Disney Genie announcement

[leeniewdw]

You have to wait until rides are next available at 2 pm; which we should be able to estimate based on recent reports; say at 11 am the next abailable for Soarin is 3 pm. I think you’re at a risk if you book a headliner and can’t make it as Genie+ won’t let you book it again.

Why not just make a LLIA$ for the evening and the see at 11 am when you’re closer to your destination what is available

This may be what we do just to be on the safe(r) side. We're all flying in and 2 coming from a diff originating airport, so trying to commando in a compressed schedule probably doesn't make sense...especially if we get locked out of a headliner.

 

[amylevan]

It depends on how you tour. We take a mid day break since we go in the summer. I’ve figured out my main problem with genie+ & the way my family tours is not being able to make a second genie+ at 9am (2 hours after 7am) vs 11am. Making a second at 11 doesn’t really help me as we RD and are probably eating lunch around that time & then we head out for a break. Now if the parks open at 8 and I could book a second at 10 AND there was good availability then…maybe. If they change anything I hope it’s the 2 hour after park open restriction, but I’m not holding my breath. I do see how genie+ could be great for those who stay in the park all day. It seems those customers get the most. That’s just not us in the summer.

Keep in mind that the 2 hour after park opening restriction only comes into play if it’s before your G+ time. If you get a G+ time of 9:30, you can make a second one as soon as you tap into that first one.

 

[Orsino]

My new idle speculation is that Disney should simply allow Genie+ users to choose later times. I can't think of a good reason why it doesn't. Even the standard "because money" doesn't quite explain it since Genie+ is 15 dollars no matter what you book.
First available made sense for paper fastpass since the machines couldn't offer times. First available for Maxpass made sense since it operated parallel to paper fastpass. Genie+ has no good reason to not allow future booking of LL. They obviously have the code to do it since they offer it on Individual Selection.

 

[Grasshopper2016]

Go to your My Disney Experience account on the website (not the app). Under your reservation details, there should be an option to modify the package. It should then list resort, tickets, etc ... If you have your tickets linked, you may have the option to 'modify tickets'. Under that option you may have the ability to change the ticket add-ons and add Genie+. I haven't modified my tickets yet but checked this morning as was able to if I wanted.

When I tried to add Genie+ on the app, it wouldn't let me do it for my other family members --- just for me. And I couldn't find any way to do it on the website. Your tip was very helpful!

In my case, because I didn't buy the tickets as part of a package (bought them from a third party vendor), I don't have a reservation on MDE or a package to modify. But I had added my tickets to MDE manually when I first received them. Today, I could go to "My Plans" and then "Tickets and Memory Maker." There was then an option to "Change Tickets." Clicking on that allowed me choose all of the people in my party. And then one of the change options was "Add Genie+." I clicked on that, and everything went through smoothly. The tickets briefly disappeared from MDE, which was a bit frightening. But in a minute or two, they reappeared with Genie+ added on.

 

[PaladinButters]

Personally I hope they close that 2pm loop hole. It hurts those who don't park hop. It should be that you can't book rides in your 2nd park til after 2pm.

Is the 2PM limit going to be forever now?

Let's not say it's a loophole, let's call it a benefit of paying more for your tickets to get the hopper option.

 

[20KLeagues]

My new idle speculation is that Disney should simply allow Genie+ users to choose later times. I can't think of a good reason why it doesn't. Even the standard "because money" doesn't quite explain it since Genie+ is 15 dollars no matter what you book.
First available made sense for paper fastpass since the machines couldn't offer times. First available for Maxpass made sense since it operated parallel to paper fastpass. Genie+ has no good reason to not allow future booking of LL. They obviously have the code to do it since they offer it on Individual Selection.

Couldn't agree more.........Would change the entire guest experience for the better.........That and being able to book your first Genie+ ride the night before

Why not try it and see how it works?

 

[snikki]

My new idle speculation is that Disney should simply allow Genie+ users to choose later times. I can't think of a good reason why it doesn't. Even the standard "because money" doesn't quite explain it since Genie+ is 15 dollars no matter what you book.
First available made sense for paper fastpass since the machines couldn't offer times. First available for Maxpass made sense since it operated parallel to paper fastpass. Genie+ has no good reason to not allow future booking of LL. They obviously have the code to do it since they offer it on Individual Selection.

