skydiving, don’t do it — but if it’s someone else’s dream, offer to be there cheering her on. If you really want to try roasted beetles, go for it! But if your friend refuses, respect that and move on. There are plenty more adventures ahead to enjoy together.

Find small certainties within the chaos. So much of travel is uncertain — you’re in a new place, surrounded by things you might not recognize, trying to navigate through language and cultural barriers. If you’re traveling long-term, you know the agony and exhaustion of flight changes, train schedules, taxi rules, late nights, early mornings. Fatigue can make you vulnerable to illness, impatience, and arguments. Take an honest look at yourself and identify one or two things you need to do every day to keep you grounded. Is it a good breakfast? A great cup of coffee? A reasonable bedtime? An afternoon walk? Time with a good book? Then, to the best of your ability, try to honor those needs, even when everything is up in the air. Compromise with your travel partner — if he’s an early riser and you’re a sleeper-inner, find a way to meet in the middle, or try to accommodate those natural tendencies. Maybe he gets up at six and reads the paper or works out while you snooze for an extra hour. These small concessions will pay huge dividends later on when the time comes where you have to make sacrifices due to schedules or other needs.

It’s okay to spend time apart. Especially if you’re an introvert, you might need alone time to stay sane. Or you might just want to spend an afternoon exploring on your own, talking to new people, doing different things. It’s okay! It’s normal to get sick of spending weeks at time in close quarters with the same person. A little pre-planned, cordial time apart might be the exact thing that helps you be at your best together.

When things get tough, stand together. It’s normal to bicker about small things. Everyone does. But when there’s something major, remember that you are a team. Hold off on blame, engage empathy, and get to work — together.

Don’t forget to be silly. Laughter has saved many a relationship. It brings us back to what matters. It helps us take ourselves less seriously. It reminds us that it’s more important to be connected than it is to be right. Recognize when your travel partner is trying to lighten the mood, and don’t be afraid to let go and be goofy together. That time when everything was going wrong, and you stopped and realized how ridiculous it all was, and you laughed so hard that you both had tears rolling down your cheeks — that will stay with you forever. Go with it.

If you’re ready to embark on the fun, crazy adventure of traveling with a new friend or a tried-and-true loved one, give me a call! I’d love to help you make it the best experience yet. You can reach me by clicking here.

Turn your red-eye into some shut-eye

Posted by VacationDesign

Sleeping well on a plane has developed into a certain kind of art — and into a healthy business — with savvy travelers constantly scoping out new ways to make long flights more conducive to actual rest. Here are a few that really seem to have some payoff.

Splurge on a better seat. Sure, not everyone can afford a premium seat in first or business class, where you can take advantage of fully- or almost-fully-reclining seats and loads of leg room. But for long-distance flights, it can still be worth it to spend the extra money on an exit-row seat, a bulkhead seat, or a window seat. Flying on off-peak days, like a Tuesday evening, will also increase the likelihood that the flight will be less crowded and quieter.

Do the best you can with flight times and direct flights. While crossing many time zones always poses its own sleep challenges, do your best to pick a flight time and schedule that will sync up most naturally with your sleeping and waking times. Leaving in the evening will work better than trying to get REM at three in the afternoon.

Know your cues. Which side of the bed do you sleep on at home? Book on that side of the plane. Do you usually have a cup of tea before bed? Bring a few packets of your favorite herbal. And grab your own small travel blanket and comfy slippers while you’re at it (the airline pillow or blanket can be used for extra cushioning or lumbar support if you like). Spritz your pillow with a mild lavender essential oil. The more familiar things you can do, the more your brain will recognize the cues that it’s time for rest.

Sweet darkness, sweet silence. On most trans-oceanic flights, you’ll see the blue glow of nearly every seatback screen flickering, no matter the time. We know that the type of light emitted by screens is proven to disrupt sleep. For any rest at all — let alone good rest — keep your screen off. Bring an eye mask or cap to block out as much light as possible. Use earplugs or noise-cancelling headphones to create the quietest environment you can.

Buckle up over the blanket. When the plane hits turbulence, flight attendants are required to make sure people are safely buckled in. If they can’t see that your seat belt is fastened, they have to disturb you to check. Make it easy for them and for you — simply click the buckle over the blanket.

