Disney Genie and Genie+ at Walt Disney World

[CaptainAmerica]

Wait, weren't you the one that was threatening to sell your DVC contract before any of this was announced?

I was responding to a very particular "what if" scenario. The system that was actually announced was much less bad than what was being kicked around in that thread.

 

[JusticeDisney]

Its a dumb point. Disney can instantly refund you… why would this be an issue?

Dumb response.

The fact that there is a viable solution in your eyes doesn’t mean that it is nevertheless a potential problem that will need to be addressed. Oh, and just because a refund can be issued doesn’t mean that that’s how Disney will attempt to solve the problem. All that being said, if you want to persist with calling someone out for making that point, perhaps you might want to direct your reply to the person who actually made the point.

 

[kong1802]

If you log in at 7am on genie + can you select a 6pm time slot? And then at 830 am select another ride with a 7 pm time slot?

 

[plawren2]

November will be our last family trip (we have 6 visits as family since early 2000s, I have 12 lifetime since 1972), getting too expensive, too much planning, too complex. Feel sorry for other families with young kids who would like them to experience WDW magic but for those reasons listed above will not be able to or choose not to. Others will replace us, WDW visitor numbers will continue to climb in coming years as will park revenues, great for Disney and their shareholders, but will not be us nor will I recommend to others who ask me about WDW and planning-will give them honest answers as to the cost and planning issues.

 

[Mr. Moderate]

I pushed my trip out from this October to next May due to virus concerns and numbers rising, lack of progress on the new attractions, EPCOT a disaster, and an overall feeling of that Disney just isn't for me anymore. I downgraded my resort choice from deluxe to moderate because the price was just too ridiculous to stomach anymore. I'm not thrilled with the prices of the Cabins either and if they don't go down with some type of deal, it's offsite for my family for the first time. This latest move has me thinking that it's time to cut ties completely and force ourselves to move on. When does enough become enough?

20 years ago I went from being a huge fan, my family enjoying the parks immensely and buying into DVC, to selling the DVC 2 years ago and not renewing our AP's. It sounds silly to some, but the day my wife and me signed the papers to sell off our DVC contract, there was sadness on our part and disappointment towards Disney because their greedy decisions pushed us away.

It just wasn't one thing that turned us off of going to Disney, it was the accumulation of all the shortsighted, decisions, the non stop greed, and taking away of the perks that came with a WDW vacation. I don't understand why the company has came down to this point and so much has changed and none of it for the better. The truly sad part is, it's only going to get worse.

 

[Jeff4272]

I don’t think this system is going to work well. Let’s say you buy genie+ for your day in HS. Now you have to wake up at 7am to make a selection. Just like old paper FP, everyone will book up the popular rides first.

At 7:15am, you get millennium falcon return time of 2pm because everyone else is thinking the same thing and it books up like old paper fast passes. So what do you do from park opening until 2pm? And after you ride at 2pm, all the other rides are sold out for the day. So for the $15 per person you get on one ride?

please explain how this is good?

 

[YorkshireT]

It seems like the people that don't understand why most of us do not like this new system, don't understand this simple point: it's not that we don't like the structure of the system, we don't like that we have to shell out even more $$ for a different version of something that has been included in the price of admission for years. If they wanted to keep the included FPs, but you could only book 1 at a time, and only on the same day, I think almost everyone would be OK with it. If they wanted to include a paid option of more FPs, or something like a paid option where you get 3 additional FPS where you can walk on at any time, people would be OK with that. It's the financial aspect of this that people hate, especially if you're a larger family/group. I'm sure some people are getting fed the line of "If you don't want to pay, just go wait in standby", which is completely patronizing and dismissive. The gap between the experiences of not paying extra and paying extra is going to be wider than ever.
At any rate, my future vacations will involve mostly sitting on a beach in the Caribbean, or sitting around a pool at a vacation home-all with a rum and Coke in my hand and no thoughts of Disney theme parks.

I think they may have even had a much better reaction had they not tried to charge top dollar on top for E ticket rides and we still don’t know how many will be included as an up charge. If they had said it included the e tickets but limited you to just 2 a day, that would have been much better. As it is, people think it’s not just a cash grab, but a real rodgering.

 

[IHeartGlaciers]

Standby and boarding groups still exist.

What I meant is that previously FastPass was included in the ticket price for all rides. So now you can argue that the tickets are just essentially $15 more expensive, except that it doesn't include "FastPass" for all rides.

 

[Waters Back Side]

Frozenstrom and Rat
Rise and MMRR.
FoP and Everest.

Possibly

See I thought AK was FOP and Safari (based on its reference in the genie article) and HS was Slinky and Rise. But I guess nothing is official with this as far as separate rides for purchase.

 

[Yert3]

Haven’t kept up with Disney in a while. Are standby lines changing at all? Because I never used fastpass in the first place. So I feel like this won’t even effect me at all if I ever go back.

