Disney Genie announcement

[PirateNovelist]

Could possibly work at MK, but HS? It will rin out of suggestions within an hour.

If you are not into shows or if shows aren't back when you plan your trip totally see that happening.

 

[ucf_knight]

I have mixed feelings. I'm an Ap holder who didn't feel that the FP+ was not totally even and didn't work for everyone. The new rides were slim to none possibility of getting a FP. I think that FP was used too much by too many. I also wonder how much they will charge for these top tier attraction s.

If you used the refresh method for FP it was fantastic for AP’s. If you didn’t know about refresh I could see the frustration. FP will be greatly missed from our family of AP’s.

 

[pigletto]

Posting for the first time in 1.5 years just to express my disgust. To me, it’s as simple as charging for something that used to be (and should be) free. Also not a fan of having to wake up at 7am every morning on vacation or…well, I’m not sure what you need to do if you stay off-site. And then on top of that, getting to pay REALLY big bucks for tier 1 rides. But once they smell all this new money, watch out--Rise of the Resistance around Christmastime is just going to be a flat-out auction to see how much money they can extract from their wealthiest patrons. $500 per ride? Do I hear $600? (And then the ride breaks down.)

They only thing more disappointing than this is the people who don’t mind or, worse, actually applaud the move. There is a very large segment for whom no price increase, no removed benefit, no cutback in hours/shows/ride capacity will be a concern. They will happily pay for whatever Disney does, and Disney will happily oblige.

Perhaps my favorite are people saying “we should have been expecting this.” Why, because Disney can charge for anything? Coming soon…Want to swim in your hotel pool? Buy your Little Mermaid pass (or pass+ if you want a beach chair). Nightly fireworks show? Sorry, have to buy a special ticket for that. As people earlier asked, how long until they charge for toilet paper, air? They’ve become a more expensive version of Spirit Airlines.

For the love of all things holy , remove that Little Mermaid Pass idea and never speak of it again or it will be reality by October

 

[Laura's Dad]

I wouldn't panic yet about the off-site vs. the on-site issue. They just announced this and not all of the details are out yet. There may be some benefits for on-site stays that haven't been announced yet. If there is nothing that comes out, I would agree that staying on-site would no longer be much of a benefit. You may get 30 minutes early to a theme park depending on transportation (I waited 40 minutes for a bus to the MK one morning at PO-R so this would not help at all). That's not much benefit for Disney hotel prices.

 

[mrsbdub]

Great article from DFB that breaks it all down:
https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2021...isney-world-soon-and-its-called-disney-genie/

Thank you for this article! I actually understood Disney Genie+ much more after reading it than before.

 

[goofynut41]

I Am so confused!!! This is getting too complicated for me... I am not a tect person and this is not fun anymore....

 

[ppony]

our trip in April 2022 will the last for my family. If I hadn't promised my 2 DGD that we would celebrate my retirement (March 2020) at Disney I would just cancel.

Does not seem to be much advantage to stay on site anymore. No free transport to/from the airport. No attraction booking advantage for staying on site. No more extra magic hours. Extra costs for things that were included a few years ago are adding up. Can I afford it, yes but I will choose not to after this trip.
Likely going to have to buy a new phone. the 2 year old one works fine for me now that I am retired, but doubt it will for Genie.

Grand kids really want to visit Universal; that will be our next trip to Orlando.

I hear you. We’ve already paid for our villas next year, but looking at how cheap you can stay in full HOUSES with their own pools though an AirBNB, I think we just might give it a shot next time. I mean, a house all to ourselves w it’s own pool, 5 minutes from WDW for $2500 LESS than we’re paying for our villas? Yeah, that’s quite tempting!

 

[Skippyboo]

As much as I would hate to be like "I am going to save $15 and risk it". I am spending 2 days at Epcot for my own reasons as I didn't get to explore it the last time I went. However, it's just myself and my mom.

While I hate to spend extra and I totally get the negative of it for those who have bigger families, I will be going for it. I won't bet getting photo pass because that going to be my ride budget and if that's all I spent it on. I recognize my own privilege with this and it's just my own personal situation.

If this means I can basically at 7 am guarantee I get ROTR and Remmy for my trip, it's worth the money for my situation. I am not dining every meal, I will be bringing my own food for most of the small trip I am going.

Since my mom is disabled, but unable to qualify for the DAC, the $15 a day for the + will really help us maximize rides. Thank you for the info.

You still have to paid an unannounced price for the lighting lane for the 2 top tier rides. The 15 bucks only gives you the option to make a FP for a lower tier ride. So if you are at MK the 15 buck Genie + will let you book a FP for Dumbo but if you want to ride 7DMT it more money. How much we don’t know?

