Disney News, Discussion & an Element of Fun!

[Gary Stocker]

TP chat on the Genie announcement.

 

[disney-inspired]

This is bonkers!

This is directly from Disney parks blog:

Here are a few more features:

Disney Genie

• Get Itinerary Updates from Morning to Night: Disney Genie will continue to update your itinerary throughout your day, so you can be more spontaneous and go with the flow.
• Find Your Favorites at a Glance: Create your very own personal tip board to instantly see your favorites. It will display current AND forecasted future wait times, helping you predict when you might experience quicker entry to attractions.
• Enjoy More Flexibility and Fun: Disney Genie brings existing planning features together in one place. Join a virtual queue at certain attractions, make dining and experience reservations, mobile order food at many locations, get help from a virtual assistant and more.

• Disney Genie+ service (available for purchase): For the price of $15 per ticket per day at Walt Disney World Resort and $20 per ticket per day at Disneyland Resort, choose the next available time to arrive at a variety of attractions and experiences using the Lightning Lane entrance. You can make one selection at a time, throughout the day – from classics like Haunted Mansion to thrill rides like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and newer favorites like Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run (attractions subject to limited availability). This convenient option is the next evolution of the fan-favorite Disney MaxPass service from Disneyland Resort. Disney Genie+ will also include Disney parks-themed audio experiences and photo features to capture your memories – augmented reality lenses for those visiting Walt Disney World Resort and unlimited Disney PhotoPass downloads from your day if you are visiting Disneyland Resort.
• Individual attraction selections (available for purchase): Schedule a time to arrive at up to two highly demanded attractions each day using the Lightning Lane entrance – like Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at Magic Kingdom Park and Radiator Springs Racers at Disney California Adventure park (subject to limited availability; attractions not included with Disney Genie+). Pricing for this option will vary by date, attraction and park and will be announced closer to launch.

 

[RamblingRabbit]

Gonna Quote Pete from a live show a few weeks ago...

"Everyone hates socialism til things in your theme park ain't free anymore."

 

[pigletto]

The very least they could have done was use Stacey for the promo video to soften the blow. Captain Personality and his attempt to deliver this smiley corporate message just made it worse.

 

[disney-inspired]

These changes are going to severely impact type A planners.

 

[disney-inspired]

Okay, now that this HUGE piece of info has been dropped - can they please announce they are going to extend the Military salute for 2022??? I need to book for early next year and can't w/o the discount.

 

[Sara W]

These changes are going to severely impact type A planners.

Seriously. A large part of my vacation is the preplanning. I enjoy keeping my mind occupied with fun stuff before the vacation starts. And then I’m relaxed during vacation because I know what each day looks like. (And God knows my kids are always asking mom what the plan is. This will not be fun for me.)

 

[cellomom]

I'm so relieved - it's just like Maxpass was! And includes photos for Disneyland just like it did before.

Wishing photos were included for WDW

 

[HokieRaven5]

With this I think it also means ADRs stay closer to the 60 day mark as they have been since reopening to have consistency between trips to Disneyland or Walt Disney World.

 

[disney-inspired]

With this I think it also means ADRs stay closer to the 60 day mark as they have been since reopening to have consistency between trips to Disneyland or Walt Disney World.

I like this way better than the 180 days in advance.

 

[HokieRaven5]

I like this way better than the 180 days in advance.

Same, I’ll still wait to see if Disney World makes anything official as far as changes on that but keeping it at 60 Days seems to be in line with what they are going for with the planning process.

 

[Tom_E_D]

A lot of this planning stuff can be done already on Touring Plans for a lot cheaper.

No, the itinerary planning aspect is Genie, which is free. You only have to pay for Genie+, which is the MaxPass aspect and Individual Attraction Selection, which is the pay-per-fastpass aspect. Touring Plans can't provide the Genie+ or Individual Attraction Selection aspects. I'm sure some people will still pay for Touring Plans for a perhaps-superior itinerary planning tool, but it can't be cheaper than a free Genie.

 

[HokieRaven5]

Ashley Carter Twitter

 

[storey13]

No, the itinerary planning aspect is Genie, which is free. You only have to pay for Genie+, which is the MaxPass aspect and Individual Attraction Selection, which is the pay-per-fastpass aspect. Touring Plans can't provide the Genie+ or Individual Attraction Selection aspects. I'm sure some people will still pay for Touring Plans for a perhaps-superior itinerary planning tool, but it can't be cheaper than a free Genie.

I will keep paying for my Touring Plans subscription for actual wait times and touring optimization. I can imagine that the Genie app will have inflated times (to encourage Genie + purchase) and suggestions be more about dispersing crowds, where the Touring Plans Lines app will actually will tell me the best plan of action based on actual data instead of, how should I say, manipulated data.

 

[twincruisers]

These changes are going to severely impact type A planners.

I think the whole idea of Genie is to increase 1st Time Visitor satisfaction (while increasing profits) at the expense of the Type-A planners and AP min-maxxers.

 

[Eeyore daily]

Okay, now that this HUGE piece of info has been dropped - can they please announce they are going to extend the Military salute for 2022??? I need to book for early next year and can't w/o the discount.

That’s usually out late September! It’s a pain.

 

[bookbabe626]

The moment Genie tells me, who likes Italian Food, to go to Pizza Rizzo I am going to delete that app from my phone

I have to admit it. We ate at PR on our last trip’s DHS day. It was hot, stupid hot, and stupid crowded at the parks all week, and mobile order was chaos in most of the DHS options. But we could get into PR at short notice. And it was okay. As in it didn’t suck. DH wants to go back next trip. Best part for me was that it was less crowded and well-air-conditioned. And there was free ice water in large coolers. Really, it was one of the less annoying QS meals we had that week. So I guess I’m a bit of a PR convert…

 

[zebrastreyepz]

They totally lost me with this Genie mess. I don't even have the energy to try and figure it out.

 

[HokieRaven5]

Victoria Falls Lounge Reopening August 20 at Animal Kingdom Lodge



Victoria Falls Lounge Menu

 

[closetmickey]

How Being a Disney World Hotel Guest Will Benefit You With the New PAID Individual Attraction System

Disney World Resort guests will get to make their Individual Attraction Selections at 7am each park day, non-Disney resort guests will get to make those selections at park opening

Does WDW realize how these 7am “drops” affect travelers coming from a different time zone? BRUTAL when on vacation. And now they will need to be done DAILY??!!