Disney Genie+ and ILL$ Details & FAQ - Launches 10/19 at WDW, Paid "FastPass" at WDW and Disneyland (date TBD)

[Aluminum Falcon]

I was just looking at this trend and trying to figure out where it may be discussed lol. What’s surprising to me is a crowd estimate has parks at 5 today but wait times seem comparable to earlier in week when parks were 1s. Anyone with feet on ground to comment how crowds today are vs earlier this week or month?

Thanks - adding it to the FAQ on the first post. This is surprising but it actually makes sense I think, anyone with MaxPass experience know if it worked similarly there? It should reduce competition for Lightning Lane passes at the more popular rides - at the same time, it might leave the Lightning Lanes a lot less crowded which would be a positive for the standby line (and those who don't want to pay for Genie+).

Agreed, Disney is trying to keep standby lines moving, without bogging down E ticket attractions

 

[Liquidice]

HAHA, i think you'd be surprised, FOMO would kick in, and people would still purchase it. i also think low crowds could benefit Disney during the launch, bugs could get squashed pretty quickly, and demand wouldn't cripple the system

I'm just surprised the day before the 50th starts and it seems like the parks are empty - wait times are short at least. Disney I assume was expecting humongous crowds for the 50th - I have no doubt tomorrow will be a sellout day at Magic Kingdom but how will the rest of October look? It might be good for squashing bugs, but I don't know if it would be good for the demand Disney is expecting (and hence the lack of discounts, perks, etc during this time period). Might just be the quiet before the storm though!

 

[Jrb1979]

I'm just surprised the day before the 50th starts and it seems like the parks are empty - wait times are short at least. Disney I assume was expecting humongous crowds for the 50th - I have no doubt tomorrow will be a sellout day at Magic Kingdom but how will the rest of October look? It might be good for squashing bugs, but I don't know if it would be good for the demand Disney is expecting (and hence the lack of discounts, perks, etc during this time period). Might just be the quiet before the storm though!

Doubtful. From what many are saying, there is lots of availability after this weekend and on. I think the demand they expected is going to be low for awhile. I personally think the travel boost is over.

 

[Grasshopper2016]

If it is true that guests can only use the Lightning Lane once per ride per day, that is a major, major development. We used to use the "refresh" method to pull multiple fastpasses for some of our favorite rides each day, especially when the crowds weren't that bad. Telling me that I can only skip the line at my favorite rides once per day, even though my family paid $60 extra for Genie+, is a really big buzzkill. Yes, it will make the standby lines go faster. But even those of us who learn to master the system will have no way to get as much out of a Disney park visit as we used to. With fastpass+, for zero extra cost, a seasoned visitor could get multiple line skips on their favorite rides. Now, for significant extra cost (Genie+ plus IA$), there is no way to do that. This democratizes the Disney experience. But it may well chase off regular visitors.

I was cautiously excited about Genie+ (or at least resigned to it and not that upset about it). Not anymore.

 

[closetmickey]

They slow rolled out FP+/Magic Bands. We got to test it out before it rolled out to everyone because the resort we were staying as was participating in the test.

Us too. And it was fantastic as we could also use our tickets to pull "regular" fastpasses.

 

[closetmickey]

Interesting. Where were you staying when the tested this? Did they notify you at check-in or did you know ahead of time?

We were staying at the Contemporary and we were notified ahead of time so we were able to pre book our attractions and choose colors for our MagicBands..

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

I'm just surprised the day before the 50th starts and it seems like the parks are empty - wait times are short at least. Disney I assume was expecting humongous crowds for the 50th - I have no doubt tomorrow will be a sellout day at Magic Kingdom but how will the rest of October look? It might be good for squashing bugs, but I don't know if it would be good for the demand Disney is expecting (and hence the lack of discounts, perks, etc during this time period). Might just be the quiet before the storm though!

