Disney Glimpses
Well-Known Member
Oo, let me check on that
-
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
DisneyHead123
Well-Known Member
Disney has been an expensive vacation for those willing to shell out the cash for a very long time. That's nothing new. When push comes to shove, it's a paid service. You don't go to Target and pay for a product and then walk out of the store without it because, hey, you're not trying to be entitled here, sometimes you pay for milk and get actual milk, sometimes you don't. You pay, you get a product, that's of course how transactional relationships work.
What's different about Disney is that they are supposed to maintain the veneer of not being strictly transactional, like the call girl who "really loves you". And what changed recently is that they stopped the polite pretense and pulled back the curtain on the cash grabbiness. I opined before Genie+ started that it would backfire because if there's one thing Disney guests won't tolerate, it's tackiness. And being too out there with a "pay up!" attitude is considered crass. Now customers are negotiating in the streets ("Ay! I paid you twenty dollars, you call this a pizza!") and unsurprisingly, it's ruining the atmosphere.
mikejs78
Well-Known Member
Customers aren't revolting because it's tacky. They are revolting because it's a poor product.
Disney Glimpses
Well-Known Member
7.9 added Adobe Experience Platform. Not sure how they plan to use it. Will have to wait for the next version.
DisneyHead123
Well-Known Member
I'd say it's both, but fair point, it's also a terribly designed product. I still love Disney but geez, that they couldn't even create a product that gives you the LL time that you put in your cart and paid for?
I think that when people complain about the overall vibe in the parks, however - I think that is due in part to a tacky, nickel-and-dime system that makes people act like they're haggling over a used car. The people who are haggling don't like it, the people witnessing the haggling don't like it - again, it takes away the pretense of "Welcome! You are our guests because Mickey Mouse loves you so very much!" and turns it to "Pay up!".
Also icons for minivans, pairing the new magic band, and D23.
Jeff4272
Well-Known Member
Terrible idea. Absolutely terrible.
Jeff4272
Well-Known Member
VelocityRaptor
Active Member
How do you figure out the changes? I’ve always wondered how people can identify changes so quickly
mattpeto
Well-Known Member
I think people quickly forget that line skipping/virtual queue is also beneficial to Disney. When you skip the line, you can line up for food/buy merch (or yes get into another standby line). But I’m almost positive the original concept of FP was to improve guest spending.
This makes me think they won’t go to an expensive (Universal Express) or an a la carte system where most people won’t have some sort of line skipping as the normal guest experience.
This is likely the reason why Disney launched Genie+ with a low/conservative opening price. They thought they made out in every way: finally charging for line skipping system that used to be included in park admission, high adoption rate and letting people continue to spend on food/merch while they were in a “queue”.
The June 8th change allows them to finally experiment to find a good middle ground. If I had to guess I do think they will rethink the 12 am/7 am decision points. I do expect variable pricing will eventually come, but nothing insane.
I’ve fared well but I know that Genie+ is a mess at DHS and it’s not super complicated to create more value there. Bring back F! and add Genie+ LL for a viewing area. Put a Mando/Grogu M&G LL at Launch Bay. Mid/Long term, they could also add a LL for a new stage show taking over for VotLM (Encanto please).
They will also likely try to add features to Genie+ that could benefit the product. I’d love to see more options.
Like what- I don’t know but there is stuff people would eat up. Genie+ including earlier park hopping times or luggage service, airport transfers, Minnie Vans discounts, dining/beverage - (maybe you can bring your refillable mug to the park IDK) but add value outside skipping the line would ease some of the pain. Incorporating Memory Maker also seems pretty obvious.
This makes me think they won’t go to an expensive (Universal Express) or an a la carte system where most people won’t have some sort of line skipping as the normal guest experience.
This is likely the reason why Disney launched Genie+ with a low/conservative opening price. They thought they made out in every way: finally charging for line skipping system that used to be included in park admission, high adoption rate and letting people continue to spend on food/merch while they were in a “queue”.
The June 8th change allows them to finally experiment to find a good middle ground. If I had to guess I do think they will rethink the 12 am/7 am decision points. I do expect variable pricing will eventually come, but nothing insane.
I’ve fared well but I know that Genie+ is a mess at DHS and it’s not super complicated to create more value there. Bring back F! and add Genie+ LL for a viewing area. Put a Mando/Grogu M&G LL at Launch Bay. Mid/Long term, they could also add a LL for a new stage show taking over for VotLM (Encanto please).
They will also likely try to add features to Genie+ that could benefit the product. I’d love to see more options.
Like what- I don’t know but there is stuff people would eat up. Genie+ including earlier park hopping times or luggage service, airport transfers, Minnie Vans discounts, dining/beverage - (maybe you can bring your refillable mug to the park IDK) but add value outside skipping the line would ease some of the pain. Incorporating Memory Maker also seems pretty obvious.
