Disney Genie/Genie+ On Their Way to Anaheim

[Disney Irish]

Not sounding like an ex at all....What I have an issue with is this sheep mentality of following along and accepting whatever Disney decides to do.
My family would go twice per year but have now cut it back to once because of all the price hikes.
You can continue to pay for genie+ while I wait on lines and enjoy the time with my family. And if a line gets too long I'll go to guest services and get comped a mutliexperience pass or two, like I did in Disneyland last week

First of all, you don't know whether I've paid for any service or not. So don't assume something that you've not even asked me on.

Second, Disney is not forcing you to purchase anything other than an entry ticket if you wish to enter their property. If you don't like a particular pay-for service they offer for whatever reason then don't buy it, again they are not forcing you to do anything.

Third, I don't know why you call it sheepish mentality when everyone has the same right as you do to choose or not choose to purchase said pay-for service just because you happen to disagree with it. Again no one is forcing you to do anything. No one is even saying you have to like it.

Fourth, as mentioned before Disney is under no obligation to continue any free service they previously offered. Its their business and we live in a free market capitalistic society. They have every right to make changes to their business operations at any time, no matter how you feel about it. Just like you have every right to frequent less or even stop going to their properties because of such a change.

Fifth and lastly, it is sounding like an ex. Because it is your relationship with the previous Disney free operations where the break up happened when they changed their pay-for operations. So now you're complaining that they moved on and found a new beau in Genie+ instead of keeping the relationship with you via free FP.

 

[Hsprings129]

I was referring to the sheep mentality in general, I did not refer if you personally purchase the genie+ or not.
From my first experience dealing with genie+ last week, each ride that had a ll option was a "60 minute" or longer wait and many of the times while waiting an announcement would come on stating the wait is now longer than originally anticipated. On Rad Springs I was only half way through the line, already over the stated wait time, and the announcement came on again. This was all because the ll guests were being put in ahead. In my opinion Disney left a lot of park guest very unhappy last week.

On rides where genie+ or ll add on purchase per ride were not available the wait times did not exceed 45 minutes, and was accurate while on line as well.

If we both pay the same amount to get into the park your satisfaction is not more valuable than mine. Maybe a better option would be different admission price tiers would get admission to certain rides, so wait times would be manageable.

And since you want to refer to the ex relationship thinking again, I would think we all learn more about ourselves, grow, and get better for the next relationship. Disney has not learned this lesson I guess.

 

[Disney Irish]

I was referring to the sheep mentality in general, I did not refer if you personally purchase the genie+ or not.
From my first experience dealing with genie+ last week, each ride that had a ll option was a "60 minute" or longer wait and many of the times while waiting an announcement would come on stating the wait is now longer than originally anticipated. On Rad Springs I was only half way through the line, already over the stated wait time, and the announcement came on again. This was all because the ll guests were being put in ahead. In my opinion Disney left a lot of park guest very unhappy last week.

On rides where genie+ or ll add on purchase per ride were not available the wait times did not exceed 45 minutes, and was accurate while on line as well.

If we both pay the same amount to get into the park your satisfaction is not more valuable than mine. Maybe a better option would be different admission price tiers would get admission to certain rides, so wait times would be manageable.

And since you want to refer to the ex relationship thinking again, I would think we all learn more about ourselves, grow, and get better for the next relationship. Disney has not learned this lesson I guess.

Most of what you wrote is a complaint about ANY FP service, no matter the cost of said service. So really you're not mad at Genie+, you're mad at FP in general as to what it does to lines, at which point the cost is irrelevant. BTW, this has been a longstanding complaint about any FP system, that it favors the FP guest over the standby guest.

Also Disney did learn about themselves from their past relationship, Disney realized they were undervaluing themselves. So just like a rephrasing of that classic saying goes, "Even When The Milk Is Free, if He Likes The Cow, He’ll Buy It." Disney realized that they didn't have give something away for free when someone is willing to pay for it because guests like the service.

