Disney Genie announcement

[Miffy]

Not that I know anything more about Genie or G+ than I did yesterday, but now that I've had a chance to sleep on it, my thoughts are:

(1) If G+ were $15 per family/group instead of $15/person, that would make it a lot more appealing. I have no idea how a family with more than zero children is going to be able to afford this.

(2) If ride availability for G+ is released using the drip method (i.e., continuous release of times during the day and not releasing all the times at 7 a.m.), this could possibly work out pretty well. If not, then not.

(3) How will G+ affect RD? Maybe it won't. That's what I'm hoping for.

(4) I've already mentally set aside $100 for FoP so I can ride it every day of my next visit without having to RD or wait in a long line. Of course, if my estimate of what the a la carte price will be is low, then . . .

Just some random thoughts.

 

[Violetspider]

If the G+ LL turns out to really be only one at a time (no stacking), the time between LL rides could be very extreme by the afternoon. Time slots for popular tier 2 rides could very well be exhausted by 1PM-ish on many days, meaning late return times (this is based on how slots were distributed at DL with the MaxPass system). I'm trying to mentally prepare for that $15 getting me three to four desired rides. Anything beyond that would be a bonus. Luckily I'm a big HM fan. Multiple rides on their tend to sooth my Disney damaged pocket book.


Side note: Remy being VQ really messes with my trip plans. Heck, I'll be in-flight during the drop on my first Epcot day. That just stinks. Only one other day to potentially snag a slot in the queue. I was perfectly happy with waiting standby for that ride. Typical!

 

[honeymo78]

I just remembered seeing pictures in the last month or so of FP kiosks being put in place in the parks - are they still there, and if so, does anybody think that they're intending to use them for Genie+/LL?

I have no idea if those kiosks are still there, but I could see those kiosks being available for guests without a smart phone to purchase G+ and get their passes and/or buy $LL, much like how people could use the kiosks for FP+ if they didn't have a phone.

 

[a1tinkfans]

Imho…It’s a MONEY GRAB that ALSO puts you in your Very UnDisney Like place, Down A Notch .Happiest Place No More. those that can Afford the Xtra cost… that used to be Free …are now Pushed Behind those that can Afford to Jump Ahead. If One is waiting on standby like the rest of the ticket paying guests and the Lightening guests walk up.. well… ur now BACK even further Before that Choice of using Free FP was just that, a choice. Seems Disney just doesn’t care anymore. And their so called marketing Inclusive, Happy Place for Families …has gotten run over by Pure GREED. it’s rampant Everywhere. the Perks of onsite visits is gone, prices for tickets, merchandise and Food has Increased, parking fees, no ME, loss of Xtra hours, more parties and less park time ( WHERES the tix option for those Reduced hour party days?) the Service is Lowered, you Get Less but Pay More Overall.

While I can afford it and am, strike that… Was…a long time AP holder and Fla Res I just think the Overall Feel of Disney has taken a Deep Dive. That Xtra Special Something offered up thru Their Own devices/marketing etc is Gone
Let’s not talk about how AP holders are now not needed as a target audience because they don’t spend enough ..thinking So wrong lol.
Haven’t been back, didn’t renew, more room for you all lol.
Disney is a Choice/want certainly Not a need so I’ll vacation/visit elsewhere with my money. I’m good with that. Stay Safe All!

 

[jjjones325]

My 2 cents.
1) Money grab? I mean, of course.
2) Will all the slots be gone by 1 PM? Doubtful. Granted, there weren't a ton of choices at 6 PM, but you could almost always grab SOMETHING and that was when everybody had access. Not everybody is going to pay the $15 for G+.
3) Since my last Disney trip (2017) I've been to Dollywood, 4 of the Cedar Fair parks, and Universal. Those you really pay to skip the lines. I chose not to pay, but still managed to do everything I wanted. I think ultimately the same will happen at DIsney.
4) But yes, taking something that used to be free and now charging for it (like all the other stuff Disney has done in the past few years) is stinky.