 

[Lashed34]

I Am so confused!!! This is getting too complicated for me... I am not a tect person and this is not fun anymore....

Basic Genie, completely free, helps you plan your park day.

Genie+ you pay $15 per person per day (WDW) and you can book times for "some" attractions. One attraction at a time, like FP.

LIGHTNING LANES (old FP queue line) you pay to ride at a set time for the most popular attractions. Prices will vary on different days/seasons but have not been announced.

 

[luv2cheer92]

Wow - I can't keep up with reading everything! Lol!
I did want to chime in with one more thing - I'm not averse to change. Really, I'm not. But to COMPLETELY change to a paid tiered system, when it was fully included before, with no transition is what irks me. Also, there is NO benefit for on-site guests in this new system. At least with FP+, onsite guests could book their rides before off-site guests. There seems to be a huge move to NO on-site benefits. Which I find baffling.

Well, there is a benefit to staying onsite. It may not be what it was before and it may not be something you like or take advantage of. But to say that there is no benefit at all is incorrect.

 

[elgerber]

You join a virtual queue like RotR, subject to it being avaiable, but you could also pay extra for a Lightning Lane - subject to one being available.

I wonder if it will allow people to do both, and ride twice?

 

[Lashed34]

I wonder if it will allow people to do both, and ride twice?

I would imagine if you get a BG you can also book a LL, maybe not until you've ridden once, but I'd imagine they'd let you.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

.


I would watch the video Disney put out, I think it is way more informative to visually see it than just read their blog. You can see that you can still book ADR, join waitlists (new with COVID), do mobile ordering etc. I think it will be much easier than most think.

View attachment 598206

Thank you for sharing this. While I still am probably going to have to watch a ton of vlogs on this, it did answer a few of my questions and actually bought up points I did not think about.

 

[tguz]

I wouldn't panic yet about the off-site vs. the on-site issue. They just announced this and not all of the details are out yet. There may be some benefits for on-site stays that haven't been announced yet. If there is nothing that comes out, I would agree that staying on-site would no longer be much of a benefit. You may get 30 minutes early to a theme park depending on transportation (I waited 40 minutes for a bus to the MK one morning at PO-R so this would not help at all). That's not much benefit for Disney hotel prices.

So far the only perk for onsite guests that I have seen is the first "ride reservation" can be booked at 7am while offsite guests can't book their first until they enter the park.

 

[dunkindonut]

This sums it up: It's a planning tool for guests that uses algorithms to tell them what and when they should do things based on what they like. As far as fast passes before, people were able to get 3 fast passes for free to schedule 60 day outs in advance...now you have to pay an additional $15 a day for one fast pass at a time that you only get to schedule the day of now, but then you have to pay even more money if you want a fast pass for the most popular rides

 

[kbelle8995]

If you used the refresh method for FP it was fantastic for AP’s. If you didn’t know about refresh I could see the frustration. FP will be greatly missed from our family of AP’s.

Tried it never worked for me

 

[tguz]

I am at least glad that Big Thunder will be part of the genie+, I like it a lot more than 7DMT.

 

[JakeAZ]

Well, there is a benefit to staying onsite. It may not be what it was before and it may not be something you like or take advantage of. But to say that there is no benefit at all is incorrect.

While you are technically correct, IMO none of the on-site "benefits", including the Deluxe hours, can justify staying on-site anymore.

Disney basically took away (or are in the process of taking away) the benefits people looked forward to by staying on-site and then jacked up the prices.

Then they announce a brand new program for paid rides and are giving the day guest the same (basically) access and pricing as the on-site.

 

[Jenkinsfanatic]

A couple of scenarios I'm curious how it will be handled.

1.) Can someone (with either really fast fingers or multiple people in their party trying) be lucky enough to get both a spot in the virtual queue and pay the extra $$ for lightening lane? Thus allowing people to ride 2 time? I know for the non virtual queue rides there's no stopping waiting and buying but not sure what restrictions would be in place for a virtual queue.

2.) Would you be alive to pull the same ride more then once with genie+? Can I get a return time at 10 am for btmrr and then pull another available time at 1 pm? I'm assuming so, but I wonder if disney would try to limit a return time to once per day per ride.

I'm going at the end of October and I don't see how if this is live by then this is anything but a giant cluster, but we will see.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Well, there is a benefit to staying onsite. It may not be what it was before and it may not be something you like or take advantage of. But to say that there is no benefit at all is incorrect.

Being able to book your first Genie ride at 7am vs when you enter the park could have been huge, but not so much with the best rides not available via Genie