BREAKING: Walt Disney World Introduces Date-Based Variable Pricing for Genie+ Service

[Brett Wyman]

Disagree. Only at Disney people think Genie+ is required to enjoy the parks. Go to any other park in the country and see how skip the line systems actually work. They are priced high and have limited availability for a reason. There was time when standing in long lines was part of going to a theme park.

Right! I mentioned this in another thread a few weeks back. Dollywood for example charges basically the same price to skip the line as the entry ticket. Do that at WDW and you’ll see some short “express” lanes.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

No, there is no advantage at all to being onsite for Genie+ so it is equal to onsite and offsite guests.

ILL$ favours onsite guests as they can book at 7AM rather than park opening.

Honestly for what Disney charges for rooms, I'm thankful for the odd perk that comes with it as there sure aren't many of those left! For the first time ever we're talking about staying offsite next time we visit.

I save so much money by not staying on site it’s incredible. I stay mostly in universal the prices are incredible and clean.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

It will be interesting to see if the number of people in the parks decreases with this change? I know it's not measurable as Disney does not give attendance stats but, based on feedback here, it seems many are in the process of adjusting not only how much they spend at Disney but also, how often they will/will not go.

Be impossible to know. For the sake of argument, let’s sayDisney gave us all the data… is it Genie+? Fear of recession? Inflation? Competition from universal? Concerns with company culture and political philosophy? One of a thousand other possible causes? With so much going on, you could never isolate it to Genie.

 

[DCLMP]

No, there is no advantage at all to being onsite for Genie+ so it is equal to onsite and offsite guests.

ILL$ favours onsite guests as they can book at 7AM rather than park opening.

Honestly for what Disney charges for rooms, I'm thankful for the odd perk that comes with it as there sure aren't many of those left! For the first time ever we're talking about staying offsite next time we visit.

I guess you could say genie + could save you money by not being tied to staying onsite. There are a lot of really nice resorts in Orlando. The Hyatt regency cypress is a very nice resort with awesome pool, laundry, and free parking. It has a resort fee, but it includes a lot. I've done split stays between there and a Disney resort. Even with the cost of Uber, rental car or parking fees you come out way ahead.

I booked a European cruise on Royal next year and even with all the nickel and diming and annoying extras I still come out eight thousand ahead with Royal. I just needed to see that in writing because every time I get bummed about not being on DCL I have to remind myself I'm saving 8k LOL.

 

[MomOTwins]

I think the key part of your argument though about taking your vacation dollars elsewhere is did you specifically and primarily choose Disney to vacation at because they had FP+? Did you choose Disney over any other vacation destination knowing exactly how it worked and were completely aware with picking your FPs (3 of them and working around tiers) 60 days in advance at IDK what was 6 or 7am or 30 days in advance if offsite.

There's some truth to the PP's point about patience and waiting in lines. My parents took me to parks when I was a young kid (think 2 and 3 year old). I went to all sorts of parks and the experience is pretty easy to see the difference in pictures. The simplest detail such as the extremely basic type of stroller used would show you what people used to do over the years is different now. For a long time waiting in lines is what you did. The other truth is that just like how we've all gotten used to cell phones it's hard to look at how it was before then. Now, well now we have products that allow us to skip the line. Most are a high priced paid system but they are there none the less. But my experience is people have less patience at Disney than the other parks I've been to and it didn't use to feel quite as bad. I remember our 2011 trip where we hardly used Legacy FP, people were not as grouchy back then from what I remember, and a lot more people were unaware/didn't use Legacy FP compared to FP+ at least it seems to me but that's my perception. The vibe at other parks does seem to be more of an understanding towards waiting in line. No one is saying you actually love love love that experience though just that the perspective seems to be different.

I knew nothing about FP+ before I booked my first trip. Booked the trip about a week in advance so well past the 60 day window. Did some googling for “first disney trip tips” and immediately learned about FP. Went on the app and booked a few things and found it very easy. At the park, once I got done with my first three I discovered that there was tons more availability in the app for same day FPs and rode a bunch of great rides.

It was so easy to use—you picked a ride and a time and it was yours once you clicked it—no being limited to “next available” and shifting return times after you click like G+. No 120 minute rule. No pre-7am wake up call. No juggling having to book different systems (ILL, G+) at the same tine. And no extra cost.

