Disney Genie and Genie+ at Walt Disney World

[Jeff4272]

Ok is there a way in “my genie day” or whatever to see the rest of my travel party for the day? All I can see is me now, the rest of my family is gone even though in “future plans” I can see everyone’s ticket each day.

Again you arent seeing a BUSY park day. Until we start seeing 8,9,10 crowd levels its a bit of a joke to test this. Yes it needs to be done and Thank God they didnt start it during the Holiday rushes, but until its going under those loads, which in Summer it will be for days, thats when we will see at least to me if its worth it or not. I am still scared to death this Genie+ nonsense is going to implode the first time we get to a High Crowd day, and I dont want to ruin my wife's birthday with it over Thanksgiving.
Yes, I am very curious to see what will happen on a 8, 9, or 10 day when people pay for Genie+, get 1-2 rides in, and then find out LLs are all gone for all the other popular attractions. I remember those paper FP days, getting to the kiosks to find out FPs were all gone by 10am! I think we will find that Genie+ will only work well on a 6 or 7 day - low crowds you don’t need it, high crowds it’s not worth it.

Couldn’t agree more. I think this is the problem. People think it’s going to help during busy days and I think it’s going to be a disaster

 

[FeelsSoGoodToBeBad]

I don't. But I also don't go to a whole lot of other parks. Primarily Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom (incredibly lame park but it's only 15 minutes from my house across the river in Kentucky.)

I'm from Lanesville, IN myself! Good to see another Kentuckiana person around.

 

[G00fyDad]

Sellersburg here.

 

[Jeff4272]

I understand that. My question is when I see people complain about paying for a skip the line system, do any of you ever go visit other parks or buy it other parks?

No

 

[FeelsSoGoodToBeBad]

Sellersburg here.

My moms' house is in Sellersburg (Deer Run)! Small world!!

I also have never paid for a skip-the-line pass (and last I was at KY Kingdom they didn't offer one, iirc). Dollywood had one a few years ago and I seriously thought about using it, but ultimately decided not to look into it further and tempt myself.

We will be paying for it when we stay at UO on the second half of our June trip as part of our hotel rate at PBH. I'm looking forward to trying it. Not sure if we'll do it at WDW, but I'm absolutely tempted, given it is likely to be quite busy when we go.

 

[RoadiJeff]

I understand that. My question is when I see people complain about paying for a skip the line system, do any of you ever go visit other parks or buy it other parks?

I view the Genie+ and ILL charges from the eyes of someone who recently paid $170 for a basic one-day Express Pass at Universal. For that money, in addition to the $132 cost of the ticket into the park, I skipped the lines 7 times. I figured that cost me close to $25 per line skip. So far, none of the WDW ILL attractions are that expensive.

 

[Trauma]

Don’t edit my posts. It’s rude.

What I said was correct the first time.

Of course they know they could. They also know that the negatives of doing so far outweigh the positives. Encouraging LL sales is not even remotely one of the reasons why wait times are often inflated. In fact, executive leadership, the very leadership you think would inflate to improve sales, is the group most against inflated wait times.

Since you know the exact causes for increased wait times do you mind sharing with the class?

 

[Jrb1979]

I don't. But I also don't go to a whole lot of other parks. Primarily Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom (incredibly lame park but it's only 15 minutes from my house across the river in Kentucky.) and occasionally Kings Island in Ohio. I'm not even sure there's a line skip option it either of those two parks. I don't go to Universal Orlando because it's just not ever been worth it to me.

They both do have skip the line systems. Kings Island's is $90 if bought online. Kentucky Kingdom is worth going to, especially now that Hershend took over. Their other parks are some of the best in the US in Dollywood and Silver Dollar city.

 

[drizgirl]

They both do have skip the line systems. Kings Island's is $90 if bought online. Kentucky Kingdom is worth going to, especially now that Hershend took over. Their other parks are some of the best in the US in Dollywood and Silver Dollar city.

How does the basic admission prices compare?

 

[Jrb1979]

How does the basic admission prices compare?

It's all relative. While it maybe twice the price to get into Disney compared to Kings Island or Kentucky Kingdom, Disney's is the cheapest out there.

 

[Waters Back Side]

I partially disagree with it not being worth it in high crowd days. If you judge it by the people who post here 2 to rides a day makes Genie- worth it. Take DHS, if you get SDD and MMRR with Genie+ it's worth it.

