Disney Genie announcement

[katyringo]

Is it wrong to think that going to a theme park that you're already paying a fortune for shouldn't require months of research and strategizing?

it doesn’t. Make a park reservation and show up. You will wait in lines, won’t dine at certain places.. but you don’t have to do any of the planning before hand. In face what I loved about the the maxpass system was it required zero pre planning for attractions.

 

[Lashed34]

Imagine if they reintroduced ticket books from the “golden years” and you guys had to choose only one E ticket ride out of a bunch….. oh how the complaints would fly!

Imagine if they still only had those rides and there had been no development and an increase in crowds to a saturation level.

These arguments are pointless because we all live in a world of change....but not all change is good.

 

[micksn]

It sounds stressful! I understand that for people who live locally or visit at short notice booking Fast Passes in advance might have been tricky, but for me ( and I suspect most uk guests) having 3 planned attractions per day already booked made for a much more relaxing holiday. It says you can book and pay! At 7 am each morning - that doesn’t sound like the most relaxing start to a Disney day! This is without taking cost into consideration which for a 14 day trip is ridiculous - I feel grumpy

 

[KNovacovschi]

I’m ok with this as it’s usually just 2 of us so it won’t be that bad cost wise. My DH is even ok with this and he hates when I want to add stuff that costs money. At least there is a perk of staying onsite with it, you will get to book the Lightening Lane ones at 7am whereas if you stay offsite you have to wait until the park opens, at least you get a head start on that. Also I feel this is a more level playing field then before.

 

[TomorrowlandKD]

Would they reduce ticket prices down to those days as well? I doubt there would be many complaints if they did that.

Oh man you’re so right.

 

[Amore Disney]

it doesn’t. Make a park reservation and show up. You will wait in lines, won’t dine at certain places.. but you don’t have to do any of the planning before hand. In face what I loved about the the maxpass system was it required zero pre planning for attractions.

I too loved this about Maxpass (and DL's previous free FP program) for this exact reason. Zero planning, just walk on in.

I will note that my boyfriend's first-ever Disney trip was to Disneyland with Maxpass and he personally hated that trip. He was disappointed at how much we were on our phones trying to get fastpasses and not present with each other. Genie+ inevitably will force us to be on our phones all day, and it's simply not what we want during our vacation.

 

[JenSop]

Rope drop AND 7AM genie+/LL/Virtual queue picks will be important.

One thing I did like about FP+ was I could sleep in, go to the pool, and then go to MK at 3PM and actually get a lot done.

This. This is exactly how we did Disney every time. Now I have to set my alarm every day at 7am??? Kill me.

 

[ocdb8r1]

I find it quite repulsive that Disney feels that the only way to control the overcrowding is to increase prices - and it's quite offensive too IMO.

I always find it very funny when people say Disney want "less" people at the parks. That's why they raise prices. Uh, no. They want more people and more money. Pretty straightforward.

Disney wants to maximize profit AND guest experience. I truly believe they realize there is a tipping point where the crowds destroy any customer experience....and I believe their only option (as a for profit corporation) is to control that with price.

Build a 5th gate, add more shows and experiences to spread people out. Yes this will cost money but in the long term it will make WDW more attractive to guests.

.....yes, I'm sure this would satisfy everyone. We never have any complaints on this Board (about costs, attractions, desirability) when a new park is built. Damned if they do and damned if they don't. Regardless, building new anything (rides, parks, shows and experiences) demands capital. Disney doesn't simply dividend out every dime they make....they clearly make re-investments into the product.

 

[JenSop]

It will be interesting to see if they offer it as a perk for deluxe guest. Needless to say this is a plan money grab. Socialism in the park on full display now.

You mean Capitalism on full display in the park? Maybe not make comments if you don't know what a term means.

 

[kylenne]

Disney could’ve changed FP+ to this new system with genie without charging $15 pp per day. I think that’s what’s irking people. Honestly if they went to this one FP at a time thing and it was FREE I wouldn’t be annoyed. I would just roll with it. It’s the paying for something I used to get for free and now I’m getting LESS on top of it.

I agree. They could have made Genie+ included for everyone and just raised ticket prices $15 over the course of a year. People would have seen Genie+ as something new and cool, and just complained about ticket increases like we normally do. Instead, now we feel like we are being charged extra for something that a lot of people see as inferior to FP+

I really don’t understand this. The anger certainly, and I would never say folks don’t have the right to be mad about this. But the notion that Disney would have ever offered G+ for free is naive to the point of absurdity to me.

The writing has been on the wall for monetization of FP+ for literal years at this point. Or does no one who never booked a CL stay realize that CL guests have had paid FP options for ages now? One that required a lot more than $15/pp on top of the premium surcharge of CL to begin with and gave a massive advantage to anyone who could pay for it (90 day booking window that totally ignored tiers). We booked 3 days of them for our doomed trip last May and I still have a screenshot of the day we had every Tier 1 ride between AK and Epcot booked.