Contrary to what people are saying here, fastpass was not some big secret that only a privileged few could hope to discover. It was easy to find info about wirh hardly any research, and easy and intuitive to use with zero training. For all those who say Genie is preferred by first timers, I just can’t see how that could be the case. Those people who weren’t capable of figuring out FP+ was an option and waited in standby all day are still going to be clueless and wait in standby all day. Now they will just be joined by all the people who can’t fit G+ in their budget too.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I knew nothing about FP+ before I booked my first trip. Booked the trip about a week in advance so well past the 60 day window. Did some googling for “first disney trip tips” and immediately learned about FP. Went on the app and booked a few things and found it very easy. At the park, once I got done with my first three I discovered that there was tons more availability in the app for same day FPs and rode a bunch of great rides.

It was so easy to use—you picked a ride and a time and it was yours once you clicked it—no being limited to “next available” and shifting return times after you click like G+. No 120 minute rule. No pre-7am wake up call. No juggling having to book different systems (ILL, G+) at the same tine. And no extra cost.

Contrary to what people are saying here, fastpass was not some big secret that only a privileged few could hope to discover. It was easy to find info about wirh hardly any research, and easy and intuitive to use with zero training. For all those who say Genie is preferred by first timers, I just can’t see how that could be the case. Those people who weren’t capable of figuring out FP+ was an option and waited in standby all day are still going to be clueless and wait in standby all day. Now they will just be joined by all the people who can’t fit G+ in their budget too.

So what drew you to Disney then because you said you visited other parks and didn't like the experience. Did you not assume you'd wait in line at Disney? You chose Disney before you knew about FP according to your comments. What made you think it would be different than the other parks you went to. I'm more prodding because you said those who wouldn't wait in line spent their vacation dollars elsewhere. That doesn't really jive with with you're saying relates to you.

FP+ was actually more difficult than you may think about. I was the one with the color coded spreadsheet and all but it was keeping up with the tiers which did change (my spreadsheets are evidence of that), knowing that you could pick 1 from tier 1 2 from tier 2, that you have a rolling 4th (which I think was so/so on people knowing about), etc. I think people should try to find that thread about FP (should it still exist) and read over the first page again and then think about it like someone who wouldn't know what these things mean. Once you got it you got it but it was getting there to begin with. I do prefer FP+ over Genie+ but I won't pretend that either are super easy. MP IIRC had something like a 90min wait time?? I can't quite remember. You're right you didn't have to wake up at 7am each day but you did when you first made your FPs it was 7am eastern, 6am central done 60 or 30 days in advance. You didn't do that whole rat race because as you said you booked a week in advance but countless other people did do it. Now with Genie+ you're doing it everyday of your trip rather than in advance.

I find a lot about FP+ workable to me but there is plenty from this Board to show it was not a walk in the park. Funny thing is I remember thinking about how harder my vacation to Disney would be the next time I would go when I saw news stories about this new thing such as pre-booking stuff. That said I've always been a proponent that you didn't really want everyone knowing and using FP+ in response to the countless posts from DISer who would scoff at people not knowing about FP...yes well look where we are now with Genie+.

 

[DCLMP]

So what drew you to Disney then because you said you visited other parks and didn't like the experience. Did you not assume you'd wait in line at Disney? You chose Disney before you knew about FP according to your comments. What made you think it would be different than the other parks you went to. I'm more prodding because you said those who wouldn't wait in line spent their vacation dollars elsewhere. That doesn't really jive with with you're saying relates to you.

FP+ was actually more difficult than you may think about. I was the one with the color coded spreadsheet and all but it was keeping up with the tiers which did change (my spreadsheets are evidence of that), knowing that you could pick 1 from tier 1 2 from tier 2, that you have a rolling 4th (which I think was so/so on people knowing about), etc. I think people should try to find that thread about FP (should it still exist) and read over the first page again and then think about it like someone who wouldn't know what these things mean. Once you got it you got it but it was getting there to begin with. I do prefer FP+ over Genie+ but I won't pretend that either are super easy. MP IIRC had something like a 90min wait time?? I can't quite remember. You're right you didn't have to wake up at 7am each day but you did when you first made your FPs it was 7am eastern, 6am central done 60 or 30 days in advance. You didn't do that whole rat race because as you said you booked a week in advance but countless other people did do it. Now with Genie+ you're doing it everyday of your trip rather than in advance.

