Genie Questions and Answers (with no commentary)

[thanxfornoticin]

I'm not reading it that way. I'm reading it that virtual will not have Genie+ which I understand. No where did I read there will be 2 per park offered. What I read is you can purchase 2 per day. They might offer it at 1, 4 or 6 attractions each park if they think people would pay. This is about $$ so you might see it at Peter Pan, it doesn't have to be just an "E" ticket. Many kids don't ride "E" ticket rides, but parents might pay the extra to get them on Frozen faster. We'll just have to see which ones but if they were smart about it they'd offer a pool of slots at a variety of popular rides.

I've read on a couple knowledgeable blogs that it's expected to be 2 pay-to-ride attractions per park. There's even speculation out there regarding which 2 it might be. The 'virtual queue' rides appear to be a given for the additional fee. One expectation is ROTR and Slinkey Dog at HS. Mine Train and perhaps Space Mountain at MK. All other attractions that previously were part of FP+ are likely to be part of the Genie+.

Still way more questions than answers. I guess we'll know better in a month or so. And a year from now it will be different from what they roll out in the fall!

 

[bnf0522]

You can/will add Genie+ each day, as early as 7 AM if you're staying onsite and as early as park open if you're offsite. So you can decide each day, based on what you're seeing in the basic Genie app (which takes the place of MDE).

Thanks for the info! I was afraid we'd have to pay before we got to Disney...nice to know we can decide as we go!

 

[HopperFan]

I've read on a couple knowledgeable blogs that it's expected to be 2 pay-to-ride attractions per park. There's even speculation out there regarding which 2 it might be. The 'virtual queue' rides appear to be a given for the additional fee. One expectation is ROTR and Slinkey Dog at HS. Mine Train and perhaps Space Mountain at MK. All other attractions that previously were part of FP+ are likely to be part of the Genie+.

Still way more questions than answers. I guess we'll know better in a month or so. And a year from now it will be different from what they roll out in the fall!

Yes I've seen the list now too. I think a couple are "placeholders" like SM will turn into Tron, TT will turn into Galaxy, I'm guessing they say 1-2 per day in case you stay at one park all day but can only book one option. If it makes the standby lines on those move faster since there will be less people in the FP+/LL line maybe it's not a bad thing.

My fear is that it will become a popular thing to do and we'll see it expand to other very popular rides like Peter Pan that a family would pay for. If the virtuals become LL then there is the onsite advantage finally. They can book hours before people offsite.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

“Lightning Lane” is just the replacement name for the FastPass+ queue. Buying Genie+ will allow you to use the LL queue. The pay per ride thing has no actual name from what I can tell but it will also allow you to access the LL queue at specific rides that will not be included in the “all inclusive” G+ service.

Seeing a lot of very understandable confusion about this everywhere.

Agreed, this Lightning Lane thing is adding to the confusion. I think people who purchase an additional pay-to-ride, will get in line IN the Lightning Lane queue (which is actually the fast pass queue for those new pay-to-ride attractions that used to be part of FP+)! Attractions like ROTR that never had a FP+ option might need to add a LL for people paying). And now I'm even confused by what I'm saying!! Just when we figure it out, they're going to change it anyway!

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Yes I've seen the list now too. I think a couple are "placeholders" like SM will turn into Tron, TT will turn into Galaxy, I'm guessing they say 1-2 per day in case you stay at one park all day but can only book one option. If it makes the standby lines on those move faster since there will be less people in the FP+/LL line maybe it's not a bad thing.

My fear is that it will become a popular thing to do and we'll see it expand to other very popular rides like Peter Pan that a family would pay for. If the virtuals become LL then there is the onsite advantage finally. They can book hours before people offsite.

Agreed - if it becomes really popular, it's likely to expand and increase in price.

I expect onsite people will battle offsite people for the free virtual queue slots at 7AM. If the onsite folks miss out, they'll have a pay option. Small onsite advantage, but still an advantage.

 

[HopperFan]

Agreed - if it becomes really popular, it's likely to expand and increase in price.

I expect onsite people will battle offsite people for the free virtual queue slots at 7AM. If the onsite folks miss out, they'll have a pay option. Small onsite advantage, but still an advantage.

Another concern ... hypothetical ... Flight of Passage. NO more FP+, only pay to ride or StandBy. Disney sees that the "20%" they set aside to sell are selling out in first couple hours. What stops them from pushing that to 40% of time slots ... guaranteed money so let the SB folks wait longer, I mean they used to.

 

[Raemama]

Hey y’all—please put commentary on the other posts. I truly appreciate it!

 

[Shellyred8]

19. Will they offer Genie+ free to those staying at Deluxe resorts? Similar in concept to what Universal does. I haven't seen anything about this yet, but if they are going to "keep with industry standards", this would be the appropriate thing for them to do.