IMO people need stop looking at Genie+ as FP+. To be happy with 3 rides for $15 is why Disney loves you. It's easy to satisfy you. If I'm paying $15 I want 6 to 8 rides at minimum.

HS only has 9 rides and AK has 6. I am sorry but If I had the choice of using Genie + for Swirling Suacers, Star Tours, Toy Story Mania, Tower of Terror and RNRC in the same day oor Slinky Dog, Smugglers and one or two of those, I'd choose the latter. This is only because Slinky and Smugglers will sell out if you do not choose them. Whereas the others will still be available late into the day to book and I'd be willing to wait in line on some of the less popular attractions. That's just me though.

 

[G00fyDad]

They both do have skip the line systems. Kings Island's is $90 if bought online. Kentucky Kingdom is worth going to, especially now that Hershend took over. Their other parks are some of the best in the US in Dollywood and Silver Dollar city.

Hopefully they can do something good for Kentucky Kingdom because the last time I went it was a dilapidated and run down.

 

[Jrb1979]

Hopefully they can do something good for Kentucky Kingdom because the last time I went it was a dilapidated and run down.

Six Flags hasn't owned it in years. From videos I've seen it's changed a lot. It has 1 of the best coasters in the US in Storm Chaser.

 

[wutisgood]

Six Flags hasn't owned it in years. From videos I've seen it's changed a lot. It has 1 of the best coasters in the US in Storm Chaser.

great small park. Add a few elements of dollywood and it's a real value.

 

[wutisgood]

The only reason I'm buying Genie plus this next time and paying for some ILLs it's because this is my last Disney trip. If I had any desire to go to Disney pass this next trip then I wouldn't bother with it. Seeing if this is my last trip coming up next year then I want to be able to ride certain things at least one more time. It irritates me to absolutely no end that I'm having to pay for this stuff but at this point it is what it is.

My friend is going with his parents on a last big trip before they go offsite or other places type of thing. He has to spend 4200 for 2 people before airfare and food. They could have just gotten a week at universal with express and still been able to buy 5 days at disney for the 4 of them. I think the time to stop was yesterday. Disney hasn't even opened a number of rides yet. I think disney is severely underestimating the sticker shock/ willingness to spend as a one time thing after the pandemic. Inflation and gas prices are already crushing a lot of the finances from people I know that would plan these inflated trips.

 

[HauntedPirate]

I don’t think this. I know this.

Wait times are not inflated to sway guests towards LL.

Good enough for me, thank you!

So then the question becomes: What do they need to do to get posted wait times more accurate?

 

[drizgirl]

It's all relative. While it maybe twice the price to get into Disney compared to Kings Island or Kentucky Kingdom, Disney's is the cheapest out there.

Of course it's relative. But a lot of people were willing to pay more for admission to Disney because FP was included. Now it's like they want to go back to the ticket books of days gone by, but overlaid on a system of all access pricing.

 

[Patcheslee]

So with reports of actual wait times being shorter than posted wait times, do we know if red cards are being used again? If they are, that’s good, and the discrepancy between actual and posted wait time just needs some tweaking. If not, well, then the somewhat-obvious conclusion that many will draw is wait times are being manipulated, intentionally or not, and consumers are thus being “encouraged” to purchase an ILL. I’m honestly trying to give some benefit of the doubt here, but that is becoming more and more difficult to do with each money-making effort that Di$ney unveils.

If they wanted to invest in more accurate queue times, the technology is probably out there. It could be as simple as a sensor at queue entry that counts people. Combine with ride info of capacity/cycle time and it could calculate the time. If the technology isn't there I call dibs lol

 

[Patcheslee]

I'm from Lanesville, IN myself! Good to see another Kentuckiana person around.

I'm up in Seymour, IN. You're closer to Holiday World fun little park

 

[Ayla]

Assuming you arrive there that early. As I said, I did not get to my hotel until around 5:00pm the day I arrived in Orlando.

Also, I previously did not include Hard Rock's $28/day parking fee, their $15/day microwave rental (??? - every hotel I've ever stayed at it was included in the room price, along with a mini fridge), and a 12% daily tax based on the room. So, for $70 per day at a Comfort Inn and $170 for an Express Pass I paid $240 plus whatever cost of ticket admission regardless of where I stayed vs close to $525 per day at Hard Rock when all their nickel and dime add-ons were figured in. For me, it was an easy choice.

Disney charges a daily parking fee, rooms don't have microwaves unless you're in DVC and their tax rate is the same or similar.