Disney Genie announcement

[Monk6552]

A question I don't believe I've seen answered yet - if I am staying onsite, BUT not arriving until later in the day (i.e. flying in that day) - will I be able to choose the return slot for the $ILL later in the day - or is my only choice first available/ to keep refreshing and seeing what is available and buy it once it gives me an option later in the day?

 

[DisneyFive]

For a number of years they did allow FP return even hours after the end of the window. They clamped down on that quite a while back - I can’t remember when, but I think it might have been around the time MDE, MBs and FP+ came along. Hopefully some other old timer here on the DISboards will remember the timeframe.

Maybe I am sounding old, but we have been going long enough to go through that transition. Yes, back in the day of paper fast passes they would never enforce the return window. It was a well-known “secret“. We would stack them and use a number of them later in the day. It was once magic bands came around that they stopped letting you do that because it was obvious that you were beyond the time window when the Mickey head would not light up properly if you were beyond the grace period. I think that was around 2014-2015 timeframe?

Dan

 

[5DisneyNuts]

I sure took a ton of heat from posting my positive view of it when it was announced.

I was with you from the start!

Those that have been following along are well aware of those that have been positive over the new changes.

Many that have been following along, including me, have been puzzled over those who are happy with, by most accounts, a lesser experience costing $100-$1000 more than it did a short time ago.

There are many many loyal Disney loving fans that are not happy with the money grab and find those saying we should be happy with the money grab or are constant complainers reluctant to change, distasteful.

Since this is the new world we are dealing with, It would be nice if this could be a thread to get information without the slant so we can make our own choices.

Thanks to those on the front lines for your information! Very helpful and appreciate your sharing.

 

[wisblue]

The only problem is, you cannot select your return time so at 1pm, soarin, tt, mission space, etc return times are likely to be in the 1-2pm range so you will have to constantly check your phone to see when the return times reach your arrival time

This is the biggest drawback of Genie+ in my opinion ( other than the cost of course)

That might be true today with the low crowds, but as the crowds get bigger and the wait rimes grow, the LL return times will get pushed farther out too.

If nothing else, we can grab a LL as we head to the park and be ready to use it when we arrive.

We should be so lucky to have all wait times for the major attractions be 20 minutes or less at 5 PM and for the rest of the evening.

 

[marikujawa]

Can you add Genie+ to tickets already purchased but not activated yet?

Yes. I did it.

 

[Sjm9911]

Those that have been following along are well aware of those that have been positive over the new changes.

Many that have been following along, including me, have been puzzled over those who are happy with, by most accounts, a lesser experience costing $100-$1000 more than it did a short time ago.

There are many many loyal Disney loving fans that are not happy with the money grab and find those saying we should be happy with the money grab or are constant complainers reluctant to change, distasteful.

Since this is the new world we are dealing with, It would be nice if this could be a thread to get information without the slant so we can make our own choices.

Thanks to those on the front lines for your information! Very helpful and appreciate your sharing.

300 more for our trip in less the 2 weeks. Well maybe 298. I was surprised at the tax also. I will say i am fortunate enough to have that much to spend, but I'm not happy about it. I would have cut some of the stuff for the parks, but i really didn't want to do it day by day. It was easier to get ot for the whole trip then pick and choose. I think disney knows that also.

 

[MJJME]

300 more for our trip in less the 2 weeks. Well maybe 298. I was surprised at the tax also. I will say i am fortunate enough to have that much to spend, but I'm not happy about it. I would have cut some of the stuff for the parks, but i really didn't want to do it day by day. It was easier to get ot for the whole trip then pick and choose. I think disney knows that also.

I bet you won’t do that again after this trip. Genie+ is a waste of money. IAS I think has real value, but not genie+

 

[moorish]

It sounds like the best way to stack lightning lanes for later in the day is to do it to a park you would want to hop to. From what I understand they will only give you ride times for a ride after 2 o’clock if it is not the park you have a reservation for that day. Touring plans was talking about this very thing on their podcast today. They made it sound that as early as 7 AM you could book your first lightning Lane for a park that you would hop to after 2 o’clock. You can then just keep stacking them. One at 11 and one at 1. Genie will not give you options for attractions before 2pm.

you can enter the park you have a reservation for early and then just do standby only. After lunch hop over to the park that you have lightning lanes stacked.

