News Disney Genie digital assistant app coming to Walt Disney World

[DisneyDodo]

If most of the top rides go to the standby pass virtual queue, it won't be, especially since you can only be in one at once.

If it's noon and you're at Hollywood Studios and have a standby pass for Tower of Terror at 3:30, and Slinky Dog, Smugglers Run, Star Tours, MMRR, and Rock N Roller Coaster have also all activated the standby pass system... you don't have a ton of options left for how to spend those 3 and a half hours.

At first glance that seems like less of an issue at the Magic Kingdom. However, if all the headliners there are in standby pass mode, it will just push everyone to the lesser attractions and you'll end up with very long lines for rides like Winnie the Pooh and Little Mermaid because people have nowhere else to go.

You’re return time would not be for 3:30. That would imply the line would have been 3.5 hours plus however long the physical standby line is. That never happens. In theory, you should be getting on ToT at the same time you would have without Standby Pass, only now you would be spending part of that wait time outside the physical queue.

 

[Jeff4272]

You’re return time would not be for 3:30. That would imply the line would have been 3.5 hours plus however long the physical standby line is. That never happens. In theory, you should be getting on ToT at the same time you would have without Standby Pass, only now you would be spending part of that wait time outside the physical queue.

Not true..........think of this like the old paper FP.........the popular ones get absorbed first so the rush of people will use up the inventory for the top rides, especially since it can be done on your phone (like MaxPass) and you wont have to "run" to get a ticket

So your choice will be ride a less popular ride with a shorter return time and like miss the popular ride and pay for FP

OR

Take the popular ride ticket for later return time to ensure you get it and pay for FP for the other rides


This will induce brand new strategies on how to maximize rides and minimize paying (or said another way frustrate the hell out of guests)

 

[JusticeDisney]

Is this new Disney Genie app something that will replace the MDE app, or is it something that will be used in addition to the MDE app?

 

[Jeff4272]

Is this new Disney Genie app something that will replace the MDE app, or is it something that will be used in addition to the MDE app?

From my understanding it will be part of the MDE app

 

[AEfx]

You know what would be wicked cool?

If maybe, say, they just put a queue up at each attraction - and when you wanted to ride that attraction, you walked over to it, got in line, waited your turn, and then experienced the attraction.

I know it sounds weird - but gosh, golly if I don't think it would be an easier way to do things.

 

[UNCgolf]

AK is basically is a high priced Zoo. The only 2 'rides' worth doing more than once are Avatar and EE.

It's a great park if you have never been but it needs more rides to make me want to go back

I think it's the best park on property right now and Kiliminjaro Safari is the most repeatable ride at WDW.

It does need more attractions, though.

 

[JusticeDisney]

From my understanding it will be part of the MDE app

Oh ok, I gotcha. That would make more sense than creating a whole new app. Thanks!

 

[UNCgolf]

You’re return time would not be for 3:30. That would imply the line would have been 3.5 hours plus however long the physical standby line is. That never happens. In theory, you should be getting on ToT at the same time you would have without Standby Pass, only now you would be spending part of that wait time outside the physical queue.

I don't believe that's accurate. If, e.g., they cap the standby line at 60 minutes, then as more and more people sign up for the Standby Pass the return time would move further and further away. It would only stay exactly the same if they capped the number of people who can sign up for the virtual queue.

While there's no guarantee this will ever happen in practice (and probably wouldn't on most rides), if they turn on the standby pass for a ride with a 1500 person hourly capacity and 4000 people sign up for it within the first 10 minutes, the those last few hundred people would have a return time that's almost 3 hours away. I can see this happening at Flight of Passage, considering it gets 3+ hour standby waits already.

Plus, people are more incentivized to sign up for the standby pass because they don't actually have to wait in a 3 hour standby line. More people will be willing to do it than would be willing to physically stand in a line that long. Capping people to one at a time will help that to an extent, of course.

 

[DisneyDodo]

Not true..........think of this like the old paper FP.........the popular ones get absorbed first so the rush of people will use up the inventory for the top rides, especially since it can be done on your phone (like MaxPass) and you wont have to "run" to get a ticket

So your choice will be ride a less popular ride with a shorter return time and like miss the popular ride and pay for FP

OR

Take the popular ride ticket for later return time to ensure you get it and pay for FP for the other rides

Standby Pass would only be available once the line hits a certain length. And once you book it, you would not be able to book another Standby Pass until that one is used. If there were so many people holding Standby Passes for ToT that the next window was 3.5 hours away, there certainly couldn't be that many people holding Standby Passes for the other rides. Why would you pick up a Standby Pass for ToT for 3:30 when you could get SDD or RnRC or TSM or MFSR for, say, 1? You wouldn't, and neither would anyone else, which is why this would never happen.

The bottom line is that none of these systems either create or destroy capacity. The same number of people would ride ToT with or without Standby Pass. Thankfully, Standby Pass will be free. The problem is with paid line-management systems, which inevitably cost all guests - either in money or time.

 

[UNCgolf]

Why would you pick up a Standby Pass for ToT for 3:30 when you could get SDD or RnRC or TSM or MFSR for, say, 1? You wouldn't, and neither would anyone else, which is why this would never happen.

Some people would. You're assuming everyone wants to ride every ride. If a person is only interested in ToT, that's what they're going to get regardless of the other available options.

Beyond that, the parks already don't have enough capacity for the number of people who currently attend them. It's not going to happen on every day of the year, but at max crowd times it's almost inevitable that some of the virtual queues will stretch out for a couple of hours.

