Fastpass return or replacement?

[maverikv]

Yeah a lot of the devil is in the details here, like how often they add passes throughout the day, or if there's just a daily cap and "next available" books out in 2 mins to the end of the day

 

[Bibbobboo2u]

No.

Whatever rides Disney designates as the "upcharge rides" - only resort guests will be able to reserve them at 7 am. Everyone else will have to wait until they enter park.

We all get to reserve the "regular" rides at 7 am.

Got it - thanks. I don’t see us paying for the upcharge rides very often though. I often passed over 7DMT when available on FP+ and didn’t love Rise enough to pay. For us, I guess it might be useful for Tron and Guardians, if we stay on property.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

It’s been a while but weren’t early times of paper fast passes gone pretty early? I remember around 10 am not being able to get anything before 3 pm for popular rides in MK. I see the same with Genie. Imagine paying for genie and only booking 2-3 rides and the rest standby. You will feel ripped off.

And this really sucks for sleep in days. We do long trips so sleeping in and hitting the pools a few days and having FP+ start in the evening was awesome ! No more of that.

 

[snowwhite84]

Yeah a lot of the devil is in the details here, like how often they add passes throughout the day, or if there's just a daily cap and "next available" books out in 2 mins to the end of the day

Exactly! I’m hopeful they want us to like this system, and there will be good availability throughout the day.

 

[maverikv]

My guess is that in addition to the cash grabby grabby they want to reduce the amount of people in the fast pass line and they think they can do it with a charge that scales this way

 

[jkh36619]

I'm trying to figure out a way this wont be a disaster at EPCOT. Everyone jockeying for such few attractions.

Next LL availability....Nemo 8:45PM

 

[luv2cheer92]

I'm trying to figure out a way this wont be a disaster at EPCOT. Everyone jockeying for such few attractions.

Next LL availability....Nemo 8:45PM

Do you think it will be that much significantly different than FP+ availability? I never had any trouble getting good FPs there.

 

[Disneylover99]

My guess is that in addition to the cash grabby grabby they want to reduce the amount of people in the fast pass line and they think they can do it with a charge that scales this way

I think a lot of people are going to jump on this. It wouldn’t surprise me to see the per person costs go up quickly due to demand.

 

[10CJ]

I am definitely curious to know more details.

Someone was asking about the benefit to any of this. Hopefully one benefit will be that LL is quicker than the FP line was. I do think Disney will have issues if they allow too many people in the LL and people have extended waits. It was okay before because it was free. If you are paying though, I can see expectations being different.

I am also curious to see how long passes last for the more popular rides in Genie +. Will people really want to book a 7pm time slot at 7 am and not book anything else the rest of the day? Will the app temporarily stop giving out passes to popular attractions to allow evening park goers a chance at a pass? Something like the previous FP drops or the Rise 1 pm boarding group.

 

[maverikv]

I think a lot of people are going to jump on this. It wouldn’t surprise me to see the per person costs go up quickly due to demand.

Will they? I thought max pass wasn't that heavily used in DL

 

[jkh36619]

Do you think it will be that much significantly different than FP+ availability? I never had any trouble getting good FPs there.

I do. I think many people would do thier 3 FPs and be done. Everyone with a G+ addon will essentially be on a refresh method.

 

[Boopuff]

I don't know how I feel about this. I do hope that they will give onsite/DVC a bit more than the chance to log in at 7am! I'm not a rope drop person and IMO this stinks. It wouldn't stink if Genie would allow you to pick a "starting" time - so tell Genie you want your first wish to start at 10am.... So you could roll over go back to sleep and still make it in time for your first after 10 wish.

 

[jkh36619]

I am definitely curious to know more details.

Someone was asking about the benefit to any of this. Hopefully one benefit will be that LL is quicker than the FP line was. I do think Disney will have issues if they allow too many people in the LL and people have extended waits. It was okay before because it was free. If you are paying though, I can see expectations being different.

I am also curious to see how long passes last for the more popular rides in Genie +. Will people really want to book a 7pm time slot at 7 am and not book anything else the rest of the day? Will the app temporarily stop giving out passes to popular attractions to allow evening park goers a chance at a pass? Something like the previous FP drops or the Rise 1 pm boarding group.

Not sounding like it.

 

[5DisneyNuts]

Obviously we are going to have to see how this all plays out. I will stay open minded as facts play out.

Right now I'm not happy that I am now paying over $1000 for what I received without paying extra for (I won't say free) on my last trip. Should I be glad that I haven't had to pay $1000 more in the past or I'm not having to pay $3000 more? Maybe.

Right now I'm not happy that WDW has created a different level of stress to obtain boarding groups, G+, LL$ at 7am every day on vacation since it will absolutely be a race to get the most popular rides IMO.

I'm hoping the technology will distribute traffic to alleviate some of the crowds but knowing the crowds when we go, I'm not as confident.

Can I do anything about it? No, only spend my money elsewhere.

I'm not trying to change the opinions of anyone here that is happy about the changes and not arguing the points. I'm glad it may work better for some, however those of us who will be impacted negatively are entitled to our opinions as well.

 

[Faithful Raider]

Not quite sure what Disney is doing here. At DL, it's basically MaxPass, but without any free FP's, adding some LL$s, and (so far) no yearly AP addon price. This, along with the recent SoCal AP changes, makes me think that Disney is FINALLY trying to attract out of state tourists. AP's typically won't be spending the extra $20 a pop and with more blackout days, means less crowds AND Genie+ benefits for tourists (who are more likely to pay for Genie+ than SoCal residents). If that ends up how it plays out, that's a win for me (since I don't live in Cali any more). But it's likely to anger those SoCal APs. Interesting...

