Disney Genie announcement

[shawthorne44]

As others have pointed out, there wasn’t 100% of guests booking FP+ under that system. It would be interesting to know what % of guests booked FP+ in advance or day of under that system, and whether Genie+ participation ends up being similar.

I do think there are a lot of people, like my family, that used to fully utilize FP+ in conjunction with park hopping. It’s conceivable that a significant portion of those guests don’t upgrade to park hoppers (we didn’t get hoppers on our trip in July, first time we ever skipped that option) if Genie+ doesn’t allow much of the same availability/flexibility that FP+ did. There’s a lot of hopper revenue there to be lost I’d bet. Add to that lost revenue because a lot of people might move off-site (due to erosion of on-site value). Will G+/ILL$ revenue make up for all that?

Of course a lot of that just applies to repeat visitors, which Genie+ doesn’t seem to be designed for, and Disney seemingly doesn’t care about anymore….

I see park hopping as being more desirable with G+. Changing parks gives a fresh batch of G+ options.

Now offsite and ILL$$$ makes more sense. The only benefit I see to onsite is the early entry. During which you could get one, maybe two ILL$$$ during early entry (being really generous). So, you can set a price on early entry equal to 2 x (Avg. ILL cost) x #(number in the room). So, for our family of 3 assuming $10 per ILL$$$, we only need to save $60 by staying offsite, to make it a better deal. $65 when you figure we'd be paying $25 for park parking instead of $20 for resort parking. It isn't hard at all to find someplace much nicer than on-site for much less. Plus, even early-birds like me would rather schedule a ride for choosing, than deal with the elbowing hordes at early entry.

 

[wisblue]

I've seen the "limited availability" phrasing before, but the fact that they're underscoring it like that feels a little worrisome. It will be very interesting to follow how this plays out.

Does that “limited availability” refer to a limited number of possible ride reservations being available to Genie+ purchasers, or a limited number of guests being able to purchase Genie+ on a given day?

It wouldn’t take long for word to get around if purchasers of Genie+ for a day are only able to get LL reservations for a couple of lower tier attractions.

 

[JenSop]

Does that “limited availability” refer to a limited number of possible ride reservations being available to Genie+ purchasers, or a limited number of guests being able to purchase Genie+ on a given day?

It wouldn’t take long for word to get around if purchasers of Genie+ for a day are only able to get LL reservations for a couple of lower tier attractions.

It really FEELS like there's a chance the good rides might run out of passes, so you'd be left with the rides that never needed Genie+ in the first place.

 

[gharter]

It really FEELS like there's a chance the good rides might run out of passes, so you'd be left with the rides that never needed Genie+ in the first place.

I would expect that this would be like FP+ in that there were a certain number FPs available for an attraction and when they are gone, they are gone. What that number is would be anyone's guess. Now that you are paying for it, you would hope that number would be higher.

 

[jahudso0]

Is there any indication how rider swap would work with genie+ or lightning lane? Would the returning rider have to go back alone, or could they bring along someone else, even if that other person had already used their genie + or paid lightning lane pass.

 

[Figment1990]

After trying my best not to worry about this Genie+ thing since the rumors started, I am now all riled up again. Just got an email from my TA asking if we want to add Genie+ to our package for our trip starting on 10/30. That brought all the feelings.

There's a real bait-and-switch aspect for those of us traveling over the next month or so. 2 1/2 weeks out I'm committed to this vacation - my kids are over the moon excited, I've made arrangements with work/school, I've paid Disney an exorbitant amount for my package, airfare is paid for, park reservations made, transportation is booked. And now a system they are suddenly putting in place could potentially significantly change the experience I was expecting when I booked this trip (maybe for the worse if it changes stand-by times beyond what they were historically). We are in the parks 7 days, and for my family of 5, it could potentially cost an additional $1,000 to have the experience I was expecting when I committed to this trip (depending on what is needed with Genie+ and ILL$ not to wait in hours and hours of lines). 2 1/2 WEEKS OUT and there's a surprise potential $500-$1,000 added to my trip. For an experience with so many unknowns.

I was planning this trip for several years, cancelled and re-booked a year ago, and really needed this vacation after a pretty crappy 2 years. And now I feel the pressure that if I don't cough up $500-$1000 more, it might end up being a frustrating trip of long lines and missed rides we were all looking forward. And we don't go frequently at all. These are "big" trips for us.

I'm so disappointed in Disney. To put it lightly, because this is a public forum and I'm a lady. Sigh. That's all. That's the rant.

I hear you. I knew going into booking our Thanksgiving trip that there was a lot of unknown (pandemic has me more cautious than ever). But this was really not one of the things I had in the realm of possibility. (Silly ol' me actually thought perhaps they would have some discounts out by now. hahaha) I was prepared for still a lack of fastpasses, park reservations, and some sort of mask requirement. But I just feel like for a park(s) that are SO heavily under construction (particularly epcot), still limited in what is available (live entertainment, some restaurants, etc), limited park hours, restricted park hopping, park reservations required, etc. - I didn't expect them to try to charge me MORE for visiting during a pandemic!

