Does the new Genie+ pay-per-attraction system alter your views on DVC's value?

[Nabas]

This Genie cluster is offset by the late night deluxe only hours IMO. That’s such a small group, those hours are a huge Improvement on the previous EMH and enough to ride the big ticket rides for me.

Disney has about 10,400 Deluxe and DVC rooms. The Swan, Dolphin, and Swan Reserve add another 2614 rooms, for a total of about 13,000.

Rooms typically have 2-4 people. If we assume 3, that's 39,000 Guests eligible for evening hours. Let's say that about 20,000 of those show up for evening hours. 20,000 in the Magic Kingdom is going to feel a lot less crowded.

However, an attraction like Seven Dwarfs Mine Train dispatches about 1300-1600 per hour.

It might be tough getting all the big ticket rides done in 2 hours.

 

[DougEMG]

Recently signed up for a year of Touring Plans, which I like. If Genie is as accurate (doubtful but possible), I’ll be glad to save $ on that.
Fast Pass is dead. Long live Genie+.
This system may not please those who like to plan their every move over 30 days out but most people don’t live like that and I think this gives flexibility to those of us who prefer to not have to think about rides until day of.
Also, rides are always breaking down. If I planned over a month ago to ride something that’s out of order today. I end up more sad than if I just planned it today and it broke down.
Also also, if you’re not telling kids that you’ll ride a particular ride for days to weeks in advance, when/if you can’t get on, the day isn’t ruined by unmet expectations.
Genie+ might just bring less exasperation to the parks.
There are a lot of whiners around here lately. Am I alone in thinking this thing might just be great? Everyone knows Disney is ridiculously expensive. But Genie+ for one day is the cost of literally one spiked drink.*
*which I’ll still pay for because y’all exhaust me.

$15/day for Genie+, assume $30/day for LL+ , so $45 per day per person per length of stay. For us that works out to over $2800 extra a year for something that was free and better suit to our touring style. Glad you like it, but for us it sucks!

Am doing Universal at Portofino (Express Pass included) for 6 nights for 3 people with annual passes for roughly $2800. Guess which one I consider a better value.

 

[Trvlnomad]

Meh. More of a leisure visitor, sounds awful so far. Probably better to put it out as this is what it is: ticket upgrade like a park hopper, rather than a song and dance and a mascot. Maybe I will be surprised when it rolls out! Been teetering on the should I sell for a bit now - could tip the scale one way or another. Christmas party prices, Genie and throw covid into the mix.…

 

[oufpat]

My DH is ready to give up on DVC, I say let's give it a chance. I'm just glad we did a "big family" trip this past April. Time to let the dust settle!

 

[Prince John Robin Hood]

People hate being nickel and dimed. They should've increased ticket and annual pass prices instead of charging for Genie+.

 

[Bearval]

People hate being nickel and dimed. They should've increased ticket and annual pass prices instead of charging for Genie+.

Why would they ever do that? Now they can jack up both ticket prices and Genie$ each year .

 

[Heather07438]

DVC guests could probably do well buying g+ for just a few days of their trip if they planned on using EE & pmEMH.

 

[zavandor]

$15/day for Genie+, assume $30/day for LL+ , so $45 per day per person per length of stay.

I'm sorry but I think you're optimistic about LL+.
DLP charges 15€ for Peter Pan, that's nearly $20 for a ride installed in Paris nearly 30 years ago. They can easily charge double that for ROTR and people will pay for a once in a lifetime opportunity to ride it.
That's the issue with g+: they cannot charge reasonable rates, the system cannot work if everyone pay for it. They have to charge enough to discourage the majority of people while still selling enough.

 

[Leight19]

Also regarding the impact on dvc value I can say when grand Floridian 2.0 was announced I was super excited and considering to add on. Once the rumors of paid fast pass came out I wouldn’t say I made conscious decision not to buy but just completely forgot GFV was coming. Now with it being official there is 0% chance I add on so that’s at least one decision that shows this change impacts value of dvc.

 

[AdamsMum]

And OMG... there is a whole, wonderful world out there. There is life beyond Disney and I am so thankful for Universal’s lack of pretension and artifice and efficiency and professionalism.

