Disney Genie announcement

[eleven24]

Waiting in lines during Covid hasn't been terrible at all (admittedly we didn't go during the summer), so maybe if we continue to visit at less crowded times, then waiting in standby lines won't be terrible.

I will surprisingly agree that waiting in the lines wasn't too bad. Remember though, the lines were just one line constantly moving. Adding in the LL line means pausing the standby line to let LL people in. That makes the standby line move much slower.

 

[Minnie_49]

wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com if folks didn't see it. And I did email.

Email sent!

 

[eleven24]

I hate this. We take our three kids to WDW annually. I like having a plan for what we are going to do for the day. I don't need a computer to figure out what I should do, nor do I want it to, and I certainly don't want to be staring at my phone when the park opens, trying to figure out where we're going or what Lightening Pass we're going to select. And who's going to have to do that for our family? Me! Thanks, Disney. If we choose to keep going to Disney, in addition to the skyrocketing ticket and resort prices, we have to pay for transportation to and from the airport, plus $85/day for Genie +, and perhaps even more if we want to ride the most popular rides without a long wait. With Fastpass+ I had to plan, but I was the master of my day, not Genie, and it was free.

The irony is, with kids aged 11 & 19 Disney is the one time they're ok not constantly being on their phones.

 

[bethbuchall]

I got the email and our trip isn't until November 8th. If this drops the same week as the 50th the Guest Relations CMs are going to be begging to be put down.

I didn’t get the email, and we check in November 5th. I also never received the email about advance purchase of Very Merriest tickets.

 

[CookieGVB]

Lightning Lane. “Honey, we have a lightning pass; get in the lightning lane!”

Not easy or catchy like FastPass

But wait until they install all the cute Lightning McQueen signage to indicate the lines that were already there!

 

[squirk]

Is it just me, or did Disney essentially just raise ticket prices by anywhere from 12-25% without actually raising ticket prices?

To get kind of the same FP experience you used to get included in your ticket price, you now have to pay $15/day extra for Genie+.

Depending on the length of your MYW ticket, an extra $15/day is a pretty hefty up-charge on a per-day basis.

 

[Narcoossee11]

wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com if folks didn't see it. And I did email.

You can certainly voice your concern. BUTTTTTT
GENIE has been in the works for over 10years and cost the company BILLIONS of dollars. This is the direction the company WANTS and PLANS to go. This ship has sailed a long time ago.
Disney started with MDE , now GENIE And has future programs.

 

[Opie100]

While, as of now, I'm not a fan of the Genie, I don't think slots will run out as fast as people are speculating.

With FP+, times were made 60/90 days in advance and everyone got 3 to start with. Here everyone has the opportunity to get 1 (a la carte aside) at a time, but not everyone will buy it. If you use it as intended, grabbing the closest time available in the park you're at, you should be able to grab quite a few in a given day.

Keep in mind that, even back when you had three FPs to start with, you could only choose one of the top-tier attractions. So while I would expect attractions like Philharmagic to continue to have availability all day long, I highly doubt Mine Train will be available in the afternoon. So yes, you should be able to do Tiki Room and Small World frequently but Tier one or top tier 2 attractions (e.g. Mine Train, Test Track) you don't choose early in the AM you may not get without buying an Individual LP at whatever they are charging.

On net, even if you get to experience approximately the same attractions as before (best case), it will cost more (~35%) and move the effort of doing so out of the preparation period and into your actual vacation time.

 

[chalee94]

Is it just me, or did Disney essentially just raise ticket prices by anywhere from 12-25% without actually raising ticket prices?

To get kind of the same FP experience you used to get included in your ticket price, you now have to pay $15/day extra for Genie+.

Depending on the length of your MYW ticket, an extra $15/day is a pretty hefty up-charge on a per-day basis.

$15 is just the start. For 2 Tier 1 rides, it could be an extra $40-50 per person per day.

