Disney Genie announcement

[SansComic]

To everyone suggesting that on site folks move to off-site, it just simply isn’t an option for us. We are DVC members, and go to Disney 3/4 times per year. Staying off site would cost way more than our annual dues for our points, for the amount we go. Being able to book FPs 60 days out was a complete game changer because we were pretty much guaranteed to ride on all the new attractions with no wait times. Now we will have to pay or wait three hours in line. This is NOT a value added benefit.

 

[luv2cheer92]

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.

That doesn't bother me a bit. Would it be nice? Sure. But it comes far from swaying me from staying onsite. And I'm up at 5:30-6 or so every morning any way, that's sleeping in for me. So 7AM sounds wonderful.

But again, I understand that it's not for everyone. Just sharing my opinion on why I'm a fan.

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

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.

Honestly, I would have been less annoyed if they just started charging for FP+. At least then I could make 3 reservations before setting foot in a park. What I hate about this system is that if you show up and are only able to pull a late time for Space Mountain, you have to ride standby until your return time. Where is the value in that? If Disney was serious about controlling crowds they would build new rides and stop cutting entertainment. Instead, they are economically incentivized now to make the “vanilla” ticket experience so miserable that everyone will want to pay for Genie+.

 

[SansComic]

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.

Everyone knows that the point is to reserve a time slot so that you have little to no wait time on the ride. If you’re paying for a service (which is the no wait time), and they make you wait due to a broken ride, they would have to refund you. Otherwise you’re literally not getting what you paid for.

 

[igrsod]

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.

This all sounds like a nightmare... and given the ride instability... guaranteed to happen. I would be so angry (and I never get angry on vacation... go with the flow kinda gal), if I shelled out so much money for that. I would be asking for a refund and an anytime ride of ROTR.

 

[Amore Disney]

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.

It's hopefully clear to anyone with a brain that getting up at 7am isn't exactly the preferred vacationing method. But ROTR boarding passes and the ever-rising ropedrop crowds is empirical proof for Disney that it doesn't matter.

Disney knows for a fact if there's a way to gain some sort of advantage, there are plenty of people who will wake up at the crack of dawn. For the privilege of forking over their hard earned money.

 

[Sargeant Tibbs]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1428165199320780804

This isn't straight from Disney - so grain of salt- but it sounds like you can either pay to add it to your full length of ticket in advance or you can pay for it day-by-day the day of.

So if this is true, if you're staying on property, to take advantage of the 7am perk you have to buy in advance for length of stay.

I did something today I’ve never done before:

I was researching rooms and tickets at Universal.

I spent some time late last night researching another Universal trip. We have a room only booked at ASM for the end of January, but if I can find better rates at Universal I'm pulling the plug on Disney next year. We went to Universal for the first time in June and loved it.

 

[itf]

It's hopefully clear to anyone with a brain that getting up at 7am isn't exactly the preferred vacationing method. But ROTR boarding passes and the ever-rising ropedrop crowds is empirical proof for Disney that it doesn't matter.

Disney knows for a fact if there's a way to gain some sort of advantage, there are plenty of people who will wake up at the crack of dawn. For the privilege of forking over their hard earned money.

Does this mean on-site guests will get their ROTR passes at 7am too? If so as someone staying off site, I guess I may as well not even bother trying.

 

[monarchsfan16]

I'm curious what the Genie+ and LL capacity limits for rides will be. If they're similar to FP+, so be it. Honestly, I really only used FP+ because it existed, primarily to ride a favorite multiple times. But I've got strategies to get on my favorite rides that work for me. I'm one of those people whose body doesn't understand the concept of sleeping in on vacation so I've always been a rope dropper. No real need for Genie+ for me, in theory.

The irritating part here is the virtual queue/LL being at the same time. I feel like there's no guarantee for either and frankly, LL probably will reduce the virtual queue capacity. How do you choose which you're going for?

 

[Sargeant Tibbs]

Everyone knows that the point is to reserve a time slot so that you have little to no wait time on the ride. If you’re paying for a service (which is the no wait time), and they make you wait due to a broken ride, they would have to refund you. Otherwise you’re literally not getting what you paid for.

Sure they might refund, but the point of the post I was quoting was to actually get a ride on Rise without waiting. If they don't wait in a breakdown scenario, they get their money back, but no ride on Rise, which is the coveted and not easily attainable goal of most guests these days. Most people would rather wait for Rise than get their money back I'd wager.

 

[kylenne]

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

I’m really waiting to see how things shake out before I make up my mind either way. My ambivalence over it has more to do with the fact that I was an FP+ power user than the fact that it’s pay to play. As an out of state AP who goes at least twice a year and always on site I don’t see the value in this system at all and wouldn’t do it for more than a couple of days, if that. Maybe on those holiday weekend trips I like to do, like the one I had over July 4th this year—I would have gladly ponied up for HS. But for our longer 8+ day trips I really don’t think so. Especially since we stay deluxe and will have access to the evening hours. I still think a smart (human crafted!) touring plan will be effective enough to beat lines just like it always was, but time will tell. That’s why I’m really reserving judgment on G+, I want to see the real world impact it will have.

I do feel for the family set who now have some really tough decisions to make if they want to keep going to the parks though. I really do. Even as one half of a DINK family, I shudder to think of what surge pricing for the pay per ride option will look like in MK on 10/1 if Genie has rolled out by then.

 

[Amore Disney]

Does this mean on-site guests will get their ROTR passes at 7am too? If so as someone staying off site, I guess I may as well not even bother trying.

