*Confirmed* G+ Changes to Advanced Lightning Lane

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Bookings are down yoy, especially at Deluxe resorts, more than any other category.......The free dining promotion has not been as successful as years past

Discounts, free dining, etc are not exclusive perks. The topic was pondering trying to "solve" Genie+ issues and it was mentioned what if they gave it to Deluxe (and DVC). From Disney's standpoint they don't need to offer that exclusivity just to get people to book that resort category.

Nowhere in my comment did I discuss resort occupancy levels. I spoke to the fact that people have, do and will in the future book Deluxe without an exclusivity of Genie+ only being offered to them. I would argue that Universal is more or less set up better for that argument because they heavily incentivize someone by giving them EP for check in through check out day (presently speaking) and for all occupants on the reservation. That included Unlimited EP is more connected to resort category in an incentivizing way (which is what the PP's comment spoke to). Disney--not quite the same.

 

[MJJME]

The only real change I would make is this:

The first Genie+ pass of the day and any ILLs can be purchased the night before (10pm? midnight?) and you can choose the G+ return time. If I WANT Slinky from 7-8pm, let me pick that. Or Test Track at 11am...or whatever.

That way people can sleep in without losing anything. IMO, this would relieve pressure from the parks and transportation at open. Currently, G+ buyers feel a lot more pressure to maximize their value by arriving as early as possible. (Also, they've been awake since 7am, so why not?) If you keep those people in their hotel rooms a little longer, other people not buying Genie will have a better experience during the first couple of hours.

On G+ days, I can go back to the days of strolling in the park late-morning without having lost any value / time. You get your next G+ reservation 2 hours after the park opened and continue normally.

Having the ability to choose times on every pass would be nice but not essential. The downside to it is you're probably staring at your phone more often.

I'd likely buy Genie twice per trip and use park hopping to get a few short lines at each park at least once. Other days we'll use early entry or late nights, or just stick to attractions with shorter wait times.

I like most of the other post...........

I would say 14 days in advance for hotel and 7 for non hotel guests for length of stay........

choose return times

Tiers would absolutely ruin and destroy Genie+ esp since some of the old tier one rides are ILL's

Cant let pre selection for more than 2 rides b the same complaints that plagued FP+ (lack of inventory on day of)

 

[Sykes]

I'd be happy if they just opened Genie+ bookings at like noon the day before (maybe noon the day before for on-site guests and leave non-Disney-hotel guests at 7 AM?). In general I vastly prefer Genie+ to FP+ because it doesn't penalize guests who book closer in to their arrival date, but I also think that the 7 AM scrum is miserable and frankly a lazy solution. (Disney goes with that lazy solution a lot--I shouldn't have to wake up at 6 AM to book ADRs or stay up until midnight to book DCL onboard activities either, but here we are.)

 

[SkyGuy]

I can ask as someone who’s only in early 30s what happened in 80s/90s before fastpass or genie plus? Did most just wait in 2 hour queues?

I lived in Orlando in the 90s/early 00s. I used to buy the four day/four park Florida resident ticket for $100. If I went early in the day on a weekday, which I usually did as I had a young child and would use Disney as exercise time, I had WS at Epcot to myself once it opened. I could go to the “backstage” area in HS (ie where Num Num Cookies are now served) and find a line up of characters with zero crowds. We lived in the Playhouse Disney show with Bear in the Big Blue House. I don’t think I ever waited more than 10-15 for any ride, but we were only riding things without a height requirement. There was no 60 minute wait for Peter Pan. When people would visit, I don’t ever remember complaining about really long waits, but we weren’t going during the holidays. Those were great times!

 

[Matrixleos]

You can create the next system roll out...what's your plan?

My proposal:

- 2 non-tiered selections for onsite guests that can be made in advance 30 days out for length of stay, 1 non-tiered selection for off-site guests that can be made 15 days in advance for length of ticket
- Ability to select return times (based on slots remaining) once in the park instead of first available starting at park opening (you have 2 pre-selects similar to DAS) and once park opening hits you can make a 3rd if onsite and 2nd if off-site.
- 90 minute window starts based on your first selection made that morning and has nothing to do with your pre-selects

What does everyone else have?

I like everything you proposed.

 

[champagne&disney]

Bookings are down yoy, especially at Deluxe resorts, more than any other category.......The free dining promotion has not been as successful as years past

I find it insane to pay $1200 a night at a Deluxe resort which has no full-service amenities when you can stay at the Four Seasons for the same price and receive service deserving of that price. I experience a much better service level at the Swan Reserve than I do at the Poly or other Deluxe hotels and pay 25% of the price.

I think they have over-priced these resorts for what you receive in return. I can stay at the St. Regis in NYC for the same price and I get a butler! So maybe people are at their tipping point - not sure. I don't believe throwing free Genie+ in solves the value mismatch presented at these resorts.

I looked at a trip at the end of April today and both the Poly and the GF were actually more than $1200 a night - I recognize it is 2 months out and prices go up, but that's just wild to me! And believe me, I love nice things and nice hotels more than your average Joe, but people love to book them for the "Disney bubble" so more power to the people booking at these prices.

 

[Minnie1222]

I find it insane to pay $1200 a night at a Deluxe resort which has no full-service amenities when you can stay at the Four Seasons for the same price and receive service deserving of that price.

