Disney Genie and Genie+ at Walt Disney World

James Alucobond

Well-Known Member
The analogy that I believe describes the current situation: you buy a ticket to a baseball game for $100. Included in this ticket is a hot dog, nachos and a drink. You have been buying this same seat for multiple seasons. On the next homestand, you get the same seat-except now, team/stadium management has removed the food from the price of your seat, so now you pay $100 for the same seat, and have to pay the extra $20 for the food. You still have the option to pay more for better seats, but you are now paying more to get the same thing you got before with the purchase of the seat you currently have.
To extend this analogy, though, I think the proposition they're promising is that the quality of your once-free food will now improve as a result of them focusing on making it for fewer people. Whether or not they can deliver on that promise remains to be seen.

EDIT: Same thought as above. :D
 

SamusAranX

Well-Known Member
I like the narrative of "It's a theme park standard!". Like, I'm glad freakin Cedar Point and Six Flags are dictating how DISNEY does business.

"We just added tons of roller coasters and removed our dark rides. That's an industry standard!"
Hey hey, easy now, I love Cedar Point. It knows what it’s space is and plays extremely well in it.

But I do agree, different dynamics dictate different standards. Disney can and should do better but they will continue kicking the can down the road and taking the easy path.
 

CaptainAmerica

Premium Member
Exactly.

As much as I dislike this, I voted with my wallet. My AP did not get renewed.

You all have the same choice. Just don’t do it.
And I'm very much in between. I'll probably buy Genie+ and I'll probably buy it every day. I will absolutely never pay for any of the Individual Attractions.
 

rawisericho

Well-Known Member
The analogy that I believe describes the current situation: you buy a ticket to a baseball game for $100. Included in this ticket is a hot dog, nachos and a drink. You have been buying this same seat for multiple seasons. On the next homestand, you get the same seat-except now, team/stadium management has removed the food from the price of your seat, so now you pay $100 for the same seat, and have to pay the extra $20 for the food. You still have the option to pay more for better seats, but you are now paying more to get the same thing you got before with the purchase of the seat you currently have.
Meanwhile the baseball team has decided that in order to be more cost effective, they have eliminated the left fielder and the shortstop. This will ensure guests have fewer distractions in enjoying the ballgame, a product optimization.
 

el_super

Well-Known Member
You still have the option to pay more for better seats, but you are now paying more to get the same thing you got before with the purchase of the seat you currently have.

Legit question: if they just raised the park admission $20-40 dollars per day, and kept Fastpass as-is, would that have been an acceptable solution to you? This seems more like anger over change itself, than any real anger over price increases (which have been happening for decades).
 

Missing20K

Well-Known Member
Genie+ is not the same product as FastPass+, it's better. It's better because fewer people are using it.
Not arguing, legitimately asking, do we know this for sure? Are they limiting them, or can everyone buy one should they choose? I doubt uptake would be as much as FP but it seems there are enough anecdotes of people having no clue about or how to use FP that it’s usage was also not 100%

I’m most curious about how they plan to allocate all of these various passes.
 

DCLcruiser

Well-Known Member
The analogy that I believe describes the current situation: you buy a ticket to a baseball game for $100. Included in this ticket is a hot dog, nachos and a drink. You have been buying this same seat for multiple seasons. On the next homestand, you get the same seat-except now, team/stadium management has removed the food from the price of your seat, so now you pay $100 for the same seat, and have to pay the extra $20 for the food. You still have the option to pay more for better seats, but you are now paying more to get the same thing you got before with the purchase of the seat you currently have.

Look at it like this:

Past: $100 = Baseball, Hot Dog, Nachos and a Drink

...But, what if everyone doesn't want a Hot Dog, Nachos and a Drink?

For the new season the team could do the following:

New: $115 = Baseball ONLY

OR

Tiered pricing:
New: $100 = Baseball ONLY
New: $115 = Baseball, Hot Dog, Nachos and a Drink

The price was going to increase for someone. Prices don't stay the same year after year. Now, it increases for people who perceive value in it. For everyone else the price to attend the game is the same. You are not going to the game for the perks.
 

CaptainAmerica

Premium Member
Not arguing, legitimately asking, do we know this for sure? Are they limiting them, or can everyone buy one should they choose? I doubt uptake would be as much as FP but it seems there are enough anecdotes of people having no clue about or how to use FP that it’s usage was also not 100%

I’m most curious about how they plan to allocate all of these various passes.
I don't think they're selling limited quantity, no. But uptake for something that costs even $1 can't possibly be more than update for the same thing that's free. The demand curve slopes downward.
 

pdude81

Well-Known Member
When I was behind, I did this:

I put on /ignore every person who had nothing useful to add. They were just giving their hot take. Or they were arguing about a tangent (can DAS really be enforced?!?).

That left only the people asking and answering questions.

After all the /ignores, some pages had only 10 posts. Got caught up quickly.

Later, I went to my /ignore list and /unignored them all.

Felt good to read a hot topic without the ones who normally take up all the oxygen. ;)
I followed your advice and "ignored" my first poster ever. Most of the garbage I still like to read in case there are useful nuggets, but I was afraid to have to weed through 20 pages of fighting about an autocorrected word while completely ignoring the context of the larger post.
 

LSLS

Well-Known Member
Hey hey, easy now, I love Cedar Point. It knows what it’s space is and plays extremely well in it.

But I do agree, different dynamics dictate different standards. Disney can and should do better but they will continue kicking the can down the road and taking the easy path.
It's also had significantly better service in the past few years than I've gotten from Disney. But I digress.
 

