Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[Vacationeer]

So fwiw back to our discussion regarding Genie etc. at airport heading back home after 11 days. For starters at least 50-60% of parks were from UK. You guys are way too nice lol. Genie basically worked like the old FP+ system worked for me with basically every day having ride times within a close time etc. Parks were definitely less than they were in November but i dk if less people are buying or they are adding etc but honestly there were days where majority of park had “minimal wait times” for those that dont mind etc. so again DAS was helpful but majority i used were Genie picks. AK honestly was useless bc everything was a 5-10 min wait except Pandora which even those were 45 min or less. Was at MK on 2 party nights and park was basically empty as been mentioned. Rides going down tho happen wayyyy too often tho and if days were busy the parks cant handle it imo. Ask away if anyone has any questions

Hope you had a great trip. Thanks for your feedback. Did you notice anything in G+ that was similar to FP+ drop times, like any refill patterns? We're 7 weeks from our trip and will be busier. Still hoping Genie+ is helpful a couple days.

 

[crazy4disney]

Hope you had a great trip. Thanks for your feedback. Did you notice anything in G+ that was similar to FP+ drop times, like any refill patterns? We're 7 weeks from our trip and will be busier. Still hoping Genie+ is helpful a couple days.

Thanks and yea it was posted here for each park. They were pretty accurate but did notice when rides have downtimes likeToT did the drops didnt happen and honestly there were days where drops werent needed as next available was right therebasically but they were accurate for most part.

 

[DCBaker]

On the Bank of American Q&A call this afternoon, Josh D'Amaro said that Genie+ is selling more than they thought that it would and 70% of guests said they would buy it again when they come for their next visit.

 

[HauntedPirate]

 

[crazy4disney]

View attachment 665127

I mean i used it in November it was awful... used it this past week & a half and was great.... so i dk what to think about his statements. One thing i wish you could do and i honestly thought it was an option in November and not now... is once you book a ride you can NO longer see what the current time is for that ride... plenty of times i wish i could have seen when the ride was available if i were to cancel but once booked there is no way of knowing... only way i guess is to create a dummy account and look at it that way but that is silly

 

[Jrb1979]

I mean i used it in November it was awful... used it this past week & a half and was great.... so i dk what to think about his statements. One thing i wish you could do and i honestly thought it was an option in November and not now... is once you book a ride you can NO longer see what the current time is for that ride... plenty of times i wish i could have seen when the ride was available if i were to cancel but once booked there is no way of knowing... only way i guess is to create a dummy account and look at it that way but that is silly

It probably worked better due to less people in the parks then when you went in November. It goes back to the point that less people buying it Genie+ works better.

 

[crazy4disney]

It probably worked better due to less people in the parks then when you went in November. It goes back to the point that less people buying it Genie+ works better.

I would most likely agree with that but something definitely changed imo internally bc when i was there Genie was fairly new and people definitely were not aware and parks were “capped” but agreed crowds were noticeably less even for the holiday weekend. Best advice to anyone is GO to MK on a party night. You will
Get more done than a full
Park day. I went the Friday of LDW last minute change. So i had No pre booked DAS. From 10-3 we rode 14 rides only using DAS for 7dmt twice and one other ride.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

"70% would purchase Genie+ again" is not the same as "70% of guests have positive feelings towards Genie+" or "70% of guests prefer Genie+ over FastPass+"...

Many guests after visiting the parks as they are right now, likely understand that if they don't buy Genie+ their vacation would be worse. So they begrudgingly buy the service that used to be free.

 

[mikejs78]

"70% would purchase Genie+ again" is not the same as "70% of guests have positive feelings towards Genie+" or "70% of guests prefer Genie+ over FastPass+"...

Many guests after visiting the parks as they are right now, likely understand that if they don't buy Genie+ they're vacation would be worse. So they begrudgingly buy the service that used to be free.

This. Notice he didn't say that 70% of guests were very satisfied with it. I would easily buy it again, but I think it's a poor experience/replacement for FP+.

 

[lentesta]

On the Bank of American Q&A call this afternoon, Josh D'Amaro said that Genie+ is selling more than they thought that it would and 70% of guests said they would buy it again when they come for their next visit.

A couple of questions:

1) When Bob and Josh say "Genie" and "Genie+", are they including Individual Lightning Lane purchases? Part of me suspects that any time they say "Genie", they really mean "Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lane". Was there anything in the BOA call that indicated Josh was talking about G+, ILL, or both?

2) I could be wrong on the math here, but:

50% of guests buy G+ according to Chapek
70% would buy it again, according to Josh

So 50% of current guests are buying it, but only 35% of future guests will buy it? That's the message? Like, I need to know more context here to know whether 70% is good or bad, right?

 

[djkidkaz]

"70% would purchase Genie+ again" is not the same as "70% of guests have positive feelings towards Genie+" or "70% of guests prefer Genie+ over FastPass+"...

Many guests after visiting the parks as they are right now, likely understand that if they don't buy Genie+ their vacation would be worse. So they begrudgingly buy the service that used to be free.

It’s this.

