Disney Genie and Genie+ at Walt Disney World

[larryz]

Take someone who earns $20 per hour in their career: Paying $20 to skip a 1 hour line, working 1 hour just to skip a 1 hour line, might seem to be a poor proposition. Then compare it to someone who is used to earning over $100 per hour... Paying $20 to skip an hour long line might seem like a no-brainer, like paying the toll on the bridge on their way to work.

There's an idea -- Disney needs to link up with SunPass (and by extension, EZPass) and make the Lightning Lane an invisible charge. Then it would be EXACTLY like paying the toll on the bridge on their way to work.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I went back to the Disney Park Blogs page where they introduced Genie, mainly to see how many positive comments I could actually find on it. Encountered a bit of a problem. If you're based in the UK you can't access the page (or well I couldn't), it keeps redirecting you to the Disneyworld.co.uk site. I tried a number of differnet ways and devices and the only way I could in the end was use a US VPN connection.

The obvious conclusion I've come to is that Genie won't be something that will affect UK visitors. When we arrive we won't see Lightning Lane's, we'll merely see the Fastpass lane. Taking it on to the obvious conclusions, I'm assuming that the Magical Express will continue for us whilst Magic Bands will be given free to all resort guests and extra hours will be open to all resort guests, not just deluxe ones.

Or alternatively they don't want us to know about it yet which I'm not exactly sure why that is the case.

They’re incompetent and none of those things are staying.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Disney leans on their IP because one guy didn’t understand the appeal of Expedition Everest and why it was such a big success. Such a success that it remains a better return on investment than anything he approved for Walt Disney World.

Disney leans on their IP because that's what the guests want. I wish it weren't the case, you wish it weren't the case, @Sirwalterraleigh wishes it wasn't the case. But the fact is, guests want Iron Man and Cinderella and "Let It Go." They don't want Seabase Alpha, Tom Morrow, and "One Little Spark."

 

[MuppetNation]

They’re incompetent and none of those things are staying.

I know that, I wasn't being serious about the other things. However you could access that page before and I tried other articles in that section and also by that author which were accessible from the UK. Which does mean that they have specifically blocked access to that article, which says to me it isn't incompetency but a deliberate act.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Disney leans on their IP because that's what the guests want. I wish it weren't the case, you wish it weren't the case, @Sirwalterraleigh wishes it wasn't the case. But the fact is, guests want Iron Man and Cinderella and "Let It Go." They don't want Seabase Alpha, Tom Morrow, and "One Little Spark."

Expedition Everest was a big success and in the midst of that it was decided it would be the last. People say they want things they know and like but that isn’t actually true. People didn’t stay away from Frozen because it didn’t have Mickey Mouse in it.

 

[pdude81]

Disney using movies to sell rides and rides to sell movies is not all that new or novel. It's the basis of the the theme parks and their success. It's just that they are forgetting about nostalgia as a marketable trend (i.e. new stuff isn't always going to be better), a great ride/show concept becomes marketable IP, and... you know... all 4 keys.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Disney leans on their IP because that's what the guests want. I wish it weren't the case, you wish it weren't the case, @Sirwalterraleigh wishes it wasn't the case. But the fact is, guests want Iron Man and Cinderella and "Let It Go." They don't want Seabase Alpha, Tom Morrow, and "One Little Spark."

I’ll give you 20/400 vision on this take

Expedition Everest was a big success and in the midst of that it was decided it would be the last. People say they want things they know and like but that isn’t actually true. People didn’t stay away from Frozen because it didn’t have Mickey Mouse in it.

People want good stuff…the idea it has to have cars or beauty and the beast on it is lazy and stupid…

which Iger was a true grand master of

 

[ToTBellHop]

Disney using movies to sell rides and rides to sell movies is not all that new or novel. It's the basis of the the theme parks and their success. It's just that they are forgetting about nostalgia as a marketable trend (i.e. new stuff isn't always going to be better), a great ride/show concept becomes marketable IP, and... you know... all 4 keys.

I don’t know…they are opening a new ride in 3 weeks that is not based upon a particularly-relevant IP. And I think they just made a perfectly-acceptable update to Jungle Cruise that respects the original concept.

And TRON isn’t terribly relevant, even if they are making a 3rd movie.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Expedition Everest was a big success and in the midst of that it was decided it would be the last. People say they want things they know and like but that isn’t actually true. People didn’t stay away from Frozen because it didn’t have Mickey Mouse in it.

