Disney Genie and Genie+ at Walt Disney World

[BaconPancakes]

I was thinking the reason to dump magic bands is that they are not Microtransaction friendly?

if it’s smartphone based…you buy, you supply the hardware and the “labor”…as it were

Magic bands seemed to be on the way out based on my trip last week. They were scarce to find and only had the same few designs in every store.

 

[RSoxNo1]

This is assuming they keep the “one and 1/2 hours between passes rule” that MaxPass had. We need more clarification. Right now, since it doesn’t say anything about it, I’m going on the assumption that you can only hold one Lightning Lane pass at a time, regardless of time between passes. I hoped I’m wrong and they follow MaxPass time rules. Otherwise you’ll have to make some tough choices between getting a late in the day pass for a coveted ride, or getting multiple passes for lower demand rides.

DAS is a different conversation.

 

[rct247]

DAS still has it's limitations and the white lies aren't the problem. The people who clearly try to use someone else's DAS, or get a DAS for grandma have her go through the line at Coaster and she not ride, or the one's that get a DAS conviently for each person in a party of 4 and each get return times for different attractions hoping a Cast Member will just grant access when they start fussing because they are not paid enough to care... Those are the people that Disney will track and eventually ban for the abuse.

And those that don't want to pay for Genie+, the regular Genie service will still give you some added benefit with some predictive wait times to at least try to point out where you can save time almost. Its like this, if you already know that you can get Pirates, Jungle, & Carpets in first thing in the morning with no wait while everyone goes to SDMT, Space, Thunder, Pan, and Splash. You still save the 40mins at pirates, the 50 at Jungle Cruise, and the 30 at Carpets you might have seen later in the day. That's your "Fastpass" without paying. Genie will try to put more of that knowledge in Guests hands to give the average visitor more value. The key is that they have to trust that Disney truly will want you to maximize your day and see a variety and just not the Instagram Billboard Chart Hits.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Yikes! They don't need to put Space Mountain on any tier. Change that to something else! Repair it and then regroup. What are they thinking?

They're thinking "Tron isn't open yet."

 

[GoofGoof]

How well did lines flow at DL with max pass once return times ran out? I haven't experienced DL, but the way you describe makes me think people are more likely to stay later because they're waiting on their return time vs "did what we wanted, so let's go hang at the pool".

It was basically just like classic FP here at WDW. Once the time slots run out you just wait standby. Some rides never sold out. Headliners did.

 

[brettf22]

DAS is a different conversation.

Sorry accidentally quoted something from you.

 

[BaconPancakes]

That prevents an employer from discriminating against you for a disability.

Wrong, it also prevents a business from requiring proof of disability.

 

[SarahWI]

Right now, since it doesn’t say anything about it, I’m going on the assumption that you can only hold one Lightning Lane pass at a time, regardless of time between passes.

I suspect you are right which theoretically makes it 15$ for one tier 2 FP

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Magic bands seemed to be on the way out based on my trip last week. They were scarce to find and only had the same few designs in every store.

The “genie” is gonna have lots of In app swipe to buy stuff….so magic bands interfere with that

 

[moorish]

Possibly, but not guaranteed. This is my best guess on how it may work. If it works similar to classic FP and maxpass its still based on availablilty with a return window and you can only reserve one ride at a time. So let’s say you get Smugglers Run for 9am return from your room at 7am and then at 8:30 (90 mins later) you book MMMR but the next time available is 3PM. At 9 you go to Smugglers Run and ride and then at 10am (90 mins after your last reservation) you can book again. You get ToT for 7PM. At that point you need to wait until 11:30am to be able to book again. Maybe RnRC is still available for 8PM. So now you have reservations for MMRR at 3, ToT at 7 and RnRC at 8. When you go on at 1PM all available rides are sold out. That would be pretty similar to an old school FP day with moderate crowds.

If it’s not busy the return times could be much sooner or even current. Then you keep booking each time you ride and never wait the 90mins. In that case you may do all of those rides and some more than once. The good part of the system is it’s online like maxpass was so you can be in the standby line for Slinky while you reserve other rides instead of needing to pull a ticket from the machine.

Oh interesting, I've never MaxPassed. I was assuming it would be more like once you've used your third FastPass and from them on, you can get a new one as soon as you've scanned in for your last one.

 

[GoofGoof]

This is assuming they keep the “one and 1/2 hours between passes rule” that MaxPass had. We need more clarification. Right now, since it doesn’t say anything about it, I’m going on the assumption that you can only hold one Lightning Lane pass at a time, regardless of time between passes. I hope I’m wrong and they follow MaxPass time rules. Otherwise you’ll have to make some tough choices between getting a late in the day pass for a coveted ride, or getting multiple passes for lower demand rides.

That won’t work. If they charge $15 a day and people only end up with 1 or 2 reservations that will kill sales.

 

[tanc]

Apparently ratatouille with be VQ too, so I guess yet another thing you can pay for to ride

 

[brettf22]

That won’t work. If they charge $15 a day and people only end up with 1 or 2 reservations that will kill sales.

Like I said, I hope I’m wrong. That part of MaxPass was very positive.

 

[djkidkaz]

So does anyone know whether you have to pay for Genie+ for all days on your ticket or can you pick and choose?

you have to pay for the length of ticket, you can’t buy it as individual days. Not sure how it will work for pass holders

 

[Waters Back Side]

DUDE - it's fastpass! Go back in time... remember it? You get one FP... when it's used, you get another.

FP+ was 3 in advance. Thats why I asked. This is like legacy or maxpass.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

That is $274 mil in profit...no new attractions, no new shows, no new anything.

Smuggler's Run, Rise of the Resistance, Runaway Railway, Slinky Dog Dash, Alien Swirling Saucers, Tron, Cosmic Rewind, Ratatouille, Flight of Passage, Na'vi River Journey, Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy, Awesome Planet, Canada Far and Wide, Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along, Wondrous China, PLAY! Pavilion.

...or did you want me to go back more than 4 years?

 

[EPCOT-O.G.]

One assumption many has here is that it will work reliably or as intended.

I do think they have some cross- (if not contrary) purposes at play. I've long felt the wait times were inflated so as to redirect you to other rides. I think there's more of a financial incentive now with this new Genie+ and LL system coming along. But, this also has a Touring Plans'-like Lines App functionality which is supposed to direct your plan for the day. The beauty and genius of the TP Lines App is that it offers real time/true waits information. I don't think Disney has an incentive to do that. So, how much is your recommended plan going to be really beneficial? I suspect everyone's mid morning stop will have it recommending Living with the Land and Country Bears Jamboree.

 

[GoofGoof]

Oh interesting, I've never MaxPassed. I was assuming it would be more like once you've used your third FastPass and from them on, you can get a new one as soon as you've scanned in for your last one.

It could work that way. Disney wants to sell as many of these Genie+ upgrades so I am assuming they will attempt to make it more worthwhile. Less Genie+ users means more standby riders so it’s a win for anyone who doesn’t buy if it’s not real popular.

 

[PizzaPlanet]

It has high demand and is one of the newest rides at MK.

Oh I know, I was being facetious.

It's a fun ride but it's probably not worth waiting in some of the long lines it gets.

 

[wutisgood]

time to just go to Tokyo Disney instead. final nail in the coffin for me.

It's pretty loony how tickets are effectively double per day at disney world. You can also stay at a ton of affordable places with public transit access and Tokyo in general is one of the best cities in the world. I'm sure for many people it is now cheaper to do there.