Changes to ILL & Genie+ starting 2/25

[Beachmom0317]

Hmm I am hoping to get an ILL for Rise tomorrow and then book MMRR with G+. I should book Rise first correct? I already have G+ added to my ticket

 

[fireflyer]

Am I the only customer who's completely disturbed by this change??? Whereas I would've previously been able to schedule 2 rides/park at my desired time (costing me extra of course)... but NOW almost everyone at rope-drop will be heading toward the one lone ILL at each park (i.e. trying to ride it first-thing to avoid paying $ILL ).

Prior to eliminating some $ILL eligibility, the rope-droppers would split their early-morning hustle between 7DMT and SpaceMtn. Now they're all going to run to 7DMT.

Disney knows this, and is using it to increase $ILL sales. They will sell more $ILL of the lone ride, because now more than ever, paying $ILL is the only way to avoid a 3-hr wait. Today, right now, RotR is 3-hr standby. Who can keep their kids statisfied in a 3 hour line? Nobody. Disney has just forced the vast majority to clog the lone ILL at rope-drop, or pay extra for $ILL.

 

[musicguy856]

Am I the only customer who's completely disturbed by this change??? Whereas I would've previously been able to schedule 2 rides/park at my desired time (costing me extra of course)... but NOW almost everyone at rope-drop will be heading toward the one lone ILL at each park (i.e. trying to ride it first-thing to avoid paying $ILL ).

Prior to eliminating some $ILL eligibility, the rope-droppers would split their early-morning hustle between 7DMT and SpaceMtn. Now they're all going to run to 7DMT.

Disney knows this, and is using it to increase $ILL sales. They will sell more $ILL of the lone ride, because now more than ever, paying $ILL is the only way to avoid a 3-hr wait. Today, right now, RotR is 3-hr standby. Who can keep their kids statisfied in a 3 hour line? Nobody. Disney has just forced the vast majority to clog the lone ILL at rope-drop, or pay extra for $ILL.

The most popular ILL in each park sold out almost every day anyway. It won’t increase sales, in fact they’ll lose the extra ILL revenue from the second one that is now on G+. I could see a G+ price hike coming soon.

 

[Grasshopper2016]

I’m sure that Disney has projected this change to be at least revenue neutral. After all, would today’s Disney brass ever approve a change that was expected to reduce profits?

The additional Genie+ sales to people who view it as more desirable now that includes more premium rides might on their own be enough to offset the lost ILL$ revenues. But if not, you can expect a price hike for Genie+, the remaining ILL$ rides, or both.

 

[DisneyFive]

I’m sure that Disney has projected this change to be at least revenue neutral. After all, would today’s Disney brass ever approve a change that was expected to reduce profits?

The additional Genie+ sales to people who view it as more desirable now that includes more premium rides might on their own be enough to offset the lost ILL$ revenues. But if not, you can expect a price hike for Genie+, the remaining ILL$ rides, or both.

I’m not so sure that this has to do with revenue. Maybe, but not in the direct way that you’re referring to. I think this is related to guest satisfaction and the complaints with G+ and individual lightning lane purchases. People are upset. There is a lot of bad press going around for Walt Disney World right now and this might be their way to help reduce that and keep guests coming back and improve “word of mouth”

 

[roctavia]

I’m not so sure that this has to do with revenue. Maybe, but not in the direct way that you’re referring to. I think this is related to guest satisfaction and the complaints with G+ and individual lightning lane purchases. People are upset. There is a lot of bad press going around for Walt Disney World right now and this might be their way to help reduce that and keep guests coming back and improve “word of mouth”

It makes sense that this is the first change they would make, since they did the same thing over the holidays to increase G+ capacity. It's not a brand new IT build/feature like being able to modify your G+ pick or something along those lines would be.

I would agree that this is more to try and help the complaints than anything... It's probably still not enough, but at least they tried to do something.

 

[wisblue]

Am I the only customer who's completely disturbed by this change??? Whereas I would've previously been able to schedule 2 rides/park at my desired time (costing me extra of course)... but NOW almost everyone at rope-drop will be heading toward the one lone ILL at each park (i.e. trying to ride it first-thing to avoid paying $ILL ).

Prior to eliminating some $ILL eligibility, the rope-droppers would split their early-morning hustle between 7DMT and SpaceMtn. Now they're all going to run to 7DMT.

