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

[Aluminum Falcon]

I disagree. They are living off decades of reputation recently. The old Disney matches what you said to a T. Current disney not so much.

I think reputation is one of the big drivers for Disney, But culture is the biggest driver, there are many a family who believe that they have to take their children to Disney, it’s almost like a right of passage in the U.S., and that i cannot see changing anytime soon

 

[VAlegacy]

They could have just gone back to the old fast pass system if they were concerned that FP+ was too complex and/or detrimental to guest satisfaction. Instead they charged for a service that was previously included in the admission price, and added a 2nd tier fee (IA$) on top of that. That’s price gouging, period.

Now, will the system work? Maybe, but they’ve lost a LOT of goodwill with genie+. I can’t imagine very many informed guests would be happy to pay for genie+. Some will, some will pay begrudgingly and others will not, and maybe give up on Disney. Time will tell if this actually increases revenue or if it’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back and the parks division suffers.

Not sure what my family will do; we may purchase genie+ for a day or two here and there (begrudgingly) but I don’t see us spending money on IA$. As someone who recently purchased DVC, in part to take advantage of the 60 FP+ window, I’m really upset with this announcement. I get Disney wants to make money, and I’m happy to give them a substantial proportion of mine, but decisions like this really turn me off and I don’t see the benefit for me. FP+ was waaayyy better, imho. In my mind, and, it seems, in many others, we are paying more for less; that doesn’t seem to be the Disney way, and why, I think, so many loyal customers are upset.

It will be interesting to revisit this topic 5 years from now, once things have shaken out. Maybe people will end up loving it, or maybe it will be scrapped for something else…

Based on what i've seen at other parks, a very small percentage of people will use it. Even with FP, you were still waiting in line most of the day.
I'm sure it will generate tons of cash, but will it counteract loss of DVC contract and onsite stays? The excitement of booking fastpass 60 days out while at home planning your trip was huge.
Ppl not staying onsite due to no FP is a metric they cant predict.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

They could have just gone back to the old fast pass system if they were concerned that FP+ was too complex and/or detrimental to guest satisfaction. Instead they charged for a service that was previously included in the admission price, and added a 2nd tier fee (IA$) on top of that. That’s price gouging, period.

Now, will the system work? Maybe, but they’ve lost a LOT of goodwill with genie+. I can’t imagine very many informed guests would be happy to pay for genie+. Some will, some will pay begrudgingly and others will not, and maybe give up on Disney. Time will tell if this actually increases revenue or if it’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back and the parks division suffers.

Not sure what my family will do; we may purchase genie+ for a day or two here and there (begrudgingly) but I don’t see us spending money on IA$. As someone who recently purchased DVC, in part to take advantage of the 60 FP+ window, I’m really upset with this announcement. I get Disney wants to make money, and I’m happy to give them a substantial proportion of mine, but decisions like this really turn me off and I don’t see the benefit for me. FP+ was waaayyy better, imho. In my mind, and, it seems, in many others, we are paying more for less; that doesn’t seem to be the Disney way, and why, I think, so many loyal customers are upset.

It will be interesting to revisit this topic 5 years from now, once things have shaken out. Maybe people will end up loving it, or maybe it will be scrapped for something else…

Whenever there is change, there is always pushback, essentially you are trading in a known commodity for something new, and anytime there is a shift from comfortability, and stability, the masses tend to push back.

I feel like I’ve posted this 100 times, would you have rather they charged $20 more per day per ticket, and left FP+ in place? I guess what I’m saying is, it’s not actually the money people are upset about, (because I feel like a $20 increase wouldn’t draw much if any attention), it’s the fact that something people liked is changing.Based on crowds and standby lines, it seems like a needed change to me.

do you think there was an uproar when Disney stopped selling ticket books, and started charging more for the gate, (I’m sure there was), but overtime it became the norm, and the audience learned to live with it/ like it. I’m sure there were complaints when fast pass was first put in place as well, (making lines longer then they used to be, ect…), but then people started to like that as well, I can’t see how Genie will be any different

 

[VAlegacy]

I’m really upset with this announcement. I get Disney wants to make money, and I’m happy to give them a substantial proportion of mine, but decisions like this really turn me off and I don’t see the benefit for me. FP+ was waaayyy better, imho. I

Im with you. The silver lining is this:
The money that others spend on this will pay for future rides and experiences at Disney.

 

[VAlegacy]

Whenever there is change, there is always pushback, essentially you are trading in a known commodity for something new, and anytime there is a shift from comfortability, and stability, the masses tend to push back.