Last edited:
Purduevian
Well-Known Member
What if this was in place AND also had
MK skip all 8 lines once at any time for $100 (limited availability)
EPCOT skip all 5 lines once at any time for $75 (limited availability)
DHS skip all 7 lines once at any time for $100 (limited availability)
AK skip all 6 lines once at any time for $75 (limited availability)
You have to pay a premium to get the "anytime" skip the line as smart people we use all of them between 11am-3pm when all the lines are the longest
I think this is a good idea in theory and I do think resort guests should be priori in order to get some value for paying top dollar. However, we usually stay on-site in deluxe and I don’t think I would pay a further ‘high price point’ for a skip the line package. There will certainly be guests for whom money is no object that wouldn’t have a problem with that, but we already feel deluxe is not good value for money given the decreased benefits.
For example when we started staying deluxe we got free parking, EMH, magic bands, free dining plan (from the UK), free memory maker, $200 gift card and 14 day park passes for the price of 7. This year we only got those last three plus a $68 total per night dining credit. And obviously prices are a lot higher than they were in 2014.
My point is I’m already not finding much value in the £4.5k I’ve dropped on five nights at Yacht Club with 14 day tickets, so if I was offered to spend maybe $80 - $100 per person per day for this ultimate line skip even if it meant short lines, with four of us in the family it would be a no-go on top of the expensive cost we’ve already paid. I’d much prefer to do early entry / park close and buy the odd ILL but I don’t know whether other families who stay in deluxe feel the same, or at values / moderates. Maybe there‘s a bit more value there.
We’ve used Express Pass staying on-site at Universal for our last seven Florida trips. We like the hotels anyway, but getting hundreds of dollars worth of free Unlimited Express Passes each day for all four of us is a no brainer for us. We love how relaxed and spontaneous things are with the system, and on the rare occasion we’ve had quite a long wait with Express (45 minute wait at Christmas 2021, Gringotts springs to mind although I think there were technical issues) we’ve not been annoyed because of how much value the passes provide overall across our stay, how enjoyable the system is to use, liking the resort we’re staying at, and we get it for ‘free’ (we’ve got to stay somewhere, and the Universal deluxes are good hotels and better value than Disney deluxes imo.)
But to answer your question, even though we love having the ‘free’ Express Pass and would be unlikely to go to Universal without it now, we wouldn’t pay for it if we didn‘t have it included. It would be too expensive on top of travelling to the US, accommodation, park tickets and food / spending.
Thinking about it, this is slightly amusing as the premium hotels with Express included are definitely a lot more expensive than their most basic hotels. This week I booked a night at Endless Summer Dockside for August for around $130, the only deluxe still available was Portofino Bay at around $500. But the difference in price is still less than what we would pay for four Express passes for the two full days you get included on a one night stay (and obviously there’s a difference in quality and facilities too). But it has definitely become my mindset that onsite Express is ‘free’ lol.
I definitely think your point about single visitors is important. Paying for a family is an entirely different thing to paying for just yourself or even just as a couple. This rings true even at $15 price point because when there‘s four of you and you’re there for multiple days it really adds up. If you were meeting friends or a partner and only had to pay for yourself, even a high price point becomes more appealing.
DisneyfanMA
Well-Known Member
This has probably been answered somewhere so apologies in advance.
Can I buy ILL AND book a G+ at the same time?
Can I buy ILL AND book a G+ at the same time?
JTH781
Member
Still not a great idea
JTH781
Member
DisneyfanMA
Well-Known Member
Thats great. Thank you JT.
I've been checking the MDE app closer to 7am (one of these days I'll get up at 7) and I'm encouraged that at least some/most ILL are still avail at park opening time (for us lowly non property guests) and also that I can indeed expect to book some late morning G+ rides if im in the app early.
If in Nov I can book 2 to 3 popular G+ per park and buy 1 ILL at a couple of the parks I'll probably be satisfied enough. Personally I feel 2 to 3 attractions in a 12 hour park visit is a low bar, but it's still got some value to avoid those standby waits. I hate myself for giving in to Disney and paying even more for both G+ and even more so the ILL but that's my free choice as a consumer.
I've been checking the MDE app closer to 7am (one of these days I'll get up at 7) and I'm encouraged that at least some/most ILL are still avail at park opening time (for us lowly non property guests) and also that I can indeed expect to book some late morning G+ rides if im in the app early.
If in Nov I can book 2 to 3 popular G+ per park and buy 1 ILL at a couple of the parks I'll probably be satisfied enough. Personally I feel 2 to 3 attractions in a 12 hour park visit is a low bar, but it's still got some value to avoid those standby waits. I hate myself for giving in to Disney and paying even more for both G+ and even more so the ILL but that's my free choice as a consumer.
Last edited:
Jrb1979
Well-Known Member
I think it's a great idea and it would work much better then Genie+ does. Those that hate it, hate it cause it now becomes a privilege to have instead of everyone being able to have it like FP+.
crazy4disney
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
maybe its me but if Disney offered a skip the line express type pass w no restriction on when you can ride it except 1x only its a nightmare waiting to happen with express lines....
DisneyfanMA
Well-Known Member
Another Q. With G+ you book the time the MDE app offers.
What about ILL? Do you get to pick your time or just take what the app offers?
What about ILL? Do you get to pick your time or just take what the app offers?