 

[mom2rtk]

I also see the most likely scenario is that your stuck in a 130 min stand-by line at Splash Mountain and Genie says "upgrade for $15 for a 15 min wait". This is where I see Genie going the route of mobile gaming and pushing the "micro-transaction" as a convenience/time saver.

How will this work? The party would have to back track out of the line then enter the other line?
Sounds messy.

Plus I don't believe Disney will have tech that works consistently with something like that.

Remember all the "surprise and delight" fastpasses that were supposed to be part of FP+? If lines were long in one area of the park, they were supposed to offer FPs to move people to the other side of the park. Never happened.

 

[HopperFan]

Not that I know anything more about Genie or G+ than I did yesterday, but now that I've had a chance to sleep on it, my thoughts are:

(1) If G+ were $15 per family/group instead of $15/person, that would make it a lot more appealing. I have no idea how a family with more than zero children is going to be able to afford this.

(2) If ride availability for G+ is released using the drip method (i.e., continuous release of times during the day and not releasing all the times at 7 a.m.), this could possibly work out pretty well. If not, then not.

(3) How will G+ affect RD? Maybe it won't. That's what I'm hoping for.

(4) I've already mentally set aside $100 for FoP so I can ride it every day of my next visit without having to RD or wait in a long line. Of course, if my estimate of what the a la carte price will be is low, then . . .

Just some random thoughts.

I'll play

1) It would be overrun at that price per family and then how do you determine a family, people offsite especially could group together. Last month our family of 6 had a very basic nothing exciting meal at Rose & Crown and spent $225.00. Now we will skip that and we have covered two days with plenty of change for snacks. If folks have a set budget (I usually do) then just give something up that wasn't important.

2) I agree it will be tricky depending on how they release them. What I'm hanging hope on is that I have to remember no one is booking 3 FP+ per day in advance before arrival. I was always pretty successful at rolling one at time all day long - now there should be a much bigger pool since none are on hold. And since people have to pay there may be less using the "FP+" system. The numbers are in our favor, what we need is Disney to release them over time, not over night.

3) I think it's going to make rope drop MISERABLE. All of us who are night owls, sleep in and arrive at 10 or later are now going to be at rope drop because we can't get on the G+ system until we are in the park. I think this is an area they used no foresight and might have to adjust like ... let us purchase for length of trip not have to do daily.

4) I hear you, my budget will include money for the virtual rides because I just don't feel like I'm going to be lucky enough for a reservation.

SO. MANY. RANDOM. THOUGHTS.

 

[RoseGold]

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.

 

[CBMom01]

I agree that Disney is pricing most people out of the parks, but I don't feel like that part is new.

My big issue is that now I can't plan the days for our upcoming trip. With FP+ even if they had turned it into a pay service, at least I could have decided my daily schedule and budget ahead of time. Now I will have to do that (at best) at 7am every day that we are there. I have no idea if I'm going to want to pay that $15pp/day because I don't know what time slots might be available. Same for the LL Tier 1 rides.

So not only have they made it more expensive, they've made it so that I have no choice but to let the MDE app plan my days.

I said before that I was done with Disney but an opportunity came up and I foolishly told the kids we were going. This really is the last time.

 

[Sargeant Tibbs]

Yeah, I think I'll stick with Touring Plans and/or arrive early to the parks. Seems to always work no matter what Disney rolls out.

I'm not so sure this time. It seems to me that a big part of the goal here is to get guests into the parks earlier and to stay longer. If we're only getting one LL pass at a time, and have to wait a period of time for the next one, the only way to get a decent amount of rides in might be to rope drop. Not to mention they already have us up at 7am, if on property. I think we might see touring styles shift dramatically because of this. We'll see what standby wait times look like when this rolls out. That is the key right there to how much this is going to have an effect on everything.