I feel like I’ve posted this 100 times, it would you have rather they charged $20 more per day per ticket, and left FP+ in place? I guess what I’m saying is, it’s not actually the money people are upset about, (because I feel like a $20 increase wouldn’t draw much if any attention), it’s the fact that something people liked is changing.Based on crowds and standby lines, it seems like a needed change to me.

do you think there was an uproar when Disney stopped selling ticket books, and started charging more for the gate, (I’m sure there was), but overtime it became the norm, and the audience learned to live with it/ like it. I’m sure there were complaints when fast pass was first put in place as well, (making lines longer then they used to be, ect…), but then people started to like that as well, I can’t see how Genie will be any different

The major difference is no change in recent years has benefited the consumer.
Also, they do increase ticket prices each year. These deltas are in addition to that.

 

[snowwhite84]

They could have just gone back to the old fast pass system if they were concerned that FP+ was too complex and/or detrimental to guest satisfaction. Instead they charged for a service that was previously included in the admission price, and added a 2nd tier fee (IA$) on top of that. That’s price gouging, period.

Now, will the system work? Maybe, but they’ve lost a LOT of goodwill with genie+. I can’t imagine very many informed guests would be happy to pay for genie+. Some will, some will pay begrudgingly and others will not, and maybe give up on Disney. Time will tell if this actually increases revenue or if it’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back and the parks division suffers.

Not sure what my family will do; we may purchase genie+ for a day or two here and there (begrudgingly) but I don’t see us spending money on IA$. As someone who recently purchased DVC, in part to take advantage of the 60 FP+ window, I’m really upset with this announcement. I get Disney wants to make money, and I’m happy to give them a substantial proportion of mine, but decisions like this really turn me off and I don’t see the benefit for me. FP+ was waaayyy better, imho. In my mind, and, it seems, in many others, we are paying more for less; that doesn’t seem to be the Disney way, and why, I think, so many loyal customers are upset.

It will be interesting to revisit this topic 5 years from now, once things have shaken out. Maybe people will end up loving it, or maybe it will be scrapped for something else…

As to the bolded: that wouldn’t have raised revenue. My point was that Disney’s top goal is money, and they often make money by creating something people want. It’s why I believe there’s a strong chance G+ will be a good product. Not because Disney is doing this out of concern for guests. But because a good product often equals higher revenue.

 

[snowwhite84]

Whenever there is change, there is always pushback, essentially you are trading in a known commodity for something new, and anytime there is a shift from comfortability, and stability, the masses tend to push back.

I feel like I’ve posted this 100 times, it would you have rather they charged $20 more per day per ticket, and left FP+ in place? I guess what I’m saying is, it’s not actually the money people are upset about, (because I feel like a $20 increase wouldn’t draw much if any attention), it’s the fact that something people liked is changing.Based on crowds and standby lines, it seems like a needed change to me.

do you think there was an uproar when Disney stopped selling ticket books, and started charging more for the gate, (I’m sure there was), but overtime it became the norm, and the audience learned to live with it/ like it. I’m sure there were complaints when fast pass was first put in place as well, (making lines longer then they used to be, ect…), but then people started to like that as well, I can’t see how Genie will be any different

Totally agree

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

Based on what i've seen at other parks, a very small percentage of people will use it. Even with FP, you were still waiting in line most of the day.
I'm sure it will generate tons of cash, but will it counteract loss of DVC contract and onsite stays? The excitement of booking fastpass 60 days out while at home planning your trip was huge.
Ppl not staying onsite due to no FP is a metric they cant predict.

I think that’s a giant leap. For a casual guest, I cannot see a booking window for FP being a break moment for staying on site, you’re essentially saying that with FP, guests would be willing to spend hundreds of dollars more on their trip just to be able to book 60 days out. I can’t imagine that booking window was driving people to spend more and stay at the parks because of it, and therefore I can’t envision people booking outside the park because of the new system.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

The major difference is no change in recent years has benefited the consumer.
Also, they do increase ticket prices each year. These deltas are in addition to that.

Disney has been adding onto there parks like crazy, building more hotels restaurants, rides, lands (definitely nothing that adds to the experience haha). You don’t see value in what they’re adding, and that’s ok, but to say they have added nothing to benefit the consumer is bananas.

fine add the $20 to the raised ticket price, and I’m still convinced it gets a slight whimper from most on these boards at most. Nothing like the constant complaining we’ve seen

 

[VAlegacy]

I think that’s a giant leap. For a casual guest, I cannot see a booking window for FP being a break moment for staying on site, you’re essentially saying that with FP, guests would be willing to spend hundreds of dollars more on their trip just to be able to book 60 days out. I can’t imagine that booking window was driving people to spend more and stay at the parks because of it, and therefore I can’t envision people booking outside the park because of the new system.

