My family (8 people in our party total) is planning a trip to disney in July. We were pretty experienced at fp/ fp+ but haven't been in a few years and this is our first trip with genie- we typically go every few years, however it's our first trip with my 4 year old so I do want to attempt to minimize lines. My plan was to buy genie+ for each day as needed, since there might be a few days that it's not really needed (one day at typhoon, another at epcot). However, I don't really want to be up at midnight each night to buy the darn thing and now I'm getting concerned that availability may be an issue. Since it's still able to be purchased in advance, should we just bite the bullet and purchase for our length of stay? What is everyone's thoughts?
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Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
Disney Glimpses
Well-Known Member
Now that the cat is out of the bag (for the most part), my recommendation is to purchase it if you can. I can't promise that the inventory limits will be not so great to start and get better over time or visa versa, but the satisfaction is so bad that I would imagine they would start with conservative limits and then increase from there. That would mean a pretty solid experience with Genie+ this summer, hypothetically.
Disney Glimpses
Well-Known Member
PSA to everyone here: when you get your guest survey this summer, take it. If you have concise and realistic ideas, send them in. They are considering every angle. These things seem insignificant but in this situation they are critical.
G00fyDad
Well-Known Member
We did. I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
So where do they go with this? Double down because it's making them money? Or scrap it and raise guest satisfaction?
Seems to me like guest satisfaction is unprofitable and factors very low with the decision makers, unless it is cherry picked nuggets for a misleadingly worded survey.
Disney Glimpses
Well-Known Member
The overall model will stay: you pay a fee and reserve attractions. But as for the more granular details, it is very much a back to the drawing board situation.
Amazing (but not really...) that they managed to get some bovine excrement included in their announcement - "...incredibly strong demand our guests have shown for Disney Genie+". The only "incredibly strong demand" around G+ seems to be at Guest Relations from people seeking a refund for an incredibly poor product.
I expect a retooling and reintroduction to make it slightly less of a PITA, with an obviously higher price due to "magic". But the overall stench will remain for a system designed to extract cash from consumers.
I expect a retooling and reintroduction to make it slightly less of a PITA, with an obviously higher price due to "magic". But the overall stench will remain for a system designed to extract cash from consumers.
The only logical progression with that, is make everything an ILL. (varying prices per ride)
Welcome back Ticket books....
Disney Speak 101. Take every piece of bad news and sandwich it with two pieces of positive spin.
Bob PR 101 - "Here's a MAGICAL!!! **** sandwich, take a big bite! That will be $18.99 plus tax, please."
Presumably, if the number sold is reduced enough, it will no longer suck for those that are able to buy it.
pdude81
Well-Known Member
I remember a lot of people being mad at during the covid reopening that DAS holders were going through the fastpass line. IMO people will be mad if they can't get it. "grass is greener", "must be nice", etc.
It really depends if money is a problem....or should I say, paying for Genie for a week for your family won't impact the holiday in any other way, ie have to cut back elsewhere.
It's a no brainer getting G+ if money is no issue. Even if you only get 3 G+ in one day, that could easily save you 3 hours standing in a queue each day.
The first Orlando holiday I had during Genie+ times I really resented paying the $15 per person per visit...but this last time (2 weeks ago) I just became numb to it and bought it every day we went to Disney and took the hit....it is what it is...the most important thing is having a good time..and if the odd $15 here and there mean it's better, what the heck...its only money.
Fido Chuckwagon
Well-Known Member
They would love for you to get fed up and sell your DVC contract on the resale market so they can ROFR and sell it to the next sucker at a huge markup. I say this as a DVC owner.
Fido Chuckwagon
Well-Known Member
If sales are really opening at midnight then during high demand times you better believe this will sell out by like 2 am.
Vacationeer
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
Honestly I grew tired with some of FP+’s downfalls and was excited to try Genie+. My husband’s in the other camp. He liked FP+, didn’t want to see it go and initially vowed never to pay for G+. I get his position and it was a common reaction, but I felt G+ could be worth the relatively low cost when using it with am/pm EMHs. We compromised with G+ for 3 of 5 days. My hope was paying the light upcharge would improve spontaneity, like MaxPass. Our trip is late Oct. Looks like what we can expect is still up in the air, lol.
Another thread mentioned doing real time VQs with Genie+. I thought that was interesting.
I know I'm going to get shot down for saying this...but I think some of the problem is how cheap Annual Passes are.....I bet there's a huge wedge of AP holders in the park each day...and Disney would say they are costing them money.
I was amazed when someone told me their annual pass was $1000...for 12 months!!! I pretty much paid that for our last two 14 days Disney passes.
To be honest...when we were coming to Orlando 3 times a year it would have been cheaper to have bought an annual pass...and id have been able to get in any park all year!!
When I heard about these Annual passes I assumed they would be $2500 lol...
Maybe there are too many AP holders clogging the parks up...and once they have visited 10 times they are effectively getting in free each time.
I was amazed when someone told me their annual pass was $1000...for 12 months!!! I pretty much paid that for our last two 14 days Disney passes.
To be honest...when we were coming to Orlando 3 times a year it would have been cheaper to have bought an annual pass...and id have been able to get in any park all year!!
When I heard about these Annual passes I assumed they would be $2500 lol...
Maybe there are too many AP holders clogging the parks up...and once they have visited 10 times they are effectively getting in free each time.
Fido Chuckwagon
Well-Known Member
As a DVC member and ap holder you are a worthless guest to Bob Chapek. He’d much rather you stop going to make room for his mythical day-guest who spends more money.