Disney Genie and Genie+ at Walt Disney World

[Jeff4272]

It doesn't need to be NECESSARILY true, it just needs to be generally, directionally true.

OK, not generally or directionally true either

 

[MisterPenguin]

I am that guy that will wave at those in standby.

I am the one hiding under your bed
Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red

In the Lightning Lane, I am that guy
that will wave at those in the standby.

I am the shadow on the moon at night
Filling your dreams to the brim with fright

 

[Jeff4272]

The latest Epcott has been open recently is 11PM. Even that is only 2 hours past your 9PM discussion point, not 3 or 4. Animal Kingdom has generally been closing at 6, sometimes 8, but never reaches even the 9PM mark you are talking about, so your not getting any additional 3-4 hours there. MK and HS are generally closing anywhere between 8-10. Again no where near the 1AM you would need to get to the additional 3-4 hours "night time" past 9PM.

Um yeah then we go to the bar while the kids swim in the pool

 

[KBLovedDisney]

I am the one hiding under your bed
Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red

In the Lightning Lane, I am that guy
that will wave at those in standby.

I am the shadow on the moon at night
Filling your dreams to the brim with fright

This is Genie Plus
This is Genie Plus

Pay more to go to your favorite place

This is Genie Plus
Everybody make a fuss

Bob takes all your money with elated grace

 

[Casper Gutman]

I don't really care about other peoples approaches to the park. Nor do I find one approach to vacationing at WDW morally superior to anything. I am going to hang out with Mickey, not build homes in Appalachia or save the manatees.

I can enjoy the park being a rope drop warrior. You don't want to do that, fine. Don't do it, that's your choice. BUT I will make my choice, and the fact that I might get a perceived benefit (certainly perceived to me, otherwise why am I doing it) that you don't get by being lazy and sleeping in doesn't mean the system is flawed, or wrong or "more demanding" Evolve with the times, or get left behind. WDW today is not what it was when it opened in the 70's. Disney isn't dictating anyone's schedule (other than having a park open and close time). You do that on your own. The fact that your preferred style or rhythm might not work out the best in WDW today is on you. Change your style, deal with the effects of your choice, or STFU and go someplace else.

As to increasing attendance, I never made any mention on that as an effect of rigid or demanding, I said it meant they are catering to their demographic as it shows an increase in that demographic. You say rigid and demanding, I say more efficient and enjoyable. What is or isn't rigid/demanding/fun is a subjective standard. Popularity isn't. Success and popularity over the broad spectrum of potential customers being shown by an ever increasing number of people wanting the product that Disney is selling isn't subjective its an objective measurable fact. Your thoughts on what is "Quality" is a simple opinion, and you probably know the comparisons to opinions and something that everyone has and they all stink. I could care less what your thought of Venom 2, or any other movie. The point of a movie is to get people to see it, and if society says that is the movie everyone wants to go see, that objectively makes it the best film.

Yeah… you pretty clearly feel yourself morally superior based on how you vacation, which doesn’t seem healthy at all. You accuse others of being “lazy,” order them to “evolve with the times or get left behind,” that the fact that Disney doesn’t accommodate my style is “on[me],” and tell me to “STFU or go someplace else.” Sort of feels like you think you’ve “won” Disney. Odd.

You also contradict yourself, of course. You say that folks who vacation wrong are being left behind by WDW but then state the park isn’t dictating how folks vacation.

And a lot of social, economic, and cultural factors are contributing to WDWs increased attendance. To say it is attributable in any significant degree to the network of planning systems it forces on guests is… questionable.

I won’t STFU, by the way. And I do often go someplace else, but I go to Disney World too. Just to clarify.

 

[Jeff4272]

Our vacation always consists of a pool/resort day in the middle of the week. Spend the day st the pool and have drinks, maybe go to dinner st a mother resort/Disney Springs at night. It will never change.

We also always slept in until about 9ish. Now that will have to change, at least a few times.

