Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[RoadiJeff]

I wish there was some sort of incentive to purchase multiple days or for length of stay. Like buy 4 days, get one free. Soften the blow a bit

Well, it is close to that. If you buy 4 days you can buy a 5th day for just $30 more, a 6th day for just $12 more than 5 days, etc.

 

[nickys]

I see that others have already basically said this, but your question assumes that Disney allowed regular customers to test Genie and accepted their feedback. I doubt that ever happened. For one thing, I think this site would have found out about the user testing.

More importantly, your scenario is Genie working exactly as designed. Disney didn't want or need to hear from customers about how they liked it. Disney is not in the customer satisfaction business.

I wasn’t assuming that regular customers tested it. But someone tested it - I hope.

It seems that Genie pretty much ignores the preferences you put in. That could be missing code, it could be there is a wait time above which it won’t send guests to, could be any number or reasons. My point was, that either wasn’t caught in testing or it was deemed acceptable during testing . So whether the testing was done by a developer or someone else, someone thought it was OK to launch an app that failed on one of ot’s much lauded claims.

 

[KYDVC]

Maybe they're checking out to see how much they can get away with. If most are unaware enough that they don't realized they were tricked, and instead come out thinking how great Disney is for this free service... they don't have much incentive to improve it.

In fact, given that it isn't lining their pockets since it's free, they don't have any reason to be focused on improving it at all.

I think you’re right, but therein lies the problem. They don’t have incentive to improve it. They shouldn’t need incentive to improve it. They should improve things because they want to always put out a exemplary product and have world-class customer service.

That’s what they used to do. They need to get back to that, but I just don’t see it anytime soon.

 

[danv3]

It seems that Genie pretty much ignores the preferences you put in. That could be missing code, it could be there is a wait time above which it won’t send guests to, could be any number or reasons. My point was, that either wasn’t caught in testing or it was deemed acceptable during testing . So whether the testing was done by a developer or someone else, someone thought it was OK to launch an app that failed on one of ot’s much lauded claims.

Feature, not bug. It works how they want it to work.

 

[Muffinpants]

I feel genie was made for the the new generation who "yolo" because its the weird uncle who thinks they know what kids are into these days.. lol

Disney is so outta touch with who go to the park. No longer are we the clueless just feel the magic type. We like to make sure we are within budget and get what we pay for. Perks and feeling like we matter even if its a illusion. Disney was really good at making folks feel like it was a great deal now they seem to not care.

Genie will be a challenge on tiktok about how many crappy rides can we do all day while listening to genie. Its already a big market on youtube. Its a joke.. and not the funny haha Kite tails type joke.

They have given the biggest middle finger to its long running customers while not even getting hooks into the new generation. I think Genie is only for the locals who wanna go have a decent day just walking around while doing low wait rides and having some food. Other than that it was wasted money. Also Genie+ is a worse version of the fp+ section of the app since things were actually taken away ( picking time and such) Could have just saved ALOT of money just sticking to FP+ and adding ILL$. Everyone gets free but if you dont get it you can pay.

 

[dreday3]

I feel genie was made for the the new generation who "yolo" because its the weird uncle who thinks they know what kids are into these days.. lol

Disney is so outta touch with who go to the park. No longer are we the clueless just feel the magic type. We like to make sure we are within budget and get what we pay for. Perks and feeling like we matter even if its a illusion. Disney was really good at making folks feel like it was a great deal now they seem to not care.

Genie will be a challenge on tiktok about how many crappy rides can we do all day while listening to genie. Its already a big market on youtube. Its a joke.. and not the funny haha Kite tails type joke.

They have given the biggest middle finger to its long running customers while not even getting hooks into the new generation. I think Genie is only for the locals who wanna go have a decent day just walking around while doing low wait rides and having some food. Other than that it was wasted money. Also Genie+ is a worse version of the fp+ section of the app since things were actually taken away ( picking time and such) Could have just saved ALOT of money just sticking to FP+ and adding ILL$. Everyone gets free but if you dont get it you can pay.

And counterpoint:

Yes, it sucks to have to pay for it, but...
We liked it. Was great to not melt in the lines. Skipped many long waits.
Easy to use.
Can decide each day if you think you need it or not.
Always saw people using the lightning lanes, so someone is buying it...

Also we had no issues using it with the app, but that may just have been luck.

Found it especially useful at MK and DHS.

 

[UNCgolf]

And counterpoint:

Yes, it sucks to have to pay for it, but...
We liked it. Was great to not melt in the lines. Skipped many long waits.
Easy to use.
Can decide each day if you think you need it or not.
Always saw people using the lightning lanes, so someone is buying it...

Also we had no issues using it with the app, but that may just have been luck.

Found it especially useful at MK and DHS.

