Disney Genie, Genie+ officially introduced along with confirmed details of how it will work

[jpinkc]

Parks still aren't at full capacity and they are selling out. I'm thinking they aren't allocating much capacity to LL... The only question is why.

WHY? $$$$$$$ For Slappie to show how good he is doing. I think the parks are back to pre pandemic capacity from our Disney Agent. She was told that they are back to normal and not controling attendance below the normal (pre pandemic) operating levels. Just short on staff just about everywhere, but they were not operating at 50% crowd capacity or anything like that anymore.

 

[Ayla]

Every single hotel room, DVC property and restaurant is 100% booked........You cannot get 1 night at any hotel......even during the busy times in years past there would be campsites, all stars, pop or good neighbor availability.......

Not this year....Pent up demand travel is here and this will be a real test of Genie+

Disney won't book only one night.

 

[CAV]

This is super disheartening. I will be there next week.

If you want to ride SDD via LL, it has to be your first selection.

So, unless you get one between 9-11am, you won't be able to book again until 11am and most likely everything will be mid - late afternoon, if available at all.

Irritating, but unfortunate, when they were "included", but now when people are paying a la carte pricing, it's going to be a HUGE problem for Disney.

Huge problem? Probably not. PT Barnum said someone is always willing to pay $15 to ride SDD or something like that.

 

[JakeAZ]

Huge problem? Probably not. PT Barnum said someone is always willing to pay $15 to ride SDD or something like that.

That PT Barnum guy always knew what to say.

Huge problem in that guests are going to be complaining left and right if they end up getting 2/3 LL times over the course of a park being open for 12 hours.

Not a huge problem for Disney's bank account. But I'd hate to be working guest recovery for the next couple months.

 

[RoadiJeff]

From reading this thread, it doesn't sound like the war cries of boycotting Disney due to higher prices and less choices has had much of an influence on the general attendance.

 

[JakeAZ]

From reading this thread, it doesn't sound like the war cries of boycotting Disney due to higher prices and less choices has had much of an influence on the general attendance.

Everything right now is pent up demand. Trips that were canceled in 2020. DVC points that need to be used.

But I can tell you, after our trip next week (2020 reschedule), I have no desire to go back. The kids will get their trip, but the prospect of DVC ownership or every 2/3 year trips is long gone.

The is the first time I've planned a comprehensive trip where it doesn't matter what we do, where we stay or how much money we throw at it....it just always feels like we haven't spent enough.

I'm sure there will be plenty of people behind us, but I sense a breaking point, for many, coming.

 

[dreday3]

Everything right now is pent up demand. Trips that were canceled in 2020. DVC points that need to be used.

But I can tell you, after our trip next week (2020 reschedule), I have no desire to go back. The kids will get their trip, but the prospect of DVC ownership or every 2/3 year trips is long gone.

The is the first time I've planned a comprehensive trip where it doesn't matter what we do, where we stay or how much money we throw at it....it just always feels like we haven't spent enough.

I'm sure there will be plenty of people behind us, but I sense a breaking point, for many, coming.

We actually left this trip pretty excited to go back in 2023. I feel like I did no planning at all for this trip!

Hopefully things will be back to normal as far as pandemic stuff/supply issues.
Looking forward to what Epcot is going to look like. Hopefully returning to stay in Epcot resort loop.

And most importantly, will finally be just the two of us again!!!

I knew our October trip would be/feel different, and it did. But that's a pandemic for you.

 

[mikejs78]

WHY? $$$$$$$ For Slappie to show how good he is doing. I think the parks are back to pre pandemic capacity from our Disney Agent. She was told that they are back to normal and not controling attendance below the normal (pre pandemic) operating levels. Just short on staff just about everywhere, but they were not operating at 50% crowd capacity or anything like that anymore.

I do not think that's true. A travel agent would not have any knowledge on park capacity. I know for October 1 they capped MK at 40,000 for example.

Does anyone know if they are still restricting capacity? @ToTBellHop @peter11435? I mean, tomorrow you can't get a reservation for MK or Epcot. I doubt it's at pre-pandemic phased closing levels right now.

 

[JakeAZ]

Does anyone know if they are still restricting capacity (even if they aren't hitting those caps)?

MK are HS are "full" the week of Thanksgiving. AK on same days too. Epcot is the only park with full availability.