This is very interesting.

 

[Sjm9911]

I bet you won’t do that again after this trip. Genie+ is a waste of money. IAS I think has real value, but not genie+

Lol, its my last trip for a bit. Pricing has gone up a ton since 2019. Plus its a haul for us, we bring a camper. And live in nj.

 

[Leight19]

300 more for our trip in less the 2 weeks. Well maybe 298. I was surprised at the tax also. I will say i am fortunate enough to have that much to spend, but I'm not happy about it. I would have cut some of the stuff for the parks, but i really didn't want to do it day by day. It was easier to get ot for the whole trip then pick and choose. I think disney knows that also.

I’m planning 3 trips from may 2022 to Jan 2023 (would start sooner but just had child so waiting for her to be at least 6 months).
We are dvc and this is us clearing out backlog of points from covid.

If I didn’t have dvc and wasn’t a captive audience I absolutely would cancel all 3 trips in response to genie plus and other cheapening of product. As it is, I’m currently trying to convince wife to convert at least some of these to resort only or universal but with money tied up already and our kids not yet in universal demographic (1 month, 2 and 4) it would hurt us more then Disney.

I absolutely will not buy genie plus no matter how good it is because I refuse to support this nickel and diming. We were also planning to add on more points to gfv but again no way we give them any money with current direction of company.

 

[Disturbia]

Yes, I did. In some places it shows that I have a park reservation for a party of 1, which I think is because I have an AP and the others have regular multi day tickets. But, without changing the date if I try to choose people I’m touring with it asks me to remove everyone because of not having valid admission.

Because the trip is still 3 weeks away I’m just chalking it up to opening day jitters for the new app since the website has all of the plans correct.

I don’t remember if it was on a blog, but someone said everyone has to have the same type of ticket; I thought back to our kids and one is an infant but everyone who will ride has the same 7 day base ticket

 

[DisneyFive]

Lol, its my last trip for a bit. Pricing has gone up a ton since 2019.

Tell me about it. I was pricing out a summer trip for 2022. I looked back at 2018 pricing and noticed that ticket prices (10 day hoppers) have gone up 35% since 2018, and that does not include the cost of G+ on top of that yet!!

ETA... fixed the % increase. It wasn't 60% but rather 35% from 2018 to 2022. Was doing the math too quickly before. Still, that's an almost 8% year over year increase. WAAAAAY outpacing inflation. Add G+ on top of that, and !!!!! Adding G+ to all 10 days really does bring the total price up 63% from 2018. (I'm not even including individual paid attractions). That's a crazy increase IMO.

Dan

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

Anyone see if you could arrive early to their selection. Like in fp there was like a 10 to 15 minute grace period before and after the selected time?

It was confirmed that there was at least a 5 minute early arrival window same as FP+. No word on the grace period afterwards.

 

[Airb330]

I absolutely will not buy genie plus no matter how good it is because I refuse to support this nickel and diming. We were also planning to add on more points to gfv but again no way we give them any money with current direction of company.

I probably won’t buy Genie+ either. I followed the tip board today in the app (it’s cool) and don’t see the value. No rerides, limited headliners. Maybe I’d pay for FOP or ROTR if I was with someone who never rode it before.

We were so into the idea of buying VGF2. Then this G+ nonsense happened and we aren’t fans of the qn/an resort rooms either. Also not feeling the direction of the company, at least the parks division. If anything we may offload some DVC in a few years.

 

[EPCOT-O.G.]

I probably won’t buy Genie+ either. I followed the tip board today in the app (it’s cool) and don’t see the value. No rerides, limited headliners. Maybe I’d pay for FOP or ROTR if I was with someone who never rode it before.

