Disney Genie and Genie+ at Walt Disney World

[ImperfectPixie]

My 2 cents.
We finally get MaxPass, a service which every single West Coast Disney Fan seemed to love pre-pandemic. However, East Coasters have it $5 cheaper than West Coasters. Plus this seems to be cheaper than Universal's 2 Park Unlimited Express Program, costing well over $109.00 per person, per day, as opposed to $15 dollars per per, per day.

WDW guests are being cheated out of photopass downloads...they were and will continue to be included for Disneyland guests.

 

[RSoxNo1]

But Cedar Point doesn't charge you an addition $10 to ride Millennium Force after you buy their Plus Pass.

If Disney Genie++ was $50 a day and included one ride on each attraction, then it's an accurate comparison.

Six Flags requires an initial purchase of their front of the line pass at Magic Mountain prior to being able to get front of the line access to X2.

 

[IanDLBZF]

WDW guests are being cheated out of photopass downloads...they were and will continue to be included for Disneyland guests.

Not surprised, as we will continue to have MemoryMaker available*.
*And will be available with Gold, Platinum, and Platinum+ APs.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Paper fast pass at wdw would sell out right after the park opened for the popular attractions. When you ran to soarin an hour after the park opened the fast passes were gone for he whole day

When Radiator Springs Racers first opened they were gone within an hour. Same with Toy Story Mania at DHS. Soarin' typically lasted until noon or one. That has since shifted as the rides became more established and in the case of the last two, added capacity.

 

[IanDLBZF]

When Radiator Springs Racers first opened they were gone within an hour. Same with Toy Story Mania at DHS. Soarin' typically lasted until noon or one. That has since shifted as the rides became more established and in the case of the last two, added capacity.

Space Mountain's FPs were often gone by midday too IIRC.

 

[RSoxNo1]

As they should. The goal is to not have to plan at all, as planning is a learned habit and introduces needless friction.

People asked for spontaneity, they gave them impulse buys.

 

[Chi84]

What? No! That discussion you're seeing is human interaction, which is one of the main things you want out of a visit. It's also improvisation, adaptability, and figuring out what you FEEL like doing.

Honestly, what you said is nuts. You seem to think the point of a theme park visit is to march from ride to ride on a preprogrammed path like mindless automata, your only goal to maximize the number of attractions you see. That vision of the guest experience, held by execs, is precisely why WDW has declined so sharply over the last decade.

We never did any of that and we absolutely loved FP+. It was great to be able to spend the hottest part of the day at Blizzard Beach, knowing that we could get to AK in the late afternoon and get on FOP, EE and the Safari without having to wait. We generally fit Nomad Lounge somewhere in between for a casual dinner.

Why is it that people can’t think outside their own experience? We never felt pressured, rushed or locked in with FP+ and always had a fabulous time! I enjoy interacting with my family but I would rather do it relaxing over dinner than standing out in the heat trying to figure out what to do next.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Mine Train blows and it still draws 90 minutes.

Disney fans are all about the New Hotness, even if it's not all that new or hot.

You also have to factor in that Disney has been underbuilding attractions. Mine Train and Slinky Dog Dash are prime examples of this.

 

[GimpYancIent]

Genie and Genie + is a scheme to glean some more $ from the guests and make it seem like something. Oooh Wow its something I can have on my electronic device, jeez, folks can be entertained too easily. Bottom line is something that did not have a price tag now does and some names have been changed. Ah but a person can still go to a Disney park and enjoy without any Genie and Genie +, Disney management will work hard to foster the perception it is indispensable to having a good time at a Disney Park.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Are there gonna be two chances to get a BG for Rise still? As well as Remy for that matter at 1pm?

@marni1971 hinted that Rise may see a traditional Standby line soon.

 

[lazyboy97o]

My understanding is proof is never required in order to ensure people with disabilities don't encounter barriers during everyday life.

This isn't an issue in terms of fraud, because in most situations there is no benefit in asking for an accommodation.

Theme parks are the exception to the rule. A disability in a theme park can be "advantageous" in terms of bypassing lines.

The rule of not requiring proof, however, remains in place because it makes no sense to modify a rule for the rare exception (theme parks) where requiring proof might make sense.

Requiring proof in a theme park would benefit those individuals. By weeding out the liars Disney could offer accommodations to the disabled without having to deal with fraud. As it is, what they've done is try and make the DAS access comparable to everyone else in terms of wait times, so there is less incentive to fake it and game the system. Requiring proof sounds logical in a theme park, but is simply inconsistent with the intent and everyday implementation of accomodation.

Six Flags has required proof for years now.

One other point, and please forgive me if this has been discussed, but have they considered the animosity that will be created amongst those waiting in line watching those who paid just skipping to the front and slowing the line down and what behaviors that might lead to?

Already happened with FastPass+. If you look you’ll notice that most merge points now have the two queues physically separated with a preference for visual separation as well.

And more to do that ISN'T rides, dining or shopping.