We usually do the pool every day...Our typical vacation is 2 days in park, day off, 2 days in park, Water park day, 2 days in park........

we would sleep in, head to pool when we got up, eat a late lunch in the room and then hit the parks around 3-4pm until closing, having dinner in each park

 

[Casper Gutman]

We usually do the pool every day...Our typical vacation is 2 days in park, day off, 2 days in park, Water park day, 2 days in park........

we would sleep in, head to pool when we got up, eat a late lunch in the room and then hit the parks around 3-4pm until closing, having dinner in each park

Well, you’re lazy wastrel. And you don’t DESERVE to reap the glorious fruits of a Disney World vacation with that work-shy attitude. Did you even type up a detailed, bullet-pointed plan six months in advance? I bet you didn’t. And I bet you were asleep at 5 am every day of your trip. You shame yourself before the Disney judges. Figment turns his back on you.

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

Um yeah then we go to the bar while the kids swim in the pool

Which is fun and all. And typically what we are doing at night after park close too. But that is not getting you a "benefit" of 3-4 late nights at the parks vs the morning hours.

 

[Jeff4272]

Which is fun and all. And typically what we are doing at night after park close too. But that is not getting you a "benefit" of 3-4 late nights at the parks vs the morning hours.

It does...I have a special pass that lets me stay in any bar at any park until 2am if i want.........

i could tell you where i got it but then id have to kill you so i wont tell you

 

[Epcot82Guy]

I'm starting to understand why AdventHealth picked up the Disney guest health sponsorship. I think the number of emergency anxiety appointments to get a Xanax scrip are going to skyrocket!

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

You really are contradicting yourself. On the one hand, you admit "there is no right/wrong way to vacation" but then on the other say "if you refuse to change how you vacation given the present state of WDW, then don't expect different results. Deal with how your vacationing style is working out for you", implying the other poster is vacationing wrong.

For what it's worth, I've done both but found a more leisurely touring plan was more to my liking on my last trip over the 50th anniversary.

Not a contradiction at all. Right/wrong again are simply subjective opinions. I am not saying anyone should change how they vacation. I a saying that if someone else doesn't like how their vacation style is working, AND they refuse to change then they shouldn't expect different results. Nor should they say I should change how I vacation, so that they can enjoy how they want to vacation more. So, if your not going to change how you vacation, then you have to deal with the results of not changing.

 

[Patcheslee]

I'm starting to understand why AdventHealth picked up the Disney guest health sponsorship. I think the number of emergency anxiety appointments to get a Xanax scrip are going to skyrocket!

I find chocolate to be a great alternative

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

Realistically it isn't a 7am wake up, for a lot of people it is going to need to be before then to get the phone off the charger, get the app in place, talk to the family about what they want to do - so it will be more like a 6:45am.

Coffee before cell phones.

 

[UNCgolf]

When I'm at WDW sweating in the 98 degree weather, feet hurting, and then I crash at 10pm, I often think about how some people are able to use their resort pool in the middle of the day and then come back after. Actually taking in the forest for the trees. I've yet to do it, but it always sounds like a nice way to experience the parks.

I've never done a mid-day break to go sit at the pool -- I've never had interest in sitting at a pool anywhere; I find it boring rather than relaxing. But I've also never been a rope dropper, and my last couple of trips have been in January/February where the temperature was in the mid-high 70s.

I'm also not rushing through the parks to get from attraction to attraction. I'll usually spend at least a couple of hours at AK just wandering around the Tree of Life animal trails and the other two, e.g., and we've definitely left to go eat lunch at Disney Springs since the food options there are so much better than what you can get in the parks.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

That would be fine as long as contacting guest relations by email at the end of the vacation would be okay. If it involved standing in line to get a refund for money you paid Disney so you didn’t have to stand in line, that wouldn’t be okay.

In the early days of FP+, getting a 4th FP = standing in a line at the kiosk, and the line was often LONG.