You dont see a 60 day booking window dropping to 0 a factor in deciding whether or not to stay in an already exorbitantly overpriced room? I disagree.

 

[snowwhite84]

I think that’s a giant leap. For a casual guest, I cannot see a booking window for FP being a break moment for staying on site, you’re essentially saying that with FP, guests would be willing to spend hundreds of dollars more on their trip just to be able to book 60 days out. I can’t imagine that booking window was driving people to spend more and stay at the parks because of it, and therefore I can’t envision people booking outside the park because of the new system.

We speak the same language!

Ive made this point on several other threads. I keep hearing this argument “now there’s no incentive to stay onsite.” To me, the incentive to staying onsite is being onsite. I was never enticed by the promise of free parking or an earlier Fastpass booking window

I guess we all just have different perspectives.

 

[snowwhite84]

You dont see a 60 day booking window dropping to 0 a factor in deciding whether or not to stay in an already exorbitantly overpriced room? I disagree.

I don’t, but I guess time will tell.

I feel a lot of folks on the Disboards believe guests book onsite because of perks. That’s never been my take. We’re from Florida and most of my friends and family are huge Disney fans, go several times a year etc. And I don’t think the majority of them have registered things like there used to be free parking and now there’s not. One of my best friends lives in Florida, has APs for her whole family, goes probably four times a year. I will never forget the conversation I had with her where I realized she had no idea there was a tiering system for FP+.

I just don’t think the majority of Disney guests dwell on these things.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

You dont see a 60 day booking window dropping to 0 a factor in deciding whether or not to stay in an already exorbitantly overpriced room? I disagree.

You see it as a driver for people to book an already overpriced room.For a casual guest (with little to no experience at Disney) who doesn’t understand the value of that 60 day window, to begin with, who may just forget, or ignore it when it comes up in their app, no I cannot see it as a driving factor, or a break point to have them stay off property. I think free transportation is the biggest driver for people to stay on site personally, that is an actual value add, no rental car, or navigating to areas you’re not familiar with is a huge add in my mind, I just don’t think a short wait in line 3 times a day if that much of a value add to a casual guest,( to the diehards on these boards it definitely is, because you/we understand it, and know how to work the system, that applies to the few, not the many, which is a very important point, I think many on these boards overlook)

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

As to the bolded: that wouldn’t have raised revenue. My point was that Disney’s top goal is money, and they often make money by creating something people want. It’s why I believe there’s a strong chance G+ will be a good product. Not because Disney is doing this out of concern for guests. But because a good product often equals higher revenue.

I agree, I think everyone needs to understand that Disney is a BUSINESS, they were not made magical for you and your family, you and your family make it magical, Disney is trying to take in as much revenue as possible, it is literally the law for them to do so. That being said, pissing off your customers is a sure fire way to destroy revenue, so it’s a balancing act, Disney wants to make as much money as possible, by offering their customers something that they will enjoy, one without the other=failure in the business world

 

[New Mouse]

Disney has been adding onto there parks like crazy, building more hotels restaurants, rides, lands (definitely nothing that adds to the experience haha). You don’t see value in what they’re adding, and that’s ok, but to say they have added nothing to benefit the consumer is bananas.

fine add the $20 to the raised ticket price, and I’m still convinced it gets a slight whimper from most on these boards at most. Nothing like the constant complaining we’ve seen

So is it ok to neglect something for years and then throw money at it to wow people into thinking you are doing something progressive?

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

So is it ok to neglect something for years and then throw money at it to wow people into thinking you are doing something progressive?

What is it that has been neglected? If you mean the parks, I disagree, they are always changing, the amount of expansion since the early 90’s is staggering, and unparalleled in comparison to Disney’s peers. This seems like something you personally have a problem with, that doesn’t mean that they haven’t done anything/ neglected things, I’m not in love with everything they’ve done myself, but they aren’t making a park to make me happy, they are aiming to make the masses happy, and I think they have done an amazing job with that

 

[disneyfan123]

Whenever there is change, there is always pushback, essentially you are trading in a known commodity for something new, and anytime there is a shift from comfortability, and stability, the masses tend to push back.

I feel like I’ve posted this 100 times, would you have rather they charged $20 more per day per ticket, and left FP+ in place? I guess what I’m saying is, it’s not actually the money people are upset about, (because I feel like a $20 increase wouldn’t draw much if any attention), it’s the fact that something people liked is changing.Based on crowds and standby lines, it seems like a needed change to me.

do you think there was an uproar when Disney stopped selling ticket books, and started charging more for the gate, (I’m sure there was), but overtime it became the norm, and the audience learned to live with it/ like it. I’m sure there were complaints when fast pass was first put in place as well, (making lines longer then they used to be, ect…), but then people started to like that as well, I can’t see how Genie will be any different

Well, one of the issues with Genie+ is that the cost doesn’t decrease the more days you purchase. Yes, a one day pass starts at $194, but a 10 day pass works out to somewhere around $75/day (depending on when you go), according to the Disney website. $15 for one day isn’t bad; $15 for 10 adds quite a bit more, and is proportionally a much higher percentage increase in the cost of the ticket. What if they discounted gene+ for multiple day purchases, like they do for admission? I mean, how many people buy a one day pass? I’m sure most buy 3-4 day passes, at least.

