Disney Genie announcement

[ucf_knight]

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.

Not exactly like fast pass since you could have 3 FP’s booked then once you used up three it was one attraction at a time.

 

[Opie100]

This is still unclear to me. Do I have this right?

Option 1: Don't use Genie, wait in regular lines, which will be longer
Option 2: Use free Genie app, wait in regular lines, maybe the forecasts help a little; no advance planning
Option 3: Buy the Genie+ service, reserve one "Lightning Lane" at "Tier 2 rides" at a time upon arrival, if available; no advance planning
Option 4: Buy individual attraction "Lightning Lanes" for "Tier 1 rides," up to two per day (do we need Genie+ to do this as well?); no advance planning

I wonder what time we will have to arrive at the parks each day before all of the lightning lanes are gone?

 

[cantsayNolaf]

Not exactly like fast pass since you could have 3 FP’s booked then once you used up three it was one attraction at a time.

Is it confirmed that you can only book one attraction per "group" vs one attraction per person?

 

[Nero the dog]

We are from UK and most feedback iver here isnt great. It will kill the UK overseas market for families, unless we want to queue for hours. A lot of UK holidays are taken during busy periods in the US and families want to be able to do everything on their trip, for many its a once in a lifetime trip!! (I think Universal will benefit from the disney negativity now). They are ruining the Magic that Walt created for money and nothing more

 

[cjlong88]

The Magic Bands will still work, and are still being sold. They're just no longer a complimentary item when booking at a Disney resort. Now they sell it as "Being a Disney resort guest you have the privilege of buying exclusive magic bands that are not available in the park".

Not that I need them, because we have a collection. It's just a fun way to look back on our trips based on the magic bands we have collected and written the dates on the insides.

We aren’t souvenir people…but I love getting a new magicband for each visit. I can wear one that’s themed to the park I’m visiting and rotate them to match my what I’m wearing.

Also the fact that it’s a usable item that can charge things to my room, serve as my park ticket, or open my hotel door makes the price worth it to me.

 

[Disneyliscious]

To all the people mentioning how its no longer worth it to stay on site anymore......that's EXACTLY what Disney wants you to think. Then, in a year or so, they'll jack up hotel prices and offer you an early Genie+ booking window, a package Genie+ deal, or something of the sort to make you think its a GLORIOUS DEAL to be staying on site again. This is all part of their marketing strategy. They get people use to "nothing" so that when they offer something in the future people think "OMG ITS FREE AND SO WORTH IT I LOVE YOU DISNEY!!!!!"

 

[itf]

We are from UK and most feedback iver here isnt great. It will kill the UK overseas market for families, unless we want to queue for hours. A lot of UK holidays are taken during busy periods in the US and families want to be able to do everything on their trip, for many its a once in a lifetime trip!! (I think Universal will benefit from the disney negativity now). They are ruining the Magic that Walt created for money and nothing more

This is absolutely how I feel - I've got a 14 day once in a long time if not once in a lifetime booked for the family next year and I'm already looking at how much I'd lose if I cancel, but will wait and see how things shake out once it's introduced. We've got 10 park days already reserved in the MDE app = 15x10x3, another £300 on top of the over £1000 of park tickets we've already paid for to get Genie+ and then on top of that paying for individual rides. With the strong dollar too it's just going to be excruciatingly expensive.

 

[ctl]

This is still unclear to me. Do I have this right?

Option 1: Don't use Genie, wait in regular lines, which will be longer
Option 2: Use free Genie app, wait in regular lines, maybe the forecasts help a little; no advance planning
Option 3: Buy the Genie+ service, reserve one "Lightning Lane" at "Tier 2 rides" at a time upon arrival, if available; no advance planning
Option 4: Buy individual attraction "Lightning Lanes" for "Tier 1 rides," up to two per day (do we need Genie+ to do this as well?); no advance planning

I wonder what time we will have to arrive at the parks each day before all of the lightning lanes are gone?

Super early. Do you remember what the lines were like for Rise of the Resistance when you had to line up outside the park and hope to hit the app when you got inside at opening to get a boarding pass? People were getting in line at 4.00am. I know because I was staying on Disney property at the time and had to get up with my kids several days in a row to get to ride 1 time. Yes, it was before they changed the system, but it was horrible.