They weren't talking about Genie+ -- they were talking about the free Genie that's supposed to help you maximize your day and avoid waits.

Reports are that it basically never tells you go to any major attractions no matter what preferences you give it (constantly tells people to go to the Tea Cups, the carousel, etc.). It seems like if you actually relied on it to get you around the parks you'd see very little of WDW.

 

[jpeden]

And counterpoint:

Yes, it sucks to have to pay for it, but...
We liked it. Was great to not melt in the lines. Skipped many long waits.
Easy to use.
Can decide each day if you think you need it or not.
Always saw people using the lightning lanes, so someone is buying it...

Also we had no issues using it with the app, but that may just have been luck.

Found it especially useful at MK and DHS.

We’ve bought it twice this trip. Today it was not needed with the rain as MK was empty. Honestly the biggest rub against it is that you can’t preselect and it’s good for only one ride per attraction in each park. Those two in itself make it a hard pill to swallow. It I was just paying for FP+ it might be okay if it provided quicker access, but nothing about it is improved from FP+ - it is a worse version that costs guests more.

 

[dreday3]

They weren't talking about Genie+ -- they were talking about the free Genie that's supposed to help you maximize your day and avoid waits.

Reports are that it basically never tells you go to any major attractions no matter what preferences you give it (constantly tells people to go to the Tea Cups, the carousel, etc.). It seems like if you actually relied on it to get you around the parks you'd see very little of WDW.

Oh yeah, we never even looked at that.

But that's free, so no problem, just don't use it.

 

[el_super]

Reports are that it basically never tells you go to any major attractions no matter what preferences you give it (constantly tells people to go to the Tea Cups, the carousel, etc.). It seems like if you actually relied on it to get you around the parks you'd see very little of WDW.

Someone has to go on the carousel.

 

[Muffinpants]

And counterpoint:

Yes, it sucks to have to pay for it, but...
We liked it. Was great to not melt in the lines. Skipped many long waits.
Easy to use.
Can decide each day if you think you need it or not.
Always saw people using the lightning lanes, so someone is buying it...

Also we had no issues using it with the app, but that may just have been luck.

Found it especially useful at MK and DHS.

My major points were for the free version. at the end I just stated the genie + section of the app is a downgrade from fp+ since its more limited.

 

[Jeff4272]

Today in Magic Kingdom is a great example of why you shouldn't waste your money on Genie+ and IA$ (and it looks like people are not doing it)

Theres only 2 rides with an actual standby wait of 30 mins or more
1) Peter Pan is currently 40 (Note that it was down for some time today)
2) Seven Dwarfs currently 33

Every Genie+ return time is within 10 mins except Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion and Peter Pan

IA$ for Seven D and Space return times are both within 5 mins if you want to spend the $....


People are not paying for this and good for them


You dont need to pay for it

 

[jpinkc]

Today in Magic Kingdom is a great example of why you shouldn't waste your money on Genie+ and IA$ (and it looks like people are not doing it)

Theres only 2 rides with an actual standby wait of 30 mins or more
1) Peter Pan is currently 40 (Note that it was down for some time today)
2) Seven Dwarfs currently 33

Every Genie+ return time is within 10 mins except Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion and Peter Pan

IA$ for Seven D and Space return times are both within 5 mins if you want to spend the $....


People are not paying for this and good for them


You dont need to pay for it

I hope this stays true even on Busy days!

 

[jpeden]

Today in Magic Kingdom is a great example of why you shouldn't waste your money on Genie+ and IA$ (and it looks like people are not doing it)

Theres only 2 rides with an actual standby wait of 30 mins or more
1) Peter Pan is currently 40 (Note that it was down for some time today)
2) Seven Dwarfs currently 33

Every Genie+ return time is within 10 mins except Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion and Peter Pan

IA$ for Seven D and Space return times are both within 5 mins if you want to spend the $....


People are not paying for this and good for them


You dont need to pay for it

Noticed the same exact thing today.

 

[G00fyDad]

I hope this stays true even on Busy days!

It likely will not.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Someone has to go on the carousel.

Indeed.

The old MDE/FP system showed guests on their main screen the FP wait times. Which meant that all the attractions without a FP lane sometimes never got people's attention.

So, TTA, CoP, Tike, Country Bears, SFRobinson got continually ignored by some.

It's about time there's a lengthy line to walk through the tree house!!

 

[hopemax]

Today in Magic Kingdom is a great example of why you shouldn't waste your money on Genie+ and IA$ (and it looks like people are not doing it)

Theres only 2 rides with an actual standby wait of 30 mins or more
1) Peter Pan is currently 40 (Note that it was down for some time today)
2) Seven Dwarfs currently 33

Every Genie+ return time is within 10 mins except Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion and Peter Pan

IA$ for Seven D and Space return times are both within 5 mins if you want to spend the $....