Paid skip the line was an inevitability. We can debate the particulars of how it’s being implemented but this was literally always going to happen, with or without Chapek at the helm and with or without Covid. The only thing in question was how it would happen and when. There was smoke about it from insiders long before Covid, even.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Random but you can still reserve dining 60 days out with this right? It’s just the fastpasses that are day of

 

[igrsod]

I'm on the fence. The Complimentary portion is cool, but I don't trust the wait times because they can change so rapidly. Also with the + version, are you going to be waiting around till the next attraction. Say we're in Fantasy land and nothing is really available, next best one is an hour away. What do you do then, scramble on your phone to find an attraction in the meantime.

Also if you are telling people that ride X has low wait times right now... go there (to multiple people's itineraries), wouldn't that now increase that ride X's wait time in the next 30 minutes as everyone heads over there? I'm trying to wrap my head around this real time itinerary thing. Historical data used to make such suggestions become useless when now you are artificially encouraging guests to go to those rides.

 

[luv2cheer92]

I really don’t understand this. The anger certainly, and I would never say folks don’t have the right to be mad about this. But the notion that Disney would have ever offered G+ for free is naive to the point of absurdity to me.

The writing has been on the wall for monetization of FP+ for literal years at this point. Or does no one who never booked a CL stay realize that CL guests have had paid FP options for ages now? One that required a lot more than $15/pp on top of the premium surcharge of CL to begin with and gave a massive advantage to anyone who could pay for it (90 day booking window that totally ignored tiers). We booked 3 days of them for our doomed trip last May and I still have a screenshot of the day we had every Tier 1 ride between AK and Epcot booked.

Paid skip the line was an inevitability. We can debate the particulars of how it’s being implemented but this was literally always going to happen, with or without Chapek at the helm and with or without Covid. The only thing in question was how it would happen and when. There was smoke about it from insiders long before Covid, even.

Agreed. And I think this is why I like what has been presented. We all knew it wasn't going to be free.

 

[JenSop]

I received this email also. My trip begins 10/7. I was concerned that this meant Genie will be up and running by then. However, I also received this email at a different email address my upcoming trip isn’t associated with. So, I’m hoping that this was just a generic email to people who have booked WDW vacations in the past. Did anyone who doesn’t have a trip reserved receive this email?

I didn't get the email in my personal account, and I'm a DVC member who goes regularly. I only got the travel agent version. So I don't think all past Disney guests have gotten it.

 

[Lashed34]

Agreed. And I think this is why I like what has been presented. We all knew it wasn't going to be free.

I don't think it's so much that it's not free, it's that on site guests have nothing extra, they get to book a ride an hour or so before off site guests, but only if they are up at 7am - and no free lightning lane passes.

 

[quandrea]

I think they've found the 'sweet spot' for pricing. Most people will be willing to pay $15/person/day for LL to avoid only using stand-by queues. It appears it's basically FP+ at $15/day. Personally, we'll pay it.

I think Disney is seeking childless people rather than families at this point. $15 a day doesn’t sound bad when you are single, but scale that up to a family of five for a week or ten night vacation and it gets crazy. I don’t think they want people like me in the parks anymore; not enough disposable income in the budget to pay for countless souvenirs, extra experiences, or now, this Disney Genie. Our park days will be relegated to maybe one day per our usual 12 night vacation. I’ve reached my balking point.

 

[Lashed34]

They'll be charging on site guests for room deliveries from park shops next!

 

[Delirium]

Disney truly has no idea what 'vacation' is about. The beauty of Fastpass+ was that it catered to both those that wanted the 'ultimate' experience by letting them grab FP after FP, but at the same time it allowed those that didn't want their noses in the phone all day the ability to schedule 3 FPs in advance and take a more relaxed approach to their day. No 7 a.m. requirements if you didn't want. And, it was YOUR choice how you enjoyed your vacation. Now, Disney has made it THEIR choice.

I'm truly grasping as to how somebody running a business could think this was a good idea.

 

[igrsod]

I think Disney is seeking childless people rather than families at this point. $15 a day doesn’t sound bad when you are single, but scale that up to a family of five for a week or ten night vacation and it gets crazy. I don’t think they want people like me in the parks anymore; not enough disposable income in the budget to pay for countless souvenirs, extra experiences, or now, this Disney Genie. Our park days will be relegated to maybe one day per our usual 12 night vacation. I’ve reached my balking point.

As the dude who was giving us the run down said.... you still have the option to have a great time waiting hours in line for all the attractions.... you don't need to spend the $. LOL
Shaking my head at how these execs think we should be happy with this roll out.

 

[Sargeant Tibbs]

So I talked with the wife and we will 100% be using the paid lightning lane for ROTR.
We had a horrible experience at Disneyland where we were lucky enough to get a boarding group and once we made it into the standby line the ride broke down not once but twice ! It was made clear if we left the queue we would not be allowed to return.
Due to the nature of that particular ride with breakdowns and the time it takes to “reset” I will pay to not only guarantee access but as an added bonus get to skip the standby line.

But what if you pay the $1000 per person (surge pricing) for a LL for ROTR, get in line at your alotted time, and the ride breaks down? Do you think they'll just let you come back? You paid for a specific LL time slot, not an anytime ride. They will make you wait just the same.