Changes to ILL & Genie+ starting 2/25

[roctavia]

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.

Not a fan of the idea of them charging even more to go on the rides in the park that we've paid a huge admission to already.

I'm happy about them adding more rides to the G+ pool because we weren't going to buy all of the ILL anyway, due to the cost but also mostly the principle of having to pay even more to go on rides. Adding frozen to the G+ line up makes me reconsider getting G+, since we weren't going to get it for Epcot since there aren't that many rides anyway and while it'd be nice to go on Frozen, we can live without it.

The other 2nd ILLS that they made G+ were rides we weren't going to buy anyway, so adding them to G+ could work out better if we are able to get enough selections.

I think there are a lot of ways to make G+ better, charging even more/making more rides ILL$ doesn't sound like a good answer to me. They will still have all of the angry people who can't get anything since it sold out, or they will keep you limited to 2 purchases per day to leave inventory for other people.

G+ biggest problem is that it costs money. If it were free, people wouldn't be so quick to complain that they didn't get many rides.... A modify/choice of times would help a ton or selecting things ahead of 7am... but just charging for more rides will make it worse.

 

[DLRExpert]

Just need to get rid of ILL and make everything LL. Just charge the amount you want. For example, $30.

 

[ckelly14]

I agree- why did they make it so complicated. I think we could all get on board with picking one way, either G+ or ILL, and get rid of the other.

 

[fireflyer]

...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!

Did something recently get chipped away? I made a reservation at a Disney hotel ONLY because of the ability to book Genie+ and ILL before park opens. Do non-resort guests now have that option too?

 

[acarsme123]

Did something recently get chipped away? I made a reservation at a Disney hotel ONLY because of the ability to book Genie+ and ILL before park opens. Do non-resort guests now have that option too?

The only advantage on-site guests get is the ability to book ILL at 7am, prior to off-site guests. But, they reduced the number of ILLs in each park from 2 to 1.

Regular Genie+ selections get to be booked by everyone, both on-site and off-site guests at 7am. So there is no advantage to staying on-site just for regular Genie+ selections. Awesome huh?

 

[HydroGuy]

Did something recently get chipped away? I made a reservation at a Disney hotel ONLY because of the ability to book Genie+ and ILL before park opens. Do non-resort guests now have that option too?

Not sure if the G+ has changed, but ILL$ is still allowed only to resorts guests before the park opens. G+ is open to anyone with a valid park reservation at the same time - 7AM.

 

[itf]

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.

The solution is to give them MORE money to help them sort out their mess?

 

[acarsme123]

The solution is to give them MORE money to help them sort out their mess?

Well, my coworker who was able to go there before they implemented Genie+ yet still weren’t doing FastPass again said not having any system was the best. He said all lines moved swiftly with none of these programs in place. But of course Disney won’t give up an opportunity to make money. So I don’t think their priority is really how long people are waiting in lines. If they cared about that they’d probably just be best doing away with any kind of skip the line feature.

either get rid of regular Genie+ but have more options for ILL, but still have a limit of like 2-3 a day you can do. Make everything else standby so those lines move faster for everyone….or….charge a certain amount to give us the old FastPass 3 selections back and we’re allowed to pick our attractions and times 60-90 days out

 

[DisneyFive]

Well, my coworker who was able to go there before they implemented Genie+ yet still weren’t doing FastPass again said not having any system was the best. He said all lines moved swiftly with none of these programs in place. But of course Disney won’t give up an opportunity to make money. So I don’t think their priority is really how long people are waiting in lines. If they cared about that they’d probably just be best doing away with any kind of skip the line feature.

either get rid of regular Genie+ but have more options for ILL, but still have a limit of like 2-3 a day you can do. Make everything else standby so those lines move faster for everyone….or….charge a certain amount to give us the old FastPass 3 selections back and we’re allowed to pick our attractions and times 60-90 days out

We had also spent many weeks at WDW from 2010-‘18 before Covid, and then last summer when everything was standby. Last summer was BY FAR the most standing in lines we ever had. Keep in mind that capacity was lower last summer than now so going to standby-only now would be a disaster IMO.

Your friend is right, that the lines moved much faster. However the were physically a LOT longer in length, and they were WAY longer in wait also. Much more than we had ever experienced before. We easily spent double or more the time we used to in each line which resulted in only getting half, or even fewer, rides than we are used to. Our feet had never been so sore. We also had far less time to meander and just enjoy the park atmosphere and to shop. We said we would never return until they had some sort of line system in place.

We’ll see how G+ works for us this summer.

Dan

 

[TreAntDeu]

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.

Its ridiculously easy to do 95% of everything Universal offers in both parks in 1 day if you know what you are doing. At least on a weekday.

Their express pass does actually work well in practice imo, but its not at all necessary. Disney is a different story.

 

[acarsme123]

Its ridiculously easy to do 95% of everything Universal offers in both parks in 1 day if you know what you are doing. At least on a weekday.

Their express pass does actually work well in practice imo, but its not at all necessary. Disney is a different story.

Universal’s Express Pass works well for them because from what I saw on our visit, Universal doesn’t have near the crowd levels of Disney. Not even close. An unlimited pass system like Universals I don’t think would ever work at Disney. Let’s be honest, I think Disney World needs a 5th park. That’s the only way to thin out the crowds in my opinion at this point.

 

[Grasshopper2016]

I think Disney World needs a 5th park. That’s the only way to thin out the crowds in my opinion at this point.

Or Disney could cap capacity at the current parks at a level that would ensure that every guest has a meaningful opportunity to experience virtually all of the major rides and attractions.
When everyone stops laughing at my naïveté, I’ll show myself out.

