Disney Genie+ and ILL$ Details & FAQ - Launches 10/19 at WDW, Paid "FastPass" at WDW and Disneyland (date TBD)

[cakebaker]

If demand is high to the point that G+ LL passes are filling up too fast, I think Disney may then use variable pricing to control the demand. They'll watch the initial rollout and adjust the G+ price accordingly

I think the chances of that happening are much greater than them rationing rides and leaving people there during the morning and early afternoon unable to ride the most popular rides. People will be furious paying $15pp to find out that an hour after opening there are no high demand rides available. It's not a lot of money, but I would expect that an hour in I can still book any ride on Genie+. At 6pm, I wouldn't be surprised at all. People would be much more accepting of the way they are use to it being- late in the day having less availability.

But price it higher, fewer people buy, demand is less, Disney makes the same money. Yes, people will complain about the pricing, but they're complaining at $15.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

I think the chances of that happening are much greater than them rationing rides and leaving people there during the morning and early afternoon unable to ride the most popular rides. People will be furious paying $15pp to find out that an hour after opening there are no high demand rides available. It's not a lot of money, but I would expect that an hour in I can still book any ride on Genie+. At 6pm, I wouldn't be surprised at all. People would be much more accepting of the way they are use to it being- late in the day having less availability.

But price it higher, fewer people buy, demand is less, Disney makes the same money. Yes, people will complain about the pricing, but they're complaining at $15.

based on what you have been saying those high demand rides may be gone in the morning as well, depending on how many people book them right at 7am. So it's 6 to one half a dozen to the other, the difference being Disney would control how fast they give them out, or just let it run as a free for all. I think both have their positives and negatives

 

[BrianL]

based on what you have been saying those high demand rides may be gone in the morning as well, depending on how many people book them right at 7am. So it's 6 to one half a dozen to the other, the difference being Disney would control how fast they give them out, or just let it run as a free for all. I think both have their positives and negatives

I think this will self-regulate to some extent. If you can only hold one selection at a time, you won't pick a time that is too far out. Yes, there may be the ability to pick again after a couple of hours, but if nobody is pushing the times for one attraction too far, then it won't be so bad. Considering this is a paid system, people will want to get their money's worth. It won't necessarily be perfect, but it should work pretty well mos tof the time.

 

[cakebaker]

based on what you have been saying those high demand rides may be gone in the morning as well, depending on how many people book them right at 7am.

They never did before with paper FP. In our experience we had a good part of the day before we started seeing popular rides being unavailable. It was only when we hopped to our 2nd park around 6pm that popular rides were sold out. We would often hop a little earlier than we wanted to - around 4 to insure we'd be able to pick up a specific ride.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

They never did before with paper FP. In our experience we had a good part of the day before we started seeing popular rides being unavailable. It was only when we hopped to our 2nd park around 6pm that popular rides were sold out. We would often hop a little earlier than we wanted to - around 4 to insure we'd be able to pick up a specific ride.

With paper fast passes, i feel like most wouldn't rush around the park to pick tickets, and only pull them when they were in close proximity to the ride, (again for most people). The app would give you instant access, and there would be nothing delaying anyone from grabbing their ride.

 

[cakebaker]

With paper fast passes, i feel like most wouldn't rush around the park to pick tickets, and only pull them when they were in close proximity to the ride, (again for most people). The app would give you instant access, and there would be nothing delaying anyone from grabbing their ride.

I don't think that's true either, but this is a discussion I think we've already been through. No need to rehash it.

 

[NuJoy]

()

 

[shafke]

If I remember correctly the only rides that ever sold out with paper FP was Radiator Springs Racers in CA and TSMM in HS. For both of these paper FP would be gone within 1/2 hour of park opening.
If G+ allows you to make another selection after 2 hours like FP did then yes, I can see some of the most popular attractions being out of FP well before noon... not counting the 1 or 2 you still need to pay extra for. If there is no 2 hour window to get another G+ selection I think G+ would be even less of a value... do you take that 4pm slot for Space Mtn knowing you most likely will not get another decent choice for the rest of the day? For me, this is the biggest unknown.

 

[DefnotDLav]

I think the G+ will work just fine in MK. There's enough rides.

However, I'm interested to see how it plays out in EPCOT.

Everyone will be booking FEA, TT, and Soarin.

If it works like paper FP, then all the times will be taken fairly soon. I can see by noon all times being gone.

If they wait to release times, I can see people being disappointed as nothing will show available to book.

A lot of unknowns and I can't wait to read people's experiences with it.

 

[Brocktoon]

However, I'm interested to see how it plays out in EPCOT.

Everyone will be booking FEA, TT, and Soarin.

If it works like paper FP, then all the times will be taken fairly soon. I can see by noon all times being gone.

Back in the paper FP days for EPCOT the plan for many was to rope drop and decide on which direction to head ... towards TT or Soarin'. Whichever ride you chose, you'd send a 'runner' from your party with your tickets to hit the FP machines at the other ride ... many times the 'runners' may literally be running to get a good return time. Having the ability to select LL on G+ may not change things too much as you're just swapping the FP runners duty with your finger.

