Disney Genie announcement

[scrappinginontario]

Very possible. They'd love to offer this instead of free food. Free food dates are generally slower times anyway.

Each family has preferences that work for them. Personally I'd far more see Free Dining return (if/when the DDP returns) as I can barely feed us 2 snacks for $15/day. Free dining would free up money I would normally spend on food to purchase Genie+ and LL.

 

[Turksmom]

Another thing, FP+ allowed one to book all their rides for the evening of where one intended to park hop, contributing to the unavailability of fast passes. It appears G+ will only allow the reserving of rides for the park one has a park reservation in.

The official Disney announcement said it can be used across multiple parks with the hopper

 

[Heather07438]

Each family has preferences that work for them. Personally I'd far more see Free Dining return (if/when the DDP returns) as I can barely feed us 2 snacks for $15/day. Free dining would free up money I would normally spend on food to purchase Genie+ and LL.

Me too! We love(d) free food. But from WDW's end I can see them loving to offer packages with 'free' g+ in place of some of the food offers. Food costs them something, g+ not so much.

 

[NuJoy]

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[ThistleMae]

That is only indicated for the LL$.

If they want folks to continue to pay more to park hop, it would behoove them to make sure the Genie + will work with PH, wouldn't you think?

 

[cantsayNolaf]

Has there been information on the ability to split your family/group/party for Lighting Lane designations? Certainly not everyone tours together right?

 

[JakeAZ]

I'm very worried that Genie + with park hopping won't be worth it because the more popular rides will be gone by late afternoon and evening. I can remember trying to get additional 4th FP's at night and nothing was available to get.

Just remember, everyone doesn't start with 3 anymore and not everyone will buy Genie+. Even if they do, it's 1 at a time.

 

[cantsayNolaf]

Just remember, everyone doesn't start with 3 anymore and not everyone will buy Genie+. Even if they do, it's 1 at a time.

Has there been information on the ability to split your family/group/party for Lighting Lane designations? Certainly not everyone tours together right?

So is it one at a time per party or can my daughter pick Mine Train while I pick Space Mountain?

 

[ThistleMae]

Just remember, everyone doesn't start with 3 anymore and not everyone will buy Genie+. Even if they do, it's 1 at a time.

I would think it would have to be 1 at a time for it to work with PH, and it will force the G+ folks to choose the next available because if you were allowed to choose later times, say afternoon, then those slots would fill up. And choosing next available will move people around the park more strategically. But there are some folks who feel Disney may allow you to book another Genie+ after a window of 90 minutes to 160 minutes. I guess we shall see. I just know I'll be all over these boards once its a go, to see how it really works!

 

[NuJoy]

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[JakeAZ]

So is it one at a time per party or can my daughter pick Mine Train while I pick Space Mountain?

You can both pick separately.

 

[JakeAZ]

I would think it would have to be 1 at a time for it to work with PH, and it will force the G+ folks to choose the next available because if you were allowed to choose later times, say afternoon, then those slots would fill up. And choosing next available will move people around the park more strategically. But there are some folks who feel Disney may allow you to book another Genie+ after a window of 90 minutes to 160 minutes. I guess we shall see. I just know I'll be all over these boards once its a go, to see how it really works!

I'm one of those who think you'll be able to choose again after 120 minutes. But, I just don't see things booking up really fast (except for maybe on the most crowded days). Nothing is pre-booked and not everyone will buy Genie.

 

[ThistleMae]

I'm one of those who think you'll be able to choose again after 120 minutes. But, I just don't see things booking up really fast (except for maybe on the most crowded days). Nothing is pre-booked and not everyone will buy Genie.

I hope you're right but also from what I read, LL won't be available for Genie+ hopping until 2 p.m. when you're able to hop. I'm nervous that there will be nothing available that would be worth paying the extra $ 15 for at that point. Time will tell.

 

[quandrea]

So I finally received a response after seven days to the email I sent WDW about my displeasure with this new Genie+ system. The last paragraph of the email read:

"We are always evaluating and refining our offerings. This philosophy is in keeping with Walt Disney’s vision for continuing to grow and evolve, giving Guests a mixture of familiar and new experiences with each visit. It is clear that you are passionate about our Resort, and I am glad that you took the time to share your perspective with us. Our Guests’ feedback is vital throughout our Resort in preserving the magical experience that we so strongly wish to deliver. Please know that your comments are being shared with the appropriate Leadership as we continue to explore new ways for Guests to enjoy their visits in the future."

