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

[Tyler's Dad]

For funsies I priced out the same general week in March 2022 that we had booked for 2020. 9 day PH starting on a Saturday. I paid $583 in 2020, for 2022 it's $652.59 (both through ******************).

Only thing I can think of is your March trip shifted from an off week to Spring Break with Easter moving around.

 

[cakebaker]

I agree that they will limit the number of LL passes for each ride, but not the number of people that can buy Genie+. Why would they? More people buying might mean the LL access runs out sooner, but that’s no different than fast passes.

I agree there will be no limit on the number who can buy it.

 

[HuskieJohn]

I agree that they will limit the number of LL passes for each ride, but not the number of people that can buy Genie+. Why would they? More people buying might mean the LL access runs out sooner, but that’s no different than fast passes.

Ah but FP+ was free and if there was no longer any non-bottom tier FP+ available at 6pm then that was not a huge deal but now with paying for G+ you will be expecting that there will be availability still with 4hr before close.

 

[DefnotDLav]

Only thing I can think of is your March trip shifted from an off week to Spring Break with Easter moving around.

Here you go. Looks like a 2.7% avg increase in 2021.

So again, the "they had to introduce this paid FP to make up from lost ticket increase opportunity" just doesn't hold water. They did both....

Now they have two levers to pull each year. Yay...

https://blogmickey.com/2020/10/2021-disney-world-ticket-prices/
"So far, Disney has not increased the raw price of their tickets, but they have made it more expensive to visit at certain times of the year because of their date-based model. What do we mean by that? The range of a Walt Disney World ticket in 2021 is $109 to $159 – that is the same range as 2020 prices. That said, there was a 2.7% increase in pricing when you consider that Disney is bumping the prices in-between the two extremes."

 

[HuskieJohn]

I agree there will be no limit on the number who can buy it.

They will limit it by raising the price

 

[Tyler's Dad]

So if they raise prices next year, and then raise prices on G+, you'll be fine with that?

Also, this is an expensive price hike. You have lost the ability to get a skip the line for the headliners. So your low introductory rate of $15 doesn't even account for you wanting to skip the 2 hour FOP line. That's another $20. So you've now experienced a 25% ticket hike in one year and that doesn't even account for whatever the next hike will be.........

OK, but if the process fixes the lines, you may not need to skip the lines. With FP+, by the time you used your 3 selections from 60 days ago, there was very little chance to get another headliner, so if you wanted to ride it, standby was your only option. If this truly makes the standby lines move, then isn’t this better?

 

[Moliphino]

Only thing I can think of is your March trip shifted from an off week to Spring Break with Easter moving around.

Possible, 3/21/20 vs 3/19/22. But there is no low pricing in March 2022. I remember picking the week in 2020 because it had the lowest ticket prices, now every day in March is $77-80.

Easter 2022 is April 17.

 

[DefnotDLav]

OK, but if the process fixes the lines, you may not need to skip the lines. With FP+, by the time you used your 3 selections from 60 days ago, there was very little chance to get another headliner, so if you wanted to ride it, standby was your only option. If this truly makes the standby lines move, then isn’t this better?

How would this help EPCOT or any park not named MK? There aren't enough rides. I think enough people will pay the "only $15" to make standbys just as sufferable on the secondary attractions as they were with FP+.

I'm hoping I'm dead wrong and you are right. I really do. But I think the price point is low enough to get enough people to pony up to make it just miserable enough to make you also want to pay.

 

[Tyler's Dad]

Here you go. Looks like a 2.7% avg increase in 2021.

So again, the "they had to introduce this paid FP to make up from lost ticket increase opportunity" just doesn't hold water. They did both....

Now they have two levers to pull each year. Yay...

https://blogmickey.com/2020/10/2021-disney-world-ticket-prices/
"So far, Disney has not increased the raw price of their tickets, but they have made it more expensive to visit at certain times of the year because of their date-based model. What do we mean by that? The range of a Walt Disney World ticket in 2021 is $109 to $159 – that is the same range as 2020 prices. That said, there was a 2.7% increase in pricing when you consider that Disney is bumping the prices in-between the two extremes."

So, $1.50 increase if you go through and look at which days shifted?

 

[DefnotDLav]

So, $1.50 increase if you go through and look at which days shifted?

Depends on the day multiplied by 2.7 %.

Point is, they did increase pricing. That argument is now invalid.

 

[Tyler's Dad]

How would this help EPCOT or any park not named MK? There aren't enough rides. I think enough people will pay the "only $15" to make standbys just as sufferable on the secondary attractions as they were with FP+.

I'm hoping I'm dead wrong and you are right. I really do. But I think the price point is low enough to get enough people to pony up to make it just miserable enough to make you also want to pay.

That’s the wildcard in this, but I am looking at it like paper fast passes. Standby lines moved way better at that time. If people are only selecting one ride at a time, they move through and onto the next one. Disney can limit the number of fast passes to each ride, in each time slot, in order to keep things moving. When you had everyone booking 3 rides 60 days out, that was harder to do.