 

[ctl]

To all the people mentioning how its no longer worth it to stay on site anymore......that's EXACTLY what Disney wants you to think. Then, in a year or so, they'll jack up hotel prices and offer you an early Genie+ booking window, a package Genie+ deal, or something of the sort to make you think its a GLORIOUS DEAL to be staying on site again. This is all part of their marketing strategy. They get people use to "nothing" so that when they offer something in the future people think "OMG ITS FREE AND SO WORTH IT I LOVE YOU DISNEY!!!!!"

Nope. The straw has broken the camels back.

 

[TangledHairDon'tCare]

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.

You use the lightning lane for your genie+ picks too.

 

[Cynt]

SMH! OK Disney now you want me to pay for fast pass that has less benefits than the free fast pass and it doesn't include the best rides?!?! Momma didn't raise no fool. We are more than able to pay for the new genie+ and pay to ride the top tier rides. But WHY??? I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired of Disney cutting all the free perks and then charging a premium for them.

We'll probably move our Spring Break 2022 WDW vacation to the end of May 2022 when crowds are lighter and we won't need genie+. That will probably be our last WDW vacation for a while. If it wasn't for my 6 year old niece that hasn't been to WDW we would cancel altogether and take them on a cruise. But turning 5 and going to Disney is a rite of passage in our family. She's the baby cousin and her cousins have her all hyped to go WDW. Man how I wish we would have taken her in November 2019 before all this craziness happened. Our older kids prefer Universal Studios and cruising to WDW anyways. So no love lost for them. We were going to do 5 WDW park days but now we'll probably just do 3 - MK, HS and AK. We'll spend the rest of the week at Universal and we'll probably drive to Tampa and go to Busch Gardens too.

This also seals the deal that we will stay offsite. We loved Magical express for the 9 of us and living in the bubble. Now no ME and no free FP. Like others have said we really miss the Disney of old. It chaps my hide that the kids can't experience what we did on our Disney trips in the early 2000's. Man those were the good old days. Fast pass!?!? What's that? The lines were 15-25 minutes tops! OMG I miss those days.

I still say that the new CEO was not a Disney World kid or adult. He's heartless when it comes to Disney Magic and Pixie Dust. The little extras DO MATTER to die hard Disney fans. That's the other thing I'm wondering. Maybe they are trying to phase out the die hard Disney fans. Maybe they want Disney to be a one a done trip of a lifetime for new families. Spend your $20K and then they're on to the next family. I can easily see this turning into their new model. These new parents will do anything to take their kids to Disney and pay whatever to save time.

 

[EPCOT-O.G.]

For all the people who've been complaining about the current state of the parks and declaring they're not coming back until there's some version of a FP, well, as we learn from the myths involving the Genie - careful what you wish for!

 

[cjlong88]

This is still unclear to me. Do I have this right?

Option 1: Don't use Genie, wait in regular lines, which will be longer
Option 2: Use free Genie app, wait in regular lines, maybe the forecasts help a little; no advance planning
Option 3: Buy the Genie+ service, reserve one "Lightning Lane" at "Tier 2 rides" at a time upon arrival, if available; no advance planning
Option 4: Buy individual attraction "Lightning Lanes" for "Tier 1 rides," up to two per day (do we need Genie+ to do this as well?); no advance planning

I wonder what time we will have to arrive at the parks each day before all of the lightning lanes are gone?

This seems correct. I think we everyone is operating under the assumption that all paid LL+ slots will be released right at 7am. But we really don’t know that. It could be that they are released sporadically throughout the day, similar to how the VQ slots for Hagrid’s works.

If they are made available throughout the day, being onsite might be an advantage because you would (potentially) have an additional chance at snagging that one ride you really want.

Interested to receive more information so we can figure out how to optimize Genie+ without needing to use the paid LL+ option every time. Once we see it in action, every blogger will have articles telling us how to maximize it.