And Disney completely telegraphed this move when they introduced MaxPass back in 2017 at Disneyland.

 

[No Name]

They don’t, at least not yet. I’d be surprised if they did that anytime soon though, as it is far more difficult to engineer / build / operate a system that works that way. You would either need to build a real-time “surge pricing” engine that would automatically adjust pricing based on demand during the day, or have employees manually monitor ILL demand during the day and adjust prices as needed.

It’s also kind of a bad idea. Of course the whole individual lightning lane thing is already a bad idea, but if you raise the price during the day, it could really annoy someone who had plans to buy it. If you lower the price, then you annoy people who bought it at the wrong time. Is that really worth the extra couple dollars? Rhetorical question. The answer is no.

 

[DCBaker]

"Disneyland visitors won’t need to purchase Genie+ to high-five Mickey Mouse, strike a royal pose with Cinderella or give Olaf a big hug when up-close character meet-and-greet photo opportunities return to the Anaheim theme park after a pandemic pause.

Disneyland does not plan to use the Genie+ or Lightning Lane services at this time for character interactions, according to Disneyland officials.

Up-close character interactions will begin on Monday, April 18 and continue returning in the days and weeks that follow as part of a phased reopening of Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, according to Disneyland officials."

"Disneyland has opted to go in a different direction than Disney World when it comes to using Genie+ and Lightning Lane services for interactions with Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars characters."

Disneyland won’t use Genie+ for character meet-and-greet photo ops

Up-close character interactions will begin on Monday, April 18 and continue returning in the days and weeks that follow as part of a phased reopening of Disneyland and Disney California Adventure.

www.ocregister.com

 

[Hawkeye_2018]

I figure even if you only use it for 2 rides, combine it with the free photo pass and it's probably worth it for most folks

 

[MarvelCharacterNerd]

"Disneyland visitors won’t need to purchase Genie+ to high-five Mickey Mouse, strike a royal pose with Cinderella or give Olaf a big hug when up-close character meet-and-greet photo opportunities return to the Anaheim theme park after a pandemic pause.

Disneyland does not plan to use the Genie+ or Lightning Lane services at this time for character interactions, according to Disneyland officials.

Up-close character interactions will begin on Monday, April 18 and continue returning in the days and weeks that follow as part of a phased reopening of Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, according to Disneyland officials."

"Disneyland has opted to go in a different direction than Disney World when it comes to using Genie+ and Lightning Lane services for interactions with Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars characters."

Disneyland won’t use Genie+ for character meet-and-greet photo ops

Up-close character interactions will begin on Monday, April 18 and continue returning in the days and weeks that follow as part of a phased reopening of Disneyland and Disney California Adventure.

www.ocregister.com

At least someone is making good decisions for the park. Thank goodness for that person.

 

[mharrington]

Continuing on from the thread for the perfect choices for replacement CEO, which was apparently getting off-topic (https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/some-perfect-choices-for-ceo.977142/#post-10223630)...

I have a trip coming up to Disneyland at the end of May, just before Memorial Day, which is right around the time of Star Wars Celebration at the convention center across the way. But I'm not happy about using Genie Plus, which is not only costly to use, but you can't use it on the same ride twice. It's really hard to figure out. Fastpass was much simpler to use and free besides. I have tried (tried, mind you) to do some research, and from what little I know about it, you can't use it on one ride twice. If you want to ride it a second time, you'd better get used to the standby line, which is ridiculous.

I don't want to do standby if I can help it. I have never been fond of standing in line, which is why I had mostly good things to say about Fastpass. The Single Rider option was another positive, but that's gone now, too, at least from two of the park's most high-profile rides, Space Mountain and the Indiana Jones ride.

There was a reason why, before Fastpass, the guides like those by Birnbaum told you when to go to avoid crowds, and that was typically during an off-season. Now I don't think there will be what you could consider an off-season again.

