Disney Genie and Genie+ at Walt Disney World

[Sirwalterraleigh]

For someone who would rather see a return to Standby only, while building actual attractions that increase capacity, instead of coming up with line skipping scams. This sounds atrocious.

…but that’s the actual problem…and Bob is gonna Bob

 

[KrzyKtty]

For someone who would rather see a return to Standby only, while building actual attractions that increase capacity, instead of coming up with line skipping scams. This sounds atrocious.

But in these days, standby only is not realistic. Every major US theme park has a paid line express. Disney eliminating them all together is never going to happen.

 

[Touchdown]

I wonder if it will be worth it to prebook tier 2s when you could wait until whenever they go live for the day and book 2 tier 1 rides instead, if they remain on day of.

 

[Splash4eva]

The devil is always in the details

This also closes the loop on the raging DAS debate…they simply view it as freeloading/robbing their free queue revenue and they had to Tiananmen square it

Well i said from day 1 that the only reason they wanted to “crack” down now on DAS was to generate more money and this basically all but proves it… im not gonna debate on the fact so many are getting denied now that legit need it. Thats for the other thread lol.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Any idea if Swolphin will get the 7 day prebooking advantage?

 

[JD80]

At least the 3 pre booked have to be in same park right? Then you can book 4 and 5 and 6 at another park but only after using one in the first park.

Yes.

The only thing I don't know is if you can layer LL like you can now, or will it be like FP pre-book where the return window couldn't overlap.

 

[JD80]

This is absolutely true. It’s likely going to be possible to book more lightning lanes with genie+ today then with the new system for most guests if you know what you are doing.

Yup, after a 3PM is the point where G+ gave you more (4) vs. MP (3) if you are entering the park at that point.

 

[JD80]

I wonder if it will be worth it to prebook tier 2s when you could wait until whenever they go live for the day and book 2 tier 1 rides instead, if they remain on day of.

If you can have overlapping LLs like you can now, you can book a 9AM something and a 9AM something and quickly tap in (small world and the carousel?) and leave and book T1 if available right away.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Non-resort AP holders only getting 3 days in advance instead of 3+ length of stay or 3+ 5 reservations is pretty lousy. Is it confirmed that it's just 3 days and tough luck?

 

[rct247]

Here are my questions, some repeated:

• At a tiered park, if choose one Tier 1 selection at any time (pre-visit or day of) will I be allowed to get another Tier 1 as a subsequent selection after using my initial amount or can I only pick one Tier 1 choice period and my remaining choices be locked into Tier II?
• Similar to FP+, will they “save” a small selection of high demand experiences that drop at the different date ranges (7 days out, 3 days out, and day of) or will certain experiences potentially sell out prior to reaching day of sales?
• Similar to FP+ will I also be restricted or limited to seeing & booking times that overlap or conflict with another?
• With Genie+, we’ve seen them pull the trigger and halt sales when essentially there is too much demand and not enough capacity. Is there a chance that we will see dates sold out before day-of sales or earlier can begin?
• As I understand it, can I choose one pre-visit selection to a park and then book another park to park hop to once I use that one?
• If all my available times are booked late in the afternoon, will I still be locked out of making any further selections until I use at least one, or will there be a time limit like “once 2 hours after park open” hits I can make another one?
• Are the other benefits of Genie+ lost - digital PhotoPass attraction photos & Audio Tales?
• Will Disney Genie features still be a thing and if so, will they be advertised as such or just a feature of the My Disney Experience app?

Comments…

This has been something people have been asking for, but it’s one of those be careful what you wish for. This is still more restricted and less than the service it was before (Genie+) and before that (FP+).

One of the big issues that arose with FP+ was that they would have cases where they would full book experiences well in advance and operations didn’t have as much flexibility to account for or recover when there were downtimes and delays which resulted in longer FP line backups. In the days of original FP, sure there were some attractions that would book out early in the day…I’m looking at you Toy Story Mania. With people having to be in the park, go TO the experience and still wait for their 1st selection to be used or pass a time frame before getting another, there was some buffers for other attractions to gradually sell out. With FP and Genie+, operations would be able to pause or reduce how much they gave out when they had a downtime early in the day. You would still see a backup initially, but once that buffer time frame came, things would even back out. With FP+ and presumably with LL Multi, more attractions are prebooked expecting a pre-set hypothetical hourly target with built in contingencies, but once it exceeds that built in threshold, the volume doesn’t reduce and the operations teams have to work with these dreaded ratios that bring the standby lines to a crawl for longer.