And you are right - it's hard to reschedule when you've already made arrangements for school/work/family at this point. So it feels like a lose/lose situation. You either suck it up and go and pay / go and not pay and wait / or you throw everything into upheaval. Again. 'Cause that's what people want to do after 18 months of pandemic upheaval.

 

[CWTC]

Does that “limited availability” refer to a limited number of possible ride reservations being available to Genie+ purchasers, or a limited number of guests being able to purchase Genie+ on a given day?

Disney has explicitly stated G+ will never sell out. So presumably the LL passes are limited. How limited is the question. Will there be guests who pay 15$, get no LL, and get no refund because Disney said upfront that availability is limited? In the past if I didn’t get a FP, whatever it was free. If I pay, I have an expectation I will get LL for at least 3 rides that I want vs 3 for the carousel of progress. We were always happy with soarin or TT, livin with the land, and spaceship earth FP+. If I can’t get at least 3 FPs per day that we want, I’m not sure I see the value.

 

[Turksmom]

Disney has explicitly stated G+ will never sell out. So presumably the LL passes are limited. How limited is the question. Will there be guests who pay 15$, get no LL, and get no refund because Disney said upfront that availability is limited? In the past if I didn’t get a FP, whatever it was free. If I pay, I have an expectation I will get LL for at least 3 rides that I want vs 3 for the carousel of progress. We were always happy with soarin or TT, livin with the land, and spaceship earth FP+. If I can’t get bat least 3 FPs per day that we want, I’m not sure I see the value.

You can only use LL once per attraction, so no worries about 3 CoP. You'd get CoP, Barnstormer, and Philharmagic

 

[CWTC]

You can only use LL once per attraction, so no worries about 3 CoP. You'd get CoP, Barnstormer, and Philharmagic

Touché. Although I suspect they would make a G+ exception to get rid of CoP LL passes.

 

[Jcruise86]

Line shortening options remind me of that Gilbert & Sullivan line: "If everybody's somebody, that no one's any body."

$15 per day per person will sound reasonable to most Disney World guests,
just as paying for parking, Magic Bands, and airport transportation fees are reasonable. But
at $15, the demand for some Lightning Lane attractions will be so high that Disney will be "forced" to add more attractions to the individual upcharge list and/or charge more for Lightning Lane. You'll see.

 

[CWTC]

But at $15, the demand for some Lightning Lane attractions will be so high that Disney will be "forced" to add more attractions to the individual upcharge list and/or charge more for Lightning Lane.

100%. The prices will go up.

 

[AZMermaid]

Yes! We go at Christmas. I think they’ll be at 20 by then

 

[Figment1990]

At this point, I'm starting to feel like I should just get in my car and drive to disney tonight before all h-e-double-hockey sticks breaks loose! Screw work and school!

 

[Disturbia]

I’m watching Dis unplugged and it was said that if you have a pass later and you just rode the same ride, genie knows what you’re doing and will erase that pass!!!!

so I can’t come in during resort guest early entry and ride the ride that I have my first genie suggestion (edit: itinerary; not genie+) for

Edit: Genie will only erase a selection from a suggested itinerary not your paid passes

 

[CWTC]

At this point, I'm starting to feel like I should just get in my car and drive to disney tonight before all h-e-double-hockey sticks breaks loose!

Given that the IT infrastructure struggles with ADR drops and dessert party bookings, I have close to zero confidence that the apps will pushed out to the app stores, that the app will be able to handle everyone buying G+, then booking LL, and buying IA$ all around 7am on 10/19. Thank goodness we keep booze in our owners locker because I might be drinking a mimosa in our room by 7am at the BCV.

 

[DisneyKidds]

I see park hopping as being more desirable with G+. Changing parks gives a fresh batch of G+ options.

That assumes when you are headed to a new park in the late afternoon or evening there are actually LL reservations available thru G+ that you actually want to use.

That’s a big assumption at this point, no?

Under FP+ I could hop to Epcot in the evening with Test Track or Soarin, as well as something like Spaceshilp Earth, in hand. It could make for a nice evening. If the same can’t be accomplished with G+ I can’t see it making hopping more desirable….

 

[Grasshopper2016]

I’m watching Dis unplugged and it was said that if you have a pass later and you just rode the same ride, genie knows what you’re doing and will erase that pass!!!!

so I can’t come in during resort guest early entry and ride the ride that I have my first genie+ for

That can’t possibly be right, can it??? If so, I’m out.

 

[Grasshopper2016]

I have close to zero confidence . . .that the app will be able to handle everyone buying G+, then booking LL, and buying IA$ all around 7am

Keep in mind that 7:00 is also when people have to book boarding groups. And it is also the heart of the ADR window. This isn’t going to be pretty.

 

[Disturbia]

 

[DisneyKidds]

I’m thinking it will be like the printed fast pass times, so if you’re booking in the first hour of booking window (7-8 am) you should be able to score Soarin for the afternoon and maybe one other ride when you’re in the park for $15 genie+.

That assumes, like under FP+, you get to choose your attraction and return window. Based on discussion so far it doesn’t really sound like Genie+ will operate that way. If Genie never offers you Soarin’ at a time you can use in the afternoon….you may be out of luck. I hope that’s not the case. We’ll know in a week….