Disney Genie and Genie+ at Walt Disney World

[Disney Glimpses]

The way I see this playing out is that it's a huge resort guest perk and more than meets the eye. First off, you could actually get 5 LL selections in advance (counting your two individual selections). So, once resort guests get through with making their selections 4-7 days before their visit, it's safe to say that the very, very popular attractions are going to be the ones with thin or no inventory (Tiana, Slinky, Rat, Space, etc.).

At that point what day ticket guest or AP is going to buy the service if they can't even gain access to a single headliner or E-ticket attraction? I don't think very many quite honestly. The result should be very healthy inventory for resort guests' 4th, 5th, 6th selection (Pirates, Peter Pan, etc).

Remember, you have to make your attraction selection before purchasing -- most APs and day ticket guests will balk at the remaining availability.

Resort guests should be able to basically ride anything they want, without a long wait, every single day, if they're willing to pay.

 

[GhostHost1000]

Does this mean we’re back to 3 max/day?

it was never 3 max/day

 

[DCLcruiser]

I found FP+ less stressful because it was free. If I booked something and didn't think I could make it because plans were flexible and we wanted to do something else, it worked great to cancel. Now there's real money involved and less flexibility because now people will feel they need to go to a park to use a paid selection made a week ago.

You always paid for it. FP was not free, it was just included. Now, as with Genie+, if you want to save money, you can stand in the steerage standby line.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I think I lived that with the patriots offense last season. But I accept that as my penance for the run we just had

Unfortunately…that was also the Steelers

 

[monothingie]

It really depends on how it is received

They have heard people whining about fastpass+ for 5 years now…so they’re rolling it back with fee.

They need money. There is zero doubt about that. They’ll push it to the edge and beyond. Stay tuned

It's going to be received very well until people see how much it costs them up front.

It's one thing to buy G+ or a LL when you're in the thick of it high on the pixie dust. It's a totally different experience when you've added a couple of hundred dollars in LL redemptions into your shopping cart and check out from your kitchen table.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

it was never 3 max/day

Functionally more often than not

So if you REALLY like laugh floor and one man’s dream

 

[monothingie]

You always paid for it. FP was not free, it was just included. Now, as with Genie+, if you want to save money, you can stand in the steerage standby line.

Wow I can feel my guest experience improving already!

No wait, that's a stroke.

 

[wedenterprises]

Will those staying on property be able to start booking LLs for the 24th on the 17th?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

It's going to be received very well until people see how much it costs them up front.

It's one thing to buy G+ or a LL when you're in the thick of it high on the pixie dust. It's a totally different experience when you've added a couple of hundred dollars in LL redemptions into your shopping cart and check out from your kitchen table.

…they’re banking that Disney customers are immature and stupid…

…no further comment

 

[BrianLo]

This wasn't that hard to fix... 1 attraction in advance. That's all you had to do. The Tier 2 attractions don't add enough value to justify the extra complexity.

The one moderately pleasant surprise is you only need to do 1 attraction to have access to whatever scraps are left for the day of Lightning Lanes.

Technically, doesn’t this actually achieve what you wanted? 1LL you actually want and ability to get the additional T1 selection from the get go once you use it.

As for the ‘why bother’ with the x2 T2? I think Disney wanted to get back into a situation that they didn’t have to refund this product constantly. If you only get the three things you selected, you knew exactly what you were buying. I think many FP+ guests never even made a fourth selection from my recollection.

 

[donsullivan]

Will those staying on property be able to start booking LLs for the 24th on the 17th?

Every indication is that this will be a hard start with no advance selection/purchase before the 24th whether you are resort guest or not.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

You always paid for it. FP was not free, it was just included. Now, as with Genie+, if you want to save money, you can stand in the steerage standby line.

Tickets were $48 a day with tax when fastpass came in. Crystal palace was $20/$10

Annual were $299/$399

All of those products have diminished significantly in value since

Details

 

[Dr.GrantSeeker]

The more I am thinking about this, the 7 day booking window seems to go with what @lentesta was saying a few months ago about resort policies changing. Correct me if I am wrong, did you mention room cancelations were changing to 7/8 days out? This way you can't book a room, make your selections and then cancel you room and keep you ride selections?

 

[ConfettiCupcake]

The tiering is brutal, harder to swallow than in the past now that it is no longer included with ticket. Combined with the individual attractions even more so.

I’ll have a hard time calling this an improvement unless it proves to function well on the go day of. You cannot get good value out of the initial selections alone in my opinion.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Well, @lentesta looked to be 100% correct on this. They managed to take the most complicated components of each of these systems, combine them and put them behind a paywall. Bang up job Disney.

This wasn't that hard to fix... 1 attraction in advance. That's all you had to do. The Tier 2 attractions don't add enough value to justify the extra complexity.

The one moderately pleasant surprise is you only need to do 1 attraction to have access to whatever scraps are left for the day of Lightning Lanes.

Len testa knows more about wdw than the idiot in the picture attached.

I pretty much agree with you…which isn’t the standard

 

[the_rich]

it was a balancing game... # of guests... but still needing to be able to get so many to purchase to make $

Agreed, but that particular poster said they would raise them to a much higher price point.

 

[nickys]

I found FP+ less stressful because it was free. If I booked something and didn't think I could make it because plans were flexible and we wanted to do something else, it worked great to cancel. Now there's real money involved and less flexibility because now people will feel they need to go to a park to use a paid selection made a week ago.

You can modify them. It’ll work just like FP+ except that because it’s paid there will be far fewer people using it.

I know not everyone will like the changes though.

 

[DCBaker]

Will those staying on property be able to start booking LLs for the 24th on the 17th?

You'll be able to book them beginning July 24.

 

[monothingie]

…they’re banking that Disney customers are immature and stupid…

…no further comment

I'm as immature and stupid as the best of them, but my good friend Mr. Visa takes a keen interest in getting paid on time.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

The more I am thinking about this, the 7 day booking window seems to go with what @lentesta was saying a few months ago about resort policies changing. Correct me if I am wrong, did you mention room cancelations were changing to 7/8 days out? This way you can't book a room, make your selections and then cancel you room and keep you ride selections?

That would Eliminate the ghost rooms

Which were always scummy…frankly