Does the new Genie+ pay-per-attraction system alter your views on DVC's value?

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

I was unhappy with the Genie+ announcement, not just because of the additional costs, but especially I feel like this adds uncertainty and anxiety. You don't know you can get the FPs you wanted until 7 am (so have to get up early), and then it might conflict with other plans like ADRs. But you're already a captive audience and paid a lot of money for your DVC points to be at WDW/DL.


DVC is kind of like a commitment to Disney, but with so many perks going away and rapidly increasing costs, I'm questioning the commitment. Does this affect how anyone else feels about DVC? Honestly, my first thought was that maybe it's time to sell our contracts... It feels very sad to write that. Maybe I'll feel differently later on, maybe I just have too much sticker shock or something.

 

[HairyChest]

Not happy at all and Im one that doesn’t really go to Disney mainly for the rides. But to know that I can’t even sprinkle in a few of my favorite rides throughout the trip with little to no wait without paying additional fees is very upsetting. Especially when I think about magical express also being cut all of which my family always took advantage of. It’s also made me re-evaluate my magic key purchase for Disneyland as I am only thirty minutes from that park. This decision is going to have negative consequences for Disney and it’s attendance on a lot of different levels.

 

[zavandor]

The value of DVC is in staying onsite in a Deluxe resort for frequent visits. While the former has not changed (Deluxe pricing is at all time high), I might reconsider how often I go to WDW, to the point that it might not be worth owning anymore if I don't want to go annually or at least every other year.
Let's see how it pans out, there are still a lot of unknowns on the new system, most importantly about adoption rates and how impactfult would be not paying for the upgrade.

 

[Sunnyore]

Its definitely making me pause a bit. I was preparing myself to add on DVC points and to buy Magic Key next week but now I don't know if either will be worth it. I LOVED maxpass before and used it extensively, but that's only because it was part of my AP plan. Perhaps it might work a little differently with Genie+, but if I were to arrive later in the day, sometimes some of the rides would have maxed out their max pass allotment for the day. Since I wasn't paying daily, it wasn't a big deal. But I would be definitely be frustrated to pay $15 or $20 and have something similar happen. And I know I don't have to pay each time, but say if I go to Dland weekly and pay, it's over $1k of extra fee per person! So now that pricey $1399 Dream key feels devalued especially since Signature plus included the maxpass and PhotoPass. And I'm using DVC at WDW with the goal of going to the parks. If my experience is going to be longer wait time because I don't want to pay for Genie+, then I might not really want to go to WDW as often anymore. And if I'm not going to the parks, there's really no need to stay at deluxe hotel on site. There are plenty of other quality timeshares and vacation rentals to spend my money on. I'm wondering if I should wait on everything now and see how things play out. I would be okay if Disney just allows an add on option at least to the APs at both WDW and DLR, but it sounds like that's not going to happen.

 

[Sparky984]

Yes and no.

Yes- between paid FP and the termination of DME, the cost of a 2022 vacation will cost an extra $500-600 with no added benefit. At some point the money is better spent on alternate vacation destinations at least sometimes. That means not renewing gold passes annually. Gold passes played a large role in the math, and yes, I know, don’t tell me they always had to be available.

No- At least I get to stay somewhere nice. I’d never spring for Poly, GF, or Riviera without staying on points!

 

[Sandisw]

It doesn’t change things for us. DVC has made a world of difference in how we do the parks so didn’t even always use all 3 of them every day since we are not morning to night park goers any longer.

What I think this will do is have people give pause on whether or not going to Disney yearly is still a thing given the changes they are making.

In that respect, some may opt out of DVC but not because of what DVC is..savings on rooms.

We are go with the flow kind of people and adjust so if there are certain expenses we now have to budget for, it means other things will go.

I think the biggest losers so far are the AP holders if there is no one price for the year to go along with it..and rumors are there won’t be.

Makes me wonder if we won’t see a price increase for it since people will have to pay extra for Genie+.

 

[Matty B13]

I would want to make a least 2 trips with the new Genie+ system before I start selling contracts, but a WDW vacation might become an every other year vacation for my family instead of every year vacation. We get up early and live in an eastern standard time zone, so the 7am sign in time isn't a huge deal for us, but I'd rather be getting breakfast at that time and getting ready for the parks that sitting on my phone trying to get 1 LL pass. Do we know yet, if you can setup your Genie+ schedule for all your days ahead of time yet?

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

I would want to make a least 2 trips with the new Genie+ system before I start selling contracts, but a WDW vacation might become an every other year vacation for my family instead of every year vacation. We get up early and live in an eastern standard time zone, so the 7am sign in time isn't a huge deal for us, but I'd rather be getting breakfast at that time and getting ready for the parks that sitting on my phone trying to get 1 LL pass. Do we know yet, if you can setup your Genie+ schedule for all your days ahead of time yet?

You can't set it up ahead of time. Only the day of, 7 am if onsite or once you enter the park if off site. This is what I was complaining about, I'm going to have to get up at 7 am while on vacation just to try to get 1 fast pass, and then who knows if I can get what I want or if it will conflict with anything else scheduled like ADRs.

