Disney Genie and Genie+ at Walt Disney World

[JAB]

some things I'm curious to find out what will work best:

- booking 3 early and continuing to use/book again
- booking 3 later and rope dropping all you can early when there are less crowds
- modifying 2 tier 2s to tier 1s at 7am the day of

also curious on:
- what tier 1s if any will be left the day of and throughout the day
- what availability will be like throughout the day as people are able to book another as soon as they use 1
- what the pricing will be if any changes

That was the FP+ dilemma as well. Book too early, and you waste selections on walk-ons; book too late, and you lose out on availability.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

you do understand that more attractions mean more lines for people to be in or choose to FP/LL right? (thus spreading out the crowd). People don't ride the same new, hot, in-demand thing back-to-back all day long

…no way you’re gonna penetrate the Klingon’s shields, Sulu

 

[Chip Chipperson]

Isn't that what you are trying to argue? How else would there be any reduction in wait times unless people went on fewer attractions?

It shouldn't be hard to see the real world outcome of added capacity since they've done it time and time again and there has been no effective change in wait times.

Your time in the park on any given day is finite, though. There will be people who are willing to wait 2 hours to ride something new - so that's 2 hours where they aren't in line for something else. Even if all of the people waiting 2 hours will also want to ride something like Space Mountain, the wait means that others have a shorter wait as long as the wait time for the new ride stays long. This is especially true if they are adding multiple new rides to a single park and 1 isn't a headliner. Unless the new ride/land is popular enough that it draws in more new guests than it adds in capacity there will be some positive moving of the needle for wait times, even if it isn't drastic.

The issue comes when there are VQs for something new like Tron or GotG because it eliminates the need to commit to the full wait (although there is still some time commitment required for the VQ, just not nearly as much).

 

[ConfettiCupcake]

That was the FP+ dilemma as well. Book too early, and you waste selections on walk-ons; book too late, and you lose out on availability.

The use one book one feature of multi pass is intriguing to me for this reason. You can have 1 or 2 set attractions for later in the day while still being able to take advantage of the rolling FP/LL.

 

[GhostHost1000]

The use one book one feature of multi pass is intriguing to me for this reason. You can have 1 or 2 set attractions for later in the day while still being able to take advantage of the rolling FP/LL.

it's going to be interesting to see what is the best strategy for us power users

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

You may be right; I'm still dusting the cobwebs off of my old FP+ planning knowledge. The psychology of attraction tiers just seemed like it might give a reason their could be lower T1 availability day-of. I'm really curious to see what happens when the actual usage data starts rolling in. That's when the real strategy fun begins.

Tiers weren’t “psychology”…they were a public admission that their attraction slate wasn’t good enough day to day to diffuse the demand so they all complimented each other.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

The use one book one feature of multi pass is intriguing to me for this reason. You can have 1 or 2 set attractions for later in the day while still being able to take advantage of the rolling FP/LL.

It will be interesting to see what’s available a couple hours after park opening, I always booked our FPs in the 11am-2pm range, that was when the parks became so chaotic we struggled to find anything to do, I love knowing we have 3 rides to look forward to when the parks are insanely busy, we’ll most likely stick to this plan unless the next several months show there’s decent availability a couple hours into the day, in that scenario I think I’ll still book 2 of them for 11-2 but book the third close to opening to try to snag a fourth before the afternoon hotel break.

We’ve never been power users, to us the true value is in maximizing park time over maximizing the number of rides we get on.

 

[GhostHost1000]

It will be interesting to see what’s available a couple hours after park opening, I always booked our FPs in the 11am-2pm range, that was when the parks became so chaotic we struggled to find anything to do, I love knowing we have 3 rides to look forward to when the parks are insanely busy, we’ll most likely stick to this plan unless the next several months show there’s decent availability a couple hours into the day, in that scenario I think I’ll still book 2 of them for 11-2 but book the third close to opening to try to snag a fourth before the afternoon hotel break.

that might not be a bad idea.. just hard to know. If we'll be able to modify 2 tier 2's to a tier 1 at 7am, there will be many start to do that as well... and therefore the 7am scramble is back

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

that might not be a bad idea.. just hard to know. If we'll be able to modify 2 tier 2's to a tier 1 at 7am, there will be many start to do that as well... and therefore the 7am scramble is back

I wonder if Disney will have the foresight to have the app limit reservations to one tier 1 at a time to limit trickery, that could be a good hack but also would vastly decrease how long the tier 1s last.

As someone who doesn’t like waking up early to the stress of trying to get VQs, etc I hope they limit it.

 

[GhostHost1000]

does anyone know if we'll be able to overlap times when the changes take place?

example
Attraction 1 - 9:30am-10:30am
Attraction 2 - 10:15am-11:15am
Attraction 3 - 11:00am-12:00pm

 

[wedenterprises]

The way I see it, the 7 day jump gives a perk to folks staying on site.

It's only a perk once you arrive in the US.
The 7 day perk becomes less than the 3 days perk for off-site guests.

 

[ConfettiCupcake]

that might not be a bad idea.. just hard to know. If we'll be able to modify 2 tier 2's to a tier 1 at 7am, there will be many start to do that as well... and therefore the 7am scramble is back

I think 7 am is marginally improved now because:

1) those interested in maximizing their day know rope drop is vital in those plans and they’re probably up anyways

2) those who liked to stack and come in later now at least have a starting point of 1 desirable attraction and 2 of varying degrees of time saving without having to wake up at all

To me, it doesn’t matter where Disney shifts the scramble time to. Itll always be at some time of the day that’s inconvenient for someone because they just don’t have enough to go around.

 

[GhostHost1000]

I wonder if Disney will have the foresight to have the app limit reservations to one tier 1 at a time to limit trickery, that could be a good hack but also would vastly decrease how long the tier 1s last.

I wonder that as well... after all the talk about that potentially being a "work around" to get more Tier 1's... I could see them implementing a change like that. It wouldn't be hard to do logically, but changing that after the fact might get some interesting reactions

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

There were basically no “good” rides available day of during prebooking prior

To assume now there will be is a belief that not enough people will buy it.

Possible

The problem is the standbys will get worst - again - and they have multiple breakdowns of damn near everything each day

Just badly run…nothing more you can say

 

[Saskdw]

I think 7 am is marginally improved now because:

1) those interested in maximizing their day know rope drop is vital in those plans and they’re probably up anyways

2) those who liked to stack and come in later now at least have a starting point of 1 desirable attraction and 2 of varying degrees of time saving without having to wake up at all

To me, it doesn’t matter where Disney shifts the scramble time to. Itll always be at some time of the day that’s inconvenient for someone because they just don’t have enough to go around.

Technically you could have 2 top attractions if you book a paid LL and then your 3 pre-books.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Technically you could have 2 top attractions if you book a paid LL and then your 3 pre-books.

…for “a modest fee”

 

[ConfettiCupcake]

Technically you could have 2 top attractions if you book a paid LL and then your 3 pre-books.

Yup you could! Maybe even 3 if you’re hopping (I think this works?) and are in the mood to spend.

 

[Saskdw]

…for “a modest fee”

Bob needs a new car.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Bob needs a new car.

…wax for the yacht

 

[ConfettiCupcake]

There were basically no “good” rides available day of during prebooking prior

To assume now there will be is a belief that not enough people will buy it.

Possible

The problem is the standbys will get worst - again - and they have multiple breakdowns of damn near everything each day

Just badly run…nothing more you can say

This is why I think 7 am switch scramble may be moot, and it’s the refreshing and drop times after the parks open that may be the best bet. You’re right, availability was generally crap when you got close enough to the day but was workable if you knew how to mess with it during the day.