Disney Genie announcement

[DebbieB]

Does anyone remember when you went to a park and waited in line. Seemed like that was so much less stressful.
If you want to go on the ride you waited and if you didn't you went back to the pool, and hung out. Or went to the spa and got a massage.

I went twice last fall. Standing in long lines, some in the sun, was stressful. One particular memory is Mickey’s Railway, 45 minutes in the sun. I was good at “pounding the app”, really missed fastpass.

 

[Gentry2004]

We won’t be there until next year, by which time all of you super users will have figured out how to optimize the system. Keep us all posted!

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

I wonder how this will work for the 2 hour after hours perk for Deluxe resort guest.

 

[FreeTime]

I cant imagine that all opportunities will be only at 7am. They must (must?) be going to also drop a bunch at 9am so at least off site guests can get some times. And/or release times throughout the day so you arent stuck with your second LL late in the day and cant get another till then.

Why “must” they? If they don’t, off-site guests will then book onsite next time for the benefit.

 

[Robo]

I wonder how this will work for the 2 hour after hours perk for Deluxe resort guest.

Unlikely they will offer this after the end of “regular hours.”
(Shouldn’t really be necessary, anyway.)

 

[Robbie Cottam]

I wonder how this will work for the 2 hour after hours perk for Deluxe resort guest.

My guess is it will work just like extra magic always did…. You will need your magic band or MDE to get into the cue

 

[VAlegacy]

Yet another shameless money grab from Disney.

 

[JakeAZ]

I wonder how this will work for the 2 hour after hours perk for Deluxe resort guest.

It wont. After hour events never used FP. The whole point of them (hopefully) is the lines will be shorter.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

The more I think about it, the more I realize what an entirely different direction this is.

The dining plan. The dining plan never made sense to me. I didn't use it. It cost people more money overall than I thought you should even spend on food and was a bad value for most people. But people still bought it because they liked to pre-pay it or just didn't like being nickel and dimed for every meal. I still don't get the dining plan. I just pay for dinner.

Genie is like the worst possible combo. He wants to charge you $20 for Slinky Dog AND he doesn't let you preplan or prepay for everything. You have to think about and handle every microtransaction while wrangling your kids and dropping another $20 here and there, and maybe you don't feel like going on Pirates right now. Some of these are planned at 7AM, I guess some of these Genie is going to wing for you. At least a prepaid pass like Universal's, even if it's expensive, you know what you are getting, like the dining plan.

That's too funny--I was also thinking about the analogy with the dining plan and totally agree.

I think Disney is overlooking the perceived value part of the equation. I can tell you that If I paid $20+ per person for a specific ride like SDD, I would NOT be a happy camper 3 minutes later for my family of 4. But if I have that ride included in my overall purchase price (even if way higher) my reaction wouldn't be so harsh. Same thing for the new Mickey/Minnie ride (which I didn't enjoy much when free, LOL). I probably would have been fine with a $20 upcharge for FOP and ROTR, but I'd be judging some of the other rides pretty harshly. I suspect this could happen with Remi depending on the amount they charge. I *loved* it when we did it in France, but we had an express pass there Not sure if I would love it as much at $20+ pp a pop!

We were season pass holders at both WDW and DL before the pandemic hit. We probably average 3 trips to each park (4-5 days) per year. I've been on all the rides many times. I basically just hit my favorites now. Not surprisingly most of my favorites are the headliners. So now I"m in the position of having to pay--if I even can secure a spot--to do the rides I enjoy. I know myself, and it's not going to happen. I force myself to buy a season ski pass every year because I know I'll ski a lot more. If I look out the window on a blustery day and think about paying $125, I'll stay home. But if I have the season pass, I go for a few hours. It's not that I can't afford the uncharge per ride; it's that I'm looking at the cost/benefit analysis at one point in time rather than for a block of time.

That's why packages work, whether it's dining packages, cruises, etc. People get picky and more demanding when choosing a la carte

But at some point, if you can't do what you want without paying extra, you'll just stop going. I suspect that's what is going to happen for us. I doubt we'll stop Disney completely. My son is special needs so I think DL will stay part of my life. But I think we'll stop all the WDW trips (and probably get rid of our BLT DVC) and just stick to the occasional trip rather than multiple trips per year. It's just become too much of a chore and the new "pay more for less" (covid excuse) is frustrating. I miss the good 'ole days : )

I don't like paying for a once free service; but really WDW is one of the only places that does not charge for a "fast lane". Six Flags over TX ( I KNOW...not comparable in any way), but their 1 day ticket is $30; their mid tier skip the lines is $80. But at least I know exactly what I'm getting. Kinda crazy to think Six Flags will be more consistent in this area. For contrast, SeaWorld San Antonio 1 day ticket $55, skip lines $20. I'd pay a premium for complete flexibility, even if it was 1 LL per ride per day, but came as an all-in package price.

Alternatively, for a group of 10, this could really make a VIP tour seem more reasonably priced.

Ha! I had the same though. We've done VIP tours before, and they are suddenly looking reasonable

I suspect we will be visiting Universal more often. I prefer the universal model of one big upcharge for an "express pass" for exactly the reason you mentioned--you know what you are getting and you know what you are paying. I'm also not judging each experience based on the cost.

