Niles: What’s in a name at Disneyland?

Disneyland changed the name of its Genie+ program to avoid confusion; it should do the same with its system for disabled guests.

Name changes are nothing new in the theme park business. Sometimes, a park might lose its license to use a particular brand name. But many times name changes are just another marketing tool. Slapping a new name on something drives attention.

Disney has announced plenty of name changes across its theme parks in recent years. It’s even changing the name of an entire park with the impending switch of the Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris to Disney Adventure World. This week, Disneyland is changing the name of its Disney Genie+ service to Lightning Lane Multi Pass, as it tries to address enduring customer confusion over the rebranding of its former Fastpass service.

“Fastpass” had become such a popular brand name that it became an industry generic term for all theme park line-skipping services. But when Disney decided to start charging for access to alternate queues at its most popular rides, it — wisely — chose to rebrand those queues as “Lightning Lanes.”

Fastpass was a free service. Lightning Lane is not. Changing the name likely helped head off what would have been even more widespread opposition to — and confusion about — Disney’s switch. But then Disney fumbled the bag. It was tricky enough that Disney chose to sell access some Lightning Lanes on an individual basis while bundling access to others. Calling that bundle “Disney Genie+” made no sense. The new name — Lightning Lane Multi Pass — better describes what that service is.

Disney also would have done well to change the name of another way that people access those alternate queues. Last month, Disneyland changed its system for accommodating guests with disabilities. Change was needed, as Disney’s old implementation of its Disability Access Service (“DAS”) invited abuse by allowing people who registered for it an advance to get the equivalent of two free Lightning Lane admissions.

Rather than continue to use DAS as a catch-all for disability accommodations, Disney now is offering many guests alternatives. In an ideal world, all attractions would be designed with a queue that accommodated all mobility devices, provided regular seating for people who need to switch up between standing and sitting over long periods and allowed easy exit and reentry for people who need immediate access to a bathroom or a private space for nursing or medical issues. An alternative queue would not be needed.

But that is not the world in which Disney, or any other major theme park, operates at the moment. Some people continue to need an alternative to queues that remain inaccessible to them.

Disney is still offering timed returns through Lightning Lanes for guests with developmental disabilities and their companions. But by continuing to use the “DAS” name for that option, Disney is inviting frustration from guests who previously used that option but now find it no longer available to them. Like with Fastpass and Lightning Lane, a change to a new name could have helped reinforce awareness of a new system.

There’s more to be done to tweak Disney’s accessibility program before more fans consider it fair. Smarter use of names and branding can help Disney better communicate those changes when they happen.