 

[ckelly14]

Universal’s Express Pass works well for them because from what I saw on our visit, Universal doesn’t have near the crowd levels of Disney. Not even close. An unlimited pass system like Universals I don’t think would ever work at Disney. Let’s be honest, I think Disney World needs a 5th park. That’s the only way to thin out the crowds in my opinion at this point.

It will be interesting to see the numbers. The universal parks were similar to AK, DHS, and Epcot pre-pandemic. I would assume that Disney has significantly more pent up demand.

 

[Haagen Dawgs]

Not sure if the G+ has changed, but ILL$ is still allowed only to resorts guests before the park opens. G+ is open to anyone with a valid park reservation at the same time - 7AM.

I’m a broken record saying this, but this is why we will never stay on-site again. I’m still in awe that Disney can fill up all their rooms and our still building more. I have stayed onsite at Deluxe properties before, and while nice, really not that amazing considering the price. We are staying offsite at a far superior property with superior pools and water park for over $6k less than the lowest Disney Deluxe one-bedroom. I get that this saving won’t be as robust for value and moderate, but still a minimum of $2k for a comparable value and $4k for the moderate. Some deluxe properties are over $10k more for an inferior product.

I’d say the best “value” for Disney is their value properties as you won’t find a pool anywhere close to as nice offsite for a comparable room. Still paying a massive premium.

We will miss the benefit of rope-drop and will have to standby for RotR which will stink, but so be it. You can point and heckle me as you blow by me in the $ILL

For the record, my figures are based on 8-nights and 5-day park tickets.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

Or Disney could cap capacity at the current parks at a level that would ensure that every guest has a meaningful opportunity to experience virtually all of the major rides and attractions.
When everyone stops laughing at my naïveté, I’ll show myself out.

Exactly this. I've said the same on other threads - the solution to this "problem" is easy by using the park reservation system they created. The problem of course is that it would leave $$ on the table.

 

[GBRforWDW]

Exactly this. I've said the same on other threads - the solution to this "problem" is easy by using the park reservation system they created. The problem of course is that it would leave $$ on the table.

They go with the solution to too many guests by adding more hours. It's nice to have longer park hours, but the standing and waiting takes its toll, and you know when they extend the hours, they're expecting more people, which means more standing for everyone! Yay

 

[HydroGuy]

I’m a broken record saying this, but this is why we will never stay on-site again. I’m still in awe that Disney can fill up all their rooms and our still building more. I have stayed onsite at Deluxe properties before, and while nice, really not that amazing considering the price. We are staying offsite at a far superior property with superior pools and water park for over $6k less than the lowest Disney Deluxe one-bedroom. I get that this saving won’t be as robust for value and moderate, but still a minimum of $2k for a comparable value and $4k for the moderate. Some deluxe properties are over $10k more for an inferior product.

I’d say the best “value” for Disney is their value properties as you won’t find a pool anywhere close to as nice offsite for a comparable room. Still paying a massive premium.

We will miss the benefit of rope-drop and will have to standby for RotR which will stink, but so be it. You can point and heckle me as you blow by me in the $ILL

For the record, my figures are based on 8-nights and 5-day park tickets.

Yah, assuming one has time it would seem a good strategy to just stay more days off-site. Like rather than 7 days onsite do 10 offsite. More park days can make up for less efficient park days possibly at a lower overall cost.

 

[Haagen Dawgs]

Yah, assuming one has time it would seem a good strategy to just stay more days off-site. Like rather than 7 days onsite do 10 offsite. More park days can make up for less efficient park days possibly at a lower overall cost.

This is pretty much it. I’ll take my oldest to Universal one day and then we will have two days to relax at the resort and enjoy the pools and water park. The wife and the youngest will get three. Disney will still get me for $25 when I drive to the parks, but I understand they are charging for parking at their resorts now anyway unless DVC. Disney has certainly embraced the motto to “Never Let A Pandemic Go To Waste”. I’m really trying to give them as little money as possible, but they are sneaky good at finding where I hide my wallet.

 

[elaine amj]

I’m a broken record saying this, but this is why we will never stay on-site again. I’m still in awe that Disney can fill up all their rooms and our still building more. I have stayed onsite at Deluxe properties before, and while nice, really not that amazing considering the price. We are staying offsite at a far superior property with superior pools and water park for over $6k less than the lowest Disney Deluxe one-bedroom. I get that this saving won’t be as robust for value and moderate, but still a minimum of $2k for a comparable value and $4k for the moderate. Some deluxe properties are over $10k more for an inferior product.

I’d say the best “value” for Disney is their value properties as you won’t find a pool anywhere close to as nice offsite for a comparable room. Still paying a massive premium.

We will miss the benefit of rope-drop and will have to standby for RotR which will stink, but so be it. You can point and heckle me as you blow by me in the $ILL

For the record, my figures are based on 8-nights and 5-day park tickets.

I am having the opposite problem. This new system is driving me onsite. I stay at values and was hoping to do an offsite trip next. But with early entry only for onsite, offsite without Genie+ sounds like an almost impossible disadvantage, even though I am planning a 12-14 night trip.

And once you throw in the cost of Genie+ To an offsite stay for the family, it will be cheaper to skip Genie+ to stay onsite at a value and knock out the big rides with Early Entry

 

[TreAntDeu]

Universal’s Express Pass works well for them because from what I saw on our visit, Universal doesn’t have near the crowd levels of Disney. Not even close. An unlimited pass system like Universals I don’t think would ever work at Disney. Let’s be honest, I think Disney World needs a 5th park. That’s the only way to thin out the crowds in my opinion at this point.

Universal definitely has much less crowd consistency. Its sometimes slammed to the gills, but more often its extremely open.

My personal rule is never go to Universal on the weekend.