As for Epcot, I think this will be the best thing to happen there. FP+ murdered the wait times at that park. This might open them up so rides with no business having fast passes might actually have standby lines they deserve.

 

[Tyler's Dad]

Depends on the day multiplied by 2.7 %.

Point is, they did increase pricing. That argument is now invalid.

My point was if Disney would have just raised prices $20 across the board on all tiers, would people have been this upset?

 

[tinkerhon]

19. Do I have to purchase Genie+ for the entire length of my trip?
If purchased as part of a vacation package ahead of your visit, Genie+ is purchased for the entire length of the stay at $15 per ticket per day.
If not purchased ahead of time, Genie+ can be added on a day-by-day basis.

I'm assuming the highlighted text to mean that it can be added anytime before you use your ticket. Again, I'm just assuming and we all know what to ***-U-ME can mean. No offense but it's a quote from a movie and I just couldn't help myself.

Thanks for this !! So, in our scenario--- booked my package two weeks again--- make park ressies. No mention of Genie yet at that time. So, I can add on day-by-day basis? Would be nice if we knew when, and would it be in advance? (So, if I have seven park days booked, would I be able to add Genie fore we go for all seven days...OR, do I have to purchase it THAT day... the morning that we are going to a particular park? TIA !!!

 

[Liquidice]

I'm with you for the most part.

However, they don't need to build a 5th gate. How about just having 2015 MK hours instead of vastly reducing them when attendance rises YOY, and how about building out capacity to match attendance growth?

Nah, where's the upcharge opportunity in that?!

Reduced capacity vs reduced hours = Commercial opportunity

Yeah agree there are of course other ways to increase capacity without building a 5th gate. I do think when you increase capacity by building more attractions, making parks bigger or even adding another park - you can charge more too. It probably results in less profit though because you have to invest money into the parks.

We'll see - maybe they will start investing in the parks again to increase capacity after they collect lots of money from Genie+ - or they'll just issue huge dividends to the shareholders ... (I'm a shareholder too - but I'd rather see them invest money into the parks than return a big dividend).

 

[ChipnDale79]

FWIW I've seen many dates at Pop next year around $140-150ish, some dates even a little lower.

that's good to hear, the level of hotel for what it is, really shouldnt be any higher than that.

 

[cakebaker]

They will limit it by raising the price

And for us, that would be ok with me. Fewer people, less wait. I would've preferred a more expensive Universal style system. This one is priced so low that a lot of people will buy it.

 

[DefnotDLav]

That’s the wildcard in this, but I am looking at it like paper fast passes. Standby lines moved way better at that time. If people are only selecting one ride at a time, they move through and onto the next one. Disney can limit the number of fast passes to each ride, in each time slot, in order to keep things moving. When you had everyone booking 3 rides 60 days out, that was harder to do.

As for Epcot, I think this will be the best thing to happen there. FP+ murdered the wait times at that park. This might open them up so rides with no business having fast passes might actually have standby lines they deserve.

I really hope you are right and the experience without paying for G$ is actually an improvement on the experience with FP+. Only time will tell.

 

[Tyler's Dad]

I really hope you are right and the experience without paying for G$ is actually an improvement on the experience with FP+. Only time will tell.

Absolutely. I can also say I am biased based on how much more I enjoyed MaxPass vs. FP+. We go to both resorts each year and I love Disney World as a resort so much more than Disneyland, but I liked the way lines moved at Disneyland way more. I see this as an opportunity to get the best of both worlds.

 

[bookgirl2632]

At this point, I just to know two things. When exactly is this starting? And will it be utilized during Extended Hours or Early Entry? I would think not since FP was not used then, nor was it really necessary.

 

[Liquidice]

While you have valid points, one thing you have incorrect is that Disney is out of their minds. The fact is, the demand is so high right now that people will pay for this system. People pay for similar services at other parks. People will show up in droves and pay 20 bucks to ride Rise of the Resistance. They could sell every boarding gorup every day at that price in seconds. That is our fault, not theirs. It definitely stinks for the consumer, but they are hardly out of their minds.

Rise of the Resistance is not our fault that there is high demand that they now need to charge us for it. It is Disney's fault that the ride breaks down all the time, that they didn't build the ride with sufficient ride capacity (it generally runs at around ~1500 guests per hour when it doesn't break down) - Disney knew this would be a hugely popular ride - they could have built it with a higher capacity in mind. Some older rides have a ride capacity of 2000 guests per hour or even 3000+ (PeopleMover can handle 3600 guests per hour).

Disney is now making us pay because their rides do not have sufficient capacity per hour for the number of guests they're allowing in the park. Rather than trying to solve their problem of park overcrowding, they're trying to profit off of their issues with crowd control.

Less value for more money, and increased profits at the expense of Guest Satisfaction, that is Disney's new normal. If customers continue to be happy with this model - they will continue to come up with more ideas to nickel and dime customers. At some point - maybe, it will blow up in their faces and they'll lose customer trust and Disney's reputation will be tarnished - and maybe, just maybe - they'll go back to being a customer first company. Or maybe we'll just continue to accept paying for microtransactions for things that were previously free.