People are not paying for this and good for them


You dont need to pay for it

The weather also looked completely miserable earlier.

One of my favorite days at WDW was when we went to MGM during Tropical Storm Ernesto (2000 version, not 2006 hurricane version). It was rainy and windy, but the park was completely empty. They couldn't run the Hunchback show, so all the performers came out to sign autographs and take photos.

Going to WDW on a Hurricane Day is a strategy... we used it to get the Hitchhiking Ghost mug at Trader Sam's, after Matthew turned into a bust. But the parks do have to be open and restrictions for being out on the roads can't be in effect. But most people prefer a day with less rain in the forecast than today. Good time for local AP's, though. However, riding BTMRR in the rain isn't worth it. It's painful and can ruin your purse... or so I've heard...

 

[Chi84]

Today in Magic Kingdom is a great example of why you shouldn't waste your money on Genie+ and IA$ (and it looks like people are not doing it)

Theres only 2 rides with an actual standby wait of 30 mins or more
1) Peter Pan is currently 40 (Note that it was down for some time today)
2) Seven Dwarfs currently 33

Every Genie+ return time is within 10 mins except Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion and Peter Pan

IA$ for Seven D and Space return times are both within 5 mins if you want to spend the $....


People are not paying for this and good for them


You dont need to pay for it

There's a tornado watch for the area today and severe thunderstorms are predicted for the afternoon, so today might not be the best test of how many people are using Genie+. We just got back from a week long trip and people seemed to be using the LLs about the same as under the old FP+ system. Genie+ is supposed to get people into the LLs and decrease the standby waits. How do you know people are not buying it?

We bought Genie+ to avoid the 30 or 40 minute standby waits (most of the popular rides had waits longer than this, but again, no severe weather). It worked fine. I much preferred FP+, but it's not coming back.

 

[Archie123]

Today in Magic Kingdom is a great example of why you shouldn't waste your money on Genie+ and IA$ (and it looks like people are not doing it)

Theres only 2 rides with an actual standby wait of 30 mins or more
1) Peter Pan is currently 40 (Note that it was down for some time today)
2) Seven Dwarfs currently 33

Every Genie+ return time is within 10 mins except Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion and Peter Pan

IA$ for Seven D and Space return times are both within 5 mins if you want to spend the $....


People are not paying for this and good for them


You dont need to pay for it

Today is a really bad day to make any statements about how Genie+ is doing. Tornado warnings might skew those numbers.

 

[Casper Gutman]

They don't have enough capacity with their popular attractions.

To beat the dead horse yet again, this is their fault for failing to invest in expansion over what is now approaching the last 20 years while continuing to market heavily and push to increase year-round attendance.

It was a problem with FP+ that you could do the same things over and over when they may have had enough TOTAL capacity* but not enough capacity for the things people wanted to do.

I'm sure this part of the change with G+ is their attempt at "correcting" since they're almost impossibly behind now and have apparently lost their institutional knowledge on how to build appealing high-capacity attractions.

Yeah, it's galling that they put this guest limit on the new service they charge for when they didn't on the free service it replaces but isn't that pretty much in line with modern Disney's managements idea of the Disney Difference™ - pay more and get less?


*COP, I love you but most people don't pay $125 a day to sit in a musty smelling theater and watch a show with failing animatronics and a horribly outdated ending that needs to be retooled to represent the end of the 20th century with an optimistic look forward rather than pretending to be the near-term future it isn't. Don't act like this attraction that's gotten no love in 20 years (like CBJ) going 4/5 empty all the time somehow offsets the frequent modern waits for just about everything else in the park including other attractions just as old which have gotten real refurbishments and updates.

This is the key to it all. Wall Street may hate it, but theme parks with climbing attendance (or which want to encourage climbing attendance) need regular, even yearly, new attractions.

A tale of two resorts in the pandemic:

Disney looked at the pandemic as an opportunity to avoid opening rides. They dragged out construction of two major attractions announced in 2017, delayaing opening until 2022 at the earliest, in part to spread out costs even more and in part to avoid announcing and building new rides.

Universal saw the pandemic as a problem that disrupted their plan to open new rides every year or so that needed to be overcome. The crisis pushed back the opening of their massive new park and thus created a gap of one or two years with no new attractions at the resort, which management viewed as unacceptable. So a Potter ride planned for the new park was moved to Studios and fast tracked while another, long gestating stopgap attraction was green lit to replace Shrek. Rather then leave the new park one ride short, according to multiple reports they have greenlit and fast tracked another, more elaborate ride to be ready for the new park at or near opening.

One of these resorts has spent billions on crowd management systems to try and cover inadequate capacity.