Or if you are content to give up "FastPass" then you still have the same ticket prices but longer waits.

 

[Isabelle12345]

Keep in mind that, back when you had three FPs to start with, you could only choose one of the top-tier attractions. So while I expect attractions like Philharmagic to continue to have availability all day long, I highly doubt Mine Train will be available in the afternoon. So yes, you should be able to do Tiki Room and Small World frequently but the Tier one (e.g. Mine Train) you don't choose early in the AM you may not get without buying the Individual LP. Start saving now.

As a mother of two young kids who don't do big rides, this is actually a bonus for me. If it makes us skip 15-20 min lines for Dumbo, Small world, Mermaid etc, it will make the experience so much more enjoyable for the kids! (We used to get FP+ for that kind of attractions, and then when all 3 were used we would get on the App and grab anything that was available soon, and we would go where the FP+ lead us. We loved doing that with the previous FP system and I was afraid we wouldn't be able to do that anymore, but I think Genie+ should allow us to do just that! Guess we'll have to see how it goes when it comes out!)

And yes, I know my kids will eventually grow up and I will have to decide whether or not I will pay the upcharge for the e-ticket rides... but who knows what Genie and Disney will look like then!

So I guess everyone sees it differently depending on their own personal situation... for me, sure, I wish it were still free, but it could have been way worse!

 

[Opie100]

As a mother of two young kids who don't do big rides, this is actually a bonus for me. If it makes us skip 15-20 min lines for Dumbo, Small world, Mermaid etc, it will make the experience so much more enjoyable for the kids! (We used to get FP+ for that kind of attractions, and then when all 3 were used we would get on the App and grab anything that was available soon, and we would go where the FP+ lead us. We loved doing that with the previous FP system and I was afraid we wouldn't be able to do that anymore, but I think Genie+ should allow us to do just that! Guess we'll have to see how it goes when it comes out!)

And yes, I know my kids will eventually grow up and I will have to decide whether or not I will pay the upcharge for the e-ticket rides... but who knows what Genie and Disney will look like then!

So I guess everyone sees it differently depending on their own personal situation... for me, sure, I wish it were still free, but it could have been way worse!

We don't know how long the LP queues will be, but for those that do not care about Tier 2 or Tier 1 attractions I would not anticipate a big change, unless Genie+ is a flop, creating more demand for the "free" attractions. I think most guests are looking to do Tier 1 or 2 attractions (Mine Train isn't considered a big ride, for example - same for Frozen at Epcot -- both of these are at least Tier 2).

 

[squirk]

$15 is just the start. For 2 Tier 1 rides, it could be an extra $40-50 per person per day.

Or if you are content to give up "FastPass" then you still have the same ticket prices but longer waits.

Right, but I didn’t even want to get started on “Lightning Lane.” That idea turns me off far more than Genie+.

My point was that if you want roughly the same experience that you had before, Genie+ is essentially a backdoor ticket upcharge.

 

[mousestruck]

My biggest concern is availability. Let’s say I pay for Genie+ and the attraction we want to experience most at MK is Thunder Mountain. I log in at 7:00 am but the first time available isn’t until 2:00. If I grab that slot, I can’t make another reservation until after 2:00, wasting all morning in longer lines and probably losing out on other attractions we’d like to experience because nothing will be available by late afternoon. The other option is to book a different attraction and hope I can get Thunder Mountain later, which will probably become increasingly difficult as the day goes on and fewer time slots are available. Am I missing something?

 

[chalee94]

Right, but I didn’t even want to get started on “Lightning Lane.” That idea turns me off far more than Genie+.

My point was that if you want roughly the same experience that you had before, Genie+ is essentially a backdoor ticket upcharge.

Yes. My point was that the "same experience you had before" included a Tier 1 FP, so you were lowballing the ticket upcharge...

 

[soniam]

Where are the optimists? I haven’t seen them!