I am a local and I now know I basically have to buy it or I just don’t go. The moment I walked up and saw a 40 minute wait for Seas with Nemo and a 25 minute wait for Living with the Land, two rides that previously were walk on for the past decade or more, it puts me in a position to have to buy the awful service.

What they don’t realize is that for someone like me, I used to visit the parks much more frequently as a local to ride things with the kids on my days off and we would eat lunch in the parks and I would usually buy them a little something, but now I have to use that money for stupid fast passes so we don’t have to stand in the Florida heat and also because they are still young enough that they are too impatient to wait 40 minutes for a ride. So now we have to eat at home before we come to the park and there is not extra money to buy them anything extra. So yes, the overall experience for me as a parent feeling like we went to the park, and got on a handful of rides, had lunch with the kiddos and maybe brought them home with a small souvenir is much worse. I guarantee they used to get more money out of me that way but it just didn’t sting as much knowing we sat and had a meal together in a fun restaurant at the park and I was able to buy my kids a little gift.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Like, I need to know more context here to know whether 70% is good or bad, right?

They chose a phrase and number that would make it sound as positive as possible.

 

[RobWDW1971]

They chose a phrase and number that would make it sound as positive as possible.

It beat out the original line:

"Nearly one third of the guests who actually tried the service hated it and would never buy it again in the future".

 

[monothingie]

Josh did you survey the percentage of guests who will never come back to Disney because of these wonderful changes you’ve made???


I just think it’s very curious how they are constantly having to reinforce and tell themselves (more so than the actual customers) that the Genie product is a success. A successful product or service usually doesn’t have to constantly remind everyone how successful it is.

 

[lazyboy97o]

So 50% of current guests are buying it, but only 35% of future guests will buy it? That's the message? Like, I need to know more context here to know whether 70% is good or bad, right?

This is exactly what I was thinking. Are enough first time visitors buying Genie+ to replace those repeat visitors who are not interested in purchasing again? And what’s the breakdown of repeat visitation among those who say they will buy it again? I can say I’ll buy it again but is that meaningful if I don’t plan on returning in the next decade?

 

[bork]

Just came back a couple weeks ago using Genie+ for the first time. It really depends on how the question was worded.

• Yes, I hated paying extra for something that was free. It's a more sneaky cost now because you didn't pay for it upfront. It becomes part of all of these charges during the trip that you don't notice until you return.
• Yes, it worked really well everywhere expect Epcot (Registered a complaint with guest services because we only got 1 useful LL due to Test Track downtime). Epcot is the only place where it is impossible to get LL for all major rides.
• Yes I would use it again if I went back to Disney
• No, I have no plans to return to Disney anytime soon due to the cost and hassle.

 

[Jrb1979]

"70% would purchase Genie+ again" is not the same as "70% of guests have positive feelings towards Genie+" or "70% of guests prefer Genie+ over FastPass+"...

Many guests after visiting the parks as they are right now, likely understand that if they don't buy Genie+ their vacation would be worse. So they begrudgingly buy the service that used to be free.

To me when I see that number all I think about is no wonder they have issues with it. They see it as a success having that many people buy it. In my eyes that's a failure.

 

[DCBaker]

A couple of questions:

1) When Bob and Josh say "Genie" and "Genie+", are they including Individual Lightning Lane purchases? Part of me suspects that any time they say "Genie", they really mean "Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lane". Was there anything in the BOA call that indicated Josh was talking about G+, ILL, or both?

Here's the question and answer from the call (if you listen to the replay, it is asked around the 18:29 mark) -

Host question -

Is Genie+ sold out all the time?

Josh -

Genie+ is doing phenomenally well. It is selling more than we thought that it would, so guests are really enjoying it. The other interesting thing is that when we survey the guests that have purchased Genie+ and lightning lane, 70% of them are saying when I come back next time I’m buying this thing again, so we know we are on to something with this. It was a change to the system, so there is going to be some reaction to it, which we would expect. But we know when a guest does buy it they are getting what they paid for and are feeling really good about it.

 

[HoustonHorn]

Here's the question and answer from the call (if you listen to the replay, it is asked around the 18:29 mark) -

Host question -

Is Genie+ sold out all the time?

Josh -

Genie+ is doing phenomenally well. It is selling more than we thought that it would, so guests are really enjoying it. The other interesting thing is that when we survey the guests that have purchased Genie+ and lightning lane, 70% of them are saying when I come back next time I’m buying this thing again, so we know we are on to something with this. It was a change to the system, so there is going to be some reaction to it, which we would expect. But we know when a guest does buy it they are getting what they paid for and are feeling really good about it.

"We have up the parks experience so badly that people are willing to pay for an inferior version of a product that used to be included to have a chance at having something better than a completely crappy experience."

Hey Joshy - just because I buy insurance doesn't mean I ENJOY buying insurance.

 

[SpectroMagician]

70% of people purchasing again does NOT mean a 70% satisfaction rating. People are likely not happy with it, but are re-purchasing because they need to. I have no idea how anyone could think 70% of people are satisfied with it.