We were so into the idea of buying VGF2. Then this G+ nonsense happened and we aren’t fans of the qn/an resort rooms either. Also not feeling the direction of the company, at least the parks division. If anything we may offload some DVC in a few years.

It’s really astonishing how bad this has been bungled, especially at a time with comparatively low attendance. Imagine it during the holidays or spring break! Also, anyone with any passing familiarity with Disney’s tech infrastructure kind of saw this happening.

Will this initiative eventually be considered “Chapek’s Folly”?

 

[wisblue]

I don’t remember if it was on a blog, but someone said everyone has to have the same type of ticket; I thought back to our kids and one is an infant but everyone who will ride has the same 7 day base ticket

When I made park reservations I had to make mine separately because “AP with resort reservation” comes from a different pot than daily tickets with resort reservation.

In the “my plans“ section on the website the park passes show as a party of one and a party of 3 even though we are all on the same resort reservation (DVC).

If the only impact of this is that we have to buy our Genie+ every day in two separate transactions it will be annoying but not a big deal.

But, if we have to be treated as separate parties for everything, like making G+LL and IALL selections, that will be really annoying.

I‘d be interested to hear how this has worked for anyone else with one of these “mixed” parties.

ETA: As I describe in a later post in this thread I was told by a CM in a chat exchange that once we all purchase Genie+ for a day we will be treated as one group for making LL selections. I will find out in 3 weeks if she was right.

 

[elgerber]

I have to say, it was great walking through the old fast pass lines again today. We pretty much walked right on Remy

 

[Sjm9911]

I’m planning 3 trips from may 2022 to Jan 2023 (would start sooner but just had child so waiting for her to be at least 6 months).
We are dvc and this is us clearing out backlog of points from covid.

If I didn’t have dvc and wasn’t a captive audience I absolutely would cancel all 3 trips in response to genie plus and other cheapening of product. As it is, I’m currently trying to convince wife to convert at least some of these to resort only or universal but with money tied up already and our kids not yet in universal demographic (1 month, 2 and 4) it would hurt us more then Disney.

I absolutely will not buy genie plus no matter how good it is because I refuse to support this nickel and diming. We were also planning to add on more points to gfv but again no way we give them any money with current direction of company.

I get it, but for me my daughter is a bit older, while i dont want to buy it, i looked at it as insurance on the money allready spent. So 45 bucks for 3 people to justify the 340 dollers in tickets per day , in order ro get more stuff in , is almost a must. I did cut out all my dinner reservations. Like i said i have a camper, and it comes with a kitchen. Otherwise i wouldn't be able to afford as lond of a stay as i do. And luches will mostly be baged, lol.

 

[MJJME]

This is very interesting.

Only problem is, you didn’t need genie+ today in any park with the exception of HS because it wasn’t that busy. Waste of money in my opinion.

and on busy days, tou will not be able to get an afternoon genie+ b they will sell out.

genie + is a joke if you ask me.

ias for rotr and fop are worth it, but not genie +

 

[cjlong88]

It sounds like the best way to stack lightning lanes for later in the day is to do it to a park you would want to hop to. From what I understand they will only give you ride times for a ride after 2 o’clock if it is not the park you have a reservation for that day. Touring plans was talking about this very thing on their podcast today. They made it sound that as early as 7 AM you could book your first lightning Lane for a park that you would hop to after 2 o’clock. You can then just keep stacking them. One at 11 and one at 1. Genie will not give you options for attractions before 2pm.

you can enter the park you have a reservation for early and then just do standby only. After lunch hop over to the park that you have lightning lanes stacked.

This is exactly what we plan on doing when we visit EPCOT on our first day back. Enjoy F&W and get in a standby line or two with low waits in the morning while and start stacking rides for HS. Take a break at the hotel, then head to the HS in the afternoon. If we purchase both MMRR and RotR we can conceivably have 5 LL's ready to go, which would be awesome. But who knows what will be the most effective way to maximize this until we get more information from those using it throughout the next few weeks.