 

[aokeefe]

I would like to see how the system plays out before making any judgements on it. How long will the standby lines be? How easy/hard will it be to get LL times for my preferred rides? What will the cost be for the top tier rides? Those will be things I will be waiting for.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

It doesn’t change things for us. DVC has made a world of difference in how we do the parks so didn’t even always use all 3 of them every day since we are not morning to night park goers any longer.

What I think this will do is have people give pause on whether or not going to Disney yearly is still a thing given the changes they are making.

In that respect, some may opt out of DVC but not because of what DVC is..savings on rooms.

We are go with the flow kind of people and adjust so if there are certain expenses we now have to budget for, it means other things will go.

I think the biggest losers so far are the AP holders if there is no one price for the year to go along with it..and rumors are there won’t be.

Makes me wonder if we won’t see a price increase for it since people will have to pay extra for Genie+.

I agree, DVC is discounts on rooms and that hasn't changed, but I think many folks only want those rooms (as beautiful as these resorts are) because they're onsite and have relatively easy access to the parks. If you're getting priced out of yearly vacations at the parks, you might not want that DVC room discount anymore. If you're having to do now resort only stays/days, some may think they might as well just stay at a resort with more amenities elsewhere. So this is part of what I mean with DVC value.

And I agree, AP holders are the biggest losers.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

I think part of the overall impetus of Genie+ is to lower crowds by making a Disney vacation more expensive while increasing per capita spending. But that means yearly vacations may be out of reach for some, which makes DVC less worth it also.

But I agree with the above statements about waiting and seeing how it plays out. I just needed to vent a little about what my first impressions are, which are generally negative.

 

[CSLucas]

To me it doesn't change my perception of the value of DVC because I think it is offset by the extra evening hours that Deluxe guests will be getting - Deluxe guests can use those hours to ride headliners with low crowds in certain parks. Adding an extra $15/person per day is still MUCH less than the discount I am getting on the room, so it doesn't bother me at all to do it. I realize that our position as a young family is probably very different from others, but it is still our position. Our kids are too little to ride many of the big thrill rides, and having the option to pay for Genie+ (which I am assuming will include almost all of the rides they would be going on anyways) is a HUGE benefit since it will free up a lot of our time to be able to go back to the resort or go at a more relaxed pace. I'm hoping the evening hours stick around, because as they grow up I could see us really taking advantage of those.
My first impressions of this new system have been completely positive, but then again, I don't mind spending more for a better experience (and I think that Genie will make that possible).

 

[FSUSammy]

I was a bit apprehensive at first when I heard about it yesterday but honestly I loved MaxPass when we went to Disneyland a few years ago. Do I wish Disney would give individuals that stay at their resorts some kind of express pass like Universal does...of course. But they know people will pay so they don't NEED to do that. We are passholders and I can see us only getting this when there are new rides we really want to go on or when we travel with family that doesn't get to do Disney as often as we do. The great thing about DVC and being a Passholder is that we are at the point where we are ok with not going on ALL of the rides on every trip.

 

[TheEpcotForEver]

Yes and no.

Yes- between paid FP and the termination of DME, the cost of a 2022 vacation will cost an extra $500-600 with no added benefit. At some point the money is better spent on alternate vacation destinations at least sometimes. That means not renewing gold passes annually. Gold passes played a large role in the math, and yes, I know, don’t tell me they always had to be available.

No- At least I get to stay somewhere nice. I’d never spring for Poly, GF, or Riviera without staying on points!

That’s my thinking also. 2022 vacations will require spending a few hundred dollars more a trip just to get roughly the same thing as 2019 vacations. I’m not even talking about the expected food and ticket inflation costs. With ME going away paying for a car or transportation is now unavoidable for people coming in by plane. Now we have to decide if we’re going to stand in long lines and listen to the kids complain or pay $60 extra a day to skip lines at “easy to get FP+ rides”, plus whatever surge pricing they use for the headliner rides. It’s naive to think they will keep it at “only 15 a day per person ” once they get customer acclimated to paying for it.

I was very close to adding on soon in order to get bigger rooms more often. This change makes me think it won’t make sense to visit as often. I will see how the details play out, but right now I suspect I might downsize dvc or at least limit my Disney trips compared to what they used to be. It’s not that the money is not there for me, I just don’t see the value as much as I did pre-covid

 

[JGINPL]

I still think I will enjoy my DVC trips. I just might do more Resort only stays. Which for me will be less money going to Disney as my kids won't be wanting all of the stuff they see in the parks

 

[Sparky984]

That’s my think also. 2022 vacations will require spending a few hundred dollars more a trip just to get roughly the same thing as 2019 vacations. I’m not even talking about the expected food and ticket inflation costs. With ME going away paying for a car or transportation is now unavoidable for people coming in by plane. Now we have to decide if we’re going to stand in long lines and listen to the kids complain or pay $60 extra a day to skip lines at “easy to get FP+ rides”, plus whatever surge pricing they use for the headliner rides. It’s naive to think they will keep it at “only 15 a day per person ” once they get customer acclimated to paying for it.