Disney knows this, and is using it to increase $ILL sales. They will sell more $ILL of the lone ride, because now more than ever, paying $ILL is the only way to avoid a 3-hr wait. Today, right now, RotR is 3-hr standby. Who can keep their kids statisfied in a 3 hour line? Nobody. Disney has just forced the vast majority to clog the lone ILL at rope-drop, or pay extra for $ILL.

Considering that the remaining ILL attractions all have been selling out, the only way they can sell more of them is to increase the number they offer for sale. It‘s possible they are doing that.

Otherwise, I don’t see how removing the other attractions from ILL will increase the standby lines at the remaining ones.

 

[fireflyer]

Otherwise, I don’t see how removing the other attractions from ILL will increase the standby lines at the remaining ones.

Within the first half-hour of park-opening, the only remaining $ILL at HS (Rise of Resistance) had a wait-time of 155 min (2 hr 35 min) today. This is higher than its average wait-time at 9:30am. It's because everyone who doesn't want to pay $ILL for anything is running to RotR at rope-drop.

Previously, they were splitting their rope-drop targets between RotR and Runaway Railway. Now they go to only one: RotR. The line is clogged up first-thing in the morning, and will remain that way.

 

[Garyjames220]

has anyone had a LL for frozen and test track in the same day

looks nearly impossible, when I have been checking the app

 

[Westerner]

.

 

[g-dad66]

Very difficult, because both tend to sell out prior to 12 which is when you can typically make your 2nd LL pick at Epcot.

TT does seem to have fairly regular drops based on thrilldata between 11:30-11:40, 1:30-1:40 and 3:30-3:40 (see below) so one strategy might be to book Frozen at 7AM and try refreshing around the aforementioned times for TT.

View attachment 650641

Epcot has been opening at 10 am.

Tomorrow, the 8:30 am openings begin, so I plan to start checking Frozen and Test Track LL availability at 10:30.

 

[jbish]

FYI: Was able to call Disney and get Genie + added to my trip with no increase to my ticket price.

Our trip is end of April, everything was already booked but I was putting off adding Genie + because I couldn't figure out if we would want to use it every day. Finally, after discussing last night we decide to just get it, since this is a once in a lifetime trip (we live outside of US), and it's only the two of us (my fiance and I). We figured even if it lets us not wait in line for three rides a day, that's time we can spend walking around, snacking, and discovering.

OF COURSE right after we decide this I see the news (I've been obsessively checking everything of course). I figured we should book it ASAP because I have a sneaking suspicion the cost will rise. I go on to mydisney app/website and the website won't let me add Genie +. So I start to panic thinking that I won't be able to do it without paying more for our tickets. I start panicking thinking about what if they actually run out of Genie+ once we're there or raise the price.

Called Disney and after 40 min got on the phone with an amazing cast member, she added Genie+ no problem, no extra ticket price, no nothing. She also added a note in our file that we were celebrating a birthday (even though I explained my birthday was way back in June but our trip had been delayed).

All that to say, if the new news has made you want to add genie+ to your trip, and you're having issues with the app or website, I highly recommend calling Disney and asking a cast member to add it.

May I ask which number you called? I panicked and just paid the extra to add G+ to all of my days, which involved the ticket price increase. Might be a long shot but I may call and see if they’ll refund the price increase. I wish I had waited to buy it but just figured I hesitated once, couldn’t risk another price increase. I highly doubt it will work but might as well try.

 

[AquaGlitter]

May I ask which number you called? I panicked and just paid the extra to add G+ to all of my days, which involved the ticket price increase. Might be a long shot but I may call and see if they’ll refund the price increase. I wish I had waited to buy it but just figured I hesitated once, couldn’t risk another price increase. I highly doubt it will work but might as well try.

Ugh I’m so sorry! That sucks. So bizarre, it wouldn’t even let me add the genie plus unless I bought a complete new “trip”. I had a hotel and ticket package deal so not sure if that’s relevant.

I just called the number they have under “my plans and tickets” in my Disney account (on computer browser not the app), where they say to call for any help with your Disney vacation plans. When I called I had to select a few numbers. They asked for my confirmation number so it’s useful to have your account open in front of you. I called them around 5:30pm on a weekday and waited 45 min before speaking to someone.

I would say it’s worth a try!

Know that there is tax on genie + so the total will be slightly more than 15$ per day per person. For two people it was like 32 a day. At first I didn’t realize that!