 

[DisneyDodo]

I don't believe that's accurate. If, e.g., they cap the standby line at 60 minutes, then as more and more people sign up for the Standby Pass the return time would move further and further away. It would only stay exactly the same if they capped the number of people who can sign up for the virtual queue.

While there's no guarantee this will ever happen in practice (and probably wouldn't on most rides), if they turn on the standby pass for a ride with a 1500 person hourly capacity and 4000 people sign up for it within the first 10 minutes, the those last few hundred people would have a return time that's almost 3 hours away. I can see this happening at Flight of Passage, considering it gets 3+ hour standby waits already.

Plus, people are more incentivized to sign up for the standby pass because they don't actually have to wait in a 3 hour standby line. More people will be willing to do it than would be willing to physically stand in a line that long. Capping people to one at a time will help that to an extent, of course.

I wasn't making the case that a 3.5-hour wait for a Standby Pass couldn't happen in theory, but that it wouldn't happen for ToT in practice, as ToT never approaches 4.5-hour lines. For FoP, we could certainly see more distant windows.

You're right that lines would likely get a bit longer on average, as guests would prefer to get on a line they don't have to physically wait for. But that works to your benefit too! Think about it this way: you could in theory grab a Standby Pass for a ride at noon with a 1pm return time and then eat lunch while you "wait." Perhaps the 2-hour total wait is longer than it would have been without SBPs, but you were going to spend an hour eating lunch anyway, so that didn't really cost you any time.

 

[VJ]

Denial isnt a river in Egypt

sounds like you're in....

......africa

 

[DisneyDodo]

Some people would. You're assuming everyone wants to ride every ride. If a person is only interested in ToT, that's what they're going to get regardless of the other available options.

Beyond that, the parks already don't have enough capacity for the number of people who currently attend them. It's not going to happen on every day of the year, but at max crowd times it's almost inevitable that some of the virtual queues will stretch out for a couple of hours.

I'm not assuming that, or anything. I'm asserting there aren't enough people who want to ride only ToT that the line would reach 4.5 hours. If there were, we would see 4.5-hour lines for ToT now!

You're right that the parks lack capacity! That's a problem today and will be with Standby Pass. SBP will neither alleviate not exacerbate this problem. The capacity will remain the same. Today, lines can get really long. With SBP, they will too, except you will be able to do other things while you wait.

 

[VJ]

Glad to see consumers aren’t that stupid.

parisians aren't that stupid

americans... [gestures vaguely]

it'll be a hit here

 

[UNCgolf]

I'm not assuming that, or anything. I'm asserting there aren't enough people who want to ride only ToT that the line would reach 4.5 hours. If there were, we would see 4.5-hour lines for ToT now!

You're right that the parks lack capacity! That's a problem today and will be with Standby Pass. SBP will neither alleviate not exacerbate this problem. The capacity will remain the same. Today, lines can get really long. With SBP, they will too, except you will be able to do other things while you wait.

I agree it won't ever get that long for Tower of Terror specifically -- I was just using that as an extreme example. The second sentence isn't completely accurate, though. There are a lot people who will sign up for a standby pass with an 1.5 hour return time that would not have been willing to get into an actual 2.5 hour long queue. Although we won't know until we see it in practice, it could easily increase overall wait times on major attractions.

Re: your second paragraph, that's the issue I was pointing out. There just aren't that many other things to do while you wait if you can't go get in line for another ride and you don't need to eat. They've homogenized the shops so much that there's not much reason to explore them, and they'll likely be much busier than usual anyways because of all the people who are in a standby pass virtual queue. All the smaller attractions will also have their lines increase significantly because people don't have anywhere else to go. Rides like Winnie the Pooh and Little Mermaid will likely see their wait times skyrocket as people go to them while waiting for a standby pass return time.

 

[sup]

Hmmmmm

Not trying to be mean here but did you not hear Chapek on the eps call last night? It's coming this month and you have to pay....

did he indicate a price? did he indicate a per day per person price or price per ride like Paris

 

[jpinkc]

did he indicate a price? did he indicate a per day per person price or price per ride like Paris

No I he purposely did not. IMHO because its I hope gonna be a Major $#!#STORM when they do. I really hope I am wrong and they dont do it. But I think all HOPE is GONE at this point. Some people said you could here his Drool hitting the floor when talking about monetization of this...

 

[sup]

No I he purposely did not. IMHO because its I hope gonna be a Major $#!#STORM when they do. I really hope I am wrong and they dont do it. But I think all HOPE is GONE at this point. Some people said you could here his Drool hitting the floor when talking about monetization of this...

hes a creep.

 

[DisneyDodo]

But still completely optional. People are fretting like Disney is forcing them. The standby will still be there

In the past, for most guests, the very long standby waits were partially offset by very short FP+ waits. The problem is that once the new system is introduced, if you don't pay for line-skipping access, you will have to wait exclusively in standby lines. For the same price, you would experience significantly fewer attractions.

In theory, if the cost of the FPs is so high such that few guests purchase them, the standby wait times should drop significantly. But if Disney is successfully able to get enough guests to buy FPs, it will be disastrous for those who don't pay.

 

[UNCgolf]

In theory, if the cost of the FPs is so high such that few guests purchase them, the standby wait times should drop significantly. But if Disney is successfully able to get enough guests to buy FPs, it will be disastrous for those who don't pay.

This is what I forgot to mention in my earlier discussion of the standby pass. You also have to factor in the people who are buying FP for the ride. If it's a lot of people, those standby pass return times could easily end up being several hours away because of the need to reserve all the spaces for FP holders. It's possible that only 1000 people in the virtual queue could be a 2-3 hour wait because of everyone using FP.