What really has me scratching my head is how this would work at WDW. Because the problem there isn't the AP's. So that means a TON of tourists will be buying this. Yes, it is technically more rides, but there will be many times more people trying to use Genie+ at WDW. I've seen FP's for the more popular rides disappear by noon with MaxPass at DL. What happens when 10x the number of people are trying to book LLs with Genie+ at WDW? Way less LLs, that's what. I could easily and consistently get 10+ FP's a day on my last trip to DL with MaxPass, without park-hopping. If Disney can pull the same in Florida, well hats off to them. But I don't see it. WDW isn't DL and this program just doesn't make sense to me there.

Just for an example. Say you're gonna do HS that day. You get your RotR boarding pass at 7am and get a late boarding group, then book your G+ for SDD. But because you were booking RotR, SDD is already out until noon. Your G+ is now unable to make more LLs until after you do SDD. So your RotR return time is gonna be later, your SDD isn't until noon, and you can't get more G+. So you're in standby lines until after noon, check your G+ and ALL of the "good" HS G+ LL's are gone for the rest of the day. So you just paid $15/pp for SDD and nothing else. I just don't see how WDW avoids this, especially on busier days.

I have to say, Disney did a good enough job with Genie+ that I can see the potential. I just don't see how they are going to realize that potential at WDW, where the demand for skipping lines is going to outstrip the benefits of G+. Then what? If you don't have G+, you'll have major FOMO. So everyone buys G+. Now LLs are fill up so fast that you can only get 2-3 a day. So the 3 free FP's end up being 3 FP's for $15. And Disney makes a ton of $ with no added benefits to the customer. So G+ ends up angering the biggest demographics in both parks over $15 a person? Like I said, I see the potential, but wow this certainly has backlash potential too. Risky move.

Me personally, as a DL regular and with my first ever WDW trip planned for 2022, I like it. The potential tourist win at DL is there, and I'm all for making SoCal AP's pay more or wait in longer lines (as an ex-AP who now lives out of state, I can dislike them now). And for a one-and-done trip to WDW, I'm already only paying less than $70 a day a ticket. $15 more isn't gonna make me cancel my trip. So bring on Genie+!!

One final thing. No deluxe resort perks for G+? That's a mistake. A family of 4 gets MORE at a Disney Park now with Genie+ by saving money on that hotel stay and putting that money towards G+ and LL$. That's crazy and surely something Disney will look at. But since I'm not staying at a Deluxe, again, it's a win for me!

Can't wait to see all the creative ways guests use the new system. But in a way, they'll have to. Genie is gonna be telling all the secrets to the average first time guests right there on the app. Gonna make those "power user" guests kinda angry too I'm guessin.....

 

[DisneyGuy]

Right now I can't say i'm a big fan. I'm having trouble getting excited about this because I can't see how, by paying, that my experience (or anyone's experience) will be better than it was before - I was expecting to pay, but to get something better in return than what we were given for "free". Instead, we need to worry about getting up by 7:00am to make sure we reserve our first fast pass and hope that what we want is available - and then make sure we get to the park/ride on time - at least before you could schedule 3 ahead of time and you knew before you even left home you'd get 3 of your favorite rides guaranteed - now you have to worry about it every night/morning ON vacation. So, we get to the park and use our first paid pass - now the next one isn't available for a few hours - you take it but now you can't schedule anything else until that ride is over so you're stuck in the regular line(s) even though you paid. In the past we had 3, now we have 1 pass. I see this as way more difficult and I feel like we'll be standing in stand-by lines more than we did with Fastpass+

Another thing is the constant being on the phone - I am all about technology but when i'm the park I really don't have my phone in my hand all day but it looks like I will be staring at it more and more now. There is absolutely no way to be spontaneous and we will be on a schedule from the beginning of the day until the end - constantly watching the clock.

I'm wondering, if you pay for 2 headliners and schedule them, and then also have Genie+ - could you essentially have 3 rides scheduled at one time?

 

[Gordo Gato]

Instead, we need to worry about getting up by 7:00am to make sure we reserve our first fast pass and hope that what we want is available - and then make sure we get to the park/ride on time -

Exactly. Get a 9 am FP and now all of a sudden have less then 2 hours to get family ready, on transportation, through gates, and to the ride. That’s a lot to ask of some kids and families.

 

[RamieGee]

I am pleasantly surprised by this. With all the rumors I was expecting it to cost much more.

I think it WILL cost you much more. I think you will need to pay quite a bit more to get on headliners. I think this $15 will only get you on things like Winnie the Pooh, Gran Fiesta Tour, Barnstormer, etc.

 

[Disneylover99]

Will they? I thought max pass wasn't that heavily used in DL

Just speculating. More locals at DL. More international travelers with longer stays at DW. I see DW as a completely different beast.

 

[twincruisers]

I mentioned this in another thread, but basically Genie in-general is focused on two things:

1) Increasing customer satisfaction among 1st-timers. Their biggest complaint was too crowded and stuck in lines too long. Genie will help solve that problem a few ways and charge you $ along the way
2) Decrease the influence of Type A Planners and AP Holders on their most popular rides. By not giving G+ or LL advantages to AP's and making them per-person-per-day costs, it's clear those groups lose out.