 

[arich35]

I was responding to a very particular "what if" scenario. The system that was actually announced was much less bad than what was being kicked around in that thread.

So you did this:
"I'll wait until they do something before I get pre-mad about something they might theoretically do."

Lol

 

[phillip9698]

We won't cancel our September trip because hopefully this system isn't in place then and also it's our sons birthday present and he has been looking forward to it all year. Though we have decided not to stay on site if we visit for the 50th in 2022, we are now looking at Sea World packages with a 1 day trip to see the fireworks at MK. We were always on site guests before even when we visited Universal.

 

[G00fyDad]

Is booking ADR's 60 days out still a "perk" for staying on-site? If not and anyone can book 60 days out then I am cancelling this trip and staying off-site.

 

[Raineman]

Haven’t kept up with Disney in a while. Are standby lines changing at all? Because I never used fastpass in the first place. So I feel like this won’t even effect me at all if I ever go back.

The standby lines might be longer than they were before, and there will be a couple of attractions in each park that will require a boarding pass. So, you may be doing less attractions each day, and missing some completely.

 

[Missing20K]

Which is one better then you have today… which is nothing

Yes true. But right kow today if you dont get a Boarding group for Rise you have zero options! None. In the new system if you do not get a boarding group you still have the option to ride it if you pay. It's a choice obviously but it's still an option

So the fact the current system on that ride is atrocious it means we forgive the atrociousness of this system?

Genie+ passes get you entrance to the Lightning Lane.

I’m speaking about the people who don’t purchase G+ and just pay for LL cuz the BG and VQ are filled by G+ users.

I have no issues admitting I may be missing something.

 

[Figgy1]

Is booking ADR's 60 days out still a "perk" for staying on-site? If not and anyone can book 60 days out then I am cancelling this trip and staying off-site.

60 days length of stay on site 60 days one at a time off

 

[TimeTrip]

I don’t think this system is going to work well. Let’s say you buy genie+ for your day in HS. Now you have to wake up at 7am to make a selection. Just like old paper FP, everyone will book up the popular rides first.

At 7:15am, you get millennium falcon return time of 2pm because everyone else is thinking the same thing and it books up like old paper fast passes. So what do you do from park opening until 2pm? And after you ride at 2pm, all the other rides are sold out for the day. So for the $15 per person you get on one ride?

please explain how this is good?

I don't imagine that particular scenario would play out very often except on the busiest of days. In which case.. its a busy day, clearly $15 isn't going to provide the same value as on a slow day.

Also, it hasn't been clarified if you get a set "next selection available" time separate from the return time. The chatter seems to be that this is the case. E.g. you can book another at the following:

1. When you use your current reservation
2. If you booked before open: 90 minutes after park open, if that's earlier than your use of the current reservation
3. If you booked after open: 90 minutes after you picked your current time, if that's earlier than your use of the current reservation

 

[A Whole Tano Magic]

Interested to know what you are looking forward with with regards to this?

The big one is any ability to not use the standby line and get through some rides with a shorter wait. Some of this is toddler problems. I have a son who is just under 2. We were in Disney in July. It is tough to keep a toddler in a line for more than 30 minutes when all he wants to do is go explore. He has a nonstop motor and lines aren't great for a kid who keeps moving, lol. This helps with that. Also, with rider swap where he is not tall enough. My wife and I could swap quicker with this on some attractions so one person isn't flying solo for too long.

Probably also worth noting that we typically stay for a week but only go to parks on 2 or 3 days. As such it isn't as costly as someone who goes to parks for 7 days and would want this for every day.

 

[jpinkc]

That’s a suggestion…but not always the answer it’s made out to be.

a company that peddles consumer product…and that’s all Disney is - no tangible services provided…can’t treat their customers like a city to be “conquered” forever. They all can’t fall forever.

LOL Tell that to Ford GM and Chrysler. Sorry that was a bit rude

 

[dovetail65]

They arent listening they shut down the comments section on the Disney Parks Blog yesterday.

Disney literally stated they made these changes in response to guests comments. They may have, but from what I am seeing right now it was 10 or 20% of complainers that didn't like to reserve ahead of time. Now the only difference is they need reserve, just the day of as well as pay. I believe the people that did complain and wanted an FP system change wanted a system like Universal or Six Flags. Pay one price and just go to the express lines as we please, well that's not what this is. I would like to hear from the people that didn't like FP and let us know if this is what they wanted or not. I do not think it is what anyone wanted , but some will stick to their guns because the new system is different.

People saying give it a chance isn't going to change the fact we would have to make hotel reservation, make show reservations, make dinner reservations that cost upwards of 5 to 15K for a family to then deal with this mess at 7am each morning. For me that 7am each morning is enough for Disney to get rid of it right now.

On a personal level I do not know a single person that did not like the old 3free Fp system. I have read that people did not like online, but I do not know anyone personally and I must know at least 25 AP holder from my FL neighborhood, they are all mad about this.

There is little we can do about it Disney will just shut down anything remotely negative said about the new genie system.