Disney Genie announcement

[SimonSez]

We just missed it. I had a feeling they were gonna do something completely different than FP or FP+ I'll have to read what people are saying about it right here, once it's implemented. It will be awhile before we get back to Disney. Maybe they'll have the kinks ironed out by then, or moved on to a different method

 

[cindycastle30]

After reading about half of this thread what stands out to me is how horrible the timing is of this. We are going for the 50th after planning for 10 years of being there. With everything in the world going on right now we have already changed our trip to stay off site and not use our spare annual passes. I am not paying a fee to get in the door and another to ride the rides that my ticket should provide. We will wait in line this time but our vacation dollars will be going elsewhere in future years. Whats next paying for a dining reservation just to pay for dinne

 

[JZCubed]

This 100%. Some days we went to the parks from RD through fireworks, but at least one or two days were lazy mornings with a late breakfast, pool time and rocking up to a park in the late afternoon in time to do 3 FP+ rides before dinner (or food booths, if Epcot). Now any day we want to sleep in we’ll just not buy tickets, maybe spend the whole day by the pool or enjoying the resort.

I am of the opinion that many families will drop a Park day to offset the price increase and/or to avoid the inflexible need to awake before 7am.

Disney may or may not truly profit from the change.

The result could very well be shorter lines.

However, disloyalty to too many could yield a negative result.

My family can afford the price increases, but if they come with daily work & uncertainty - I’ll scratch my head and research some alternatives, beyond Universal, more vigorously.

Further, Disney’s reliance on technology, when they frequently demonstrate weakness, gives me pause to question if I am on vacation at 7am with a glitchy internet connection or overworked app.

Vacations should lower a person’s blood pressure, not needlessly raise it before breakfast everyday.

 

[JakeAZ]

Wait--- so $15 pp per day for Genie when you are in the parks, and $15 pp per non park day too ?

Sorry, I should have used my sarcasm font. But I think Disney owns the rights to it and to use it, it's $15pp per day

 

[tinkerhon]

Sorry, I should have used my sarcasm font. But I think Disney owns the rights to it and to use it, it's $15pp per day

LOL--- No worries !! Like I said previously--- nothing would surprise me at this point !!

 

[Wiltony]

Sorry, I should have used my sarcasm font. But I think Disney owns the rights to it and to use it, it's $15pp per day

They've said clearly that the use of the genie app is free. The $15 is for Genie+ which is giving you access to their new downgraded FP+ (I'm now calling it FP-) service.

 

[JakeAZ]

They've said clearly that the use of the genie app is free. The $15 is for Genie+ which is giving you access to their new downgraded FP+ (I'm now calling it FP-) service.

It was sarcasm. Use of the Genie app is free. I've heard to install it though, it's $15pp per day.

 

[Wiltony]

GENIE+ IS NOW FASTPASS-

 

[gharter]

Unfortunately, as my wife pointed out, families will drop $50 per person for a t-shirt, this is a drop in the bucket to get to ride a specific ride.
I don't even want to see what they will charge for a LL pass for ROTR, FoP , GoTG or Tron. Guaranteed a short wait to ride it? People will pay it.
i suspect we will be one of them.

 

[AquaDame]

Unfortunately, as my wife pointed out, families will drop $50 per person for a t-shirt, this is a drop in the bucket to get to ride a specific ride.
I don't even want to see what they will charge for a LL pass for ROTR, FoP , GoTG or Tron. Guaranteed a short wait to ride it? People will pay it.
i suspect we will be one of them.

Same. I just found out about this about 10 minutes ago and I already feel resigned since we have tickets already for early next year (pushed back twice from our Oct 2020 trip that did not happen). We'll pay what we need to, and if we don't feel like we ended up with a better experience due to the new hassle and spending more $$$ then I guess we'll be done until the next revision. Disneyland never felt like a carnival to me, but paying per ride is just somehow a mental block for me. Genie+ is one thing, but per ride? I don't like it...

 

[TitusPullo]

Unfortunately, as my wife pointed out, families will drop $50 per person for a t-shirt, this is a drop in the bucket to get to ride a specific ride.
I don't even want to see what they will charge for a LL pass for ROTR, FoP , GoTG or Tron. Guaranteed a short wait to ride it? People will pay it.
i suspect we will be one of them.

So I talked with the wife and we will 100% be using the paid lightning lane for ROTR.
We had a horrible experience at Disneyland where we were lucky enough to get a boarding group and once we made it into the standby line the ride broke down not once but twice ! It was made clear if we left the queue we would not be allowed to return.
Due to the nature of that particular ride with breakdowns and the time it takes to “reset” I will pay to not only guarantee access but as an added bonus get to skip the standby line.

 

[Wiltony]

Disneyland never felt like a carnival to me, but paying per ride is just somehow a mental block for me. Genie+ is one thing, but per ride? I don't like it...

This is exactly how I feel. Those pay-per-ride carnivals -- great analogy. I have the same problem with them, and that is how this is making me feel. Where I can just purchase the "all access wristband" and not worry about all this crap?

This will seriously make visiting more stressful as my brain will be constantly busy with navigating the endlessly varied value propositions that must be evaluated.

This is why people go to all-inclusive resorts even though it's usually not a better value overall. We *hate* having to make the "buy or not?" purchase decisions over and over again for every little thing. Pay once, even if a little more, and just not worry about the details, so we can have a relaxed, easy-going vacation. Transportation, food, admission, activities, etc. all get included and all we have to do is attend and enjoy.

