Changes to ILL & Genie+ starting 2/25

[snikki]

Any suggestion for planning a trip starting 8/10. Better to plan for these rides returning to ILL after 8/7. We will have G+ and I was figuring on being really organized and knowing exactly what selections I would making every morning.

I’m sure you’ll hear something new before you leave. It’ll probably be 8/6 but you’ll hear something.

 

[roctavia]

Yeah, $25 and no ILL$ would make more sense.

I don't think they will drop the ILL$ with the new rides coming, it will make too much money. And $25 is nowhere near expensive enough to decrease the number of people buying. If it included all the rides, or even as is, people will still pay it to skip the line (even more will buy it if there are no ILL$) so it will just make availability even worse.

Adding the extra rides is good to open up some more inventory for what will likely be a very busy spring and summer.

I would hope this is disney responding to all of the criticism and complaints about how crappy G+ is and trying to make it a little more useful. While they want to nickel and dime us to death, they still need people to keep coming to the parks, especially with Universal breathing down their necks in the next few years.

 

[Haagen Dawgs]

Did prices already go up? I just looked to update my tickets in anticipation of them selling out now, and they are $70/day (party of 4), before tax.

 

[roctavia]

Did prices already go up? I just looked to update my tickets in anticipation of them selling out now, and they are $70/day (party of 4), before tax.

Most people are finding a ticket price increase gets added when you try to add G+ now, so that's probably the difference you are seeing in price.

I also don't think they will sell out, since disney doesn't seem to care if you buy G+ and can't use it...

 

[SLThomas318]

It’ll be interesting to see if this helps. Genie+ def needs more inventory, but the only part I liked about the $LL was being able to pick a convenient time and now I can only do that for 1 ride in each park. Can we just bring back fp+ ?! After experiencing the mess that is genie+ I’ll happily pay for it (sigh!)

 

[GBRforWDW]

Did prices already go up? I just looked to update my tickets in anticipation of them selling out now, and they are $70/day (party of 4), before tax.

Most people are finding a ticket price increase gets added when you try to add G+ now, so that's probably the difference you are seeing in price.

I also don't think they will sell out, since disney doesn't seem to care if you buy G+ and can't use it...

Tickets purchased pre price increase will get the ticket increase if trying to add Genie+ due to the ticket classification system.

When you add Genie+ to length of stay tickets in advance of use, it’s considered a ticket upgrade, exchanging one ticket for another, like upgrading from base tickets to hoppers. When you add Genie+ one day at a time on day of use, it’s considered an add-on.

 

[Jennasis]

It’ll be interesting to see if this helps. Genie+ def needs more inventory, but the only part I liked about the $LL was being able to pick a convenient time and now I can only do that for 1 ride in each park. Can we just bring back fp+ ?! After experiencing the mess that is genie+ I’ll happily pay for it (sigh!)

Yup. Make it like FP+ again and I'll cough up the dough. $50/day? Sure.

 

[GBRforWDW]

I don't think they will drop the ILL$ with the new rides coming, it will make too much money. And $25 is nowhere near expensive enough to decrease the number of people buying. If it included all the rides, or even as is, people will still pay it to skip the line (even more will buy it if there are no ILL$) so it will just make availability even worse.

Adding the extra rides is good to open up some more inventory for what will likely be a very busy spring and summer.

I would hope this is disney responding to all of the criticism and complaints about how crappy G+ is and trying to make it a little more useful. While they want to nickel and dime us to death, they still need people to keep coming to the parks, especially with Universal breathing down their necks in the next few years.

I wonder what % of guests purchase only G+ or only an ILL$ though and would it really be that much worse if everyone was buying only 1. I'm sure in some aspects it would, but I'd love it if you could only choose RotR or SDD and not both as typically happens right now.

 

[Haagen Dawgs]

Tickets purchased pre price increase will get the ticket increase if trying to add Genie+ due to the ticket classification system.

Hahaha. You have to appreciate the Disney Art of Separating You From Your Wallet. Truly impressive. Stupid mouse

 

[Juliet25]

Yup. Make it like FP+ again and I'll cough up the dough. $50/day? Sure.

Me too. If I knew what I was getting, I'd gladly pay. I don't like the stress of a.) handling this at 7am the morning of, and b.) potentially not getting anything I want to ride and throwing $60 away each day we're in a park. It was so less stressful to go in October 2020 when there was so FP or Genie+...just waiting in line.