I’m not sure if there was uproar when fast pass was first released, but I remember when it first came out and loved it. I was only able to go once during the FP+ era, and while it was a change, and required me to do some research, I LOVED that change. So I’m not someone who is just whining for the “good old days”. I genuinely believe that genie+ is a lesser product, and one that adds a substantial cost to my trip (I purchased the 14 day UK tickets, and when my family travels, we go for about 2 weeks), should I choose to purchase it. If I don’t purchase it, I’ll likely be forced to wait in lines longer (not good), or do rope drop every day (I usually do rope drop, but not for every day), to avoid the crowds. None of this speaks to a better experience for me. YMMV, and I may turn out to be wrong, but I’m not excited by this change, at all.

 

[disneyfan123]

Based on what i've seen at other parks, a very small percentage of people will use it. Even with FP, you were still waiting in line most of the day.
I'm sure it will generate tons of cash, but will it counteract loss of DVC contract and onsite stays? The excitement of booking fastpass 60 days out while at home planning your trip was huge.
Ppl not staying onsite due to no FP is a metric they cant predict.

I’m very curious to see how this affects their hotel vacancy and revenue. Glad I get the deluxe EMH when I’m staying on my DVC points, but there aren’t a lot of reasons to stay at Disney hotels right now (outside of just wanting to be “in the bubble”) and I wonder how all the cuts to the onsite perks will affect occupancy rates in the long run. I know for this year, with the 50th anniversary, they probably don’t have to have any incentives, but I can’t imagine that will be a long term strategy.

 

[Liquidice]

imho it is more than just the 60 day FP+ benefit that had people wanting to stay onsite. DME, extra magic hours (now reduced to 30 mins and deluxe only for evenings), resort airline checkin, package delivery to your resort from the parks, free Magicbands ... it is the combination of these lost perks when combined with the higher prices of staying onsite that would have me considering staying offsite if I weren't DVC.

And for me, Genie+ by itself perhaps isn't a huge cost - although it certainly isn't cheap if you opt to buy it everyday for a family of 4, the cost is $420 more for a 7 day trip. It also doesn't include the IA$ rides, meaning more money if you want to ride any of those w/o waiting. Something that previously would have been free for rides like 7DMT.

Then combine that with the increase in AP costs, for the Sorcerer pass it has gone up 25%. The added cost of Photopass now being $99 ... It has all happened in a matter of a few short weeks that it will cost me nearly $2000 more per year or about 70% more to get a similar experience to what I was getting - and some perks are just gone. So I'm being asked to pay significantly more and getting less with regard to perks. In practice I probably won't get Genie+ everyday, so it isn't literally $2000 more, but it will still definitely cost more.

This isn't resistance to change - resistance to change would be being upset that Fastpass is going from paper FPs to digital FP's on MDE. Most people who are unhappy imho are upset because there is a significant increase in costs and less value for what you're getting.

As a DVC member and AP holder (renewed in June 2021 before a lot of this was announced), I'm still planning to go to Disney but I'll certainly be changing how I spend my money at the parks to reduce the increases and longer term, maybe reconsider going to Disney parks all the time, even with DVC I can use it to go to Universal or explore other parts of Orlando. Maybe make it an every other year or more visit.

 

[snowwhite84]

I’m not someone who is just whining for the “good old days”. I genuinely believe that genie+ is a lesser product, and one that adds a substantial cost to my trip (I purchased the 14 day UK tickets, and when my family travels, we go for about 2 weeks), should I choose to purchase it. If I don’t purchase it, I’ll likely be forced to wait in lines longer (not good), or do rope drop every day (I usually do rope drop, but not for every day), to avoid the crowds. None of this speaks to a better experience for me. YMMV, and I may turn out to be wrong, but I’m not excited by this change, at all.

Yes but you’re saying that without having ever tried it, without a single guest having ever tried it. You say you loved legacy Fastpass, and you loved FP+. Do you really not believe there’s at least a chance that Disney has put in the time to create a system that you will again love? I understand your concern about the cost over 14 days, but maybe it’s the sort of thing that isn’t needed every day of a two week trip.