I think this is the storm, i think tomorrow will be swarmed by locals who can get in and get out. I don't see families risking having to quarantine when their kids get home to go to Disney for the 50th. On top of that i think a lot of people canceled their trips when COVID was on the rise again, and rescheduled for next year. From what i've been hearing, it's a lot of families with small children (non school age) down there, and i don't see that changing anytime soon

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

If it is true that guests can only use the Lightning Lane once per ride per day, that is a major, major development. We used to use the "refresh" method to pull multiple fastpasses for some of our favorite rides each day, especially when the crowds weren't that bad. Telling me that I can only skip the line at my favorite rides once per day, even though my family paid $60 extra for Genie+, is a really big buzzkill. Yes, it will make the standby lines go faster. But even those of us who learn to master the system will have no way to get as much out of a Disney park visit as we used to. With fastpass+, for zero extra cost, a seasoned visitor could get multiple line skips on their favorite rides. Now, for significant extra cost (Genie+ plus IA$), there is no way to do that. This democratizes the Disney experience. But it may well chase off regular visitors.

I was cautiously excited about Genie+ (or at least resigned to it and not that upset about it). Not anymore.

i think Disney has been watching people like you/us for a while, and designed their new system to stop that from happening. We were bogging down their standby lines, and they are reacting. it makes perfect sense when you think about it

 

[emilymad]

If you can't use it to re-ride then there is even less reason for us to buy it. That was going to be my whole justification for HS.

 

[Liquidice]

I think this is the storm, i think tomorrow will be swarmed by locals who can get in and get out. I don't see families risking having to quarantine when their kids get home to go to Disney for the 50th. On top of that i think a lot of people canceled their trips when COVID was on the rise again, and rescheduled for next year. From what i've been hearing, it's a lot of families with small children (non school age) down there, and i don't see that changing anytime soon

Other than tomorrow at MK and maybe Epcot - if this is the crowd levels for the next few months, I'll certainly be happy for my trip in November, but I thought a lot of the less than customer friendly changes Disney had been making were primarily because they were emboldened by the travel bubble coming out of the pandemic along with the thought that the 50th would bring significant demand.

If demand remains low for the first few months of the 50th, I wonder if Disney has to revise things and offer promotions to get people to come.

I just checked for tomorrow through the following Saturday (10/1/21 - 10/9/21) and a lot of hotels have availability - even the Value Resorts, AoA, All Star Movies, Pop, All Star Music ...

The following week (10/9/21 - 10/15/21) also has availability, although it is mostly at the Deluxe resorts (but Pop is also available).

When Disney World was a crowd level 1 for the 2nd half of August and virtually all of September, everyone said it was unusually empty because of the lead up to the 50th ... If its also empty for the 50th, I wonder if Disney needs to start worrying.

 

[Liquidice]

i think Disney has been watching people like you/us for a while, and designed their new system to stop that from happening. We were bogging down their standby lines, and they are reacting. it makes perfect sense when you think about it

I have to agree this actually makes sense and for your every day Genie+ user, it should make it more attractive - since I'd expect availability should be better for rides even later in the day since people can't just grab it for rides they already rode. I'm sure Disney also found that if you got a FP+ for a ride you already rode, the likelihood of you showing up for it is lower.

It likely will improve guest satisfaction for Genie+ users overall, not everyone - but for the majority of people - they will be happier with being able to ride most rides once using Lightning Lane.

For me personally, we don't usually ride things more than once per day, we might ride it multiple times throughout our trip - but generally not 2 times per day - so for us, this actually makes Genie+ sound more attractive since I think we'd have a better shot at riding each of the Genie+ rides per day. They could have implemented this same change with FP+ though

 

[BrianL]

Thanks - adding it to the FAQ on the first post. This is surprising but it actually makes sense I think, anyone with MaxPass experience know if it worked similarly there? It should reduce competition for Lightning Lane passes at the more popular rides - at the same time, it might leave the Lightning Lanes a lot less crowded which would be a positive for the standby line (and those who don't want to pay for Genie+).

With MaxPass you could get the same ride again as long as it was available after you used your pass for the first one. You could not "stack" the same ride at all though.

 

[Grasshopper2016]

At Epcot, the latest rumor is that FEA and Remy are IA$. To me, the only reason to buy Genie+ was to get multiple rides on TT and Soarin’ (and maybe Spaceship Earth). I’m not paying $60 for Figment and Turtle Talk. With a limit of one LL per ride, I just don’t see the value anymore.

Same with AK. You can’t use Genie+ on FOP or (according to the latest rumor) EE. If I can’t get multiple rides on Safari, Dinosaur, and Kali, I don’t see the value.

Obviously, not everyone agrees.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

Other than tomorrow at MK and maybe Epcot - if this is the crowd levels for the next few months, I'll certainly be happy for my trip in November, but I thought a lot of the less than customer friendly changes Disney had been making were primarily because they were emboldened by the travel bubble coming out of the pandemic along with the thought that the 50th would bring significant demand.