 

[godfather927]

has anyone had a LL for frozen and test track in the same day

looks nearly impossible, when I have been checking the app

Ugh. This change is so horrible for this reason alone. Previously we had a chance to get LL for both Frozen and Test Track in the same day and now that plan has been torpedoed. This is beyond frustrating.

 

[acarsme123]

Am I the only customer who's completely disturbed by this change??? Whereas I would've previously been able to schedule 2 rides/park at my desired time (costing me extra of course)... but NOW almost everyone at rope-drop will be heading toward the one lone ILL at each park (i.e. trying to ride it first-thing to avoid paying $ILL ).

Prior to eliminating some $ILL eligibility, the rope-droppers would split their early-morning hustle between 7DMT and SpaceMtn. Now they're all going to run to 7DMT.

Disney knows this, and is using it to increase $ILL sales. They will sell more $ILL of the lone ride, because now more than ever, paying $ILL is the only way to avoid a 3-hr wait. Today, right now, RotR is 3-hr standby. Who can keep their kids statisfied in a 3 hour line? Nobody. Disney has just forced the vast majority to clog the lone ILL at rope-drop, or pay extra for $ILL.

I'm ticked about it because even though I wasn't happy about paying for individual rides now, at least I could book two in addition to getting a Genie+ selection, thus bringing it more in line with FastPass in what we were guaranteed to be able to get done. Besides, staying on-site was supposed to give me the perk of being able to book these ILLs prior to non on-site guests.....now they're chipping away at that benefit!

 

[Westerner]

Maybe Disney should do more $ILL rather than less. From what I've read here, people tend to dislike G+ more than $ILL. With $ILL at least you know what you're buying, there are no complex rules on when you can book, and you have more control over return times. Just charge less for lower demand rides or even give each guest 1 free to build goodwill. Also, the "I don't want to get up at 7AM" complaint kind of goes away because onsite guests don't have to rush as much - there should be easy availability til park open. And offsite doesn't have to get up at 7AM either because they can't book til park open anyway. Problem solved. Pay me, Disney.

 

[godfather927]

Maybe Disney should do more $ILL rather than less. From what I've read here, people tend to dislike G+ more than $ILL. With $ILL at least you know what you're buying, there are no complex rules on when you can book, and you have more control over return times. Just charge less for lower demand rides or even give each guest 1 free to build goodwill. Also, the "I don't want to get up at 7AM" complaint kind of goes away because onsite guests don't have to rush as much - there should be easy availability til park open. And offsite doesn't have to get up at 7AM either because they can't book til park open anyway. Problem solved. Pay me, Disney.

YES! Exactly this! Pick 3 headliners and make them ILL, put everything else on G+ and drop the price of G+ to make up for the fact that the main headliners aren't on there. This will reduce the buyer's remorse aspect of paying for G+ without getting your money's worth and for those who want to buy an ILL there's less chance of being disappointed since you can pick your exact time and have more control over planning out your day. This also furthers the benefit for on-site guests rather than diminishing it. Seriously, this isn't that hard and yet here we are.

 

[acarsme123]

YES! Exactly this! Pick 3 headliners and make them ILL, put everything else on G+ and drop the price of G+ to make up for the fact that the main headliners aren't on there. This will reduce the buyer's remorse aspect of paying for G+ without getting your money's worth and for those who want to buy an ILL there's less chance of being disappointed since you can pick your exact time and have more control over planning out your day. This also furthers the benefit for on-site guests rather than diminishing it. Seriously, this isn't that hard and yet here we are.

It's incredible isn't it how boneheaded this new system is? You'd think they'd have smarter people coming up with these things, but its incredibly moronic how they've done it. They could have made extra money while at the same time having a much better thought out system.

 

[Westerner]

Or make everything $ILL and adjust price to balance supply/demand. Some rides could go into a free tier (eg max 1-3 per guest til sold out), others could be midrange eg $5-$8 and the headliners could be what they are now.

 

[acarsme123]

Maybe Disney should do more $ILL rather than less. From what I've read here, people tend to dislike G+ more than $ILL. With $ILL at least you know what you're buying, there are no complex rules on when you can book, and you have more control over return times. Just charge less for lower demand rides or even give each guest 1 free to build goodwill. Also, the "I don't want to get up at 7AM" complaint kind of goes away because onsite guests don't have to rush as much - there should be easy availability til park open. And offsite doesn't have to get up at 7AM either because they can't book til park open anyway. Problem solved. Pay me, Disney.

I'd be fine with this