No, you're not forced to use Genie Plus, but what is the alternative? Just waiting in line, which neither I nor a lot of people like. I also advised that with free Fastpass gone, it actually makes the lines shorter, but I don't buy that, since every time I've gone, lines have always been pretty long. Again, the Birnbaum guides told you when to go to avoid crowds, but those days are over, I believe.

 

[CaptinEO]

Continuing on from the thread for the perfect choices for replacement CEO, which was apparently getting off-topic (https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/some-perfect-choices-for-ceo.977142/#post-10223630)...

I have a trip coming up to Disneyland at the end of May, just before Memorial Day, which is right around the time of Star Wars Celebration at the convention center across the way. But I'm not happy about using Genie Plus, which is not only costly to use, but you can't use it on the same ride twice. It's really hard to figure out. Fastpass was much simpler to use and free besides. I have tried (tried, mind you) to do some research, and from what little I know about it, you can't use it on one ride twice. If you want to ride it a second time, you'd better get used to the standby line, which is ridiculous.

I don't want to do standby if I can help it. I have never been fond of standing in line, which is why I had mostly good things to say about Fastpass. The Single Rider option was another positive, but that's gone now, too, at least from two of the park's most high-profile rides, Space Mountain and the Indiana Jones ride.

There was a reason why, before Fastpass, the guides like those by Birnbaum told you when to go to avoid crowds, and that was typically during an off-season. Now I don't think there will be what you could consider an off-season again.

No, you're not forced to use Genie Plus, but what is the alternative? Just waiting in line, which neither I nor a lot of people like. I also advised that with free Fastpass gone, it actually makes the lines shorter, but I don't buy that, since every time I've gone, lines have always been pretty long. Again, the Birnbaum guides told you when to go to avoid crowds, but those days are over, I believe.

I think with reservations being a thing, the park will seem consistently busy, as the parks will staff the parks based on crowds.

The less busy days will have less staff so less people at cashiers, ride ops, etc.

The planning guides were always off in the last 7 years I'd say. It seemed like in my experience from 2015-2020 that the lightest days were any day the SoCal and Socal Select APs were blocked (the exception being holidays, which were packed regardless).

I followed this rule for years and it always seemed consistent.

 

[Sailor310]

I think with reservations being a thing, the park will seem consistently busy, as the parks will staff the parks based on crowds.

The less busy days will have less staff so less people at cashiers, ride ops, etc.

The planning guides were always off in the last 7 years I'd say. It seemed like in my experience from 2015-2020 that the lightest days were any day the SoCal and Socal Select APs were blocked (the exception being holidays, which were packed regardless).

I followed this rule for years and it always seemed consistent.

Yes! I was going to start a thread on this. I use Touring Plans a lot and they're off on predictions some of the time, but I would think their historical data is pretty accurate. Last few months, it seems like Sunday is often the lightest day of the week. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are often the worst. How does that happen?? Is DL controlling the passes and reservations so much that they can routinely have Sunday the lightest day of the week and Saturday the second lightest??

 

[CaptinEO]

Yes! I was going to start a thread on this. I use Touring Plans a lot and they're off on predictions some of the time, but I would think their historical data is pretty accurate. Last few months, it seems like Sunday is often the lightest day of the week. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are often the worst. How does that happen?? Is DL controlling the passes and reservations so much that they can routinely have Sunday the lightest day of the week and Saturday the second lightest??

This definitely sounds like how things were pre pandemic. They make the low end passes so cheap that those days are nightmares. But they days they are blocked out are light.

 

[DavidDL]

I was in Disney World from April 1st thru April 8th and also had a spontaneous trip to Disneyland on April 17th. Both instances were my first time using the new Genie+ system.

It definitely felt more like a requirement out at WDW than it did here in DL. Additionally, out in WDW, trying to snag things was a battle, particularly at a park like Hollywood Studios. -and while I did my research and was therefore able to secure everything I wanted, a family who might purchase it after opening would open the app only to realize everything but Alien Flying Saucers is gone for the day.