I find a lot about FP+ workable to me but there is plenty from this Board to show it was not a walk in the park. Funny thing is I remember thinking about how harder my vacation to Disney would be the next time I would go when I saw news stories about this new thing such as pre-booking stuff. That said I've always been a proponent that you didn't really want everyone knowing and using FP+ in response to the countless posts from DISer who would scoff at people not knowing about FP...yes well look where we are now with Genie+.

It's funny how everyone has such different experiences. I did not find fast pass + user friendly at all, but maybe being totally oblivious before you go gives you a better outcome. On the other hand I did see a lot of totally oblivious people not having a good time. For the record I don't find Genie plus all that great either. The old running to get a paper ticket was the best. It also provided motivation to get in shape.

 

[DCLMP]

I knew nothing about FP+ before I booked my first trip. Booked the trip about a week in advance so well past the 60 day window. Did some googling for “first disney trip tips” and immediately learned about FP. Went on the app and booked a few things and found it very easy. At the park, once I got done with my first three I discovered that there was tons more availability in the app for same day FPs and rode a bunch of great rides.

It was so easy to use—you picked a ride and a time and it was yours once you clicked it—no being limited to “next available” and shifting return times after you click like G+. No 120 minute rule. No pre-7am wake up call. No juggling having to book different systems (ILL, G+) at the same tine. And no extra cost.

Contrary to what people are saying here, fastpass was not some big secret that only a privileged few could hope to discover. It was easy to find info about wirh hardly any research, and easy and intuitive to use with zero training. For all those who say Genie is preferred by first timers, I just can’t see how that could be the case. Those people who weren’t capable of figuring out FP+ was an option and waited in standby all day are still going to be clueless and wait in standby all day. Now they will just be joined by all the people who can’t fit G+ in their budget too.

Just curious what was the first year you used fast pass plus? The first year it was available we were part of a trial for the resort we we're staying at. There was a big difference in attendance between 2013 and 2019.

 

[baozi]

Friday is also $20. I guess Saturday and Sunday will be $22...

 

[DavidNYC]

Fast pass plus did not work perfectly well. The standby lines were insanely long. I would not call that a successful system. Our trip in May I never saw a standby line over 60 minutes. I'm not saying genie+ is great, but it was certainly better than the 3 hour standby lines we saw February of 2019. Our best trips were in 2021 without either.

Check out the standby lines this week. Just as bad as they ever were. You were hitting 2 hour waits on a bunch of rides. I've been going for decades. You were not seeing many 3 hour waits other than rides like Avatar and Slinky when they first opened. And even then - those times reduced during the day. Genie+ is not having an appreciable different in standby times. The lines this week - in the middle of October - not even T'giving or Xmas season are showing equal or greater standbys.

Sigh.

Watch the Defunctland Fastpass video on YouTube. He explains exactly what Disney did to try to account for the fact that they did not have the capacity to offer meaningful Fastpasses to every single guest.

And they still do not have the ability to do it now. But now you get to pay $100 per day extra for an average size family to roll the dice and hope you can get some meaningful ones. And if you can't get stuff that works for you and you want to do a different park instead - nope! That video cherrypicks so much it's comical. It assumes you needed to take a sledgehammer to a system rather than tweak it. And there are FAR more issues with Genie+ on aggregate.

Genie+ should not impact the enjoyment of those not using it nearly as much as FP+ did.

But it does. And I'd say far more. Genie+ only doesn't affect you if you are willing to just do whatever they give you. Want to take a mid-day break - tough! (unless you basically want to forego using Genie+ to full advantage). Arrive late? Tough. Sleep in? Tough. Want the ability to plan some rides so you're not criss-crossing the park all day? Tough. It benefits those who have absolutely no restrictions on their day and do not care how it gets scheduled. FP+ allowed you to plan around what you got. You weren't wondering what your day was going to be like and when you'd get to do things. All they had to do to solve the issues you brought up was eliminate the on-site advantage. Or just keep the system as it was but don't allow pre-booking. Lots of options for them which would have retained the benefits of that system. But they didn't do that. They replaced a few easily solvable drawbacks with a system which has created more dissatisfaction than you ever saw under the old system and at a HUGE daily cost for people. What other product that isn't gambling related asks you to pay money for something that you might or might not get depending on your luck? "Give us the money - but we're not promising you'll get ANYTHING in return for it. We're only giving you access to a system that might allow you to get things that work for you". Say what you want about FP+ but you can't come up with an issue with it that wasn't solvable in a far less destructive way than what they did.