I've seen the light!
Just kidding, maybe it's time I started renting my points and using the money at Universal for a couple of years. I see lots of posts where people paid $280/night for deluxe which included express pass, is it really that price? Maybe it's time to become a treasured guest over there.

 

[Sandisw]

DVC guests could probably do well buying g+ for just a few days of their trip if they planned on using EE & pmEMH.

That will be us. MK is the only park we will use it for everyone. The other parks will be based on individuals and some of them will pay for the Tier one rides as well

And, those with multi day tickets may just forgo the park hopper option to offset the cost as we typically do 4 or 5 day tickets since we do short trips.

 

[Sandisw]

People hate being nickel and dimed. They should've increased ticket and annual pass prices instead of charging for Genie+.

To counter that though then that really forces the budget on everyone, and impacts larger families

Now, people can just do standby if they want and stay in the same budget as before.

 

[Bearval]

That will be us. MK is the only park we will use it for everyone. The other parks will be based on individuals and some of them will pay for the Tier one rides as well

And, those with multi day tickets may just forgo the park hopper option to offset the cost as we typically do 4 or 5 day tickets since we do short trips.

I think ALOT of people who did purchase tickets with parkhopper will just drop the park hopper and pay the money for the Genie +. I know when we paid for the park hopper option we didn't really use it much at all .

 

[Sandisw]

I think ALOT of people who did purchase tickets with parkhopper will just drop the park hopper and pay the money for the Genie +. I know when we paid for the park hopper option we didn't really use it much at all .

And, given park hopping isn’t until 2 pm at WDW..which some don’t like..it may be a better use of funds.

It seems one of the best ways to make this new system work, especially if the holding one at a time makes it easier to get something throughout the day for the rides that were always difficult to get unless you were one who did the whole constant refresh thing.

 

[bianca]

I've seen the light!
Just kidding, maybe it's time I started renting my points and using the money at Universal for a couple of years. I see lots of posts where people paid $280/night for deluxe which included express pass, is it really that price? Maybe it's time to become a treasured guest over there.

Our family has already decided to go this route. Since we travel with the grandkids, their preference is for Universal parks. We’ve been trying to sell these grandkids on Disney for years, but they’re just not buying it. May as well make a clean break and keep the family happy, as Disney sure isn’t doing anything to help the cause.

 

[monstermash23]

Don’t hurt the messenger here lol, but I read somewhere that when it launches, Genie+ won’t allow to purchase for individual days and that you have to buy it for the entire length of stay. But that eventually an option to add it per day will be available. But then in the same paragraph they mention not being able to purchase Genie+ till midnight before your upcoming park reservation, each day of your park reservations. I think the latter is probably the correct logistics based on what I read from actual Disney sources (which would allow individual day purchases for Genie+ and not only length of stay) but wanted to see if anyone else heard the same? Could make a big difference in price

 

[dismedvc]

I think ALOT of people who did purchase tickets with parkhopper will just drop the park hopper and pay the money for the Genie +. I know when we paid for the park hopper option we didn't really use it much at all .

However, anyone going in the next 6 months has probably already purchased their tickets in order to make park reservations. (We have and we purchased 7 day PH tickets for our Dec trip) We can certainly add Genie+ for some or all days, but I do not think we can drop the PH and get a credit for the extra amount we paid for that option.

 

[tweck]

Disney is putting itself into an unattainable stratosphere for middle class visitors. Even though we could afford the added cost, we will not be partaking. It is such a money grab. Very disappointing.

 

[Bearval]

However, anyone going in the next 6 months has probably already purchased their tickets in order to make park reservations. (We have and we purchased 7 day PH tickets for our Dec trip) We can certainly add Genie+ for some or all days, but I do not think we can drop the PH and get a credit for the extra amount we paid for that option.

Unless you ask if you can, the answer is always no.

 

[Bearval]

Disney is putting itself into an unattainable stratosphere for middle class visitors. Even though we could afford the added cost, we will not be partaking. It is such a money grab. Very disappointing.

Our family will not be paying just out of principle. We buy annual passes and get two trips in that year. If it gets to the point where you HAVE to pay for Genie + just to be able to get on a decent amount of rides we will either rent out out points and stay at Universal or stay at DVC and go to Universal. My children are older now and want to go to Universal anyway.