 

[elgerber]

I have missed some pages, but I wonder what is considered on-site for the 7am LL purchases. If you have a reservation for that day, but haven't yet checked in, do you think that will count?

 

[Jothmas]

At that point, why not just have a big ticket booth and sell tickets for rides?

I don’t think there would ever be a return to paper. It will be convenient to book and pay for attractions online as needed.

 

[Cliffside]

To me this all seems so sad…we are empty nesters and DVC members..DH usually jokingly says he would like to sell now it feels like he is not joking…thank goodness our DD is grown …it just seems so sad is all they do is take away..I just remember making so many trips during the Year of a million dreams which went on for quite a bit longer…that was awesome..they were just wanting to spread the Magic and so much more..now if you want to ride certain rides you need to cough up cash( interesting how they haven’t given us numbers on that) and what kind of surge pricing will there be..is it by day, by hour I feel like I am trying to book an Uber during the rain in NYC.

and I know Disney is a publicly traded company that is beholden to their share holders which I am one…

but it is just sad ..we Will probably not sell both our DVC contracts maybe one…we will probably just take one trip a year and not buy AP’s…
but that seems what customers they are trying to attract.

 

[mousestruck]

Theoretically the first available BTM slot should not 2 pm because there is no advanced booking anymore. All the rides refresh each morning. You’re not picking from the leftover slots from other guests like you were when doing FP+ booking.

Yes, that does seem logical. I guess we'll have to watch and see what happens. I'm eager to hear first reports of the new system once it's in place.

 

[mousestruck]

I also sent an email - a positive one saying if it works like MaxPass, I believe it will be a success and I am very optimistic about it.

I also think the deluxe evening extra hours just became a way more valuable perk. With that exclusivity of really low crowds, I won't have to purchase add-on individual attractions ... I can ride the most popular rides via standby with really low wait times during those hours at those parks.

Good point!

 

[DVC92]

I still have some E tickets left from 1972. I should be able to use them.

 

[Lisann]

I still have some E tickets left from 1972. I should be able to use them.

I know, right?!

This is just all too much for me. I don't want to work this hard for my vacation.

 

[cdurham1]

Instead of talking about whether we like the announcement ot not, maybe we could talk about thoughts around touring strategies.

For me, the most typical situation will be staying on site, wanting to accomplish as much as possible due to limited number of days, and willing to pay for the IASs. So, I think

1. Buy both available IAS's at 7am
2. Get first LL at 7am for pretty much whatever is earliest time
3. RD at the 30 minute early admission time for the most popular attraction you didn't already get the LL for. So I am thinking BTM, PPF, JC, for example.
4. Depending on when you get done, wait times, and when your first LL is scheduled, possibly squeeze in another standby line attraction.
5. Try to be as close to on time at the beginning of each LL window so you can start searching for the next LL as you walk the queue after you scan in.
6. If you are planning on an afternoon break, hopefully use that to your advantage by looking for a little later LL before you leave for your break for a moderately high demand ride. For example, if you are leaving at 1pm for a break, you might find it easier to find a HM or POC at 5pm. I imagine the "later day" spots will be pretty open as people will not be willing to have their one spot so far out, locking up that LL spot they could use for something more immediate.

I will probably be staying mostly at DVC, so our afternoon breaks may be a little longer with plans on taking full advantage of the evening hours.

Btw, does anyone have any reason to think that Genie+ will be used during extra hours

 

[twincruisers]

I'd add in the VQ for RotR or Remy at the top of that list, but seems about right.

If we're paying for G+, I would assume it would go for the whole day inclusive of EMH or EEH, but that's something that will need Disney's official confirmation.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

as far as booking, if I wanted something on a VQ I would do that first at 7, then buy the IAS if you want one or two, and then pick the first Genie + reservation.

I'm actually not in agreement, I don't believe G+ will apply outside of the posted regular park hours. Won't know until WDW says so, though