Disney Genie+ and ILL$ Details & FAQ - Launches 10/19 at WDW, Paid "FastPass" at WDW and Disneyland (date TBD)

[GrtDisGuy]

Instead, you’ll be getting up at the crack of dawn every day of your vacation.

I will miss most getting back-to-back FPs to Space mountain with the kids. Now, it will be a pay for lightning lane based on the video. Doubtful that we will pay more than once per trip.

Lol - yeah - maybe won’t use it everyday of the trip.

 

[mshanson3121]

Or you could…you know…stand in the standby line for free. No one is forcing you to pay for any of this. It’s possible to have an enjoyable vacation while waiting in a line.

Personally I like that they limit the # of top tier attractions you can get, and the fact that it is only done day-of and not 60 days out. Lots more flexibility for people who hate being forced to pre-plan every minute of what is supposed to be a relaxing and fun vacation.

I don't know anyone that finds standing in line for 60-90 minutes in the Florida summer enjoyable.

 

[Disney loving Iowan]

This kind of went over my head but does Genie+ include photopass for WDW? I saw it saw something about enhancements but I'm not sure if that meant that was included on top of photopass or you had to pay for photopass. I will also be interested to see how we will be able to add Genie+ onto tickets we already purchased.

 

[soniam]

This kind of went over my head but does Genie+ include photopass? I saw it saw something about enhancements but I'm not sure if that meant that was included on top of photopass or you had to pay for photopass. I will also be interested to see how we will be able to add Genie+ onto tickets we already purchased.

Not at Disney World. Disneyland's Maxpass, similar to Genie+, included photopass, so they will still get it included. At WDW, it only includes special lenses, maybe magic shots too.

At Disneyland, you could purchase Maxpass with your tickets, for everyday of your tickerts, or you could purchase it each day on the app.

 

[butterscotchcollins]

I don't know anyone that finds standing in line for 60-90 minutes in the Florida summer enjoyable.

So everyone who visited this summer had an absolutely miserable time? Not what I heard but OK.

The people complaining about this as if they’re being forced to spend extra $$$$ against their will and have absolutely no alternative sound very overdramatic. Does it suck to not get these perks for free anymore? To a point, yes. Lots of people disliked FP+ and I miss the late park hours, but the very core of the experience that this speaks to, i.e. attractions, is still intact for no more than the price of admission.

 

[tinkerhon]

Or you could…you know…stand in the standby line for free. No one is forcing you to pay for any of this. It’s possible to have an enjoyable vacation while waiting in a line.

Personally I like that they limit the # of top tier attractions you can get, and the fact that it is only done day-of and not 60 days out. Lots more flexibility for people who hate being forced to pre-plan every minute of what is supposed to be a relaxing and fun vacation.

You should have been there in July with us .. not much fun waiting on those lines--- we did it for a few (FoP comes to mind), but the waits (especially at MK) were insane.

 

[tinkerhon]

This is exactly how I feel. I got up early one morning before our trip to book FP+ for the week and was able to guarantee all the rides I wanted. I don’t think it was the crack of dawn-maybe a little before 7. I also didn’t even have to book them all at 7am back then. I picked the most popular and filled in the rest later. Now I will have to get up at 7am every.single.morning of my vacation to schedule my first ride, pay for two top tier rides and hope that all the other good “free“ or whatever is included in the $15 a day Tier 2 rides do not sell out by 10:30am like Toy Story Midway Mania did when there was still paper FP.
This does nothing to alleviate the crazy crowds at rope drop I witnessed this July and will just drive more people in earlier trying to grab their first pass.

I have also seen very few positive comments on social media-mostly negative.

This X 1000 !!!! The same-day booking seems like a bigger negative than the pricing !!!

 

[5DisneyNuts]

Or you could…you know…stand in the standby line for free. No one is forcing you to pay for any of this. It’s possible to have an enjoyable vacation while waiting in a line.

Personally I like that they limit the # of top tier attractions you can get, and the fact that it is only done day-of and not 60 days out. Lots more flexibility for people who hate being forced to pre-plan every minute of what is supposed to be a relaxing and fun vacation.

True. But when you are locked in to going during busy times it was nice to have pre-planned FP+ so you didn't have to wait 2-3 hours per ride in some cases. I don't find that the least bit enjoyable, but YMMV.

I'm going to find it stressful to make plans every morning at 7am. That to me is not relaxing at all.

Just a different point of view.

 

[malba2366]

I am looking forward for to this new system. The Additional money spent will be well worth it considering the percentage of cost it adds to Disney trip with tickets, lodging, food etc is quite small.

 

[GrtDisGuy]

I am looking forward for to this new system. The Additional money spent will be well worth it considering the percentage of cost it adds to Disney trip with tickets, lodging, food etc is quite small.