To keep people buying park hoppers? If everyone gets the late slots ahead of time the people who pick next available won’t want to hop later in the day. FTR I would like to pick my times. I wouldn’t be upset with this change.

 

[Jrb1979]

Couldn't agree more.........Would change the entire guest experience for the better.........That and being able to book your first Genie+ ride the night before

Why not try it and see how it works?

With the way it's setup now, it's easy for Disney go disperse crowds. Genie+ is setup this way for a reason and I doubt it will change much.

 

[MainMom]

Keep in mind that the 2 hour after park opening restriction only comes into play if it’s before your G+ time. If you get a G+ time of 9:30, you can make a second one as soon as you tap into that first one.

But it’s likely that the lines are short enough that I’m paying $15 to skip a short line at 9:30. That’s not a value FOR ME. I’ll also have a party of 7 which is a lot different than finding great times for 1-2 people. I wish I could get a better scenario for us. Maybe that will show up over time.

 

[leeniewdw]

Is the 2PM limit going to be forever now?

Let's not say it's a loophole, let's call it a benefit of paying more for your tickets to get the hopper option.

That's a question I've had, has WDW stated that the 2pm park hop time is 'forever'?

Which makes me realize I probably should think about our "strategy" for if there is still a 2pm park hop limiter or if there's not. In reality I've got 4 months but I still feel like I need an idea of things so I can compare against experiences and adapt if needed. The park reservation thing is different enough,but now to factor into 2pm hopping, ILL$ and G+LL, well there are so many more permutations.

And I agree -- if you are paying for a park hopper and G+, then you should be able to use those features you are paying for.

 

[PaladinButters]

That and being able to book your first Genie+ ride the night before

Well in that case why not the week before or 30 days before..... wait this is starting to sound familiar....

 

[ZellyB]

I really hope at some point the 2 pm hopper thing goes away. Probably our favorite park day ever was a day we hit all 4 parks in one day. We even managed to hit two rope drops. But, I'm very much afraid it's here to stay.

 

[Jrb1979]

Well in that case why not the week before or 30 days before..... wait this is starting to sound familiar....

Agreed. It's sounds like many want Genie+ to work like FP+ cause it worked for their touring style. People are going to have to throw out the window and change how they do the parks.

I really hope at some point the 2 pm hopper thing goes away. Probably our favorite park day ever was a day we hit all 4 parks in one day. We even managed to hit two rope drops. But, I'm very much afraid it's here to stay.

With the reservation system in place I doubt the 2pm thing goes away. Between 2 and 5 the parks are the busiest so they already schedule the amount of labor needed for that time. Using the reservations Disney has an idea where to add more CMs that day and where to cut them.

 

[js]

That’s why we need to know what passes and when to book; we should get a guesstimate soon; keep watching videos of reports from bloggers

Hi. I don't watch videos and reports from bloggers but I really would like to start especially with the G+ and IA$$.
Can you/anyone here recommend who I watch and how do I watch them? Youtube?

Thanks!

 

[leeniewdw]

Personally I hope they close that 2pm loop hole. It hurts those who don't park hop. It should be that you can't book rides in your 2nd park til after 2pm.

Because people are paying a premium to park hop and if you had to wait until 2pm and there are no LLs to select from park 2, you've rendered park hopping/G+ $ worthless for half your day?

Unless the suggestion is that LL just stops for ALL once the return times hit 2pm and then re-opens for reservations at 2pm. Because if a single park person is getting post-2pm returns times while park hopper people cannot, the single park ticket is getting an advantage over people who paid more.

P1: MK All Day
P2: AK am and MK PM

at 11am, the LL return times at MK are in the 2pm-3pm timeframe, only P1 can get those LLs
at 1pm, the LL return times at MK are in the 3pm-4pm timeframe, only P1 can get those LLs
at 2pm, the LL return times at MK are 4pm-5pm. P2 grabs a 5pm LL and has to ride standby for anything else for 3 hours, while P1 gets 2 LL.