I'm looking at hotels right now for our next trip, hopefully in mid-March. The Four Seasons had doubled their rate since our last visit. The cheapest room facing the construction is $1600+/night (although they will give you $200 credit for the inconvenience, but who would want that).

Their park view rooms are more than doubled GF's counterpart. I'd take Disney hotels for now. Closer and cheaper.

 

[champagne&disney]

Their park view rooms are more than doubled GF's counterpart. I'd take Disney hotels for now. Closer and cheaper.

Four Seasons >>> any Disney hotel simply for level of service. $1000 for a room with no service amenities is a waste.

 

[SL6827]

Yes, thier pricing of thier Deluxe resorts has gotten so high that Disney notices the lack of reservations there. They already converted parts of AKL, WL, Poly and the Grand to DVC to help combat this. I wouldn't be surprised too see more rooms converted to DVC in the future.

 

[focusondisney]

As far as incentives for the deluxe resorts go, I just feel that there is currently just so little to incentivise guests to spend the extra money for deluxe over moderate hotels

And yet plenty of people are booking them.

Bookings are down yoy, especially at Deluxe resorts, more than any other category.......The free dining promotion has not been as successful as years past

I don’t believe that’s true. Last I saw the resorts were as booked as prepandemic. And there were a lot of promotions back then too.

 

[focusondisney]

Yes, thier pricing of thier Deluxe resorts has gotten so high that Disney notices the lack of reservations there. They already converted parts of AKL, WL, Poly and the Grand to DVC to help combat this. I wouldn't be surprised too see more rooms converted to DVC in the future.

Disney has been concentrating on DVC grown for well over a decade. And at the same time they’ve raised deluxe resort rates a lot. They may convert more rooms to DVC. But that will be because they see DVC as fitting their financial plan & goals. Not because of weak demand for deluxe resorts. If there was any problem with filling rooms, they wouldn’t keep raising rates twice a year.

 

[Minnie1222]

Four Seasons >>> any Disney hotel simply for level of service. $1000 for a room with no service amenities is a waste.

We don't use Disney's hotel services enough to notice if anything is missing. At this point, we just need a clean place to sleep, preferably within walking distance of a park.

 

[Minnie1222]

If there was any problem with filling rooms, they wouldn’t keep raising rates twice a year.

Raising rates and giving minimal discounts.

 

[New Mouse]

Disney has been concentrating on DVC grown for well over a decade. And at the same time they’ve raised deluxe resort rates a lot. They may convert more rooms to DVC. But that will be because they see DVC as fitting their financial plan & goals. Not because of weak demand for deluxe resorts. If there was any problem with filling rooms, they wouldn’t keep raising rates twice a year.

It's a known fact the conversion of existing resorts to DVC is because of soft bookings.

 

[focusondisney]

It's a known fact the conversion of existing resorts to DVC is because of soft bookings.

Or because Disney is making more money from DVC than they are from open bookings. And they can get DVC members to pay maintenance fees to help with resort upkeep. Converting existing resort rooms is a heck of a lot cheaper than keep building new DVC buildings.

 

[clarker99]

Bookings are down yoy, especially at Deluxe resorts, more than any other category.......The free dining promotion has not been as successful as years past.

Where are we finding this data? We wont know anything about Jan-March 2024 until they report their Q2FY24 in April sometime. And we will never know how well a specific promo did.

The Oct-Dec 2023 quarter notes listed modest decreases at WDW and also listed lower average hotel prices but that doesn't mean less people staying at Deluxe Hotel's. It just means that hotel prices dropped. Average guest spend per room night actually increased (this includes room price and money spent on food and merch at Disney hotels). By my estimates they were only down about $15million YoY in hotel revenue domestically vs a very very strong quarter. A rounding error for Disney.

It's a known fact the conversion of existing resorts to DVC is because of soft bookings.

My favorite part of this website is when people just make stuff up.

 

[SL6827]

Or because Disney is making more money from DVC than they are from open bookings. And they can get DVC members to pay maintenance fees to help with resort upkeep. Converting existing resort rooms is a heck of a lot cheaper than keep building new DVC buildings.

This is true as well. I doubt they will ever build another regular resort.

 

[MJJME]

And yet plenty of people are booking them.



I don’t believe that’s true. Last I saw the resorts were as booked as prepandemic. And there were a lot of promotions back then too.

Not true. Booking are down and deluxe bookings are down more than any other category and that includes the discounts they have been giving

 

[MJJME]

Where are we finding this data? We wont know anything about Jan-March 2024 until they report their Q2FY24 in April sometime. And we will never know how well a specific promo did.

The Oct-Dec 2023 quarter notes listed modest decreases at WDW and also listed lower average hotel prices but that doesn't mean less people staying at Deluxe Hotel's. It just means that hotel prices dropped. Average guest spend per room night actually increased (this includes room price and money spent on food and merch at Disney hotels). By my estimates they were only down about $15million YoY in hotel revenue domestically vs a very very strong quarter. A rounding error for Disney.

My favorite part of this website is when people just make stuff up.

This is true. They did convert GF to DVC because of fewer bookings.

 

[Cfabar1]

Not true. Booking are down and deluxe bookings are down more than any other category and that includes the discounts they have been giving

Disney has raised prices and offered fewer benefits to Deluxe guests.... The value has been diluted...

I also wouldn't stay at a moderate. I'd be much more inclined to stay off property. At least most deluxe resorts allow you to walk to a park.