I'm a little confused by your question. Currently (always subject to change): Anyone on-site or off-site -so long as they have a Hollywood Studios park reservation - can make their first attempt to get an ROTR pass at 7am. Every morning there are countless people doing this as soon as 7am hits. No reason for Disney to believe that people won't get up at 7am in the future.

 

[Skippyboo]

Currently the ROTR boarding groups are gone in under a minute. What percentage of the boarding group is going to be reserved for the Lighting Lane ? If you are the people that visit WDW once every five years or so, You would definitely will pay $50 per person to ride ROTR instead taking a chance with boarding group lottery. 1000 boarding groups in 1 hr at 50 bucks each for 10 hours is 0.5 million for a day. Take that for 365 days is $182.5 million . For something that is currently free now.

 

[itf]

I'm a little confused by your question. Currently (always subject to change): Anyone on-site or off-site -so long as they have a Hollywood Studios park reservation - can make their first attempt to get an ROTR pass at 7am. Every morning there are countless people doing this as soon as 7am hits. No reason for Disney to believe that people won't get up at 7am in the future.

But I thought off-site was an hour later - will ROTR still be 7am for everyone or will it now be 8am for off-site guests, IE will on-site get an hour advantage for ROTR as they are for Genie+, or am I misunderstanding.

 

[meeko987]

In the days of paper FastPasses....
(1) Pull a free paper FastPass for attractions, including the most popular attractions.
(2) Cannot pull another one until you use the current one or a set amount of time goes by (was it 2 hours?)
(3) As the day goes on, availability becomes less and less, so when you pull a Soarin' FP at 11:00 a.m., your FP return time might be 7:00 p.m. Or you might not get a paper FP at all because the attraction is out of them.

Genie Plus seems to be very similar, except...

• You have to pay $15 per day per person. For my family, this will add $240 to our next trip.
• It doesn't include the most popular attractions, which may be a very expensive addition indeed.
• You might not have the ability (as with paper FP) to pull an additional FP when a certain amount of time goes by.

I'm not sure I can "spin" this to be a positive development to get excited about.

Also - Probably not going to use Genie to help me plan my day. I agree with others that it will probably be for the benefit of Disney profits and not the guest. Remember when paper FP machines would give you a Bonus FP for things like "Carousel of Progress"? It's kinda funny, but Disney was acting like it was giving you something because you're special, when they were probably just manipulating crowd levels in certain areas of the park.

 

[Amore Disney]

But I thought off-site was an hour later - will ROTR still be 7am for everyone or will it now be 8am for off-site guests, IE will on-site get an hour advantage for ROTR as they are for Genie+, or am I misunderstanding.

As of now, they have made no announcements about the ROTR policy changing. Unless they say anything, ROTR opens at 7am for everyone.

Correction: Genie+ will also open at 7am for everyone. Lightning Lanes however, will open at 7am for on-site guests, and at park opening time for everyone else.

 

[Lashed34]

As of now, they have made no announcements about the ROTR policy changing. Unless they say anything, ROTR opens at 7am for everyone.

Genie+ and LL however, will open at 7am for on-site guests, and at park opening time for everyone else.

So it's possible - and very likely probable that RotR would sell out of LL just from on site guests at 0701 every morning.

They'll be a lot of angry people and Disney are making a rod for their own backs with this one.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

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.

Oh I knew it was coming but I don’t have to like it. Lol.

I have a trip booked for next year. I am going to keep an open mind and read trip reports here and see how it goes before making a final decision on that trip. I’m really not crazy about the one FP at a time but I’m willing to see how it plays out.

 

[Sargeant Tibbs]

Currently the ROTR boarding groups are gone in under a minute. What percentage of the boarding group is going to be reserved for the Lighting Lane ? If you are the people that visit WDW once every five years or so, You would definitely will pay $50 per person to ride ROTR instead taking a chance with boarding group lottery. 1000 boarding groups in 1 hr at 50 bucks each for 10 hours is 0.5 million for a day. Take that for 365 days is $182.5 million . For something that is currently free now.

I agree with you, but the boarding groups are gone in something like 3 seconds. With LL, we all might have one second now to get a free boarding group. I'm not exaggerating here, either.

I am very curious what the LL pricing will be for ROTR. Earlier I said $1000, which absolutely was sarcasm, but $50-$75 doesn't seem too far of a guess.

 

[kylenne]

Currently the ROTR boarding groups are gone in under a minute. What percentage of the boarding group is going to be reserved for the Lighting Lane ? If you are the people that visit WDW once every five years or so, You would definitely will pay $50 per person to ride ROTR instead taking a chance with boarding group lottery. 1000 boarding groups in 1 hr at 50 bucks each for 10 hours is 0.5 million. For something that is currently free now.

Not for nothing but there is absolutely a market for paid ROTR. I’ve seen numerous people on the SW:GE board here complaining about the BG process saying they wish they could just pay to get on it. And I’ve heard (admittedly unsubstantiated) talk elsewhere of folks paying people to get BGs for them. There’s a lot of people struggling under the current system who have been begging to throw money at it to make it go away.

I don’t think paid slots will impact it all that much though tbh. The way it is now those go so fast I don’t think it’ll make much difference. If anything it might make 7am slightly easier because now people will have to choose between booking their G+ selections and landing a BG the old fashioned way and many people will assuredly choose poorly. Maybe they end up calling far fewer of the 1pm backup groups though.