 

[DVCkidsMOM]

My questions that I don't see here already are:

If I'm using only the free Genie, can I tell it what I want to accomplish before a certain time or otherwise require a break in the action?
Similarly, can I tell Genie that I plan to park-hop so that I basically have it map out a morning here and an evening there with a break in the middle?
Any discounts for length-of-stay or DVC or AP or ... anything?

 

[KC1535]

My understanding is with Genie+ you can pick one time-slot for a LL at a time. Another choice won't be available until after you ride, or 2 hours after your first choice. What about LL$? Are you able to pick and pay for 2 rides at once? Or, pay for one and not get to pick another until you ride the first, and hope the 2nd is still available?

 

[yorkieteacher]

Also wondering if you just lose your money if you pay for a lightning line ride and can’t make your slot- traveling with kiddos the unexpected happens- we’ve had to pay charges when we couldn’t make dining reservations due to weather/kiddos being sick, one more thing we may lose money on due to unforeseen circumstances!

 

[Skicks35]

Also wondering if you just lose your money if you pay for a lightning line ride and can’t make your slot- traveling with kiddos the unexpected happens- we’ve had to pay charges when we couldn’t make dining reservations due to weather/kiddos being sick, one more thing we may lose money on due to unforeseen circumstances!

Great point. Another example could be purchasing at 7am (and getting a return time of say 3pm) for ROTR, but whomp whomp, it goes down at 2:30 for the rest of the day.. I'm guessing in this scenario they will refund you, but just another potential hassle.

 

[Raemama]

I’m looking forward to getting our questions answered—I hadn’t thought of some of the others that some have posted. All good really good questions/points.

 

[twincruisers]

My questions that I don't see here already are:

If I'm using only the free Genie, can I tell it what I want to accomplish before a certain time or otherwise require a break in the action?
Similarly, can I tell Genie that I plan to park-hop so that I basically have it map out a morning here and an evening there with a break in the middle?
Any discounts for length-of-stay or DVC or AP or ... anything?

All good questions, but we don’t have that level of detail yet.

 

[twincruisers]

Also wondering if you just lose your money if you pay for a lightning line ride and can’t make your slot- traveling with kiddos the unexpected happens- we’ve had to pay charges when we couldn’t make dining reservations due to weather/kiddos being sick, one more thing we may lose money on due to unforeseen circumstances!

In the past if you had an ADR or Savi’s appointment, they would give you more leeway than the hour window. If the ride breaks down, typically they would issue a no-time-limit-FP to come back later. I would guess that will stay the same. If the ride doesn’t come back up, Id wager that refunds for $LL/ISAs will be the most likely scenario.

 

[g-dad66]

The most important question to me right now is: When will this start?

 

[twincruisers]

Park-hopping questions--and I understand if no one knows the answer, since info is sparse.

(1) If I park-hop, do I have to purchase a new G+ for the new park?

(2) Regarding the E-ticket paid attractions: Is this just a maximum of two of these per day, no matter which park you're in? So if I use up my 2 paid E-tickets for FoP and NRJ (assumption here that both Pandora rides will still be tier 1), then park-hop to DHS and wanted to buy more tier 1 rides, could I? Or did I use up the 2 for the day?

(3) I've assumed that the extra-fee rides are separate from G+. Yes? And that the LL is the same LL for both G+ and extra-fee purchases?

I must have about 100 more questions, but I'll stop here. Thanks in advance for more insights.

A1) not officially confirmed but the verbiage indicates that it is one purchase of G+ for the whole day.
A2) 2 IAS purchases a day max per ticket from what I read regardless of whether you are PH or not.
A3) yes, IAS‘ can be purchased without purchasing G+. LL is the same name for both types, since there is no ride that is in both G+ and IAS there is no overlap if that was what you were indicating.

 

[twincruisers]

The most important question to me right now is: When will this start?

Fall is all they mentioned. No official date yet.

 

[White_Rabbit18]

Is there a guarantee about the number of rides you will be able to make with Genie + ?

I can imagine how frustrating it would be waking up at 7 to only be able to make the first reservation for the afternoon. And then on top of that only being able to make 2-3 more for the rest of the day. Wouldn’t Disney have to deal with a boat load of angry people at the end of the day if they don’t feel they got their money’s worth?

 

[Raemama]

If I'm using only the free Genie, can I tell it what I want to accomplish before a certain time or otherwise require a break in the action?
Similarly, can I tell Genie that I plan to park-hop so that I basically have it map out a morning here and an evening there with a break in the middle?
Any discounts for length-of-stay or DVC or AP or ... anything?

Thank you for remembering the Genie (no plus) aspect of this rollout. I have a lot of questions about it as well. This is only speculation, but I feel like you can still set plans through MDE, but Genie will be part of the MDE app that you can utilize for adding/modifying/enhancing your current mode of being in WDW (and I think I read somewhere or heard that it responds to your location). I think Genie gives you ideas on what to do based on what preferences you’ve told Genie (and your past choices, which will broaden over time).