Rather than paying more for less in the airport, do some quick research before you leave to find the best travel pillow for you. There are dozens to choose from, and they range widely in price, portability, and visual quirkiness. Check out reviews like this one from Travel + Leisure — and note how the reviewer coordinates the best pillows with each type of sleeper. Chances are, there’s a pillow out there that will support your head and neck and give you the rest you need.

What are your best tips for getting good sleep on an airplane? I’d love to hear them. And if you’re ready to plan your next (well-rested) journey, I’m here to help! You can reach me today by clicking here.

Scientists may have found the “wanderlust gene.” Do you have it?

Posted by VacationDesign

You know them when you meet them: those people who always keep their passport on hand, who can pack for an international trip in about twenty minutes flat, who’ve almost never met a travel idea they didn’t like, who would rather take three international trips a year than own a car. They never get tired of exploring.

Scientists might have discovered why some people tend towards wanderlust and others don’t.

One gene in particular, simply known as DRD4, is associated with dopamine levels in the brain. Dopamine is one of the brain’s natural “feel good” reward chemicals. For example, it’s released when we eat a delicious piece of chocolate cake or when we win at a race after training for months.

A derivative of DRD4, called DRD4-7R, is what’s come to be known as the “wanderlust gene.” In people who have it — only about 20 percent of the population — it shows up with an increased curiosity, restlessness, and desire to explore. And the one thing that almost all people who have DRD4-7R share in common? A history of traveling.

While nailing down the urge to explore and travel to only one piece of DNA might seem a bit simplistic, part of this unique gene mutation might be linked to the fact that the human brain and body are uniquely suited for exploration: unlike other primates, we have legs and hips that are designed to walk long distances; we have hands that can perform incredibly detailed tasks; and our brains are large and are naturally wired for creativity and change. Another source of the 7R gene might be those people groups in human history that experienced mass migration over long distances — they cultivated and passed on a relentless curiosity about new territory because that was what they were doing for generations.

Dr Richard Paul Ebstein, Professor of Psychology at the National University of Singapore, explored the question of the “travel gene” more in depth in this recent article. Regardless of its origin, Ebstein notes that people who possess the 7R mutation are people who exhibit “novelty seeking or extroverted behavior”.

Sound like anyone you know?

If you’re longing for your next great adventure, let’s talk travel! You can get in contact with me today by clicking here.

Staying Wise, Staying Calm, And Looking Ahead

Posted by VacationDesign

For any person who loves to travel, who loves the freedom of being able to go almost anywhere, who sees the world as a beautiful place to be explored — this is likely a time of some discomfort and uncertainty.

It is, of course, good to be wise. It’s smart to listen to experts and make necessary preparations.

Many of us are having to adjust our businesses, our budgets, our schedules — and for many of us, that might include huge changes to vacations, weddings, honeymoons, reunions, and other getaways we’ve been looking forward to for months.

I want to say: I’m sincerely sorry for the upheavals. I’m feeling them, too.

And I also want to say: there is hope, and there is so much great stuff to look forward to.

There will be a time when this uncertainty will be resolved and the fear will lift.

While we’re doing our part to keep ourselves and our communities healthy — practicing social distancing, being conscientious about washing our hands, staying home, not touching our faces — we can also experience the excitement and joy of making future plans.

Four quick things to know about travel in the coming months:

Many airlines are waiving change fees on all tickets booked for future travel.
Amazing destinations are offering refundable packages, special offers, and extra freebies to those who book now.
This is a smart time to buy inexpensive trip insurance so you have the option to cancel and get your money back if things change before you depart.
It’s not too early to start dreaming, planning, and booking for 2021 trips!

Right now, it is a season of stillness, of staying close, of appreciating all that we have right in our own homes. It’s in our best interests to accept this temporary shift. We have a unique opportunity to be of service to one another in ways we maybe haven’t imagined before.

And just imagine how incredible it will feel, when the time is right, to stretch our wings, set off across oceans and mountains and miles, and make the whole wide world our home again.

I am sending all my best wishes for health, healing, happiness, and hope for you and your loved ones in the coming weeks and months! If you have any questions about your travel plans, please don’t hesitate to reach out here.

Sincerely,

Jenny