I was very close to adding on soon in order to get bigger rooms more often. This change makes me think it won’t make sense to visit as often. I will see how the details play out, but right now I suspect I might downsize dvc or at least limit my Disney trips compared to what they used to be. It’s not that the money is not there for me, I just don’t see the value as much as I did pre-covid

Thats it right there - value.

Disney was never cheap, but it was worth it. I had a coworker who was working towards a business degree who asked me why I keep going to Disney. I didn’t tell him that Journey into Imagination is a great ride. I told him that traveling with little kids can be much more of a hassle going anywhere else. When we go to Disney, I drop the luggage off at the airport check in counter and it shows up in my room. The bus takes us to the resort so I don’t have to drive on vacation. There’s no need for car seats. This works in reverse too. I drop off the luggage at the airport check in at the hotel and it shows up on the carousel at my home airport. I’ve been enough that if we miss something, we don’t care. We can hang out at the pool. There’s attractions for the kids and adults. There’s food just about everywhere that kids and adults can enjoy.

Some of the above is still true, some is not. There has been an erosion of the value. That part to me is unmistakable. I won’t pay an extra $50 to ride space mountain. If stand by is too long, oh well. If I’m always missing the big attractions, Disney itself will become less attractive of an option. Nobody wants a second rate experience at a first rate price. With or without Genie+, Disney is still really expensive!

 

[dvc lover 1970]

You can't set it up ahead of time. Only the day of, 7 am if onsite or once you enter the park if off site. This is what I was complaining about, I'm going to have to get up at 7 am while on vacation just to try to get 1 fast pass, and then who knows if I can get what I want or if it will conflict with anything else scheduled like ADRs.

This is my complaint. We are a family that stays up late while there. We either play cards or watch a movie but usually do not go to bed until 2 or 3. Magic hours were great for us because we would stay until 3 am when they offered that. Now I have to get up at 7 after going to bed at 2...not my idea of a vacation. I tried on our last trip to get ROTR at both 7 and 1. Set my alarm for 7 but did not get a boarding group. Was really frustrated because I was functioning on 3 hours of sleep. Was able to get a boarding group at 1.
If they offer magic hours at night for onsight guests I would be happy and not bother with the genie pass.
If they do not offer something for dvc guests I think dvc direct becomes a tougher direct sale in my opinion.

 

[The Jackal]

I am not happy with it one bit. On the other hand we buy annual passes and use them for 3, week long trips. So when we go to WDW all we pay for is food ( we eat breakfast in the room) and some merchandise. We drive down and there is 4 of us that go. We are now looking at an extra $240-300 per trip. Probably just buy a little less merchandise.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

To me it doesn't change my perception of the value of DVC because I think it is offset by the extra evening hours that Deluxe guests will be getting - Deluxe guests can use those hours to ride headliners with low crowds in certain parks.

This was my first thought when trying to justify the changes in my head. I do think the evening hours are a huge perk. But it seems like those are only happening at MK and Epcot and on weekdays. Most of a week-long trip and half the parks are not included. So I don't see this as really offsetting the new added costs.

 

[TheEpcotForEver]

Thats it right there - value.

Disney was never cheap, but it was worth it. I had a coworker who was working towards a business degree who asked me why I keep going to Disney. I didn’t tell him that Journey into Imagination is a great ride. I told him that traveling with little kids can be much more of a hassle going anywhere else. When we go to Disney, I drop the luggage off at the airport check in counter and it shows up in my room. The bus takes us to the resort so I don’t have to drive on vacation. There’s no need for car seats. This works in reverse too. I drop off the luggage at the airport check in at the hotel and it shows up on the carousel at my home airport. I’ve been enough that if we miss something, we don’t care. We can hang out at the pool. There’s attractions for the kids and adults. There’s food just about everywhere that kids and adults can enjoy.

Some of the above is still true, some is not. There has been an erosion of the value. That part to me is unmistakable. I won’t pay an extra $50 to ride space mountain. If stand by is too long, oh well. If I’m always missing the big attractions, Disney itself will become less attractive of an option. Nobody wants a second rate experience at a first rate price. With or without Genie+, Disney is still really expensive!

Exactly! Disney was our “easy” trip with our young kids. I use to tell people how once we dropped our bags off at the airport we didn’t need to worry about them. Car seats are a huge deal, so not needing them at Disney was a game changer. Luggage handling for both arriving and departing is long gone. We have been to Paris, Japan, and cruises with our currently 8 and 5 year olds and only had to stop because of covid so we are not people afraid to splurge on vacations. Disney was our trip where we could get things booked then not have to worry. Now our kids can get away with booster seats when traveling, luggage handling is gone, all those other things that added value to a Disney trip have been phased out or are now pay to play. It’s to a point where it’s no more of a challenge to travel internationally and frequently is cheaper. Hell, a very nice in the heart of Paris runs about the same as a Disney deluxe hotel if you’re not using DVC!