World’s busiest theme park has abandoned attraction, retail and dining space.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Space Mountain's FPs were often gone by midday too IIRC.

I'd say usually between 1-5 PM. That's not bad.

@wdwmagic, I think the DAS news deserves it's own thread but I don't want to create it only to have it deleted. Any chance you can create a similar thread for the DAS changes? There is still some information that is unclear about those changes.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

Six Flags has required proof for years now.

Realllly...interesting!

World’s busiest theme park has abandoned attraction, retail and dining space.

Yep. And all the in-park entertainment that didn't require theaters that's been cut actually provided a nice way of distracting people for short periods and keeping lines more reasonable.

 

[Missing20K]

In the last year or so of FP+ they had cut that grace period down to like 10-15min (unless you had a verifiable reason, like stuck on a ride or monorail, etc.

But do they really “verify” and what constitutes a verifiable reason? What if someone got a migraine? If Ken/Karen get “stuck” on a boat dock, is the CM gonna call up the dock in question and verify the guest’s story? I’m not saying they didn’t deny people outside of the window, I’m saying with an upcharge people won’t stand for being denied a service they’ve paid for, late or not, whether right or wrong.

For those who aren’t mortified by this and maybe have already ridden RotR. Can you say that ride is worth 96 dollars for a family of 4 to ride once? This is the one I can’t wrap my head around, as people are saying that they’ll be gone by 7am…

But a huge chunk of the guests each and every day have never ridden RotR and so won’t get to make that judgement until after they’ve ante’d up if they didn’t win the daily Star Wars lotto. Same goes for all the other BG eligible rides. Most people have never ridden Rat, so I’d expect many families that didn’t win the lotto will have to decide if the $100 is worth a “once in a lifetime” trip. I’m betting more lay the bucks down than don’t. I could be wrong.

Will G+ pass sales be limited? This seems like fairly important information.

 

[MisterPenguin]

40 pages in and I'm exhausted. Hard to keep up with how quickly this thread has been growing

I can't keep up. I don't understand most of what people are saying.

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.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Realllly...interesting!

Yep. It’s handled by a third party before your visit but it’s a step. You have to upload a note saying you need an accommodation (not your specific diagnosis or disability) and the doctor’s contact information.

Attraction Accessibility - Six Flags Over Georgia

Six Flags’ Attraction Access Program is designed to accommodate guests with disabilities or certain other qualifying impairments so they may participate in the enjoyment of our Parks.

www.sixflags.com

 

[MurphyJoe]

But do they really “verify” and what constitutes a verifiable reason? What if someone got a migraine? If Ken/Karen get “stuck” on a boat dock, is the CM gonna call up the dock in question and verify the guest’s story? I’m not saying they didn’t deny people outside of the window, I’m saying with an upcharge people won’t stand for being denied a service they’ve paid for, late or not, whether right or wrong.


But a huge chunk of the guests each and every day have never ridden RotR and so won’t get to make that judgement until after they’ve ante’d up if they didn’t win the daily Star Wars lotto. Same goes for all the other BG eligible rides. Most people have never ridden Rat, so I’d expect many families that didn’t win the lotto will have to decide if the $100 is worth a “once in a lifetime” trip. I’m betting more lay the bucks down than don’t. I could be wrong.

Will G+ pass sales be limited? This seems like fairly important information.

For the price, it's probably not limited in sales. If it was going to be limited, the cost would be much, much higher as to make it unaffordable (or unpalatable) to most.

 

[J4546]

on face value, i really dont like how the genie is used to get access to "lightning" lanes...genies and lightning have nothing to do with each other. Call them magic lanes or wish lanes or magic wish lanes....something related to Genies that ties together. Also everyone should get access to 3 wish lanes on the free version because a genie grants you 3 wishes and then have the paid version be for unlimited wishes/wish lane access. this is just imo.

 

[UNCgolf]

My 2 cents.
We finally get MaxPass, a service which every single West Coast Disney Fan seemed to love pre-pandemic. However, East Coasters have it $5 cheaper than West Coasters. Plus this seems to be cheaper than Universal's 2 Park Unlimited Express Program, costing well over $109.00 per person, per day, as opposed to $15 dollars per per, per day.

This isn't comparable to the Universal Unlimited Express program. With that, you can go to any ride (that's on the system, at least -- I think some of the newest attractions aren't yet) at any time and ride it as many times as you want. You could ride Forbidden Journey 10 times in a row. You don't have to book a return time or anything like that; you just walk up whenever you feel like it.

The Universal Unlimited Express pass can cost $200+ for the day, although it's also included for anyone staying at one of their three deluxe hotels (which is a steal). Disney doesn't offer anything remotely comparable (except VIP tours, I guess, but they cost far more), but that's also why it costs as much as it does.

 

[1HAPPYGHOSTHOST]

For those who aren’t mortified by this and maybe have already ridden RotR. Can you say that ride is worth 96 dollars for a family of 4 to ride once? This is the one I can’t wrap my head around, as people are saying that they’ll be gone by 7am…

Then don't pay for it.