Disney is going in the opposite direction. They'll not only drive people away because the cost is getting too high, but they'll also drive those of us away who, even though we might have the money to spend, don't want to be bothered with constantly deciding to spend it.

 

[JZCubed]

Unfortunately, as my wife pointed out, families will drop $50 per person for a t-shirt, this is a drop in the bucket to get to ride a specific ride.
I don't even want to see what they will charge for a LL pass for ROTR, FoP , GoTG or Tron. Guaranteed a short wait to ride it? People will pay it.
i suspect we will be one of them.

Tshirts can be worn year round and/or be a reminder of a good time.

How many times does a child need to ride Everest, for instance, to have a good time to remember?

If you get up at 7am, how many times are you willing to shell out, let’s say, $50 to ride Flights of Passage at the 6pm return time that remains available (and in conflict with the fireworks viewing you have planned at CA Grill)?

Disney suggests the Genie algorithm will solve the problem.

If you’ve ever tried making dining and/or heritage FP+ reservations, you would likely and rightfully have zero faith in the Genie algorithm to solve your problems….unless your problem is to locate the nearest shop to buy a $50 tshirt.

 

[TangledHairDon'tCare]

I’m obvious in the minority here, but I’m looking forward to it! Loved Maxpass at DL. I wish it was going to include photopass, but I understand why it doesn’t and to be honest I don’t really do much with all of those photos anyway. I don’t think it will be necessary for our whole stay, probably only 2 days of a 5 park day trip for us. I absolutely HATED booking FP 60 days out. We’ve taken 3 trips over the past year and the first 2 were great without FP but this past July we experienced a lot of long lines. Looking forward to some new options.

 

[Amore Disney]

They could have avoided the "Nickel-and-Dimed" feeling of this tiered microtransaction system if Disney straight-up copied the Universal Express Pass system that's already successful and established. Yes, pricing is much more expensive, but that also means fewer adopters -> better experience. You can also walk up to any ride without a "return time", without having to be glued to your phone during precious family time. The price of the Express Pass rises with peak season/ weekends, just like Disney is planning to do for Lightning Pass rides anyways. Best of all, every ride except the two newest ones are included - in fact for Hagrids and Velocicoster it's an even playing field for every single ticketed guest.

Now I'm going to be thinking at every single E-ticket ride - "how much is my time worth?". That's a lot of mental gymnastics, and let's just say I wasn't planning on exercising on vacation.

 

[CapnHook452]

SO......I get to pay for FP instead of getting it free. Sounds very class-warfare.

Certain people knew how to game the system before. Now it’s just a a matter of who has more money. Yep- it’s a type of class warfare. Much like everything else in this damn country

 

[JZCubed]

They could have avoided the "Nickel-and-Dimed" feeling of this tiered microtransaction system if Disney straight-up copied the Universal Express Pass system that's already successful and established. Yes, pricing is much more expensive, but that also means fewer adopters -> better experience. You can also walk up to any ride without a "return time", without having to be glued to your phone during precious family time. The price of the Express Pass rises with peak season/ weekends, just like Disney is planning to do for Lightning Pass rides anyways. Best of all, every ride except the two newest ones are included - in fact for Hagrids and Velocicoster it's an even playing field for every single ticketed guest.

Now I'm going to be thinking at every single E-ticket ride - "how much is my time worth?". That's a lot of mental gymnastics, and let's just say I wasn't planning on exercising on vacation.

Enjoyed our first Universal experience last week and ease of use of Express system…..

Expectation of daily pre-7am awakenings to experience Disney attractions, not so much.

 

[Disney-&-Baseball]

Let's say you book a ten day resort and tickets package. Do you all think we can pick and choose which days we'd add Genie+, or would it have to apply to all tickets (like hoppers)? Because if I can have days with Genie+ and days without (where I just stroll around the park, eat snacks and do shorter standby queues), I might find it interesting.

This is how it worked for Maxpass at DL. You could just add it on the app, day of.

 

[brightlined]

There's a part of my brain that feels like Disney is giving Robin Williams the raw end of the stick for the third or fourth time.

I mean, come on Disney, you can't make people hate the Genie.

 

[mousefan73]

Wow. So this makes me pretty glad I switched from POFQ to offsite and saved $1600 (actually $1900 but I’m factoring in $300 to pay for premium parking every day). It doesn’t sound like there is much value to on-site guests here and I say this as a previously VERY loyal on-property guest. Looks like Disney found a way to get my money after all.

I’ll be waiting to see if Disney realizes their mistake here and makes this better for their on-site folks. I’m not opposed to coming back on-site (only value and mod in my budget) for some perks.

this is mostly likely our last onsite trip. We’ve gone the past 11 years 10 times - on-site. On site has simply lost its value. We are staying this trip at Pop because we want to experience the Skyliner convenience. In the future the only other resort we might stay at if we get a good deal is Beach club Simply because we love that place. I dare anyone to go to Expedia and look what you can get nearby, at what price. It’s crazy what hold Disney has on people mentally and keeping them on site. But once valued things of staying on property are taken away - my brain starts thinking again. For me it’s the EMH (Now I have to pay for FP to make up for that lost benefit) and MDE.