 

[The Iron Giant]

Will I be able to book a boarding group for a ride on a parking lot tram? I’d pay some serious money to not have to walk from Simba 125 to the TTC in the August heat.

 

[Jrb1979]

I cant imagine that all opportunities will be only at 7am. They must (must?) be going to also drop a bunch at 9am so at least off site guests can get some times. And/or release times throughout the day so you arent stuck with your second LL late in the day and cant get another till then.

Onsite guests only get early access to the paid top tier rides. Anyone with Genie+ regardless of where they are staying can start booking at 7am.

 

[Delilah1310]

Yea, not gonna continue to try and explain it. Not worth it apparently. Feel free to believe I'm not a planner, you'll just continue to be very, very, very wrong.

If most people saw my planning process for a one day trip to a nearby town, they would think I was certifiably insane. Every single possible situation/scenario is thought of, with corresponding solutions. My Disney plans would blow many peoples minds. Like 20 pages for a 4 day trip, and I go multiple times a year.

But again, you don't have to understand it.

For what it's worth, @luv2cheer92 - I totally understand where you are coming from. I am a planner, too.
We CAN be planners and still be okay with these new features. I still will have the planning of my resort, my park reservation days, my meals, even my daily itineraries AND HOW THE USE OF GENIE+ and LL IAS will play into that ... which attraction to go for first, which to rope drop or do standby during the early morning hours.

Being a planner is not mutually exclusive to embracing this new resource and figuring out how to maximize its effectiveness.
In fact it could be a wonderful challenge for us planner-types.

 

[squirk]

Serious thought - I wonder how much outrage there would be if Disney resort guests got one free IAS per day with their Genie+ purchase, with the stipulation that you couldn’t use an IAS to repeat a ride during your length of stay.

 

[JakeAZ]

I think Disney is overlooking the perceived value part of the equation. I can tell you that If I paid $20+ per person for a specific ride like SDD, I would NOT be a happy camper 3 minutes later for my family of 4. But if I have that ride included in my overall purchase price (even if way higher) my reaction wouldn't be so harsh

This is so true for me too. Having to make multiple purchases means each time you do it, you have to decide if it was "worth it". If it's hot, lines are long and my kids are just burned out, I might want to pull the trigger on a LL ride. But you can be 100% sure when it's over, 5 minutes later, and my kids are still burned out...I'm going to put much more thought into doing that again.

You don't have to perform mental gymnastics to justify every ride with something like the EP at Universal. You'll gauge whether or not it was "worth it" based on your entire day.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

Serious thought - I wonder how much outrage there would be if Disney resort guests got one free IAS per day with their Genie+ purchase, with the stipulation that you couldn’t use an IAS to repeat a ride during your length of stay.

They better think of some incentive because there’s absolutely nothing to compel anyone to stay at a Disney resort.

 

[JakeAZ]

Serious thought - I wonder how much outrage there would be if Disney resort guests got one free IAS per day with their Genie+ purchase, with the stipulation that you couldn’t use an IAS to repeat a ride during your length of stay.

Well yes, nobody wants to have an arbitrary limit put on them, but I'd take this scenario over what was announced.

Resort guests should get something.

Limiting it to no (length of stay) repeats doesn't really accomplish anything. Each day is new. Each day a new crop of people show up on their first day.

But sure, I'd still take it knowing what I know.

 

[JakeAZ]

They better think of some incentive because there’s absolutely nothing to compel anyone to stay at a Disney resort.

As long as the resorts are jam packed...nothing (of true value) will be added to on-site stays.

 

[rpfennig]

I think they should have made Genie+ part of the ticket price for everyone. And then just raised ticket prices by $10-$15/day or so. We would have been a little more excited about G+. We would have complained about ticket prices going up, but we are used to that. This is an "add on," which feels different than just a price increase.

I feel like there's going to be a group of visitors who buy Disney World packages thinking that they have to include Genie+ (since you can get it for all of your days when you buy the package) and then get to the parks and not use any of the Lightning Lanes because they think they are all add on costs because their travel agent didn't run through the Genie/Genie+/a la carte Lightning Lane info charts with them.

"Yeah, so you <blows cigar smoke across the table directly into the face of the four year old sitting on his mother's lap> pay the extra $$$ now and your 'smart' phone tells you the best rides to go on and what merch to buy. It's great!" <Run that line again but with the voice of Phil from Hercules>

 

[JakeAZ]

I think they should have made Genie+ part of the ticket price for everyone. And then just raised ticket prices by $10-$15/day or so. We would have been a little more excited about G+. We would have complained about ticket prices going up, but we are used to that. This is an "add on," which feels different than just a price increase.

I am no fan of how this is rolling out. BUT I do like that I can chose if I want to buy it. Rolling it into the ticket price and giving it to everyone would take whatever value this program could end up having and completely devalue it.

 

[JakeAZ]

I prefer the universal model of one big upcharge for an "express pass" for exactly the reason you mentioned--you know what you are getting and you know what you are paying. I'm also not judging each experience based on the cost.

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