Have you seen the guest feedback on Reflections of Earth?

When Chapek dropped his now-infamous "more Disney, more family, more timeless and more relevant" line, he was directly responding to guest feedback that indicated RoE was unpopular with guests because it wasn't Disney-ish enough.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I don’t know…they are opening a new ride in 3 weeks that is not based upon a particularly-relevant IP. And I think they just made a perfectly-acceptable update to Jungle Cruise that respects the original concept.

And TRON isn’t terribly relevant, even if they are making a 3rd movie.

…clones

 

[ToTBellHop]

…clones

It is still how they are choosing to spend their $400 million (or so). It’s a miracle they went with Rat over BatB, in particular.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Disney using movies to sell rides and rides to sell movies is not all that new or novel. It's the basis of the the theme parks and their success. It's just that they are forgetting about nostalgia as a marketable trend (i.e. new stuff isn't always going to be better), a great ride/show concept becomes marketable IP, and... you know... all 4 keys.

I don’t know…they are opening a new ride in 3 weeks that is not based upon a particularly-relevant IP. And I think they just made a perfectly-acceptable update to Jungle Cruise that respects the original concept.

And TRON isn’t terribly relevant, even if they are making a 3rd movie.

I'd also say that Pandora is teetering on Splash Mountain territory in that the attraction has eclipsed the movie on which it was based in terms of cultural relevance.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

It is still how they are choosing to spend their $400 million (or so). It’s a miracle they went with Rat over BatB, in particular.

Because it’s “discounted” in bizarre Wall Street terms

and I’m not sure chapek wouldn’t have gone with beauty and the beast

 

[pdude81]

I don’t know…they are opening a new ride in 3 weeks that is not based upon a particularly-relevant IP. And I think they just made a perfectly-acceptable update to Jungle Cruise that respects the original concept.

And TRON isn’t terribly relevant, even if they are making a 3rd movie.

It's hard for me to give them credit for copying two rides from other places where they were successful at a more opportune time. Rode the updated JC and have no issues with that. I get the sense that D'Amaro gets it on nostalgia and park theming, but we'll have to see how things start moving now that the monetization is in place.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Because it’s “discounted” in bizarre Wall Street terms

That’s not really why they chose Rat. It was the better option and BatB had some scheduling issues (that, at the end of the day, would not have actually impacted this project).

As for TRON, the east side of the park needs an addition more than the west. Saving money is just convenient here. They could have saved money by giving us Mission Breakout and instead went with a novel $450 million coaster. I grant you, the only reason it got that budget is because Guardians are en vogue.

 

[ToTBellHop]

It's hard for me to give them credit for copying two rides from other places where they were successful at a more opportune time. Rode the updated JC and have no issues with that. I get the sense that D'Amaro gets it on nostalgia and park theming, but we'll have to see how things start moving now that the monetization is in place.

D’Amaro can only do so much but he’s an asset to the parks.

 

[ToTBellHop]

It's hard for me to give them credit for copying two rides from other places where they were successful at a more opportune time. Rode the updated JC and have no issues with that. I get the sense that D'Amaro gets it on nostalgia and park theming, but we'll have to see how things start moving now that the monetization is in place.

Imagine the comments if the internet was live in 1971 when MK opened. How lazy to build Haunted Mansion and Small World!

 

[pdude81]

Imagine the comments if the internet was live in 1971 when MK opened. How lazy to build Haunted Mansion and Small World!

Well back then people showed up and asked where Pirate's was, right? However in the age of youtube people would have ridden it in their minds a thousand times and perhaps asked for something new as well.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Well back then people showed up and asked where Pirate's was, right? However in the age of youtube people would have ridden it in their minds a thousand times and perhaps asked for something new as well.

I can’t imagine MK without HM. I’m sure the 10 people in MK who have already ridden TRON will be happy to ride again

 

[CaptainAmerica]

It's hard for me to give them credit for copying two rides from other places where they were successful at a more opportune time. Rode the updated JC and have no issues with that. I get the sense that D'Amaro gets it on nostalgia and park theming, but we'll have to see how things start moving now that the monetization is in place.

The vast majority of Walt Disney World guests will never even visit Disneyland, let alone international parks. I have no beef at all about clones.