Kind of defeats the purpose of paying more for a park hopper.

 

[jrsharp21]

There are still going to be HUGE numbers of people who know the only way they'll ride FoP or SDD or RoR or several others without paying is to do rope drop. And there will be large numbers of people who want to do certain rides multiple times and the only way they can do that is rope drop. Even with FP+, there were huge crowds at rope drop for the most popular rides. But also as I said, if rope drop and hit the 2nd tier rides - you can get 3-4 in before the times get to that 30+ minute mark. Rope Drop is a way of life - those who do it will continue to do it. The reasons and benefits are all still there whether it was FP+, standby only or LL. Nothing has changed. It won't be horrible now because we're still relatively light crowds but expect to see the 2+ hour standby lines for those headliners early in the day before they level off.

Agree that rope drop is still going to be huge numbers. Not only for the above mentioned reasons, but also you are going to have people who try to book their first G+ reservation as close to opening as possible so that they can book their next reservation right after and hopefully catch windows that that are not too far out so that they can book their third one right after that. The people with that type of strategy, book as many as possible in a day, will definitely be at rope drop. At this point, this is what we are considering doing when we go in January. Early and often is the strategy.

 

[Grasshopper2016]

While I can believe that Genie+ is currently functioning this way, I don't believe it was intended to be this way. If this is how Genie+ works currently, Disney should fix it as this loophole is kind of glaring.

Actually, I think it's in Disney's best interest to leave loopholes like this alone. Too much leveling of the playing field and seasoned guests might stop coming back. This might end up operating like the "refresh method"---a perhaps unintended perk that lets those in the know get enough out of their vacation dollars (relative to the average guest) even on more crowded days to justify return visits without openly treating them differently.

Absolutely - we're already seeing some of the strategies and potential loopholes come into play. It's very clear to me that - just like under the old system - those who study up and know how to use it best will be able to get a lot more out of it.

Exactly.

 

[Orsino]

To keep people buying park hoppers? If everyone gets the late slots ahead of time the people who pick next available won’t want to hop later in the day. FTR I would like to pick my times. I wouldn’t be upset with this change.

Maybe, but I don't think Disney designed the system with this in mind. If anything, I think by allowing picks for later in the day, Disney would be able to sell more Genie+ and devour that sweet sweet money.
By not allowing late day scheduling, they might pick up some hopper hackers, but I think they would do far better with Genie+ sales with a straight up book later in the day allowance. For example, while I'm thinking about the hopper hack (and I'll have an AP so no 'extra' money for Disney), I probably won't bother with Genie+ at all for that day. But if Genie+ allowed later day scheduling, I'd buy Genie+ for my arrival day for sure.
Hear that Disney? More Money.

 

[Jrb1979]

Because people are paying a premium to park hop and if you had to wait until 2pm and there are no LLs to select from park 2, you've rendered park hopping/G+ $ worthless for half your day?

Unless the suggestion is that LL just stops for ALL once the return times hit 2pm and then re-opens for reservations at 2pm. Because if a single park person is getting post-2pm returns times while park hopper people cannot, the single park ticket is getting an advantage over people who paid more.

P1: MK All Day
P2: AK am and MK PM

at 11am, the LL return times at MK are in the 2pm-3pm timeframe, only P1 can get those LLs
at 1pm, the LL return times at MK are in the 3pm-4pm timeframe, only P1 can get those LLs
at 2pm, the LL return times at MK are 4pm-5pm. P2 grabs a 5pm LL and has to ride standby for anything else for 3 hours, while P1 gets 2 LL.


Kind of defeats the purpose of paying more for a park hopper.

I wouldn't necessarily close the loop hole. The way the system should work regardless of park hopper or not is you should only be able to see the times available at that moment.

Say your 2nd park is Epcot, when you select it at 7am to look for times you should only see what's available then not whats available after 2.

 

[LSUfan4444]

Rope drop has always been successful because most people don't do it....G+ and ILL won't change that. Most people will arrive later in the morning/day.