That never made sense to me. Waiting 30 minutes in line to maybe get a FP, probably for something like a 7pm Dumbo FP, that maybe you'll feel like redeeming at 7pm, and BETTING that the 7pm standby line for Dumbo will actually be over 30minutes long.

At a time of day when the current posted Dumbo standby was only 25minutes.

But people often act emotionally, instead of rationally.

 

[hopemax]

My guess is that this is part of a push by Disney to get everyone to go to the parks early. 7 AM for this (and boarding groups) as well as the 30 minutes early at every park.

I much preferred when the parks were open until 11-12 at night (and not via an extra ticketed event). But I think Disney is trying to get guests to show up right at park opening and then be happy to leave at 8 or 9 to make operations easier for them, as well as reserving all the later hours for the deluxe resort perks and extra revenue events.

I don't think Disney wants anymore people showing up right at opening. I think Disney would rather have 2 groups of arrivals. The group that rope drops, but heads out to get dinner somewhere else. A 2nd group that shows up later, but then stays in park for dinner and closing. The less literal version of "selling the park twice."

The biggest thing preventing more people from doing this is that guests know if they arrive late, there will be too many lines to guarantee that they can get everything done that they want. Everything Disney has done recently is to try to figure out how to change this dynamic. More nighttime entertainment, FP+, After Hours, and now LL. FP+ gave people the option to arrive early or late depending on how they arranged their FP+. I hate the system, but we did use it to avoid rope drop as my Dad and I got older. But, I suspect people who want to be more casual about their arrival times also want to be casual about other things... like booking windows. They weren't scheduling FP+ that far in advance, and certainly weren't waking up in the middle of the night to book their 60+ FP+ and thus a set of specific rides were unavailable which forced people back into arriving earlier to give themselves enough time to get everything done that they wanted. Instead the commando group of "why not both?" prided themselves on their ride stacking capabilities and took midday naps and pool time and declared it the best thing ever, which for them, it probably was, but it didn't "sell the park twice."

With LL, Disney hopes that potential late arrivals can wake up at 9 or whenever, casually schedule their first attraction from their room / home, maintain LL availability within a 2 hr return when they actually arrive, and sustain this into evening hours. And they can use price and LL/standby ratio as dials to achieve this. Making late arrival a viable option. For week 1, unless you want Rise or SDD this is working out*. The small sub-set of late arrival commando optimizers are driving themselves nuts over 7AM, but Disney needs to offer it for the rope droppers. To quote Jack Sparrow, "This bullet wasn't meant for you."

The elephant in the room is that demand still outstrips capacity for E-ticket headliners. Eventually Disney will not be able to manipulate the ratio without hurting standby or avoid early sellouts or the price would need to increase so high that those start becoming deterrents to the late arrival option again (why arrive late when Genie+ costs so much). Even people with money would rather just have an After Hours event. No matter what people think it will do, insufficient E-ticket capacity is driving how people plan their day, and will continue to do so unless there is more of it (higher capacity E-tickets) or gives people other options (I don't need to ride SDMT because I would rather ride X). Given the problem child rides, the thing Disney needs the most of are high capacity, slightly thrilling without being extreme making them still family friendly, themed attractions. Those don't come cheap.

* Test Track and Smuggler's being the next in line for this not working out

 

[VaderTron]

Fastpass was a broken product, so I don't agree that Genie+ is a lesser product at all.

A broken item for free is not as audacious as trying to charge for a similarly broken product.

 

[EeyoreFan#24]

If anyone catches me at Disney and awake at 7:00, please go play the lottery. As of right now, I can’t see this changing my routine of bouncing into the parks mid-morning, hotel break, then night park visit/DS visit. I know the risks, but I’ll take what happens with the genie.

 

[arich35]

I am a little confused why there has to be two ILL rides at every park. AK simply doesn't need more than one, wouldn't more people buy Genie+ if EE was included than people who spend the money on the ILL for EE?

 

[disneygeek90]

I am ashamed