It may be just me reading into it too much, but I think that with the tremendous negative feedback on this rollout, that Disney will likely refine how this thing goes live come Fall 2021. Perhaps they will throw a bone to APs, DVC, or Deluxe Hotel Guests. I just don't see this rolling out the way they originally announced it since the backlash is pretty strong.

I received the same email—word for word. It seemed like a canned response.

 

[igrsod]

I received the same email—word for word. It seemed like a canned response.

That's exactly what I thought. It was a standard non response response. Didn't really say anything at all. Just thanks for writing, we make decisions, we do things, we sell things, we will continue to do that.... buh bye.

 

[JakeAZ]

I hope you're right but also from what I read, LL won't be available for Genie+ hopping until 2 p.m. when you're able to hop. I'm nervous that there will be nothing available that would be worth paying the extra $ 15 for at that point. Time will tell.

True, but you could grab a Genie+ pass for, say Soarin' at 2:30pm, while still at MK. I think Genie+ usage will very based on what parks people are going to. I can see heavy usage for MK days and HS days, but not so much for Epcot and AK.

I also think the added Genie+ expense might have people cut down on adding hopper options.

 

[quandrea]

That's exactly what I thought. It was a standard non response response. Didn't really say anything at all. Just thanks for writing, we make decisions, we do things, we sell things, we will continue to do that.... buh bye.

Exactly. I think they’ve lost me with this. The loss of value on my ticket is just too profound. What I may do is buy a one day hopper every five years or so and then do a vip tour.

 

[dvc lover 1970]

I received the same email—word for word. It seemed like a canned response.

Can you share the email address you sent your email to? I also want to write.

 

[quandrea]

Can you share the email address you sent your email to? I also want to write.

Here you go.

wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com

 

[btuftee]

I'm very worried that Genie + with park hopping won't be worth it because the more popular rides will be gone by late afternoon and evening. I can remember trying to get additional 4th FP's at night and nothing was available to get.

In the old days (pre-2013 when FP was all you had, and not all of the "extra" attractions that had to add a FP+ line), you would usually run out of FP on the headliner attractions by early afternoon. In busy times at parks with few rides (think Epcot before Frozen, and the third theater at Soarin'), you could exhaust all of the Test Track fastpasses by noon, easily. Or look at DHS, before Star Wars opened, before there was Toy Story land or a third track at TSMM, you'd probably be out of FP for TSMM on a busy day by 11am.

The good news is that there are a lot more headliner attractions and capacity now, compared with 2013, so we're returning to the old FP model but with more capacity. The bad news (or maybe just an unknown factor) is that if guests can make a Lightning Lane reservation starting at 7:00am, will all of the LLs get eaten up instantly for the headliners? That has the potential to be more like FP+ where the non-MK parks would have everyone flood the top 2 or 3 attractions. The only advantage is that Genie+ and IA$ are paid options that not everyone is going to buy, whereas every guest got FP+ reservations to make. That's probably why Genie+ won't cover the top two attractions at each park, and you'll have to buy those slots as IA$ or wait in a (probably long) standby line. It will also depend on when you can make your next LL selection (two hours? three? depending on on-site vs. off-site?). If you log on at 8:30am and see LL for Haunted Mansion at 3:00pm, you'd have to think about it if it meant you couldn't make another LL selection until much later. I think that's really the big piece of info that Disney is still sitting on - what's the "timeout" until you can get a new LL reservation? And, of course, what's the final list of which attractions have Genie+, and which have IA$.

We'll all have to see how it plays out, but I could expect that most people will fire up the app when they wake up (probably right at 7am for a lot of folks, though you might sleep in if you're not aiming at the headliner attractions before evening time), pick their top LL choice for the park, maybe add an IA$, and head out. I could see us planning a MK day like this: wake up, buy an IA$ for 7DMT, reserve an LL for Peter Pan, enter MK and go right to Fantasyland, and ride other attractions (maybe give the standby line at 7DMT a go if we get there at rope drop), and then start touring "normally" after that initial burst in Fantasyland. Back in the pre-2013 days, you'd use the touring plans app with crowdsourced data to see what the FP return times were for various attractions, now you'll just log onto Genie+ and see that Haunted Mansion has a 1:30pm return time, so you grab that, and then head that direction. Or you see Little Mermaid with a 12:00pm return time and head that way instead.