I wouldn't say I am optimistic, but I'm not pessimistic. I enjoyed Maxpass at Disneyland and felt it was worth the price. It would be worth it at $20. However, I didn't have problems with FP+ at WDW. I also don't have a problem waking up early, since we always do rope drop. I don't see doing the individual pay/ride every day, but we might do it on some rides. It depends upon the price. It's just new rules. They don't seem any more onerous than the previous rules right now, so I will follow them.

 

[squirk]

Yes. My point was that the "same experience you had before" included a Tier 1 FP, so you were lowballing the ticket upcharge...

You’re right. I was. But still! I stand by my hypothesis.

 

[chalee94]

It'll be interesting to see if all the recent "pay-to-play" changes (resort parking fees/magic bands/DME/Genie+) actually change demand for WDW or if it'll be the same ole **GRUMBLE GRUMBLE GRUMBLE** ok, i'll pay it... like normal...

 

[bsmcneil]

You can certainly voice your concern. BUTTTTTT
GENIE has been in the works for over 10years and cost the company BILLIONS of dollars. This is the direction the company WANTS and PLANS to go. This ship has sailed a long time ago.
Disney started with MDE , now GENIE And has future programs.

Oh definitely - I have no sense that sending feedback is going to stop this, or even alter it. But giving them my feedback felt more useful than simply putting it here (why not both?!). I'm a big believer in always doing surveys, responding re: feedback etc as I know from experience that there are places that keep relative track of things like that.

Part of my email just said - I get it, etc. And I feel bad for people like my family (of origin). I took my mom (dad died when I was 6) and grandparents to WDW a decade or so ago. Great people, salt of the earth. Only grandpa is still alive - but even if they were, they would not have had a smartphone if I wanted to take them (for instance to my Jan trip to experience it with my kids). They were lucky that in 2008 or whenever I took them, I could figure out all of the arrangements. They'd absolutely be SOL for an experience like this, and it really bothers me. I don't mind upsells and private events - but to make things so difficult (perhaps to the point of inaccessible) for people ... it's just disappointing. So many people say, "Well, everyone else charged so of course they would eventually" and I liked supporting a company that I felt cared about people. Even if there are positives to be gained from any of this - I just don't see a company that seems to care about its guests.

 

[monstermash23]

My biggest concern is availability. Let’s say I pay for Genie+ and the attraction we want to experience most at MK is Thunder Mountain. I log in at 7:00 am but the first time available isn’t until 2:00. If I grab that slot, I can’t make another reservation until after 2:00, wasting all morning in longer lines and probably losing out on other attractions we’d like to experience because nothing will be available by late afternoon. The other option is to book a different attraction and hope I can get Thunder Mountain later, which will probably become increasingly difficult as the day goes on and fewer time slots are available. Am I missing something?

I was wondering the same thing. I think you are right though.

We only used Maxpass at DL for a few days a dew years back (our first and only time there). But this is how it worked for Maxpass too right, if I remember correctly?

 

[bsmcneil]

It'll be interesting to see if all the recent "pay-to-play" changes (resort parking fees/magic bands/DME/Genie+) actually change demand for WDW or if it'll be the same ole **GRUMBLE GRUMBLE GRUMBLE** ok, i'll pay it... like normal...

For me, and I expressed this in the message I sent, I've typically gone every 2 years in my life (though I haven't been in 5 because I had super young ones and they're only now getting to the stage where it might make sense to take them). I have rented DVC points for a trip in Jan. Once that's done, I won't budget for the usual trips - someone else can have my spot. We'll do the usual vacations (beach, road trip, national parks) and I'll check back in a few years later. After the Jan trip, I'll close down the Disney Visa and stuff like that. For me, it'll be a slow fade and I don't feel the need to whine to them that they won't see me again. But I also won't be the person that is eager to take people, encourage people (I'm the guy - like many of you - identified as "the person to ask about Disney" whenever friends take that first trip), etc.