Out here, wait times were manageable, even with Genie+ out in the wild and times were readily available for pretty much everything all day long. I still stand by my belief that I'd rather they just remove any sort of Fastpass entirely from the parks but the fact that our version also includes endless Photopass downloads (same as Maxpass) makes it much easier to swallow. Meanwhile, WDW still charges $16.95 per photo download or $200 for everything on your trip. Yuck.

Honestly though, my one, biggest gripe with the new system is the inability to book an attraction more than once at both WDW and DL. There are a select few attractions someone like myself just wants to repeat like Space Mountain and with the old system, I could get multiple ride thrus in a day by rope dropping it and snagging a Fastpass or two at later times if I was in the area. But now I'm limited to one LL per ride, per day. I guess maybe they want to spread people out but it was annoying in a park like Magic Kingdom where I didn't necessarily feel the need to book a LL for something like Big Thunder or Jungle Cruise but would have loved a second ride thru of Space.

In terms of the upcharge attractions, one thing I did appreciate out in WDW was the ability to actually select any time throughout the day I wanted when paying for a ILL. Like, when I decided to pay for Remy's, it asked me what time I actually wanted to come back to skip the line instead of mandating me whatever the return window for the attraction currently is and by extension, controlling where I need to be during the day. We had lunch reservations around noon nearby so even though I was purchasing at 7am, I was able to select 1pm as a return time and that just sort of felt good and worked out with where we'd be perfectly. However, here in DL, if you pay for something like ILL at RotR, you're just paying for whatever the current window is.

But both experiences truly just reinforce the importance of rope drop, to me. No matter what system is in place, getting to the parks early is just the best decision you can make overall. At DL, we stepped into the park 5 min after opening and were able to hop onto Space, Matterhorn, Buzz and Thunder, without waiting for any of them or having to tap into Genie+ (though having it did grant us a second ride through of these things later on without much wait when things got bad, which was nice). -and the wait time for RotR floated around 80 minutes all day for standby which isn't bad at all if you're there for the entire day. Paying the extra $20 per person didn't feel like something one needed to do here in DL but it definitely felt that way out in WDW.

 

[Dear Prudence]

I was in Disney World from April 1st thru April 8th and also had a spontaneous trip to Disneyland on April 17th. Both instances were my first time using the new Genie+ system.

It definitely felt more like a requirement out at WDW than it did here in DL. Additionally, out in WDW, trying to snag things was a battle, particularly at a park like Hollywood Studios. -and while I did my research and was therefore able to secure everything I wanted, a family who might purchase it after opening would open the app only to realize everything but Alien Flying Saucers is gone for the day.

Out here, wait times were manageable, even with Genie+ out in the wild and times were readily available for pretty much everything all day long. I still stand by my belief that I'd rather they just remove any sort of Fastpass entirely from the parks but the fact that our version also includes endless Photopass downloads (same as Maxpass) makes it much easier to swallow. Meanwhile, WDW still charges $16.95 per photo download or $200 for everything on your trip. Yuck.

Honestly though, my one, biggest gripe with the new system is the inability to book an attraction more than once at both WDW and DL. There are a select few attractions someone like myself just wants to repeat like Space Mountain and with the old system, I could get multiple ride thrus in a day by rope dropping it and snagging a Fastpass or two at later times if I was in the area. But now I'm limited to one LL per ride, per day. I guess maybe they want to spread people out but it was annoying in a park like Magic Kingdom where I didn't necessarily feel the need to book a LL for something like Big Thunder or Jungle Cruise but would have loved a second ride thru of Space.

In terms of the upcharge attractions, one thing I did appreciate out in WDW was the ability to actually select any time throughout the day I wanted when paying for a ILL. Like, when I decided to pay for Remy's, it asked me what time I actually wanted to come back to skip the line instead of mandating me whatever the return window for the attraction currently is and by extension, controlling where I need to be during the day. We had lunch reservations around noon nearby so even though I was purchasing at 7am, I was able to select 1pm as a return time and that just sort of felt good and worked out with where we'd be perfectly. However, here in DL, if you pay for something like ILL at RotR, you're just paying for whatever the current window is.