Even if people didn't like to rope drop, it was known that if you want to ride TT and Soarin' on the same day without a long wait then you'd have rope drop. It could be the same with G+, but it'll come down to demand and implementation. And as a lot of us are speculating, G+ may be similar to paper FP ... but it won't be an exact mobile clone

 

[Grasshopper2016]

Everyone will be booking FEA, TT, and Soarin.

Reports are that TT will be one of the LL$ rides that are not included with Genie+ (along with Remy). So it will actually be worse than that!

 

[rstevens333]

I wonder if there will be a high correlation of park hopping to G+ use? I am interested in using it, but only on days where I'll be at the Magic Kingdom at least part of the time.

 

[ThistleMae]

Flight of Passage will almost definitely be excluded from Genie+ too.

I'm still wary of how optimized these itineraries can be - if they're telling thousands of people to go to a ride at a certain time, how short is the line going to be?

Not everyone will want the same rides. For example I don't go on Space Mountain, so that wouldn't be on my list of preferences. I also don't do Big Thunder M. so that wouldn't be there either. So my touring plan isn't going to look like yours. If it works the way it's supposed to, perhaps this will help even things out so the lines won't be so long for stand-by's. I think this is the plan, but we shall see if it works like it's supposed to. On the other hand, for all those not using the Genie, I don't think it can count those numbers so the wait times or best times to go might not be accurate unless everyone was using it.

 

[ThistleMae]

So is the Genie thing free...the part about making itineraries and what not, and only the Genie+ part an add-on?

Yes, Genie + is $ 15.00 a park ticket. You can buy all at once or day of, so you can decide to buy it for one day or two or all of your park days. The IAS$ is max 2 a day at whatever the going rate for those will be, as yet to be determined. You can buy these separately for as few or as many days as you like but only 2 a day.

 

[Liquidice]

Not everyone will want the same rides. For example I don't go on Space Mountain, so that wouldn't be on my list of preferences. I also don't do Big Thunder M. so that wouldn't be there either. So my touring plan isn't going to look like yours. If it works the way it's supposed to, perhaps this will help even things out so the lines won't be so long for stand-by's. I think this is the plan, but we shall see if it works like it's supposed to. On the other hand, for all those not using the Genie, I don't think it can count those numbers so the wait times or best times to go might not be accurate unless everyone was using it.

No, but if you tell everyone who wants Space Mountain that the forecasted wait time will be lowest at 3pm and they all go to Space Mountain at 3pm - then wouldn't the line no longer be short?

I guess it depends on how many people use the base Genie service, but if thousands are using it, unless Disney tells different groups of people different things - I'd assume that we'd all just end up doing the same thing, maybe I'm wrong. Will have to wait and see how it works I guess

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

Not everyone will want the same rides. For example I don't go on Space Mountain, so that wouldn't be on my list of preferences. I also don't do Big Thunder M. so that wouldn't be there either. So my touring plan isn't going to look like yours. If it works the way it's supposed to, perhaps this will help even things out so the lines won't be so long for stand-by's. I think this is the plan, but we shall see if it works like it's supposed to. On the other hand, for all those not using the Genie, I don't think it can count those numbers so the wait times or best times to go might not be accurate unless everyone was using it.

This is why I think Disney will group similar “wants” into groups, that will have different times for rides depending on what group you are thrown into, otherwise I agree, the app would end up bogging down ride standby times

 

[acarsme123]

Granted I know nothing....but just a guess is that Disney has incorporated AI or algorithms that will evenly space out people to different parts of the park. Some people suspect Genie will tell everyone who is in the park that a good time to head to a particular ride is "right now!" and then it will defeat the purpose.....I don't think that's how it will work....not if Disney is smart about it at least. I imagine the app will trigger alerts on some people's apps to control how many people may head to a ride at a given time. I will go one step further and bet the app knows what side of the park you are on and will make recommendations based on that too. I bet Genie will be trying to control the flow more than people think it will. Just a guess. Once again, I know nothing

No, but if you tell everyone who wants Space Mountain that the forecasted wait time will be lowest at 3pm and they all go to Space Mountain at 3pm - then wouldn't the line no longer be short?

I guess it depends on how many people use the base Genie service, but if thousands are using it, unless Disney tells different groups of people different things - I'd assume that we'd all just end up doing the same thing, maybe I'm wrong. Will have to wait and see how it works I guess

 

[ThistleMae]

I think the Genie will be set up to disperse the crowds, not send them all to the same place. That would defeat the purpose for which it was developed.

 

[Liquidice]

I think the Genie will be set up to disperse the crowds, not send them all to the same place. That would defeat the purpose for which it was developed.

Yeah my assumption is that it will need to work this way, otherwise Genie will not accomplish what it is intended to do. It will be interesting to see how it works though ... will it be location based? For example, it knows you want to ride Space Mountain, the wait time is lower there, and you're close to Space Mountain, so it recommends I ride it now ... while someone else is far away from Space Mountain, they also want to ride it, so maybe they don't get the recommendation.

As Genie comes out, I'm sure a lot of people will do an analysis of how it works and try to break it down for us. Will be fascinating to see.

 

[New Mouse]

I have complete faith in Disney IT when it comes to the free genie service..............