 

[MomOTwins]

So what drew you to Disney then because you said you visited other parks and didn't like the experience. Did you not assume you'd wait in line at Disney? You chose Disney before you knew about FP according to your comments. What made you think it would be different than the other parks you went to. I'm more prodding because you said those who wouldn't wait in line spent their vacation dollars elsewhere. That doesn't really jive with with you're saying relates to you.

FP+ was actually more difficult than you may think about. I was the one with the color coded spreadsheet and all but it was keeping up with the tiers which did change (my spreadsheets are evidence of that), knowing that you could pick 1 from tier 1 2 from tier 2, that you have a rolling 4th (which I think was so/so on people knowing about), etc. I think people should try to find that thread about FP (should it still exist) and read over the first page again and then think about it like someone who wouldn't know what these things mean. Once you got it you got it but it was getting there to begin with. I do prefer FP+ over Genie+ but I won't pretend that either are super easy. MP IIRC had something like a 90min wait time?? I can't quite remember. You're right you didn't have to wake up at 7am each day but you did when you first made your FPs it was 7am eastern, 6am central done 60 or 30 days in advance. You didn't do that whole rat race because as you said you booked a week in advance but countless other people did do it. Now with Genie+ you're doing it everyday of your trip rather than in advance.

I find a lot about FP+ workable to me but there is plenty from this Board to show it was not a walk in the park. Funny thing is I remember thinking about how harder my vacation to Disney would be the next time I would go when I saw news stories about this new thing such as pre-booking stuff. That said I've always been a proponent that you didn't really want everyone knowing and using FP+ in response to the countless posts from DISer who would scoff at people not knowing about FP...yes well look where we are now with Genie+.

It was actually my boss. He went to Disney every year with his family and told me I had to try it, and he was both a boss and a friend and I was persuaded to give it a chance. I figured we’d just go a weekend—that way I would not waste any vacation days and not spend much money—but we loved it. If on that first trip I had the experience I had on my last trip to the parks, I never would have returned.

 

[xdan0920]

FWIW, I don't find G+ to be measurably better or worse from FP+ in terms of user experience. It's different, sure. But the end result is pretty similar. The biggest issue with it is that it now costs me AT LEAST $80 a day, assuming I don't buy any ILL. Disney has not improved my experience in any way. All they have done is shake me down for an extra few hundred dollars a trip.

One other point, that I feel like I am making ad nauseam, but it isn't getting through. Disney does not want a Uni style front of the line pass. If they wanted that, we would have it. Plain and simple. It's not some big industry secret.

 

[PaladinButters]

I doubt you'll ever see that offer. The LL would be so long they'd get nothing but complaints. Those not staying on site and paying full price for it would be screaming for refunds.

That offer is in the future (after more price increases) but the packages that include it will be very limited and the deal will "sell out".

Be impossible to know. For the sake of argument, let’s sayDisney gave us all the data… is it Genie+? Fear of recession? Inflation? Competition from universal? Concerns with company culture and political philosophy? One of a thousand other possible causes? With so much going on, you could never isolate it to Genie.

Saw a thread on this elsewhere yesterday "everyone stop going to the parks and they'll know we hate Genie" - like, no. You think even a massive drop in attendance right now **gestures wildly at everything looming** would somehow get tied to their wildly successful (in terms of their sales) genie program?

Contrary to what people are saying here, fastpass was not some big secret that only a privileged few could hope to discover.

It really wasn't but maximizing it to it's absolute fullest potential (like everyone on the boards would do - refresh, refresh, refresh, refresh) took a small bit of research and I think people are confusing that (and their own personal usage) with the absolute ease of just getting times for rides that a majority of the "average guest" would do and pick up no problem. Then again, there are people in the parks every day asking where "Harry Potter Land" is located so......

 

[cakebaker]

Technically no. Because of tiers you couldn't or at the very least you would have to visit the same park many days in order to get all the rides in the tiers.

But again, that's something that's easily done and exactly what we did. My only point is that there was nothing about fp+ that inherently forced others to stand in long lines. They chose not to use it for whatever reasons.

That offer is in the future (after more price increases) but the packages that include it will be very limited and the deal will "sell out".