But both experiences truly just reinforce the importance of rope drop, to me. No matter what system is in place, getting to the parks early is just the best decision you can make overall. At DL, we stepped into the park 5 min after opening and were able to hop onto Space, Matterhorn, Buzz and Thunder, without waiting for any of them or having to tap into Genie+ (though having it did grant us a second ride through of these things later on without much wait when things got bad, which was nice). -and the wait time for RotR floated around 80 minutes all day for standby which isn't bad at all if you're there for the entire day. Paying the extra $20 per person didn't feel like something one needed to do here in DL but it definitely felt that way out in WDW.

100% agreed--I am a rope drop girl, forever and always. No matter what the system in in place, show up early, and be ready to be there for the long haul.

 

[Californian Elitist]

I definitely understand why people like to get there early and rope drop. From my perspective, I’m in no rush. I’ve been to the parks hundreds of times. I’ve been on the same rides hundreds of times. It’s no big deal for me if I don’t do a particular attraction because I’ve already done them (most of them, at least). Additionally, working at the park has forever changed the way I both view and visit the parks.

I used to love getting there at opening when I was a kid because I never knew when my next visit would be and I wanted to her as much done as possible. As an adult with hundreds of visits under my belt, who pays for myself, and can go when I want, my days of getting there at opening are over. Im showing up between 12 and 2.

 

[Dear Prudence]

Okay, so, I got Genie+ for 2 of the days I was there, because it was the same price as the old daily photo pass. I know I was a big hater, but I concede when I change my mind! I got it because wanted all of my photos (and that alone ended up being worth it), but the occasional fast passes were cool to utilize.

 

[waltography]

Okay, so, I got Genie+ for 2 of the days I was there, because it was the same price as the old daily photo pass. I know I was a big hater, but I concede when I change my mind! I got it because wanted all of my photos (and that alone ended up being worth it), but the occasional fast passes were cool to utilize.

Genie+ as a system is a lateral move for Disneyland because it has so many commonalities with the old MaxPass system (though ours is slightly worse since the free FastPass tier was eliminated with the introduction of Genie+, which I speculate was the real reason why MaxPass didn't have the same adoption rate as Genie+ does now). The real problems are over at WDW where they simply don't have enough supply to justify the system.

 

[wdrive]

Visited this past week. Have to say for a tourist the parks are pretty miserable if you don’t have Genie plus. You’re waiting an hour minimum for pretty much anything if you don’t buy it. Ended up buying for 2 of the days out of 4. Encountered a few problems however, app could be very buggy at times. Also rides going down isn’t solved on the app in my experience. Had Monsters Inc booked, about to scan to go in and it went down. At this point had waited around for an hour and 30 mins for my window to open. Asked a cast member at the entrance what I can do, if I can use the lightning lane elsewhere was told no I either have to wait for the attraction to come back online or just cancel my lightning lane and try somewhere else. Messaged on the app asking what I could do and received a quick response saying it’ll change to an any attraction lightning lane. It never did so ended up cancelling and leaving parks.

To sum up, I wish it didn’t exist but if you’re not a regular visitor and want to see most things it’s a necessity.

 

[DCBaker]

Pricing for Genie+ was raised $5 overnight -

 

[DCBaker]

Also, WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure has been removed from the Individual Lightning Lane list and added to the regular Genie+ lineup.

 

[PiratesMansion]

This brings Adult 5 day parkhoppers with Genie+ to $600 if you buy through Disney.

It looks like the authorized sellers may not have caught up to Disney yet, as Undercover Tourist tickets are currently about $90 less and the expiration dates are about a year prior to what is currently advertised on Disney's site (Disney now says tickets expire January 12, 2025; UT's expire in January 2024. That said, UT has year-long 95% refund in the event a trip doesn't work out). So if you were planning to buy tickets in the immediate future, I would grab those tickets while you can. I don't know that I've ever seen a $90 difference for DL tickets before between official vs. authorized sellers.