Missing20K

Well-Known Member
I don't think they're selling limited quantity, no. But uptake for something that costs even $1 can't possibly be more than update for the same thing that's free. The demand curve slopes downward.
It certainly wouldn’t be more. Could it be 80% of former FP users? 60%? 40%?

I’m sure they’ve ran the numbers. I *wish* we had some idea as it seems it would greatly affect the perceived value of G+ as well as the IAS.
 
This is a question tangentially related to this. My daughter is only 12 and I want her to also be able to book LL passes and boarding groups or the family. How can I do that?
 

AshaNeOmah

Well-Known Member
Legit question: if they just raised the park admission $20-40 dollars per day, and kept Fastpass as-is, would that have been an acceptable solution to you? This seems more like anger over change itself, than any real anger over price increases (which have been happening for decades).
The problem is that they're gonna do that anyway in the next 2-4 years. Price increases aren't going to slow down because they introduced Genie+.

Genie+ is just charging for the the icing on top of an very expensive cake you already bought. Then you gotta pay more to get the little icing flowers and a candle (limit of 2 per cake).
 

KrzyKtty

Well-Known Member
It certainly wouldn’t be more. Could it be 80% of former FP users? 60%? 40%?

I’m sure they’ve ran the numbers. I *wish* we had some idea as it seems it would greatly affect the perceived value of G+ as well as the IAS.
I think that's just going to come down to waiting and seeing it in action. Ultimately we will just have to keep an eye out the first few months to see how the pass is affect standby lines, how easily accessible good times are, and how quickly they go.
 

Raineman

Well-Known Member
Legit question: if they just raised the park admission $20-40 dollars per day, and kept Fastpass as-is, would that have been an acceptable solution to you? This seems more like anger over change itself, than any real anger over price increases (which have been happening for decades).
It really depends on whether I would need/want to use a FP-like option. Right now, you do not have to pay for Genie +. You can get your park admission, and still get on attractions, if you want to, and I have heard some people say that's what they would do, they've never used FP before so it wouldn't affect them, etc.. To those people, if they raised park admission to approximately the same level as the Genie + would cost, then it is not an option-they have to pay it, and, in essence, are paying for something that they would never use. I am not 100% sure at this point what I would personally do, TBH. If they raised ticket prices, but still used the new Genie + system, and it worked better than the old FP+ system-then I might be OK with it. It is still going to cost me more regardless. Hearing feedback once this is new system is implemented will be very helpful-if $15 a day gives me more "FPs" a day than the old system did, then I would determine if the added value is worth the additional cost.
 

ImperfectPixie

Well-Known Member
I think that's just going to come down to waiting and seeing it in action. Ultimately we will just have to keep an eye out the first few months to see how the pass is affect standby lines, how easily accessible good times are, and how quickly they go.
That's what I think, too. They can try to project outcomes as much as they like with modeling, but humans are gonna human.
 

KrzyKtty

Well-Known Member
This is a question tangentially related to this. My daughter is only 12 and I want her to also be able to book LL passes and boarding groups or the family. How can I do that?
Just put the app on her cell phone if she has one. Or if you and your spouse upgrade your phones at any point between now and when you go, create a spare family line off of the now spare cell phone. That does require payment for the line though. But if your daughter already has a phone, she should be able to create an account and you should be able to link it to your master account.
 

pdude81

Well-Known Member
I will start by saying I completely understand charging $15.00 a day for offsite guests to use Genie+. However, passholders should be allowed to buy an annual use package and onsite guests should get Genie+ for free for the days they are onsite. The paid lightning lane use should be a charge or allow users to use points from their soom to be announced rewards program. If and only if they provide added services and benefits to their loyal and adoring fans will this change be the game changer they want and bring in the additional profits they desire.
I can't see them making more money from giving Genie+ free to on site guests. They would then have a built in floor using these every day which would make off site guests purchase for parity. Then when everybody has Genie+, the lines are still long and everybody is mad.
If they raised room prices across the boardfor this perk then fine, more money, but still the anger.

I expected this offering to be a lot worse and I'm surprised by the outrage outside of a forum like this with superfans.
 

doctornick

Well-Known Member
For me, it's actually not so much about them now charging for FP. Don't get me wrong, we're not wealthy. We save to go, on average, every other year and while we stay deluxe, enjoy a table service meal every day, and have done our share of fireworks dessert parties, I do try to save money wherever I can. But I understand Disney is a business and charging for FastPass seemed the logical thing to do from a business perspective. What I have a problem with is the plan itself. A vacation is to relax, unplug and enjoy. I do not want to have to be up every morning before 7:00 with the stress of worrying that we won't get access to the top ride(s) we came there to experience. I do not want to have my phone out all day long, watching the clock, trying to book and be where we need to be for the next ride access time. I do not want to add miles walking because we have to backtrack and crisscross the park returning to attractions we already visited and had to score a return time for because the queue was too long. I know we won't be required to do return times unless we choose to for most attractions, but the idea of waiting in hour plus lines for pretty much everything is hardly appealing. This convoluted, stress-inducing plan some genius at Disney has created is a nightmare.
Ive seen similar sentiments, but I would ask: did you think old (paper) FP was stressful? Because functionally LL will operate the same way except digital. People keep trying to suggest that it will be some massive rush to book LL times but between people not buying the product, some buying but not using frequently (or at all) during the day, people using it for different experiences, etc there will be availability similar to past paper FP. Some rides will run out but not at 9:00 AM - the rides with that kind of massive demand will be in the higher priced tier that many fewer guests will purchase.

To me the most “stressful” part of paper FP was the running around to machines and backtracking in the park. Digital LL gets rid of those issues which is why Maxpass was popular in DLR
 

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