FP+ had its perks for those that pre-plan, but it really screwed over the first time visitor that didn’t know the ins and outs or knew to pre-plan as much. With the added pay wall, Single vs. Multi, Tier 1 vs. Tier 2, LL vs. VQ vs. SB, it continues to make the Disney experience confusing and a headache along with the rules with each of those. People would also get frustrated when they book something in advance at a certain time only to find that the wait time during that period was nothing bad and they felt they wasted a choice. With the added paywall, I imagine that frustration will increase. Hope you make the right predictions.

My prediction is the next version after this will be solely LL Single purchases and essentially it will be back to the ABCDE ticket books, but just for skip the lines with a free SB line available.

My wish is for them to market FastPass Classic (but digital with a location map tied to being in the park). Free, one at a time, no pre-planning, no tiers, no individual selections, no VQs, first come first serve until they run out with inventory throttled so it doesn’t become an instant sell out.

 

[ConfettiCupcake]

Non-resort AP holders only getting 3 days in advance instead of 3+ length of stay or 3+ 5 reservations is pretty lousy. Is it confirmed that it's just 3 days and tough luck?

That’s exactly how FP+ worked if I’m remembering correct. APs with no resort stay got 30 days and no length of stay vs the resort guests with 60 days plus ticket length/length of stay. 30 days for sure, I’m hazy if there was some sort of length of stay but I don’t think there was.

 

[flynnibus]

The phycological impact is lessened because you made that decision 7+ days ago. You're not going to get a park full of power users all of the sudden.

Haha… yeah no one talks about how expensive their disney trip was because they all paid for it months ago!

 

[Doberge]

So clearly then they are making changes, based on the fact that with fewer people using it there will be more availability.

This is where I've calmed down from my initial reactions. It's still a system that will be a huge advantage to people arriving early, but the tiers + fewer people using the system (compared to FP+) should at least maintain availability a little later than I was first thinking.

 

[flynnibus]

Non-resort AP holders only getting 3 days in advance instead of 3+ length of stay or 3+ 5 reservations is pretty lousy. Is it confirmed that it's just 3 days and tough luck?

Resort bookings man… gotta pump those numbers up! MDE would cost too much… instead lets inflate lines and then give away line skips!

 

[MouseEarsMom33]

But in these days, standby only is not realistic. Every major US theme park has a paid line express. Disney eliminating them all together is never going to happen.

Disney is actually the most affordable version I have seen of this, compared to Universal (I get it's a better system, but it is expensive when you add it on top of tickets for a family) and local theme parks in my area.

 

[MouseEarsMom33]

This is where I've calmed down from my initial reactions. It's still a system that will be a huge advantage to people arriving early, but the tiers + fewer people using the system (compared to FP+) should at least maintain availability a little later than I was first thinking.

Genie+ is annoying because we cannot pick the time. There were so many times this last trip where rides were giving earlier availability than what I wanted for a later day park arrival. Several times I thought to myself that I missed Fastpass+.

I'm actually surprised to see so much negativity for this update. I get you have to pay for it, but that will never go away. I'm guessing if I was local, I would have a different perspective due to the advantage being given to resort guests.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Disney is actually the most affordable version I have seen of this, compared to Universal (I get it's a better system, but it is expensive when you add it on top of tickets for a family) and local theme parks in my area.

The cost of the top tier Universal annual pass that includes express pass after 4 pm is roughly equivalent to a 1 week park hopper for WDW at Christmas, Thanksgiving, or Easter.

 

[Mem11]

But in these days, standby only is not realistic. Every major US theme park has a paid line express. Disney eliminating them all together is never going to happen.

That's the problem, Disney used to lead, now they are the followers...