 

[mikejs78]

MK are HS are "full" the week of Thanksgiving. AK on same days too. Epcot is the only park with full availability.

Tomorrow Epcot and MK are out of capacity. Today it was all parks except AK. Pre-pandemic they never had a phased closing in November.

 

[VaderTron]

That would also mean they didn't have a ton of room to increase Genie+ slots on days when attendance skyrockets.

I don't think that's true, as it would mean a bunch of Genie+ rides would have no slots left for the entire day before the park even opened.

Idk that sounds about right for a park system that has not been interested in capacity increases for decades. I see that definitely happening... to others, not me. Since I don't go anymore after Slappy butchered my happy place.

 

[TrojanUSC]

When Genie+ first debuted, it looked pretty good -- you can get G+ on most rides with a limited wait, sometimes no wait at all. So I really thought I should get Genie+. Right now it's not looking so good at all. For example, Pirates is 35 minutes wait, but G+ is for 2 hours later. Why? Fastpass should not be much longer than wait time being that you are just waiting virtually, and wait time should be calculated with total number of fastpass and in line people together. This makes Genie+ not dependable and not worthwhile. I am rather disappointed. I was going to get G+ for sure, but now it doesn't look like it's worth it. Hm.

That's not how it works. This was the exact process with the vintage paper FPs. They only allocate so many per hour so the FP/LL lines do not fill up. Due to this, once the allocation fills for any specific window it rolls to the next available window. This is why, at Disneyland pre-pandemic, you'd often find Radiator Springs Racers fully distributed by 11AM or so.

In your Pirates example, yes its only 35 minutes but maybe 5 minutes with LL. So you could go do things that you might do after pirates (grab lunch, wait for another attraction, etc) then you return to little wait.

 

[VaderTron]

From reading this thread, it doesn't sound like the war cries of boycotting Disney due to higher prices and less choices has had much of an influence on the general attendance.

People had these trips booked for months if not over a year. The trickle down effect of dissatisfaction won't show till next year sometime. By the time they realize people are mad and are not coming back those people probably will have discovered much more satisfying vacations for less cost. If there's a downturn in the market they're in trouble. New customers don't have the same baked-in loyalty of the old Disney fans.

 

[mikejs78]

This is why, at Disneyland pre-pandemic, you'd often find Radiator Springs Racers fully distributed by 11AM or so.

It's one thing if one or two attractions fill up quickly. It's a whole other thing if you're paying for line skipping and all the attractions are gone by early afternoon.

By the time they realize people are mad and are not coming back those people probably will have discovered much more satisfying vacations for less cost

You're assuming everyone feels like you do.

 

[diggity16]

HS today proved to me that Genie can’t handle bigger crowds. And frankly there were just too many damn people there. The waits for everything were outrageous.

Ok back to Genie…At 7 we tried to book SDD for the time it showed (9) and ended up with 1. At 9 when we could book our ILL, Rise was already sold out. And so this began a long day of LL filling up and selling out. We rode 3 rides total on LL and the rest roughed it in standby. A total waste of money.

My advice for those going during busy times is think twice before wasting your money on something you won’t even be able to use. I wanted to like Genie but this was a complete failure.

 

[RSoxNo1]

FYI, Blog Mickey's article wasn't about distribution rates it was about merge point allocation. There is nothing really new here as policies were similar for Fastpass.

 

[RSoxNo1]

HS today proved to me that Genie can’t handle bigger crowds. And frankly there were just too many damn people there. The waits for everything were outrageous.

Ok back to Genie…At 7 we tried to book SDD for the time it showed (9) and ended up with 1. At 9 when we could book our ILL, Rise was already sold out. And so this began a long day of LL filling up and selling out. We rode 3 rides total on LL and the rest roughed it in standby. A total waste of money.

My advice for those going during busy times is think twice before wasting your money on something you won’t even be able to use. I wanted to like Genie but this was a complete failure.

One big problem with Genie+ is that by taking out the two highest demand attractions from each park, the Genie+ pressure trickles down to the next level of attraction. I hated Fastpass+, but felt that the original Fastpass as well as MaxPass had many things going for it. Genie+ with the additional upcharges make for a significant pool of Lightning Lane reservations pulled out of rotation.