If demand remains low for the first few months of the 50th, I wonder if Disney has to revise things and offer promotions to get people to come.

I just checked for tomorrow through the following Saturday (10/1/21 - 10/9/21) and a lot of hotels have availability - even the Value Resorts, AoA, All Star Movies, Pop, All Star Music ...

The following week (10/9/21 - 10/15/21) also has availability, although it is mostly at the Deluxe resorts (but Pop is also available).

When Disney World was a crowd level 1 for the 2nd half of August and virtually all of September, everyone said it was unusually empty because of the lead up to the 50th ... If its also empty for the 50th, I wonder if Disney needs to start worrying.

I don't think Disney used the travel bubble as cover to implement price increases, I'm more in line with the pandemic forced them into releasing everything at once, instead of being able to spread everything out 2 years prior to the 50th, to think they had no plan for these changes years ago doesn't make a lot of sense.

i can see them offering promos to get guests back for sure.

i have been checking the week we go down 10/17-10/23 periodically the last few months. it went from 0 availability, to mostly everything opening back up. Again, i think a lot of people rescheduled their trips for next year

I think Disney has managed the pandemic with little to no stress on them, if anything it helped launch Disney+, I think the media end will bolster the company for a bit, but i don't envision them sweating it out now, especially since they're open again

 

[HokieRaven5]

When Disney World was a crowd level 1 for the 2nd half of August and virtually all of September, everyone said it was unusually empty because of the lead up to the 50th ... If its also empty for the 50th, I wonder if Disney needs to start worrying.

The big thing that's been missing is still the International Traveler contingency. How big of a boost that provides when they can finally visit remains to be seen with all of the changes being made at WDW.

 

[Liquidice]

At Epcot, the latest rumor is that FEA and Remy are IA$. To me, the only reason to buy Genie+ was to get multiple rides on TT and Soarin’ (and maybe Spaceship Earth). I’m not paying $60 for Figment and Turtle Talk. With a limit of one LL per ride, I just don’t see the value anymore.

Same with AK. You can’t use Genie+ on FOP or (according to the latest rumor) EE. If I can’t get multiple rides on Safari, Dinosaur, and Kali, I don’t see the value.

Obviously, not everyone agrees.

Yeah I agree for Epcot and AK it doesn't really make sense where there currently aren't enough rides to justify the cost of Genie+. MK and HS are the two where I'm thinking it might be worthwhile.

 

[Grasshopper2016]

This, combined with the exclusion of IA$ headliners, makes Genie+ significantly worse than FP+ or Maxpass. More money for less value.

 

[HokieRaven5]

At Epcot, the latest rumor is that FEA and Remy are IA$. To me, the only reason to buy Genie+ was to get multiple rides on TT and Soarin’ (and maybe Spaceship Earth). I’m not paying $60 for Figment and Turtle Talk. With a limit of one LL per ride, I just don’t see the value anymore.

Same with AK. You can’t use Genie+ on FOP or (according to the latest rumor) EE. If I can’t get multiple rides on Safari, Dinosaur, and Kali, I don’t see the value.

Obviously, not everyone agrees.

Seen the same thing that FEA and Remy are IA$. From the initial announcement of this service the only park where it seemed like a worthwhile investment is MK at least for me. The rest of the parks I felt I could manage with just doing standby or maybe an IA$ purchase for something like RoTR/FoP

 

[Jrb1979]

The big thing that's been missing is still the International Traveler contingency. How big of a boost that provides when they can finally visit remains to be seen with all of the changes being made at WDW.

I don't know how many international guests will be coming even once they can. It's still a lot of work to travel with having to be tested

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

For me personally, we don't usually ride things more than once per day, we might ride it multiple times throughout our trip - but generally not 2 times per day - so for us, this actually makes Genie+ sound more attractive since I think we'd have a better shot at riding each of the Genie+ rides per day. They could have implemented this same change with FP+ though

We do the same when it comes to rides, the only time we ever rode anything multiple times in a day, was if it was a 15-20 min wait, and we could just get off, and right back on. we never used FP to try and do it multiple times though.

I just think monetizing FP+ would have caused even more of an uproar from people, so they needed to break away cleanly