 

[ctl]

This is absolutely how I feel - I've got a 14 day once in a long time if not once in a lifetime booked for the family next year and I'm already looking at how much I'd lose if I cancel, but will wait and see how things shake out once it's introduced. We've got 10 park days already reserved in the MDE app = 15x10x3, another £300 on top of the over £1000 of park tickets we've already paid for to get Genie+ and then on top of that paying for individual rides. With the strong dollar too it's just going to be excruciatingly expensive.

Disney is betting that overseas guests will pay regardless. As you say its a once in a lifetime trip for many of you. Unfortunately, for many now, it will be a never in a lifetime trip.

 

[Opie100]

Super early. Do you remember what the lines were like for Rise of the Resistance when you had to line up outside the park and hope to hit the app when you got inside at opening to get a boarding pass? People were getting in line at 4.00am. I know because I was staying on Disney property at the time and had to get up with my kids several days in a row to get to ride 1 time. Yes, it was before they changed the system, but it was horrible.

I'm surprised Disney is deploying policies that eliminate the ability to plan. Do they really want to go back to managing crowds at the entrance every morning? Doesn't that experience result in poor customer feedback? How about guests that arrive at 10am and there are no LL admissions left?

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

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. The rides that are for G+ will not be the same as the rides for AlaCarte; the virtual queue rides may not be on either level. There hasn't been any confirmation on this either way.

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 would hope you would have to be alive to pull rides.. We don't know if they are allowing multiples yet. this information coming out is all new, and is not as informative as we would like.

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.

This is still unclear to me. Do I have this right? pretty much

Option 1: Don't use Genie, wait in regular lines, which will be longer
Option 2: Use free Genie app, wait in regular lines, maybe the forecasts help a little; no advance planning
Option 3: Buy the Genie+ service, reserve one "Lightning Lane" at "Tier 2 rides" at a time upon arrival, if available; no advance planning
Option 4: Buy individual attraction "Lightning Lanes" for "Tier 1 rides," up to two per day (do we need Genie+ to do this as well?); no advance planning They have said that G+ is NOT required for this, and vice versa.

I wonder what time we will have to arrive at the parks each day before all of the lightning lanes are gone? My guess is they will space them out, and limit how many per hour, with the option to add more as the day progresses. So if they see that 7DMT has a 120 minute line, but the LL is running at 15, they might open some more spots to even out the lines. But this is conjecture for now.

 

[Kbrb]

Disney is betting that overseas guests will pay regardless. As you say its a once in a lifetime trip for many of you. Unfortunately, for many now, it will be a never in a lifetime trip.

I may well pay, but they wont be getting me on site for 14 nights anymore. I wont be buying any merch and will be eating off site to. Making me pay for this will involve cost cutting, first and most expensive is staying in Disney. If they are betting that international guests will pay regardless id take a look over on the DIBB board

 

[cjlong88]

I'm surprised Disney is deploying policies that eliminate the ability to plan. Do they really want to go back to managing crowds at the entrance every morning? Doesn't that experience result in poor customer feedback? How about guests that arrive at 10am and there are no LL admissions left?

It could also be that Disney was receiving consistent complaints that too much advanced planning was required to enjoy their vacation, especially from first time visitors. Us vets know that planning in advance gives us the experience we want. I think the super planners, however, are the minority of guests. At least that’s how I feel every time I walk into WDW.

 

[Grasshopper2016]

If they are serious about crowd control then why have they built more and more hotels on site?

Build a 5th gate, add more shows and experiences to spread people out.

If Disney was serious about controlling crowds they would build new rides and stop cutting entertainment.

Yes. Until they do this, Genie seems like just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. But now the good chairs cost more.

 

[TangledHairDon'tCare]

It could also be that Disney was receiving consistent complaints that too much advanced planning was required to enjoy their vacation, especially from first time visitors. Us vets know that planning in advance gives us the experience we want. I think the super planners, however, are the minority of guests. At least that’s how I feel every time I walk into WDW.

I think that’s exactly what they were hearing before. Those of us on boards like this tend to forget we’re the minority of visitors. I talk to people every trip that didn’t know about FP or dining reservations. Some friends of ours went on their first trip in 2018 and didn’t use FP at all because they didn’t know it was free.