I was thinking the same, but someone priced out $1,000 extra for their family! Yikes. I’m thinking when it’s the family, no genie + and lightening lanes; when it’s my wife and I, genie+ and lightening lane (lol),

 

[Liquidice]

I read somewhere (sorry read a ton of things tonight on Genie+) that Genie+ and the Tier-1 paid Lightning Lanes are 2 completely separate offerings, so you do not need to pay the $15 per day if you just want to buy a Lightning Lane Pass for a Tier 1 attraction. I think I may have read that on allears dot net.

It was actually on Carlye Wisel's instagram post:

CARLYE disney + theme parks (@carlyewisel) • Instagram photos and videos

ADDITIONAL INFO:
-Starts this fall, no dates yet.
-“A la carte” pricing will vary
-Genie+ can be purchased in advance
-NO Genie+ “add on” to annual passes.
-You do NOT need Genie+ to buy a la carte, they’re separate.

 

[RamblingMad]

What I don't think people get is that there is no longer free fast passes, which means everybody who doesn't buy a lightning pass will be in the standby line.

 

[annadreamsofdisneyworld]

$15 doesn't sound so bad until you do the math. We have 4 people and like to go for a week (we were actually planning on 2 weeks, but now that's never going to happen). So 7 days of genie+ for our family will be $420. If we want to do the E ticket rides (because of course we will) we will have to shell out more money. I saw a rumor that these could be priced at $8-$20. So if they're $20 each, that's an extra $1120 for the week. Add it all together, and that's $1540 for something that used to be free!!! We're a family that's on a budget, so to make up some of the difference we will have to downgrade our hotel to All Stars and eat mostly quick service food. Maybe we can do a few of the cheaper table service meals, but that will be it. This sucks.

 

[soniam]

What I don't think people get is that there is no longer free fast passes, which means everybody who doesn't buy a lightning pass will be in the standby line.

I think people get that. I don't think everyone is as upset about it. Some definitely are and some aren't.

 

[Liquidice]

I guess it comes down to your experience with FP+ - my experience was always positive, the last trip I went where FP+ was available was January 2020 and I was able to get every Fastpass I wanted, including Tier 1 attractions. We did each park for 2 days some parks we went 3 times - so the rides got split over the week. We still did some rides early in the morning at rope drop and occasionally got additional fastpasses through the app, but never a Tier 1 attraction - but we were really happy with the result.

Now, even if I pay for Genie+ I know I won't get on any Tier 1 attractions without waiting in a standby line. I'd actually be OK if Genie+ was $15 or $20 per person per day and included all of the Tier 1 attractions like MaxPass - but having to pay for Tier 2 attractions and then pay per ride if I want to use the Lightning Lane for Tier 1 attractions just sounds expensive and I wouldn't be happy with the result. But hey, I also hate apps that do micro-transactions - this seems more geared towards those that like that. The difference though is an app with micro-transactions is usually free and then they try to entice you to pay while Disney World costs hundreds of dollars to get in and now they'll try to get you to pay again. Just feels like a cash grab all the while they're taking away more and more perks.

 

[tinkerhon]

I read somewhere (sorry read a ton of things tonight on Genie+) that Genie+ and the Tier-1 paid Lightning Lanes are 2 completely separate offerings, so you do not need to pay the $15 per day if you just want to buy a Lightning Lane Pass for a Tier 1 attraction. I think I may have read that on allears dot net.

It was actually on Carlye Wisel's instagram post:

CARLYE disney + theme parks (@carlyewisel) • Instagram photos and videos

Ok--- so you DONT have to purchase that day ? Any mention of how far in advance? Or is it just that you can purchase Genie + i advance, but still have to book the rides each day at 7AM? TIA !

 

[Tornat]

would of paid $30 a day for the old system , being able book 60 days out and able to plan my own trip . This is Disney hey pay us and will tell you what you can do. You can easily wake up , pay the $15 per person and not get remotely what you wanted to do , how the heck do you do ADR for lunch? this system is a BUST.

 

[Liquidice]

Ok--- so you DONT have to purchase that day ? Any mention of how far in advance? Or is it just that you can purchase Genie + i advance, but still have to book the rides each day at 7AM? TIA !

You do not have to purchase Genie+ that day to use the Lightning Lane for Tier 1 attractions like 7 Dwarfs. You cannot book the Lightning Lane Tier 1 passes ahead of time, the earliest is 7am that day if you're staying on site.

 

[mercuryvenus]

would of paid $30 a day for the old system , being able book 60 days out and able to plan my own trip . This is Disney hey pay us and will tell you what you can do. You can easily wake up , pay the $15 per person and not get remotely what you wanted to do , how the heck do you do ADR for lunch? this system is a BUST.

The ADR system hasn’t changed. What’s changed with dining is that you can actually see wait times if you want to try to eat somewhere without a reservation, which is great.

 

[New Mouse]

Anyone saying this isnt bad needs to take the blinders off.

The fact that $15 a day doesnt include tier 1 attractions is laughable to a level that cant even be portrayed on a message board.

Forget the fact that Disney isnt even capable of pulling this off technology wise.