 

[JD80]

Here are my questions, some repeated:

• At a tiered park, if choose one Tier 1 selection at any time (pre-visit or day of) will I be allowed to get another Tier 1 as a subsequent selection after using my initial amount or can I only pick one Tier 1 choice period and my remaining choices be locked into Tier II?
• Similar to FP+, will they “save” a small selection of high demand experiences that drop at the different date ranges (7 days out, 3 days out, and day of) or will certain experiences potentially sell out prior to reaching day of sales?
• Similar to FP+ will I also be restricted or limited to seeing & booking times that overlap or conflict with another?
• With Genie+, we’ve seen them pull the trigger and halt sales when essentially there is too much demand and not enough capacity. Is there a chance that we will see dates sold out before day-of sales or earlier can begin?
• As I understand it, can I choose one pre-visit selection to a park and then book another park to park hop to once I use that one?
• If all my available times are booked late in the afternoon, will I still be locked out of making any further selections until I use at least one, or will there be a time limit like “once 2 hours after park open” hits I can make another one?
• Are the other benefits of Genie+ lost - digital PhotoPass attraction photos & Audio Tales?
• Will Disney Genie features still be a thing and if so, will they be advertised as such or just a feature of the My Disney Experience app?

Comments…

This has been something people have been asking for, but it’s one of those be careful what you wish for. This is still more restricted and less than the service it was before (Genie+) and before that (FP+).

One of the big issues that arose with FP+ was that they would have cases where they would full book experiences well in advance and operations didn’t have as much flexibility to account for or recover when there were downtimes and delays which resulted in longer FP line backups. In the days of original FP, sure there were some attractions that would book out early in the day…I’m looking at you Toy Story Mania. With people having to be in the park, go TO the experience and still wait for their 1st selection to be used or pass a time frame before getting another, there was some buffers for other attractions to gradually sell out. With FP and Genie+, operations would be able to pause or reduce how much they gave out when they had a downtime early in the day. You would still see a backup initially, but once that buffer time frame came, things would even back out. With FP+ and presumably with LL Multi, more attractions are prebooked expecting a pre-set hypothetical hourly target with built in contingencies, but once it exceeds that built in threshold, the volume doesn’t reduce and the operations teams have to work with these dreaded ratios that bring the standby lines to a crawl for longer.

FP+ had its perks for those that pre-plan, but it really screwed over the first time visitor that didn’t know the ins and outs or knew to pre-plan as much. With the added pay wall, Single vs. Multi, Tier 1 vs. Tier 2, LL vs. VQ vs. SB, it continues to make the Disney experience confusing and a headache along with the rules with each of those. People would also get frustrated when they book something in advance at a certain time only to find that the wait time during that period was nothing bad and they felt they wasted a choice. With the added paywall, I imagine that frustration will increase. Hope you make the right predictions.

My prediction is the next version after this will be solely LL Single purchases and essentially it will be back to the ABCDE ticket books, but just for skip the lines with a free SB line available.

My wish is for them to market FastPass Classic (but digital with a location map tied to being in the park). Free, one at a time, no pre-planning, no tiers, no individual selections, no VQs, first come first serve until they run out with inventory throttled so it doesn’t become an instant sell out.

1) Tiered attraction only matter for pre-booking. Once you're in the park and T1 attractions are available you can have as many as you can get.

2) No one knows, but I have to assume there will be drops.

3) I don't think we know yet if they will allow LL to overlap. Currently the do.

4) Disney reserves the right to stop the sale of MultiPass at any time just like G+ based on availability.

5) Yes - in order to book a LL for a second park you'll need to use one LL in the first park.

6) Don't know.

7) Genie is still a thing supposedly.

 

[MouseEarsMom33]

The cost of the top tier Universal annual pass that includes express pass after 4 pm is roughly equivalent to a 1 week park hopper for WDW at Christmas, Thanksgiving, or Easter.

I didn't know about annual pass benefit. That is nice. I have not been to Universal and was looking at 2 ticket days this summer with express pass. It would have cost me over $2200 for only 2 days with a family of 4. The express pass regular would have been $190 per day per person. If I had decided to go, I would have booked a stay at their deluxe hotel for the express pass benefit as it would have been cheaper to do that.