At this point, I think each park should be reduced to one upcharge attraction to actually make Genie+ have value. The cheapest upcharge Lightning Lane is $7 and as such you have to assume that the "value" of each Genie+ Lightning Lane that's included in the $15 is no more than $7 and probably closer to $5. This means you need to be able to get at least 4 uses to get the "value" out of it.

While I'd like to see the service eliminated entirely and have everything revert to complimentary, day of only Fastpass on a digitized system, if that's not an option I think reducing the upcharges to one attraction per park is realistic.

MK - Mine Train until TRON opens
DHS - Rise of the Resistance
EP - Ratatouille until Cosmic Rewind opens
DAK - Flight of Passage

 

[mikejs78]

HS today proved to me that Genie can’t handle bigger crowds.

Or that they need to allocate more to LL.

One big problem with Genie+ is that by taking out the two highest demand attractions from each park, the Genie+ pressure trickles down to the next level of attraction. I hated Fastpass+, but felt that the original Fastpass as well as MaxPass had many things going for it. Genie+ with the additional upcharges make for a significant pool of Lightning Lane reservations pulled out of rotation.

This makes total sense. Its less of an issue in MK, but I bet there's lost G+ sales at AK because of Everest, and DHS would function a lot better if MMRR were added to the list.

At this point, I think each park should be reduced to one upcharge attraction to actually make Genie+ have value. The cheapest upcharge Lightning Lane is $7 and as such you have to assume that the "value" of each Genie+ Lightning Lane that's included in the $15 is no more than $7 and probably closer to $5. This means you need to be able to get at least 4 uses to get the "value" out of it.

While I'd like to see the service eliminated entirely and have everything revert to complimentary, day of only Fastpass on a digitized system, if that's not an option I think reducing the upcharges to one attraction per park is realistic.

MK - Mine Train until TRON opens
DHS - Rise of the Resistance
EP - Ratatouille until Cosmic Rewind opens
DAK - Flight of Passage

I'd prefer the day of FP on a digitized system, except where you can select your return window from a set of options (or choose to just take next available if people just want an easier setting....but reducing ILL to only the biggest attraction in each park.

 

[jpchambana]

One big problem with Genie+ is that by taking out the two highest demand attractions from each park, the Genie+ pressure trickles down to the next level of attraction. I hated Fastpass+, but felt that the original Fastpass as well as MaxPass had many things going for it. Genie+ with the additional upcharges make for a significant pool of Lightning Lane reservations pulled out of rotation.

At this point, I think each park should be reduced to one upcharge attraction to actually make Genie+ have value. The cheapest upcharge Lightning Lane is $7 and as such you have to assume that the "value" of each Genie+ Lightning Lane that's included in the $15 is no more than $7 and probably closer to $5. This means you need to be able to get at least 4 uses to get the "value" out of it.

While I'd like to see the service eliminated entirely and have everything revert to complimentary, day of only Fastpass on a digitized system, if that's not an option I think reducing the upcharges to one attraction per park is realistic.

MK - Mine Train until TRON opens
DHS - Rise of the Resistance
EP - Ratatouille until Cosmic Rewind opens
DAK - Flight of Passage

Disney is also in a difficult position with number of LL to make available. Back in FP+ days, it wasnt unusual to see the line for FP+ spill out into the walkway (we waited nearly 30 minutes once for Buzz Lightyear with FP+; the line was down to the entrance of Tomorrowland). With G+, they cant risk this to the same extent - its bad optics and could impact potential sales. It's likely LL will remain more limited than FP+ which means that G+ will have less choice.

 

[jpinkc]

HS today proved to me that Genie can’t handle bigger crowds. And frankly there were just too many damn people there. The waits for everything were outrageous.

Ok back to Genie…At 7 we tried to book SDD for the time it showed (9) and ended up with 1. At 9 when we could book our ILL, Rise was already sold out. And so this began a long day of LL filling up and selling out. We rode 3 rides total on LL and the rest roughed it in standby. A total waste of money.

My advice for those going during busy times is think twice before wasting your money on something you won’t even be able to use. I wanted to like Genie but this was a complete failure.

How did the Mobile Order system handle the load. I thought today was only a 5 crowd level? If they only want us to get 3 rides why did they dump Fastpass+ OH Yeah GREED!!!!!!