 

[Ermise]

The changes definitely could be for the new rides coming on line soon but I also wonder if it is due to what Disney is seeing in the data.

Based on our personal experience (and comments from others) EPCOT is the park where Genie+ is the least beneficial. If usage (sales) is lowest at that park adding Frozen to the lineup may increase that.

Frustrations have been voiced about Genie+ availability being very limited at Hollywood Studios, so adding Runaway Railway helps with that issue.

I would also guess that Space Mountain is the least used ILL$ option, so again moving that to Genie+ would make sense.

I can see where all of these moves could increase Genie+ sales in Disney's eyes.

 

[DLRExpert]

Just up the price to $25 for all attractions and no more ILL. $50 if you want the option for Re-rides plus one hour window instead of two.

 

[WxKristin]

I honestly have no idea anymore if this good, bad or indifferent. I was debating trying to pay of ILL and not genie+ on my next trip, but genie+ may be worth it at Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom now.

 

[Shannon131]

Can we still buy 2 individual lightning lanes per day (assuming we have park hoppers)?

 

[GBRforWDW]

Can we still buy 2 individual lightning lanes per day (assuming we have park hoppers)?

Yes, assuming you have hoppers, you'd still be able to buy 2

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Just paid for all of those ILL in last week. I hate myself.

I would be asking for a refund. Surely they are duty bound to give you back your cash since the product you bought no longer exists

 

[cjlong88]

We added G+ to our package for December last week simply because we could see a potential price hike. Honestly, it’s nice knowing I won’t need to purchase it each day. It’s weird though because when we modified our tickets within our package, it didn’t increase the ticket price like others have said. I was only charged for G+ plus tax. I didn’t question it and just modified before the system changed its mind.

My guess is that these attractions will remain in the G+ pool as a more permanent change, at least that is my hope. Guardians and Tron will become ILL$. It’s probably a combination of guest feedback with a system that is struggling to maintain sufficient inventory (hence lots of complaints) with a sprinkle of planning ahead for newer attractions to open, thus needing to free up an ILL$ spot in MK and Epcot. Or maybe it’s something else entirely. Only the humans who make these changes really know what’s happening.

 

[Haley R]

I’m not sure this is a positive change for us. We bought a frozen ILL$ when we were at Epcot which is cheaper than buying genie+. There wasn’t anything on genie+ we were interested in so now we would have to pay more just to ride frozen

 

[PaladinButters]

Just up the price to $25 for all attractions and no more ILL. $50 if you want the option for Re-rides plus one hour window instead of two.

That's $110 at Universal right now (and still doesn't include Hagrid's actually - so not every attraction), why would Disney charge only $50 for more parks and more attractions?

I know it's seen as a crime on the boards here (and if I had a dime for every time I've read "nickel and dime" this past few months I could literally just retire right now) but I think on the outside there's much more "Wow, only $15? This cost me $180 for the day at Six Flags and that's just one park" or "I paid $250 on a peak day at Cedar Point and still had lines as long as the standby since they sell so many - Disney's scheduling system sure keeps the lines down adding value to what I paid" and my favorite "they were already charging for maxpass at DLR, makes sense they would also charge in Florida".

 

[Mrs~Incredible]

That's $110 at Universal right now (and still doesn't include Hagrid's actually - so not every attraction), why would Disney charge only $50 for more parks and more attractions?

I know it's seen as a crime on the boards here (and if I had a dime for every time I've read "nickel and dime" this past few months I could literally just retire right now) but I think on the outside there's much more "Wow, only $15? This cost me $180 for the day at Six Flags and that's just one park" or "I paid $250 on a peak day at Cedar Point and still had lines as long as the standby since they sell so many - Disney's scheduling system sure keeps the lines down adding value to what I paid" and my favorite "they were already charging for maxpass at DLR, makes sense they would also charge in Florida".

That’s true…. But…. Wdw is so big it is a multi-day destination for a lot of families. Charging what those other places do should be a non-starter for them…. Because then even more people would be upset for having to wait in 90+minute rides all day.
UO can be multi-day as well, but the crowds just aren’t the same as what wdw is showing. So you don’t have to purchase their express pass in order to have a good time. Jmho.