I'm pretty sure that can't be stated as a fact. It's just conjecture, although I have no doubt if they offered such a thing it would sell out. Not so free dining was a huge hit. People love the idea of getting something for nothing even when they really aren't.

 

[ScarletFire]

Everything about Disney is more expensive this week than last week! Will the cost increases ever end? Can it get more expensive??

Cost aside, I like Genie+. I prefer it to paper FP, FP+ and no FP. It's good for me that a lot people don't do the research before going to Disney. And, I get to ride the rides without a wait.

The best Genie+ use is not a secret.

Edited to add: I always have some apple cash. My DD25 is still on our car insurance and pays her monthly premium to me. She calls it my Disney money. I use applepay for online food orders, Genie+ and LL$. It helps with a Budget.

 

[Sunelis]

The biggest issue I have with Genie+ (beside paying for it) is the one LL per ride per day rule. I'm not the kind of guy that wants to do it all... I want to do a few select rides multiple times. In the FP+ days I would (for example) do Haunted Mansion 5-6 times in a day at MK. So let me have re rides and I will "happily" pay for G+ even with the price increase.

 

[Scalemaster34]

FWIW, I don't find G+ to be measurably better or worse from FP+ in terms of user experience. It's different, sure. But the end result is pretty similar. The biggest issue with it is that it now costs me AT LEAST $80 a day, assuming I don't buy any ILL. Disney has not improved my experience in any way. All they have done is shake me down for an extra few hundred dollars a trip.

One other point, that I feel like I am making ad nauseam, but it isn't getting through. Disney does not want a Uni style front of the line pass. If they wanted that, we would have it. Plain and simple. It's not some big industry secret.

It's measurably worse for me...

Find myself criss-crossing the park much more now, as I have to take the times that are available.
Find myself "stuck" in a park, because all I could get at 7AM is a 4PM slot for an attraction like Slinky Dog.
Find myself rushing to an ADR or a Concert as I had no control over picking a Genie+ time, or the waits that might have developed even in the LL.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

But again, that's something that's easily done and exactly what we did. My only point is that there was nothing about fp+ that inherently forced others to stand in long lines. They chose not to use it for whatever reasons.

I agree with you that if you opted not to use FP+ or didn't know it existed that was a choice made by you (general you) to stand in lines but I disagreed with how you discuss ease by which you could get everything you wanted and if you didn't ride all the rides that was on you (general you). I think perhaps this comes down to understanding the Other Side by which I mean people who aren't you who may not have vacation time, finances, difference in traveling party, time of year they are visiting, etc

Take into consideration things like party seasons. I went up against both MNSSHP (which closes MK early multiple times a week) but also Food & Wine (which brings in large crowds) and while I did have park hoppers without that it would have made things much more difficult. IDK just don't think it's worth blaming people in that respect.

 

[lynzi2004]

So what does everyone think will happen to Genie+ once the recession and “revenge travel” finally merge? After 9/11, Disney had to offer deep discounts on rooms, ticket packages, FP+ changes, 3am
EMHs etc.

Is it feasible to think that as a family, we could hold off on another trip for 2-3 years and ride out this tide? Could they potentially throw Genie+ into an onsite resort stay or include one-two $ILL with a resort stay based on the length of nights?! I wasn’t a Disney goer until just a few years ago, so I don’t know how the “going down the rabbit hole of discounts” happened after 9/11. But I just don’t feel like this is sustainable in the long term and I realize no one knows, but someone, somewhere has to be looking at a potential exit strategy once the bubble finally bursts, right?!?

 

[Jrb1979]

So what does everyone think will happen to Genie+ once the recession and “revenge travel” finally merge? After 9/11, Disney had to offer deep discounts on rooms, ticket packages, FP+ changes, 3am
EMHs etc.

Is it feasible to think that as a family, we could hold off on another trip for 2-3 years and ride out this tide? Could they potentially throw Genie+ into an onsite resort stay or include one-two $ILL with a resort stay based on the length of nights?! I wasn’t a Disney goer until just a few years ago, so I don’t know how the “going down the rabbit hole of discounts” happened after 9/11. But I just don’t feel like this is sustainable in the long term and I realize no one knows, but someone, somewhere has to be looking at a potential exit strategy once the bubble finally bursts, right?!?

My best guess you will see resort discounts. I highly doubt Genie+ will ever be included. It's always going to be an add-on and probably continue to rise in price.